Doug Hathcock- Director of Recruitment and Training at Amarillo Area CASA (#37)

Andrew: [00:00:20]Hey guys, welcome back to the show. We have a, another special guest for you,Doug hat. It is Daniel's brother-in-law and I'm very excited because I don'tknow Doug very well, and yet we live what, maybe a hundred feet away from eachother. So I've been slacking on getting to know Doug. So I'm really excited tosee this and, you know, hear what he has to say.

Doug is the training and recruitment director for Amarilloarea, Casa, which is a really cool, I think of it as a nonprofit,  Doug, my correct us on that, but it's areally cool organization in Amarillo and they do a lot of really cool stuff.Doug, welcome to the show.

Doug: [00:00:57]Yeah, thanks for having me. Yeah, I mean, it is a nonprofit, so that is thebest way to describe it.

Andrew: [00:01:03]  So tell us a little about yourself. Obviouslyyou live near me, which is Amarillo and jump off from there. Give us a, give usa quick and dirty.

Doug: [00:01:12] Yeah, so I do live about ahundred feet away from Andrew. We are on complete opposite sides of thebuilding right now talking.  Yeah, I'vebeen doing the Casa thing for about getting close to a year now. Loving itbefore that  doing some different,different, odd jobs and whatnot was a cable man there for a few years.

Yeah. I mean, married was the dog that's that's about all,there is a baseball fanatic and I mean, if you know that much about me, that'spretty much all there is. So yeah, pretty, pretty boring.

Andrew: [00:01:44]Okay. Hold on. I've got something for you there because I have inside knowledgeon another topic that you're not giving us enough credit on the show for youon. Doug is like a master griller or barbecuer or whatever that title would beperiodically. I pull up in the parking lot. And now mind you, there's like, Idon't know, a hundred people in this building, but only Doug only Doug can getall the way down to my car from his fifth floor balcony with his barbecuing.

And, oh my goodness. It smells good. And every time I'm like,I know where they live. I'm about to go up there and then I don't do it.

Doug: [00:02:19] I

keep thinking, you're going to show up,  

to, to correct you. The, the correct term is Pitmaster iswhat I prefer, but now  yeah, it's

Andrew: [00:02:28]master. I like it. That is the actual term I've heard in life. So fair enough.

Doug: [00:02:32]Yeah, I've been uh, been waiting for you to come knocking at the door. Haven'thaven't done it yet, but anytime, man.

Andrew: [00:02:39] It's almost always becauseI'm coming back from eating. I'm like, oh, that would've been good.

Daniel: [00:02:43] So I propose for the restof the podcast, Andrew refer to Doug as the Pitmaster and yeah, if that can'tdrill it in your brain, Andrew, I, nothing else.

Andrew: [00:02:53]Sir Pitmaster, excuse me, sir. Pitmaster.

Daniel: [00:02:56]You can put a ser in there

Doug: [00:02:57]that motion.

Andrew: [00:02:58]It is done.

Daniel: [00:03:05] Doug, I, I do know that youwork for Casa. And I, I have a fairly decent idea of some of the things you doafter, you know, watching a handful of Facebook live videos, which I know youlove.  But for, for those that aren'tfamiliar with Casa itself not only what you do with it, but what just theoverall goal of the organization is.

Could you break that down a little bit for us?

Doug: [00:03:29]Yeah. So, we are a national nonprofit organization. We were started back in theseventies in Seattle, Washington. Kind of our main mission is to help be  easiest way to put it just an extra set ofeyes and ears to children who have been elected and abused in foster care.  So, you know, whereas these, the, the CPSworkers, the case workers, everybody like that foster parents, you know,Everybody involved with the case typically is handling multiple cases at thesame time.

Whereas our volunteers, for the most part, they are onlyworking with one child or one sibling sibling group. So, you know, it's, it'smuch more individualized care.  The, thecaseworkers that CPS have, they don't have the time to be able to go, takeout  child for disc golf or go eat icecream, things like that.

Our volunteers, if they have the time and the energy to doit, , they are able to do that and really give that individualized care to thechild. ,  that's kind of the, easiest wayto, put it. And my specific job is trying to get or recruit more volunteers andto train those volunteers to, be able to do it.

Daniel: [00:04:38]Cool.  when you're recruiting andtraining volunteers, is that something where there's a screening process? Areyou looking for a certain type of person? Like, like who typically. And tierwith an organization like Casa.

Doug: [00:04:51] rightnow, our main kind of volunteer based group is typically. Females that areretired. So you're looking, you know, anywhere from 50 to  we have one volunteer who's like 86 years oldor something like that.  

