Overtired

Christina Warren, Jeff Severns Guntzel, and Brett Terpstra
  • 4.8 (107)
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • UPDATED MONTHLY

Christina Warren & Brett Terpstra have odd sleep schedules. They nerd out over varied interests: gadgets, software, and life in a connected world. Tune in to find out what keeps them up at night.

  1. 441: Promise Not to Whine

    JAN 5

    441: Promise Not to Whine

    Christina and Jeff kick off the new year of Overtired sans Brett. They delve into Christina’s impending cervical spine surgery, ICE raids, and neighborhood signal groups. How do you keep mental health in check when Homeland Security is in your alley? Tune in for a wild start to 2026. Sponsor Copilot Money can help you take control of your finances. Get a fresh start with your money for 2026 with 26% off when you visit try.copilot.money/overtired and use code OVERTIRED. Chapters 00:00 New Year Kickoff 00:41 Personal Updates and Health Challenges 01:49 Surgery Details and Insurance Woes 04:45 Exploring Surgery Options and Recovery 12:44 Journaling and Mental Health 15:40 The Artist’s Way and Creative Practices 24:31 Unexpected Alley Incident 38:10 Family Activism and Signal Setup 38:52 Unexpected End of Year Incident 39:35 Speculations and Concerns 40:13 Dealing with Law Enforcement 45:35 Reflections on Responsibility 54:43 Gratitude for Signal 59:31 Tech Talk: Synology and Backup Solutions 01:03:08 Mac Updater Alternatives 01:10:03 Conclusion and Well Wishes Show Links Journaling – The Artist’s Way Signal Synology Updatest Join the Conversation Merch Come chat on Discord! Twitter/ovrtrd Instagram/ovrtrd Youtube Get the Newsletter Thanks! You’re downloading today’s show from CacheFly’s network BackBeat Media Podcast Network Check out more episodes at overtiredpod.com and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Transcript Promise Not to Whine [00:00:00] New Year Kickoff Christina: Well, happy New Year. You are listening to Overtired and I am Christina Warren, and I’m joined as always by Jeff Severance Zel and, uh, Brett Terpstra couldn’t be, uh, here with us in this, uh, happy early 2026 episode, but I’m, I’m super excited to be able to kick off the, uh, the first pot of the year with you, Jeff, how are you? Jeff: I am good. Happy New Year to you. Christina: Likewise, likewise. Um, oh, here, here, here’s to 2026 being significantly better than 20, 25. So Jeff: So far, not so good, but I’m, I’m really, I’m really excited about 2026. I’m Christina: I was gonna say, like, like globally, globally, so far not great, but, but, Jeff: in here. Good in here. Personal Updates and Health Challenges Christina: So, um, so how are, uh, uh, how, how, how is the, I guess a, I guess we can kind of a drill into like a, a brief kind of mental health or, or just personal update thing if we want. Um, how, um. How are things for you so far? Um, I guess the end of the year. How are things with the kids? Um, the [00:01:00] wife, everything. Jeff: the, how the year ended is, and that gets us back to almost a political level. I will save for a topic ’cause boy do I have a story. Um, but, uh, generally speaking, doing really well. Like we traveled, saw my dad and stepmom in Iowa. Saw my in-laws in Indiana, had a really nice, just like generally had a really nice time off. Um, and despite the fact that I’m under a super stressful deadline over the next few days, I feel good. How about you? You got a lot going on. Christina: I, I do, I do. So I guess just kind of a, a, an, an update on, um, the, uh, the Christina, you know, cervical spine, um, saga since we last spoke a couple of weeks ago. Um, I guess maybe two weeks ago now. Um, uh, it was maybe a week ago. Um, uh, it was two weeks ago, I think. Sorry, it was, it was right before Christmas. Surgery Details and Insurance Woes Christina: Um, I was still awaiting, um, hearing back about when I would be scheduled for, uh, surgery and I’m getting, um, uh, artificial disc replacement in, um, I guess [00:02:00] between like C six, C seven of my cervical spine. And I do finally have a surgery date. Yay. Um, the bad, yeah, the bad news is it’s not until February 2nd, so I’ve gotta wait, you know, a month, which sucks. Um, I would have been able to get in, you know, uh, three weeks ago at this point. Um, had I been able to like, I guess like book immediately, but without insurance, like approval, um, I didn’t really want to do that. Um, I think, I think people, uh, can understand why, like, you know, when the doctor’s like, well, we can book you now, but you’ll just need to sign some forms that say you’ll be responsible for the bill if insurance doesn’t pay. Jeff: Oh fine. Get Where’s my pen? Christina: right, right. And I’m like, yeah, this is, you’re gonna keep me overnight just for, you know, observation to make sure like nothing bleeds or, or, or whatever’s a problem. Um, ’cause they’re gonna go through like the, the, the front of my, of my neck to, to be able to reach, you know, um, things that way and, and, and so, [00:03:00] you know, and be under, you know, anesthesia, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s not like a huge critical procedure, but it’s still neurosurgery. Jeff: is through the front of your neck. Christina: and, and, and, and, and, and again, and it’s a neurosurgeon and it’s like, you know, they’re gonna, you know, take some stuff out and try to make sure that like, you know, very, like they’re gonna be, you know, um, screwing up against my trachea and stuff. And like, yeah. I mean, like, you know, it’s, it’s not, it’s not minor. It’s not like I can just go in in an afternoon and be like, oh, I’m, I’m, I can just like walk out. Jeff: Right. Christina: Um, um, although apparently I will feel better, uh, as soon as it happens, but yeah, I mean, this is probably gonna be a six figure, you know, operation, I’m assuming so. No, I, I, I’m sorry. In, in this climate, uh, I don’t feel comfortable. Just, I need my name to be like, oh, yeah, I’ll, I’ll be responsible for that, and then be responsible for trying to track everyone down to, to pay. So that’s the frustrating thing is that, and now of course, you know, you, you get the beginning of the year, a bunch of people have been waiting, you know, to get, you know, things scheduled, I’m sure, and [00:04:00] whatnot. So I’m grateful that I’m scheduled at all. Um, I’m also grateful that right now I’m not insignificant pain, which is a really good thing because if this had been the pain level that I was in for the first few weeks, then like, I wouldn’t, I, you know, I mean, I would wait. I mean, if, if, if you have to wait, you have to wait. But, um, I, I, I might have like pressed upon them like. Is there any way we can move this up? Um, but I’m not in that position, which is good. The only thing is just that the numbness, um, on both arms. But, but, but primarily, yeah. No, I mean, that’s not gone away and, and it’s, and it’s not going to is the thing, right? Like there are a lot of people and like, and I, I’ve started now that I’ve got, got it like actually like done and like scheduled and you know, I’m going through all like the, you know, um, checklist stuff before you, you go in and whatnot. And I have like my, you know, pre-up appointments and all that stuff scheduled. Exploring Surgery Options and Recovery Christina: Um, I am starting to, to look more into, I guess like, you know, I guess recovery videos that people have put up on YouTube and, and reading a few things on Reddit. Although I’m doing my best to, to stay off the internet with [00:05:00] this stuff as much as possible. Um, just because for me it’s, it’s not beneficial, right? Like, it, it’s, it’s one thing if you know, um, you, uh, you don’t like. If, if you can separate and not kind of go down rabbit holes and like freak yourself out or whatever, sure. Maybe it can be good information, but for me, like I, I know my own kind of, you know, limits in terms of, of how much is good for me. And so I’ve, I’ve tried to keep that in moderation, but I have watched a few, you know, videos of people, you know, kind of talking about their experiences. And then of course then that gets used sent with like videos of like doctors who of course, for their own reasons, like are trying to promote like, oh, well you should do the, the, the fusion versus the, the, the disc replacement and, or you should do this versus that. And I’m like, okay. I actually watched one interesting talk that, that some guy gave it a medical conference and neurologist gave it a medical conference and it was a neurosurgeon, I guess is, is the proper term. But that I think kind of really distinctly a, it was very similar to. Exactly what my surgeon said to me, [00:06:00] um, when he was kind of explaining the differences in the procedures. Um, and, and b but kind of went into, I guess like the, the difference in terms of outcomes and, um, and it made me feel better about like that if I’m a good candidate for this procedure, that, that this is, um, the right thing to, to do and probably will be better for me long term. Um, because the, the results are, are better and, but not by a small portion, not like by like a, a gargantuan portion. But they are, they are, there is like a sizable difference between outcomes in terms of whether like the average person who needs a revision, um. For, you know, cervical spine versus getting, you know, disc replacement versus, um, uh, fusion. Fusion has been around a lot longer, and so insurance companies are a lot more likely to approve that. But in Europe, they’ve been doing the, the disc replacement stuff for 25, 30 years. Um, and so there is a lot of data on it, but it’s been a much more recent thing in the United States because insurance companies didn’t really start to do it until about five or 10 years ago. And so, and so, you know, some people will, [00:07:00] like some doctors who very clearly have an agenda on, on YouTube and like, that’s fine, like your practices, your practice and you’re comfortable with what you’re comfortable with. But they’ll be like, oh, we don’t have enough data on, you know, the types of, um, you know

