January 10, 2025 • 31 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's that time, time, time, luck and load.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
So Michael Arry Show is on the air. Ah, yes,
that means it's Friday, and boy did we ever need it.
But week it's been. Let's take a moment right where
(00:31):
you are, right in this place. Every head bowed, every no,
just let this.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Wash the.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Happy d.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Happy d.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
When Jos war? Wheny war? When Jos.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Sheels away? Love happy day or happy de happy or
happy day?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
When Jesu's war, Oh many wars, when Jesu's war.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Sheel the way he loved. It's a happy day, happy.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Or a happy de winter those wars far? Oh Whenny
wars Whindy, there's a war fun Fred away.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
He gave me a lot o happy day, happy, oh,
(03:22):
happy dead, happy day? Oh happy happy?
Speaker 4 (04:43):
When Jesus war?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Oh wait it w was.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
When g those war.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Three its away? He needed to up? Oh good gun.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Oh yes it's Friday. It's open lines. We've been talking
about the wildfires on the evening show, not so much
on the morning. But if you have thoughts on that
or anything else, this is your time to call. If
you didn't get in on Elvis or the naming stories,
you may get in on that. Now it is open line.
(05:34):
I will not question why you've called about a particular topic.
If you've called, you get on seven one three nine
nine nine one thousand, seven one three nine nine nine
one thousand and how to get us started as we
always do, courtesy of the greatest executive producer in all
the land, Chattikoni Nakanishi. You're a week in New as
(05:54):
a we willy kid. I remember thinking that at some
point in my life what I was meant to do.
I was going to be on State and I was
going to enter the stage to Elvis's introies, which, of course,
as you know, is what we use. I didn't know
what I was going to do. I was going to
be on State, and I was going to enter to
Elvis as Elvis would do, And here we are. The
(06:16):
US Congress convened this afternoon to certify Donald Trump's election
victory in November.
Speaker 5 (06:21):
Vice President Harris, carrying out her duties and what The
New York Times called an awkward task of certifying the
vote that she lost.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Donald J.
Speaker 6 (06:29):
Trump of the state of Florida has received three hundred
and twelve votes.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
Kamala D. Harris of the state of California has received
two hundred and twenty six votes.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Kamala Harris achieved her greatest accomplishment the certification of the election. Boy,
was that a beautiful moment?
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Or what?
Speaker 6 (06:48):
Massive wildfires in La County raging out of control, thousands evacuated,
an estimated fifty billion.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Dollars in debt, no water in the hydrants seventeen point
six million, and caught from the fire department.
Speaker 6 (07:01):
Do you, oh, citizen's an apology for being absent while
their homes were burning?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Have you nothing to say today?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Firefighters are one of those things you don't think about
and you shouldn't need to till you need them. You've
ever been in a situation where you had to write
a check and had absolutely no clue how to do it?
Don't worry, You're not alone, you know. I really do
wonder if my kids know that there's such a thing
as a checkbook. Before, if you wanted to give me money,
you would pull out this is in a booklet. In
(07:27):
the top right you put the date, and you'd write
in the numbers, and then on the next line you
would spell it out. That would get people kind of confused.
And then on the bottom left you could put it
what it was for, but you would probably end up
regretting that.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
The friends because bizarre is on.
Speaker 6 (08:19):
Well done, sir, this is the Michael Berry shows, little
titles riazy.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Day to the phone lines we go, Jerry, I've been
past a note that you are working the wildfires? Is
that correct, sir?
Speaker 6 (08:43):
That is correct. I drive a water tender and I'm
in Malibu right now, which is the staging point just
outside of Pacific Palisades where the majority of the houses
were burnt that I know about.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
And so you're in Malibu and then you will head
down into the fires today.
Speaker 6 (09:04):
Correct, It's only about fifteen to twenty minutes away.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah, yeah, no, I know that area. I have a
friend that we used to go visit that's just off
the pch in Malibu. Beautiful, beautiful community. My goodness? Is
that a glorious community? Is this what you do full time?
Speaker 6 (09:26):
Pretty much? I do disasters, but during the summertime. Yeah,
I drive the tenders and they send me all. I've
been through Western the Western US, we go all over.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
So yes, and so when, so what exactly does the
tender do? Explain this process to me?
Speaker 6 (09:45):
How what you do?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Worse?
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Okay?
Speaker 6 (09:49):
I have a tanker truck carries three thousand gallons, and
we go to a seeing and we find a fire hydrant.
We fill up our tank, and they assign us to
like a strike force, which is several engines, and we
go to wherever those engines are going and we fill
(10:12):
them up and then they empty their because they only
have like five hundred gallons seven hundred gallons in their engines,
so they go through that with their hoses pretty darn quick.
So we go supply them and then when they're filled
and we go do several more and then when we're empty,
we go down the hill or to wherever the nearest
fire hydrant is and we fill back up and go.
(10:33):
So basically, the fire engines stay on the scene working
and putting out the fires, and we're the ones suttling
water back and forth so they never run out.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
And where are you getting this water from?
