Hello, folks, and welcome back to the Talk of All Trades podcast, where we talk to various guests who work in the trades and or own small businesses. Today, our guest is Michaela, a native of the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles. She is an experienced welder who will give us a little insight into that line of work, among other things. So thank you for joining us, Michaela. I want to talk first about the neighborhood we're in right now.
So San Pedro is the southernmost area of the city of Los Angeles, and you happen to be a native of it. Sort of give us a little background into your childhood and sort of how the area has changed. Everything you can kind of tell us about it. Yeah, of course. So I had lived here for about maybe like 10 to like 12 years. You were born here? No. So I was born in Long Beach. But then we migrated to San Pedro. And then I was here some elementary, all of middle school. and then some high school.
Okay, yeah. It's definitely changed a lot. Like, all down there by the ports. A lot of new apartments. I know there are a lot of new restaurants. Well, I don't know about new restaurants. I mean, I think the staples are all there. But, yeah, it's definitely changing. The reason I like San Pedro, and here's the thing, I actually lived in Long Beach for about a year. I've only lived here for a couple months now. I mean, really since, yeah, since...
July. And I've really liked it so far. The reason I like it is it's sort of like there's a Venice feel to it. But, you know, Venice is just off the deep end at this point. I kind of hate it now. That's a little like circle of life there. Yeah. I mean, you know, my parents used to live in Los Angeles. They live in Florida now.
And, you know, they have this vision of it when they lived here a long time ago that isn't quite here anymore and in a way it's unfortunate but like any other city it continues to change and perhaps i'm getting a little too philosophical about it but yeah pedro is really what i like about pedro is it sort of refuses to be gentrified in a sense i mean the apartment we're in right now is from 1920 i mean obviously it's had a new coat of paint and a lot of other things new appliances and such
but and i do think it's haunted maybe i could get your input into that probably are you do you have a a psychic premonition to things no i wish no but i for sure know that like everyone across san pedro has a story about like well i looked into it i mean there's like i saw like a book at barnes and nola it's like haunted san pedro i was like it's like this thick and i know it's an audio podcast but it's like an inch thick book folks
of haunted happenings and not a very big neighborhood. I mean, there's less than 100,000 people here. No, there's something funny about this place. But I have no, there's nothing wrong with that, I would say. I just, you know. It gives it some character, you know? Yeah, things I haven't experienced in Long Beach, right? So, but you were born in Long Beach. You lived there for how long? I lived there maybe like five years. So you don't remember much? No. But you really grew up here?
Oh, absolutely. And now you currently live in, you mentioned downtown Los Angeles. Yes. And LA area. Now, we mentioned up front she is a welder. How long have you been welding? Literally only seven months. Only seven months? Yes. But I've been, I was in school for about nine months. Okay. Where did you go to school? You go to Harbor? No. I actually went to this place called Huntington Park Adult School. I was a part of a program called Job Corps.
So they ended up paying for the whole entire class and my equipment and all that jazz. Well, before we even get into that, I want to kind of know what got you into welding. I mean, what kind of made you want to go down that career path? I get to play with fire and nobody tells me anything. So there's a pyromania aspect. That's all good. But in all seriousness, it was just really cool to see these people create something out of nothing. Like there was this person who was working on...
This sculpture made out of spoons and she made a whole like owl like it was really cool to see it happen so that's probably like one of the things why i got into it so have you kind of delved into the artistic aspect you kind of mentioned have you created sort of things on your own other than the you know facilitated i mean i don't i don't know much about welding i've known one welder in my life, and we weren't even really friends. He was a mutual friend.
But I mean, I think it's a really cool trade. But what's interesting about it, to me, it's like architecture, because there's a mathematical aspect where everything has to be sort of perfect. And it takes a very long time for a welder to become, you know, I mean, you can see, obviously, in the work that over time, someone has really become an expert in their craft. And then that maybe that translates to being an artist in some sense and making sculptures with sheet metal or whatever.
But let me ask you this. Is that sort of the trajectory you're wanting to go down or are you wanting to become more of a career welder in a business sense? Definitely a career welder. Currently, I'm looking classes to be a CWI, which is a certified welding inspector. So I'm trying to travel the world. I'm trying to see hey, all these welds, all these places, you know, make the best out of this career. Well, give me a job description there. I mean, you said travel the world.
I didn't know that was really, really a thing for welders. I mean, you know, in my sense, and maybe we need to get a better picture of what welders do, and you can kind of give us a, you know, more of a broader definition. But in my head, welders weld. And what they do is they, I don't know, maybe you can tell me. Well, welders basically fabricate...
Material like at my job i fabricate racks or accessories so in the warehouse of a walmart you'll see all these racks with the boxes on it we make that we have walmart we have sprouts we have costco or one of our biggest supply or that we supply to is amazon Oh, really? Yes. So, yeah, we just build stuff to hold things. And this is, you mainly work all over the city of Los Angeles, or do you kind of sprout? No, so the job that I have is only at this warehouse in Vernon.
So we stay there, they bring the materials, we weld like 200 plus pieces a day. Wow. And, you know. That's quite a bit. Oh my gosh, it's ridiculous sometimes. Yeah. What's I going to say next? So let me ask you this. How do you adapt in that kind of business? I mean, what's sort of growing about it and how do you stay up to date with everything? Definitely listening to the old heads. Like hear everything they're trying to say because they know the business. They know what's going down.
So if you just listen to them, definitely the internet as well.
Like following instagrams seeing what new process welding process there is like right now there is one that's like taking a storm it's a welding gun like you can you can plug any instagram or whatever you want to i don't know the instagram feel free to look it up i have to and while you're doing that the next question i want to go back a little bit right okay let's say you were talking to somebody, either my age or younger, who was seriously interested in getting into welding.
My next question after you plug that would be, what would you tell them that it's all about and why you are interested and got into it and sort of the career path in terms of education and then maybe apprenticeship they might want to get involved in?
