Latest / PITSTOP With The Diers Ford/Lincoln Auto Amigos / Pitstop Episode 6: Story Time w/ The Auto Amigos
Transcript
- Diers: Hey, good morning, everybody. Pit stop with your Dears Ford Auto Amigos. I'm Tony and I'm Fernando. Obviously, you might know that. So Fernando, How was your week? My week has been, man, we've been running around everywhere, Tony. I think it's been really packed. what day is it? Thursday already? Yes. Yes. That's why we're recording this. ⁓ want to clarify. You've been driving around. Yes. Running around. Tony would not be sitting here today if we'd been running all week. Well, you would be sitting taking break. So any weird things this week? Bad cooking moments? No, ⁓ ⁓ I don't think so. This week has been really fun. You know, it's been a packed week, but we have a day off. We had Monday for Memorial Day, right? So we started working Tuesday, which again has been a really busy week, but it's been fun. And it's almost for the weekend again. You know, it's weird when you have those short weeks, they almost feel longer than the regular week. And I don't know if that's just you get out of that routine or what it is. for those of you wondering, we do record on Thursday. That's why. But we do put the video or the podcast out on Tuesdays. That's why right now we're talking about, know, it's almost being the weekend and everything, but you're going to get to see this later on. So today we're going to we're calling this. Fernando and Tony story time. Yeah, he's just about some fun things that happened to us things We've learned over the years Maybe some mistakes we've made But gonna out with when we were growing up Did have strict parents or parents that weren't very strict? ⁓ No very strict parents. Yes, definitely I Got strict end of the spectrum. How about you? not so much I told this story one time about coming home at five in the morning and running in and saying, don't paint the ransom. escaped, I didn't have a curfew. My parents weren't really strict. And what's funny is I turned out to be opposite with my kids. I think being in the school, you know, I ⁓ heard about so things that went on that I wanted to make sure my kids were not doing some of those things. Right. Hopefully, you know, it made a difference. And I don't know if I would say overly strict, but we had rules and that line didn't move and I'm not very bending. You know, this is what I say, this is what I expect. And I think I'm still like that, just with my kids, but just the way I am. So What's the craziest punishment you ever had when you were growing up? Craziest punishment? See, my parents never really did. punishments. It was just no timeouts. No. mom ⁓ me. in a way. know, it's spanking. So no, I don't think I ever got ⁓ any actual like long punishment for something that I did. How about you? Well, ⁓ my mom tended to ⁓ you know, whatever she could grab on to. Yeah. And a spoon, hairbrush, the hairbrush hurt a little more than a wooden spoon. It was mostly like whatever was closest at the time. Yeah. And then my dad, you know, and I know nowadays people be going, oh my God. But, know, if you get a spanking, he had a belt, you know, over his lap and then sting a little bit. I know one day. He was really mad. He had his bullwhip and I mean didn't tie us up and whip us He just bent it in half and used it like the belt but it was what they call that where you weave it girls do this with their hair braided and know if spanked you with that it stung a little more Yeah, and the worst part is he'd tell you to go get it ⁓ and I close to his office where it was And I decided heading out the door would be a better thing than ⁓ yeah than getting that. So I was running around the yard from my dad and he had the bull whip chasing me and I just wondered how many neighbors were thinking, oh my God, going chain this kid up and whip him. yeah, and the funny thing is I learned out my dad's faster than I thought he was. Yeah, I didn't really think he could run like that. And you know, it was pretty quick. So yeah, you'd be surprised, huh? Yeah, it was shocking. But did ever sneak out at home? Yes, when I was a kid, I would always sneak out to but not like in the dark or anything like it would just go in the afternoons. I would sneak out to go play outside with my friends. I grew up in Mexico and we would be all over, the small town that I lived in. And my mom would always be like, no, you can't go outside. You're not going to go. You got to finish your homework. And while she was cooking or something, I would just sneak out. You know, I never snuck out. I didn't think I had to. We didn't have a curfew. And then I was that kid. I always thought I'd get caught. So I wasn't good at those kind of things. wasn't a good liar. My mom would say, I know if you're lying to me. I wasn't good at that. So, yeah, I didn't really try that. you know, dumb stuff we did when we were kids. I was you know, because you hear it all the time. I think I'm funny. And I got more trouble for just trying to be funny than I think really bad things. ⁓ One night, my sister went across the vacant lot. My mom was at the mini mart in Peru, and my sister had gone over to get a pop and a candy bar. And so I thought it'd be really funny to hide behind this bush in the vacant lot next to where we live. And when she came back, I grabbed her by the ankles and said, Lisa, And she dropped her poppin' candy bar and