The Grey NATO – 359 – The 2026 TGN "In" & "Out" List¶
Published on Thu, 08 Jan 2026 06:00:00 -0500
Synopsis¶
In episode 359 of The Grey Nato, hosts James Stacy and Jason Heaton celebrate their tenth year of podcasting by discussing "ins and outs" for 2026—things they plan to embrace or eliminate from their lives. The conversation covers a wide range of topics including watch collecting habits (Jason plans to reduce his rotation to just three watches, while James commits to not buying watches he's already owned), lifestyle changes (Jason is reintroducing bacon and starting strength training, while James is eliminating subscriptions and small screen time), and personal goals (both hosts discuss being less available/connected and living more analog lives). They also touch on their holiday breaks, current watch choices (Jason wearing his Pelagos FXD, James with the Vertex M60 Aqualion), and announce plans for video content this year. The episode emphasizes mindful consumption, reducing digital overwhelm, and focusing on what truly matters as they enter their tenth year of the podcast.
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Transcript¶
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| James Stacy | Alright, is this thing on? Hello and welcome to another episode of the Grey NATO. It's a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode three hundred and fifty-nine, and it's proudly brought to you by the always growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support, and if you are listening and would like to support the show, please visit thegrayinado.com for more details. My name is James Stacy, and I'm joined as ever by my friend and co-host, Jason Heaton. Jason, how's 2026 for you, man? We're what five days in |
| Jason Heaton | ? Five days in, yeah. We're and this is our second go-round with a year that ends with six, right? Um we're this is our tenth year. Pretty wild. Oh yes, I was trying to figure out I was like, I think both of you and I have been around longer than Yeah, no, but but it's it's yeah, it's crazy. I mean it's um it's it's pretty wild to think. I think we didn't we calculate a few weeks back? were We trying to figure out when what the date of our very first show was, and I think it was right after SIHH twenty sixteen, which would have been late January |
| James Stacy | . One, thank you for that. Two, we used to be on SoundCloud. Yeah. And then there was this great SoundCloud outage. And I was like, all right, I got to rethink this whole thing. Our podcast is down. Sound uh in like it was like three or four days that SoundCloud was down. And in that span of time, we moved to Buzz Sprout. So that's why I don't remember what number it was where we moved. It's probably pretty obvious in the show, but if you go far enough down on Buzz Sprout where we're hosted now, you can see that all of a sudden every show came out the same day. Yeah. And that that was the day that we migrated. Um so yeah, I don't I don't have a strong a strong option. You know, you go back 10 years, this is before my time with Hodinki, Jason, you were a freelancer with Hodinky at the time and kind of the we we started a show, we had like, you know, a hundred and twenty listeners maybe. Yeah. Something like that, if I remember I I feel like that number was quite important, like breaking into the three digits. And then uh Ben at Hodinky wrote a story about how we had started the podcast. Neither of us had talked to him about it. We, you know, it wasn't we weren't then and over the 10 years haven't become especially good at self-promotion. Uh and and Ben wrote this story and that that kind of like immediately got us our first five hundred plus sort of listeners and we've kind of been going since then and you know it's been it's been a wild ride. But yeah, we'll have lots of I think retrospective style episodes coming this year. You know, we have a couple cool merch ideas. We might do a tenth anniversary series of something. If you have a great idea, the Slack is the spot to put that in. We could make it happen. Um, I think a lot of the what we're going to talk about in today's show is about things we are going to do this year and and in some cases we aren't going to do this year. You know, we considered resolutions that feels kind of boring, uh, or maybe something we've done a couple times. Last year for the first episode of January we d we started the one watch draft. Didn't really want to do that again, although I was wearing that watch for like many days of the last week. So yeah, I thought I thought it would be interesting to do like an in and out list. I really like reading in and out lists. They kind of they give me more of like a mental footing for a new year versus it just being like a day on the calendar. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But yeah, I don't know. It was a it was a great break. Why don't we start there before we get into all that kind of stuff? I haven't really talked to you much the last few days. Uh I sent you a couple images of things I got uh as gifts on on Christmas and then we didn't really talk until what maybe yesterday. Yeah. Uh so it was a nice break. I I I really put my head in the sand and tried to be, you know, with family and and catch up on a few movies and read some books and that sort of thing. How how's it been for you? Yeah, it's been I've tr |
| Jason Heaton | ied my best to relax and kind of unplug a little bit. Um and you know part of that we'll get into uh with our in and out list uh the unplug part specifically but um yeah it's been it's been good and and it it felt like the this this felt like the first um kind of Christmas or holiday period in several years where where it has truly felt wintery and kind of Christmassy. And I think before we knocked off for the year, I was either just getting ready or just finished with that winter solstice party that we had, and that was a lot of fun. We know we had outdoor fires and made some chili and you know some good drinks and whatnot. And then that kind of kicked off the kind of the holiday spirit. And it felt sort of festive. I um went to a party on New Year's Eve at a neighbors and um you know, have went to the British Arrow Awards, which is the kind of the awards for the best British advertising, did that with a friend and went out to dinner and oh cool spent some time with family and and christy's daughters. No, you know the the it's interesting. I we were trying to figure out too like who's watching these who's watching these ads because like who watches ads anymore? Like ads T V is not the same. I mean, uh these aren't for sure YouTube ads and whatever, but I I almost wonder if they're just made for the award season as kind of a a flex for some creative agency. But they're they're always great. That was fun. Yeah. Um cool. And yeah, ate well and relaxed a bit and got some cross-country skiing in. We've had you know decent snow and it was actually it was actually quite chilly, although today it's warming up and getting pretty slushy. But uh yeah, all in all, it was uh it was a it was a proper holiday. I we're we're currently working our way through um I haven't done a lot of kind of binge watching in a long time, but we've stumbled upon Pluribus, which is the show on TV that has proven to be quite quite good. I just like it's a very unique concept for any who haven't seen it. Um might want to get a little bit very different. Vince Gilligan, like just so unique, it's so creative. Like there just aren't tropes from other types of shows and the the kind of the overall maphor is just a really interesting one and it's uh mostly actors I've never seen or heard of before and that was kind of refreshing. So that's been good. And then um yeah I just finished a book last night, actually, that was uh sent to me by um it was an advanced copy sent by a a a TGN listener um who I've communicated with for many years since I started um writing my own fiction years ago, named Michael O'Donnell. And he and Michael does um uh I believe he's a lawyer by training, lives in the Chicago area, and he um he writes book reviews for the Atlantic and for the Wall Street Journal. And he's written two novels. His first was called Above the Fire, and then this latest one is called Concert Black. And I just finished it last night, and it's really, really good. It's such a unique concept. It's not really a thriller, um, but it's about a a writer who's writing a biography of a very famous uh classical music conductor. And this guy's kind of prickly and has some kind of a shady past, and he's kind of resistant to her writing it, and it's all about her kind of digging into his past and some of the things he did. And I don't know, it's just it's a really unique concept and I really have and enjoyed it. So um the book I believe will be published in April. I just wanted to give Michael a a shout out and tell people to keep that on the radar if you um if you're looking for a good novel, uh the spring um concert blank would be one to check out. So um but other than that, yeah, it was a good it was a good uh good bit of a holiday break. I I as I've said before, probably every year for the past ten, uh this this time of year comes around the post holiday period and I'm just not revved up. I'm not I'm not firing on all cylinders yet. You know, I think so many people like hit the new year running and that's never been me. I'm I could I could use another week. Yeah, I kind of hit it with tears in my eyes |
