Taylor Cook, husband, father of three, better
half to my guest from episode number 19, way
back on December 17th, Emily Haynes Cook. If
you missed that one, play it next. These two
episodes and these two people are perfect companion
pieces. Okay. DanTimePod at gmail .com. That's
the email. If you'd like to reach me or to appear
as a guest on the show, follow Dan Time on Instagram,
Facebook X and YouTube at Dan Time Pod is the
handle. This one is on YouTube. Head over there
to the channel to, you know, really take it all
in to get the full Taylor Cook experience. He.
played hockey as a kid, played football, grew
up in Birmingham, huge New York Rangers fan.
He tells a story about how he became a Rangers
fan, Auburn football. We talked the usual dad
stuff, some sales stuff. He's in the silicone
metal industry and how he and Emily fell in love.
And you'll hear again about his daughter, Danny
Liv. Taylor travels a lot and he likes the big
cities, but he also likes the small towns. Okay.
Some quick Dan time news and notes, I guess.
Congratulations to Mystic Dan, the winner of
the 150th Kentucky Derby. I'm always okay with
admitting when I was wrong and boy, did I miss
this one. Not going to get into a lot of detail,
but I always wager on a few horses to win place
show and sometimes a trifecta box but I felt
like if I bet on Dan I would jinx him so I intentionally
picked around him and in hindsight it made zero
sense to pass it by and especially being a fellow
Dan so there you have it big regret but I'm very
happy for Mystic Dan and Brian Hernandez and
the entire Mystic Dan team. Let's get to the
conversation now. It is Taylor Cook time. Welcome
once again, folks, to the Dan Time podcast. I'm
your host, Dan McArdle. It is always great to
have you here. Started the Dan Time podcast in
August of 23. The goal has always been to just
make it to the year mark, produce weekly episodes
for 52 weeks and we'll see what happens next.
But hope you're having fun with the show. That
is the main point to just have some fun. If you're
listening for the first time, you're like, hey,
this is Dan time and Dan, you got a guy named
Taylor on this show. What's happening here? It's
supposed to be Dan talking to Dan. Well, I'm
glad you asked. So as you've seen, we have Dan's,
we have Danny's, with a Y at the end, with an
I at the end, the Daniels. There's a lot of interesting
names and many we haven't even gotten to, but
if your name is not Dan, you can always still
be a guest on the show. The ticket, and this
is really just loosely assembled or the rules
and whatever, but if you already know me or you've
got a referral from a previous guest, there's
your ticket onto the train. I'm so happy today
because this is very unique. the first spouse
of a Dan Time guest, Taylor Cook. I'm so, I mean
this, I'm just so excited, been excited all day
for this show. How are you doing today, my friend?
Well, I'm doing great. I've been excited for
weeks about doing this show. I'm glad we're getting
to it. And don't forget in your introduction,
connections to Dan, that I have a daughter named
Danny, my middle child. That's right, that's
right. I'm so tickled. I don't think a lot of
guys say that they're tickled about something,
but man, I am. I always love to hear that. Man,
can't wait to talk about you being a dad and
your bond with your children and especially the
golden child there, Danny. I mean, let's not
beat around the bush. That's the star child.
And anyway, so we're here today, Taylor Cook
on the show. I think we have... The crazy thing
is folks and you know this you've got people
in your network You didn't go to each other's
weddings. You didn't send each other a Christmas
card maybe but you've got like lots in common
and Just the structure of the network doesn't
allow you to hang out be friends, but I think
Taylor and I Probably are on the same wavelength
on quite a few things and sports being just one
of them That's one thing Emily said was he loves
sports just like you do so um Anyway, we promote
friendship on this show and Taylor you know the
first the last time I saw you I think may have
been the the baby shower for my oldest son which
is coming up on set seven years ago and Yeah,
it's just wild just just wild and you've always
been a guy that I wanted to get to know better
and here we are by by way of this podcast getting
to have a conversation so I Once again, I did
the intro, I rolled you out here, but I want
to just say again that I'm excited to be talking
to you today. No, I'm really happy to be here
with you and I think we are on the same wavelength
and I've always suspected that we'd be good friends.
