hi I'm Alice hi I'm Justin and you're listening to the utterly awesome podcast who knows what we'll talk about I wish we had recorded that is it what kind of meat was it he made bacon wrapped pork loin Pita venison and flakes steak and chicken nice it is all very good very nice how do you cook it before we ask you a question Connor we should probably introduce you welcome to the otterly awesome podcast I get that right Allison yes with Allison and Justin is the complete name so welcome Connor thanks it's an honor to be here you've been a frequent topic in past episodes so uh Allison and I felt like we should probably show your face if you were willing I mean we didn't like make him do it yeah I think I'm willing did we no I'm here in my own free will for anybody wondering then better all bruises and marks are in places you can't see them um I well let me can I do a little introduction to the app to the team or to the audience of however many and then you can elaborate Conor is that okay sure so just be thinking about all the special things about yourself you want to share with public um so Connor works with Allison and myself um at a company that we try not to say the name of the company on the channel because we want it to be about a podcast but we do work together and Connor is a Solutions consultant like myself um and Allison's uh no vice president I was that delivery manager who do you started office um yeah but so we interact with Allison as part of our job so like Connor and myself will work with Allison to look at stuff before it goes out the door for Signature and stuff like that um but Connor's come up a bunch of times and we we like him as a person and as a colleague and as a human um and if you want to be an animal Conor we will accept that too I'll at least I will yes that's right thank you Allison yeah do you want to give him the the background he knows he knows he watches us each week of course did he prepare that's the question no I'm not a spirit animal prepared I come up think about it um big fan of dolphins they're a good mix of strong and fun but there's also some accusations against Dolphins that makes me a little hesitant to really cling on to the dolphin as my spirit animal Saul Waters too if that makes you feel any better okay it does it does I think dolphin is for the best for dolphin aren't Dolphins supposed to be like really smart yes but that means they're also smart enough to like knowingly commit atrocities for fun oh I know I know what you're right here now okay yep yes well humans are guilty the same so I spell even worse I suppose not not all dolphins that's what I'll say not your spirit dolphin Dolph correct correct yours are model model citizen dolphins I think that's a good choice I could probably find some dolphin footage for the end do you do you know their sounds I just okay to say it out loud I think it's my brother ends every video that he edits for his main client with just a smattering of dolphin photos just like the three two or three photos the second random Dolphins just sliding through and just says thanks for watching I actually watched a lot but I love the ending too what that's the first um non-terrestrial animal it's our first aquatic animal right I guess otters are aquatic so maybe not on the first fully aquatic spirit animal no arms and legs there you go for wings sorry I'm just trying to like smush our animals together what can we take from an owl and from an otter and from a porpoise in your AI cow but no what and then say it again your AI catalog item do that platypus it's got like all of the beak I'm on I'm on it three of any animal and if you add enough animals to any combination of animals you're eventually gonna wind up at the duckbill platypus while you do that Connor how did you get into what you do for a living well funny you asked I uh knew I'd want to work with computers like for forever because I always liked being on computers and growing up adults always like to tell you when you're on if you're like oh you're gonna make you know you can make so much money working on those computers so I just sort of rolled with that um when I was actually searching for a job I was like well let's what's something I've got experience in and I'm very experienced in getting Tech Support to my parents who are older than many and as a result have more opportunity to learn about how to use technology than any and so one thing led to another and I found a good fit working for our I.T service desk um so spent some time taking calls for end users who needed random things like either something small like a password reset or something big like the whole network is down um and conveniently enough the service desk I worked at used servicenow for all their ticketing needs and others so that let me dip my toes into what it was like using service now and he gave you some real world experience so I could talk to customers about this is you know so many customers come to us with so little in terms of documentation and process and they have so much tribal knowledge that when they start looking for service now they're like yeah we need a good ticketing tool and I think my experience lets me show them how you're