Items you need NOW to build your emergency preparedness kits

Today on the High Tech Texan Show:

• Items you need NOW to build your emergency preparedness kits for home and car
• Amazon Prime deals you can still take advantage of
• Satellite service to your cell phone is coming soon. How to sign up now.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Is Michael garfil Michael Garfield.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Michael Garfield's joining.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
You in the high Tech Texan.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Michael Garfield is here with a high Tech Texans. It
have to make life easier, new technology.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
And Michael Garfield has something you might like. Michael Garfield
is your high Tech Texans. Three decades helping you make
magic with your gadgets. Heard worldwide on the iHeartRadio add

(00:39):
now your high Tech Texan. Michael Garfield.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
What a week it has been. I'm not sure about you,
but I know I am a little exhausted, but always
have to muster my time my energy on the weekends.
For you, it is just like the Big Voice. It it
is called the High Tech Textan Show. Oh, we have
so much more to talk about as technology. We're gonna
call it the Michael Garfield Show. Is whatever in the

(01:08):
world I want to talk about. Actually, we might as
well just rename the show to what my daily radio
show used to be called, The World according to Garf,
which is me. We should look into that Callum. I
don't know, we may want to move it back, but
I do want to let people know that this is
an opportunity for you to listen and hopefully get some
information because I am your fun, friendly consumer lifestyle guy

(01:34):
too reviews gives opinions on a lot of consumer products.
And believe me, I wish a lot of this stuff
was paid. I wish a lot of the stuff is sponsored.
Just doesn't work that way. You can call it church
and state. Maybe you can call me the og the
influencer before the influencer, But most all this stuff is
my opinion. I will tell you when I'm doing an endorsement,

(01:56):
because legally we have to. But when I say open lines,
which is by the way, three four six two nine
eight three nine six right now for the next two hours,
and you say, hey, Michael, hey, Amazon Prime Day, it's
I know it just ended. Did I get a good deal?
Because I've heard from you and I gave you my opinion,

(02:17):
and I would have loved to take a mission on
all the Amazon sales. I don't do that, man, I
just I just don't. I spent on Let me tell
you how I spent my week, and I want to
hear from you too, seriously. You can follow me online
at high Tech Texan on most all of the social
media accounts h I G H T E C h
T E X A n. Michael at high Tech Texan

(02:37):
dot com. You can see the uh send me an email,
and you can see a lot of the videos that
I do. But started the week in Austin, and I
did this for kind of killing two bird, three birds
with one stone. Number one. I needed to go. I
go to Austin at least once a month because I
am a correspondent, the technology correspond for the Fox affiliate

(03:01):
in Austin, Fox seven. If you were in Austin, that
is me. I do it on Mondays. So I will
go up there and I will do a live morning
show with the nice folks Dave and Katie. They're great
and not all the show off some products, give you
some ideas. You know, was gonna do some Amazon Prime
Day stuff this past week. I then hang around and
talk to the show and we tape a few segments
to go, you know, for the following few Mondays. So

(03:22):
I don't have to go up there every Monday, even
though I would love to, because I love me some Austin,
so I go up there. Also, I timed it right
because my son just moved back to Austin, got a
new house, and it was timing was perfect because Monday
or Tuesday this week of his big moving van was
coming in. And it's always nice to have a parent

(03:45):
to help you move in. I remember I moved into
my house eight years ago in the Houston suburbs and
my mom, bless her, she came down from Dallas and
she helped me. It was very, very helpful. So in
a way, who I was there and needed some muscle,
and so I was going to help him move in.
But then, as we know, about a week, just over
a week ago, things turned traffic tragic in Texas, Central Texas,

(04:06):
the devastating floods that happened on July fourth. I mean,
the ramifications are going to be around for I mean generations,
just because of the lives that are lost and that
happened in central Texas area. Yes, the majority of the lives.
The publicity, the media centered on Kerrville, Kerr County and
Hunt County, but the Guadalupa River it runs all through

(04:29):
central Texas and so many rivers were overflowing other banks
and in Austin, in Travis County and just north and
Williamson County there was also some devastation. There was also
some lives lost. And this is how you know you
raised good kids. I woke up Saturday, I woke up

(04:50):
Sunday morning. The dad was going to drive to Austin. Anyway,
I woke up Sunday morning and my son sent me
a text. My son in Austin, who's not even fully
moved in himself. He sent me a text with a
photo of his trunk that is filled with groceries and
items that apparently he just went to Costco to buy.
And he told me he dropped him off and donated

(05:11):
him at a shelter that is gathering supplies for people
who were displaced. You don't want to wake up crying.
You don't want to wake up teary eyde. But I
got for klempt as I should have. I mean, all
three of my boys have unbelievably kind hearts. The young

(05:34):
one here, he just happened to live in Austin and
he just wanted to do something nice. And so, you know,
I knew I was going to Austin. So I loaded
up my vehicle, which, by the way, I was test
driving a car which happened to be the Lexus t
X three point fifty at SUV which handles and here's
my quick review. It handles, a lot of gear that
I slept up there and I just was, you know,

(05:56):
putting blankets that I didn't need that, and I've got
a ton of batteries, back up batteries, rechargeable batteries, phone
cords and everything, and I just things that I've gathered
the companies have sent me. There's just sitting here and
Garf's garage and I'm like, let's just let's go. And
I just I loaded it up and then I rolled
up to Austin and I got to Austin, and then
along with him, we went to another shelter again and

(06:18):
we started volunteering a few homes that helped needed to
be helped cleaned out and mud and flooding. It was
just it's just devastating. And so spend a little time
doing that. And then a long story short, it turns
out that the Fox affiliate that I'm on was really
doing wall to wall coverage of the flooding in that area,
and they were taking a live news speed press conference

(06:40):
from Governor Rabbit and stuff. They just did not have
time to do some extracurricular stories that I generally do
when I talk about tech stuff. So we blew that off,
got the opportunity to go back to a shelter volunteer
some more. Next day, moving truck comes in. Spend hours
and hours and hours of you know, moving and schlepping
and putting together and moving couges, you know, putting up

(07:01):
robotic lawnmowers and gifts that I'm giving my son to
his house. Drove back the next morning. In this Wednesday,
Thursday morning. Should you be in the Houston area if
you turned on Great Day Houston on KHO eleven CBS.
I filled in as host for the show Devor Duncan,
good friend of mine. She happened to be out, so
they asked me to then wake up at six o'clock

(07:22):
every morning, which I'm not used to, and then I
filled in his host has nothing to do technology. This
was a host something that I loved doing. This is
a career that I continued to this day, hope to
do one day. But I was I hosted. Not easy
for dude to wake up at six in the morning,
go through you know, the production meeting, and then for
one solid hour which is a lot of directing, traffic,

(07:44):
doing interviews and everything. I did that for two days
and then now I find out I'm off to Houston.
I'm off. I'm back to Austin, and you know on
Sunday because I will be doing a live shot in
the Fox affiliate studio. And this is what I'm doing.
This is nice. I am going to be suggesting, certainly
because it's Texas where it airs, how to prepare emergency kits,

(08:05):
emergency items that you always should have in your car,
things that you need to have in your house. And
I do this. If you were in Houston, you've known this.
I've done it for two decades. I do this during hurricanes,
hurricane season, how to prepare for hurricanes. What's going to
happen should you have a flop? What's going to happen
should your electricity pop out at some point? And I guarantee,

(08:25):
if you're in the Houston Jalvison area, your electricity is
probably going to pop out at one point or another
during the season, maybe during thunderstorms, whatever. These are the
things that I will be doing. I'll talk about that
during the show, especially if you have relatives, and especially
now that you've seen the devastation of how do cars
just immediately float away? What do you do if you're

(08:45):
stuck in a vehicle and it starts floating, or it
goes into a river. What do you need some of
the things that I am going to talk about. I
am a little bit tired, I am a little bit hoarse.
I do appreciate you folks hanging in there and understanding.
I know I could complain all I want to. I
am blessed the fact that I personally, none of my