Speaker 6 (10:46):
Just any of the fire hydrants that's available.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Oh okay, so you pull it from the fire hydrants correct.
Speaker 6 (10:53):
And sometimes we have to go drafting, you know, depending
on where the location is. You know, we draft is
when you go to a lake, a reservoir or something
and you pump out I pump out the water myself.
But most of the time we do resime fire hydrants.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
And where these fire hydrants in LA? Are you having
to go outside because those are overworked?
Speaker 6 (11:16):
No, these are in LA. But yes they were overworked.
And the farther up the hill you went, the less
the pressure got.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
So how many gallons on your truck three thousand and
how long does it take? What's the what's the rate
you can pull that water out and fill that truck up?
Speaker 6 (11:38):
Now, of course that's the big variable. It can take
me at this fire. The worst time, it took me
a good twenty or twenty five minutes. When I have
good pressure, it's a good ten minutes. And it depends,
of course on what hydrates you're pulling from.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
And that sentence because.
Speaker 6 (12:04):
Oh it's too many straws are pulling from the water
from the hydrants. Oh because why there's less pressure. Yes,
this is the first time I run into the situation
where there has not been sufficient pressure.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
So I want you to be king. I want you
to be king for a moment, Jerry, And you don't
have political considerations. You can just do what's best to
maximize the benefit for the most number of people, even
if you make some people very angry. What is within
the realm of possibility that, in your mind, could be
(12:39):
done to have minimized the problems at the start or
now to do the most good.
Speaker 6 (12:49):
It's such an easy fix, it's mind boggling. All you
have to do is assign one water tender to every
strike team, which is basically like three engines. And when
that strike team gets called out, the water tender goes
(13:10):
with them, and those guys can stay working all the time.
And if there's less if they don't have enough water,
then the tender runs down, finds the water and brings
it back up to them. So all they have to
do is working on stop.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
M And who do you work?
Speaker 6 (13:28):
Very simple thing.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Who?
Speaker 6 (13:30):
Actually I don't want to see.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
I don't want to see the name of I mean,
are you Are you with a governmental entity or a
private provider?
Speaker 6 (13:37):
No, I'm a private We're a private company. We do
have contracts with cal Fire and the US Forest Service
and we get called say come on down. So case
in point, for this specific fire, my general manager called
me up Tuesday morning and said, this looks like it's
(13:58):
going to be a big fire. Get ready. So I
loaded up my truck everything was set, and at eight
o'clock at night, I got the call and they said,
be it zoom a beach in Los Angeles at seven
in the morning. Well, I'm only three hours away from
where I live in our shop is three hours away.
(14:20):
I took off at eight o'clock and I was down
here Tuesday night at eleven o'clock. And my sister lives
in the Palisades, so I went straight to her house.
There was six engines in that whole complex where she
was at, and they were fighting fire, of course, and
(14:40):
I pulled on up there first day. They said you
got water, I go. I certainly do, and I filled
them up and I spent the whole night doing that,
even though I wasn't on duty. And that is what
was needed because they just sat there and put out
They saved one house, that's all they could do. But
they were putting out the embers as much as they could,
(15:02):
and you know, that was basically what it was. They
had no water, and I got there last and I
was the only water tender there, so that whole night.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Well, so there again we had this problem with centerpoint Energy,
or center Pointless as we call him. In Houston, where
the leader is from PG and E. He came from
PG and E out here where it's it's a question
of a lack of a battle plan for when these
contingencies happened. It sounds like, you know, everybody's running around frantic.
(15:33):
They should have had their contract with you and it
should be a plan that they execute so when this happens,
they already knew what to do, so that they had
you on the phone far earlier, because obviously you were
ready to step up and serve. Thank you for the call, Jerry.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Well, well, well, lucky you. The Michael Ferry Show continues.
Your lucky day.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
I got seven three, nine nine, one thousand Irene in Leadville, Texas.
You're on the Michael Berry Show. Go ahead.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
Now, morning, mister Barry.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
How are you fantastic? Sweety? Go ahead?
Speaker 5 (16:16):
Okay. So we went to Vegas for Christmas and stayed
at the Westgate Resort, and the Westgate Resort kind of
makes everything a tribute to Elvis Presley. So I'm forty
five years old. I took my fourteen year old son
and so on Christmas Day, I thought, you know what
would be better than to take him to some kind
(16:36):
of Elvis tribute concert, and I've been to several Elvis
concerts in Vegas over several years. Right, good ones, bad ones, whatever.
I have got to tell you. I need for you
to go to Vegas and go to the Alexis Resort.
It's this tiny casino behind the MGM. There's a guy
(16:57):
there named Travis Allen and he is uncanny. He looks
just like the younger Elvis and his mannerisms are off
the charts. And the only reason why I think it's
valid to tell you this is because he had two
backup singers and one of the guys was playing guitar.
(17:20):
That guy must be around like eighty years old, right,
But when I looked at that guy playing that guitar,
the way he was staring at Travis Allen to where
it was like he was taken back in time, it
was as if he was performing for the King himself.