| James Stacy | . Yeah. Uh yeah. I I'm not sure it hit anything today. I got up on time. I got my walk in. Um, you know, trying trying to stay sharp, all that kind of thing. We'll get into some of this stuff in a little bit. I had a I had a really nice break. You know, I I wanted to take as much from the team as possible. So I took over the social media and some of the other scheduling and and you know were, you know, in budget developments and all this kind of stuff. So it wasn't a hundred percent offline scenario, but as far as this job goes, uh it was as as off as you're gonna be while still being responsible. And uh I definitely really enjoyed that. I got a chance to watch a couple of movies with my brothers, so shout out to taking of Pelop 123, uh 1974, that is the actually the remake's great, but 1974. This is one that my brother Tim actually suggested on Film Club back in volume six when he was on. Oh yeah. Uh I'll include that film club episode. Also, with it being 2026, we get to do another film club. We're trying to we tried to limit us to one a year so it didn't become too much of a crutch. And I think I've got at least five movies I'm pretty pumped about. Taking a Pell on one two three, the original, absolutely incredible. Maybe maybe crazy, crazy statement. Top two Robert Shaw performances for me. It's in wow. Okay. He's incredible. Wow. Oh, he's done some great stuff for sure. Yeah. Yeah. And then uh the other one I watched is a movie I didn't know that my brother was raving about. And uh maybe maybe it'll make a final note someday, maybe it won't, but it's 1963's High and Low. It's uh an Akira Kurosawa crime thriller about uh a a wealthy man in Japan whose son is kidnapped. Huh. And uh I'm not I wouldn't uh wouldn't possibly give anything away about this movie. It's in black and white. If you're a film nerd, you've probably already seen it. If there's a chance that you're not, especially if you're a cinematography nerd, if there's a chance that you haven't seen it, go ahead and watch it because I've never seen a movie that's blocked like this. I've never seen a movie that's shot like this. You know, has the pacing of a great uh Hitchcock. Yeah. And uh it's it's it's a it's exceptional. Uh I really, really liked it. So we had had a great time watching those two. Interesting you mentioned that one |
| Jason Heaton | because I I watched the kind of not remake, but the Spike Lee version of that movie called Highest to Lowest um just a couple of months ago with Denzel Washington. And I quite liked it. Love Denzel. Yeah, it was a that was a good movie. Um so as you were I didn't know high and low, but I now that you were describing it, I was like, Yep, that that yeah it's the same plot, same that's what he based it on. So yeah, interesting. I should try try the origin |
| James Stacy | al. And and yeah, and I I gotta watch the uh watch the new one. That's uh that's awesome. I mean I look, I mean Spike Lee and and Denzel uh former film club pick and inside man, uh so I'm I'm basically sold before before click and play. Yeah, and then otherwise I got a couple of uh I I hinted at it because I I sent you some just some images. Uh, you know, we picked the darn tough, so you'd pick darn tough socks for uh for sort of our gift guide. So Sarah got me some darn toughs. I'm wearing them right now. Love them. Um I got a harmonica. Uh so don't be surprised if at some point the new TGM theme changes. Yeah. Yeah. Harmonica. I I've done a I've done uh I've watched a couple YouTube videos on on like the basics and yeah, it's more complicated than it looks like every good instrument, right? Yeah, right. But the other one, I think it was last year, actually like Christmas last like previous Christmas, where I I had talked about these little yeti like espresso cups with the ceramic lining. Well I got the larger version of what like instead of getting two, it's just one, but it's I think it's an eight ounce. And it's awesome for a cup of coffee. Wow. So I got yeah, I got a couple of gifts I'm really pumped about that like those small elevations of the day-to-day stuff. Doesn't have to be a hugely expensive gift. Yeah. You know, that sort of thing, but just you know, some good socks, a harmonica that you know I didn't need. And uh and then yeah, this uh this Yeti uh it almost keeps the coffee too hot. Oh yeah. Uh yeah. I I they need they need an option where you can say, like, can you give me the less efficient one? Like give me the medium efficiency so my coffee will eventually cool down. Yeah. Um but yeah, that that's been great. Um and then speaking of reading, just last night I finished uh the the last of Jack Carr's books. So I started reading Terminal List just after Jack was on the show. I had read part of the book before and then lost track of it and then watched the show and then, you know, two years later whatever Jack was on and I thought I, you know, great great guest really so seemed like a solid guy, wanted to give his books another pass, and I blitzed him. Yeah. Uh so I I finished Cry Havoc uh just last night. So that that completes that uh that run for me. I have to wait. I did just see the ads for whatever the forthcoming option is, um, which will be good. Um but and then we'll get into other books in a little while because there's it's a book heavy episode, I think, weirdly. Um the the end of the year brings a specific thing out for me and uh and I'm always happy to share it. So we'll we'll get into that towards the end of the end of the episode. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Nice. Cool. Well before we jump into risk check, we c there's a little bit of housekeeping to to talk about here and I I have to apologize to people um who've been waiting on some supporter kit um shipments. So you know, as as you may or may not know, um first time annual subscribers get a supporter kit, which we've done all along or well, since we started the subscription model, which is um your choice of a 20 or 22 millimeter uh gray NATO strap um with a TGN signed buckle, and then we throw a couple of stickers in. And you're given the choice of of your size and by a large the well not by a large um overwhelmingly I would say twenty millimeter is the the top choice um and lo and behold we've run out so I have an order in um with our supplier for 20 millimeter replacements, but they won't be here for a couple more weeks. So those of you that are signing up or have signed up and are waiting for your annual subscriber um supporter kit. Uh our apologies and uh thanks for your patience. But I'll I'm keeping track and we'll we'll get those shipped out as soon as we get them. So just wanted to include that in a quick quick note at the top |
| James Stacy | . Yeah, it's great. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Always, always a good problem to have. And thankfully the supplier is solid, so we should have some more straps uh pretty shortly. The weight will be short lived. Yeah. Um and then we'll get those straps out to you. Speaking of uh straps, what uh what do you what have you got on wrist for uh the first episode of twenty twenty six, the first episode of our tenth year. Yes, indeed. |