Okay. As soon as I can, take your time you know what i'm gonna do while you're doing that i'm gonna do our first ad read so really take your time don't worry about it excellent the nfl and college football season is in full swing and betterline has you covered with the best odds and biggest promotions and live game betting on all your favorite teams including the nba and the nhl head to betterline today to stay updated on all the action betterline the game starts here,
we find anything no i guess oh here it is found it so it's, The hog eye machine. Hog eye machine? Spell that out for us. H-O-G-I machine. So it's this cool little gun. Oh, wow. Look at that. Yeah. The only thing you need is like welding glasses. You don't even need a hood. It automatically welds everything together. There's no gas like that. You don't need a hood. No, it's just these glasses. And you're good. And you're straight. No kidding. No. It's crazy.
Like it's progressing definitely so well yeah that's interesting i'll definitely go and follow them so going back to that question i mentioned okay. I actually forgot the question. And maybe I was, maybe it was a bigger question than anyone. Let's say you're talking to somebody who's interested in welding. What would you tell them? And, you know, what would you tell them in terms of where they might want to look into in terms of schooling and apprenticeships?
And then, you know, other companies after that, including your own? I would definitely tell them if they're interested, go for it. There's a lot of older people who are retiring out of it. So they need welders. They need all these people in this trade. I would definitely start. If you are younger than 24, between the ages of 16 and 24, you should look into Job Corps, which is what I am a part of. And is that a national company? I mean, or is it just based here in Southern
California? No, it's national. So it's the government. So they pay. I trust them. No, yeah. Especially these days. No, literally. But yeah, no, keep going, yeah. Yeah. I would definitely give them a call. They have a couple of trades that they do, not just welding. They have, like, medical trades. They have cybersecurity. They have all that jazz. Is there 401k benefits? I mean, you said there's health insurance involved? Not with that particular program, but, like, as soon as you get a job,
yes. Yes, there's health care, there's 401k. After all the setting up and all the hard work. Which there is a lot of, I want you to kind of get into that too. I mean, give us sort of, you mentioned it's a nine-month period of schooling that you did. Yes. What does all that involve? I mean, what did you have to do exactly? The very first thing I did, because I had no prior knowledge to it, was make a bead. So I just had to make a puddle on a piece of metal, like, all day.
Explain what that means, a bead. So it's just a circle that is produced from the gun. So as soon as you pull the trigger, or, oh, let me not talk about MIG. Let me talk about stick, because that's the first one. That's the first process I learned. And you've got to explain all this. It's a lot of people driving their cars that don't know what the hell any of this means. So as we go, and I don't know what it means. So we're going to have to get definitions
out there. Excellent. And, you know. Okay. As we go. Definitely remind me, because I'll start talking like you know everything. You mentioned a MIG, a STICK or something, I don't even know. So those are welding processes. Okay. What's the difference? So one is auto and one is manual. So STICK, manual, you connect it to a stinger, which is what gives it the electricity, the ground, I guess. And then MIG is a gun, a trigger. So you can press on it. The wire comes out, and you can weld with it.
Yeah. All right. So there's a lot of that involved in the schooling. I mean, is that about it? Do you basically learn the process as you go, and then they sort of, do they pair you up with somebody? Is there an apprenticeship? No. So what we do is you have a booth every day.
You sign in you go in there you practice welding so with stick you had to weld a certain amount of times you had to fill in a piece of metal and my instructor would look at it and see if it you know it was up to his standards and if it was then you went on to the next thing which was 1g 2g 3g and 4g there's those are different positions so 1g is flat so you're welding flat on the table 2g is horizontal it's up but you're still going you know horizontal
on the plate yeah 3g is vertical so you had to drag it up and then do it down as well the the stick and then. Well technically they call it a rod it's coded with oh my instructor would be so mad at me because I don't know. I'm going to send this very podcast to him after. Please do. He will text me and be like, we're tight. Yeah. Yeah. So, use the stick. Rod. 3G, up, down, vertical. Then 4G is overhead. So you have to weld it like above you.
Now that I imagine requires a mask. Oh, yeah, that whole process requires a hood. You have to have a leather jacket. You have to have gloves. It's a whole lot. You have to like be suited. How dangerous is a job like this? I mean, what kind of PPE do you have to, I mean, you kind of just mentioned it, but let's say, what type of welding would involve sort of a full PPE outfit, let's say? Definitely overhead. Well, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.
Oh, my gosh, it's so bad. One time I was welding overhead and my boots, which you have to have steel boots. That makes sense. Steel toe? Steel toe, yes. Steel boots. I don't know how you'd get into those.
I mean you could try you could try i mean it's toughy but yeah so my shoes weren't laced up all the way and one of i guess a piece of metal or the slag really which is what covers the metal after you do a pass with the rods you have to chip it off with a chipping hammer and then it comes off right but when i was doing that wasn't paying attention so it fell into my shoe and i couldn't do anything about it because i was in the
booth but it burned my skin oh it was so bad scaria oh absolutely i like have it right there on my ankle it's horrible that's okay. I'm sure it's gnarly so you have you have you gotten any other serious injuries working Yes, I actually, what is it? I grinded off my knuckle a little bit. Grind? Yes. See, I imagine all the injuries that you could have mentioned had to do something with heat, but now there's a grinding element. I got to hear this. Yes, definitely.
So sometimes when you do a weld, it's not going to be perfect. You might get porosity, which is when as you're welding, air gets into the weld. So then it creates these little air pockets, and it looks ugly. I heard that, actually, yeah. It's ugly. It's horrible. You literally have to grind it down, redo a pass, because if you don't, the... What is it? The strength of it is not there. It'll break. Yeah, there's no integrity. No, yeah, none at all.
So, so with the grinder, there is the handheld grinder and then there's the table grinder. So the table grinder is just this tall little machine. It has two grinding wheels on the side. You press a button, start spinning, right? So you have to clean your material when you're testing. So one day, I was cleaning my material, was not wearing PPE, and it had a kickback. So when it kicked back, it caught my knuckle. Oh, jeez. It was horrible. Can I see it? Is it visible? Yeah.
So it's your... Yeah, it's right here. I don't know if you can see it. Which way? Oh, it's right here. Oh, yeah. Yep, I can see that. Yeah, now it's just scarred. That's no good. Oh, no. Yeah. It's not as bad as I thought, though. I don't know. Like, it wasn't like bone, but it was like, oh, I should be wearing gloves.