Now, you're a busy guy. This is a unique episode,
folks. Those of you listening or you, the listener,
I always like to talk to the individual. I have
no notes today. usually conduct a good bit of
research. And, but from time to time, it's good
to have an episode like this where we're just
gonna, we're just spit balling here. That's right.
That's right. Taylor, tell me a little bit about
growing up where you grew up. Are you still tied
to the area? So I was born and raised in Birmingham,
Alabama. I went to grade school here. I left
and went to Texas a little for a little while
I lived in Florida for a little while and then
around 2012 I came back to Alabama Central, Alabama
and Shortly after met my beautiful wife and I've
been here ever since and I'm raising my family
in the same community where I went to high school
I Think back because now that my oldest and I
think maybe your oldest child is around six or
seven you start to see the things that interest
them, you know, the shows that they like to watch,
if they're into math, counting, or if they're
into whatever. Do you see some similarities with
your children? Like, if one of them likes a particular
sport or activity, and you're like, you know,
that was kind of what I was into when I was that
age. Yeah, you know, you see that all the time
in your children, and you see different parts
of you in each of them. My oldest is eight now.
She'll be nine in the fall. And she's playing
softball right now. And she's just finished up
the regular season. She's got one more game left
on Sunday than a team party. She played soccer
when she was young. She did hockey as well. She
did dancing and ballet. She's done lots of things.
She did piano for a long time. She got very good
at it. But this is something that she really
loves. She loves her camaraderie. She's probably
not the most natural athlete of my children,
okay? Like you said, she's got a lot of drama
in her. She likes performing. She likes being
on stage. She likes being creative. A lot of
these things she takes from her mom. And my two
youngest children, at least athletically, are
much more like me. They want to be involved in
sports. They pick up a bat. They swing it. They
hit the ball. You know, my youngest son is three
years old, and he is ice skating very well. All
my children can skate very well. He's ice skating
very well, rollerblades very well. He's a great
little hockey player. the three years old, he's
an unbelievable little hockey player. And we
just have the best of times with each of them
in their different ways. But yeah, you see similarities
to yourself in different aspects. And my oldest,
he may not be like me athletically, we have a
lot in common. Physically, just for starters,
look at our faces are just alike. It's amazing.
I look at her and I see my whole life right there
in her eyes. Yeah, that's what we do here on
Dan time and You know, I forgot to say folks
and you might hear sometimes I go back and do
an intro But it is Taylor cook time today. I
am trying to rein it in on the rambling Maybe
some of my die -hard listeners love all the stream
of consciousness Stuff that just comes out of
my mouth. I don't know I get but I try to keep
the focus on the guest. So anyway, growing up
and raising your family near where you grew up
and seeing them grow in the community. My brother's
having that same experience. Some circumstances
in my life led me to split off, but I love hearing
about what my nephews are doing. I was just talking
to my brother yesterday and I wish I could see
the ballgames. And just I hear about them and
I don't get to attend them and stuff like that.
But But anyway, so taylor like me your father
of three Yes, I commend any dad right now in
2024 I think there's some very unique challenges
that were not there for men in the If they're
raising a baby in the 1970s or the night the
early 90s or something like that It is such a
supercharged tech world You got a lot on your
shoulders Men and women but your career is calling
on you and maybe you're already the type of person
that you choose to be in a high -performing role
but Having three kids and a career that you enjoy
Are there things that you have to do routines
that you got to like stick to? To make sure that
hey that you don't get burned out on either end
Well, let me say this I believe strongly in taking
good care of your body eating right Getting plenty
of sunlight. I think these are critical things
drinking water all the time good water all day
long These are things that are very important
to me. But as far as getting brown meter in I
Have to travel a good bit for More than I'd like
to I'm able to schedule things in a good way.
Like, you know summer breaks coming up in Three
weeks and my family's gonna go and go on a lot
of road trips with me this summer But the rest
of the year when they're in school, I have to
be awake a bit so it It's negative in a lot of
ways, but in a positive way, I never get burnt
out either way. I'm always happy to be home.
I get burnt out a lot being on the road, but
I never get burnt out with the routine being
at home. I love being at home. I've got an office
in the back for when my kids are away, when my
kids are home. Before school and after school,
I'm inside eating breakfast with them, cooking
dinner. If I'm working with the computer, they've
got to understand that, that's a little difficult.