(09:07):
family personally know anybody who is directly impacted in these floods.
But I know there are listeners, there are followers, there
are fans of mine who were directly impacted. Go. I'd
be with you. My prayers are with you. If you
lost someone in your family, if you lost someone you know,

(09:28):
if you know someone who knows someone, if someone lost
their house. These are very tough times that we're living in.
I am not a grief counselor. All I can do
is wish thoughts and prayers, and all I can do
and will do when we come back and throughout today's
dash show, maybe to help you get prepared, to help
you hopefully survive another devastating insta like what Central Texas

(09:51):
has gone through. This passwork. It's Michael Garfield, thank you
for to that's the high tight text and show will
do wherever and however you are listening to this show,

(10:27):
we do thank you so much. I know some of you,
certainly in the Central Texas area, you have other things
in your mind and you may be busy, I don't know,
maybe for two hours. This uh, you know, takes your
mind off of things. And that's that's really what I
learned earlier this week when I was hosting a Great
Day Houston on the CBS affiliate in Houston, and it

(10:49):
wasn't the technology stuff. I just happened to be the
filling host and there was a there was kind of
the psychic guy who deals with grief, and it's even
how to deal with grief, Yes, personally if you were affected,
you know, tragically by the floods directly, but also just
watching the news, how do you talk to your kids

(11:09):
about it? How do you cope with it? I mean,
if you just tunedated, it's Michael Garfield is my name,
It's the High Tech Textan show. I was in Austin,
the Austin area earlier this week and I was there,
you know, gathering supplies and stuff and delivering to some
of the shelters and helping a few people, you know,
maybe kind of you know, get the mud out of
their house and you know, sipping through their debris. It's traumatic.

(11:32):
I guess, as lack of another term, that that affects
me and affects even volunteers who are out there searching.
I mean, I mean, I can't imagine the volunteer network,
the officials who do this on an I guess regular
basis of eco search and thing, who just go out
and search for bodies, I mean, and then you come

(11:53):
up on one. I can't imagine. I just I don't
know if I could deal with it. But I know
everybody is coping with something right now, and I just
hope you know, you deal with it and hanging there
is as much as you can. My phone number if
you want to say hi, give a comment three four
six two nine eight three nine two six. That's three
four six twenty nine textan That is how you're going

(12:14):
to to get to me. I was talking in the
previous segment about being prepared. There are a lot of
people in the flood zones who were not prepared. There
are many people around the country, around the state, in
your neighborhood, and maybe you who are not prepared. You

(12:37):
may think you are prepared for any type of a
natural disaster, not just floods. Houston, Galveston. I know you're
listening KPRC nine to fifty am. Hurricane prone Dallas, talk
ready eleven ninety, Tornado prone San Antonio, WA. Twelve hundred.
You got tornadoes. Now we have seen in Central Texas

(12:59):
there are floods too. Oh yeah, you got some You
got some flashlights, got some batteries. Maybe so your cell
phones will go to start. But let's talk about truly
what you need to be prepared for emergencies. I am

(13:21):
an Eagle Scout since I was thirteen years old. One
of the first Marrior badges I got was emergency preparedness. Yes,
it's a lot about the products that you have. Do
you have water, cans of tuna, manual can opener, bandages?

(13:43):
It goes on and on, but it's about getting your
mind prepared. Your head has to be on a swivel
at any given time of the year. In the summertime,
June first through what is it? What is it? I
think November first out in December first it's hurricane seats.
Most hurricanes, at least in the thirty years that I've

(14:04):
been in the Houston area. They've hit late in the season.
They've come in September. It's not just oh okay, you know,
it's done in June July. Growing up in Dallas, I
was very close to a tornado in May. I was
ten years old, way back in the day. I was
alone at home after school, ten years old, go outside

(14:26):
because I hear some hail and stuff. I look up
and there's a freaking tornado coming down from the sky
less than half a mile, three quarters of a mile
from my house. I have that memory. It's edged to
my memory, but I'm glad it's my memory because I
know what could have happened. So, yes, you have to prepare.
What do you do? What are your next step? That's

(14:48):
how I kind of lived my life. I'm you know, yes,
I'm adhd over prepared, always thinking two steps beyond whatever.
But you need to do that. Let's delve into it
right here. What do you need. Let's go actual products,
physical items in your house. Now, I can start at
the technology standpoint that you should have backup batteries, plugs,

(15:13):
cables for your cell phone. Your cell phone nowadays is
your lifeline and I'm gonna give you an asterisk right now.
For those of you who live near the coast, maybe Dollan, Galveston,
and maybe near a lake that you do lose electricity
that you do lose sometimes your cell service. Don't laugh,

(15:34):
but it may be worth your time if you can
calling the old fashioned telephone company and getting an old
fashioned wired telephone line. It's called pots POTS which stands
for plain old Telephone service. The copper wire that runs
that has for generations Alexander Grandpall. It is run to

(15:56):
our homes. My parents they live up in Dallas, still
have a landline and that's what they're called. It is
a phone that plugs into the wall that you pick
up that doesn't necessarily depend on electricity. Now, one more
asterisk on this topic. If you have a landline, good
for you. They could cost as little as ten dollars.

(16:18):
Doesn't cost much more to have copper wire, you know,
lit up if you will, do not use or make
sure you have more than a cordless electric phone. You know,
back in the eighties and nineties, yeah, we had landline phones,
but we wanted it just to walk around longer than
the six foot seven foot little wired pigtail cord. So
we got a cordless phone, and that cordless phone goes
all over your house. Guess what. That cordless phone works

(16:40):
on electricity. So if you do lose electricity, but you
have a landline and you think you're all cool, you
ain't cool because that cordless phone needs it. Go online. Hey,
I know you miss just missed Amazon Prime Day. Go
get a five dollars, a ten dollars phone that physics
plugs into the wall, the RJ forty five jack. All right,

(17:04):
that doesn't need electricity. That to me is number one
must have for communication because many times, and now we're
gonna go back to cell phone service, if a tornado
or hurricane of flood comes down, many times cell phone
towers come down. If cell phone towers come down, your
phone ain't gonna work. Now very close and later in
the show, and we're gonna talk about starlink and satellite service.

(17:25):
We ain't there yet. If your cell phone goes down
and you live one mile two mile, a few miles
from the old cell phone data tower and that goes down,
an't ain't working. What do you do? Will you pray?
How do you get communication? Well? Number one, make sure
your battery and your phone is stays charged somehow. Number two,
use text texting often and don't send pictures. Just text help.

(17:49):
I'm okay, this is what I need. Blah blah blah.
Sometimes calls won't go through, but text has better chances
of going through. There's another one, how do you keep
your batteries there? We'll always have extra backup batteries. And
I'm not talking double a triple a nine volt. Many
times that ain't gonna charge your phone. You know how

(18:09):
to charge your phone. You have that little brick which
goes into your wall, but then you have your phone.
Maybe it's a you have a USBC cord, you have
a USB A cord, and maybe you have a lightning cord.
If you have an older Apple product use make sure
you have a little But there are millions of types
of batteries. Anchor A n K E R GO I
mean prime day. These were a dime a dozen. They

(18:31):
may not hold a long charge, but still it will
charge your phone. I have dozens of them, and actually
I gave some away when I went up to Austin.
I mean because people needed these things. Dime a dozen.
Part two, If you want to charge it. You can
use if your car is still working and it has
gas or electricity and it is dry, you could charge
your vehicle, charge your batteries, your phones, your laptops in

(18:53):
your car. Other asterisk. If you have a gas car
and if it's in the garage, make sure you open
that garage door. You never start a gas powered car,
a gasoline engine in a closed garage. You got a
whole other issue there, So make sure you have batteries. Listen,
I'm gonna go on and on. I'm taking a break
right now. But before we do, here's another thing. You

(19:16):
don't think about this. You have all your supplies. You
may be thinking, Michael man, you need to stop talk
to the hand. I have all this stuff. Where are
those supplies? Are they nearby? Are they in a bag
that is waterproof? Are they in a dry bag, a
bag that you can use for scuba gear, or a
zip block bag. You need to keep the stuff dry, phones, cords,