See, I'm a paramedic as well. And so, and I don't know if you've ever seen this, but we've had deglovings, which means that, and this wouldn't happen probably in your industry, which pretty much where, in a factory setting, where somebody, and they're not wearing the gloves they should, where it'll usually just be a finger, not an entire hand. I've never seen an entire hand, but something will cinch.
You just remind me of this, and if you're squeamish, you know, I apologize, but I wanted to connect it. A piece of machinery would clench onto, let's say, sort of the bottom or top part of a finger, and it would just rip the entire skin off the finger. We call it degloving. Oh, my God. If you're a first responder, you know what the heck I'm talking about. But I'm not going to get too much into that. That's crazy. We're going to save that for the first responder podcast.
I'd be down to listen to that one. That'd be awesome. I've been thinking about that one, but it gets sad real quick. I mean, yeah, but I feel like that's good, you know. Now people have an insight on what they have to deal with. None of my buddies want to do it. The people that I work with as paramedics, they're just like, and they think the same way as I do. They're just like, we're just going to bum everyone out.
And I work in Long Beach, so downtown Long Beach. So I've seen it all, that's for sure. But, you know, I want to go back a little bit again. So let's talk about sort of what you did before welding. And then, you know, you eventually went to school for it, but everybody's had a handful of jobs. I've had more than most, but... No, sick. I brought a picture right top of you. Oh, yeah? Oh, no, yeah. I had like. Food or retail? Both. Me too. Mainly retail. But let's go down the list.
I used to, well, before schooling, I used to work at Sprouts. And then I was a customer service. I was a cashier. The one in Western? Mm-hmm. Right there. Yeah, yeah. The vibe. Love that spot. That's a good one. Yeah. Yeah, I go there. Shout out store 252. I can't afford it anymore, but I'll dip in every now and then. They have good stuff. Like, their bread samples are, like, pretty bomb in my mind. You're just going in there for the bread samples? Yeah, absolutely. You're just a moosher? Yeah.
I'm just like, free samples, cool. I'm a Costco guy where I will stand at—do you ever—you're a Costco person or not? I don't go there like that. But I do like Costco because they have all the little— Well, I'm the worst. I've been told that it's like you need to stop taking the samples I don't do it anymore but it's like.
It's a dining experience you're supposed to take as many samples if somebody has Tostina pizza rolls and they're just giving out trays of that I'm going to take seven, because that's what I would normally have for a snack I'm just snacking while shopping listen there's nothing wrong with it but I'm sorry I distracted it So, you worked at Sprouts. Yeah. What else do we do? And then I worked at Red Lobster. I was a server. Where even is there a Red Lobster? In Lakewood.
And then there was one in Torrance, but I think they closed it down when they, like, went bankrupt or something. You know, I think they're revamping it in a way. I don't know. Have you kept on the Red Lobster news? No. Not as much as I'd like to. But, no, it might be coming back. So... For better or for worse. Hopefully it's better. But you worked at the Lakewood location. I was just there today. I was over, I think I like the Lakewood Center. They got like a circus going on. Yeah.
I don't know what's happening. It's right across from it. Oh, I know. Yeah. Everything is right there. And then everything around it is just houses. I mean, you just get lost in suburbia. No, seriously. Lakewood's a funny place because you feel like you're in the Midwest or something. You're like, it's like a small town in Indiana or something. Everyone knows everyone. Hey. Yeah, I know. It's like that. But, so we got those two. What else we got?
And then before that, I worked with a company called McMaster. We delivered parts to maintenance. So I was driving around everywhere in torrents. And then before that, it was Amazon. I was a delivery driver. And then before that, it was, what was it? What area did you service as an Amazon driver? Oh, mostly downtown L.A. and then sometimes. I was going to say, if it was like Torrance or South Bend, it's like, it's a nice gig. Absolutely. You can get around easy. That's like the route you wanted.
Like over there, Lakewood, like they had snowplower, everything. Yeah. But L.A., oh my gosh, you can barely figure. I know downtown L.A. pretty well. I mean, what, all over kind of the circle? No, we never went past, like, no, like USC, never went past that. Everything below that, absolutely. Fair game. So South Central Los Angeles. Yeah, I think. Yeah, that's fine. Yeah. Watts? Watts. Oh, we were definitely in Watts. Yeah. Like, funny story, one of my coworkers got robbed.
In Watts? Yeah. They took all the stuff. It was horrible. Everything in the Amazon truck? They took like two totes full of stuff. Just not knowing what's in it. I never get that. The porch pirates, you know? I mean, it's the gamble, I guess. It's like, ooh, this might be good. Yeah, but it's oftentimes probably a T-shirt that doesn't fit. You could sell it, though. Make some money off of it.
I guess. I don't know. That Zara blouse That's two sizes too small I guess I'll go return it I don't know I've never understood the porch pirates It's happened to me, Yes, it happened to Long Beach And what even was it? So I'm a handyman So it's my other job And that's sort of the genesis of this podcast I'm talking to other tradesmen My last podcast was with somebody Who works on the same platform I do It's called TaskRabbit. I don't know if you heard of it. Yeah, I was listening to it.
I work on that platform a lot, but I also have my own business privately, and we work private and commercial. The main, you know, the mission statement of this podcast was to support other small businesses that I could meet. You don't have your own small business, but you work in the trades. I mean, it needs to be more broad than that. But also sort of plug other people's business and whatever, and mine, to get more business.
So that was the point. But what was I even saying? That someone stole my mail before? Yes. Or is that where we were at? Yeah. Yeah. And I went on a tirade there. But I think what was in it was some carbide drills or something. It was really nothing. You would need a specific type of drill to even use them. And they're only for masonry, tile, stone, things of that nature. Oh, dang. So I'm a specialty trade contractor. I do mainly walk-in closets,
some kitchen remodels, a lot of finishings, and stuff like that. And that's what I saw. You know, I just had to go order some more, I guess. I think I just went to the Home Depot instead. But I think I bought some special ones. But yeah, someone stole those. So enjoy, if you're listening. Literally. And so you've done the Amazon thing in Watts. What's that? because you've been here longer than me, or at least that's not the right thing.
You know that area probably more than me. I don't go there. I don't service that area at least. Tell us a little bit about what are some of the worst things you've seen driving around the Amazon truck in L.A.? Definitely people on drugs. Is it homeless people or just people on drugs? No, people on drugs.
