So... Alright - 2026 Emails

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

Geoff dives into some of your emails from January. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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So no matter what day of the week, Go's got you covered. Find out more at goadransit.com slash tickets. So I thought today we would dive into the inbox and see what kind of interesting mail you've been sending me. For instance, James Baylor saw that I watched the 1977 Japanese experimental horror movie called House. Send me an email that said, Jeff, I hope you're doing well. After listening to today's episode, I had some trivia about House. Did you know that the music played on the piano inspired the intro to the My Chemical Romance song

Welcome to the Black Parade? No shit. I had no idea. I didn't know that. I didn't pick up on that when I was watching the movie. How about that? See, that's why these emails are important. I had no fucking clue.

Now here we are. Got this one from Michael, who's had six burgers and four hot dogs. He said, Jeff, I'm considering a move. to Austin. I graduated from ASU with my PhD back in May. They're working as a research scientist sense. Congratulations. You sound very smart. With my contract ending in June, I've been doing the Herculean task of job searching in Austin has come up a number of times. For a little context, I'm a 28-year-old

with a wife, an adorable three-month-old, and two little shitsuits. I generally enjoy coffee, video games sporting events, primarily hockey football, and baseball, and a good outdoor pavilion park with lots of shops and stores to kind of waste a Saturday or Sunday at. I know you've said Austin has changed a lot, and you are looking at moving away in the near or distant future. But would you still consider it a good place to live? Raise a family and generally enjoy life. I've lived near Chicago in the middle of nowhere, Iowa, and in Phoenix,

so I feel like I've experienced a good amount of seasons and climates that I would likely be able to acclimate as much as one can to the heat and humidity of Austin. Well, first off, I don't think Austin's humid. People that move here thinks it's incredibly humid, but I grew up on the Gulf Coast, you know, and the humidity in Austin is a joke compared to that. So it's going to be more than Phoenix,

but it's probably less than Chicago, honestly. Thanks for taking time to read this, even if you don't respond. I hope I've been able to give you at least a minute of something to read since you've given me so many hours of things to listen to and watch over the years. I hope 2026. It's a fantastic start. It is, Michael, with love. With love back to you, I'm happy to answer this question.

It seems like you are at an exciting inflection point in your life. And without knowing what other cities you're considering, it's kind of hard to compare and contrast, I can only take it as, I guess as you intended, which was, is Austin a city I would consider moving to in 2026? Yes. Short answer, yes. The only reason I'm considering leaving Austin, well, it's not the only reason. The main reasons I'm considering leaving Austin are mostly financial. I do get worn out by the summers here. I did year before last and the year before that. We had a bad run there and a lot of people fled. And I was definitely a little motivated by that. This last year was awesome. I got to say, I am interested in leaving Austin. Like I said,

just because I don't think it's a town I can retire to, if you're not planning on retiring here, I think it's a great place to move to and raise a kid. It is expensive. It did not used to be. When I moved here, it was a very cheap and inexpensive place to live. It is no longer that place. There is traffic. There is a undercurrent of tech bro, Elon Musk, Joe Rogan sycophants that has permeated the city, not to such a degree that it has in any way ruined my enjoyment of it. It's probably my least favorite change in the city over the last few years. But if I thought that I could afford the property taxes, I would easily retire here. Although one does lament seasons and part of the desire to move to Detroit is because I want to feel some real winter. You know, get some other seasons.

And I want to be able to have, you know, I want to be able to have that snowbird lifestyle where I can, if it's hot, I can go to the cold place. and if it's cold, I can go to the hot place. So even as a lot of my friends and coworkers from the past have moved on and have left the city, it hasn't made me like it any less, I got to say. The things that make me like it less, I think, are problems that you're going to have in any major city, and I think are more endemic of where we are culturally than anything else, you know? But the downsides. It's hot as hell in the summer, okay?

Traffic sucks. I don't know how far out of town you want to live. It's very expensive to live in town, you know, what I would consider to be in town, which would be east of Mopac, west of airport, north of Benwhite, and south of 183. That like horizontal chunk of Austin, that is like the heart of the city. and if you want to live in that chunk, it's going to be more expensive than living outside of it. But people move in from California, it's nothing for them to drive 30 or 45 minutes into town.