| Jason Heaton | And it's probably a fitting choice. Um maybe slightly less fitting than a CWN one would have been. But um I've been wearing the the Pelagos FXD. I mean, look, I I I I realize I just sound like a broken record, and we we kind of both do because I think we have like three or four watches we just cycle through um most of the time. But I've just been wearing this a ton and um I uh I've been wearing it specifically on the on the black rubber strap that came with it, which wasn't my favorite when when I first got this watch. You know, I I've always liked the the hook and loop with the kind of the drab olive and the and the stripe. Um and, then it just takes other twenty two millimeter NATO so well. Um, but I've been kind of wearing this watch for everything. You know, I've been skiing in it. I did a a sauna session, 80-minute sauna session with this. Um uh I've done, you know, I've been running, I've been kind of putzing on the car and working around the house and shoveling and whatever, and I just it doesn't come off anymore. Um and and again, this is a bit of a a preview of of one of my in and out items um uh ahead here but uh yeah that's that's what's on my wrist and um it's not really going anywhere fast so um yeah |
| James Stacy | how about you yeah i uh i wore a bunch of stuff over the break uh you know really really wanted to try and get a a fresh take on a few watches. I've I've sold a couple um in the last couple weeks just kind of uh clearing house a little bit. I don't think it's going to be as big a sell-off as I might have thought um but we'll we'll get to like you like you alluded some strategies that I I may be employing this year uh to try and limit the incoming uh but the the one I put on today uh has just become sort of a fave in the last little while. It's the uh the vertex m60, the aqua line that you gave me. So this is the Black Dial Aqualion. I I just on paper, it's a it's a little heavy, it's a little thick. It's almost like an anti-Pelgos 39. Yeah. Because it's about that size, but it's super chunky, solid steel, feeling like it's made out of one piece. It has maybe the best bezel in the game. Yeah. Uh the loom is fantastic, so you can take it off at night and it works like a clock on your bedside table. It it's just uh it's just a really, really comfortable, easy wearing, heavy, solid sport watch that I I've really, really come to see as like the the balance to the tutor. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good point |
| Jason Heaton | . I mean I I've got the blue version of that, um, the tower tower mina version that came out last year and um which allowed me to pass on my black one to you, and I'm glad you're enjoying it because it's you're right. It's it's one of those watches with it it you know, usually it's a negative when you say a watch wears bigger than it than it is, but it definitely does. Every time I pull it out, I'm like, no, it's too big, but it's it's a 39 or 40 millimeter watch and it's um yeah but it's six hundred meters water resistant, so it's just it's it's a little bit overbuilt. It's just got a heavier case. Um but it's just got so much thick. Yeah. |
| James Stacy | It's actually it if you look at its profile, it's actually a lot of bezel. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I've I've really been enjoying it. Um I would say this is like among the watches that might have filled the the Braymont S302 void for me. Steel, matte, you know, kind of good at a lot of things. Yeah. This wears a little bit more square shouldered. Um, like it's got something to prove, but I I just really like it. It's a really, really pleasing watch in person. And to like pop it off and hand someone a vertex when they've held everything else I own 20 times. Yeah. Yeah. And and they turn that bezel and just see the look on their face like, oh, that's real good. So yeah, no, it's it's uh it's a blast. I dig it. Yeah, yeah, that's great. All right. Well let's get into the in and out list and I'll give a like a very brief explainer. I think most people have some concept of what these are. The idea is that you know when uh a year ends or in a new year starts, you'll see a lot of these kind of uh trendy outlets kind of offer these lists of like things that are out, things that we're not going to be doing in 2026, or this could be jokes, it could be serious, it could be a mix of both, and things that are in, things that we will or or recommend we should be doing in 2026. So you know, just as an example, uh the the uh very other side of the of the spectrum from a TGN, you know, like in Bazaar's twenty twenty six ins and outs, which came out just recently, uh they're saying that um voice notes are out. So leaving people voice notes, that's that's something we're not doing anymore. And then um slow living is in, opting for a slower face, more attention to things that really matter rather than uh, you know, more going. on So that that's just an example. Uh obviously ours is going to trend more into the watch space, I think, than Bazaar's might, but hey, who knows? Uh Jason, uh, do you want to start off with a sort of watch one and do you want to do an in or an out or you want to offer both? What what's the vibe? Yeah, I |
| Jason Heaton | was I was debating this and you and I kinda briefly talked about it at the top 'cause I think so many of these have a corollary. You know, there's the the you you say what's out and then you say what you're going to do instead. And um yeah, you know, as I hinted at in my wrist check, um I just I I just find, you know, and I've I I've talked about this and struggled with it and I've written about it for many years, this this desire to be kind of more of a one-watch person. And maybe it goes along with this time of year, because it was last year that we did the one-watch tournament and and vowed to wear one watch for a month, depending on what one R one is in W O N, one R brackets. Um, and for me it was the FXD. And and lo and behold, here I am wearing it again. And I did wear it for well over a month, straight um over the summer last year. And um I just feel like I'm I I last year I had did a I think it was partially inspired by that um that tournament that we did. I I did a pretty major purge and I think I'm lined up to do that again, although I just don't my collection has gotten quite a bit smaller, but I'm I'm I'm tending to wear the same two or three watches. And I think I I guess my if I want to kind of in s tailor it for in in an outlist. Um I think I'm just gonna pack up the the maj the majority of the collection that that I don't want to sell, but I'm gonna keep like some of the vintage stuff I have and just put it away. Maybe it's I've got a bank security box that I seldom use and I might just put it all there and just keep a rotation of maybe three watches and just wear them all year and not think about other stuff. You know, not try try not to be tempted by, you know, as hard as it is, the buy-sell trade um channel on slack. Um it's just I should I should unsubscribe from that or you know turn off the notifications. Let's not get crazy. Yeah, let's not 'cause every time I think I'm out I see a panera eye pop up or, you know, something, or I'm I'm visiting you in Toronto and Tom Place shows up and I've had a whiskey, and lo and behold, I come home with a a Zin 144. Um so yeah, I guess I guess out is this sounds like a negative, but less variety um for me when it comes to to wearing watches and and really try to um focus on on uh just maybe three a rotation of three watches um for for 2026. I think that's that's gonna be my starting point. It's it's the three that kind of make me happiest. Um and it'll probably be the FXD, the CWN one and you know who, knows? Maybe that's the one four four or something else. But then you bring up the vertex in your wrist check and immediately want to go put that on. So uh this could be tough. Yeah. But I I think with these kind of goals or ins and outs or whatever you want to call them, it's you aim for something and if you come close, you're you're doing pretty well. |