Andrew: [00:05:05]All right, Jima.

Doug: [00:05:06]Yeah, and she she's as good as we we've got. I mean, she's, she's amazing, butkind of my goal is to try to get as many different diversified volunteers is asI can.

Skew a little bityounger if we can. The, the minimum age is 21 years old. So I love when I seethese college kids come through and they want to give back to the community,they want to give back to the children in their area who need it. So, that'sbeen something I've been trying to, to get going is really to reach out to differentgroups of people, rather than just the retirees that, that have the time notknocking them.

By any means whatsoever. We love that they do have the timeand the energy to do it, but we want to try to get as much of a widespreadvolunteer base as we can.

Daniel: [00:05:51]Yeah, that makes complete sense. And I, I imagine that. Again, like that energypiece is pretty important and, you know, kids, they probably want to like runaround and, and play Fortnite and stuff like that. And so, and so in, in yourexperience, what are some of the most challenging aspects of the foster system?

We might've heard a little bit of this as you're kind oftalking about the fact that  anybodyaside from MECASA volunteers working multiple cases. So is that a big part of itor what are some of the other challenges, you know,

Doug: [00:06:22] That's definitely a bigportion of it. Also I mean, let's, let's be real. The, the state, I don't carewhich state you're talking about. None of them were designed to be good parentsto children. And so when they are. Children are removed from their homes.They're put into a situation that is not necessarily ideal.

Now that being said,it is necessary at times because obviously, there is some, some rough stuff outin the world. And so we want to make sure these children are safe.  But you know, the state isn't designed to bea good caretaker. And so what we see a lot is, you know, for instance, We inthe panhandle have such a shortage of foster homes that a lot of our kids endup being placed out of area.

We're talking places like Houston, San, Antonio, Dallas,places like that, that have much more facilities than we do.  And not knocking any of those places. I thinkthey're all great towns. Houston, maybe not, but the, you know, when you take achild out of a town like Borger or Tulia, you know, 10,000 people or less, andyou put them in a mega city like Houston, Texas, I mean, that's alreadysomething.

huge change of life, then what they've already had toendure, just be by being placed out of area from their parents.  So that's definitely one of the issues that'sgoing on with the system. And again, just, it all goes back to, unfortunatelykids can fall through the cracks that their needs are not being met.

And. Without, you know, the, the Casa volunteer or, youknow, whoever else, the guardian ad litem, if they're not stepping up to makesure that these needs are met by the children, they probably will never getmet. So that's, that's the one, one thing that we're really trying to get right.Get going with and  really take care ofis just to make sure that these kids are safe and that they have permanenthomes rather than being bounced around from foster home to foster home over,you know, 10, 15 years, depending on the age of the child.

Andrew: [00:08:25] That sounds incrediblystressful for a child and all that change. I can't imagine what that does totheir psyche. you guys are doing some really cool work over there, man.

Doug: [00:08:34] Iappreciate that I'm biased, but I agree.

Andrew: [00:08:42] you were working forSuddenlink before you swapped a Casa. What was it like doing a substantialcareer change in the middle of a pandemic?

Doug: [00:08:51] You know, it really was notas much of a. hardship as I would have expected. You're you're 100% Correct.What a career change that was? I had no background in social work, nobackground in the nonprofit world whatsoever. I am still very green when itcomes to that, area of things.

But you know, onearea that really did help me was at Suddenlink. I was going into people's homesevery single day. anywhere from five to 15 different homes per day, you'regoing from the richest of the rich and Amarillo to the poorest of the poor. Andso that has really helped me to be able to.

see from the parents' point of view of a lot of the kidsthat we, deal with. If you look at anything, statistically, that happens ahardship, whether it be, you know, drug abuse or domestic violence, anythinglike that, almost always, it all goes back to socio economic status. Poverty. Iwas able to see and work with these people and, you know, go into their homesbefore I got into Casa.

So I see where these people are coming from. I see, youknow, they are struggling to be able to pay bills and things like that. It getsstressful big time. And on top of that during a pandemic, I mean, it's, it'sreally rough. I don't even know if that answered your question, but. You know,that,

Andrew: [00:10:16]like it anyways.

Doug: [00:10:17]yeah, that, that background of, going into people's homes has really helped me.

I feel like to really understand and know how to treat thepeople that we're dealing with.

Andrew: [00:10:27]As a person who has also spent a fair bit of time going into people's homes itreally is. You can cover both spectrums when you're doing internet.

Doug: [00:10:34]Sure.