ran off screamin' and my grandma lived across the street. And she opens the door and I don't know if it's the reputation or what, but my grandma goes, Tony, is that you? It's pitch dark. And I'm like, yes, grandma. She's like, my God, what did you do? You know, so, you know, I'm thinkin' this is really funny. And then I realize, uh-oh, if she gets to my dad at home before I do, I'm in big trouble. Well, she beat me. I couldn't get her to stop. kept running and screaming. in the house. Yeah, that didn't go over very good. That wasn't as funny to my dad as it was to me. Did you have to go get the bullwhip? No, I just had to go to my room. You know, there was a time when the bullwhip went away and I think maybe my mom said, maybe was after he was chasing me in the yard with it that, yeah, that's time for that to go. Did you any embarrassing stories either? Were you embarrassed or you embarrassed with somebody from the family? You know, I could make my sister puke by just hacking like I was going to hack up a loogie. She would start gagging. I mean, I constantly did something I lowered a rubber spider through the vent in my room. It had one of those open floor vents where it was gravitating heat. So you didn't actually have a vent in your room. It just had those more vents so the heat would arise. she was sitting in the recliner below that and I lowered a rubber spider down and I'd touch her head lightly with it and she'd brush her hair back and then pretty soon she looks up and I dropped it on her face and ⁓ when you're only girl in the family, you you tend to get special protection from dad and mom. so, yeah. You know, I'm starting to see a trend, Tony. You were, you were a little trouble when you were a kid. Well, the other thing I had is I had a sweatshirt collection from like every college. That was my goal is, you know, like Oklahoma, I had an Alabama and course I had Nebraska. But I had all these different sweatshirts from, from colleges ⁓ my would wear them and she would get makeup on them and she'd have perfume on them. And even when you get washed, you know, you'd wash them and you couldn't get that perfume smell out, I'm thinking when I'm wearing them that guys are looking at me like, is this dude wearing perfume? And so I tell my mom, of course she didn't do anything. So my sister had a cabbage patch doll collection and I took all of her clothes out of her closet and I made nooses and I hung all of her cabbage patch dolls from the, from the closet rod. Again, didn't go over very well, but that was funny to me. That sounds hilarious. Let me ask you a question because I've heard this. I just want to know if it's true. Yes. Latino moms don't mess around. No, no. I telling you, my mom would whenever she would be yelling at me and it was time for, you know, Fernando to be in trouble, she would grab the closest thing to her. Most of the time she just took off her shoe and threw it at me. Right. That was the ⁓ Hispanic mom weapon. the old shoe. Yeah. Yeah. But it was it was a couple of things. I got I got a few rocks, shoes. Now, let me ask you, was she accurate? Oh, my gosh. I mean, she could go to a carnival and she's going to knock down all those things. You know, my mom was deadly accurate, deadly accurate. She she would have been a great soldier. She would have never missed. if she's throwing shoes, I mean, I got I got hit across the yard with the rock. And I mean, the backyard of Mexico was it was pretty big. ⁓ ran I don't why. ⁓ But it was one of those times I thought I could, outrun my parents and. ⁓ She wasn't going to run after me. So she just picked up a rock and chucked it at me, hit me right in the back of the neck. Ooh. Yeah. Yeah. Good thing it was like a little pebble, you know, it was like a big rock. So yeah, it wasn't a boulder. ⁓ No, but it hurt sure. So those of you who, ⁓ who watch Stop or you've watched Amigos on the go with Fernando and I, ⁓ we started all these things, think this, what's our fifth episode or six? This is going to be our sixth. ⁓ we started working together about six months ago ⁓ Fernando was first hired here to sell cars. And I cars, but I also was doing community relations, staff events, ⁓ different like that. And so Fernando, who showed some skill in video and editing and ⁓ all kinds of techie things, but Brandon decided that I'm going have Fernando work with you and I'm going to him start going to these things with you because he's bilingual. Those of you did not know that. say something in Spanish. Say a fun thing in Spanish. You know, every time somebody says, say something in Spanish, I just don't know what to say in Spanish. But I'm going to introduce myself. name is Fernando Contreras. here in Deere. If you ever, if day you're looking for a car, this is the best place to come and buy it. We're going to offer you best service in the world. So you're looking for a car, be it a Ford or a Lincoln or any other type of here we for Okay, I didn't say write a book, I said say something. I did say something. So there's your proof that Fernando speaks Spanish, we first met, that's how we first met, and we started working together. And my first impression of Fernando is he is very well dressed, he's very well spoken. just somebody, ⁓ I he takes pride in his appearance, but I thought he's pretty sharp guy, he was real good when we went out and did things and was good with people. ⁓ so I had a great impression