For those of us that have lived in Austin since it was pretty small, it feels weird to have to drive 30 minutes to go to the places we want. So I tend to stay really close to the city. I like being in the middle of the shit. It's, you know, you take the good with the bad there. But I'm really rambling here. I'm really sorry, Michael.

The answer is yes. Short answer yes, long answer, yes. Is it a good place to raise a kid? I think so. I really enjoyed raising Millie here. There were so many opportunities for her scholastically. She went to magnet schools. She got into special programs in her high school to focus on film and photography. You know, she got to go to a French immersion preschool. These are things that other big cities are probably going to have. But Austin has them too. And I have to say, I never wanted for a activities, for places to take Millie, for things to do when she was young. I know she's non-plussed about Austin, but she's a 20-year-old who grew up here and never knew otherwise. So, you know,

she didn't move from Alabama to here and learn to appreciate it. She moved from here to a bigger city and learned to appreciate that. But it's a safe city. There's a ton, at least when I was raised in Millie, there were a ton of young families around, and it seemed like an awesome. It was an awesome place for me to raise a kid. As far as sports, hockey, football, and baseball, well, how much do you like to drive? Because you got Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas. They have all of that in spades. In Austin, we have the Austin FC soccer team. We have the University of Texas football team that I don't give a fuck about. I've been here for over 30 years. I've never been to a UT game, have no plans to go anytime soon.

And that's about it. You know, we have minor league basketball. We have minor league hockey up in Cedar Park, if that's your thing. But you will definitely be taking a step down, probably even honestly moving from Phoenix to here. You have better options there than you do here, certainly Chicago. So that is something to be aware of. As far as outdoor pavilions and parks, lots of shops and stores, we got that. Austin's got the drag. We've got South Kong. We've got South Congress. I mean, there's a million. You get the domain. You've got the grove. There's all kinds of places like that around town. And downtown itself, you've got Barton Springs. You've got Zilker Park. There's a ton of nature. The hike and bike trail is an 11 mile trail that runs around town

lake that I ride almost every day of my life, at least when the weather allows me to, I do. We've got a ton. We've got about 400 miles of contiguous bike trails in the city. It's, there's a lot of activity out there. But there will come a part of the year when you want to do anything other than go outside and be in it. So be aware of that. I was a very long and rambly message, Michael, to say, ultimately, yeah, if you can swing it, if you can afford it, if you can make it work, I think it's a great town. There's an entrepreneurial spirit that runs through this city that I think is unmatched. And even as it's changed and morphed, I don't think that has changed. And so if you're the kind of guy who ever wants

to start something, you know, has an idea, a business he wants to undertake someday. It's a pretty cool city to incubate and to grow your independent businesses. But if you just want to raise a family and live an awesome life, man, I can't imagine living a more awesome life than I lived raising Millie here. So best of luck, Michael, with whatever decision you make. If you end up in Austin, I'll see you around town. Please say hello. I'll buy a hot dog. Bevan says, if you're deep into Power Wash simulator, check out House Flipper 1 and 2, Recycling Center Sim. There's two different ones. Get the one with the better rating. Car Mechanic Sim, along with World War II Rebuilder. I've been set on just those type of games for a while. There's some shit ones in the category,

but the above list are the ones I've enjoyed. Even though I never watched too much adventure time, I'm still excited for the Power Watch crossover DLC. Oh, check out Coral Island as well. From what you've said about Dave the Diver, it seems similar. All right, thanks, Brevin. I really appreciate that. had the gas station simulator DLC coming up and then after that I think the the slate is wide open

so maybe I'll slot in car mechanics sim or something. Really appreciate the email. Thank you very much. Next email is more of the same Solaris says, good-day Jeff. I was listening to the latest episode

and I thought I might suggest a game for you if you end your gas station days. Parcel simulator. You're running a warehouse taking packages from the trucks confirming their details and sending them on their way.

It adds more and more things to check out at the same time has a ton of automation in the mid-to-end game. All right, Solaris, I'll check that out. That sounds awesome. Thank you so much. Holy shit.