And that's when I knew, Wow, that's the guy. That's
(17:42):
the Elvis guy, and I would just I would love
for you to check him out and tell me your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I will do that. Can you give me the location again?
Speaker 5 (17:54):
Yes, Alexis Resort and the performer is Travis Allen, Because
there's another Elvis that goes there as well, but it's Travis.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Allen And how did you know to check this out?
Speaker 5 (18:08):
I did just a YELP review, right, I said, oh,
let me check out the Elvis with the latest Elvis one, right,
And then I saw all these reviews and they were like, oh,
this guy's great, They're okay fine, and he was available
on Christmas, so, you know, just for fun of it,
took my son and he saw him, We saw him perform,
and my son was just blown away because when we
went back to the Westgate Resort, when you enter through
(18:28):
the hotel lobby, there's a huge picture of Elvis and
that guy is like, I can't like exact resemblance. It's
so crazy.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
That's interesting.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
That's a great show.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Because usually a show like you're talking about is what's
called a tribute, which is where they perform as them
and you're it's intended to sound like them and they're
dressed like them, but they rarely they don't, you know,
they're not a spitting image. And then you get the
folks right that dress up like them. But yeah, yeah,
(19:03):
I will check that out. Ramone and I and our
wives are going to be Russell of Borrow's guest, February
twenty second. I believe in Vegas because they want to
see the last show of You two, which I want
to see the Sphere, But they're excited to see the
to see I guess it's the last show of U two,
(19:26):
although they keep saying it's the last show, and then
everybody goes in there. It's like the Rolling Stones reunion
tour and then they do one more. But I'm sorry,
the Eagles, not You two. Yeah, okay, so it's supposed
to be the Eagles last show. But I'm excited to
see the sphere. I think that's going to be cool
and I will make sure that I see it when
I go. Where are you from irene.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
Neville, Texas?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
You grew up in Needville?
Speaker 5 (19:50):
No, I moved there from Katie. I grew up around Shagillian.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
You don't sound like you're from sugar Lean.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
I think I've spent I look. Needel is a very
welcoming town, and and you know I spent a lot.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Of Where are your parents from there?
Speaker 5 (20:07):
My mom's still a Pino, my dad's Mexican.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Okay, so you had an accent at home? Okay, that
that makes sense. What do you do.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
I'm a digital marketing manager for exceon Mobile and so
what does.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
That mean bring what kind of digital marketing are you?
Is that on the retail side?
Speaker 5 (20:28):
No? Digital marketing for the chemical website?
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Right?
Speaker 5 (20:31):
So anything that involving the website and all our social channels,
pay channels, campaigns, things of that nature.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
And what are they That's not an exchange, right, They're
not buying the chemicals off of that website. What what's
going on on that website?
Speaker 5 (20:46):
No, it's more of a it's an awareness, right, It's
kind of it's a B to B right, So we
present our product portfolio and yeah, it's a B to B.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
And are you more of a marketing person, a wordsman
or are you a coder programmer?
Speaker 5 (21:03):
What what the technical Yes? Quoting and programming for the website.
It's on the technical site.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
And how did you learn to do that?
Speaker 5 (21:12):
I graduated from Baylor University in two thousand and one
with computer science degree and have just gone up in
the industry since then.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
How many would you guess what percentage of people who
do what you do are Hispanic women?
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (21:29):
Very little maybe not probably twenty percent or less, very little,
you know, Yeah, it could be because you know, either
you love coding or you don't. There's not really put me.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
In the don't category. Actually that's not fair, put me
in the cant I will tip my hat to you.
I am not a technical person. I'm glad we have
technical people in this world, but I am not one
of them. What made you interested as a young lady
in computer science?
Speaker 5 (22:03):
I loved Cody because you know, my dad was into
computers and I started building computers from the ground up.
There you go, that got me interested.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
So did dad work with computers or was that just
a hobby. It was a hobby interesting, And you're forty five,
so we're talking thirty plus years ago. He was into
computers at home. He was tinkering on them at home.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
You know, if people could understand, because I get a
pretty good broad set, and I ask a lot of questions,
and I hear people's stories of how they ended up
where they end up, if people could understand that the
likelihood that your children are going to go up and
grow up and what they do for a living is
going to have something to do with what you expose
them to. Whether that's what you do for a living
(22:51):
as a parent, or what you watch television about, or
who your next door neighborhood comes over and talks about,
or what but hobby you have that is more likely
going to have something to do. And for girls as
much as boys, I can't tell you how many times
a woman has told me that they became a commercial
(23:12):
pilot because their dad had a you know, a little
license and he was an engineer at work, and they
would go fly on the weekends, and she flew with
daddy and she fell in love with it, and otherwise
she would not have. But people don't typically just stumble
into doing what you're doing. They're exposed to that at home,
and you know, whether we want daddy's approval or whether
(23:34):
we're just interested in it because he's interested in it,
And somewhere along there it takes because it's not typical. Right,
that's probably not what I would guess, that's not what
any of your friends that you were growing up with
wanted to do when they grow up, nor did they
do when they grew up.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
No, and then especially being of the Filipino culture right
where you're supposed to be a nurse in the medical field.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Exactly, right, exactly, and there again, you're supposed to be
a nurse, because everybody else you know is a nurse.