(19:39):
batteries in here. Just a few tips. We're gonna continue
about this. If you want to chime in and love
to hear from you. Three four six, two nine eight
three It's called Michael Garfield by take that's a show

(20:13):
autumn of the hour, the first hour of the long
running high tech texting show Michael. Is my name Garth
Garf the first part of my laugh name Garfield. If
you want to go nicknames. If we're tight, phone number here.
This is a it's a radio show people. Yes, I
know it's podcasted later. But if you're listening on the
weekend in Dallas, San Antonio and certainly Houston, love to

(20:34):
hear your thoughts if you can get through. If not,
you may get a voicemail. Leave a voicemail, and we
do have a right to play at three four six
two nine eight three nine At three four six twenty nine, Texan,
we are taking your calls. We're we're talking about some
important things, obviously, the devastation that hit central Texas this
past week in Kerr County, Hunt County, Williamson County, tom

(20:57):
Green County, Central Texas. I was in off for a
few days earlier this week. I happened to be there
for a few things. While I was there, I saw
some devastation up in Williamson County. Rivers were overflowing. Just
the media reports of what it has been happening. I mean,
you got the national media. You had Tommy Yamas from NBC,
you know, on the ground and Morgan Chesky. Interesting. I'm

(21:18):
a big fan of NBC. I like Tommy Yamas, who
just recently took over from wester Holt. He was there,
I know, the ABC, the CBS, Hooks, Fox was there too.
The NBC correspondent's Morgan Chesky big fan of his. Relatively
young reporter lived in the Houston area, moved to Dallas.
Now he's based in La but Texas wrote he is

(21:40):
from Kerrville and unbelievable story how his mom and his
stepdad's house were right on the banks of the Guadalope
River and he was reporting from there. Kind of a
very first person in terms of his family was affected
by that thing. Anyway, you neither here nor there. It's
national coverage. And what I'm talking about now is what

(22:01):
items and what mentality do you need to be prepared
for just such an emergency, not just floods, but also
hurricane prone areas like Galveston and Houston where I am based.
Tornado Ali North Texas. I'm in Dallas on talk radio

(22:22):
eleven ninety AM. Hurricanes also in San Antonio. I'm looking
at you WAI twelve hundred listeners in Central Texas. I
will be showing off this coming Monday. This Monday morning,
I will be on Fox seven in Austin nine forty
five in the morning and I usually do a Monday
morning TV segment there. I'm gonna be bring in some
of the items I'm talking about with but also going

(22:42):
over some emergency preparedness items. Yes from a technology standpoint,
but also from a common sense standpoint. And you may
know this, and you may have these items already ready.
It doesn't hurt for you to listen to me and
think about it again. Yes, you may have Kansa tuna
and bottled water from four years ago. And yes, water
and tuna can be stored for many, many years. Maybe

(23:05):
time to kind of switch those out and re up them.
We could talk about food. I've already talked about having
zip block bags very important. Have a zip have a
waterproof bag, something that has extra batteries for your phone,
it has got cables to charge your phone in your car,
or if you go to a neighbor's house that is
dry or whatever, have hats. You know, you could have

(23:28):
little packs that you know, when you break them, it
becomes cool ice packs that you can find in emergency
preparedness kits. Have an emergency preparedness have a first aid kit.
As an Eagle Scout, I went to this. I have
the first day of mirror padge. I have the Emergency
Preparedness Marrior badge or a life saving Mayrior badge. Have.
I have a first aid kit in my house, in

(23:49):
my kitchen, in each of my cars, and throughout the house.
I've got you know, burn ointment spray and make sure
it's there, gauze pads, ointments, whatever. Get those. Go to
your walmarts. Go to Amazon. I know Amazon Prime Day,
you missed it. You know those were low hanging from
Those are things that you probably should have got on
Prime Day. Go to academy wherever you get them. Get

(24:13):
that stuff, but keep them in a dry places. Further expanding,
what else is there to do? Well, now we've got
battery backups for your home. Let's say your home was flooded.
Let's say your home doesn't have electricity. Let's say you
didn't fork over twenty to thirty to forty thousand dollars

(24:36):
for a whole home generator that sits outside your home,
that is run by propane or natural gas. That if
you have one of those, please feel free to email
me and give me your address, because if my electricity
goes down, I'm coming to you because I do need
the air conditioning. You know, in all seriousness, I don't
have a whole home generator. I do not the next

(24:58):
best thing for me not having a whole home generator.
There are no less than three to four of my
neighbors in walking distance who have whole home generators. And
don't give yourself if not, we haven't talked about that.
They're harboring in a lot of our neighbors and a
lot of their family. But what I do have, I
have very large battery backup generators. These are the ones.

(25:23):
They do not need gasoline, they don't need pro pain.
They can work inside your home as well as outside
your home. These run anywhere from three hundred and three
hundred and fifty dollars to several thousand dollars. What they are,
they're very large batteries. I want you to think of
the size of a car battery and the weight of
a car battery. They're they're not light people. You can

(25:44):
get them in all sizes. I have some and They're
made by a number of different companies. Net Zero is one,
Eco Flow is one. What else did I I almost
too big to name to Go to Amazon, go wherever
you share and look up battery backup generators. They generally

(26:06):
will have three to six some will have eight, nine
or ten outlets where you can plug your gear into.
Now you have to make sure this battery itself is charged,
and because the battery is so big, it remains charged
for a long time. Now. Earlier this season, right before

(26:30):
hurricane season, about a month and a half ago, I
went and I made sure to hit a little button
to see on the LED read out that it read
one hundred percent charge. I saw one of them was
about ninety two percent. Not a big deal. I plugged
it in. I'm all charged up, ready to go. What
these do? They will power up most items in your
house that work on your typical AC or even your

(26:53):
DC outlets. Plug it in, including you're all important refrigerator
other than your air conditioning and yes here in Texas
we need that AC and other than your wash your dryer,
which uses a totally different plug. For the most part,
those are the big ones of kind of the three
prong plugs. These are the typical plugs that you could

(27:13):
plug a blender in your refrigerator, in your hair dryer,
in you're charging your phone, are in your laptop, in
your desktop in and some of them, if they have
six seven, eight nine things, they will simultaneously charge and
keep things running your television two. And this is important.
And believe me, I have actually was it a year

(27:34):
about a year ago. I don't lose power in my
home to too often, relatively new home. I think that
the grid that they built is relatively strong. But yes,
it happens, it's going to go down. Maybe my power
went down for a few hours. For the heck of it,
I tried it, carried one up, pulled out my refrigerator,
plugged it in there, no problem. It ran my refridge

(27:56):
and I think it can run refrigerator up to twenty
seven thirty hours for some of these things. That's something
good to have. And if for some reason that one
of your neighbors powers out, maybe one of your relatives
pop this thing in your trunk of your car, drive
it over to him. If you have power. A matter
of fact, one of my uncles, who lives in Houston,
he knew I have a number of them sitting in

(28:17):
my garage. I slept one over to his house. It
probably weighs a good twenty pounds twenty five pounds sitting
in his garage ready to go, just in case he
needs it. But it is something very important to have
if you do not want to shell out tens of
thousands of dollars. Have the installation process for a whole
home generator that does kick in automatically, and I think

(28:38):
those are nice. Everything from Ginnerak and what have you
go get a battery back up because that can save
you stand by. We're going to come back. I'm going
to give you a few more and we'll wrap up
this topic. Yes, I've got a number of other stories
that I usually do my regular high tech text and
shall including Starlink phone service. That's right, satellite phone service
is coming to your regular phone in about two or
three weeks. I'll tell you how you get take advantage

(29:00):
of that. Got a big story on how no longer
when you go through TSA you don't need to take
your shoes off. That kindly quietly went under the radar,
and also Amazon Prime Week. Still looking for some of
the best deals that you got McCauley brag on it
three four six TVERA be right back. Michael gargild is
the I'll say this first hour of the long running

(29:48):
High Tech Text and Show. Thank you for tuning in,
especially those who continue to I'm getting email. I'm getting
a lot of emails, Michael, thank you for talking about
this specifically emergency preparedness gear technology year and tips. What
you need to know. And certainly it's top of mind
now of what's happened with the devastation in Central Texas
with the floods. This is something that all of us,

(30:10):
every home owner, every person who's got a car, what
you should keep in there. And I've known this. Listen
all of us. If you were a boy scout, girl scout,
if you know you're a professional who's a firefighter up,
you know in the police force, you know some of
this stuff. And then generally it's it's almost common knowledge.
You can google this stuff too. I'm an Eagle Scout.
I grew up with this stuff. I've been doing it

(30:31):
and getting prepared for well over four decades of my life,
and I always go through this entire checklist every hurricane season.
Obviously certainly for the Houston Galveston area, which is very
hurricane prone. But now that there's floods, you know, I
don't think about floods that often versus tornadoes and hurricanes.
These are things that now are top of mind, and
I'm just kind of going through checklist and feel free.