    1h 11m
  2. Universal Serial Bitching

    12/22/2025

    Universal Serial Bitching

    Brett and Christina host an OG episode. Christina talks about her upcoming spinal surgery and navigating insurance hassles. Brett talks about his sleep issues, project progress, and coding routines. They dive into the complexities of USB-C cables, from volts to data rates. And TV’s just ‘okay’ now, except for some softcore gay porn. Kagi search saves the day. Happy holidays — and get some sleep. Sponsor Copilot Money can help you take control of your finances. Get a fresh start with your money for 2026 with 26% off when you visit try.copilot.money/overtired and use code OVERTIRED. Shopify is the commerce platform behind 10% of all eCommerce in the US, from household names like Mattel and Gymshark, to brands just getting started. Get started today at shopify.com/overtired. Show Links CaberQu BLE cable tester Umami Analytics Plausible Analytics Kagi The Comfortable Problem of Mid TV – The New York Times Fallout Heated Rivalry (TV Series 2025– ) – IMDb Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Greetings 00:40 Christina’s Health Update 05:05 Brett’s Sleep and Work Routine 12:19 USB-C Cable Confusion 22:03 Sponsor Break: Shopify 24:26 Sponsor Break: Copilot Money 26:57 Exploring Rocket Money and Web Interfaces 27:21 Discovering Umami Analytics 28:06 Nostalgia for Mint and Fever 28:44 The Decline of RSS and Google Reader 31:45 Switching to Kagi Search Engine 32:33 The Rise of AI-Generated Content 40:46 TV Shows: Is TV Just Okay Now? 47:24 The Cultural Phenomenon of Heated Rivalry 52:50 Wrapping Up and Holiday Wishes Join the Conversation Merch Come chat on Discord! Twitter/ovrtrd Instagram/ovrtrd Youtube Get the Newsletter Thanks! You’re downloading today’s show from CacheFly’s network BackBeat Media Podcast Network Check out more episodes at overtiredpod.com and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Find Brett as @ttscoff, Christina as @film_girl, Jeff as @jsguntzel, and follow Overtired at @ovrtrd on Twitter. Transcript Universal Serial Bitching Introduction and Greetings [00:00:00] Brett: Hey, you’re listening to Overtired. I am Brett Terpstra, and it’s just me and Christina Warren this morning. How you doing, Christina? Christina: Doing pretty good. Doing pretty good. Yeah. This is the, this is the OG Overtired configuration. Brett: right back to basics. Um, Christina: We do miss you Jeff, though. Ho, ho, ho. Hope that Jeff is having a great holiday with his family. Brett: we’ll have to have some, uh, gratuitous Wiki K hole that you go down just to, to commemorate the olden days. Um, so yeah, let’s, uh, let’s, let’s do a quick check-in. Christina’s Health Update Brett: Um, I’m curious about your health and all of the wildness that’s going on with your spine and whatnot. Christina: Yeah. Yeah. Um, same. I wanna hear about you too. Um, so, uh, Christina’s cervical spine update, as it were. Um, I am [00:01:00] still waiting to, as we’re recording this, which is like. Uh, three days before Christmas, uh, I’m still waiting to hear from the, uh, hospital to see if I can, when I can get scheduled. Um, insurance has sort of been a pain in the ass, so when I talked to them last week, they were like, we sent them some paperwork. We’re still waiting for some things back then. I called the insurance company and the, the, uh, like my insurance is like, has like an intermediary service that is supposed to contact the insurance company on your behalf and that person, but like, I can’t contact them directly. And then that person was like, oh, you don’t need pre-authorization. Go ahead and schedule the surgery. And I’m like, this doesn’t feel right. Um, so, but, but we, we went ahead and we called back the, you know, the, the surgeon, um, his office and they were very nice and we were like. They say that we can get on the books. So I don’t know when that will be. I’m hoping that it will be, you know, like the first week of January, um, or, or, or thereabouts. Um, but I don’t know. Um, [00:02:00] so I am still kind of in this like limbo stage where I don’t know exactly when I’m gonna have the surgery, except hopefully soon. And, um, and, and for anyone who hasn’t caught up, I, uh, I have a bulging disc on C seven on my cervical spine, and I’m going to get a, um, artificial disc replacement. Um, so they’re gonna take out the, you know, bulging bone and all that and put in, uh, some synthetic piece and then hopefully that will immediately relieve the, the pain that has been primarily through the left side of, uh, my arm and my shoulder, um, uh, down through my fingers. But it’s been on my right side a little bit too. So hopefully when that is done, it’ll be a relatively short recovery. Um, I’ll have an early scar and um, I will be, you know, not. Uh, the pain right now, like the levels aren’t terrible, but I’m pretty numb, uh, on my, my, my left arm, my, my right arm, um, uh, or right fingers I guess too, but, but really it’s, it’s, uh, the, the, the left side [00:03:00] that’s the worst. And traveling. Um, I’m, I’m in Atlanta with my family right now and, you know, kind of doing other things is just not, it’s not great. So, um, hopefully I’ll be getting surgery sooner rather than later. But obviously all that stuff does impact your mental health too, when you’re in pain and, and you, you know, are freaked out too about, you know, like, even though like they do, you know, it, it’s not an uncommon surgery and, and it, and it should be fine, but you know, there’s always these things in the back of your mind. You’re like, okay, well what if something goes wrong or whatever. So I’m just, I’m looking forward to, um, you know, light at the end of the tunnel, but um, still kind of in a holding pattern with that. So Brett: Wow. So that scar’s, that scar’s gonna be on your throat. Christina: Yeah, Brett: Wow. Christina: yeah. Like probably like. No, not really. I’m, I mean, I’m hoping that it’ll be, uh, like no, it really won’t be at all. Brett: I, I, I would like to have it. I can understand why you wouldn’t. Christina: yeah, I mean, you know, I will obviously, you know, uh, hopefully it’ll be like low enough to be [00:04:00] primarily covered by shirts or other things, although, who knows? ’cause I do like to wear like, lower cut things sometimes. I don’t know. It, it’ll hopefully, you Brett: I heard chokers are coming back. Christina: Yeah, I don’t, unfortunately. I think it’s gonna be too, uh, low for that. Brett: Okay. Christina: uh, like, it, it’s gonna be, I think like it might hit against my laryn is, is what they say. That’s the other thing too. I might have, you know, some hoarseness after, won’t we permanent? Um, you know, knock on wood. Um, Brett: go on Etsy, you can get, um, they’re for BDSM, they’re like neck, uh, they hold your chin up. They’re like posture enhancers. Uh, but they sell them within leather with like corset straps. ’cause they’re like A-B-D-S-M accessory. That would work. Christina: No, no. Not even once. Uh, not even once. I mean, look, a good group of people who wanna do that, uh, I I will not be wearing a collar of any sort of that sort of thing. Uh, I, I, I don’t, I don’t really wanna, wanna be part [00:05:00] of, uh, one of that, those types of, you know, uh, Harlequin romance novels. , Brett’s Sleep and Work Routine Brett: All right, well, I will go ahead and check in. Um, I, I’m sleeping really well for like two days at a time, and then I’ll have. A string of like five or six hours of sleep, which isn’t nothing. Um, but it’s not quite enough for me to not feel tired all the time. And two nights of sleep is not enough for me to catch up on sleep. And, um, so I’m kind of, this has been going on for like a year though, so it’s, I’m just kind of, I’m used to it and I’ve learned to operate pretty well on six or seven hours of sleep, even though historically like I need eight and a half. Um, but I’m doing okay and I get up about four every morning and I start coding and I usually code from like four to noon, so an eight [00:06:00] hour workday, uh, with a breakfast somewhere in there. And, um, I’ve made really good progress. Marked is, as far as I can tell, ready to go wide with the beta. Um. I think I’ve solved every bug that’s been reported so far. I only have about a hundred testers right now, um, but I’m gonna open it up, uh, try to get maybe a thousand testers for a couple weeks and then go for a live release. The biggest thing that I’m running into is problems with getting the, like free trial and the purchase mechanisms working, which is the exact same thing that’s holding up NV Ultra right now. Um, so if I can figure it out for Mark, I can port it to NV Ultra. I can have two apps out there making money, hopefully never have to get a job again. Um, I’m teamed up right now with Dan Peterson, formerly of One Password. Um, and we’re [00:07:00] working on some iOS apps and. And, uh, apex. My, my, all my Universal markdown processor is, it’s coming along really well. I’ve, I’ve put it out there. Um, I’ve talked to John Gruber a little bit about it. He’s gonna give it more of a workout and get back to me. Um, but I think, I think it’s getting to a point where I would be comfortable integrating it into Mark and even talking to some other, uh, apps about using it as their default processor, um, and kind of alleviating some of the issues people run into with, uh, differences in syntax. Um, I. I, I, I talked to Devon, think, uh, Eric from Devon think about using it. ’cause they use multi markdown right now, uh, which has a lot of cool features, but is not [00:08:00] really in sync with what most of the web is using these days. Um, so I talked to them about it and they’re like, oh, we had the exact same idea and we’re