Andrew: [00:10:34]So I totally get what you're saying on the house is on the spectrum of homesyou go into and out because there are just, it's wild. The difference inpoverty versus maybe excessive wealth would be a word for it. But some of thosehomes that are on the really lower end of the socioeconomic scale, it is hardto imagine how depressing and kind of what bad environments those can be forchildren.

If you haven't been into them yet. it's rough. Sometimes Iget what you're saying there.  Okay. Letme, let me go back to the career change real quick on you, because you didsomething that is interesting, or at least to me, and maybe Daniel won't agree,but you went from what most would consider a pretty entry level.

Not a really high education kind of job,  doing the internet stuff is not usuallysomething that anybody's like, Hey, you've got to have a master's in, orthere's not a lot of responsibility I guess, is what I'm getting at. And youwent from a. A low responsibility job to what sounds like a much, much higherresponsibility job for people who want to do that kind of shift, because you'renot the only person in that situation who wants to make a better difference inthe world.

How did you do it? How did you convince somebody or anonprofit or, in general, a business, how did you get someone to trust yousaying, Hey, I get that. I haven't had this kind of responsibility before, butI am worth the risk.

Doug: [00:11:50]You know, if, if I knew, I would tell you, one of my buddies, Jacob he's, he'ssaid all of my life, he's my oldest friend. I've known him for 20 somethingyears now. He's always told me, it's not about the grades you make, but thehands you shake and that, really did kind of work out in this situation.

I ended up knowing somebody that, already worked atCasa.  so she let me know about the job.And then from there, I just, went in there and I, I tried to be myself as, asmuch as possible.  One of the biggestthings that I believe was the selling point on me is just the, the willingnessto learn.

And I mean that, it probably sounds obvious, but. dealingwith people. I've, had a job since I was 16. So going on 12 years now, andthere's always been people anywhere. I went that just simply didn't want tolearn how to do their job. And I, that was the biggest thing for me is I wentin there and told them, Hey, I don't know what I'm doing.

I am a clean whiteboard, but you can fill me with whateveryou want.  You can put, you know, I, I,I'm not coming in with bad habits or bad attitudes because of this system,because I wasn't in it. So that, I think that was kind of the biggest thingthat I feel like work to my advantage when, when making that career shift.

Andrew: [00:13:05]You scared me there for a second. I thought you were going to cop out on me.That was a great answer because I think that is so important. People being ableto one, you covered a couple of things there that I think is really cool that Iwish I could have thought of myself, the ability to express that you dorecognize that you don't know what you're doing.

Like that is so big. Everything. So many people are soafraid to look like they don't know everything and it's baffling because noneof us do, but you'll have people who willingly hurt themselves because they'reembarrassed that this new position or this new piece of knowledge, whatever itis that they don't know that they think they should know because it'll impresssomebody.

So that's really cool that you can go in and recognize that,Hey, I don't know what I'm doing and I can admit it. Let's work together. Andthen also learning is also just so important. It shouldn't be anything that weshould have to tell anybody, but so many people are resistant to learn.Finished doing whatever they think they should have done.

And it's it's game over. And I think that's why we see a lotof people, you know, closing into their mid twenties, their thirties or fortiesor fifties or sixties who don't look all that different or act all thatdifferent than they did at 22, because it, they, they stopped learning. Soprops to you, man.

That was a great answer.

Doug: [00:14:15]To, to summarize that there's an ancient Chinese proverb that says those whoare resistant to change are destined to perish. So I'd like to encourageeverybody to open up their little mind to there's, you know,

Daniel: [00:14:27]Okay,

Andrew: [00:14:28]Nice. That's a good

Doug: [00:14:29]I'm sorry. That's a little hot rod for ya.

Daniel: [00:14:31]you should've just owned. It just just said that that's a Doug original.

Doug: [00:14:36]I'm not that smart. Okay.

Daniel: [00:14:37]So we've talked a little bit about your job and some of the things that you'vehad to learn, and one of them is people management. It's not something younecessarily did before. And specifically working with somebody who. A littlebit older, like Andrew, and I've talked a lot about managing millennials and Iguess technically gen Z at this point, which is kind of scary.

But tell us a littlebit about what people management has been like, what it's been like, kind ofmoving into that space and then specifically, you know, trying to work withsomebody who's a little bit older and more experienced than you.

Doug: [00:15:13] I mean, let me be the firstto say that. I, it would not work me being so green to this job field, if itwasn't for Jim, my assistant  he has beenin childcare longer than I've been alive, literally. And he's, I mean, he'sseen it all that the guy worked with the, the kids out of the branch Davidiansituation and the Waco.