(30:53):
Three four six two nine eight three nine two six.
If I'm forgetting somebody, if you want to add something,
if you want to tell story, this is what I'm
here for. This is absolutely what I am here for.
We've been through zip lock bags keeping things dry. It's
great that you have backup batteries, back up cords, tuna water.
Where do you keep them? Are they in a place

(31:13):
where every person in your family knows? Are they above ground?
If you have a second floor, a third floor home,
are they stored up there? And are they in a
waterproof bag? Do you have a duplicates for your car?
A lot of people escaping cars. Let's talk about cars quickly.
One of the most heartbreaking, the heart wrenching things that
I saw in the media, national, local, you know, feeds,

(31:33):
social media this past week, or cars that were floating
down the Guadaloupe River. People who are trapped in cars
and they couldn't get out. Go google how to escape
from a car in a river, a sinking car. Go
look at some of the things, you know. One of
the things that that I've did. I remember getting the

(31:54):
life saving Merit badge and people, I'm going back, How
was I was? I I'm going back forty five plusure years.
I was at summer camp. It was a lake, Texoma,
and I don't love the water. I don't love swimming,
but we had to do this. We had to get
the merritpage and we had to do life saving skills.

(32:16):
And I remember we had to jump in a lake
fully clothed with long pants and a long shirt on
to go just in case you fall overboard and obviously
maybe trying to save somebody. And by the way, if
you're trying to save somebody, try not to jump into
the water because they're going to be grabbing you and
pulling you under. If you're in a pool, grab something long,

(32:38):
grab a hose, grab a rake, you know, grab you know,
one of those pool scoop of things, try to pull
them out. But I remember jumping into a lake and
learning to blow air, you know, from my lungs into
my shirt that was tucked in my pants to kind
of make a self made floatation device. I mean, I

(32:59):
don't know how well of work, but things like that.
This is what I learned in a car. Luckily, I've
never had to escape, but I've seen other fellow reporters
of mine break out of cars because you know, they've
went through some of this for TV stories. One of
the things that you need to do is it's going
to be very difficult to roll down your window because

(33:19):
the pressure of the water outside sometimes will not let
you open the door or even roll down the window.
You need to unbuckle yourself. Generally, the nose of your
car sings first, which means the back window and the
trunk of your car is kind of floating. That's the
last thing to go down. Quickly, get out of your seat,

(33:39):
climb to the back of your car, and if you can.
If you've got a newer car, you need to try
to bust out your back window. Yes, insurance is going
to cover it. Don't worry about it. It's your life.
Bust it out. If you don't have anything heavy or sharp.
Newer cars have head rest. I want you to think
of your head rest in the back of the past.

(34:00):
Your driver's seats and even the back seats. Those headdressed
are adjustable, they go up and down. A lot of
them are removable, and when you remove them, there are
two strong metal heggs that go up and down to
the seat. Use that as a weapon. Use those metal
pegs to bust that glass, kick it out, and then

(34:21):
swim up. Go look at that on Google take their word.
Look at some of these professionals, organizations, the first responders.
They can tell you more of But anyway, that was
just a little quick play by play some of the
other things that you need to do. Let's talk from
a technology standpoint. You have a phone, great, you know
how to call nine one one. Great. Sometimes you don't
have cell phone service. As I said, you don't call

(34:43):
nine one one, but you can text. You can text
the words prepare. You can text the words shelter. You
could text the word zip. Could you put your ZIP
code to find disaster relief. FEMA recommends starting by opting

(35:03):
in to some of its basic alerts right now. By
texting four three three six two doesn't cost anything. Four
three three six two text the word prepare, just because
it's going to shoot you back. Tips for being prepared
if you need shelter four three three six two text

(35:24):
the word shelter. The other thing. Sign up for every
local emergency alert option. You can every option when you
get a cell phone, when you get and I get
new cell phones all the time, once a month. I
don't like emergency alerts. I don't need to know, if
you know, I say to myself, I don't think I
need to know whether there's a blue alert, a Silver alert,

(35:47):
and amberler alert. It doesn't hurt to have them on.
But there's also federal emergency alerts, and you can turn
them on. And I know it bugs you when they happen.
There's that long beef bee and if you're in a
public space, everybody's phone goes off. You laugh about it,
and you could turn them off. You can go to
your setting, go to general, go to settings, and you're

(36:08):
set to go. But keep them on, especially this time
of year. That could save your life. That could be
the difference of what's going on. I'm not getting into
where the alert emergency alerts sounded, where they're tornado sirens
and flood sirens in each county, not getting into that.
I'm just talking about your cell phone right now. Set
those alerts because they could be, you know, a matter

(36:29):
of life and death. Make sure if you can't find
your wallet on your phone, do you use Apple Pay,
do you use Google Wallet? Things like that, So if
you can go to a store and you lost your wallet,
that'll help too. But again, make sure everything is dry
and make sure you have battery backups. Folks. I spent

(36:49):
about an hour feel free after the show to download
this and podcast this and the guys over here behind
the glass they do a good job. You'd good. iHeartRadio.
Download it and search for Michael Garfield, sarch for High
Tech Texan and on this weekend, second weekend of July.

(37:09):
But for hour number one, I've just been through an
entire hour things basically emergency lords, emergency tips of batigating.
And I really hope you take you to some of
these and many more. And I know as we take
a break and I'll come back one more after this.
You have ideas you've been the here. Do you have

(37:30):
any of your own tips, but you can share with us.
I really would love you to share if you're going
through grief right now. May people to thought the I'm
the boy I am here three four six two nine eight, three, nine, three, four, six,
twenty nine Texan. Uncle Garfield is my name, Avontine Palady
Thing ninety three. Be back after this.

Speaker 1 (38:02):
Is Michael Garfil Michael Garfield.

Speaker 2 (38:04):
Michael Garfields joining.

Speaker 1 (38:05):
In the high Tech Texan. Michael Garfield is here with
a high Tech Texas.

Speaker 2 (38:11):
Was to make life easier, new technology, and Michael Garfield
has something you might want.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
Michael Garfield is your high Tech Texans three decades helping
you make magic with your gadgets. Her worldwide on the
iHeartRadio add now you're high Tech Texans. Michael Garfield.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
I tell you what, man, if this wasn't already a
long week for me and so many of us out
there with what's going on in the world, Central Texas,
the flooding, and just just the tragedies happening all across
the middle of our state. I just went through an
entire hour Hour number one and the High Tech Textan show.
Michael is my name, Michael Garfield of Emergency Preparedness items,

(39:06):
what to pack? What do you have? Is emergency preparedness.
I'm an Eagle Scott. I've been doing it for four decades. Yes,
I cover the technology world and there are things in
the tech world that can help you. Signing up for
emergency alerts on your cell phone, making sure you have
backup batteries and chords, making sure you keep them in
a dry bag ziploc bags somewhere that will not be

(39:29):
ruined should you have a flood, should you be caught
in a hurricane or a tornado. Not only have these
in your home, also have them your cars too. If
you want to listen to that pretty much first hour
where I covered a lot of those tips, feel free
you could download the iHeartRadio app. Calum ree Kalum. He
helps up put the show together. He does a great job.
Right after we finished the show and very quickly he

(39:51):
will put this on the podcast. So download the iHeartRadio app.
You can look for my name Michael Garfield. You can
look for high Tech Texan and you can look for
this week July the weekend of July twelfth, twenty twenty five.
Hour one. Hey, we love you to download Hour two.
We'd love you to download listen to the entire history
of my show for twenty three years. But anyway, our

(40:13):
one lot of lists a lot of ideas of what
you need to do. You never know when you need help.
Which is pretty much the definition of be prepared, which
is the slogan for the Boy Scouts. But I do
thank you for listening, and also thank you. You got
a lot of really nice emails, people who have never
emailed before. It's Michaels, I just tuned into your show
for the first time. Or here's some long time listeners.