No, definitely people on drugs. like talking to themselves you know just it's a lot of pcp i i i knew this all right well i know him he's not really a friend of mine but we did work for a charity one time called the healthy room project if you want to look down but he where was he worked in modesto i mean he currently works in modesto but he was he was an lapd guy for watts and not watts was it pots i think it's just South Central in general.
And he kind of made it, he was explaining to me that he, Los Angeles is the biggest PCP distributor in the United States. No doubt. And they're not the biggest PCP users, at least the citizens here. That's actually Philadelphia. Really? Yeah. I don't know. I remember all this from him because it was such an odd conversation. I think I was talking to, like, he sort of went off. I think he was asking, like, for the time. He was like, you want to know about the drug trade in South Central?
And I'm like, I guess. Why not? Yeah. I don't know. he's one of those guys that had a lot of war stories and he was telling me that in in the 90s early 2000s that it had gotten so out of hand that the use of it at least that's when it was bigger now it's more of a distribution thing but that like people were i mean people were running around naked you know trying and pcp is a funny drug because it like it if for some reason gives people super human strength.
I mean, people are able to lift cars on that truck. And so he was like seeing that, you know, during, during riots, you know, and it just, just crazy stuff. But no, you know, going back to you, there's a lot of people on drugs out there. I, I've seen the worst of it. I'll be honest. I think in Long Beach, I think, especially where I was living.
I mean, just probably because I was living there, you know, I had a really big scope And obviously I'm a paramedic there, but, you know, you get a big scope of what's going on beneath, you know, the solid ground. And it's not a pretty picture, but, yeah. And I don't think it's as bad anymore, but especially the past, I would say up until this last summer, since I had been working there, I mean, the homeless had just gotten worse and worse.
I think it's getting cleaned up, but I don't know who's doing it. Definitely the governor. Just because the Olympics is going to be happening here. But here's the thing about Gavin Newsom is that he's up in 2026. And I don't know. I'm not huge into politics because it's something I, in this state, you can't really control. It's a one-party state. And so you agree with it, great. If you don't, too bad. It's one of those things. It's just like Texas or Florida.
So, but what was I saying? So Newsome, he's up in 2026. And I'm hearing Harris is probably going to be the next governor. I did hear that. I've been hearing that around town. I guess I'm fine with that. Yeah. I don't know. If it happens, it happens. I know her name, at least. I'm dead. But what was I going to say? I don't know why he would do anything to clean this city up, given he's gone two years before the Olympics, right?
Yet there's some dark forces that are doing it anyway so you think newsome's cleaning up the city of la and the state of california i don't know i think bass is doing it our mayor i'll be honest if anybody's doing it because she'll be around for the olympics and she's going to be the blame if you know the city's a mess which it is there's a lot to work on here but it's a big It's a big city. L.A. County is the biggest county in the United States.
I mean, she's the mayor of just the city, but she kind of controls the whole county too in a sense. So, you know, I don't think Newsom's doing anything. I think he's too stupid. I keep on hearing that. I look at the guy, and he seems stupid. He didn't well know. He looks stupid. That's all I'm saying. Oh, okay. Like he just has this high. He looks high or something. How? He's got that high face, you know? I heard that, like, people were clowning on him for his shoes the other week.
He was wearing, like, some Nikes, I think. And everyone was like, why would you do that? They're like, you're in someone power. Why would you wear Nikes? Well, that's pretty cool, actually. I'm going to give him points for that. Why? It's a shoes. He's going to wear some Nikes? It's L.A., like, come on. Well, no, I mean, he's in Sacramento. You're absolutely right. No, I mean, I don't know. He's a good-looking guy. He's one of the best-looking governors in the, I think, I don't know.
I'm going through my governor. I don't know any governors. No, I'm dead. Yeah, but I don't know. We went on a tangent here. So we were talking about other jobs you had. I sort of talked about this police officer I knew. And I don't know. I could give you a little insight to everything I've done if you're interested. Yeah, absolutely. I don't want to be too one-sided with you. I know it's your first podcast, right? Yeah, it's very fast. Oh, I'm losing it. Come back.
There we are. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So if we want to go way back, my first job, I worked, I don't think it was legal, but I worked at a general store and a deli. Okay. And this was in Michigan. I'm not from Los Angeles. I was just about to ask. Yeah. Do I sound like I am? Is there an L.A. Accent? I don't know. There's definitely an L.A. accent. Like, I couldn't tell you what it is because I'm from L.A., but people say there's definitely an L.A. accent. But you don't give off that, like, L.A.
Like, pato kind of thing. You know what I mean? Well, like a Mexican guy from South K? Okay, so, like, how do I explain that? Like a Dodgers fool? Yes. I'm not a Dodgers fool. No, yeah. You don't give off. That's L.A. for me, I feel like.
The dodger fans that's la no i feel that yeah i feel like i give like boring manhattan beach energy you know definitely manhattan beach i'm gonna say boring but i'm not i'm not rich like those guys but it would be nice yeah no they are boring i work they can hear it too you guys suck you need to get hobbies but so i i wanted to play that game with you so where do you think i am from originally, Because I'll be honest, I came out here to work as a paramedic because I need guys out here.
I had never been to this city before. I've been out here, I mean, more than a year now, a year and a half about. And I like it. I have some family in the Bay Area. And I have family friends in Torrance, but not a lot of people. Well, actually, I have an uncle that lives in Pasadena, but some family, not much. But, you know. I would figure you're from, like, Utah. Utah? Like, oh, come on. There, I don't know. You give off the environment. Environment energy?
Oh, I didn't want to say that. No, you definitely give off. It's another four-letter state. I'm from Southern Ohio. I'm from Cincinnati. Home of the Bengals. The Bengals who lost today? Did they? Oh, you know, my mom was texting me about it, and I totally did not respond to her. Did they lose? I think they did. I was, Dave and Buster's right now watching it, and...