But you're right, there are many challenges for
us right now as fathers. These have been a very
difficult last 10 years, you know It's getting
more difficult it seems in all kinds of ways
even in education send your kids off to school
But I feel particularly equipped to raise and
I think I'm doing a good job raising good children
I feel like you're probably raising good families
as well. I Appreciate that. There's some sometimes
where I feel like it's controlled chaos to a
degree but my way around that Sometimes I look
at, I look at our family, the five of us, and
my wife and I, I don't know that we could be
more different, but there's some things at the
core that we are quite similar. We grew up on
different ends of the country. I won't get into
all those details, but you just look at it sometimes
like, how do we do this? How do we like manage
this household week after week? How do you get
through one night, you get all the kids bathed
and shampooed and You make sure they get fed
everything that that they need to eat and all
that stuff But I got to hand it to single parents.
I don't know how you know totally single parents
that don't have a Mom a dad helping out. I don't
know how it's done even with one child, but Anyway,
oh, how about a silly question? I got to pop
this in here. So you mentioned working when the
kids are nearby I've been, you know, editing
the podcast when the kids are close by, and I
sometimes have to lock the door. I actually frequently
have to do that. Have your kids ever closed a
laptop on you when you're in the middle of a
video call, or have they ever just started typing
and messing around? Well, not only has it ever
happened, but my son takes great pride in making
this happen. All the kids like messing with me
when I'm on the computer Closing the computer
on me if I walk away just to get a laugh Especially
my boy likes these kind of antics You know sometimes
I guess It said that your kids are just giving
it back to you Maybe you did some of these things
and acted out in a similar way to your mom or
your dad Well, hey and folks this is a an honest
attempt on my end on a kind of a compact episode
here You know 30 minutes is a reasonable length
of time a lot of the episodes as you've seen
go about 47 minutes 72 minutes sometimes at full
hour and a half with that in mind We're really
gonna try to shoot through here and get to some
stuff that's of interest Taylor. We are both
sports fans. I Gotta ask have there been any
games Taylor? whether it's hockey, football,
baseball that you have you're hanging on the
the fourth quarter and you just because of something
with the kids you got to turn it off you got
to leave to go somewhere you've whatever i know
sometimes you're on the road so you know you
can watch a whole game but are there times where
you've had a you've had a bail from a game and
it's just eating you up Yeah, just last week,
second period of the, I'm a big New York Rangers
hockey fan. Second period, first round of the
playoffs. Rangers were playing on a Sunday afternoon.
You know, I went to throw something on the grill
and crack open a couple of beer and, and, you
know, I watched, actually I watched the first
like 10 minutes of the game and I decided I'm
gonna turn it off now. And did the softball game,
made sure not to. Deck the phone which is a hard
thing to do, you know You just naturally pick
your phone out of your pocket and look sometimes
turn off all those notifications and try and
get back to it Yeah, so that happens all the
time Well, it's just a reality. Like I said,
it's different. There are just going to be interruptions
and you have to let it happen How about speaking
of of your favorite team there? What are some
maybe favorite moments? Why do you said the New
York Rangers? Yeah Yeah, do you have a particular?
Championship season or a player or tell me about
your fandom there with the Rangers how far it
goes back Sure. Yeah, so I started playing hockey
when I was probably I mean probably 1993 I was
five years old my brother started playing and
I just wanted to be just like my brother of course
and That was just around the time that the New
York Rangers had a pretty good team My best friend
when I started playing hockey. His name was Michael
Doyle And the story that I always heard, or at
least the one that I remember, is that his dad
was a driver for the mafia in New York City.
But anyways, they came down to Birmingham and
they were, you know, big New Yorkers with the
accents and the cussing and the, hey, stop smacking
your food. And they were big Randy's fans. They
just so happened to be the year, they've only
won one championship, something a lot. One in
like 70 years or so. But that just so happened
to be the year they won the championship. Me
getting into hockey, having a best friend, being
around that family all the time just sort of
got me liking it. Okay, so I was a big Rangers
fan for maybe 10 years. Got away from playing
hockey, got into high school. I've always been
a huge football fan too. Auburn was my life when
I was growing up. Got away from it for a while.