    54 min

  3. 12/09/2025

    5K Sicko

    The Overtired trio reunites for the first time in ages, diving into a whirlwind of health updates, hilarious anecdotes, and the latest tech obsessions. Christina shares a dramatic spinal saga while Brett and Jeff discuss everything from winning reddit contests to creating a universal markdown processor. Tune in for updates on Mark 3, the magical world of Scrivener, and why Brett’s back on Bing. Don’t miss the banter or the tech tips, and as always, get ready to laugh, learn, and maybe feel a little overtired yourself. Sponsor Shopify is the commerce platform behind 10% of all eCommerce in the US, from household names like Mattel and Gymshark, to brands just getting started. Get started today at shopify.com/overtired. Chapters 00:00 Welcome to the Overtired Podcast 01:09 Christina’s Health Journey 10:53 Brett’s Insurance Woes 15:38 Jeff’s Mental Health Update 24:07 Sponsor Spot: Shopify 24:18 Sponsor: Shopify 26:23 Jeff Tweedy 27:43 Jeff’s Concert Marathon 32:16 Christina Wins Big 36:58 Monitor Setup Challenges 37:13 Ergotron Mounts and Tall Poles 38:33 Review Plans and Honest Assessments 38:59 Current Display Setup 41:30 Thunderbolt KVM and Display Preferences 42:51 MacBook Pro and Studio Comparisons 50:58 Markdown Processor: Apex 01:07:58 Scrivener and Writing Tools 01:11:55 Helium Browser and Privacy Features 01:13:56 Bing Delisting Incident Show Links Danny Brown’s 10 in the New York Times (gift link) Indigo Stack Scrivener Helium Bangs Apex Apex Syntax Join the Marked 3 Beta LG 32 Inch UltraFine™evo 6K Nano IPS Black Monitor with Thunderbolt™ 5 Join the Conversation Merch Come chat on Discord! Twitter/ovrtrd Instagram/ovrtrd Youtube Get the Newsletter Thanks! You’re downloading today’s show from CacheFly’s network BackBeat Media Podcast Network Check out more episodes at overtiredpod.com and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Find Brett as @ttscoff, Christina as @film_girl, Jeff as @jsguntzel, and follow Overtired at @ovrtrd on Twitter. Transcript Brett + 2 Welcome to the Overtired Podcast Jeff: [00:00:00] Hello everybody. This is the Overtired podcast. The three of us are all together for the first time since the Carter administration. Um, it is great to see you both here. I am Jeff Severance Gunzel if I didn’t say that already. Um, and I’m here with Christina Warren and I’m here with Brett Terpstra and hello to both of you. Brett: Hi. Jeff: Great to see you both. Brett: Yeah, it’s good to see you too. I feel like I was really deadpan in the pre-show. I’ll try to liven it up for you. I was a horrible audience. You were cracking jokes and I was just Jeff: that’s true. Christina, before you came on, man, I was hot. I was on fire and Brett was, all Brett was doing was chewing and dropping Popsicle parts. Brett: Yep. I ate, I ate part of a coconut outshine Popsicle off of a concrete floor, but Jeff: It is true, and I didn’t even see him check it [00:01:00] for cat hair, Brett: I did though. Jeff: but I believe he did because he’s a, he’s a very Brett: I just vacuumed in Jeff: He’s a very good American Brett: All right. Christina’s Health Journey Brett: Well, um, I, Christina has a lot of health stuff to share and I wanna save time for that. So let’s kick off the mental health corner. Um, let’s let Christina go first, because if it takes the whole show, it takes the whole show. Go for it. Christina: Uh, I, I will not take this hold show, but thank you. Yeah. So, um, my mental health is okay-ish. Um, I would say the okay-ish part is, is because of things that are happening with my physical health and then some of the medications that I’ve had to be on, um, uh, to deal with it. Uh, prednisone. F*****g sucks, man. Never nev n never take it if you can avoid it. Um, but why Christina, why are you on prednisone or why were you on prednisone for five days? Um, uh, and I’m not anymore to be clear, but that certainly did not help my mental health. Um, at the beginning of November, I woke up and I thought that I’d [00:02:00] slept on my shoulder wrong. And, um, uh, and, and just some, some background. I, I don’t know if this is pertinent to how my injury took place or not, but, but it, I’m sure that it didn’t help. Um, I have scoliosis and in the top and the bottom of my spine, so I have it at the top of my, like, neck area and my lower back. And so my back is like a crooked s um, this will be relevant in a, in a second, but, but I, I thought that I had slept on my back bunny, and I was like, okay, well, all right, it hurts a lot, but fine. Um, and then it, a, a couple of days passed and it didn’t get any better, and then like a week passed and I was at the point where I was like, I almost feel like I need to go to the. Emergency room, I’m in pain. That is that significant. Um, and, you know, didn’t get any better. So I took some of grant’s, Gabapentin, and I took, um, some, some, uh, a few other things and I was able to get in with like a, a, a sports and spine guy. Um, and um, [00:03:00] he looked at me and he was like, yeah, I think that you have like a, a, a bolting disc, also known as a herniated disc. Go to physical therapy. See me later. We’ll, we’ll deal with it. Um. Basically like my whole left side was, was, was really sore and, and I had a lot of pain and then I had numbness in my, my fingers and um, and, and that was a problem the next day, which was actually my birthday. The numbness had at this point spread to my right side and also my lower extremities. And so at this point I called the doctor and he was like, yeah, you should go to the er. And so I went to the ER and, and they weren’t able to do anything for me other than give me, you know, like, um, you know, I was hoping they might give me like, some sort of steroid injection or something. They wouldn’t do anything other than, um, basically, um, they gave me like another type of maybe, maybe pain pill or whatever. Um, but that allowed the doctor to go ahead and. Write, uh, write up an MRI took forever for me to get an MRI, I actually had to get it in Atlanta. [00:04:00] Fun fact, uh, sometimes it is cheaper to just pay and not go through insurance and get an MR MRI and, um, a, um, uh, an x-ray, um, I was able to do it for $450 Jeff: Whoa. Really? Christina: Yeah, $400 for the MR mri. $50 for the x-ray. Jeff: Wow. Christina: Yeah. Yeah. Brett: how I, they, I had an MRI, they charged me like $1,200 and then they failed to bill insurance ’cause I was between insurance. Christina: Yes. Yeah. So what happened was, and and honestly that was gonna be the situation that I was in, not between insurance stuff, but they weren’t even gonna bill insurance. And insurance only approved certain facilities and to get into those facilities is almost impossible. Um, and so, no, there are a lot of like get an MR, I now get a, you know, mammogram, get ghetto, whatever places. And because America’s healthcare system is a HealthScape, you can bypass insurance and they will charge you way less than whatever they bill insurance for. So I, I don’t know if it’s part of the country, you know, like Seattle I think might [00:05:00] probably would’ve been more expensive. But yeah, I was able to find this place like a mile from like, not even a mile from where my parents lived, um, that did the x-rays and the MRI for $450 total. Brett: I, I hate, I hate that. That’s true, but Christina: Me too. Me too. No, no. It pisses me off. Honestly, it makes me angry because like, I’m glad that I was able to do that and get it, you know, uh, uh, expedited. Then I go into the spine, um, guy earlier this week and he looks at it and he’s like, yep, you’ve got a massive bulging disc on, on C seven, which is the, the part of your lower cervical or cervical spine, which is your neck. Um, and it’s where it connects to your ver bray. It’s like, you know, there are a few things you can do. You can do, you know, injections, you can do surgery. He is like, I’m gonna recommend you to a neurosurgeon. And I go to the neurosurgeon yesterday and he was showing me or not, uh, yeah, yesterday he was showing me the, the, the, the scans and, and showing like you up close and it’s, yeah, it’s pretty massive. Like where, where, where the disc is like it is. You could see it just from one view, like, just from like [00:06:00] looking at it like, kind of like outside, like you could actually like see like it was visible, but then when you zoomed in it’s like, oh shit, this, this thing is like massive and it’s pressing on these nerves that then go into my, my hands and other areas. But it’s pressing on both sides. It’s primarily on my left side, but it’s pressing on on my right side too, which is not good. So, um, he basically was like, okay. He was like, you know, this could go away. He was like, the pain isn’t really what I’m wanting to, to treat here. It’s, it’s the, the weakness because my, my left arm is incredibly weak. Like when they do like the, the test where like they, they push back on you to see like, okay, like how, how much can you, what, like, I am, I’m almost immediately like, I can’t hold anything back. Right? Like I’m, I’m, I’m like a toddler in terms of my strength. So, and, and then I’m freaked out because I don’t have a lot of feeling in my hands and, and that’s terrifying. Um, I’m also. Jeff: so terrifying, Christina: I’m, I’m also like in extreme pain because of, of, of where this sits. Like I can’t sleep well. Like [00:07:00] the whole thing sucks. Like the MRI, which was was like the most painful, like 25 minutes, like of my existence. ’cause I was laying flat on my back. I’m not allowed to move and I’m just like, I’m in just incredible pain with that part of, of, of, of my, my side. Like, it, it was. It was terrible. Um, but, uh, but he was li