You're hanging out at the d&b i just got out of the movie theaters i was watching fifth element if you guys don't know it please watch it i love fifth element it was so good yeah i'm a bit actually i've only seen it like twice but i i like it a lot oh my gosh oh wait hold on there's a lot of funny scenes in there for sure i'm obsessed is that your favorite movie is it's not my favorite bruce willis's fifth element that's he's my favorite actor but it's not my favorite
movie And my favorite movie is like Lord of the Rings. Like, I'm a nerd. I used to like those movies, but they're too long now. I can't sit through them. See, I have the extended version of it. I will watch it all the way through. You gotta smoke like a big joint to get through those. I don't have the... If I'm sober, you know, I can't do it. And I don't smoke marijuana. But I can't... I don't even think... Like, drinking is not gonna get me through those movies.
I would have to be on a plane to Japan to watch any of those movies. It's like a killing time thing for me and I'm I don't it's not that they're not interesting I I watched them all as a kid my dad loves them my sister actually likes them a lot too my mother and my brother probably not as much but I'm I'm right there in the middle I appreciate some elements to them I like the first one the best this fellowship I think but no I'm not you know I'm not a I'm not a giant I'm not a mega fan I,
I'm missing out. So, favorite actor, Bruce Willis. Yes. Why is this? The first thing I saw him in was surprisingly not the film. It was Die Hard. So, him. That's everybody's first. Probably. Christmas movie. You got to love it. Just what he, his energy in movies is just like, oh my gosh. Like, he makes it enjoyable. If you watch, if you do a really, you know, if you watch every single Bruce Willis movie from like 1990 to 2000,
I mean, you can do like a super cut of like his hairline receding. Yes. And then at some point he's just completely bald. Yes. That's fine. You know, that's what happens. I like what Billy Zane did. You ever seen Titanic? I've seen a Titanic, yeah. So he's the, he's like. Is he the bad guy? He's a bad guy, I guess. Yeah. He's Rose's fiance. Yes. And he's actually, he's bald. Like, he went bald early on his career. And in Titanic, he just wore a wig. He just shaved it off and wore a wig. No way.
Which nobody knows. But, I mean, I think that's the smartest move. You start going bald, he's like, well, just go into the wigs. Yeah. Might as well. We're going down a weird road. Oh, yeah. Listen, folks. It is 8 o'clock at, well, not even, it's 9 o'clock at night. I have been working since 6. I don't know about you. What have you been doing today? Today I've been cleaning my house and then went shopping and went to the movies.
So no work for me today. Where do you go shopping up in downtown LA? Is that downtown LA mall as a piece of trash? Oh, I don't go nowhere near. I don't know what that is. No. It freaks me out a little. You know where the stadium is? SoFi Stadium. SoFi? You go down to Englewood. Yeah. So they have that whole little plaza there, the Ross, Marshalls. Yeah, there's like a shoe store. There's Costco, I think, too.
Yeah is there a costco over there i think kind of by sofi yeah it's pretty close to it i know where all the costs go oh i see i see so you're really a costco guy like i i mean kind of like i only use costco to buy like what i'll do is i'll buy meats in bulk right and then i'll like like i got chicken thighs in my freezer i'll just freeze a bunch of like chicken thighs and then i'll unfreeze it as needed and just cook it also like meal prep kind of deal yeah yeah stuff like Nice.
Between both my jobs, I, you know, I'm, every time lunchtime comes around, I usually just pack my lunch. Otherwise I have to, I mean, you know, as paramedics, we'll go out to Chick-fil-A or Canes or something. Or, you know, if I'm on the road doing my general handyman stuff, it's the same thing. So it just, it adds up a lot. Yeah. Yeah, but, so yeah, I just pack sandwiches or burritos, I make tacos or burritos or whatever, but, yeah, stuff like that.
But, so yeah, so you were shopping in Inglewood, and then you went to go see The Fifth Element, went to Dave & Buster's, and now you're here. And now I'm there. That sounds like a lovely Sunday. It was great, honestly. I'll give you a diatribe of everything I did today.
Now, today I was a handyman. um i if i went through a day of being a paramedic see that's why i wouldn't work as a pair as a as a podcast because it's it's just too morbid to listen to i look up any podcast that has paramedics it is it's a couple things it's boring it's it's too medicinal in the way they talk which i could talk like that it's not very interesting and then the story segments are just it's like and yeah And then I found her, I thought she was dead. She wasn't.
So I slapped her in the face, threw some water on her, and then it's just stuff like that. Dang. Yeah, or it's like, you know, I had to shove, you know, I had to shove three vials of Narcan up his nose because he was so high on the fentanyl. And it's like, it's always Texas guys for some reason. But so today I was a handyman and I, what the hell did I do?
Yeah, started out the day, had to go to Long Beach. Actually, the only good thing about my day, other than the fact that I was way overbooked, was that everything was close by. I had a job in Long Beach. I had a job in, it was like North Long Beach. I mean, it was like past Bigsby Knolls. And then, what else? I had to come back down to Signal Hill. And then... Oh, I had to go to Paramount at some point. Paramount in the middle of the day. It's hot over there. I don't like it.
Yeah, not a fan. And I don't, is Paramount still Long Beach? I would consider it Long Beach, right? Honestly. If we look on a map, I'm sure. If we look at territory or city of Long Beach, I'm sure it is. What's funny is I thought that this was its own city, but it's not. It's a neighborhood. We're in the city of Los Angeles, but we're in the southernmost. If you ask anybody here, they're gonna say this is its own like city. San Pedro is its own little thing. It's technically a neighborhood.
I mean, I pay taxes to the city of Los Angeles, but I understand the, you know, camaraderie or community. That makes sense to me, especially people that have been here forever. My neighbor got mad at me actually because I call it Pedro, which we never even talked about the pronunciation. He told me, well, he's an old Italian guy, and I think he's from Italy, and he told me it's Pedro, not Pedro. He said, you sound like a Croatian or something. Croatian? Because there's a lot
of Croatians here, I guess. And that's how they pronounce it, is Pedro. And that's because there's so many of them, I guess it became popular amongst the Croatians. I'm guessing white people more than Hispanics or Italians, which there's a lot of both of that here too, but that carried on to the social media world too. And then now anybody you ask, it's basically Pedro, unless it's Hispanic or Italian. Which I'm Italian, but I mean, I'm like a fourth generation, so it doesn't really count.