not just getting a ticketing tool here like there's a lot that you're gonna gather that's net new as a business when you jump into servicenow and so my job from doing it right is to show them all that they're going to be kind of taking on as part of their service not Journey how's that that's good actually I kept getting distracted you could pull me back in so I do what I can I'm just glad me too Justin sales yes oh that's right yep well that was how I learned how to talk to a customer not just an end user yeah at one point we had some emails going out that were definitely automated because I never wrote These but they were always signed by me and that was the basketball it I I didn't mind it at first I was like well I didn't know that I didn't want that to happen so that I made the powers that be aware that I didn't want that to happen but then it kept happening because then I stopped saying it was funny but I think it was just a glitch or something like that we're all good enough if I sign under someone else's name though I haven't gotten one in a while so sure you didn't mark them it can be you know Ronald we both got one last week from one of our sales colleagues calling us was it Deborah or something like that Deborah yeah Deborah all right I got I got two pictures you ready that's as much as I'm gonna fool around so uh go to the right tab I only see this window there we go hopefully I do this right I got it out if I don't okay so the first one let's go to the first one is this one and I did this one as a fictional animal with characteristics from all different creatures that's what I got it doesn't look good not sure where the otter is but maybe the nose he's got otter eyes and then the second one I did will put us all in an office and uh I think that's this one okay I think I clicked on the wrong one yep I did uh you could tell you service now all the time let's see there we go oh it looks like a crocodile all down there are two in the middle or or is that the owl and none of them is the otter it's when Allison and I were like setting up the podcast I think we talked about this on like episode one or two we tried so hard to get AI generated artwork with an owl and Otter and it was just coming back with just it was funny but it wasn't really helpful and to be fair I was expecting something way more grotesque and these were bad at all so yeah they're more like cartoony yeah um on this note you want to hear something cool that I saw yesterday [Music] so there was this like interactive Museum downtown that we went to and there was this little exhibit where it's really similar to your catalog item like you give it a prompt and it makes something of the prompt but the way that it was set up was you're giving it a movie tagline basically not a tagline but I guess like a sunroom so you might say like an action movie involving a shark and a sea turtle and it's a anime style Redemption movie or something you put something like that and then it produces Five movie posters for your movie it was actually really cool I think it was smart that they took something that could have been anything and they tweaked it to be like they put kind of a box around it and by needing to be a little specific it just made for that much cooler of an application I guess the uh the results were pretty horrendous we did let's see my girlfriend just put escaping the fog and it was just five different pictures of people walking away from fog so that was pouring but then I did one that was like sea turtles revenge of the sea turtles something something and it kicked back five photos of grotesquely misdrawn sea turtles oh it tried have you ever seen where they pick like current films and like put them to like a horror movie like they did it with shit's creek one time where it was like the trailer for the upcoming episode but they made it about horror movie The A Christmas Story if you've ever seen that has the best example I've seen of that it looks like uh like there's a serial killer or something it's just super intense but it's all fun story they don't have to doctorate really what was there was there a profit side of what you went to like did they charge you or could you get a printout and pay for it was a museum called the wndr it's not all caps there's one in Boston I think one in Chicago uh we got so many Instagram ads for it that there was no way that it wasn't gonna happen at some point there's a certain point where I get if I get enough Instagram ads for something and it's not something awful I'm probably gonna buy it not product okay all right that there's a story there what's the worst thing you thought on Instagram frozen chicken nuggets they used P based protein and they weren't that bad but it was also in the peak coven so I may have just had taste buds that forgot what good food tastes like even then I was like well these aren't bad I wouldn't do it again but they're not bad so the worst thing you've bought on Instagram Justin zero okay hold on it was a zero shoe which was the it was a sandal I hated it I tried to wear it it was the worst thing I ever bought but now I'm the proud owner of a zero shoe that I actually do like so the worst thing I bought ended