    1h 16m

  4. 10/29/2025

    438: Chekov’s Roast with Merlin Mann

    Jeff and Brett are joined by Merlin Mann, who brings his usual blend of humor and chaos, including witty takes on knife-brandishing, app issues, and nostalgic TV shows. They discuss everything from kids growing up to intense medical appointments. The trio dives into language usage pet peeves and the weird world of higher education, touching on family, technology, and just how much they can all survive. Entertaining and, as always overtired. Sponsor Shopify is the commerce platform behind 10% of all eCommerce in the US, from household names like Mattel and Gymshark, to brands just getting started. Get started today at shopify.com/overtired. Show Links Max Richter Four Seasons Anne Sophie-Mutter Vivaldi Summer Tilt table test Another State of Mind Merlin’s Wisdom Project Kiss on Tom Snyder Guitar Moves series Iggy Pop on Tom Snyder Merlin’s An Epicenter of Wordsmithing (Usage I Dislike) Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome 00:30 Technical Difficulties and Knife Jokes 01:54 Music and TV Show Discussions 06:48 Health Issues and Personal Stories 21:51 Disability and Aging Reflections 30:18 Ian Mackaye and Punk Stories 32:42 Ian McKay’s Hilarious SUV Game 33:31 Cross Country Team Shenanigans 34:30 Discussing Music Preferences 38:26 Shopify Sponsorship Segment 41:03 College Life Challenges 53:20 The Wisdom Project and Life Advice 01:06:18 Guitar Moves with Matt Sweeney 01:08:06 Ace Frehley and KISS Trivia 01:09:03 Tom Snyder Interviews and Iggy Pop 01:09:32 Wendy O. Williams and Milwaukee Riot 01:11:20 Taskmaster and Playlists 01:20:03 Grammar and Usage Pet Peeves 01:30:47 Derry Girls and TV Recommendations 01:36:21 Concluding Thoughts and Sign-Off Join the Conversation Merch! Come chat on Discord! Twitter/ovrtrd Instagram/ovrtrd Youtube Get the Newsletter Thanks! You’re downloading today’s show from CacheFly’s network BackBeat Media Podcast Network Check out more episodes at overtiredpod.com and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Find Brett as @ttscoff, Christina as @film_girl, Jeff as @jsguntzel, and follow Overtired at @ovrtrd on Twitter. Transcript Chekov’s Roast Introduction and Guest Welcome Jeff: [00:00:00] is the Overtired podcast. I am Jeff Severance. Gunzel. Uh, we have Brett Terpstra. Christina is not here this week, and we have a very special guest who’s brandishing a knife? Merlin Mann. Welcome Merlin Mann. Merlin: Brandish. Hi guys. Thanks for having me. Jeff: You’re welcome. Merlin: Nice to be here. Jeff: Mm-hmm. Merlin: Oh, sorry. Should I be funnier? Should I be funnier? Oh, I’m sorry. Jeff: Dance monkey? Merlin: Let’s see. Technical Difficulties and Knife Jokes Merlin: It’s, uh, 22 minutes after D Oh, last 50 minutes trying to get connected to your cockamamie series of apps. And now I’m the weird guy playing with a knife. F am I Jeff: Fucking weirdo. Merlin: Oh, hey. Hey guys. Thanks. I, I, I’m gonna figure out what, what I, what I’ve done to Christine someday. I’m not sure I wanna know at this point, but I don’t know why I Brett: miss your last one too? Merlin: I think I’ve talked to Christine twice in the last Brett: We, we call you, we call you when Christina can’t make it. ’cause you, Merlin: make sure you call her Christina. I, I You called her Christine earlier. [00:01:00] No, I, I, I, I misspoke. Brett: you’re, you’re, you’re like the perfect fill for Christina. You, you both can opine about, just about any topic. Merlin: Mm-hmm. Brett: Elaborate. Merlin: I just, I wanna be Jeff: or elaborate? Brett: Yes. Merlin: I want to be supportive to whatever it is that you guys want to do. ’cause you both seem a little bit, now the, the listener cannot see, they’ve, oh, by the way, we’re, I, I can see you guys and myself on video, which I did not know at 10 0 6 this morning. Um, I wanna be supportive ’cause you guys both look like you’re physically and emotionally falling apart. Since I got on this call with your cockamamie app, did you know there’s a separate cockamamie app, uh, you could also use instead of Chrome or Vivaldi? Then it wouldn’t let me, it said there all because I got the sparkle update on that and that had an error. So I went back to Vivaldi. Steven, I know you’ll listen and you’re gonna hear me bitching about the goddamn app. Hey guys. Music and TV Show Discussions Jeff: Have you ever listened to the, to the Max Richter, uh, recomposed of the Four Seasons? Merlin: Yeah, it’s [00:02:00] really pretty. I do, I do. I like it a lot. I think it’s, I think it’s really pretty and I like the way that it, like hints at elements that you’ll like, even if you aren’t, don’t know if, if you don’t think you’re familiar with the Four Seasons or you might be a little familiar with the Four Seasons, like you’ve heard it having brunch when you used to have money, that kind of thing. Uh, the way that it just kind of weaves in and out. I think it’s really pretty. I think he’s a very interesting person. Jeff: is very interesting. Merlin: were watching, uh, the Leftovers, which is a big rewatch for my wife and me in a first time for my lackadaisical team. And every time that gorgeous theme comes on, he, he doesn’t even look up from his phone. He goes, get another theme. Jeff: that’s a Merlin: Because as of yesterday, my child is 18 years of age. Brett: my, so. Jeff: as Wait, what? As of yesterday, my son is 17. Merlin: 10, Jeff: no, as of Saturday, as of yesterday, my brother is 55. Merlin: I do that, I do that. Brett: my partner’s dad has been dead for Jeff: we cheese. Brett: Um, Merlin: No shit. As [00:03:00] of October, uh, as of, wait a minute, as of two days from now on, my father will have been dead for 51 years. So that’s a feather in your cap. Brett: You guys have, you, you guys have paternal death day anniversaries near each other. I should Merlin: Title Brett: Um, Jeff: Paternal death days. Brett: um, Merlin: Death Day is the worst. Tom Cruise movie. Brett: I’m a big, I’m a big fan of audio design in, um, TV shows and when it’s done well, it’s amazing. And the, the thing that’s. That really got me going right now is the, like intro song for interview with the vampire. The, the song is so discordant. It makes you feel like vomiting. Jeff: huh? Brett: crazy. Merlin: It’s so what? Brett: So discordant, it makes you feel like vomiting. It’s just this five seconds of like, like every instrument in the orchestra [00:04:00] being tuned simultaneously. Merlin: Ooh. Brett: Yeah. It’s wild. Merlin: Do you think it’s effective? Is it, is it Brett: sets the stage. Merlin: I filled that with Christopher, uh, Nolan. Brett: Yeah. Merlin: Like he’s, he said, or, you know, like the Johnny Greenwood soundtrack and that, uh, Winick Oil movie, the PSH movie. Um, Johnny, uh, uh, no Country for Old Oil cans. Uh, there will be Blood. There will be Blood. It’s got that, that could be John Green Johnny Greenwood soundtrack. You think it’s effective though? It, Brett: Oh my God. Merlin: yeah. I, it’s, um, I remember this is a phenomenon. I remember first noticing, and I, every time I say this, I feel like I, I sound like I’m trying to be fancy and I’m not, but like, I, I like everybody, you know, I grew up watching tv. I watched, I loved Law and Order in the nineties. I would watch it all day on a and e while I was making web pages, but after I watched The Wire. After I had like, uh, shotgunned a lot of the wire, it became more and more difficult to go back to regular procedurals with the same frame of mind. Now if you’re folding [00:05:00] laundry or you’re in a hotel room or whatever, you can always get back in that frame of mind. But for me, that’s like task Master and Survivor right now where I watch so much Task Master that Survivor, where the challenges have been getting less important over time and it’s really more about the drama. But you know how it is. Do you know what I’m talking about though? You get into something and then other stuff starts to feel like kind of a pale Jeff: Well, Deadwood and other westerns with a couple of exceptions. Merlin: deadwood’s pretty spec, especially those first three episodes. Jeff: oh Brett: see Wayward? Jeff: No, Merlin: No. Is it good? Brett: It’s so good. That was, that one made all other shows pale for me for the three days it took us to binge Merlin: Netflix? I feel like it’s been, oh wait, is it with, uh, is it with Tony Colette? No. Who’s in Brett: May. It’s May. What’s her name from the handsome podcast? What’s their name? Um, Merlin: Oh, Mae Martin. Brett: Yeah. Merlin: Who was also on taskmaster. She, they, God, my, so I, I think I knew of Mae Martin when they were less commonly known as they, and now [00:06:00] my wife keeps correcting me. Yes. Uh, I could not get with that. I could not get with the dialogue. There’s a lot of, as you know, Bob, but my wife loved it. Brett: I loved it. Merlin: Well, as you know, we’re in a relationship and this is the house that we’re going to be Jeff: What about complimentary shows? Right now my wife and I are watching Slow Horses and the Diplomat at the same time, Merlin: Oh man. That Hal is a stinker. What are we gonna do with Hal Brett? Do you watch a lot of tv? Brett: do, Merlin: Yeah. Um, Hal’s a Stinker. I love that show. Did you know the Jeff: are you watching the current season because you meet Todd. Todd, Merlin: is that, is that the, the, the. Jeff: the first man Merlin: I love, I love Todd. And when he bleeds on the oysters, it really Jeff: Amazing. Brett, you Merlin: Anyway. Health Issues and Personal Stories Merlin: Hey everybody, it’s Overtired and Christina, ie. Is not here. Brett: should we do a, should we do a quick check-in? We don’t have to spend a whole episode on it.