I'm as white as I come now. I was just about to say, I was like, so you're white. So I'm very white. Yeah, I'm actually, well, I'm, my dad's Italian. I'm, my mother's, I'm like part German and dang, I'm just white. I'm white, yeah. Yeah. So I wasn't going to, I don't know. I had four jobs today running all over the place, just sort of in the Long Beach area and Paramount, if we consider it that. But, and I was, I was speeding through these jobs. It wasn't, none of them were really that tough.
They just took a while. And I don't even know if I need to get into it because that's boring.
But what's one thing you were working on so i do i did some cabinetry for the guy in paramount the problem with houses in paramount for and this is this is why it's already boring is that you go you go up to lakewood or paramount let's say all the houses are from like the 50s right and there's a few newer ones but you're not going to find all the new houses you're going to find are coastal areas except for the area we're in right now, really.
Long Beach kind of included. I mean, Belmont's kind of old, I guess, but I don't know. You go to Redondo and Manhattan and Hermosa, Santa Monica, a lot of that's new development, and it's all just drywall. It's standard. I know how to work with that stuff. And I come from Ohio, where a lot of old houses are, but I hate dealing with plaster, which is a type of wall, and it's very hard to mount because it has wood slats behind it.
Not in place of studs, but it's just not easy to mount anything yet. And it crumbles real easily. Well, this is plaster right here, in fact, because it's from the 20s. And so it can appear as drywall. The way it's kind of circled, that's not, I don't know what that is.
It's a stylization I guess my landlord did but what was I going to say yeah it's just tough to mount that's the only problem I had with it but I was just mounting, assembling and mounting some kitchen cabinetry top and bottom stuff like that and that was probably my longest job and then where else I had to jump to this real ghetto part of Long Beach I don't know where I was it was basically, I kind of want to look but I don't want to take your guys' time here.
I'll tell you right now. So you know Long Beach pretty well? No. No? No. I can't say I do. You know South Central well. A little bit, yes. You know the ghetto. I do. I do. Only because I live out there like that. Yeah, don't go here. This is where I came right before I came back. It's right below East Rancho Dominguez. Oh, right there. Oh. I don't know what's going on over there, but it's like, it's over by Compton College. It's a little rush out there.
Look, I don't want to talk bad about neighbor hundreds, but sometimes, I mean, you guys need to pick it up. Yes. Is all I'm saying. You got to clean it up, pick it up, be better. So we, and this podcast tonight has definitely done that. We're going off on tangents. I want to talk work stories with you. This is because we're at the point where we're going to do, I'll do my ad read, second ad read after this, but I want to talk some work stories with you.
So you've been working as a welder for seven months now. I keep forgetting that. And I want to hear, so do you, you mainly do jobs, not for private clients, right? Just mainly for companies? Yes, just mainly companies. What are some weird things you've seen? What are some odd.
Things asked of you some you know or it could be general work stories because it's look are we this podcast I mean the world of welding I know is illustrious and interesting it can be but I can't imagine it deviates to specifically to really interesting stories it seems like It's sort of a cut-and-dry, clock-in, clock-out job. It's like, and I don't want, don't take that the wrong way. I think there's something beautiful to that. I wish I had a job like that. I don't.
Both of my jobs are, you know, insane. But, you know, and I did interrupt you in a sense. You were talking about your job history. I was talking about mine. Maybe we could go back to that. What did you do after being an Amazon driver? I went to McMaster. Right. You mentioned that. And then what else? And then I went to Sprouts. And then you went to Sprouts. And then I went to welding school. All right. So you've had like six jobs. Like multiple jobs. I've had like 30.
Give me a break. Okay. Maybe you taught me. Okay. I think I did. I mean, I'm just going to go through the list. I've worked at Land's End when that existed. What is that? It's like a white person clothing store. It's like sweaters where you can go sailing in. It's like Captain Sweater. So like Hollister kind of deal? It's worse than Hollister. Really? Listen, Southern Ohio, don't go there. Why? It's a boring and sad place where your dreams will die.
Jeez. I don't like it. And listen, to all my listeners that are from Southern California, or southern ohio nothing against you but you know it's just just not the place for me, did not have a great experience there and it's not because it's it i don't i don't want to blame it on southern ohio i just it's probably more me than now now i'm doing the thing it's not me it's you oh yeah it's a bad breakup it's not you it's me i'm doing the bad breakup thing with ohio,
man is it really that bad it's really not i i just i i got i was really bored by it, it's such a boring place Cincinnati not as much I mean probably if you live in like the you know, farmland there's so much farmland in Ohio I was about to ask isn't there like farm stuff what there is but Cincinnati's a big city I mean not compared to here but it's you know it's.
It's a medium sized city yeah it's not there's a lot going on I mean it has you know it has a got the Bengals and we got the Reds so we got two teams the only thing we never had a basketball team which sucks so, gotta love having the Lakers here but yeah no basketball team I think we had a hockey team but it was I think it went away but no there's things to do. For sure. But it's just, I just never, I don't know. It just, I never felt like I fit in there.
I don't think I fit in here either, but I definitely feel like you can be anything you want here. And that doesn't mean go around lying to people, but I definitely felt like I could recreate myself here. And maybe I'm doing that, or maybe I'm just being the same person in a different place. I haven't figured that out. I haven't really looked in the mirror.
And here we are going too philosophical again but no they're just very different places and you know that ohio has a lot of good stuff i mean it definitely has four seasons if you if you're into like you know having a true fall where the leaves fall and then having a nice hot summer and then you know.
I don't know what spring is that's why i want to travel like i want to experience all of that like here you just it does get boring though yeah does it i yes because the summers are there's humidity there in in southern ohio and it's it'll bite you have you ever been to florida no don't go there either i'm going there for thanksgiving can't wait my my mom listens to this podcast can't wait for thanksgiving if you're listening but humidity i don't i don't love either No,
that's what I, it's one thing I do like about the weather here, other than there, there is no seasons, which I'm fine with. But yeah, it being, it being a dry heat is nice. And I've learned to appreciate that. It's one thing my dad mentioned before I moved here. He's like, it's like, are you sure that you're like, it was such a big deal. He, he was like, are you sure that you're ready to be somewhere that like doesn't have seasons?