up being something I actually liked but the first one was horrible but before you go away from me um I keep getting ads for ramen on Instagram and it's like Ramen yeah yeah you take this thing that's like 35 cents per package and now they want to charge me like 60 a month to send me Ramen I'm like no I have it at Fresh Market if you want to try it you can buy one okay so you've got me out too that sounds like I have I've gotten that a lot because we do a lot of protein meals but that one I saw at Fresh Market when I went in looking for something else if you didn't try it no I was on a mission for finding dessert for David's birthday and I couldn't find it anywhere so Connor for contacts the fresh bark is like an upscale grocery store down down here in the South no I'm familiar we've uh we use something similar in Minnesota the opposite of the South um so there's it's like you know code it's either Kodiak or Kodak cakes they're like protein packed cakes they sell you know you get like a cylinder a Quaker Oats you can get a cylinder of Kodiak or Kodak oats and you like shake it up because there's like protein powder it's like well couldn't you just buy protein powder and add it to Quaker Oats couldn't you just do that to Ramen truth yeah noodles from what I've read the ramen noodle and the protein noodles it's healthier yeah [Music] it's not as protein powder sprayed on the on the brick well that yes but the ramen it's like something with the noodles or something maybe it's crickets or something or ants great source of protein from what I hear that's what I heard all right Allison it's your turn with every box that never showed up that's not good time it's happened a couple times so one was an automatic ball thrower for the dog it never showed up and then he saw a Christmas Vacation like RV like cousin Eddie's RV that lights up around Christmas and it never showed up do you guys have porch Pirates where do you live no we live like down in a cul-de-sac and we work from home so you know I mean my my new office is looking like literally at our front porch yeah and we all heard David's story about you doing the doorbell in Vegas yeah that was awesome uh Connor before we've hit record you um not to call you out but do you strategically placed an item behind you yeah and I was wondering if there's any story about that particular item then I won't say what it is just in case you went out to this no there's just clutter on the counter and I wanted to cover it with that captain's hat that I got this weekend just any old captain's hat or uh it's actually like a subpar captain's hat because the birthday boy got like a nice captain's hat that came with these like they're kind of like straws that you'd use to like support the hat so he got like the premium captain's hat and the rest of us just wore these Normie ones I propped it up to make it sit a little higher though it is you didn't have to prop up though it had little straws that you put into it I didn't know they made such things it was actually the way that he got tipped off to his own surprise party um she his his wife had pulled this off for weeks and then the night before his surprise party comes out of his room and he's like why don't you order so many bats she had ordered like a 12 pack of Captain's hats and one nice captains at on their Amazon account they got the notification but I kind of wish I had to fly in the wall for that it's like how do you answer that like I I hope that she tried to be slick about it I was like oh well I just been a half mood I would have said I bought them for an elementary school and I was donating them that's good well she didn't she connected the dots and figured out but we had fun anyway so Connor what's the best free thing you've ever gotten the best free thing I've ever gotten is this a thing effectively or you maybe found in your laundry room the best of all art ever found oh sometime so I didn't find it it sort of me yeah I had a friend in town and me and that friend and my dog went to the beach for just coffee in the morning and we're sitting there watching the weeds come in and the neighborhood we were in specific Beach it's like common spring break Spotify college kids so we're sitting on this Pacific I was like is it a specific well regular old Pacific Beach and we're sitting on the bench washing water and this guy comes up to us it's probably 25 is like excuse me he's got a big garbage bag and he's like do you guys like beer it's like nine in the morning on Thursday we're like yes he goes well we were on vacation here and my girlfriend thinks this is kind of weird and he looks over and I see his girlfriend like hiding behind the corner it's like she thinks this is kind of weird but we have to leave we were here on vacation we have a bunch of beer and we don't want to throw them away do you want them and I bet there were 30 Coors Lights and trulies and anything you could ever want in this trash bag that he just like gave us that is the best thing I've ever gotten for free okay pretty good I've actually had that moment where it's time to go at a hotel or something you're like okay we didn't drink it all what do we do with it so I know the feeling yeah okay