And here's another one. Tyler says, Tyler with a burger count of 16, that is, says, Hey, Jeff, I'm sitting here watching the newest follow-up video, and you mentioned not having any Zen games. I thought I'd reach out and recommend one that I really enjoyed called Arcade Paradise. It's another one of those sim games. It's the one where you take over your father's old laundromat and slowly build it up into a full arcade. You just described Drac Patillo's dream life.

you start with one machine and build it up until your arcade completely overtakes the laundromat. I'm currently working on getting to 100%, but some of the achievements are actually pretty difficult. Anyways, thanks for all the content you make, and I hope you try this game out. I think you'll really enjoy it. Thanks.

I've never heard of any of these games, by the way. So I really do appreciate all these emails. This one's from Will. He says, Jeff, I owe you plenty of thanks for everything regulation has given me the last few years, making me feel connected during the rough times of COVID lockdowns, having a guaranteed highlight of the week

in every regulation episode and encouraging me to keep being creative with every episode of so all right. Recently, though, two points have been lifesavers. Okay. Let's see what we're talking about here. First, the fucking nose flaps. Oh, I just started a job at a chain of funeral homes. Say no more. Oh, my Lord. My job is transferring the deceased and sometimes the smell is something else. Then lo and behold, those nose flaps saved the day. It all makes sense now. They're not always flawless, but I'm definitely in a unique situation. Either way, thank you. Dude, congratulations on being able to harness the power of the nose flaps. From everything that I've read, it's not universal. I think only about a quarter of people can do it. So you're in the lucky few that has nose flaps that you can control. And they will save you a lot of

discomfort in your life. Congratulations on finding them. The more you use them, the stronger they'll get. Second is a story you told about learning to drink black coffee. I can't remember exactly when or on what show, but it popped into my memory and helped me. Also, there's a chance it wasn't you. It was me. You said that would be awkward, but it was me. It was definitely me. The story was about you working in a motorpool in the army and a grizzled old sergeant

told you to learn to drink coffee black, so it'd get you through long hours and lack of coffee additives. You know what? You got it close enough that it's not worth. correcting. It's essentially correct. Yeah, well, it wasn't in a motorpool, but it was when I was a duty driver in the Army for Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, during the coldest winter they'd had in like 50 years. And he basically said, I was trying to figure out how I liked my coffee. He said, just learn to take it black. And then you don't have to worry about all the other bullshit. You're never going to be like, oh, I can't have coffee because they're out of sugar or non-dairy

creamer or whatever the fuck it is that I like, because you just like it black. Make your life easier. you'll save time. And so I learned to do that. Anyway, Will says, cue me hanging around and waiting for calls at the funeral home, standing in front of the coffee machine, that story popped into my head, and it made late shifts that much easier while I'm out on this new adventure in life. So thanks again, you're helping people in quite strange and interesting ways. All the best will. Thank you, Will. Sean, who has had 91 burgers. You legend, Sean. That's insane. Says, hey, Jeff, my name is Sean. I'm from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Boy, that just rolls off the time. I've been a huge fan since the early days of Fuckface.

She wanted to write you and say how much you're talking about punk and hardcore did for me. If it weren't for the podcast, I wouldn't have checked out my local scene and started playing in bands. Oh, wow. Recently, I heard you mention SNFU and being in the Canadian scene, though I'm young, Chi Pig is a hero around here. Have you ever heard of Daiglo abortions? Absolutely I've heard of Daiglo abortions. I'd like to recommend some local bands for you to check out. Broken Idels, Alien to the Ignorant, Repair, Swayzee, Cambodian, Death,

camp. And these are all some flavor of punk or hardcore band, Sean says. I also have some music coming out soon that I'll make sure to send you to check out. If you don't get to this or if it's not on an episode, no worries. Well, I did get to it and it is on an episode. Can't wait to see where the podcast go this year. I can't wait to hear your music.

Please send it to us and we'll plug it on the podcast. Absolutely. This one's about the Jeff collection. Zachary says, Hey, Jeff, just responding, I'm super interested in the Jeff collection again, in particular the pocket tease with the dagger design on the breast pocket. I have the maroon, green, and white ones, and they are all in poor shape

after years of use. I think that they are a simple and elegant design that I really hope you consider reprinting. They mean a lot to me as a person who has difficulty with new clothes feeling right of them. Boy, I know that problem. God damn. I find great comfort in them. Thank you for your consideration. I'll tell you what, Zachary. I like those ones a lot as well. I can't remember if they're embroidered or not. Let me know, but I will make sure that we rotate them in at some point. Thank you for the email. Bryce says, good afternoon, Jeff. I'm trying to distract myself for from the instantaneous news cycle on another dark day in American history. No fucking kidding.