(40:35):
Appreciate what you're doing going over this, but it was heartbreaking.
I was in the Austin area earlier this week for
a number of different things, saw some shelters helped with
one of my sons. We were volunteering some of the
homes that have been destroyed. And it's not fun. It's very,
very trying times. And this is what we This is
what Americans do. But I'll tell you what this is

(40:58):
what Texans do, man. This is what we do. We
good BUCkies. We get lizards from Dairy Queen, and we
help each other and we hope we find your conditioning too.
But this is we We got each other's backs and
I do too. Phone number. Love to hear from you.
If I miss some emergency tip tips or maybe just
you need to talk to somebody going through some grief.

(41:20):
I'm your guy. Three four six twenty nine text in
three four six two nine t e x A N.
Try to actually move a little into regular program as
much as we could, which is pretty much whatever I
want to talk about. Yes, I'm gonna review tech and
review some cars. How about Amazon Prime Week? Not a
good week in Texas to have Amazon Prime Week because

(41:42):
that was not the focus of many people in Texas.
But Amazon Prime Week was here for four days Tuesday
through Friday. First time Amazon Prime Week was four days long,
and I don't know if you had an opportunity to
go online to get your mind in that frame of
just purchasing things. There was some really good deals. I

(42:03):
bought zero. I bought absolutely nothing. It's because I am
I want for nothing. I'm very lucky, I am blessed.
I have what I need to have, but I do
I did find some things that I thought were some
good deals, good byes. And funny thing is we're going
to go back to if you're putting together an emergency
supply kit right now and you didn't buy anything on
Amazon Prime Day, you know what it's worth paying the

(42:26):
price and an Amazon Prime Day. By the way, this
was not limited to Amazon. Almost every other retailer did
their own guerrilla type of marketing to ride the coattails
of what Amazon was doing. Best Buy, Target, Walmart. They're
online sites. They have the little deals and everything too.
You still may find some deals right now. So what

(42:47):
you what? You know? What should you get? Have those
backup batteries, Have those cords, have a large battery, not
in a generator. It's a battery backup generator, but it's
not a real generator that takes gas and propan internatural gas.
I've talked about this, but make sure they're dry. Go
get ziploc bags. Go get cans of tuna, Go get water,

(43:08):
Go get jars of peanut butter. Make sure you have
a manual can opener or tuna packs that can open
where you don't need any type of electricity. Listen, I
told you I'm not going to go through this anymore.
But those are the things that you should have got
on Amazon Prime. Some of the deals that I saw
a lot of smart hone items, a lot of people
went nuts, And I gave you this idea. Last last week,
anything that is Amazon Ome or Amazon branded, it was

(43:31):
on sale at a deep discount. All the Amazon echoes,
you know, the little devices that you say, yo, Alexa.
All of the Ring doorbells. Ring is owned by Amazon,
all of the fire TVs, the fire TV sticks, the
Amazon Kindle. Amazon owns a lot of things you probably
don't know. Amazon owns brilliant of them to put it
on sale. Getting a lot of deals over there there

(43:52):
there's some really you know, you know, streaming sticks for television.
I saw a lot of that stuff. So if you
got something good, pop me an email Michael at high
tech dot com, try to call me. It's you know,
just you know, just you know, let's be jealous of
you got a deal and I didn't get a deal.
I saw this that also was it didn't make big news,
and I think the government or the TSA or the

(44:13):
Department Transportation didn't want to make a big deal out
of it. But no longer, apparently for the masses do
we have to take our shoes off going through US
airport security. That hassle and that smell is now a
thing of the past. Homeland Security Secretary Christy Nomes. She

(44:34):
announced a few days ago that the most annoying part
of airport protocol it is over Verton unofficially fell on
twenty plus years of security policy at select airports. Now
shoes still have to be removed if you're chosen for
additional screening. It was twenty years ago. It was after

(44:58):
nine to eleven twenty Actually it was I believe December
of twenty eleven, twenty four years ago, right, almost twenty
four years ago. Dude named Richard Reid. I think it
was on American airlines. He was traveling from Paris to
the United States. May have been Miami. And again this
is a quarter of a century ago. He was known

(45:20):
as the shoe Bomber. He tried and failed to detonate
an explosive device that was hidden in his shoes. I
think I may be wrong, because I'm reading where it
says five years later, the TSA made it mandatory for
flyers to move their footwhere at all airport security checkpoints.
I really thought it may have been in December, and

(45:43):
only the reason why. So nine to eleven September eleventh,
two thousand and one, we know where we were. But
in December I happened to go to New York. I
was on CNBC. I flew up to New York to
be on CNBC to do some sort of a technology
segment or hit or something like that while I was there.

(46:05):
I think that either this shoe bomber thing happened while
I was there, and it may have happened so fast
that immediately we as Americans, we are always in not
active but retroactive mode. Oh this just happened. Let's do this.
We just had a flood. Oh now we need to
prepare for future floods. We just had a shoe bomber.

(46:28):
Oh now we need to tell people to take off
our shoes. And so I think retroactively. You know, I
think all the airports said we need to take our shoes.
I remember taking off my shoes coming back from December eleventh.
We no longer have to do it. People. TESA pre
check is here now, that was launched in twenty thirteen.
If you are and you pay money for TSA pre check,
you don't have to take your shoes off expedited screening.

(46:50):
I don't know why now, I don't know why. Now
maybe it's political. Listen, some elected officials have long express
displeasure with TSA itself. We don't like taking our shoes off.
Is this gonna tell you what? If you have TSA
pre check? I know I do. That line continues to
get longer, more and more people saying, you know what,
eighty five bucks or five years. I think it's gonna

(47:12):
be worth it. That line's getting longer now that we
don't have to take our shoes off. You know what,
do we really need TSA pre check to pay? Maybe
we just go through regular TSA. We could talk about that,
but that's one of the stories. If you missed it,
go ahead and take your shoes off. Please, people wear socks,
travel with If I could tell you a few things,
don't eat mayonnaise, travel with socks. It's just as simple

(47:33):
as that tips pill a dropple Michael Garfield the High
Tech Texans Show. We'll continue, mister Michael Garfield. You do

(47:55):
not need to call me mister. That is my dad.
He is mister Garfield. I am just Garf GARF which
stands for get Answers real Fast. It's actually a dozen,
but I made that one up I Tech TEXTA. That
is mine and I trademarked that one my friends. I
do thank you for tuning in. We spit the last hour,
well almost over an hour, talking about emergency preparedness, things

(48:16):
that you need technology wise, and just regular supply wise
based on what we just witness and so many people
have gone through with the tragedy the floods in Central
Texas and again prayers wishes continue to go out. That
is a life altering situation for so many people that
we continue to think about here for some reason. If

(48:37):
you lost some of your jewelry, and this is a
very tough segue to do, if you need extra cash,
A lot of people have collect coins. Might I remind
you US Coins and Jewelry in the Houston area. They
have been there for two generations for you. They are
at eighty four to thirty five Katie Freeway, just outside
of Loop six to ten. That is in Houston. If

(48:58):
you're listening, they're also on Houston. You could still work
with them all the time. US Coins and Jewelry dot Com.
The Matthew Brothers, Kenny Many It's Matthew. It's Matthew Duncan
and Kenny Duncan. This is how tired I am. Their
father started it. Great guys. Every time I go in.
I was there last Thursday. I walked in. It's so