When I moved back, but I always kind of kept
an eye on hockey. I always loved it. When I moved
back to Birmingham around 2012 and I met my wife
was around the time I started getting back into
it again. Started kind of... following hockey
more in general than just the Rangers and then
as I started getting into hockey and liking it
more and more and realizing like this is the
sport that I think I enjoy the most or at least
the way it's trending right now because college
football is changing so much. I said I need to
get back into a team. I need to either pick the
Rangers or pick one and go for it. I thought
about Nashville because they're right down the
road. But man I went back to the Rangers and
I've gotten more and more involved in it. It's
provided me all kinds of benefits in my life.
I swear I think I have my job right now because
I was a Rangers fan. My boss was also a hockey
fan and thought, you know, this is going to be
a good guy to get along with and have on the
road with me. So it really and, you know, just
really opened all these doors for me as far as
making friendships, having really work connections,
all kinds of things. But, you know, Auburn is
still my first love in all kinds of ways. So
that's my deep connection to the New York Rangers
is probably very unique. And it's funny because
we've got all these kids in our neighborhood,
right? All these kids are my kids. A lot of them
have sort of gotten into hockey because my kids
are out playing in the red all the time. They
naturally had to find a team. And because my
kids are always mentioning the New York Rangers,
they picked up the Rangers. We've got this whole
street of kids in Birmingham, Alabama. They're
a New York Rangers fan. It's unbelievable. That
is so cool. I have very limited exposure. Well,
not exposure to hockey, but I have not gotten
into the sport. I've not immersed myself. I've
gone to some games. We have the Pensacola Ice
Flyers. Minor league hockey team and down here.
I've been to a few games and it's exciting Yeah,
and I but I respect and I I understand people
that love the sport Yeah, I feel like my obstacle
which I can overcome is you go far enough along
and you're like I don't know a whole lot about
this sport and Where do I start and I'm already?
44 years old, but that's no excuse. It's like
you could get started anywhere Well, you know
what? Sometimes I feel that way watching baseball.
What's your favorite school baseball? The Cubs.
Yeah. Yeah, I go to a Cubs game every summer
Actually every year in September. We have a conference
in Chicago and every year I take a customer we
go see In fact, I went and saw the Cubs when
I saw my first Cubs game was against the Rockies
and it was at the time The largest comeback the
Cubs had ever had I think maybe in Wrigley Field
or maybe just ever I think they've had a bigger
one since, but it was a big deal when it happened.
I was going to ask you a little bit about what
you do for a living and as much as you want to
talk about, because we're both in sales. And
what are some places, some cities that you have
been to maybe only a couple of times, but you'd
love to go back? Yeah, yeah. Awesome question.
So for starters, my job is I'm in sales. I sell
silicon metal and silicon -based ferro alloys.
These are raw materials that go into steel, aluminum,
they go into the chemical industry, they go into
the solar industry, solar panels, they go into
all your cars, electronics. They're finding out
it has the ability to increase density, the capacity
for batteries, so they're starting to apply it
to battery. So it's kind of like a secret ingredient
that's in all of our lives, makeup. Nobody knows
about it, but it's a huge industry. But yeah,
so I do that. I'm based here in Birmingham our
company's global. We have three or four sites
active production sites here in the US right
now and several in Europe and South Africa and
Man, I've been on the road. I guess for I guess
about seven years now I can mention all the big
cities, you know, I mean like, you know, Sedona
is fun Chicago is great up into New York I was
in DC a couple weeks ago, but my favorite of
the small ones You know, Roanoke, Virginia is
not a small city, but it's small compared to
a lot of cities. And that's a great place to
go. I love this little town outside of, I guess
it's in between like Myrtle Beach and Virginia
Beach. It's Edenton, North Carolina. You know,
there's, it's just one little grip of all these
old, all these old businesses. It's on the water.
There's a great history. There's one little restaurant
at the end of the grip. It's called Waterfront
Grill or something. And everybody in town goes
there every night. They all, you know, everybody
who goes out meets up there. And every time I
go there, I've been there probably 10 times.
I go to the same spot in the bar. There's only
like six bar seats. I get there before the rush,
before everybody gets there and, uh, you know,
have some oysters. And then the whole crowd from
the town comes in and I swear I make 30 friends
every time I'm in, it's just the greatest place.