    1h 37m
  5. This Time It's Love (with Jay Miller)

    10/14/2025

    This Time It's Love (with Jay Miller)

    On this episode of Overtired, Christina Warren, Jeff Severns Guntzel, and Jay Miller dive into tech talk, nonprofit initiatives, and some unexpected baseball chat. Jeff raves about his foray into Linux, while Jay updates us on Black Python Devs and their efforts to support developers in Latin America. Christina brings her Mac app gratitude like a pro, and baseball makes its way into the conversation more than once. Expect laughs, tech tips, and a lot of goodwill. Sponsor Shopify is the commerce platform behind 10% of all eCommerce in the US, from household names like Mattel and Gymshark, to brands just getting started. Get started today at shopify.com/overtired. Show Links Black Python Devs BPD’s Commitment to LATAM The Big Dumper Grapptitude Jay: Linkding Brett’s Linkding adventures Linkding Injector Christina: Folder Quick Look Jeff: Omarchy Yeah, it’s this guy and yeah, it’s these people. Lazyvim Hyperlnd Omakub Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome 01:14 Linux Teaser and Framework Desktop 02:03 Jay’s Plant Obsession 04:54 Meeting in Person for the First Time 07:30 Conference Presentation Pet Peeves 21:21 Sponsor Break: Shopify 23:35 Supporting Python Devs in Latin America 38:17 Podcast Guesting and Braves Fandom 38:57 Indigenous People’s Day and Baseball Anecdotes 40:41 Mariners’ Historic Game and Baseball Memories 43:36 Atlanta’s Unique History and Museums 46:26 Linux Adventures and Distro Discoveries 01:02:44 Gratitude and Tech Recommendations 01:10:38 Wrapping Up and Final Thoughts Join the Conversation Merch! Come chat on Discord! Twitter/ovrtrd Instagram/ovrtrd Youtube Get the Newsletter Thanks! You’re downloading today’s show from CacheFly’s network BackBeat Media Podcast Network Check out more episodes at overtiredpod.com and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Find Brett as @ttscoff, Christina as @film_girl, Jeff as @jsguntzel, and follow Overtired at @ovrtrd on Twitter. Transcript This Time It’s Love (with Jay Miller) Introduction and Guest Welcome [00:00:00] Christina: You are listening to Overtired. I’m Christina Warren, and I’m joined as always by Jeff Severance, Gonzo. And this week we have back one of our favorite guests, Mr. J Miller. Jay, welcome back to the pod. Jay: What’s up? What’s up? Glad to, glad to be back. Glad to, to be here with the crew. I think I’ve been, now, I’ve been on the show with every variation Christina: was going to say, I was going to say, you’ve, you’ve been on, like, every iteration you’ve been on with just like, like, uh, like, like, like Jeff and, and, and Brett. You’ve been on just with me and, and, and, and Brett and now with, with, uh, Mia and Jeff. So yes, you’ve done like the full, like, you know, uh, yeah. Jeff: Due for a solo, solo episode, Jay. Christina: Yeah. Oh, honestly, honestly, that that, honestly. Jay: have a guess. Christina: I was going to say, that would actually be hilarious if we’re like, okay, we can’t do it for hire this week. So we’re gonna have, uh, uh, Brian and Jeff, uh, no, Brian and Jay take it. Right? That would be, that would be like a Jeff: That’s good. Yeah. Jay: I can [00:01:00] see this happening. Jeff: Well, it’s good to see everybody. Christina: yes. Jeff: Um, so Brett is out, uh, this week. Hello Brett. Um, wherever you are, specifically in the editing window right now, probably as you listen to this. Linux Teaser and Framework Desktop Jeff: Um, but yeah, Jay, it’s awesome to have you back and, um, I, I’m just gonna like spoil it for everybody and we’re not gonna start here, but I’m gonna talk about Linux and, and I don’t care who knows it, Christina: Hell yes. Jeff: but that’s just, that’s just a teaser. That’s just to keep people listening. Christina: Excellent. Excellent. Um, well, well, this is fun. I, I’m excited about this because I bought a, uh, a framework desktop a few months Jeff: Oh, Christina: and, and, well, well, more than a few months ago, but, but it arrived I guess like a month and a half ago. And, uh, it’s super, super fun. So I’m very excited to know. I didn’t know going into this, I, I didn’t look at the document beforehand, so I didn’t realize we were gonna be talking about Linux, but this is exciting for me. Jeff: man. Jay: I, I, I mean, I have some Linux stuff going on. Jeff: I’ve got some Linux. Jay: yeah, not as much as y’all. I [00:02:00] mean, but Jeff: So, Jay: a Linux box back there. Christina: Hell Jay’s Plant Obsession Jeff: Jay, Jay, greet the, the listeners who have been waiting for the next Jay Miller episode tells how you’re doing. Jay: Oh, I’m, I’m doing good. Um, I’ve, I’ve dealt with some, some title changes that don’t really mean anything, so we can just skip ’em. And I am. I’m just out here. We were, we were talking about this before the show started. Uh, I’m getting ready for a very, uh, stressful trip to Lavia next week. Um, now is not the time to be traveling like out of the country and trying to get back in Jeff: You’re fleeing Jay: def Well, I mean, you know, the, to be honest, YouTube video somewhere, Picon 2025, I sat on a panel and it was like, what do you tell folks who are wanting to come to like picon us in 2025 or getting ready for 2026? And I’m like, to be honest, just don’t, like, I [00:03:00] wouldn’t tell you to miss out on all the fun, but also I can’t promise your safety, so Yeah, just don’t, so I’m, I’m rolling those dice, but, uh. Not much has really changed for me. It’s still working, still doing the same stuff, still talking. Um, I’ve become an obsessed plant person in the last year. Um, so that’s fun. I think my camera has like five plants over there, and then there’s three more on the other side of the camera, and then I’ve got like another seven or eight downstairs. Jeff: So it follows that you’ve become someone who can keep plants alive. Not that you couldn’t before, but I’m just thinking when people have plants, they think, oh, you’re a good person. You can keep them alive. Jay: I mean, one could argue I bought so many because I keep killing them, but, you know, it’s, I’m trying, I’m, I’m trying to keep ’em going. Jeff: What made you a plant person? Like what’s tell, I mean, that’s a thing. Jay: Um, I mean, I’ve always liked plants. I, I noticed sometime earlier in the year, I don’t remember when it was, [00:04:00] honestly, that I was spending a lot of time like in my office and. It just felt horrible. Like it felt very drab and like I kept watching these like how to like spice up your, your office space and all this stuff. And one of the things they talked about was like, get some greenery in there, like get a plant. Usually they say like, get a fake plant, but you know, there’s some benefits to also getting real plants. And I got one, I’ve had plants for a couple of years, but they were all like, I had like two plants downstairs. I barely water them and they’re okay with that. But like I just started getting more and more and then all of a sudden I like blink and I’ve got like a monster behind me that’s, you know, doing its best. It’s living its best life. I saved it from the Home Depot, so, you know, it’s, it’s probably happier to be here than there. Jeff: awesome, awesome. You know, I meant to say this at the beginning. Meeting in Person for the First Time Jeff: This is a hard pivot, but Christina, this is the first time we’ve been on the pod together since we [00:05:00] met in person for the first time ever, Christina: I know, which has been months, which was so amazing. I was so happy to meet your beautiful family and, uh, your, your wife who’s amazing and, and your two sons, and like, that was so fun. Like that was such a great, I was, Jeff: had lunch. Christina: we, did we had lunch? Did you guys have a, have fun the rest of your time in Seattle? Jeff: We had a good time in Seattle. We had a good time in war ravaged Portland, and we had a great time on the Oregon coast. Yes, it was awesome. Yes. But yeah, it was so, it was so weird because I mean, Jesus, you and I for what, three years now, have known each other through these little video boxes. Christina: No, I mean that, well, it was finally, it was like, oh yes, good. Finally like a name, like to, you know, it, not a name for the face, but you know what I mean? Like a, like a face, like to, to the person that I’ve seen their face, but like now I really get to get to know it, which was really, really cool. Jeff: awesome. So fun. I can’t believe that we have not recorded together since then. Christina: I know. I know. Jay: the last time I saw all of y’all. I think I haven’t, I still haven’t seen you in person, Jeff. That’s okay. I’ve got an event in Cleveland you [00:06:00] can come to, um, later this year. We’ll talk Jeff: me, okay, Jay: Well, actually I can’t talk about that. It hasn’t been announced yet, but spoiler alert, there’s an event in Cleveland that I’ll be at doing things. Um, you should come. Um, but, uh, Christina and I met at scale. Right. And then, uh, I was just looking at scale to go back next year. So like a small world. And then Brett and I met, wow, that was probably like six. Was that before COVID? I can’t remember if the wood, the Woodstock, or Max stock that we went to was before or after COVID. I’m confused now. Jeff: luck figuring that Jay: been that long. It’s been at, it is been at least five years. Probably six or seven. Jeff: Brett and I have only been in person three times, which is also crazy ’cause not only have we been doing this podcast, but we were working together for a while before that and I met him after being a guest on Systematic, like way, way, way, way long ago. So anyway,[00:07:00] Jay: This is the first c