So I mean, he, he hasreally seen everything and. That's the first thing I want to say is I, I trulycould not do it without him because he's just a wealth of knowledge. I call himthe guru around the office. He's he is forgotten more than I will ever learnabout child, you know, child development, all that stuff.

So,  yeah, I mean, I,I truly could not do it without him now, the managing side. I am still figuringout because I, I, I really grew up never knowing or believing that I'dnecessarily be somebody's boss. So it's, it's really tricky. I never reallyplanned for that possibility. I just never thought that it would happen.

Now that being said,it's, it's. Definitely a moving target for me. And it's something that I'm, I'mworking on every single day. I know I'm not the perfect boss  but you know, he, he is getting closer tothe, the end of his, his career. He's working part-time now he will retire hereshortly. My guess is probably within the next two years.

He's, he's kind of alluded if it is even that far out.  So, you know, the managing style is, isdefinitely a little bit different because, because he is at the end of hiscareer rather than you know, at the beginning. But like I said, it's, it's aforever moving target. Right. And again, I really have no idea what I'm doing,but I know I'm doing it really, really well.

So,  hopefully um, I'mgetting there and one day I hope to, to be on that level.

Daniel: [00:17:06]Yeah. And something that you said that I feel like is just an immediate pitfallthat a lot of new managers make. And especially if they're having to managesomebody that's more experienced than them is, A pitfall of feeling like, okay,well I gotta, flex on this person because I'm the boss.

And  I gotta like showthat I this position I'm in really wouldn't work without this employee who issuper experienced and super knowledgeable and. need to be in this role orwhatever it is. And so I appreciate that you recognize, Just being just humbleenough to sort of admit that. I think that's a really important first step, butthen at the same time, I think a lot of people can swing the opposite directionof feeling.  I don't necessarily deservethis role. I'll just, I'll just listen to what, the more experienced peoplearound me have to say. And it's like, okay you are in this role for a reason.

And you know, what, if, if the person that's reporting toyou was supposed to be a manager and they've been in this career this long, orif they want it to be, that might've happened. By now, but for one reason orthe other, you know, you're in this role right now as, as that manager role.And you've got some value to bring to that.

And so it's just kind of figuring out how to get into thatsweet spot, I think is a really important and tough thing to do as a newmanager. So props to you,  Do you feellike there are resources you're using to try to learn how to be a people manager?Cause Casa is not a super big organization where you maybe have mentors withinto guide you.

So are there books you're reading or anything like that?

Doug: [00:18:42] I've, I've done some YouTube,you know, some Ted talk, stuff like that. But my biggest thing is I, I am a hands-onlearner and not to contradict what you were saying, but. Yeah. While Casa is avery small organization here in Amarillo. We have about 10 people on staff, butour, my direct superior, our program, officer Jera, and then our executivedirector Linda, they, they both are just really good and they have verydifferent managing styles.

So I, that's kind of what I've been, been watching more thananything, you know, in my, in my past jobs at Suddenlink, you know, that themanagers were very hands-off. I there'd be, you know, months where I wouldn'tsee my direct supervisor.  And thenbefore that, I mean, you know, it was a lot of part-time type work, high schooljobs, stuff like that.

So I don't know that before this job, I really had somebodythat I can look at. To point out and say, Hey, I want to do it their way. Butbetween Jaron Linda, I'm really trying to soak up as much as I can from them.Like I said, the YouTube is big for me. I'm not a reader. Really I'm trying tobe, and I'm trying to get into audio books, but the reading bill has never beenbig for me, but I know that's something I need to get into.

The leaders are readers. That's  saying I've always heard. So that's somethingthat I'm starting to dig into and I'll let you know next time, you know, what,what books I've found and stuff like that.

Andrew: [00:20:08]Oh, Doug,   I'm glad you're on the pathof wanting to read because otherwise I would be walking down the hall, just beover,

Doug: [00:20:15]I'm

Andrew: [00:20:16]come and find you.

Doug: [00:20:17] Igot, I got once upon a time in Hollywood, the novel the other day. So that'sgoing to be my first big one. I think.

Andrew: [00:20:23] it's funny you bring thatup back. One of your friends was one of my direct reports recently and sheprobably had a terrible time with me because I am not the best manager, but one of the books I recommendedSarah Reed was radical candor. Actually, she, I think picked it out. So let metake that back.

It was not my credit. She had a little list of books shewanted to read because she went to a conference and there's this great leaderthat, his thing. He's like, Hey, if you're not reading books, you're notimproving. Read books. That's that is the number one way to become a bettermanager, a better employee, better at life.