There's lots of little towns like this that I
like and those are my favorite spots. It seems
like that you enjoy meeting people by chance.
having a conversation with somebody like you
said that just happens to be sitting next to
you at a bar or restaurant and May not get to
hang with them again may not swap numbers Maybe
you do but you seem like you probably gravitated
to this career field and maybe that was part
of it is You're interested in other people what
folks on one side of the country or or maybe
internationally? What they're doing what's important
to them? Yeah, I do. And I've had some really
great experiences, so many great experiences
with this exact kind of thing. The random people
from random places that just by chance I came
across on my travels that I think all the time
about writing them down or in some way recognizing
them. I mean, I just have so many great stories
of meeting very unique and kind people. And you
don't always meet kind people, but it might be
more common than you think if you get out there
and are around. people in friendly places. I'm
glad you mentioned that part as well because
in my line of work, I do encounter people that
are maybe not so interested in talking to me
or seeing me and maybe it takes them a minute.
How do you handle those encounters with folks
that are, I won't say they're hostile to you,
but they're pretty icy. Yeah, I get a lot of
that too. For starters, I bring donuts pretty
much everywhere. And then, you know, I don't
know. I mean, everybody, you react differently
every time. Sometimes it catches you off guard
and I may have a really terrible response to
it, but when I'm at my best, I'm able to let
my guard down a little bit more, loosen up, and
find ways to kind of poke at them, poke at the
situation. That's not how I handle it every time,
but when it works, it's nice. And I've found
ways to do that. I deal with a lot of old...
People that have been doing it for 40 years,
that have been working in the plant. They're
covered in coal and dust and dirt. They don't
want to have conversations with anybody, especially
not somebody who's 30 something with my pink
polo on the way. But you got to get creative.
I'm sure you have to get creative. And you have
to humble yourself. You have to be able to take
no, but you have to be able to roll with it and
make fun of it. If anybody's taking it so seriously
that they're telling you to get out or they're
upset that you're laughing with them or having
a good time, then, you know, maybe you don't
need that business anyways. Gosh, I want to keep
talking on this topic a little bit, but I did
want to ask you just some, just some Dan time
favorite type questions. Favorite sport. Is it
hockey? Yeah. And then Auburn football. Yeah.
And I love football. I love pro football. I love
college football. I played football growing up
too. I played in high school with Hoover. Football's
always in my heart too. I love sports. I love
the competition. I love the wins, the losses,
the highs and lows. It's great. Do you have a,
and it's okay if one doesn't come to mind right
away, but an on the field moment that you were
a part of in high school that you still remember,
you know, the fourth quarter, the last few plays
or something, a big game. In high school, I played
football and I remember, maybe it was my freshman
or junior year, we had a very good team, a team
that was up for national championship team of
the year. We'd go on the feed for a few years
in a row. We went on to go on the feed a few
more years after that, or at least one or two
losses over a large time frame. And ESPN came
to watch us play Evangel Christian. And that
was a huge deal at the time. They'd play a lot
of high school games on ESPN now, but they did
not back then. And we had four or five guys that
were really good players that wanted to play
at Alabama and Florida and some smaller schools
as well. But a lot of guys went on scholarship
from that team that were very good. And yeah,
that was a very memorable experience being in
high school, having an EDSP in there and feeling
like you were at the center of the universe.
And it came, and this team was, had won the national
championship and was like number one in the country.
They were from Louisiana and were just the best
of the best and had all kinds of guys on their
team too. came down to the last minute, our best
player, made a great play on defense, made the
most incredible interception I've ever seen,
and we ended up winning the game and continued
on with a bunch of years of success. But again,
I think my favorite memories and one I was best
at and one I feel the warmest about were my hockey
memories when I was even younger, when I was
a young child. I wasn't very big or fast, so
I wasn't very successful at football. the uniform
off for the last time that night that I mean
did you know okay this is it and I'm okay with
this or man I wish I could still play I think
I was okay with it Tom I've been getting beat
up on by the older bigger guys that were going
to play college football for a while and I was
ready to do something different got into playing
guitar and you know trying to figure out what
I wanted to do with my life got you know had
a million jobs that were incredibly valuable
to me. Every single one of them. Every boss I
had. Every pizza I burnt or drink I spilled or
whatever I was doing at the time. I was a plumber.