    1h 11m
  6. 100 Days Sober with Erin Dawson

    09/22/2025

    100 Days Sober with Erin Dawson

    After a two-month hiatus, Brett Terpstra and Christina Warren return with guest Erin Dawson for a lively episode. They kick things off by catching up on mental health, summer highlights, and adventures in sobriety. Topics range from the Mac OS X Tahoe update, the enduring love for code editors like VS Code and Cursor, to an elaborate rant about Quip’s decline. This episode features a special ‘Fuck, Marry, Kill’ edition of grAPPtitude! Sponsor This episode is sponsored by OpenCase, a genius new type of iPhone case that protects your phone while getting out of the way of MagSafe accessories. Check it out at theopencase.com. To see a wide variety of accessories it will work with, check out this YouTube video. Show Links CleanShot X Cursor VS Code Final Cut Pro Keyboard Maestro 1Password Barbee on the Mac App Store Chapters 00:00 Welcome Back to Overtired 01:21 Mental Health Check-In 04:06 The Reality of Subscription Software 07:17 Aaron’s Career Pivot 10:38 The Impact of Alcohol on Mental Health 27:05 Exploring Alternative Substances 32:05 Sponsor Break: Open Case 34:15 The Tahoe OS Controversy 36:58 Remote SSH and File Vault Changes 38:20 Visual Changes and User Experience 39:28 Icon Design and Builder Limitations 42:02 Mac OS Customization Frustrations 45:18 Apple’s Design Philosophy and User Dilemma 49:57 Overtired Phenomenon Explained 52:31 Grapptitude: F**k, Marry, Kill Edition 01:07:10 Get Some Sleep Join the Conversation Merch! Come chat on Discord! Twitter/ovrtrd Instagram/ovrtrd Youtube Get the Newsletter Thanks! You’re downloading today’s show from CacheFly’s network BackBeat Media Podcast Network Check out more episodes at overtiredpod.com and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Find Brett as @ttscoff, Christina as @film_girl, Jeff as @jsguntzel, and follow Overtired at @ovrtrd on Twitter. Transcript 100 Days Sober with Erin Dawson Welcome Back to Overtired Brett: [00:00:00] Hey everybody. It’s been a minute. How, how, how are you? How, how is everybody out there listening to Overtired for the first time in, I don’t know, two months, months? Christina: like that. Months is all Brett: was a, it was a, it was a nice break I am here. I am Brett Terpstra. Christina Warren is here. Hi Christina. Christina: Hey there. Brett: And we’ve got special guest, Aaron Daw. Aaron Dawson. I am, I almost said Dawson’s Creek for some reason. Aaron, how are you? Erin: I am well, Brett and Christina, how are you? Christina: Yeah, I’m okay. I’m okay. It’s been a, it’s been a few months since we’ve been here. Um, I think everybody’s had a, a interesting summer and, um, so yeah. Uh, glad, glad to be back talking with you guys and see, see what you’ve all been up to. Brett: Yeah. Erin: I’ve used the Dawson’s Creek thing. Uh, if, if there’s a a a a din, the denin of a bar is too [00:01:00] loud and I’m, I’m closing out and I’ve, and I’ve done this motion with my hand by my neck, like I am going to it. That’s the motion to either you want to kill someone or you’re closing out. Um, and it’s Dawson and they’re like, huh. And it’s Dawson, like the creek, and it works like a charm Christina: Yeah, I was gonna say, yeah, that, that, that’s gonna be one of those that they’re like, okay, got it, got it. Mental Health Check-In Brett: So Christina, how’s your mental health? Christina: It’s okay. It’s been better, but it’s been worse. Um, I’m, uh, going through some stuff right now that I’m not going to talk about on this podcast . So, um, that I, that I hope will, will, will work itself out. But, um, um, yeah, it, I, I’m Okay. How about you? Brett: I don’t, I, I went to the hospital again for just a day and a half this time. Um, the end result of which being I had to completely cut out alcohol. Um, so most of my mental health [00:02:00] in this moment I’ve, is around like, just ending something that I was pretty reliant on, um, for a lot of things and finding new, uh, activities, new ways to deal with energy and, um, I’ve been really happy coding. I, I get up around 3:00 AM every morning. I write code, I, I usually stop coding by about 11:00 AM and then just chill and watch movies and ride my bike, exercise bike and whatnot for the rest of the day. Um, and that makes me really happy and I don’t miss having a day job at all. Um, but, um, there will come an end to my unemployment benefits and I will need to have this app I’ve been coding on, published and making money by then. Um, and that’s [00:03:00] causing a little bit of anxiety some mornings more than others. Um, I, it’s so close, but I’m just like with NV Ultra, I’m stuck on the getting paid part, uh, working in all the payment processors and everything and trying to, and then I, I posted. A thing that mentioned offhandedly, that it was going to be a subscription payment plan. And predictably, I got a lot of shit on social media and people were just very upset. And I know that’s, if I’m gonna do this, I’m just gonna have to deal with that. Um, but my personality does not like people being mad at me. Um, and alternates between feeling very, um, scared and feeling very angry. And, and I have to pull myself away from social media because neither one of those modes is gonna make for a good [00:04:00] reply from, from an app account. So anyway. Christina: Well, yeah. The Reality of Subscription Software Christina: I mean, the thing is, is like, look, you gave people a heads up. So that they can be prepared, they can have the attitude that they have, but you have to, at a certain point, not take that feedback as hard as it is, like to just like to your, like do what you’ve done, which is to log off, not, not be part of that. Because yeah, I mean the reality is like you need this to be something that can generate income and one-off purchases can’t do that. And, and don’t do that. And, and, and we are now, I don’t know, 12, 13 years, uh, past when Adobe started, you know, doing subscriptions for Creative Cloud. Like, I’m sorry, I’m just gonna fucking say it. People need to grow the fuck up and realize this is how software is sold now. Like, you know, and, and, and if, if you, if you don’t like it, then, then don’t buy the software. But good luck finding anything because there are, the only companies that can afford to sell one-off licenses are, are companies like Apple, who even they have moved, you know, the, the final cut for freaking iPad as a subscription. [00:05:00] So, you know, they, it, it’s still a one-off on Mac, but I’m like, okay, also how much time and, and investment has, um, apple put in Final Cut versus Adobe or versus um, uh, you know, um, um, uh, da Vinci resolve almost none. So like. You, you, you can choose, you can either have software that continues to be maintained and updated, or you can have one off software that isn’t. And, and that’s just the reality that we’re in. It’s nobody’s Well, it is, it’s the industry’s fault. It’s like companies, frankly, like Apple’s fault, who, you know, created these sorts of expectations to have updates free forever and didn’t allow ways to do app purchases. And then, you know, um, people like Adobe, who, because fighting piracy, they were like, we can just make it a subscription as a service. I get it. It’s, it’s, it’s frustrating. People don’t always wanna pay an annual or monthly subscription to something, but Okay. That, but, but you know, that’s what you Brett: if you’re paying if you’re paying for constant updates and you’re getting constant updates, then there’s really no difference between.[00:06:00] Christina: you’re Brett: a monthly subscription or upgrading your software every year because the developer was forced to put out a, a major version release. Christina: right. Right. Brett: I think that the, the happy medium is what a few companies like Nova are doing or what, what panics doing with Nova, where you get the app one time and then you pay for updates, um, and you pay, you pay a subscription. But if you stop paying the subscription, Christina: It’s locked. I was Brett: I would love, I would love to do that, but I can’t do it on the app store. It would mean I could only sell direct. Christina: Yeah. Which, which, I mean, at this point, is there any value Brett: over, over, half my income comes from the app store right now. Christina: Okay. That, well, that’s unfortunate. Yeah, Brett: it’s, just a little more than I get from set. Um, so I really, I think the app store is good for me. Uh, I am willing to leave it behind [00:07:00] if I could make a sustainable living just selling updates direct. And if everyone who was finding it on the app store would still find it elsewhere. But anyway, I don’t want to completely derail the mental health corner. So I will pass the mic to Aaron. How are you Aaron’s Career Pivot Erin: I think I’m well. Uh, a couple thingies about me. I was recently rift. Christina: I’m so sorry. Erin: Thank you. Um, Brett: Reduc reduction in force for anyone who’s not down with the, uh, the acronyms. Erin: Yeah. I mentioned that to someone who I, who kind of worked in tech and they’re like, riff. And I was like, yeah, I thought this was, sorry. Um, so for folks out there, Brett and I used to work at the same unnamed Mega Corp. Acme Corp. Um, and it was a good run for me. I, I can’t complain. I can always complain. Um, but I will not, it was a great run. Um, [00:08:00] and I should be pretty pessimistic about the job market. I mean, see above Brett. Uh, but I am weirdly serene and optimistic, and I have no reason to be. I’m kind of seeing this as a moment to maybe pivot. So instead of like traditional tech roles, like I’ve, like I’ve had in the past, is this an opportunity for me to combine my love of