And I'm like, I don't know why I would care if it's like, well, you, well, you, you know, mean i can wear like the same clothes 365 days a year that sounds lovely i don't want to i don't want to put on four layers to go outside right you got to like change the outfits every season yeah so that's just i mean and that's not really like a bad thing about a place like southern ohio but i'm not a cold weather person i can't i can't live in cold weather i don't think i'll
ever live in cold weather places i get like seattle over there when it always raining seattle's not horrible i i i don't really know anybody in seattle other than i think my sister has a friend that lives there and she says it's pretty much or at least my sister said that it's pretty much the same weather as southern ohio i mean it it's just seasonal but it doesn't get necessarily that cold there's probably more rain but i don't know it's yeah seattle's probably nice though have you.
No, that's a lie. That's such a lie. When my grandparents moved out there. No, wait a second. I hit it. No, no. No, but I was like nine or something. I was like a kid when I went out there, so I wasn't like aware. Yeah, who gives a shit. No, yeah. Right. So where do you want to go? Honestly, Texas. Texas? Yeah, only because like having a gun out there isn't like a really big issue. Oh, you got some guns? I wish. Not yet. I'm going to have to get some.
Well, I'm going to have to now, but no. What do you mean have to now? Well, the world is getting a little crazy out here. I don't know. Things have definitely since the election has ended, I think everything, I mean, everybody seems kind of bummed out. And that's, I kind of get that. But things are calmer to me than, you know, during the election.
And not to really get into politics again but that i definitely like like after it was basically trump won it's like all right you know everybody was just like all right fine you know right like yeah because what can you do like because it was it was a landslide it went if it was if it was really that close i think the i think the temperature would have gone up and then it would It would've been like 2020 again, which was, was 2020 close? It was close, I think. Maybe, I don't know. I don't know.
I know that 2016 was close maybe. I don't know. I feel like this is the one election in my lifetime that I voted in where it hasn't really been close, the general election at least. I sure am glad, though, that we have a new DA. I will give us that. I did not like that Gascon guy. Gascon? George Gascon? I don't know. You don't seem like a political person. No. Listen, I'm all about like, let me just live my life. He was like, I mean, and this is like third hand.
And this is, you know, the only reason I care about having a good DA in this city is because I'm a paramedic. You need a good DA for the LAPD, not as much the LBPD, and other law enforcement agencies. He's sort of the de facto leader who puts down the rules for law enforcement officers on what they can do and what they can't.
And Gascon was way too lax on, like, catch and release laws, which is basically, you know, you'll arrest somebody and, you know, hold them for a night and then they can go, right? It's sort of like, it's very pro-crime. And that's sort of what Gascon was. That's sort of what San Francisco is right now, what it remains to be. That's why San Francisco is not doing so well, unfortunately. It might be on the mend. But so he got, guess God got kicked out.
Now we got this guy, Nathan Hockman or Hotchman. I don't know how to pronounce his name. And, you know, he's, he's a lot tougher on crime, which in general, in general makes my job easier when I am dealing with people who at a scene of an accident, when it comes to a trauma case, like somebody that's been shot or. Not as much abused, but the trauma cases where, you know, violent crimes are involved that I might be involved in.
I don't think we're going to see necessarily less of that, but at least the Long Beach Police Department will be able to, in their powers, prosecute those who did things wrong under Gascon's rule. It's like, you can't really even arrest these people. It was really bizarre. I mean, obviously, you'll listen to this and be like, he's completely wrong. And you'll reach out to me and give me like eight paragraphs of why the other
guy's better than the current, the new guy. But you know, you're right too. I don't, I don't care. That's just my opinion. And that's, that's why I think my job will be easier in the coming years with him around. But to get out of politics, God, we've been, how long we've been doing this? What do we got?
About an hour. I'm gonna do our second ad read and then I want to talk a little bit about what your plans are for your future if you plan on staying and welding what that looks like you mentioned these old timers I mean before I even do this ad read I want to know what sort of the oldest welder you've met and I mean is it something you can do until you're 65 or is it something that eventually you maybe teach what is it I would
say you can definitely do it in 2065 because the oldest guy at our job is I think 60. And usually they turn around and teach. Some of them just retire. I guess it's just a preference. Like, it's on them how they want to do it. But, yeah, I would be working forever. Well, we'll get into that. So our second ad read is from Southern New Hampshire University. When you choose to earn your degree online from Southern New Hampshire University, you're saying yes to new opportunities and new adventures.
You're saying yes to something big and something you always wanted to do. If earning your degree is one of your goals this new year, SHNU can help you get there. With low online tuition, no set class times, and multiple term starts per year, you can set the pace that works for you and save money along the way. Visit shnu.edu today to get started. Tell them we sent you. So tell us what you want to do with your life.
Growing up, I wanted to not. i didn't see myself in this field right i wanted to be like an actress i wanted to be a singer i wanted to be a dancer but you still can absolutely so that's the plan so do you have a tiktok i do have a tiktok like i mean i'm saying are you a content creator no no no well then you'll never be an actress no exactly that's the only way to do it honestly like they'd be getting picked up real quick well i've done work for and i
mentioned this in our last podcast so i won't get into it too much but i i do work for a content creator in koreatown and she does she does like twitch stream gaming and and cooking like she was at the time she was cooking banana bread while gaming or something it was she she's she's doing the most and i mentioned that in the last pod but, yeah so what what makes you want to get into that just my family i guess most of them family.
Of the yes like entertainers yes my cousin actually is in the band honey revenge look him up honey revenge honey revenge check it out folks honey revenge on spotify now on spotify apple music all that jazz yeah they're getting there but not why not on spotify well they're on spotify too oh i'm sorry i said no they're on they're on all the platforms yeah but yeah my family like they're all singers, actors, like, I don't know if you've ever watched Married with Children.
That's like eight shows. And Married with Children is the one. The really old one with Peggy. Is it with Ed O'Neill? I don't know their names. Bundy, right? No. The guy. He's in Modern Family. Yeah. Yeah. The guy's name is something Bundy, I think. That's the family name. I never really watched that one. I watched, what is that one? The Wayan Brothers one. My Wife and Kids or something. Oh, this one. Yes, yes. That was good. That was on like three seasons, but I don't know.