(49:19):
funny seeing people with these wheelbarrows in these suitcases of
them lugging in all of their coin collection because they
know US Coins and Joy are going to give them
the most honest and best deals when they're buying their coins.
You can sell your stuff, buy your stuff, gold, jewelry.
I spent a good solid twenty minutes looking at all

(49:41):
our rolex watches. That's where I get my Rolexes. I
buy one, I resell it, I get another one. They
must have for guys, I don't know, four dozen different Rolexes. Women.
You were there too. They got a whole line of
women Jelry do check them out US Coins and Jewelry
dot com. Folks. They have a heart and I can't
wait till their new new showroom opens up here in

(50:04):
a few months. And so just a little shout out
for them in case you need extra money. I don't
know just I would. I would advise doing that by
selling your jewelry, getting quotes your coins. Also then doing
it on eBay, certainly if you're in the Houston area,
because it's it's nice to see people and do deals
with them over here. I saw this for there's a

(50:25):
for team drivers. Who's got teens and who and they drive.
I'm past that stage. I have three boys that are
all in the well. They are two in their twenties
and ones in their early thirties. I remember teaching my
kids to drive, and it was, uh, it's it's not
for the faint of heart, but not with their their

(50:46):
responsible drivers. They all have their own and they pay
for their own car insurance. Hopefully they don't need it,
but it's make sure you have a car insurance. People.
My middle one, when he was sixteen is tell me,
pairarents out there, did your kids have apathy when it
came to getting their driver's license. Because my middle son,
who is now twenty eight, I'm gonna go back twelve years,

(51:11):
he did not want to get his driver's license. He
turned sixteen and he could care or less if he
got his driver's license, not the point that his older
brother already had a driver's license. He didn't want it.
He was in no rush to go to text dot,
take his eye exam take it. He didn't, Uh mom,

(51:32):
and I had to force him to get his driver's license.
Just makes things easier at some point when your kids
are old enough to drive. When I was a kid, kids,
pull up a chair, because Uncle Garfy's going to tell
you way back when I got my driver's license on
my sixteenth birthday. It was a weekday and my mom

(51:57):
pulled me out of school. Thank you. And I think
we may have been the first in line at that Dallas,
tex Dot Apartment Transportation to get my driver's license. Man,
is that the coolest thing ever as a teenager? Well,
it was second coolest thing is getting your own landline.
And again I'm going back to the eighties, my friends,

(52:19):
that was pretty cool. We wanted our driver's license, We
needed our driver's kids. I'm not gonna say all kids today,
but that and I bring this up. That was a
long story to segue that your teen drivers may no
longer need to get their driver's license because, for one,

(52:41):
do they uber anywhere? Because when you have these car
sharing services, there's a minimum age. There are services where
younger kids, teenagers or sometimes even younger, they can use
car sharing services, some that are vetted, some that their
parents are prove move obviously they're on their parents credit

(53:01):
cards and PayPal's accounts or whatever. But now here's another service, Wamo.
If you're not familiar with Wamo. Wamo is a car
sharing service. Oh it's it's a car sharing service on steroids.
It's a self driving car sharing service. There's no drivers.
You can order Waimo vehicles through the Uber app. They're

(53:22):
in Austin, they're being tested. There's some in Uston, some
in San Antonio, I believe, some in Dallas. All my
listening areas right now, you may see these driverless cars
and they're freakidiki the first time you see them. Wamo
has just launched and just announced that teen drivers are
going to be able to book Wamo's. On one hand,

(53:45):
you may think this is safer because well, there's no drivers,
and maybe some of the issues that you, maybe you
personally have getting into a right sharing service is because
you don't want to be a rounded driver. Maybe you
are a little intament. Have the anxiety totally understandable. Well,
now there's no driver you. Now we're gonna have another

(54:07):
type of anxiety. Okay, I don't need to worry about
a driver doing something kind of odd or weird. Now
you gotta worry about freaking AI getting you to point
B where you want to go. Right. But I'm thinking
about this and the first thing that I realized is Okay,
now teens are gonna be able to do this? Is
this further going to escalate that teams will not be

(54:29):
getting their driver's license when they are sixteen or when
they are eligible for it. I want you to think
about that phone number here. Let's debate three four six
twenty nine Texan. Let's debate Michael at high Tech Texan
dot com. Michael garfieldiheartmedia dot com. I think about these
things because tech is the biggest paradigm shift that we

(54:49):
live in now. I mean, and again, I'm dating myself
of my age, and then I know generally the demographics
of my audience. Yes, you're around my age and certainly older.
But you know, the paradigm shift is wait a minute,
we actually have these cell phones, so we don't need
to be stuck in an office or a home that
have a landline. We actually can move around and talk
on the phone and text and whatever. Yeah, it's good

(55:13):
paradigm shift. Cars have gotten so much safer. Yes, they
have cameras that will help you back up and beep
when you think you're about to have an accident. And
they also do have artificial intelligence to actually, you know,
take not only take your foot off the gas, which
is cruise control, but take your hands off the wheel
which is like super crews when it comes to GM cars.

(55:36):
So now we have self driving ride sharing services and
we can talk about parents or do you trust these
things not only for your kids? Do trust them for yourself?
But this is with the technology, and this is the
type of things. I am fine with it. Sometimes I
talk about these and I give rhetorical answers. Personally, I'm

(55:57):
fine with ride sharing services. It was a phenomenal, phenomenal
paradigm shift unless you owned Yellow Taxi. I knew a
guy actually who owns the Yellow tax of the taxi
franchise in Houston. He was not happy with Uber back
in the day. Nowadays you travel, you don't even think
of getting a taxi. You just whip out your Uber app,

(56:17):
your Lift app, your way Mo app, or whatever app
that you have. It's it was a paradigm And I
will tell you I'm gonna close it on this. I
get asked a lot, you know, I need to have
these dito tech experts type of thing. What was the
biggest paradigm shift heart of using ride sharing apps and
ride sharing services? And I'll tell you what it was.

(56:40):
Was it the ability to use an app to contact
and hail a cab or hail a car ride sharing services. No,
not really. We all knew how to dial yellow cab.
What is it something something something one one one one, Okay,
we pick up the phone. Hey, I need a cab
at this address. Okay. Yes, it's a little more tedious
than going on your app and just using your GPS,

(57:02):
but it was relatively easy to get a type of vehicle,
so that wasn't the paradigm shift. The paradigm shift for
me was the payment. The paradigm shift for me was
the app of the Ubers of the world and the
lifts of the world, and the Wayma's of the world
that in one app, not only can you have it
locate your GPS to know exactly where you are, you

(57:24):
then put in your destination so you do not have
to tell the driver where you're going. He or she
already knows where you're going. But it's the when you
get to your destination, you open the door, you get out,
and you close the door. One of the things that
I hated in taxis getting out hoping I had cash
because they did not take credit cards back in the day.

(57:46):
And then you figure out how much to tip, and
then you're embarrassed. Did I tip them and not? It
was the payment, the ease of payment, the automatic payment,
which is why I think it was so easily acceptible
and adaptable to people using That was my thinking of
the box of why that paradigm shift worked. Well, you
may be wrong. What are the paradigm shifts?

Speaker 1 (58:08):
Have?

Speaker 2 (58:08):
Are out there streaming services that we can go on
or not? I am here for you. Michael Garfield is
the name three four six twenty nine text and as
we continue the high Tech text and show. Depending on

(58:38):
what time of day and what day actually you are
listening to this, you may be hungry right now. It
is up to me, Michael Garfield right here on the
High Tech dexts and show too. Maybe give you a
little recommendation. If you happen to be in an area
that has a Hobbo Bobs go unless it's Sunday. You're
listening to this on a repeater a podcast. They're not

(59:00):
open on Sunday. But that's not the point is Cabo
Bobs and I talked about them last week. I've talked
about it for a year. Uh, unbelievable. You go through
the line, it is fast, casual, You watch them, you
get to the front of the line. Yes, it's tex
mex You imagine you're down in Cabo. You know fish, tacos,
fish burritos, fish bowls, whatever they do, great fish, fried fish.