    1h 9m
  7. Horror Movies and Heatwaves

    06/23/2025

    Horror Movies and Heatwaves

    Join Brett Terpstra and Christina Warren as they navigate through a Jeff-less episode filled with jet ski jealousy, nostalgic TV, and movie marathons. Delve into the highs of coding joy, the lows of tech troubles, and the steady rhythm of maintaining mental health. Plus, stick around for a dive into Mac shortcut tools and musings on the ever-evolving Apple ecosystem. Sponsor The latest 360-degree camera from Insta360, the Insta360 X5, launched April 22nd and shoots full 360-degree videos in incredible 8K30 resolution. To bag a free 114cm invisible selfie stick worth US$24.99 with your Insta360 X5 standard package purchase, head to store.insta360.com and use the promo code overtired. Chapters 00:00 Welcome to Overtired 00:40 Jet Ski Adventures and Dubai Memories 01:55 Comedy Shows and TV Nostalgia 05:00 The Paradox of Choice in Entertainment 10:01 Mental Health Corner 10:06 Unemployment and Coding Bliss 14:50 Heatwave Struggles and Power Outages 29:19 Sponsor Shoutout: Insta 360 31:30 Summer Fun and Travel Dreams 33:18 Movie Marathon and Horror Genre 40:02 Nostalgic DVD Collection Days 40:51 The Evolution of Movie Watching 43:21 Theater Experiences and Bad Movies 43:54 Mystery Science Theater 3000 and RiffTrax 47:02 Evil Dead and Streaming Services 48:53 Gratitude and Tech Recommendations 53:46 Apple’s iPad vs. Mac Debate 01:15:34 AI and Regular Expressions 01:20:27 Conclusion and Farewell Show Links Rough night Nonnas Rifftrax Gizmoplex Actions AI Actions Federico’s interview with Craig RegexRX Join the Conversation Merch Come chat on Discord! Twitter/ovrtrd Instagram/ovrtrd Youtube Get the Newsletter Thanks! You’re downloading today’s show from CacheFly’s network BackBeat Media Podcast Network Check out more episodes at overtiredpod.com and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Find Brett as @ttscoff, Christina as @film_girl, Jeff as @jsguntzel, and follow Overtired at @ovrtrd on Twitter. Transcript Horror Movies and Heatwaves Welcome to Overtired [00:00:00] Christina: Hello again. You are listening to Overtired. I’m Christina Warren. I’m joined as always by Brett Terpstra. This week we are without our third, uh, Jeff SREs Gonzo, who is uh, uh, having home of jet skis. But, uh, but Brett and I are back doing an old school Overtired. How are you, Brett? Brett: I don’t know. I don’t know, man. Like he’s like, I got a family thing, and then he sends us pictures of him on a jet ski and I’m like, where are your priorities, man? What about Overtired? Come on, Christina: exactly, exactly. It’s like we, we, we, we are definitely more fun than, Brett: then a jet ski. I find that hard to believe. Jet Ski Adventures and Dubai Memories Brett: I’ve never been on a jet ski, but Christina: Oh, they’re great. They’re Brett: just see them as like an expression of pure joy on water. Christina: Yeah. I, I went in Dubai of all places, actually, uh, in a manmade lake. And, um, and, and, and at we, we’d called in advance, like before we got there, we were like. Can I [00:01:00] wear like a two piece bathing suit? Right. Because I, I was concerned about that. And, and yes. And they were like, she can wear whatever she wants. And I was like, okay, well I’ll still keep it like conservative, like more conservative than like my normal bathing suit would be, even though I had like a life vest on or whatever. And then we get there and they only had four jet skis and there were five of us. And, uh, one of my, my colleagues was like, my, one of my best friends actually, he was like, no, she gets her own. So they had to go back and like, get one for me, but, but they just assumed that I was gonna ride like bitch on someone’s, um, a jet ski. And I was like, no, I, I would like to do this. And, and I did pretty good. Um, one of our colleagues, like he, he’d never been on one before and, and he had the time of his life. I think he went buying one himself after, after, after it. But yeah, no, it was really fun. So Jeff’s photos, the video rather, that he sent to us, like, um, pure joy and, uh, so we missed you Jeff, but also completely understand. Comedy Shows and TV Nostalgia Brett: Before Daniel Tosh got really annoying and awful. Um, [00:02:00] he had a special where he talked about how no one can frown on a jet ski, like you would always smile on a jet ski. It went into like some dark version of a kid’s funeral. But, um, but back then it was funny back then, like Daniel Tosh was like, you know, hitting Christina: No, totally. Brett: still, like I was cracking up Christina: No. I mean, Brett: bit about the, the midgets in the parade that killed me. I was dying. Christina: no, we can’t say that word anymore, Brett: I know the little people in the parade. Um, but I believe the word he used Christina: right? No, I I I’m just, I’m just f*****g with you. I don’t, I don’t, I mean, like, yeah. Um, but no, I mean that, that, that God Damnit Hass, that’s the name I haven’t thought about in forever. Toss 2.0. Like, that was like, that was like a big show That was, you know. Brett: It started off pretty good too. Christina: did. It did. I mean, I did too. ’cause it was, it was this weird thing where you’re like, okay, we can bring the internet to tv and then it just kind of [00:03:00] turns out like, we don’t really need to bring the internet to tv. Brett: Well, and now what’s her name? Um, the bipolar comedian, um, I forget her name. And she, I forget the name of the show, but she does a show that’s basically all like memes Christina: It was like after midnight it just got Brett: Yeah, yeah. It was, it’s after midnight, but it’s at, after like with the, at symbol. They like re re rebranded it. You’re right. It is the new, it is the new AF at midnight. After midnight. Christina: At midnight. After midnight, whatever. Yeah. It just, I, I, I think it just got canceled. ’cause I saw it like once or twice. It was not a thing I was ever gonna seek out, to be honest with you. Um, but, um, I mean, I, I like parts of it, but like, I don’t watch terrestrial TV most of the time. And certainly not like late nights. I might watch clips. I, I caught it a couple times. Um. Brett: it’s one of those shows where it’s mostly inside jokes between comedians. So if you’re really into the comedy scene and you wanna see like, how comedians relate to each other, that’s, it’s, [00:04:00] it’s a good, like, just kind of, obviously they pre-write their bits, like even on the original at midnight, they, they all, they all got the questions in advance and they rewrote their bits. Christina: course, Brett: you gotta, you got a kind of a glimpse into, uh, a rapid fire comedy writing session, if you will. Christina: Yeah. No, totally. I mean, and, and, um, and I, the reason I think it was just because I saw something on Instagram or whatever, like, oh, this is my final thing, or whatever, so I’m assuming it was canceled, which frankly makes sense. Um, ’cause again, like it’s one of those things like, that would’ve worked. Like, and I would’ve watched it like in the early two thousands, like if it was on tv or if they did like it on like Comedy Central, which I think it originally, you know, Tash 2.0 was on, like, that would’ve been a thing that I would’ve been like up at. One o’clock in the morning or whatever, um, or at midnight. And I would’ve had on in the background, right? And I would’ve been like, oh, this is really funny. And I’m, I’m really into this. But like, the way that we watch TV like that now just doesn’t exist in that, in that [00:05:00] sphere. The Paradox of Choice in Entertainment Christina: Like, like, um, we were talking about this right before we started the show. Like you, you think, you claim you’ve run out of good movies to watch. You obviously haven’t because there are, you have not watched all the good movies, I promise you. But, but we have like, it’s almost this weird thing like this, this, we’ve talked about this before, but like, you know, the paradox of choice where you have so much that we have access to that there aren’t like these pre curated pockets where you can just turn something on and like, just have that be kind of your. Your stuff for the day or, or, or, or, or for the week or like for, for whatever, you know, timeframe you’re in. Like when I was, you know, in, in high school and college, it would be like, adult swim would be like the thing that I would always have on like from 10:00 PM Well, it start at 11 I think, and then it moved. You know, earlier as time went on, but like, that was always a thing. It was like, okay, I know that this block from like this time to this time is gonna be stuff that I, I watch and I would, you know, have like certain shows that I would always like watch on like [00:06:00] MTV or like, you know, again, like Comedy Central or whatever. Like you just knew you could just have MTV on like in the background all day long and, and do whatever you needed to do. Or if you just wanted to veg in front of the tv, you could do that. And like, they have those, you know, fast channels now that’ll just play marathons of shows, but it’s not programming blocks in the same way. It’s like, you know, and then, and, and, and then those are annoying to me because the, the ad breaks. I don’t even mind the ads so much. It’s just I don’t like the way they insert them. Like if they inserted them at the normal break points. In those shows, then, like, I wouldn’t be mad, but it’ll happen like mid-sentence and then like, it’ll cut into an ad and then it’ll like go back again. I’m like, okay, no, no, no, no, no. Like, f**k you. If you’re too incompetent to do ad stuff, then all you’ve reminded me of is the fact that I probably own this show on demand, or I can find this on demand, or I