And I, for 1:00 AM a huge proponent. So take it with a grainof salt. But anyway, Sarah, your friend was like, Hey, we have all these books.And one of them was radical candor and it is my maybe not favorite, but one ofmy favorite leadership books. So I would highly recommend starting therebecause that is just a really, really good.

Book about how to deal with people, because it's not likehere's these cool tricks, you know, show up and knock their coffee off the deskand pee on their computer and let them know you're the manager.  it's about being vulnerable and honest withyour employees and your direct reports. And everybody at a company where you'relike, Hey, this is how I feel.

And being really kind but direct with people. In genders,this much healthier growth oriented environment. So it's a cool book.

Doug: [00:21:40]That's that's what I think I was doing wrong. I was going in there and knockingthe coffee off the desk and peeing on the committee. Thank you. I needed tohear that. Thank you, Andrew.

Andrew: [00:21:50]You know, we joke because it's funny, like you couldn't imagine someone doingthat, but, and Daniel's probably seen this. I know Daniel was referencingprobably some of the people he's seen that have been promoted to management.And there are a lot of people who you give them that title, like, Hey, you'renow a leader at this company.

You're a manager and people lose their dang minds. Theyjust. They come in. They're like, look how big I am. I'm gonna it's it's weird,dude. So for the people listening, please be nice to your people. Don't knocktheir coffee cups off, no matter how good of an idea that looks.

So how many people doyou have besides the super valuable assistant or is there a lot of people thatare working directly with you or do you get a lot of feedback from other peopleat the organization that. Are not necessarily in the chain of command with you.

Doug: [00:22:43]lot of Casa and what, what we do.  everyperson, whether I work, with them daily or not, we all, I mean, it really is a.Just group of everybody has to be able to do their thing or else we all willfail. You know, for instance, as a recruitment director, I have to continue tobring in advocates because if we don't have any advocates, if we don't have anyvolunteers.

Our volunteer supervisors, then don't have anybody tosupervise. Also, if that doesn't happen we, we lose funding, stuff like that. So I mean, everything is just soimportant and we lean on each other a whole lot.  We also have Texas Casa kind of our, ouroverhead organization. They, they don't run us the day to day, but they do giveus, you know, feedback and things like that.

So I try to meet with them as much as I can to pick theirbrains because I'm not a recruiter by trade. So I'm still trying to learn allthat thing. Cause that's the tricky part, Whenever we're doing the trainings wealways try to end every session with an evaluation because, some nights I'm noton my game, it just happens.

And so being able to, to have that feedback and for somebodyto say, Hey, you read too much off the PowerPoint tonight. I didn't getanything. I'm a hands-on learner that I can take and I can, you know, try to doit better the next time. So, that feedback and the. ever coming constructivecriticism.

That that's super important to me because I, I really needit.

Daniel: [00:24:21]Yeah,

Andrew: [00:24:22]I like that.

Daniel: [00:24:23]is huge for sure. Another, another one of those things that  I think people tend To swing on one side ofthe spectrum or the other where it's like, I can't take any feedback and I onlyhave to hear compliments or  I don't careabout compliments only give me the negative feedback, but hopefully you're in aspot where you're, you're getting to hear both both the constructive thingsthat you need to improve on and things that go well, too.

Doug: [00:24:49]Sure. Yeah. I mean, don't get me wrong. I love the feedback. I love thecriticism as, as long as it's, you know, nice. I can't change my face. I know Icould be better looking. I can't help that, but don't get me wrong. I'll acceptthe praise too. So that's always, always appreciated.

Daniel: [00:25:07]Is that it

Andrew: [00:25:07]what is with everybody that comes on here. You're a good looking guy, man.Don't give us that crap.

Daniel: [00:25:11]Has anybody ever actually said that to you? Is that, is that, is that a realstory?

Doug: [00:25:16]jokingly though, it was an advocate actually in our last training last month. ,he's going to be just the greatest advocate that I've put through one of them,for sure. So far, I did say, Hey, give us some, some constructive feedback,please, please be gentle. There's certain things that, that we can't do becausea lot of our training now is mandated by Texas Casa.

And so, you know, I, I let them know, Hey, there are certaintopics that do get a little touchy. They do get a little controversial. I can'ttake those out, but if there's something else that you think could be better,let me know. And he, he said, yeah, I was expecting a better looking directoror a better looking trainer and we all had a good laugh, but I'm me. So, yeah.

Daniel: [00:26:00]I'm going to, I'm going to have to steal that one. Unfortunately, the vastmajority of my career. And unfortunately only because I don't think I could usethis joke, but I've typically reported to women. I feel like that would not goover. Well, If I said that,

Andrew: [00:26:14]Okay.