We tend to gravitate toward fields of people around us
because that's what's comfortable with us. It's number one reason
people go to law school. He said, that is a
lawyer from Michael's brain, every single one of them.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
To your ears.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
This is the Michael Ferry Show.
Speaker 6 (24:35):
I thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Speaking of which University of Texas Longhorns play this evening
at six thirty Central. Please do not email me or
text me regarding the game, because I will be at
Crockett's game at exactly that time when we finish the
(25:03):
evening show, I will be racing to Crockett's game and
taping the Longhorn game and getting home and watching it
later tonight, which means, well, I don't know if you
call it taping anymore. I don't know what you're recording.
I don't know how you do that. I watch TV
on YouTube TV. Are you a YouTube TV person? Huh?
(25:25):
You're a Hulu person. Okay, well that's where I watch TV.
And so what I do is I just if I'm
able to tape it or record it, then you know
it's got to be easy, because I'm not good with
those sorts of things. But I am very much, very
much looking forward to this game. It's a good game.
Last night, you see that game last night, A very
(25:47):
good game. Tomorrow, January eleventh marks the thirty second anniversary
of the founding of Gringos tex mex And while a
lot of people have been so wonderful food over the years,
and that's a benefit, a lot of people have been
(26:07):
hired on for their first job. There's something to be
said for that, a quality. Huh, what what happened?
Speaker 5 (26:18):
No?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Founded that? No, No, they didn't found. No, it wasn't lost, No,
it was founded. It was created thirty two years ago
in Parland, the original. Now you got over twenty locations.
But you think about how many people, see you interrupted
me and I was trying to brag on our buddy.
How many people? How many memories have been shared? How
many birthdays have been celebrated, how many new hirings, closing
(26:42):
of deals, retirements, anniversaries. How many do you think about
within those walls? How many people that's a legacy. How
many people got their first job there. How many people
spent their entire careers there? How many people have bought
houses and cars and took care of other How many
people in the community were taken care of. I mean,
(27:03):
that's that's a big deal. Thirty two years in a
very very crowded environment. Crockett had a game up north
the other night. It was freezing cold, drove up there
to the game, got there early, and decided I would
eat before the game. And there was a little text
(27:24):
Mex joint right next to it, Jalisco or you never know,
sanluis put to see or it doesn't matter. Something right
in a little strip center and it's clearly a tex
Mex restaurant for white people by Mexicans who didn't didn't
get any training in tex Mex. And you know how
(27:44):
I know that? To start with, my rice was on
one end of the plate and my refried beans were
on the other. I will never understand why do people
separate the refried beans in the rice. I grew up
on White people owned tex Mex restaurants. And so there
(28:06):
is a certain Textmex flavor that appeals to my palate,
and that is that kind of grayish purple refried beans.
And it needs to be down and there needs to
have been a little bit of cheese that would put
over the top that kind of melts it, give it
a little color, right anyway, So I'm out at that
little place at least Go or whatever. They all have
(28:29):
the same name, and it just wasn't good. But I
realized then it's kind of like the guys say about fishing.
The worst tex mex Is still better than most everything else.
And then you go to a place like Gringoes and
you appreciate how good things really are, how nice it is.
(28:54):
And I go back to forty eight fifty two ten,
and I love that Russell has all his preset message
that was the rent on the first place he opened.
It was him and a cook, and the number one
thing was to stay alive, just survive for another month.
He had to meet the rent, which was forty eight
to fifty two to ten, and there had been three
restaurants that had opened and closed right before him at
(29:16):
that And Russell shared a quote with me the other
day he said price is only an issue if value
is absent. I don't know where he got that, but
you know it's true people that are obsessed on price,
And I have found this to be a to be
an issue if you're poor, and people will convince themselves
(29:38):
they are. But if you're truly poor and you cannot
afford anything and you go everything is how can I
spend one penny less? Fine? But ninety nine percent of
people who were price obsessed, that is not their issue.
I have come to learn. And this will offend some people,
and they're probably those people that pricing and money generally
(30:03):
is an obsession for people, not just rich people. You know,
there's this idea that that guy wears rich because all
he thinks about his money. I've seen it on the
other extreme with people for whom price and money is
a battle. They do not want the owner of the
shop to make a penny. That's to send food back.
Speaker 5 (30:24):
That is.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
You see these people. You see these crowds of people,
and it's a certain demographic, and it's a dining dash.
There'll be fifteen of them at a table and they're
fat as hogs, and they eat their big meal and
they drink all their drinks and then they each get
up and run out. Now, could they not afford the meal?
I don't know. I don't know if welfarreed hit or not,
(30:46):
but that is an idea that I'm gonna score one.
I'm gonna get it's a very selfish mindset. Those people
don't attach, you know, the way babies attach. Those people
don't attach as friendships. Everything for them is about saving money,
because money becomes an obsession in and of itself. And
I tell my show sponsors, you do not want price
(31:08):
conscious people as customers. You want value conscious people.