| James Stacy | So I think I would agree. I would agree largely. I I've got a couple that kind of link up with this. One is when I'm gonna I'm gonna try and wear watches for a week rather than just be this kind of constantly like I've got three watches on I mean I'm doing it right now. I have two or three watches on my desk. I have two or three watches on my nightstand. I have a box of watches on a on a on a table across the room from me. This extends uh so we I would call that like the weekly wear maybe and then maybe also connecting to some of the other stuff you said I I'd written down and and this is a concept that I talked about very early on in TGN better part of a decade ago uh of the box test which is like if you're not sure if you're gonna if you if you'd be a fine to get rid of a watch, just put it away. Put it put it on a shelf, put it back in its box. You shouldn't have to see it. It shouldn't lined up next to your other watches that you're sure you want right now. And uh and then you know, if if months go by, like a lot of the the last couple of watches I've sold in the last little while are all watches that I like. I still really like them. I kind of like them in exactly the same way. Yeah. But the fact is I I have some of them I haven't worn in two years. Yeah. Yeah. And some of them I loved and wrote a story about, and then just kind of stopped wearing them after that. And the I guess the catharsis was the story or whatever. Right. Out for me is gonna be uh this is a two-parter uh buying watches I've already owned. Ooh. I will eat crow when I change my mind on this one and we all have to decide how stringent I have to be. Is it down to the specific reference number? Because there's a couple of really good aerospaces. A couple of them were just killing me. One of them, I think two two of them aren't E56062, which is which is what I've worn, but are 40 millimeter gray or blue aerospaces. And and like I got moneyy sitting in a PaPal account that's just burning a hole. Why and I try and think back because that's one of those few watches where I did sell it because I needed the cash. I needed a little bit of liquid at the time, and so maybe maybe that's a good enough reason to bypass this. But I think for now I am trying to stay strong buying watches I've already owned or um buying watches just like watches I already have. Yeah. Yeah. Uh which is a like it's so dumb when you Yeah. Right. That's a l that's a lot of largely similar travel watches. Yeah. Yeah. And you go, Oh yeah, I guess it kind of is. Like, you know, w what's really the difference between this and that and this and that? And you go like, Well that but that one's titane. Yeah. Yeah. And you go, Okay, James. Uh so these you know, the out out is yeah, buying watches I' alveready owned unless I can really rationalize it to myself uh and buying watches that uh buying watches that are really similar to ones I already have. That's uh that's a good one and I think it |
| Jason Heaton | reminds me, you know, I I love you talked about retrospective over the past ten years and the box test was a was a good one. I'm glad you reminded me of that. Um but also um something that that became a bit of a motto for me that I haven't thought about in a while is you don't have to own a watch, or anything for that matter, but in this case a watch, uh uh in order to appreciate it. You know, and I think I struggled with that for years buying the same one over and over again, thinking, like willing myself to to want to own it it and to like. For instance, I mean I've I've had three or four Speedmasters, a couple vintage, a newer one, whatever, over the years. For me it' |
| James Stacy | s the I think it's the FOMO watch. It's a deeply unpopular opinion. Yeah. But people buy it because it's just it's the one of the best marketed things. Yeah. Ever. |
| Jason Heaton | And it's a good it's a great product. It's got some cool history and I'm a space nerd, et cetera. But it just didn't fit my lifestyle. And yeah. That and and man, another one that that kills me even when I still see them, it's the Seiko, the sixty one oh five, the the Willard. I've had sure three of them, I think, over the years, um some really good ones, and they don't stick. And I've just got to remind myself, stop buy stop buying you know stop buying 6105s stop buying speed masters i mean i just have to stop so |
| James Stacy | anyway yeah yeah yeah no i i get it i get it entirely um you know for me, these are these are like real it's silly. They're all really silly. You go, like, what's wrong what's wrong with you? But also like the passion that makes you bad at making some of these decisions is probably what leads to like being part of a podcast. Yeah. So like you you can't be entirely without it, like you have to see it as a whole. There's so there's so many scenarios in which you could borrow said watch, or you will see it at a wind-up or a whatever. And I I think the best I've done at this so far is not buying more docs. And the truth is that something's coming later this year, and I'm absolutely buying it, and I'm sorry ahead in advance. Um, you know, there's a lot of guys on the Slack right now, running SOTCs like state of the collections. Yeah. And I'm always super impressed when it's like, wow, none of those watches are like the other. Oh, yeah. Right. Yeah. Look at you. Yeah. You king. Yeah. Yeah. It's not even just an aesthetic similarity, it's like a usefulness. Like how many it's almost like you have you're like, well, I have the DeWalt drill, but I also have the Milwaukee. Yeah. Yeah. And I had to buy the Ryobi. That's you know, that's my weekend beater. Yeah. And you go like, guy, what are you doing? Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, that's uh that's that's the uh the out is uh yeah buying watches that are just like the ones I already |
| Jason Heaton | have. I've got a I've got another one that's kind of I think it's a good follow-up to this. Um and it it kind of goes along with what you're talking about with this idea of buying similar stuff to what you already have. I have this I have the same I'm going to make a confession here. I have this a similar weakness when it comes to um pants. Um I have about four pairs of Fjall Raven pants. I have there's another brand Revolution Race that's out of Scandinavia that I've got a couple pairs of those. It's this similar style, you know, some through dark pants. Yeah, it's a bit of a uniform for you. There you go. Thank you. Yes. Um, it is. Um and I just I can't stop. I I get a nice pro deal discount through the Explorers Club on Fjall Raven, and that's just been my excuse to like keep adding different colors and styles and whatever. And it's I've gotta stop. And and on a bigger the bigger picture is, and we'll see if I can hold to this. I'm sure I'll cheat at some point. Um, not buy any clothes in 2026. Oh, wow. Okay. Um, I have so many clothes, and I'm not a clothes horse. I'm not, you know, but I have a weakness for pants, I have a weakness for kind of cool, chunky, like commando style sweaters. I've got, you know, I love good outerwear, good, you know, soft shell jacket, um all of that sort of stuff, you know, whether running shorts or whatever it might be. Um, if there's a need, a strong need, you know, I'd like going to Iceland in the spring or something and I've it's gonna be rainy and I don't have a decent pair of rain pants, fine. But I I just have to stop with and I'm I'm not a compulsive shopper, I don't buy stuff every week, but I I just have so many clothes, and and I think it's the same thing with watch a watch collection. Sometimes I feel like too many choices it becomes a stress point, you know, it it it's that morning decision, choice anxious that Steve Jobs, black turtleneck, you know, closetful black turtlenecks. Like it it's just makes life so much easier. And so that's kind of my out, I guess, for my second out for for 2026 is just I'm gonna stop buying clothes. Uh, you know, unless it's absolutely necessary. |
| James Stacy | And usually it isn't buying clothes that I already own. I like it. Yeah, I I my my brother won down for me, Grant. He has had a uniform for like a decade. Yeah. Like he owns 25 of the same t-shirt, basically in a few different colors. He owns a dozen or more of the same Henley from the same brand and the same size in a few colors, same with pants. You know, he only wears one of three different pairs of shoes. He wears a Halios on a red NATO. Wow. He's not thinking about it. That does bring me to uh a non watch in cargo pants. I mean, I'm down I think cargo pants are back for me. I've got one pair that I bought on a whim for like eighteen bucks at the gap. Yeah. I'm wearing 'em now. Wow. Yeah. And man, I like being able to put my Kindle right in my pocket. Lean into it. Then my books just with me. Yeah. That's for sure. I'm not saying they fully went away, but there was definitely a span in my life where like cargo pants were just for like the cottage. Yeah. Or or something like that. And I think cargo pants have had kind of become like my sweatpants. I'm not a big sweatpants guy. I won't like my daughters tease me, I won't leave the house in sweatpants. I'll wear them for sure. But I wouldn't want to be seen right. And now no the upgrade for that is uh is is is I just think like now that uh somewhat looser fits are back, yeah. I feel with that for me, cargo pants are fully back for sure. Great utility. Cargo pants are band. Oh yeah. It's nice to have pockets. Yeah, it is. It's totally is. Yeah. Yeah. Uh let's see what else we've got. Do you do you have another any any other clothing ones? Uh |