when we get to the Airbnb because oftentimes the last guest will leave a bunch of stuff in the fridge and then you'll do the same thing when you leave pay it forward I've yet to do an Airbnb so really yeah I just I've got to stay at a motel I think the Golden Age of airbnbs is over there it's no longer cheaper than a hotel you've got more rules and I don't know I'm not like anti-airb but at this point if it's the same price to go to a hotel where right if you want if you have a big group of friends you want to like cook out in the backyard airbnba do what if it's just like we use Virgo more than we use Airbnb sure do you find there's a difference I usually book at all David does and stuff yeah there's different usually they're on both sides so it's not like like I literally just booked one earlier today and it was on both sides but I used Virgo because we already have an account so it's good enough reason are the rules different like the Conor was referencing like it's gonna take out the trash before you leave and they're always up to the home they're all different yeah before we go yeah summer very because most of them are like if you can just put the trash outside and toss the towels in the washing machine and I'm like I can do that like that's not upset we could clean up after yourself essentially yeah I'm surrounded by Airbnb so like if we watch them like clockwork they arrive on Thursday Friday evenings they're gone by 9 A.M on Sunday and then the housekeeper you know they all pull in and it's just like all around the neighborhood every weekend so I just like I don't know it's it's kind of nice I guess not having neighbors but I'd rather personally I'd rather stay in a hotel with all the amenities and what do you call the little bar that has the expensive [Music] the what the mini bar mini bar yes sorry when both of you talk this thing is horrible for like understanding what either of you are saying I'll stop by yeah here's a stupid mini bar example um so hotels this is something that drives me nuts about hotels but they don't have water you have to go down to the gift shop and buy water from them um they won't always tell you that one time we all got back from a wedding we were staying at the same hotel as the bride and groom so like you think that they'd know that we were I don't know all there but someone at the front desk like as we walk in they're like water anyone water was like well I don't know I have like water I'll take two and they put them on everyone's bill that's wrong I already am like I shouldn't have to pay for water with how expensive a hotel is I feel very privileged saying this but if you're gonna charge for water don't like to time us and make it seem as though you're just like doing a salt and donut Waters there was a mini bar at the hotel that we had that um seminar in recently the minibar only had two bottles of water in it they were big and they were like Nice metal refillable bottles for the environment like said so on the tag is eight dollars per bottle so you better bring your own like Hydro Flask and find a water fountain in the hotel if you don't want to spend an extra 30 bucks on water cool in Vegas they're now like if you even put pick it up to look at it it's all based on weight and it'll charge you spooky do you think you have a second thought and be like no I don't want it no like you have to call the front desk and be like I accidentally touched something which you're most likely not gonna do if you're drunk and having a good time you don't even know you accidentally touched it I think Allison you and I were talking about we have in common like when we get to a hotel we usually go to Walgreens or somewhere and get a big pack of water from all the years of traveling that was like my biggest thing is as soon as I got there I'd either go to CVS or Walgreens and get my water get a few like protein bars or whatever to have to take on site with me and statues Walgreens always has tons of pistachios what's your what's your go-to pistachio flavor if you get them flavored ever salted okay have you had any of the flavors no yeah okay just landed as a dud es okay Allison might have Allison might have I don't eat sashes apparently the lady that so it's like a family that owns you know Wonderful that's like the pistachio brand I guess the the like matriarch of the family is like nuts uh like at one point if you required that like all the laborers who are actually like in the fields picking pistachios they attend like a one-hour yoga session of hers and are still expected like as many pistachios that day it gets absurd I hate that I support that company because apparently they're terrible okay forced forced yoga that doesn't like an oxymoron are either of you getting ping for another meeting yeah I have a one-on-one I have to go to I heard that okay well uh thank you Connor for being our second guest yeah um of all time and we hope to have you back at least I do I don't know cool hey there's an instinct song I think it didn't take it Backstreet Boys there's a Backstreet Boys okay I'll give my boy bands confused those two the next one thanks for having me guys all right cool thanks guys [Music] thank you [Music] [Music]