I was a painter. I detailed boats. I did all
that in between stopping playing sports, finishing
school and now and that was all incredible for
me. Okay, a couple more questions. Favorite sports
movie? Either a sports movie or do you have a
favorite all -time movie? Man, my favorite all
-time movie is Jaws. I love it. There's something
really romantic about being out on the water
and all those fantastic scenes. I just love every
minute of it. And I'm a movie guy. But favorite
sports movie, there are so many good ones. Of
course, I like a lot of the hockey ones, but
the best movies are baseball movies, right? Field
of Dreams is incredible. Bull Durham, too. Kevin
Costner is a baseball movie king. You know, Miracle
was a great movie. The hockey movie about the
Olympic hockey team. Oh, yeah. How about Rudy?
Rudy's good. I liked Rudy a lot when I was younger.
Yeah, but I haven't seen Rudy in maybe 15, 20
years. Man, where's some other great baseball
movies? Field of Dreams, Bull Durham. Yeah, I
like The Rookie. Then there's, of course, Major
League. Major League? Sandlot? Come on, man.
Yeah. My kids are really, my kids really like
Rookie of the Year right now. They just got a
big, but they love that. They watched the movie
just for that scene. The best. Yeah. Taylor,
you and Emily have been together going on, what,
12 years? Yeah, 12 years. Do you remember how
you guys, I'm sure you remember how you met,
but take me back to that first... Spring or summer
or whatever the season was and you meet and you're
like, okay, we were clicking here. This is I'm
done shopping around What was that like of when
you guys met each other? How how that happened?
Well, we met I think maybe a year before she
was out with some friends and I happened to know
one of them and we ended up sitting at a table
together and we were all talking through the
night but we didn't really get to know each other
really really didn't even meet officially we
were just kind of amongst each other until about
a year later. Now I had gone to a wedding the
same day that I believe she had gone to a wedding
or maybe like a reunion or something similar.
And we were both at the late night bar of Birmingham
where you only go after you finished up everywhere
else and you got nowhere else to go. But we were
there early in the afternoon. Very unique experience.
Not many people in there early in the evening.
I was walking by, going to the bathroom. I'll
never forget this. I was walking by going to
the bathroom and I thought I saw a friend of
mine on the corner of my eye. I turned and I
saw Emily, looked her right in the eyes. Man,
you know, I was like, I'm going to the bathroom,
I'm coming right back, I'm gonna go talk to her.
And I did, I went to the bathroom, came back,
went and talked to her, we stood by each other
and talked all night long. The next morning,
I was going to a black church here in Birmingham,
because I was working at a place called Workplay
at the time, and this guy who I was good friends
with was in the band at this great old school
downtown black church in Birmingham. And I've
never been to an experience like that. I said,
I'd really like to come with you. And he said,
that would be great. I'd love to have you. And
so I asked Emily to come with me. I think she
really liked this idea and wanted to come with
me. But she bailed on me. She said she was coming
with me, and she bailed on me. And so I ended
up going by myself. And it's a funny story. I'll
add to that real quick. I actually went two hours
early. I thought that it was supposed to start
at. 8 o 'clock. It didn't start till 10 o 'clock.
And so I ended up going through two hours worth
of Sunday school services with all kinds of people,
but mostly people over 70 years old, holding
my hand, walking me through everything, getting
me lemonade. It was the greatest experience and
the church experience is wonderful. And then
I met Emily for lunch with a friend of hers that
afternoon. And of course, we haven't been separated
since, but I have to mention this. I think I
started asking her to marry me after maybe a
month, maybe two months. And I probably asked
her 10 ,000 times to marry me between the time
that I started and the time she actually said
yes. But since that night, we've had only maybe
one month of not spending time together. We've
been together ever since. What a wonderful story.
You're ready to close the deal. You had her in
your CRM and You'd already had the first appointment
and the follow -up and you're ready to close.
Obviously she's beautiful. Now I'm going to go
on about my whole life trying to get some points.
Of course she's beautiful, but we've always laughed
a lot together. So it was a no -brainer for me.
Yeah, and it's been said a million times, folks.