| Jason Heaton | clothing okay, well, I guess since I'm not buying, it's not really a buying thing, but I I I I I would I would suggest that um or just throw this out there maybe as a general in is lean you know and maybe people already do this. I I know I have off and on over the years, but lean into natural fibers, you know, like um in natural natural fibers, right? You know, like like wool, merino, um sure, uh good cotton, linen, whatever. Like it's it it's just um it' its's not not a really hard and fast one or anything a specific goal of mine, but um I I just think that you know there's enough plastic floating around in the world now that uh that you know it's it's just always so tempting to just buy stuff that's that's kind of set up for you know these sort of miracle fibers that are waterproof and breathable, et cetera. And a lot of times it's just not, you know, nature nature has done it better or or does it almost as well. And I love a good waxed cotton jacket or waxed cotton pair of Fjall Raven pants, as I just mentioned. So for sure. Yeah |
| James Stacy | . How about you? Any other clothing stuff? Not not clothing, but I think in in sign kind of the way that you are might might have been with Fiall Raven pants in 2025. That was me with just subscription. Oh, funny you should say I'm out for subscription. Yeah. That was on my list too. Wow. And uh my wife's really good at this. When the new year starts, it's like we do dry January, but it's not really just about the alcohol. I need to dry out for sure. She doesn't. Yeah. It's about like drying up all these bad sort of habits. Or just not even bad habits, just like things that you would go like, why would I do this for another whole year? Yeah. Like I'm know I'm by the time the summer comes around, I'm gonna start drinking some beers. Yeah. That's how it is. Right. But let's let's work on let's work on a bit of a reset. And part of that is like a financial reset. And like, look, money's fine, that's all good, all those sorts of things. But then you start to just just dip into your credit card and you go, like, boy, Amazon. And and I get it, like, I'm not, and uh this is beyond like Amazon Prime, just the amount that I will go, yeah, I need that thing. And not not have any no no second guessing my my thought on like oh there's a a a random little bob that was mentioned on a YouTube video that's eighteen dollars. I'll buy that, sure. Right. Yeah. And I use it once. Yeah. Maybe maybe I use it ten times, but it's probably something that I already own. Yeah. Yeah. In some metric, like a slightly different version of something I already own. Uh so it's it's kind of like the prime is going away. I think you will hang on to Netflix because of the my daughters. It's it's an important thing for them, but the rest of it, I I think we've called almost everything down. Um I'll hang on to Flighty uh because I get real utility out of that. Um but yeah, I just think it the subscriptions and then maybe somebody in the audience will understand this. Maybe you guys will just think I'm insane and I'm I'm okay with both outcomes being a possibility and likely. I I think I'm done signing into things. Oh. Hmm. Like if I if I need something and I go on a website and they're like, you gotta log in, or they're like, hey, you need to use the app, I'm probably just gonna find another way to do it. Yeah. Yeah. I just kind of I think I'm done. I'm I've got too many passwords. Gotta use a password manager now. Half the time it's wrong or I did it wrong. Let's be clear. The password manager I'm sure isn't wrong. If I can avoid it, I'm not signing in to anything. Yeah. This is maybe like borderline peak curmudgeon for me, but I'm kind of done with like I don't care if I have two factor. Yeah. How about zero factor? I'll just not do it. All right. So |
| Jason Heaton | this th this as you're talking I'm I'm It's real James Rooney over here. It's we're we're in alignment in this uh sort of cr we're on the same track here and I just wonder if it's the general Zeitgeist or if it's just the TGN Zeitgeist. But I th I'm feeling the same restlessness or or resistance to um subscriptions. And I I say that with a bit of um trepidation because TGN is subscription based and so is my Substack. And I have seen I have seen a dip specifically on my Substack with people just unsubscribing. And I don't blame them. I mean, I I'm not I'm not here to plead. I I do the same. And it's it I'd like to do the same. I'd like to whittle away at the number of subscriptions I have. And your comment about Amazon um brings to mind this idea of kind of mindless shopping. Um and and just that ease with which you click and you just get something at your door the next day. And it what it really comes down to for me are are two things. I guess it's it's living a little more analog, which um you know, which I'll get to in a bit w when it comes to kind of social media use, but um also just identifying want versus need. And I think I I I need to take a pause. And I think nowadays I think that's where you know sites shopping sites and things like Amazon it they're set up they're geared to bypass the want versus need because it's just too easy to just click buy now and have it at your door the next day. Whereas if you take a pause, and I think you brought this up a while back, it's like put something in your cart and wait twenty-four hours. Kevin Rose's 24-hour. Yeah. Like that that's a good one. And it works. And your idea of just bypassing it all together, like don't bother f signing in is even a better bit of advice. But yeah, I just think living more analog, identifying want versus need, um, and just get rid of the mindless shopping, I think is is a big one. Ye |
| James Stacy | ah. Yeah. I mean, and I think like we're while we're on this trend, let's just continue. What I think is a very similar trend I I think uh in would be long term buying. So we talked about this a bunch, but I've never really made it like a the cry once buy once. Yeah. I think the other side of cry wants buy wants is you spend a lot of time not buying. Oh yeah. Yeah. So so you know, I the the yeah, mindless buying is a good way of thinking of it. Um I think and look, let me be clear the the episode you're listening to is free so if if you want to end your TGN subscription because it's not adding something to your life that that would mean that it's out of scope and value. There's no problem there. That makes sense. I'm still subscribed to a handful of podcasts. That wasn't I don't feel like they take anything for me to listen to a podcast or to to be part of that that sequence where with the with the subscriptions it would be like you'd look and you'd go, oh, I'm paying for Crave, which is um like HBO in Canada. Oh yeah. And you go, Well, uh am I even am I even logged in? And you go to your phone and I'm not even logged into the app. I go to my tablet, I'm not logged into the app, and you go, Well, I guess I'm not using it. Yeah. Um, if you're getting use out of something, by all means, that's that's what like twenty bucks a month or thirty bucks a month for something isn't that bad, or whatever TGN rounds out to a month, five to eight dollars, depending on your plan. Not that bad if you use it. Terrible if you don't. Right. Right. Doesn't make any sense at all. So yeah, I think like the the the long-term buying. Like I I think I should start to approach buying more things in my life the way I did like my car, where I spent six months, looked at three of them, bought one, and now I don't think about a car anymore, which is a nice removal of of stress from my life. Right. Right. Yeah. Of course, yeah. This one's been a bit of a basket case, but knock on wood seems okay. Yeah, currently. Let's see what else. I I definitely had at least another one or two. Oh, uh here here's one that I just I really feel like this would be the cool one of the cooler flexes you could pull for for 2026, just not being available. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's good. Don't answer the text that quickly. Yeah. Yeah. Like I texted you of four or five things last night. Yeah. And with no expectations you would reply to me in any due course of time. And like outside of work, I think I'm gonna be a little bit harder to catch this year. Yeah, yeah. Good idea. Yeah. My phone's not coming into the woods. Right. I'm offline. Yeah. So I think being offline is in in my mind. And even if it's a planned thing, if it's that nerdy, they have to be like this is this span of time, the next two hours after dinner, I am not reachable. So be it. But I think that feels like for me, that feels like when when somebody says they had like you just said you had an eighty minute sauna session. Yeah. There's very few things in our lives that Sarah and I want for, but we would love to have a sauna. Love it. Oh yeah. Yeah. And I just think that is the height of luxury. You have a sauna or access to a sauna. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a few years younger than you, Jason, but like I grew up right when cell phones became like a thing that people would carry in their pocket and only cost them twenty or thirty bucks a month. Yeah. Yeah. So I've had some sort of a tether when it first started only to the people I wanted, but now it just feels like almost like with the number of the subscriptions, the the Amazon, the Netflix, the Crave, the HBO Max, the the this, the that you also have instagram dms and text messages and whatsapp and slack and teams and phone calls and voicemail messages and signal and telegram and like all these different ways that you could be reachable. And it's not that I don't want to be reachable. It's that I want to be like way more selective about how so that I can enjoy like I really like connecting with people on the Slack. I don't really like WhatsApp, for example. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, so I think I think that that's one that's been kind of weighing on me. And yeah, I mean this the the list keeps going, but there's there's a few more in this vibe, but I'll I'll let you jump in with an inter and out. No, I'm I |
| Jason Heaton | 'm gonna piggyback on that again. Um and and just say that yes being less connected is is definitely on my list as well. And also I guess it it really goes along with that and it's it's live less publicly. I I think maybe it's the same thing, but you're right. I I feel like part of you know, look, I'm very grateful for the work we do and I love I love TGN and I love our audience, but but we're out there. We're we're public. We have a persona that, you know, for good and bad, you know, every week we get on and we talk about what we did in the previous week. And um and and it's the same on on Instagram. And so I've actually decided that I want to be more choosy about where I am more accessible in public. And so uh a week ago or so, I just I just removed Instagram from my phone, um, didn't cancel my account or anything like that, but I've done this on occasion a few times over the past couple of years where I'll quit for like a month. It's almost like a dry January thing, but this might go on longer than that. But what I'm finding is that, you know, I'll reach for my phone. Almost like a it it's just become a reflex. I pick it up and I look at it now and oh, I I was gonna look at Instagram, but it's not there anymore. I put my phone down and I reach to the other side of the desk or the table, the bed, and there's a magazine, or there's the newspaper, or there's you know, a pack of cards, or whatever it might be. Like do something different with that same amount of time. You know, if you look at your screen time on your on your phone, it'll tell you like how many hours you spent on Instagram or on your phone. It is ugly stuff. And like imagine if you had those three hours a day back to, you know, knit or play solitaire or, you know, read read a good book or you know what it might be. And and I think that that's um that's definitely uh in the same vibe as what you're talking about, and just being less less connected. And and also I think this is a slightly different. Well, it's quite a bit different but, it it goes along with my living more analog is and also wearing my FXD all the time, is I'm I'm not wearing my garment as much. Like I used to like get that dopamine hit of like, oh, you you did your fastest mile, or you swam this far, or you I'm I'm doing the same loops, I'm doing the same speed, I'm doing the same if if if it's truly a workout tool that you're trying to improve and increase and train for something, great, but I don't need it to tell me what my heart rate was when I was huffing and puffing on my same lap around the lake that I do every other day, you know? Like I I just I want to slowly kind of strip away some of that stuff from my life and just use that time a little differently and just look around instead of looking at my |
| James Stacy | watch, you know. So I've been thinking a bunch about this and I will say that may maybe maybe it's just the the nerd thing, the way that I was raised, the the way group kind of obsessed with technology. For me, there's a big difference between how I feel when I spend those let's call it the three hours, yeah, a day or whatever on a small screen versus a big screen. Oh, sure. Yeah. So for me, it's it's out next on my out list is small screens. I think I think I might move away from the tablet entirely. It's the easiest one to quit. Yeah. Um, I haven't had any time since my son was born to play Call of Duty, which is largely what I was using for the tablet for previously, anyways. And I think that would qualify in my mind as like the big screen kind of experiences, but something where I'm not interacting physically with the device. Yeah. Like if I sit on the couch and I put a movie on, that doesn't feel the same as if I spend the same call it hundred minutes looking at reels. Yeah. I can watch a movie and then like I'm still jazzed about movies I watched ten days ago with my brothers. As much as possible. Obviously, it's a uh there's a work element and all that sort of thing, but small screens are out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Who knows if I'll stick to any of this. But we're starting the year off in this, in this mode. Yeah. All right. You know what's in for me? This is a fun one. Um bac |
| Jason Heaton | on. Really? I had bacon over the weekend |
| James Stacy | . Whoa, I had no idea you were you're I wouldn't have you could have given me four hundred guesses. 400 guesses I wouldn't have touched. I know you wouldn't. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Bacon rips. I love bacon. I I okay. I'm I'm there's a caveat. I'm it's not gonna be a regular thing, but but this idea that you know everybody says, oh, everything in moderation, blah, blah, blah. But it's like I recognize the reason I gave up largely, you know, kind of became a meat minimalist and stopped eating cheese and cream and whatever was because of as I said years ago I got this uh this troubling test result that I had some plaque buildup in my arteries and that I was in a pretty high percentage category for a a possible card.iac event And I just thought, you know, I I'm a pretty fit guy, but like clearly I'm just eating too much dairy and cheese and whatever. So I stopped all of that. But the way I see it now is if I I so I bought a pack of good hickory smoked, like thick cut bacon at the butcher um last week. And I just separated out the pack of it into individual strips in a big Ziploc bag and put it in the freezer. And like once a week. Like let's say it's Sunday morning and I want a couple of eggs and a strip of bacon. I can pull that strip of bacon out and enjoy it without guilt, you know? Um and so I I guess I you could expand that into a larger in or out or whatever you want to say it, but just bacon. Okay. All right, we'll leave it as bacon. But it kind of goes with with like the drinking thing, you know, like the dry January thing. Like you could maintain that for the whole year, or you could say I'm only gonna drink when I go out with friends or when I'm out of the house or socializing, you know, etc. I I guess it's the same principle. But anyway, yeah, bac |
| James Stacy | on. Bacon, man, I I wouldn't have yeah, that's fantastic. Uh question for you. Uh how do you cook it? Oh, cast iron skillet, just just throw it on. I'm I I'm kind of of the till crispy like a bookmark or no., No no. Um not |