Doug: [00:26:15]Yeah.

Andrew: [00:26:16]Secrets that Daniel Daniel's been getting his promotions because of those upsand those beautiful pecks of his,

Doug: [00:26:22] Ithink it's the mullet for me. I mean, I can't speak for the, those ladies, butthe mullet works for me.

=

Andrew: [00:26:29] maybe this, how much I thinkabout Daniel or, you know, too much about how much I think about Daniel, butlegitimately this morning, I'm brushing my teeth and this thought popped intomy head. And I was like, man, I hope Daniel doesn't cut off that mullet for awhile. I want to make sure it's like a core memory for Riley. not kidding. Thathappened this morning while I was brushing my teeth. And I meant to text you totell you that you couldn't cut it off for a few years because I needed a partof Riley's life.

Daniel: [00:26:51]it's going to be like a solid tour two or three years before she remembersthings. It may just

Andrew: [00:26:57]know I did the math man. You got to have it for like four years.

Daniel: [00:27:00]so what about, what about this as a compromise? She obviously won't remember itright now, but we could set up a scenario where she's like looking back at likepictures of her when she's a baby and videos.

And then all of a sudden realizes, like, what the heck mydad had a mullet.

Andrew: [00:27:15]I mean, no, I, if I get a vote, no,

Doug: [00:27:18]Yeah. Like that's, that's,

a little

Andrew: [00:27:21]I want to, I want it in there.

Doug: [00:27:22]Every kid that grew up in the nineties is going through that. I, I want Rileyto be able to remember it.

Andrew: [00:27:28]Yes. A little, a little Pixar core memory. There's this little golden ball. Andit's her father with the Superman mullet.

Daniel: [00:27:35]And that I blame Jonathan for the fact that now talking about core memories hasbecome like a regular part of conversation. I hadn't thought about the movieinside out in probably five years. And how I often think about what are corememories.

Andrew: [00:27:49] Shout out to Jonathan then.Thanks for the thanks for re-introducing that Pixar movie.

Daniel: [00:27:59] So Doug, I want to jumpinto your baseball obsession and on some levels, like it pains me a little bitbecause you know, I don't love baseball, but you love baseball enough that I'mwilling to go to games. We had fun recently go into one and you're a bigYankees fan. I don't actually know. Why can you tell me why, like, where thatstarted?

I'm pretty sure you didn't grow up in New York, cause I'veknown you for like 18 years.

Andrew: [00:28:28]Yeah.

Doug: [00:28:28] Let me, let me start bysaying we didn't just go to any game. I I'm still bragging. We went to CoreyKluber is no hitter. I never thought I'd see one in person. So that was thegame we went. So I just wanted to throw that out there and just have a littlebrag.  But yeah, so back

Andrew: [00:28:44]Oh, yes. That infamous game. I, I remember.

Doug: [00:28:46]yeah, it was one of the best nights of my life.

But yeah, the Yankeething, I get asked this a lot, so, this will be good. I can tell them, Hey,just go listen to the podcast. Like, I don't want to explain it to youagain.  But so back in the, the latenineties, early two thousands, whenever I was starting to, you know, be able toform these core memories  There was onlythree teams here in Amarillo that you could watch.

You've got the Rangers who would be on, on Fox, a Foxsports. You'd have the Cubs on WGN and you'd have the Braves on TBS. The onlyother team that you could see regularly was the Yankees. And that's because thelate nineties, early two thousands dynasty, I mean the Yankees were on TV allthe time. So I am a little bit of An anarchist. I love to hate things thatother people love. So my mom was a Cubs fan. We watched WGN all the time. HarryKerry back in the day grew up watching the Cubs, but I couldn't be a Cubs fanbecause she was a cupboard. Same with my dad. He was a ranger fan. And then Ididn't want to be a brave sand because I don't know.

I just didn't. And so then I I'd started watching theYankees and I mean, it was the Derek Jeter days, Bernie Williams, RogerClemens, all those guys. And I dunno, it was just kind of love at first sight.And, you know, to merge into that  I havealways loved the idea of New York. I've been there to. Nice handful of timesnow and, and just love the city.

I love the atmosphere. So it just kind of all worked out andthat's, that's just the team. I kind of rallied behind.

Daniel: [00:30:19]And what's more impressive to me. Is that you've somehow convinced my sisterChristie to be a baseball fan. Your, your now wife, I don't know which one ismore important at this point. Probably the fact that she was her wife. So wait,how did, how did that happen? Because I don't remember Christie being into anysports growing up at all.