WB back in 2005 or something. But yeah, what were you trying to say? My grand uncle is on there. So he's Officer Dan. He's the black police officer. Unmarried with children? Yeah. And this is your, who is it? My grand uncle. Your grand uncle. Yeah, it's my mom's uncle, but my grand uncle. Yeah. So like, he was in Broadway musicals, he does plays, he was in the shows and stuff. Yeah. So like, my family's really talented. So you know, I was like, let me, let me try to do something there too.
But now that I picked this career, what I'm doing is I'm trying to focus on that first. And you know, build something. and then when I have something, then start to pursue that, if that makes sense. Well, in my opinion, I think you, and I'm not saying with all your free time do this, but create as much content as you can. I don't have the greatest voice in the world, but I love podcasting, and I like having conversations and learning about people. That's why I'm doing this.
And also to try to plug my business and other people's businesses. Like I mentioned in our mission statement, but. I mean, in my opinion, if you really want to do what you're saying you want, do you want to be more independent, though? Or do you want to have an agent? Like, in your dream world, do you want to have more of an agent? Definitely agent. See, I don't want to hate that. No, you just want to. I want to be my own agent, if anything.
And I don't want to be. I used to love acting. I would do it in high school. But, and I, I, I become bewildered with acting. I don't know how people do it out here. I think it's too challenging, really. I, I would do, I did some, actually I did a commercial out here, but it was, it was through the platform I worked for. What was I saying? I did a couple commercials in, I think, Cincinnati, Ohio. But out here, it's been tougher to find. The problem with auditions is all the self-take crap.
I'm very, like, you know, back-in-the-day stuff where it's, like, I want to, like, go in, meet the casting agent. Right. I want all the people. And everybody seems to hate that because it's, like, it's too much pressure. And it's, like, that's what you need, though. Exactly. That's where you need to sort of learn to be around these people. And all that's gone, you know, with the digital era. And that's fine. I mean, things evolve.
But I don't think it's been good for the movie industry. I don't think there's been really a good movie in the past five years or so. Honestly, the pandemic, I feel like. This has killed it. Honestly. Well, there wasn't anything during the pandemic. And then, what do we got? I think the best movie, the only movie I've actually seen in theaters that I liked was with my sister. It was, I think it was Top Gun Maverick. It was okay. Oh. I don't know. You ever seen that one? I did. I did.
It's, you know, it's a popcorn movie. It's just a fun action movie. But, I mean, that's the best we've gotten in the past. Five years or so, half decade, I don't know. Yes. Only to, like, I think what's also killing it is all the Marvel movies. I think those are over, right? Nope. Are there more of those? Yep. They're coming out with a Captain America one. Yeah. I've only seen the first Avengers movie. I liked it. I thought it was a lot of fun. But I don't understand why we needed
11 of them. I don't know what they're on at this point. Same with the Star Wars, you know? Oh, my gosh. What are we on with the Star Wars now? Like, number 12? Not even 12. I think there's, like, more than 20. No, there's not 20. No, no. I know they're coming out with a new one, though. It's not Star Trek. No, but they're coming out with a new, I think it's a Skywalker, another Skywalker one. What do you mean, like a road, like when you did the road one?
You know how Rey, yeah, kind of like that. I don't know. I haven't seen. The only one I've seen is the first of the new ones. I haven't seen the rest. The first of the new ones, like, Phantom Menace. Whatever it is. The first one with Rey in it or something. Oh, that one. Phantom Menace from 1999. Oh, my gosh. Are those those? Oh, I thought you were talking about the one with the Kid Anakin one. Yeah, that's the Phantom Menace. I'm saying the only one I've seen of the new
one, like, since, you know, the ones with Rey or whatever. and the Stormtrooper guy, whatever his name is. Is it Finn? Finn, yeah, yeah. I think so, yeah. Like he's, I don't know. I don't know, there's a couple people. I only saw the first of those and I think there's like maybe three or four of those and I think the Rogue one was like a prequel or something. I didn't even see the Phantom Menace though. That brings me back.
I got a fun fact about Phantom Menace. So the Liam Neeson character, Qui-Gon Jinn, was supposed to be an asian guy really oh yeah i mean the guy's name is qui-gon jinn okay, that makes sense i've never thought about it like that but yeah that makes sense they picked an irish guy what what happened do you know what happened like i think they were it's very hollywood but they were they're probably trying to like we need to
sell tickets to this so we needed like a bigger name i it probably just wasn't like a famous guy but i don't know i think I think they wanted a guy who could do like martial arts and then they, they're like, it's, that's okay. We don't hate that. It's frigging Star Wars. It'll sell itself, but we need a bigger name in there to go. It's more of an international thing. I think in America, you could have thrown anybody in there and we're all going to go see Star Wars, but.
For the people of Bangladesh, you need a bigger name that's done other work probably. But I don't know. Listen, I wish you luck in the world of both welding and becoming a star. Thanks. Hopefully. Now, do you want to be more of a singer or more of an actress? More of an actress. Yeah. Definitely. All right. Is there anything you wanted to speak out on in terms of your career and anything you have on your horizon in terms of your business?
Any females out there who are thinking about getting into welding, please just do it. Do not put your phone number out there. No. Don't do that. No, no, God, no. If you have an email, I wouldn't even suggest doing that. We don't have really a huge following, but just don't do that. Oh, no, no, no. It's been no good for anybody. But, yeah, definitely do welding if you're interested in it. Don't get intimidated because of it being like a male populated field. I know. You are.
It surprised me when you said you were a female welder. I was like, I don't think I've heard of it. That's not really. That's like a, I don't know. What's another job that there's not a lot of females in? And females are doing all these jobs now, which is great. But, no, it's very cool. Thanks. But, yeah. So, excellent. Any plugs you want to do? You can definitely follow me, Black Mamba Welder. You can see me grow as a welder. Come along with me in this journey. Yeah.
So that's your welding account. Mm-hmm. Excellent. Yeah. All right. Yeah, I wouldn't give you a personal. Anyway, you can follow my business, Frank of All Trades, on Google Yelp next door and Instagram. Instagram account is Frank of All Trades LA. The rest of them are just Frank of All Trades. If you want to reach out to be a guest, you can message me on our Instagram account, Talk of All Trades Pod. That's Talk of All Trades, P-O-D, all one word. And as usual, don't forget to rate,
review, and subscribe for more great content. Thank you again, folks.