| Jason Heaton | this is a real thing in the bacon community. Yeah, no, not not super rubbery, but I like it floppy. That's how I ordered at the diner. Yeah, I like it sort of halfway between floppy and crispy. Um too crispy, and it's just it's's gone. It too far gone for me. It's useless. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I like it flappy for sure. But I had I had a really good piece of toast from a local bakery with avocado smeared on it and bacon and I I kind of sauteed up some some cherry tomatoes with like crushed red pepper and then a fried egg and and it was like the best breakfast. It was great. Oh yeah. So not |
| James Stacy | a daily thing. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah, my son's really into into steak and uh broccoli right now. So we're getting along really swimmingly. Oh yeah, right. That's like two two of my most favorite things. Um he can't he doesn't want to eat it rare. Apparently he's not supposed to, says the people on the internet. Oh yeah. Um that's small screen thinking though. So yeah, I gotta cook his a little bit further, but uh but yeah, so that that's fun bacon. Yeah, I yeah, didn't I wouldn't have guessed. That's fantastic. Um let's see what else I've got on the inside, experiencing discomfort. We've talked about this uh in the past year, kind of in connection to some of the videos from Speed and James Pumphrey and that team. Uh, like his it's a like kind of a philosophical consideration of like it's okay to be uncomfortable. And and that's I think that's part of the like not this instant that you're doing something else, you immediately pull your phone out and start looking at Instagram. Like you can just stare at a wall. Yeah. Yeah. You can you can take in your surroundings. You can, you know, watch a bird or something like that. Like I think I think that's that's something I have to be much more mindful about. Sure. Uh because it's so easy. And and I think definitely since the since the sort of the rewriting of some of our wiring during the pandemic, or at least my own, I've just become kind of in some ways exceptionally lazy. Or or m undisciplined. Maybe lazy is the wrong word. I work a lot. Yeah. Um I don't consider myself a lazy person, but I become undisciplined in how I spend my time. And then I find and maybe you guys, maybe some people listening to this will understand, but like, you know, you work a lot of hours in a week and that's fine. That's a good honest way to make a living.ing And and that sort of th then the weekend comes along and you don't really know what to do. Yeah. I ran out of stuff that kind of felt like it had to be done early Saturday morning. Yeah. This past weekend. And I considered just working.. Oh sure And you go, wait, that's that's not healthy. Yeah. Yeah. You're you're allowed to be bored. Yeah. So yeah, I think there's there's like a a a mental kind of thing I've got to get back to being used to like slowing down a little bit, not just turning to my phone for the dopamine or whatever. Right. Uh so yeah I've I've I've I kind of term that out as as like being uncomfortable or or experiencing discomfort be as being an in. And that could also |
| Jason Heaton | be like workouts. Sure. I've got one more in um that kind of also relates to what you just said about um discomfort or or outside of your comfort zone and also working out. And that is I I've started uh strength training, which is something I've never enjoyed. Um I've I've always been more of a outdoor endurance, you know, skiing, swimming, cycling, running kind of person. |
| James Stacy | Boy, deadlifts and bacon, you're gonna be unrecognizable by summer. Just gonna be like swole, J |
| Jason Heaton | . Yeah, right, right. Yeah. I mean, you know, look, I'm I'm an aging man here. I'm you know, I'm losing muscle mass every year and and and also to just to prevent injury and kind of just maintain strength. I'm I've um embarked on a pretty mild but regular um weekly strength session at a local I don't even want to call it a gym, but it's it's a it's a it's a small facility with a kind of a personal trainer who does these small group sessions that are about an hour, and I'm doing it twice a week. And you know, it's very simple, you know, minimal equipment sort of stuff. And it's it's tough. It's a these are tough workouts. I'm not aiming to get big and ri.pped I just want to, you know, build up some some strength in my legs and my butt and my shoulders and keep good balance and that sort of stuff as I'm as I'm aging and and um it feels good. I have to admit it feels good. Um, especially this time of year. I can't say for certain that I wanna be indoors exercising come May, June, July, but who knows? We'll we'll see how it goes. It's it's by then you' |
| James Stacy | ll be huge. You go to the beach, throw some weights around down there. You know? Sure. Yeah. Get your get your plyometrics in. Right. Yeah. I I think it's something like from forty onward every decade, um, the average male loses twenty-five percent of their skeletal muscle mass. And that's like the stuff you use to get up off the ground. Yeah. Like so if you're sitting on the ground, you stand up, whatever there, that's going to be 25% harder. Yeah. Each decade. And I remember like Tim Ferris really talked a ton about this back in the day, and it was a it was a mix of yeah, throwing some weights around, adding in some like light creatine cycles, whey proteins, things like that to try and really preserve what you already had rather than letting it decay and trying to build it back, which is harder as you get older, of course. But yeah, that's great. I'm I'm happy for you on that front for sure. And uh what else have I got? Um saying no, we talked about we talked about this is in. Saying no is in. We talked about this on a uh QA, not that long ago. So the QA's are behind a paywall. So if you know the QA's, thank you for being part of that. If you don't, people can send in audio questions and we do them uh monthly or we try to. We'll get to that in a moment. And the and one of the monthly questions we had recently was like, What what's something like a a character trait of the other that you would like to steal? And one of the things I've always liked to adjust he's very sure about what he does and doesn't want. And uh while I I don't I mean this in only the most positive ways, he's not like an active people pleaser which isn't to say that you're like hard to be around or not a great person. Of of course I feel very strongly that you are a great person and and I find you a delight to be around, but you aren't concerned with just constantly validating what somebody else might want from you. Sure. And that's been a difficulty for me. And so this year it's yes, just more saying no. Yeah. We're gonna we're gonna work on it. It's in. Say and no is in. Yeah. Not not being mean about it. Just like if it's something I don't want to do, realizing that's just as valid as somebody wanting to do it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. You got any other ins or out |
| Jason Heaton | s? Uh nothing big. I guess, you know, I I I talked about this a little last year, kind of the the the empowering um the empowerment of doing it yourself, you know, c but tackling something that um that you know you might think you can't do or or that you should immediately hire somebody else to do. I I did a lot of it the over the past year in twenty twenty five and I just want to keep it up this year. Um whether it's you know, um Christy got into a little fender bender with her Prius last year and I was like, huh, you know, you could take it to a body shop and spend a fortune, or let's figure out how to take the bumper off. And we did. Um, you know, took it apart, knocked out the the dent, put it back together. Um, or you know, wiring in outlets and new lights and plumbing and I mean, look, we talk about getting away from screens, but YouTube is very useful for stuff like this. And it's um it it's very empowering to um you know to to just build something or just fix very simple things and I I I really quite enjoy it and I just want to do more of that. So yeah. I guess I like it. That's good. My I guess my my last one, I guess, for other than specific goals, but I don't think we're we're talking about kind of personal goals, but for for an in and |