It's that time, time, time, luck and load.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
So Michael Arry Show is on the air. Ah, yes,
that means it's Friday, and boy did we ever need it.
But week it's been. Let's take a moment right where
(00:31):
you are, right in this place. Every head bowed, every no,
just let this.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Wash the.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Happy d.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Happy d.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
When Jos war? Wheny war? When Jos.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Sheels away? Love happy day or happy de happy or
happy day?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
When Jesu's war, Oh many wars, when Jesu's war.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Sheel the way he loved. It's a happy day, happy.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Or a happy de winter those wars far? Oh Whenny
wars Whindy, there's a war fun Fred away.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
He gave me a lot o happy day, happy, oh,
(03:22):
happy dead, happy day? Oh happy happy?
Speaker 4 (04:43):
When Jesus war?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Oh wait it w was.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
When g those war.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Three its away? He needed to up? Oh good gun.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Oh yes it's Friday. It's open lines. We've been talking
about the wildfires on the evening show, not so much
on the morning. But if you have thoughts on that
or anything else, this is your time to call. If
you didn't get in on Elvis or the naming stories,
you may get in on that. Now it is open line.
(05:34):
I will not question why you've called about a particular topic.
If you've called, you get on seven one three nine
nine nine one thousand, seven one three nine nine nine
one thousand and how to get us started as we
always do, courtesy of the greatest executive producer in all
the land, Chattikoni Nakanishi. You're a week in New as
(05:54):
a we willy kid. I remember thinking that at some
point in my life what I was meant to do.
I was going to be on State and I was
going to enter the stage to Elvis's introies, which, of course,
as you know, is what we use. I didn't know
what I was going to do. I was going to
be on State, and I was going to enter to
Elvis as Elvis would do, And here we are. The
(06:16):
US Congress convened this afternoon to certify Donald Trump's election
victory in November.
Speaker 5 (06:21):
Vice President Harris, carrying out her duties and what The
New York Times called an awkward task of certifying the
vote that she lost.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Donald J.
Speaker 6 (06:29):
Trump of the state of Florida has received three hundred
and twelve votes.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
Kamala D. Harris of the state of California has received
two hundred and twenty six votes.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Kamala Harris achieved her greatest accomplishment the certification of the election. Boy,
was that a beautiful moment?
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Or what?
Speaker 6 (06:48):
Massive wildfires in La County raging out of control, thousands evacuated,
an estimated fifty billion.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Dollars in debt, no water in the hydrants seventeen point
six million, and caught from the fire department.
Speaker 6 (07:01):
Do you, oh, citizen's an apology for being absent while
their homes were burning?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Have you nothing to say today?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Firefighters are one of those things you don't think about
and you shouldn't need to till you need them. You've
ever been in a situation where you had to write
a check and had absolutely no clue how to do it?
Don't worry, You're not alone, you know. I really do
wonder if my kids know that there's such a thing
as a checkbook. Before, if you wanted to give me money,
you would pull out this is in a booklet. In
(07:27):
the top right you put the date, and you'd write
in the numbers, and then on the next line you
would spell it out. That would get people kind of confused.
And then on the bottom left you could put it
what it was for, but you would probably end up
regretting that.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
The friends because bizarre is on.
Speaker 6 (08:19):
Well done, sir, this is the Michael Berry shows, little
titles riazy.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Day to the phone lines we go, Jerry, I've been
past a note that you are working the wildfires? Is
that correct, sir?
Speaker 6 (08:43):
That is correct. I drive a water tender and I'm
in Malibu right now, which is the staging point just
outside of Pacific Palisades where the majority of the houses
were burnt that I know about.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
And so you're in Malibu and then you will head
down into the fires today.
Speaker 6 (09:04):
Correct, It's only about fifteen to twenty minutes away.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah, yeah, no, I know that area. I have a
friend that we used to go visit that's just off
the pch in Malibu. Beautiful, beautiful community. My goodness? Is
that a glorious community? Is this what you do full time?
Speaker 6 (09:26):
Pretty much? I do disasters, but during the summertime. Yeah,
I drive the tenders and they send me all. I've
been through Western the Western US, we go all over.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
So yes, and so when, so what exactly does the
tender do? Explain this process to me?
Speaker 6 (09:45):
How what you do?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Worse?
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Okay?
Speaker 6 (09:49):
I have a tanker truck carries three thousand gallons, and
we go to a seeing and we find a fire hydrant.
We fill up our tank, and they assign us to
like a strike force, which is several engines, and we
go to wherever those engines are going and we fill
(10:12):
them up and then they empty their because they only
have like five hundred gallons seven hundred gallons in their engines,
so they go through that with their hoses pretty darn quick.
So we go supply them and then when they're filled
and we go do several more and then when we're empty,
we go down the hill or to wherever the nearest
fire hydrant is and we fill back up and go.
(10:33):
So basically, the fire engines stay on the scene working
and putting out the fires, and we're the ones suttling
water back and forth so they never run out.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
And where are you getting this water from?