of Fernando. Now this might change when you ask Fernando, what was your first impression of me? Mine was a little different. I knew it. it was A little similar, I mean I saw that you were very well dressed and very well kept. But I remember that I saw you and I was like, man this guy is so serious. Until I think that one of the times that I realized you weren't so serious is when you were getting ready to be the emcee at the teammate celebration last year. And for those of you that don't know, he was the emcee for the teammate celebration. So he was cracking jokes all night long. But maybe this is a little, you know, don't give up the information. I'm going to give out a little bit of information. But he looked up those dad jokes and he practiced them. He did. But I saw him go through, you know, websites or whatever, and he was writing down those those dad jokes and he was finding the best ones he thought were funny. They were funny from what I heard I wasn't there, but they told me he was very funny I Was like well, maybe he's not as serious as I thought You know it's it's funny that you said that because for a long time You know on the football coach athletic director. You know those aren't really platforms to be funny yet, any job I do I guess I take serious ⁓ and I want to do a good job, and so I tend to be an organizer, somebody who plans things, and even with the jokes, you know, if I had to stand up there and rattle off jokes, they wouldn't have been very appropriate, the ones I would remember. And so, you know, then you go to an outside source, but I want to entertain people. I want people to feel like I had a good time. And so for me, take some practice and, but the big thing to me, and that's probably the serious side of me is always want to do a good job. want people to feel like he did a good job, you know, and that's important to me. and so biggest argument you think we've ever had, I don't think we've had many arguments, Tony disagreements. Maybe not one time that you, can't maybe because I was late. I that comes to mind. than that, I don't think we really had many arguments. I think we've gotten along pretty well ⁓ we well together. know, anytime spend every day together, same office, and now we have Nick and their little lug nut in the same office, it's not a space. You you would think people would... You'd wear on each other I'm sure there's things are that but ⁓ Fernando's late ⁓ and don't that I'm gonna change that but I think for most part the great things been there's there's been mutual respect and ⁓ and you know, think it's harder sometimes when you know, I'm I'm gonna be 61 in July and Fernando's 26 You know, so obviously You know, one of us probably tries to act more like the father figure than the other one. And, and I don't know, he's very good at what he does. ⁓ I always try and appreciate that guy's always in a good mood and ⁓ I'm but ⁓ he's always in a mood that's easy to deal with. And so I appreciate that about him and it makes things easier. podcast, Migos on the go, any of those things we've done where something went completely wrong. Oh my God. I bet we're going to think of this. I have two. I have two. First one is The one we did, Find Us This, the first time we did Find Us This in downtown Fremont, we sat there for two hours and it was freezing, freezing outside. I think Tony was the first one to break and he was like, I'm going to the car. I did go sit in the truck for a couple minutes. We were sitting out there for two hours. It was freezing cold. We didn't expect to be out there for that long. it was terrible. after that, we decided to put, you know, a a little, what would you say that? A disclaimer. Yeah, we put a little disclaimer. permitting. Weather permitting because we are not going to do that again. The other day, I told Nick as soon as we were leaving the dealership, if I could feel a drop of rain, we are This is done. Yeah. We're not doing again. And the second thing, think... ⁓ One thing about coal. Yeah. And important to me, we had said we were going to be there. Yeah. And that's why we stayed. But, you know, to ⁓ you said you're going do this. You made a promise. And that's why we were there. But we could only take so much of it. Now that also comes out with the disclaimer now that weather permitting, because he was right, it was freezing. Yes. it was. And I think the second thing that I was telling you was yesterday ⁓ when we were driving around ⁓ doing Amigos on the Go Camille Mrs. Nebraska. ⁓ Mrs. Nebraska International 2026. That one guy that just decided to go ⁓ instead stop at the stop sign and we were just about to hit him. that was a little, little scary. I did think we were going to hit him. We were very close. ⁓ And I you know, honestly, I think he thought we had a stop sign. I think he thought it was a four way. Yeah. And he didn't really stop at his too well. I saw their faces and they were like, what are you doing? You know? And I was like, well, it's your fault. Yeah. The only thing I can think of, our podcast with Coach Jamrock. Oh, I forgot about that. We did, it was about 45 minutes and get done and realize we didn't have any sound. didn't record. camera recorded, the other one didn't. And so thank God Coach Jamrock came back on Saturday and it. But ⁓ that ⁓ a, was stressful. Man, that was terrible. So for those of you guys, if you guys haven't seen the episode with Coach Jamrock, I'd