(59:21):
They also have chicken. They also have steak. They've cooked
them on a camata joe that they take the care
they smoke them. It's phenomenal. But you can pick your
own tortillas. You've got your buttermilk. You've got the ancho chili.
You've got five different flavors that you can watch them
freshly press and heat them up. You can make a casadia.
You can get the greatest double thick chips with queso
you've ever had in your life. But I talked about

(59:42):
last week one of the co founders of Cabo Bobs
and they're based in Austin and they have several locations
at Austin. One of the co founders is from the Kerr,
Texas and Kurville Kerr Hunt Kerr County Curville area. They
quickly went into action last Saturday. All of their profits
last Saturday of them went directly to the flood victims

(01:00:02):
in the Hill Country. Happy to say they raised over
thirty three thousand dollars one day, actually with half a
day that they were open. Good went directly to the
Hill Cube. And that's just that's what I love about
those folks. It's a wonderful place too to work, Number one.
If it's a wonderful place to be an employee. I
know their entire management system, how they're how they were created.

(01:00:23):
The founder topped about them. They're wonderful. So much so
they say, Michael, I love you talking about us. Why
don't you give away some gift cards to some lucky winners.
I'll tell you what right now, got a twenty five
dollars gift card to Cobo Bob's that you can use
every day of the week except Sunday. Color number ten
seven one three two one two five nine five. Oh,

(01:00:44):
that's a special number two one two, five nine five Oh,
caller number ten. You're going to get a twenty five
dollars gifted gift card to Cobo Boba. Cobobob's four locations
in Houston, six at least locations in Austin. I went
to two locations at Austin earlier this week, and I
was there one in San Antonio and Dallas. Sucks for you,
but they need. Hopefully they'll they'll be there soon. But

(01:01:05):
it's almost worth driving to Austin or Houston. Actually try
some of these kaba obs. It is that good and
they're just they're really community based and the food is great. Stop.
We have a winner. We have a winner, win a
chicken burrito dinner. Thank you to Arnold Rios, Lori Rios
Silas their son. It's great to Kabo Bob's family. They
do so much and uh, they f they've they're they're
they're going to feed a lot of people there are

(01:01:26):
they're currently even though they they they're fundraising efforts from
the public. Was over last week. They're curring donating a
lot of food to the first responders in the the
Central Texas area. They do great. They do great. Two
uses they have it. They have a Instagram account and
I follow them on Instagram. They follow me on Instagram
and I I tag them all the time. Every time I,

(01:01:48):
you know, go through the line and I watch it
make burritos, and I sit there and I I start yelling,
there's no way you're gonna the fold and roll that burrito.
You've overstuffed it. And they laugh, and sure enough they
make it. Look like a torpedo. It's so big. Coabo Bob's.
I don't know if Kabo Bob's has a TikTok account.
I don't have a TikTok account, but it's probably the
only big social media that I do not have just

(01:02:09):
for whatever reason, I don't have a TikTok account. If
you have a TikTok account, this is where I'm going
with this. You may have to switch to a new
version if you are in the United States. Saw a
report that suggests due to the forced sale or the
law that could go into effect once again to ban

(01:02:31):
TikTok because it is a China owned company, that company
being Byte Dance with servers based in China, and our
government apparently things that China could still steal all our
secrets of where we're going to buy burritos and what
kind of dance we're doing on TikTok. They're ordering that
thes that China sell it to a US based company

(01:02:54):
or do something. This is something new that I heard though.
Maybe by Dance could build a US only version of
the TikTok app, and so much so what I'm reading
this is according to the information, that's what it's called.
I have no clue what the information is. It's a
rumor website. I don't know that byte Dance is already

(01:03:15):
building a US only version of the TikTok app that
is going to release on September fifth. Hey, happy Labor
Day people, You're going to have to switch to a
whole new version of TikTok. Have no clue whether all
of your followers are going to follow I switch over.
I have to assume they are. And this may be

(01:03:36):
a loophole or reason that byte Dance could keep or
partially own, or they're just going to spin off something
in the US. I actually have to think about it.
That's actually not a bad idea. Now, if they can
prove that this is a US only version of the app,
that the servers are based in US and they are

(01:03:57):
locked down to US only, I'm cool with that. Didn't
have to be sold to a US company. I mean,
we use so many things that are built in China,
based in China. Most all of your apps were developing China.
Most all of your technology year right now, we're developed
and then built and shipped over from China many other countries.

(01:04:18):
It was June that Trumpet said there was a buyer
in place for TikTok's US operations. Remember that there was
a quote group of very wealthy people unquote they're set
to buy the app. We'll know in about two weeks.
Now I know why they call it TikTok. TikTok. Haven't

(01:04:39):
heard anything about it, mister president. What's going on? Bubba? Yes?
I know you have other things to deal with, but
there are people who are very concerned about TikTok. People
make a living on TikTok. My son, my youngest son,
he's an influencer. Got a lot of followers on TikTok
when it went down temporarily was it last January for
a day or two right around the inauguration? He lost

(01:05:01):
some money. A lot of people, you know, they have
their TikTok stores type of thing. Maybe maybe work around
a US based version. He speaking of another app. Here's
an app that I've never used. Callum, you're single, right, Callum?
Read over here? Do you ever do any online dating apps?
Do you ever do the hinge bumble? What do they
call tender? Is that another one? Now? You don't do that?

(01:05:23):
I don't do this tender e? How was first one? Is?
That the one you swipe left, swipe right, swipe up,
swipe down. Everybody swipe. I don't know. This is funny.
Tender has started testing a new feature that allows people
who pay for the app. So I guess it's there's

(01:05:45):
a free freemium, there's a free version, and there's a
premium version. I don't know. There's a tender. If you
pay for the app, you can filter potential matches based
on height based on the high of I guess how
tall you are, or how tall or how short you

(01:06:05):
want your potential match to be. And I say this
here because I'm I'm reading article that it sparked discussion
online about the challenges short men face while dating. Okay,
I'm trying to have a straight face here because I
feel you my altitude challenge. Brothers. I'm not making fun

(01:06:31):
because according to some I may be short. If you
are an NBA player, I am short. I am six
feet tall. Right at six feet tall if you measure
my hair, probably pushing six to one. I think that's
a decent height, do you. I don't know, Calum, You're
you're tall, but you're you're almost my height, if not
taller than that, right, and you've got along hair too.

(01:06:56):
I mean, I see where the challenge and just so
I don't use that dating app and stuff. I all
my but I guess i'd do it generically. Not that
I really want to, and I'm sick of it, but
all my buddies like, hey man, I want to just
set you up with somebody. I'm with a guy with
a buddy of mine two years ago, and he said, oh,

(01:07:19):
I have an idea. I know some girl that you'd
be perfect or like that. So he sits there and
he texts her, I mean, this is embarrassing in front
of me. Hey, got a potential guy I want you
to meet. Her response didn't know, he didn't say my name,
didn't say me her first response, and he laughed and
he showed me the text. I'm not kidding you. How
tall is he? And my buddy and I we were like, what,

(01:07:42):
that's an odd question? Why would she shoot back with that?
Turns out and he knew this, but he never put
to two and two together. She was a former volleyball player.
She was right at six feet tall. Now that's relatively
tall for a female. She wanted to know and make
sure that I guess whoever she went out what was
also of height? End of the day I did not

(01:08:02):
go out with or not? The point that I'm trying
over here? Does heith matter? Ladies? Open phone lines. My
name is Michael, it's my real hair, I don't color it,
and I'm six feet tall and I got all the
tech you need. Why this is called on air dating?
What am I doing? Why haven't I created an on
air app? Phone number is three four six two nine

(01:08:25):
eight three nine two dudes, and listen this last time.
I'm gonna give you the number. We only have one
more segment. You could disguise your voice if you are
height challenge. Maybe you've got a little I don't know.
You know you're not sure of yourself because of your
eight Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

(01:08:45):
That now if you have a if you paid on tender,
you can either hot. Don't lie on your app. I
can't imagine. The worst thing is do is you tell
somebody you're you're six' one and you show up and
you're like five four or five. Seven i'm guessing the
date's not going. Well i'm guessing it's not going. On
where DO i? Know don't take my dating ADVICE i

(01:09:06):
haven't been made in thirteen, years But i'll say becoming
Out Michael garfield it the High Tech Tech we did.