Speaker 6 (10:46):
Just any of the fire hydrants that's available.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Oh okay, so you pull it from the fire hydrants correct.
Speaker 6 (10:53):
And sometimes we have to go drafting, you know, depending
on where the location is. You know, we draft is
when you go to a lake, a reservoir or something
and you pump out I pump out the water myself.
But most of the time we do resime fire hydrants.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
And where these fire hydrants in LA? Are you having
to go outside because those are overworked?
Speaker 6 (11:16):
No, these are in LA. But yes they were overworked.
And the farther up the hill you went, the less
the pressure got.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
So how many gallons on your truck three thousand and
how long does it take? What's the what's the rate
you can pull that water out and fill that truck up?
Speaker 6 (11:38):
Now, of course that's the big variable. It can take
me at this fire. The worst time, it took me
a good twenty or twenty five minutes. When I have
good pressure, it's a good ten minutes. And it depends,
of course on what hydrates you're pulling from.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
And that sentence because.
Speaker 6 (12:04):
Oh it's too many straws are pulling from the water
from the hydrants. Oh because why there's less pressure. Yes,
this is the first time I run into the situation
where there has not been sufficient pressure.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
So I want you to be king. I want you
to be king for a moment, Jerry, And you don't
have political considerations. You can just do what's best to
maximize the benefit for the most number of people, even
if you make some people very angry. What is within
the realm of possibility that, in your mind, could be
(12:39):
done to have minimized the problems at the start or
now to do the most good.
Speaker 6 (12:49):
It's such an easy fix, it's mind boggling. All you
have to do is assign one water tender to every
strike team, which is basically like three engines. And when
that strike team gets called out, the water tender goes
(13:10):
with them, and those guys can stay working all the time.
And if there's less if they don't have enough water,
then the tender runs down, finds the water and brings
it back up to them. So all they have to
do is working on stop.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
M And who do you work?
Speaker 6 (13:28):
Very simple thing.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Who?
Speaker 6 (13:30):
Actually I don't want to see.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
I don't want to see the name of I mean,
are you Are you with a governmental entity or a
private provider?
Speaker 6 (13:37):
No, I'm a private We're a private company. We do
have contracts with cal Fire and the US Forest Service
and we get called say come on down. So case
in point, for this specific fire, my general manager called
me up Tuesday morning and said, this looks like it's
(13:58):
going to be a big fire. Get ready. So I
loaded up my truck everything was set, and at eight
o'clock at night, I got the call and they said,
be it zoom a beach in Los Angeles at seven
in the morning. Well, I'm only three hours away from
where I live in our shop is three hours away.
(14:20):
I took off at eight o'clock and I was down
here Tuesday night at eleven o'clock. And my sister lives
in the Palisades, so I went straight to her house.
There was six engines in that whole complex where she
was at, and they were fighting fire, of course, and
(14:40):
I pulled on up there first day. They said you
got water, I go. I certainly do, and I filled
them up and I spent the whole night doing that,
even though I wasn't on duty. And that is what
was needed because they just sat there and put out
They saved one house, that's all they could do. But
they were putting out the embers as much as they could,
(15:02):
and you know, that was basically what it was. They
had no water, and I got there last and I
was the only water tender there, so that whole night.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Well, so there again we had this problem with centerpoint Energy,
or center Pointless as we call him. In Houston, where
the leader is from PG and E. He came from
PG and E out here where it's it's a question
of a lack of a battle plan for when these
contingencies happened. It sounds like, you know, everybody's running around frantic.
(15:33):
They should have had their contract with you and it
should be a plan that they execute so when this happens,
they already knew what to do, so that they had
you on the phone far earlier, because obviously you were
ready to step up and serve. Thank you for the call, Jerry.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Well, well, well, lucky you. The Michael Ferry Show continues.
Your lucky day.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
I got seven three, nine nine, one thousand Irene in Leadville, Texas.
You're on the Michael Berry Show. Go ahead.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
Now, morning, mister Barry.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
How are you fantastic? Sweety? Go ahead?
Speaker 5 (16:16):
Okay. So we went to Vegas for Christmas and stayed
at the Westgate Resort, and the Westgate Resort kind of
makes everything a tribute to Elvis Presley. So I'm forty
five years old. I took my fourteen year old son
and so on Christmas Day, I thought, you know what
would be better than to take him to some kind
(16:36):
of Elvis tribute concert, and I've been to several Elvis
concerts in Vegas over several years. Right, good ones, bad ones, whatever.
I have got to tell you. I need for you
to go to Vegas and go to the Alexis Resort.
It's this tiny casino behind the MGM. There's a guy
(16:57):
there named Travis Allen and he is uncanny. He looks
just like the younger Elvis and his mannerisms are off
the charts. And the only reason why I think it's
valid to tell you this is because he had two
backup singers and one of the guys was playing guitar.
(17:20):
That guy must be around like eighty years old, right,
But when I looked at that guy playing that guitar,
the way he was staring at Travis Allen to where
it was like he was taken back in time, it
was as if he was performing for the King himself.