You don't have to hear it from me, but you know,
laughter is... man, it's the key to any marriage,
any successful partnership. It's key to friendships.
Think about your, the friends that you've had
the longest. What's the key ingredient? You're
probably, that person has a great sense of humor,
or the great thing about friendships, speaking
of that, and Taylor, I wish you and I went back
a lot further, but I think you know what I mean
here. When you've got an inside joke with a friend
that goes back to like 2007, and you can just,
bring it, whip it out of the bag, out of nowhere,
and they laugh. There's nothing like that. Yeah,
you're right. Laughter is the key to having a
happy life, as far as a partnership, laughter,
but also the values. I gotta mention the values
if you're talking about how to build a successful
foundation, relationship, and build a family.
You may not agree on everything, you may not
agree on most things, but... You have to agree
on what you see as right and all to be able to
cooperate That's right I got if you got time.
I got a couple silly questions here Yeah, bring
them on just for Dan time since you're a traveling
man I've asked my friend jim powell this question.
I don't know if i've dusted it off in a while,
but how do you feel? You're on the road. So like
me You got to run into these racetrack and circle
K and maybe you got your your particular restrooms
that you're like, okay I trust this place. This
is gonna be okay. It's gonna be reasonably clean
How do you like the accelerator? Are you a fan
or if you see the accelerator and the paper towels?
Which one are you going for when you're washing
washing up? If I ever go through it, if I never
go through it, I'll be self -checking out and
getting my life. I'll be a happy man. Let me
give you a pro tip today, Vance. Don't stop at
the gas stations anymore unless you need a snack.
Stop at a Hampton Inn. Or go inside much cleaner
bathrooms, snag one of those cookies on the way
out, or a nice glass of lemon water. You don't
have to go in those dirty bathrooms anymore.
I'll tell you that. That's what, oh, you got
to talk to Jim because I think that's his advice.
He's like, Dan, cut it out. We're going into
that that chevron off the east of boga exit just
stop it Hampton ends But yeah, and he doesn't
he doesn't like the accelerator my son warren
is Is frightened by it when we go when I have
to take him in there. He's it's too loud. It
is loud, but Do you use one of these stand up
stalls for going to the bathroom? I mean one
of these stand up stalls, what do they call them?
Like the trough that goes top to bottom. All
the way to the floor? I'll never do one of these
again. The ones that go all the way to the floor,
I can't do it. I have found that, can't believe
we're talking, well I can't believe that we're
talking about it because I brought it up, but
I gotta put in a plug here for Target. Target?
You're not going to hear this folks on any other
podcast, but when it comes to urinals, and this
is important to men, I have not found a better
urinal than the ones at the Target men's room.
It's clean. Uh, that's all I'll say. It's just,
it's a clean experience. I'm not, that matters,
but, uh, I'm not ashamed to say it. I, I, I really
value a good bathroom experience. Now that could
be good or bad, right? I mean, you've been moving
to like a, uh, dingy, rock and roll bar bathroom
that's like, you know, dirty, you don't touch
anything, but it's cool. You know, there's stuff
plastered all over the wall and old stuff written
on the wall from 1983. I value a good bathroom
experience. That probably came out wrong when
I first said it. Oh, no, I'm right there with
you. How about, um, I guess quickly, this isn't
silly, but concerts, do you, do you and Emily
or even you, when you get a chance and you're
traveling somewhere, do you, do you like music
venues? Oh man, I love music. Music's a huge
part of my life and I've seen a million shows.
We could talk for another hour about all the
shows I've seen in my lifetime. I'd love to sometime.
We don't see many now. We're home bodies now.
When I'm on the road, I may see something local.
When I'm on the road, I definitely, if I'm out
and about, which usually I am because the hotel
rooms are pretty lonely, I try and find some
live music, but it's just, yeah. playing some
tunes down the road or whatever. We don't see
many shows. I went with my brother and we saw
Charlie Crawford last fall. He's an up -and -coming,
kind of newer country music artist. It was a
great show. Emily and I went and saw the Red
Hot Chili Peppers and the Strokes last summer.
That was like a big deal. It was probably the
only big concert we've been together. We've been
two together since we were together. That was
a fantastic show, one of the best we've been
to, but we don't do a lot of it these days. Okay.