(01:09:27):
It we made it to the final segment of this
week's High Tech texans. Show thank you And. Michael this
is the Name Michael, garfield and you know behalf of
everybody who Is i've been a part of this. Show right,
Now Callum reid and will thank you so. Much Brian,
erickson he's the program director at many of The iHeartRadio
stations all over this heart the talk stations across the

(01:09:50):
state Of. Texas we've Got Paul, Lambert Eddie martine who
runs all of The iHeart stations across this. Region some,
reason they've kept me on air for twenty three. Years thank.
Them but IF i didn't have, LISTENERS i didn't have
people who downloaded the old, podcast Did iHeart. Radio i'm
getting for glamp right. Now thank you for doing, that
and especially in times like.

Speaker 1 (01:10:10):
THIS i.

Speaker 2 (01:10:13):
Don't take WHAT i do for. Grant well SOMETIMES i
do take it for, granted and hopefully you don't take
me for. GRANTED i try to prepare as many consumer lifestyle, products,
reviews ideas and try to put it together in an entertaining,
way but in weeks like this that are so tough
that what happened to us In, Texas Central, texas the,
floods the, tragedy the, devastation the worldwide, news the life

(01:10:38):
altering situations that so many families and communities are going
to have to live with for the rest of their,
lives of missing loved, ones rebuilding their, homes relocating their.
Homes it's tough and for me to have an outlet
to help you in this, CASE i spent the first

(01:11:00):
hour of this show talking about emergency preparedness items that
you now should think, of not just for hurricane, season
not for tornado season up in The North texas, area
now for, floods what you should have in your, car
what you should have in your. HOUSE i hope it helped,
you but truthfully it's helped. Me i've been able to

(01:11:25):
talk and share maybe my experiences at one, time how
CLOSE i was toward, tornado the hurricane warnings that over
the past thirty years That i've been living in The
houston area have gone. Through when the electricity goes, out
WHAT i. Do i'm fortunate compared to so many others
That I'VE i haven't lost a house a family member to,

(01:11:51):
tragedy but it can happen to anybody in a. Second
so for me to share these, stories it's kind of
it's cathartic for. ME i feel it's my duty as
An Eagle scout THAT i have been for what forty
almost fifty, years forty seven or forty eight years That

(01:12:11):
i've been An Eagle, scout AND i continue to tell
people about emergency preparedness tips on all the merit badges
THAT i. Got BUT i happen to have a you,
know fifty thousand watt radio station In San, antonio five
thousand watt radio station In houston and also In, dallas
and a large listening audience across The iHeart radio, NETWORK

(01:12:35):
tv viewing. Audiences, REGULARLY i am On Great Day houston
ON cbs weekday. Mornings In, AUSTIN i will Be Austin monday.
Morning Every, Monday i'm On fox seven And austin and
this Coming, MONDAY i will be bringing in some ideas
of what to put in your emergency. Kit from a tech, standpoint,

(01:12:55):
yes but also from almost a common sense. Point even
if you have seen it or heard me talk about
it or heard your neighbors talk about it dozens and
dozens of, times and you're, saying, oh, YEAH i already
have a first day, kid already have. Batteries doesn't matter
IF i caused you to go look at that emergency
kit and check it, twice refresh the, batteries put some

(01:13:17):
more cans of, tuna jars of peanut, butter bottles of
water in. THERE i did my job at least share
with your. Family, hey, kids, mom, dad, grandma this is
where our emergency kid. Is this is where it is
in the. Car that's you got to keep your head
on this wivel because you never Know mother. Nature she'd

(01:13:39):
come fast and she come. Hard AND i just hope
everybody is. There in terms of, TECH i saw this
And i'm gonna follow this certainly much closer in the
next two weeks or. So as you, know when hurricanes come,
in tornadoes come, in they can knock down cell phone,
towers makes it almost impossible for your cell phone to.
Work certainly the data to get. Out always make sure

(01:14:02):
you text instead of call because texts sometimes can go
through much faster satellite. Service believe it or, not to
your cell phone is coming to fruition and you, actually
whether or not you want, to you can Thank Elon
musk and you can think one of his companies Called.
Starlink starlink has been announced a. Startlink there's a lot

(01:14:23):
of airlines who Use starlink. ALREADY i Know United airlines
has been Testing starlink and that's going to be more
prevalent and when they roll those things out on. Planes right,
now you can get Actually internet service Via, STARLINK i,
think certainly from a commercial. USE i know my boys
over At gringos Text mechs In. Houston they just open
their location In tomball AND i was talking To, joey
THEIR it. Guy they they're so far out there they

(01:14:44):
got they Got. Starlink they put this thing on top
of their. Roof you, know it's about one foot by
one foot and they aim it up in the sky
and they're bringing in really fast internet. Speeds it's actually
coming to phone service right. NOW T mobile they are
are launching it with the partnership Of, starlink And starlink
is a division of. SpaceX you know SpaceX with the

(01:15:05):
line uses as, rockets but as a satellite. Service apparently
it's launching in about a week or Two july twenty,
third and it's an alliance that's gonna give you direct
to sell messaging. Service, now it's funny that they had
a partnership WITH T, mobile but it's also going to
be available ON at AND t And verizon cell phone.
CUSTOMERS T mobile is going to be CALLED T, satellite

(01:15:26):
and pretty much the goal is really to eliminate those
mobile dead zones for. Good they're. Gone there are six
hundred and fifty Seven starlink. Satellites they're gonna be used
exclusively for cell phone. SERVICE i KNOW T. Mobile they've
been beta testinies probably for the past six seven. Months
one point eight million users so far have signed. Up

(01:15:47):
if you are, interested log on to your data and
cell phone carrier and you may be able to sign. Up,
CERTAINLY i know you could do it WITH T. Mobile
it may be a. Cost it may be ten dollars
a month or so if you're eight AND T, verizon,
obviously depending on what package you. Have if you can
have it all you can, eat, all you can talk,
service it may. Be but these satellites there are more

(01:16:09):
than seven thousand total Low earth orbit, satellites which means
they're not far up in. Orbit and they relay. Things
and so if you get out and you have a
clear shot of the, sky now your cell phone may
have access to send nine to one one in emergency.
Services these are the things AS i wind up the

(01:16:30):
show right, now this is the type of things THAT
i love talking. ABOUT i love, promoting AND i love
letting you know because in times of, need in times of,
emergency they can help. You maybe this one day is
going to replace the typical land tower cell phone based,
things which obviously are prone to have, outages electricity, outages

(01:16:51):
and certainly in. Storms we don't want to live through this.
Again for all of you listening who have been affected
by the floods in The Central, TEXAS i pray for.
You i'm thinking about. You IF i can do, anything
IF i can provide you information or provide you, links
hoop me an, email go to my Website High Tech
texting dot, com H I G H T s huxam dot.
Com continue to, listening listen to the podcast for some

(01:17:14):
of my tips emergency. PREPAREDNESS i just pray this earth
and this world is gonna get better for all of,
this because right, now in the middle of the, summer
in the middle of the heat and the middle of
all this. Oppression just sometimes it's just it's tough to
find a self reliving. There but you got a friend
not only in, me all of us here At, iHeartRadio
all MY tv, stations all the. Media hopefully a lot

(01:17:34):
of the media that you listen to and rely on
doesn't care about. YOU i know in this, case this
guy actually, Guys i'm a happy everybody who's been a
part of this show for twenty three. Years we continue
to do. It my name Is Michael, garfield AND i
do thank. You they see you next. Week stay, safe stay,
dry because right now my show is. Over