And that's when I knew, Wow, that's the guy. That's
(17:42):
the Elvis guy, and I would just I would love
for you to check him out and tell me your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I will do that. Can you give me the location again?
Speaker 5 (17:54):
Yes, Alexis Resort and the performer is Travis Allen, Because
there's another Elvis that goes there as well, but it's Travis.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Allen And how did you know to check this out?
Speaker 5 (18:08):
I did just a YELP review, right, I said, oh,
let me check out the Elvis with the latest Elvis one, right,
And then I saw all these reviews and they were like, oh,
this guy's great, They're okay fine, and he was available
on Christmas, so, you know, just for fun of it,
took my son and he saw him, We saw him perform,
and my son was just blown away because when we
went back to the Westgate Resort, when you enter through
(18:28):
the hotel lobby, there's a huge picture of Elvis and
that guy is like, I can't like exact resemblance. It's
so crazy.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
That's interesting.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
That's a great show.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Because usually a show like you're talking about is what's
called a tribute, which is where they perform as them
and you're it's intended to sound like them and they're
dressed like them, but they rarely they don't, you know,
they're not a spitting image. And then you get the
folks right that dress up like them. But yeah, yeah,
(19:03):
I will check that out. Ramone and I and our
wives are going to be Russell of Borrow's guest, February
twenty second. I believe in Vegas because they want to
see the last show of You two, which I want
to see the Sphere, But they're excited to see the
to see I guess it's the last show of U two,
(19:26):
although they keep saying it's the last show, and then
everybody goes in there. It's like the Rolling Stones reunion
tour and then they do one more. But I'm sorry,
the Eagles, not You two. Yeah, okay, so it's supposed
to be the Eagles last show. But I'm excited to
see the sphere. I think that's going to be cool
and I will make sure that I see it when
I go. Where are you from irene.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
Neville, Texas?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
You grew up in Needville?
Speaker 5 (19:50):
No, I moved there from Katie. I grew up around Shagillian.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
You don't sound like you're from sugar Lean.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
I think I've spent I look. Needel is a very
welcoming town, and and you know I spent a lot.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Of Where are your parents from there?
Speaker 5 (20:07):
My mom's still a Pino, my dad's Mexican.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Okay, so you had an accent at home? Okay, that
that makes sense. What do you do.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
I'm a digital marketing manager for exceon Mobile and so
what does.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
That mean bring what kind of digital marketing are you?
Is that on the retail side?
Speaker 5 (20:28):
No? Digital marketing for the chemical website?
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Right?
Speaker 5 (20:31):
So anything that involving the website and all our social channels,
pay channels, campaigns, things of that nature.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
And what are they That's not an exchange, right, They're
not buying the chemicals off of that website. What what's
going on on that website?
Speaker 5 (20:46):
No, it's more of a it's an awareness, right, It's
kind of it's a B to B right, So we
present our product portfolio and yeah, it's a B to B.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
And are you more of a marketing person, a wordsman
or are you a coder programmer?
Speaker 5 (21:03):
What what the technical Yes? Quoting and programming for the website.
It's on the technical site.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
And how did you learn to do that?
Speaker 5 (21:12):
I graduated from Baylor University in two thousand and one
with computer science degree and have just gone up in
the industry since then.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
How many would you guess what percentage of people who
do what you do are Hispanic women?
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (21:29):
Very little maybe not probably twenty percent or less, very little,
you know, Yeah, it could be because you know, either
you love coding or you don't. There's not really put me.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
In the don't category. Actually that's not fair, put me
in the cant I will tip my hat to you.
I am not a technical person. I'm glad we have
technical people in this world, but I am not one
of them. What made you interested as a young lady
in computer science?
Speaker 5 (22:03):
I loved Cody because you know, my dad was into
computers and I started building computers from the ground up.
There you go, that got me interested.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
So did dad work with computers or was that just
a hobby. It was a hobby interesting, And you're forty five,
so we're talking thirty plus years ago. He was into
computers at home. He was tinkering on them at home.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
You know, if people could understand, because I get a
pretty good broad set, and I ask a lot of questions,
and I hear people's stories of how they ended up
where they end up, if people could understand that the
likelihood that your children are going to go up and
grow up and what they do for a living is
going to have something to do with what you expose
them to. Whether that's what you do for a living
(22:51):
as a parent, or what you watch television about, or
who your next door neighborhood comes over and talks about,
or what but hobby you have that is more likely
going to have something to do. And for girls as
much as boys, I can't tell you how many times
a woman has told me that they became a commercial
(23:12):
pilot because their dad had a you know, a little
license and he was an engineer at work, and they
would go fly on the weekends, and she flew with
daddy and she fell in love with it, and otherwise
she would not have. But people don't typically just stumble
into doing what you're doing. They're exposed to that at home,
and you know, whether we want daddy's approval or whether
(23:34):
we're just interested in it because he's interested in it,
And somewhere along there it takes because it's not typical. Right,
that's probably not what I would guess, that's not what
any of your friends that you were growing up with
wanted to do when they grow up, nor did they
do when they grew up.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
No, and then especially being of the Filipino culture right
where you're supposed to be a nurse in the medical field.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Exactly, right, exactly, and there again, you're supposed to be
a nurse, because everybody else you know is a nurse.