| James Stacy | out uh yeah. If people are keen on that, they can send in a question for uh for the QA. Yeah. And I'd be happy to talk about more specific sort of goals. Um, I have just a couple just to just to close it out. The the first one uh out is missing the schedule for QA's. Uh we're we're we're gonna be more diligent this year. I'm not saying we're gonna hit every single month uh right on cue. Uh there are some exceptionally busy months in this world. Um, but it's not we're not gonna do another round of catch up sessions. If that's the case, we'll figure out something uh much more tenable, I but I don't think it's that unrealistic given, you know, we did what, six or seven of those in six or seven weeks last year during a very busy season. So uh there's no real excuse other than attention and I that's something that we can fix. Yeah. Yeah, we'll we'll be recording the December episode uh probably once I'm back from this week's travel. Uh which by the time this episode comes up, I will be flying back from New York City uh down for uh down for some kind of start of the year meetings and that sort of thing. So yeah that that's uh that was the next one on my list was uh out is uh missing the schedule for Q |
| Jason Heaton | I will go first here. This is a a story that was in the New York Times back in mid-December that I think popped up a few times on Slack and people sent me. Um, and it's it's just it's such a great story. It it has so many elements of you know stuff that I like, and and it's titled, How Did the CIA Lose a Nuclear Device? Um, and it's a story that I I was familiar with, but hadn't really read in great detail. And it was about how in 1965 the CIA um dispatched a kind of a team of elite mountaineers, American mountaineers, to um join up with with some Indian mountaineers uh and and climb a very challenging peak on the border with China called Nanda Devi and plant a nuclear-powered surveillance device so that they could keep an eye on the Chinese. And when they got up near the summit and were planting this device, the weather just turned horribly and they had to to to to retreat and go back down. And then they left this device up there. Um and it's never been found since. So it's it's lost. It's there, hopefully. Not uh you know in the headwaters of the the Ganges or something like that, um, which is uh a a big fear. Um and it it's it's a story that has some some kind of cool uh animations and visuals, great interviews. It's a long read. Um it's it's it's just really worth it if you're into, you know, uh espionage and mountaineering and the Cold War and it just has all of those great elements and it's it's really well done. Um there's this kind of technical aspect to it as well with the device itself. And it's just it's fascinating. Um and uh yeah, it's uh, you know, maybe a lot of people have already seen this one probably, but uh we'll we'll throw a link in the show notes. I I think I think these gift links might work. I have a subscription to the New York Times and I can put a gift link in and hopefully that'll work for folks, but otherwise you'll you'll need uh a subscription to get past the payw.all But uh highly recommended. Yeah. It's called uh how did the CIA lose a |
| James Stacy | nuclear device. That's a goodie. Yeah. You sent me a gift link back when this came out and uh I read it and just absolutely loved it. What a story. Yeah good stuff. Um fabulously told cu kinda seems crazy, but also, you know, it's in that realm of like I g I guess this is real life. Yeah. Right. Um and and then the the possible uh I mean for lack of a better term, fallout is uh is remarkable uh for that area of the world. So yeah, great story. Definitely worth checking out. Uh for mine this week, uh to kick off this year is uh speaking of stories, it's a book list that last year, the the 2024 book list uh served me very well. I read, I think, six of the top ten uh so far. Uh, but this is Anthony Jesselnik's top 10 books of 2025. So Anthony Jesslinick is a somewhat controversial kind of dark comedian. I like Anthony a lot. His comedy uh is quite surprising. It makes me giggle if it offends you. I also totally understand that perspective. The other thing about Anthony, and he used to have a fantastic podcast which ended, uh, is he's a an avid reader and uh if you're a big fan of his podcast, JRVP, they were often recommending books, and then at the end of the year they would do like their favorite books of the year, he and Greg Rosenthal. And I would always pick one or two of those, whatever kind of sounded up my alley. And then last year with the show having wound down, I worked my way through several of the books that's uh and some that I recommended on the show, Martyr, uh Chain Gang All-Stars. Uh, I think it was called In the Heart of the West or Heart of the West. I can't remember all ones I really enjoyed. Well, uh, this year he's starting a uh book club. So not only is he picking a book each month, uh and I believe he just announced uh the first one in the last couple of days, but he also did his top 10 books of 2025. So I'll just link to the video that he did for his YouTube channel. Uh, I'm already about uh halfway through the number one book, which is a nice short story, which is called Perfection by Vincenzo Lateronico, uh, translated by Sophie Hughes. Uh, so far, really enjoying it. I I I finished, like I said at the top of the show, I finished uh the final Jack Carr uh Cry Havoc, and I really enjoyed the majority of those books, great stories, thrilling adventure, uh at times just incredibly violent and all that kind of thing. And man, to go from that into something like perfection, total whole headspin uh in terms of scope and and story and that sort of thing. But I'm really pumped. I'll I'll probably work my way through at least this the Kindle like sample of each of these books, which is what I did with the previous year. And if I enjoy the sample, then I can check out the rest of the book. Um, but yeah, there's 10 to start. And then if you're an avid reader or you want to get into reading, he's he's representing uh one book a month. The first of which is The Getaway by Jim Thompson, um, which is uh kind of a classic American crime thriller. I believe it was called uh the the genre's kind of I think it's called groin kick. I've never read the book. Uh I will get to that at some point, hopefully before the end of the month, especially if this turns into something like a podcast or a monthly video where he talks about the book, that would be uh that would be great. So uh give it a try. I don't think that e even if you find his comedy not up your alley. Uh I don't think you'll be bothered by the presentation of the books. It's just a guy sitting at a desk. He's wearing a good watch. Um I'm uh I'm a fan and uh he he has uh a taste in books that's like quite I would say different than my normal zone, but one that has almost almost always proven to be quite entertaining. N |
| Jason Heaton | ice. I think you know, given some of what we talked about in the ins and outs about less screen time, um moving to a more analog existence, et cetera, et cetera. I think this is uh this is a timely recommendation and I also think uh it it uh it's uh a good idea to reinstate the T GN Book Club later in the year as well. I think uh we could certainly do our own little kind of list uh kind of revisiting. As long as it doesn't |
| James Stacy | just just ape Anthony. Yeah, exactly right. I might only be reading those books. But but we'll see. Um and and yeah, I'm uh definitely looking forward to that and uh and all those. But hey, there's uh first episode of the year, the first episode of our tenth year. Looking forward to seeing in ins and outs on Slack. So let's uh let's have at it. I think it'll be a really fun thread. I'm sure there's stuff that I need out and things I need in. And uh I'm I'm interested to see what I can learn from uh from such a thread. So uh pretty solid episode and uh a nice way to kick off the year. Yeah, happy ne |
| Jason Heaton | w year to everybody and, uh as always thanks so much. for listening If you want to subscribe to the show notes, get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting the show directly, and maybe even grab a new TGN signed NATO, please visit thegraynato.com. Music throughout is siesta by jazz are via the free music archive until James gets on that uh harmonica theme song that he's working on |
| James Stacy | . It's just a matter of time. Maybe I'll do the same song just in the harmonica. Oh, there he knows, right? Uh but hey, we'll leave you with this quote from Bob Black. He said, the reinvention of daily life means marching off the edge of our maps. |