Doug: [00:30:42] Imean, it was kind of, and don't get me wrong. Like I do not believe inultimately items when it comes to relationships. I think that's, you know,there's a better way to go about things, but that was my ultimatum. Hey, ifthis is going to work, you're going to have to buy in. I'm sorry. But it iswhat it is.

And I mean, I'll, I'll give her credit. She took to it veryquickly. more than anything, I mean, it's just kind of a social thing for her.She likes getting out of the house and going and doing things. So if that meanswe're going to a Yankee game down in Dallas or Denver, or a sod poodle gamedowntown here in Amarillo or whatever, uh she's she's always down and yeah, soI just told her, Hey, our, our firstborn child will probably be named after ayear.

If you're willing to sign up for that. Hey, I'm in wise wehad a good run.

Daniel: [00:31:34]Oh, that's great. I, I truly love that. And big shout out to Christie for, forbeing like, you know what, all right, we're gonna, we're going to stick withthis janky and it, it seems, seems like it was a good choice.

Doug: [00:31:46]like I said, I'll give her all the credit in the world because she is justtaken onto it and latched on more than I ever dreamed. And she doesn't activelyhate me for watching the Yankee games every night. And man, if that's not whata wife is supposed to be, I don't know what is.

Andrew: [00:32:03]Okay. Obviously, we're going to ask her about this next week when she comes on.

Doug: [00:32:10]That. Yes, please do. I'd love to hear what she has to say on that matter.

Andrew: [00:32:15]Don't worry. I don't think we'll have, we might, but I don't think we'll havethis episode out before she comes on. So it'll be a blind. It'll be a blindthing. I think we'll see.

Daniel: [00:32:23]we can ask her what her ultimatum was. Cause I mean, I feel like that's howultimatums work, because if you give one, then you got to receive one.

Doug: [00:32:29]Yeah,

I can probably tell you what hers is. Yogi, the world'sgreatest dog. She was like, you have to love Yogi. Okay. What's not to love,like that's easy.

Andrew: [00:32:39]So you got stock homed by the Yankees as a child. You forced it on your wife asan ultimatum. I guess this is how baseball works. Daniel.

Daniel: [00:32:48]I guess so.

Andrew: [00:32:49]Interesting.

All right, Doug, letme pivot you a little bit. we talked a little bit about Christie, so I'm goingto lead the witness and say, maybe you can throw some stuff out and give usstories before the interview, but it's story time. So what do you have forDaniel? I. That is a story that you'd like to share and it can be from Casa ifyou've got, you know, hopefully nothing too depressing.

I'm not ready for tears on a Sunday night, but somethingfrom your life, something about Danielle, something about me, something aboutChristie. Cause that'd be kind of funny or anything in your life that you thinkwas worth sharing.

Doug: [00:33:23]Man he'll put me on the spot on this one. I, I have a go-to story. I alwaystell, but like, I don't know. I feel like our time would be better spent with anon stupid story.  

Andrew: [00:33:34]Oh, we love stupid. It's okay. I'm right here.

Doug: [00:33:37] we'll.

Andrew: [00:33:37]It's nice to get on the level

Daniel: [00:33:39]what. Earlier stories was about like twins pooping on a wall and that beingcleaned up. So.

Doug: [00:33:46]Okay, so this, this was circa probably like. 20 10, 20 11. I don't know.  Back in high school, me and my, my friendswe, we were some rambunctious teenagers. We, we watched jackass as a, as aneducational tool, not as an entertainment tool. That's just kind of how we wereas people.  But one day we decided, Hey,let's go to the flea market and try to buy a goat.

And so we went to. Flea market and turns out. Unfortunatelythey had literally out of goats for the day. They said that would be the last,last round they'd have till spring. So we, couldn't buy a goat. I don't knowwhat we were going to do with it. but they did have a duck. And so we wentahead.

I think it was like, there was about five of us, I think. 60bucks for the go or for the duck. I'm sorry. So about 12 bucks a pop, not, nottoo bad. We're walking out. There's a Bruno Mars song playing. So we decided toname the duck Bruno. Cause what else are you going to do? You know? don't knowwhat a good duck name is.

So we start drivingaround with, with the duck and we're, we've got a parking cone also. So westart going around. To our friend's houses and putting the duck underneathtraffic cone and we'd ring the doorbell and then we'd run off Peter, if you'relistening to this, I'm sorry. I was stupid, please.

Don't Sue me over that one. It wasn't the most ethical thing,but it is what it is.  So, you know,they'd opened the door and you'd hear the quacking come out of the traffic, youknow, they'd get really confused and then we'd come out, blah, blah, blah. Andit was fun for a couple of hours. And then we decided, okay what are we goingto do now?