We tend to gravitate toward fields of people around us
because that's what's comfortable with us. It's number one reason
people go to law school. He said, that is a
lawyer from Michael's brain, every single one of them.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
To your ears.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
This is the Michael Ferry Show.
Speaker 6 (24:35):
I thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Speaking of which University of Texas Longhorns play this evening
at six thirty Central. Please do not email me or
text me regarding the game, because I will be at
Crockett's game at exactly that time when we finish the
(25:03):
evening show, I will be racing to Crockett's game and
taping the Longhorn game and getting home and watching it
later tonight, which means, well, I don't know if you
call it taping anymore. I don't know what you're recording.
I don't know how you do that. I watch TV
on YouTube TV. Are you a YouTube TV person? Huh?
(25:25):
You're a Hulu person. Okay, well that's where I watch TV.
And so what I do is I just if I'm
able to tape it or record it, then you know
it's got to be easy, because I'm not good with
those sorts of things. But I am very much, very
much looking forward to this game. It's a good game.
Last night, you see that game last night, A very
(25:47):
good game. Tomorrow, January eleventh marks the thirty second anniversary
of the founding of Gringos tex mex And while a
lot of people have been so wonderful food over the years,
and that's a benefit, a lot of people have been
(26:07):
hired on for their first job. There's something to be
said for that, a quality. Huh, what what happened?
Speaker 5 (26:18):
No?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Founded that? No, No, they didn't found. No, it wasn't lost, No,
it was founded. It was created thirty two years ago
in Parland, the original. Now you got over twenty locations.
But you think about how many people, see you interrupted
me and I was trying to brag on our buddy.
How many people? How many memories have been shared? How
many birthdays have been celebrated, how many new hirings, closing
(26:42):
of deals, retirements, anniversaries. How many do you think about
within those walls? How many people that's a legacy. How
many people got their first job there. How many people
spent their entire careers there? How many people have bought
houses and cars and took care of other How many
people in the community were taken care of. I mean,
(27:03):
that's that's a big deal. Thirty two years in a
very very crowded environment. Crockett had a game up north
the other night. It was freezing cold, drove up there
to the game, got there early, and decided I would
eat before the game. And there was a little text
(27:24):
Mex joint right next to it, Jalisco or you never know,
sanluis put to see or it doesn't matter. Something right
in a little strip center and it's clearly a tex
Mex restaurant for white people by Mexicans who didn't didn't
get any training in tex Mex. And you know how
(27:44):
I know that? To start with, my rice was on
one end of the plate and my refried beans were
on the other. I will never understand why do people
separate the refried beans in the rice. I grew up
on White people owned tex Mex restaurants. And so there
(28:06):
is a certain Textmex flavor that appeals to my palate,
and that is that kind of grayish purple refried beans.
And it needs to be down and there needs to
have been a little bit of cheese that would put
over the top that kind of melts it, give it
a little color, right anyway, So I'm out at that
little place at least Go or whatever. They all have
(28:29):
the same name, and it just wasn't good. But I
realized then it's kind of like the guys say about fishing.
The worst tex mex Is still better than most everything else.
And then you go to a place like Gringoes and
you appreciate how good things really are, how nice it is.
(28:54):
And I go back to forty eight fifty two ten,
and I love that Russell has all his preset message
that was the rent on the first place he opened.
It was him and a cook, and the number one
thing was to stay alive, just survive for another month.
He had to meet the rent, which was forty eight
to fifty two to ten, and there had been three
restaurants that had opened and closed right before him at
(29:16):
that And Russell shared a quote with me the other
day he said price is only an issue if value
is absent. I don't know where he got that, but
you know it's true people that are obsessed on price,
And I have found this to be a to be
an issue if you're poor, and people will convince themselves
(29:38):
they are. But if you're truly poor and you cannot
afford anything and you go everything is how can I
spend one penny less? Fine? But ninety nine percent of
people who were price obsessed, that is not their issue.
I have come to learn. And this will offend some people,
and they're probably those people that pricing and money generally
(30:03):
is an obsession for people, not just rich people. You know,
there's this idea that that guy wears rich because all
he thinks about his money. I've seen it on the
other extreme with people for whom price and money is
a battle. They do not want the owner of the
shop to make a penny. That's to send food back.
Speaker 5 (30:24):
That is.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
You see these people. You see these crowds of people,
and it's a certain demographic, and it's a dining dash.
There'll be fifteen of them at a table and they're
fat as hogs, and they eat their big meal and
they drink all their drinks and then they each get
up and run out. Now, could they not afford the meal?
I don't know. I don't know if welfarreed hit or not,
(30:46):
but that is an idea that I'm gonna score one.
I'm gonna get it's a very selfish mindset. Those people
don't attach, you know, the way babies attach. Those people
don't attach as friendships. Everything for them is about saving money,
because money becomes an obsession in and of itself. And
I tell my show sponsors, you do not want price
(31:08):
conscious people as customers. You want value conscious people.
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