Found myself watching your gas station simulator streams on YouTube while gaming myself. When you and the stream started discussing the Route 66 Centennial and mentioned it would be cool to do a regulation content on the mother road, my ears shot up. I've just finished my student teaching in an Oklahoma history class last semester where we, my mentor teacher and I, spent a whole day teaching a lesson on Route 66. Yes, this is actually required teaching in the Oklahoma academic,

standards for social studies, and no, it is not because we are ranked 50th in education. Yeah, great time to be a teacher here in Oklahoma. I won't make you click through a ninth grade history lesson, but in case you decide that there's a so-al-right episode themed around Route 66, I will give you the man responsible for the road taking the more circuitous route down in Oklahoma rather than cutting straight across Nebraska or Kansas. His name is Cyrus S. Avery. He says this part is probably off-air boring, but I don't think so. He says, this is not. He says, snowball effect on Oklahoma history is huge. As a state, we have a ton of events,

roadside tourist attractions, and beautification projects set to be unveiled, completed across the state. I myself grew up in a city where our main street is Route 66, though I don't exactly know if they have anything planned. Wow, that's crazy. I'd assume they will just have their biggest rock-the-rout festival yet, which is a country music festival where the stage is on the actual shutdown Route 66

with a bunch of vendors off in the downtown parking lots. No shit. Thank you so much for. for all the free content for the last however many years, and the many more to come. It has been incredible to have so much to watch, especially fuckface regulation. Pantin is the greatest.

I agree. Andrew Pantin is the greatest. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I love what I do, so I took preparing for those ninth grade lessons seriously. All the best, Bryce. Thank you so much for the email, Bryce.

Rock the route. I'm not a country music fan, but the idea of seeing a festival on Route 66 sounds pretty fucking cool. Got one here from OU fan that says, Dear Jeff, you were talking about merch ideas, and I absolutely love the Popsick line you had in the old days. I have the Hello Death shirt from when it went on sale, and I've had several compliments on it.

I'd love to see that shirt and the line come back. As for the cards you cannot get rid of, I would love to see some of those cards come in an order, maybe that you've signed, even top-loaded, or penny-sleeved. As a Pokemon collector, I've seen several influencers do that. I would love to have stuff signed by you. Love, comment leave a Shane. Burgers 36, Dogs, 30.

That's a solid count on both. Let me say probably not on the card thing. You could easy, it'd be easier to see that in regulation than in soil right. What I'm going to do with the Jeff line is going to be drop shipping. So it'll probably be printed on demand. I won't have access to the actual merchandise. So I won't be able to slip stuff in. I don't think.

But I'll look into it. I'll definitely look into it. And thank you for the email, Shane. Oh, oh, again, to answer your question, I definitely planning on revisiting. visiting Popsick. It was by far the most popular thing we did, and I will definitely be launching the store with the original Popsick shirt and probably a trucker hat, too. Just FYI. Here's one from Glenn, who says, hey, Jeff, hope you're well. Listen to the regulation pod today, and you mentioned a soundtrack being better than the movie. I think I was talking about Marked for

death on that one. Thought I'd make a suggestion that might interest you. Strange Darling is a fantastic movie, but the soundtrack may be a little better. Incredible album and absolutely worth a listen. All the best, Glenn. Okay, thanks, Glenn. I'll check it out. I think that should do it for today. That's a fair amount of emails. There's more to get through, and I promise I will at the next opportunity. Thank you for sending them in. They don't just go into a void. I definitely read them. I try to respond to them either in email form or in podcast form. I'm pretty far behind. But Podcasts like these are helping me catch up. I owe you guys a song of the episode.

So let's get to that. I don't think I've done this before. I apologize if I have. But today's song of the episode is Shady Grove by Doc Watson. There's something tickling in the back of my head that says maybe I've used this as a song of the episode before. I hope not. But if I have, it's only because it's such a fantastic song. and Doc Watson.

God damn. All right.