Like we've got to duck. And so we decided the most humanething would be to take it to the local pond METI park there.  They, they have always had ducks and geeseout there. You know, we thought, Hey, maybe that'll be good. So we'd take itout. And we've released it into the wild. I had some string around the, the wings, so we cut those off, but wedidn't even know that it could fly.

Cause we cut it off early in the day and it never tried totake off from us. I mean, Bruno those pretty friendly duck, if you ask me  so we're, we're there many park and we put itdown by the water near where the other ducks are. And we kind of start steppingat it to try to get it, to go into the water, to go swim and all of a suddenthe bird, it just takes off and fly.

And it is the most majestic thing you've ever seen in yourlife. I mean, we w like, we're all jumping up who rang, you know, we didn'tknow that the duck had the ability to fly. And so we're. Really happy andwithin about five seconds, it flew full speed into the discovery center wall.And I don't know for certain, but we're pretty sure it died from that moment.

Andrew: [00:36:36]Wow. I said no depressing stories,

Doug: [00:36:39]Listen, it was like something out of the Sandlot or like those mid twothousands kids movies that like, it just fills you up with just such arejoicing moment. And then that just got so stupid and none of us could hold inour laughter everybody or else around the park or were dying, laughing. I mean,it was rough, but man, If I could have any moments in my life, just berecorded.

Exactly how it happened. I wouldn't want my wedding. Iwouldn't want the, you know, Courtney Cooper's no-hitter I would want thatmoment right there. It was the best. And I'm sorry that that's the best storythat I could come up with at the moment.

Daniel: [00:37:21]Oh, that is an amazing story. How the heck have I never heard that storybefore? It does.

Doug: [00:37:26]I'm honestly shocked. Like I, I figured I'd told you, so I was contemplatingnot even telling you, but Hey, I guess that works

Andrew: [00:37:33]And you would just leave me in the dark and our millions of listeners without.Suicidal duck

Doug: [00:37:38]well, you know what it happened, it happened. So we're working late.

Andrew: [00:37:42] I'm going to pretend thatit just, it faked its death. So you wouldn't, you know, worry about it anylonger.

Doug: [00:37:49]Yeah, that

Andrew: [00:37:49]And it's actually outliving its best duck

life.

Doug: [00:37:52]that, that, I, it has been, been heavy on my conscious for about 10 years now.So I appreciate that.

Andrew: [00:38:03]Doug, do you have a challenge? You want to give anybody?

Doug: [00:38:05] Yeah, I,

Daniel: [00:38:06]Hi, Doug.

Doug: [00:38:07]yes. Buy a duck and try to not let it kill itself. Cause apparently that'strickier said than done or done than said whatever. Y'all know. I don't, I'msorry. I'm not good with the English language you know, but  my actual challenge would be, and again, Iknow I'm biased, so don't.

Don't necessarily go to Casa, but I do encourage everyoneand challenge them to, to figure out a way to give back. if you want to be aCasa volunteer, I would love it. Let's do it. I mean, I think that giving backto these children is as important of a thing that you can do in life. Thatbeing said, if you don't have the time or energy fine.

Or if you have another organization you'd love to do, Imean, big brothers, big sisters  here inAmarillo, the bridge, I mean, they're, they're all really doing great stuff. Soeven though I am biased, I encourage you to just find somewhere to give backwhether it be volunteer work, or if you've got some money, donate it.

If you can't do either of that, the biggest thing that you cando honestly, is help spread the word. I mean, the biggest thing about costs.It's hard to argue with the mission. Like, I mean, who wants to watch thesechildrens suffer more than they already have? Like, that's a really easy thingto get behind, but a lot of people don't know about us.

And so whether it is Casa or another organization, go tellsomebody about it because just because you don't have the time, the effort, theenergy, the money, whatever to, to be able to give you. There's a good chancesomebody else, you know, does so help spread that word, share their Facebookposts, you know, like them like them on social media, things like that, becausethat, that does more than you'd expect.

Andrew: [00:39:49]That is a great challenge and great insight on what helps people. Cause that's,that is something you can do for free. And it's

Doug: [00:39:55]Yeah, for sure.

Andrew: [00:39:56]good. One.  Doug, thank you so much forcoming on and spending a little bit of your evening with Daniel and I, I'm sureyou see Daniel all the time and I see you in the dog and Christie walking outin the park, but it's always good to get to catch up.

So we really appreciate you taking the time out of the dayto hang with us and give us a little bit of your wisdom. So thanks for comingon to everyone else. Thank you for listening. We appreciate you guys keeping upwith us and we look forward to connecting with you all soon.

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