I know we're short on time. I have got to ask
you, I was going to ask a, you know, favorite
Dan athlete or musician, but I really don't want
to run out of time here before we mentioned your
daughter, Danny. And tell me something about
Danny that it's hard to say was something that
you love because you probably love everything,
but tell me about your special child, Danny,
who's when she grows up and this podcast is still
a thing in 20 years or 14 years, she can be a
guest, but. He's a special child with some unique
advantages in this life for students. First of
all, she knows exactly what she wants, which
is a big part of it, right? Figuring out what
you want and who you want to be. She knows exactly
what you want. Even down to anytime we go to
a candy store or a toy store. She walks in, she
walks right up to it. That's what I want. That's
it. There's no second thought. There's no, ooh,
maybe I want that. She may look around for another
hour. Still, same thing. My other daughter, my
oldest daughter, Lenny, is the exact opposite.
We'll be there for an hour and we'll have to
pry her out and make her choose something. She'll
get in the car and realize she hates it and start
crying pretty much every time. Okay, but Danny
Liv is special. She is gorgeous. She's beautiful.
See the whole world in her face all the time,
bright and sunny all the time. Incredible athlete.
And she wants to be a farmer. She wants to be
with her family. Knows the boy that she wants
to marry. She's already kind of accepted that
this is the boy who's gonna be best for living
on a phone with Yeah, she's just very She's got
a very Wonderful mind that's very stable especially
for a five -year -old That's great stuff Taylor.
I just I love I love how weeks we get excited
about our children Everybody does and if you're
listening to the show and you're not You don't
have children yet. You're maybe not planning
on it. That's okay, too Hopefully this is still
enjoyable because you may have a niece or nephew
but great stuff taylor We've got to go ahead
and commit to a second episode because I want
to talk about your guitar playing and we need
to I need two hours with everybody, but You've
been so gracious You've been awesome with your
time in this Short conversation. I can see why
you're successful in what you do day to day.
I appreciate you being here and being a part
of the show and folks, if you're listening, there's
not always, not every episode has a video component,
but head over to the Dan time YouTube channel,
uh, for the video portion of this episode. And,
um, Taylor cook. Awesome to connect with you
today and make up for all the years that we haven't
been hanging out or texting about ballgames or
whatever. The pleasure is all mine. I feel like
we're on the right path towards significant long
-term friendship, my friend. Can't wait for our
kids to meet each other. Yeah, we need to do
that soon. Maybe this summer. Come down by the
coast and play by the water some day. That'd
be wonderful. Yeah. All right. Well, anything
that you'd like to plug before we wrap it up?
Wow, and pretty good time. Well, yes, and she
give me an opportunity to plug something I'll
plug blue spring water, which I switched to recently
It's about 45 minutes north of Birmingham, Alabama.
It's the silkiest smoothest most Clean delicious
water you can drink and as you know, this is
very important to me. It should be there I tell
you what being on the road a lot and when you
hit the the Alabama or Gulf Coast summertime
You don't want just any bottle of water a couple
you you want something cool crisp and you can
You can taste the difference. Yes, you can. Say
the name again. Blue Spring Water. Blue Spring
Water, folks. Check it out. It comes recommended
by Taylor and that's good enough for me. Should
be good enough for you too. All right. Well,
that's it for this episode. Hope you enjoyed
it and we'll see you next week on the Dan Time
podcast. Take care of yourself first and then
you can be your best. out there in the world
and for your friends and your partners and husbands
and wives and whatever else. That's me not wanting
to let go of the episode. I got to ramble at
the end, but all good things got to come to an
end. Taylor, have a great week and we'll talk
soon. Thanks for listening, folks. Hey, if you
love that episode, be sure to add a star rating.
If you're on, say, Apple podcasts, I'm not sure
that it could be any easier. I would compare
it to the self checkout at Walmart or at the
end of a Microsoft Teams call when they ask you
about the audio quality. Also, tell a friend
about this show. Tell that guy, Dan, that you
work with. Tell your Danielle friends and your
friend D 'Angelo and your cousin Danny. Everybody's
welcome and I appreciate you my friend for listening.
Thanks and have a wonderful week. We'll see you
next Sunday.