    1h 21m

  8. 06/17/2025

    434: Not As Nerdy As I Thought

    In this episode of Overtired, Brett and Jeff go it on their own as Christina is out for the week. The duo kicks things off with a mental health check-in, then dives into Brett’s carpal tunnel surgery saga, the joys and pains of recovery, and the unexpected logistics of same-day surgery in small-town Minnesota. They swap stories about recent punk and metal shows, reflect on the enduring power of live music, and discuss the emotional aftermath of a shocking political event in Minnesota. The conversation weaves through tech, music nostalgia, and app recommendations. Sponsor The latest 360-degree camera from Insta360, the Insta360 X5, launched April 22nd and shoots full 360-degree videos in incredible 8K30 resolution. To bag a free 114cm invisible selfie stick worth US$24.99 with your Insta360 X5 standard package purchase, head to store.insta360.com and use the promo code overtired. Chapters 00:00 – Intro & Banter 00:38 – Mental Health Check-in 01:52 – Carpal Tunnel Surgery 09:51 – Napalm Death and The Melvins 16:53 – Political Events in Minnesota 28:35 – Sponsor Break: Insta360 57:35 – App Recommendations 71:08 – Show Wrap-up Show Links Napalm Death The Melvins soma-zone Ammonite Mac File Finding Gems Brett’s Web Excursions The Complete Collection of MTV’s Headbangers Ball Bullet Boys – Hang on St. Christopher Join the Conversation Merch Come chat on Discord! Twitter/ovrtrd Instagram/ovrtrd Youtube Get the Newsletter Thanks! You’re downloading today’s show from CacheFly’s network BackBeat Media Podcast Network Check out more episodes at overtiredpod.com and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Find Brett as @ttscoff, Christina as @film_girl, Jeff as @jsguntzel, and follow Overtired at @ovrtrd on Twitter. Transcript Not As Nerdy As I Thought [00:00:00] Brett: Hey, you’re listening to Overtired. I am Brett Terpstra. I am here with just, just severance gun. So Christina Warren, due to scheduling conflicts, cannot be with us this week. Um, so you are in for a Brett and Jeff nerdy episode. Um, not that Christina can’t get nerdy like she totally can and does, but something we get, we get weirdly like not productivity nerdy when it’s just the two of us. I don’t know. Jeff: Yeah. Brett: Yeah. Yeah. Mental Health Check-in Brett: So, um, we can kick it off with our, our usual mental health coroner. Mine is pretty short and sweet. Um, mentally I am. Finding myself just extremely happy with not having a job. Um, not enjoying the, like the health insurance loop, uh, [00:01:00] hurdles and not having like predictable regular income as, but not, I’m not, not enjoying it so much so that I don’t appreciate having all this time to just focus on like my commercial projects and all of this coding, and I’m finding it super rejuvenating to just like wake up in the morning and start coding and take regular breaks to do whatever the f**k I want. And then. Ultimately, like the, the next version of Marked is the biggest leap marked has ever made in functionality. And I’m super proud of what I’m about to release, and I think it’s gonna be profitable, but also like extremely useful. And that’s all just really good for my mental health. Carpal Tunnel Surgery Brett: I did have, um, carpal tunnel surgery. Jeff: Ooh, look at that. He just raised his fist in [00:02:00] the land of hypocrisy. Uh, Brett: It, I did the total like black power fist too, but yeah, I have a Jeff: you’re white, which makes it a problematic white power fist, but whatever. At least it’s got a gash in it. Brett: Yes. So they did just one small incision. They stuck a camera into my palm through that incision and snipped, uh, not, not, uh, ligament across the middle of my palm. And um, that led to a couple days of super achy hand and they gave me no painkillers. So I’ve just been working with Tylenol and Ibuprofen for a couple days, but today doing pretty good. I got the bandage off this morning. And, um, I will say as far as mental health goes, pain is, um, very detrimental to my mental health. [00:03:00] Uh, I, I am very sensitive to pain. Like I have tattoos, I have brands. I’ve, I’ve been through a lot of things where I intentionally like subjected myself to pain, but mostly because pain, because I’m so sensitive to pain. I also get like a major endorphin rush off of pain. And so like I kind of just seek it out. But there are a couple types of pain, like low lying aches and tooth pain that I get zero pleasure from. Jeff: Tooth pain is brutal. Brett: I hate it so much. I hate it. I hate it so much. Um, but yeah, so that’s my mental Jeff: Was the surgery like a outta nowhere thing or did you have it planned Brett: Um, so I’ve had numbness in my fingers, uh, especially on my right hand, but moving into both hands for like five years now. And I had had wrist pain a long [00:04:00] time ago and had been diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome and had, uh, completely revamped my working setup to be more ergonomic and changed all of my habits in the pain. Jeff: keyboards? Brett: Yeah. And the pain, the pain went away. Um, and then a while later, the numbness started and I didn’t associate that with carpal tunnel. And I finally got into, uh, neurology at Gunderson Health and they did some testing and they did, it’s called an EMG, where they hook up like electrodes and they shock your hand and it bounces all over the place. And they determined that, yes, I have bilateral carpal tunnel causing numbness in my two first two fingers, in my thumb on both hands. And so they said, when would you like the surgery? And I was like, well, anytime I’m, I got nothing going on. And they’re like, how about tomorrow? [00:05:00] Um, Jeff: Wow. Gunderson Health has some openings. Brett: right in Winona too, like Gunderson Health is mostly doctors that work out of the slightly larger lacrosse, Wisconsin, and they travel to Winona usually once a week. So if you want an appointment in Winona, and the, the clinic is literally a three minute drive from my house, so I prefer to just do it in Winona. But if you wanted in Winona, you gotta wait until a doctor is there for once a week and happens to be available. And in this case, the surgeon was there the next day and had an opening and it, it, I was in there at like seven in the morning Jeff: Wow. Brett: I was there until, like, the surgery takes five minutes, but, Jeff: minutes. Brett: but I, but I did the prep, which involved like a bizarre amount of mouthwash and nose iodine. Jeff: I mean, obviously, or maybe that’s just the Gunderson way Brett: What, [00:06:00] like they’re like, this Jeff: you want your surgery tomorrow. All right, here’s your mouthwash. Be ready. Brett: this has been proven to reduce infection. If you like, use all this mouthwash, clean your nose for like two minutes straight with iodine swabs and wash your hands from fingertip to elbow for three minutes per side. Um, Jeff: like Robert f Kennedy’s America. Brett: yeah. But anyway, but so like I did the prep and then I waited for like two hours and then they give me, it was partial and like I don’t, partial anesthetic, I think it’s called. They don’t put you completely under. So I remember the whole thing. I remember them putting a blue tent over my head and pulling my arm out and I remember being about to Jeff: thing sounds like you’re describing a dream about a carpal tunnel surgery Brett: I remember being Jeff: tent and then the mouth, the mouthwash was still leaking from my mouth and my nose.[00:07:00] Brett: it was a little dreamy. I remember being about to ask if I could watch the surgery and they, they pulled the te, the blue tent back and they’re like, okay, we’re done. But I didn’t feel anything. Like the anesthetic apparently worked really well. Like I was conscious, but I didn’t know they had even touched my hand. Jeff: That’s bizarre. Brett: Yeah. So anyway. Jeff: My God. That’s cool. I’ve always wondered about doing that surgery. I got the, I got the C ct, I got the carton, and, uh, and it’s very uncomfortable. And, uh, but I Brett: you have pain or numbness or both? Jeff: I have a little bit of numbness. I have definite pain. I, the problem is I hate mouthwash. That’s, that’s what’s kept me from doing the surgery all this time. Brett: you’re killing Jeff: you’re, you’re more brave than me, Brett. Brett: So I get the other hand done in a month, Jeff: [00:08:00] Oh, wow. Brett: I can’t submerge this hand in water for four weeks. So really by the time I’m able to take a shower without a bag over my hand, I’ll have to do the other hand and I’ll still be taking a shower with a bag over my hand. Jeff: Wow. Ugh. Well, I’m, I’m glad. I hope it helps. It’s awesome. I mean, it seems like it does help. Usually I have people I Brett: Yeah. I already, so like I. The, my fingers were numb to the point where I couldn’t button a shirt and I couldn’t, like zipping up my fly. They’re numb on my right hand and I zip a fly with a right hand and I could not feel the tab on the, on the fly. Jeff: but fuck it. You work from home Brett: sweatpants. That’s the answer. Um, but like, so I was zipping myself up with my left hand and. All these things that like you just take for [00:09:00] granted. Like my over the, my, uh, bone conducting headphones have buttons right behind the ear for turning them on and off and fast forward play pauses, et cetera. But you’re supposed to be able to feel them with your thumb and order to tell what button you’re hitting. And I couldn’t tell if I was hit a hitting a button, let alone what button. And now, and wait, hold on. It was supposed to take up to a year for me to get feeling back after this surgery. And even two days later, I can feel my zipper already. Jeff: Oh, that’s so good. Because you know wha

    1h 12m
See All (239)

4.8
out of 5
107 Ratings

About

Christina Warren & Brett Terpstra have odd sleep schedules. They nerd out over varied interests: gadgets, software, and life in a connected world. Tune in to find out what keeps them up at night.

Information

  • Creator
    Christina Warren, Jeff Severns Guntzel, and Brett Terpstra
  • Years Active
    2014 - 2026
  • Episodes
    239
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2020 Brett Terpstra
  • Show Website
    Overtired

More From Electric Shadow Network

You Might Also Like