recommend that you should go listen to that one. But we had him in here and for some reason the sound and the camera disconnected. you guys can't see it but we usually set two cameras. And the one that, the only one that was still connected just recorded I think Coach Jamrock. But there was absolutely no sound so there was no point on putting that out there because there's no sound. So it was very embarrassing. still, had to ask coach Jamrock. Tony had to call him and ask if he could come back. And he's a very busy man, especially with a football season coming up and everything and graduation that week and all of that. Yeah. Well, the first time he came back, he had a graduation two hours later and he was gracious enough to come back and we did the whole interview. And it's not great. mean, Coach Jamrock is an amazing speaker and it was a phenomenal podcast, but it was very embarrassing, especially for me, because I'm the one that sets everything up. Not just you. mean, it was, we're not professional people at those kinds of sounds. And so when something goes wrong, you really didn't know it. You know, we went through this whole thing, not knowing it quit. so that, yeah, a little embarrassing. You feel a little incompetent. It was stressful. Very much so. So in your family, I know you're not married, so you don't have any marriage lessons. a lot of marriage lessons. How about dating lessons? Dating lessons. Things you've learned about dating. Dating, it's as hard as you make it out to be. That is lesson that I will put out there. Okay, let's take back the marriage thing because it's about the I told you I had marriage lessons as well. yeah, not dating, ⁓ even marriage. I mean, it's only as hard as you make it out to be. I think that people often run out of patience with each other and just say, you know, whatever. But I mean, you still got to be together, right? ⁓ I mean, you to love that person every day. It's not like love is going to last forever, right? There's times when you really don't like that person. But you choose to love that person every single day. That's the difference. the number one, I've learned that I'm really hard to live with probably. you know, fortunate that I've found somebody great and very giving, probably maybe to a fault, you know, ⁓ which is that a But, you know, the thing I've learned most is, you know, we made a commitment to each other. And even in those bad times, we're going to be okay. You know, it's going to be okay. And we'll make it through that. And, and we've been married. my gosh. It's, you not get that wrong. No, know the year I just kind of figured the math. ⁓ So be 34 years here in June. And, you that's, that's a long time. And, but I that the best thing that we've learned is we made a commitment to each other and. there's bad times, we're going to work through those. And fortunately, hopefully you have a lot more great times. You know, that since we have grandkids came into our life, you know, well, our daughters, obviously, what a huge gift those were. And then the grandkids, you know, it's just like somebody said, you know, do you love your grandkids more? I think now, now we just don't have to be the ones who always worried about the little things that their parents do, you know. So it's a great time. I know of the parent struggles you go through is mostly just because you want your kids to be good people. And want do the right things. And so does that mean you always do the right things? I don't think so. But I think do it with the idea of wanting good things for kids. And I don't know if that ever goes away. Even when they get to be adults, there's times where I think you have some of your kids feel like maybe you do more of this for the others. And so those things never really go away, but you try and do the right things for all of them. as a parent, ⁓ everybody goes through parenthood for the first time, right? So the kid, you don't know what you're doing. There's no There's no I mean, there's now and everything, but there's no ⁓ right way to things. So ⁓ how was that at first experience with you? Like with that moment when you're like, I have no clue what to do, but I'm just, I guess I'm just going to do this. You know, think you take things from your childhood that you thought were good, you that you believe in. And, know, I think my wife and I both being teachers, you know, we saw things we wanted and things we didn't, but you, you know, as a teacher, you get to see a lot of, Examples of how people parent and I think you pick and choose what you want and obviously grandparents are going to have their suggestions even when you don't want them and But you take all those things and you try and do the right thing, you know The scariest things in the world are when they're sick and you don't know what to do, you know, and and I don't want to be Over extreme, you know where you take them in for every everything. Are you that parent that would take them in all the time? No, that was my wife was more because in my house, you know, you better be dying. You're not going to the hospital or the doctor. And, I never ⁓ argued too much because I want her to be happy, you know, and not worry. so ⁓ she taken my ⁓ I you they were going to say that, you know, but you don't want to do that too much. You know, where I, you know, that I told you so. ⁓ But Yeah, I think you just do the best you can and you try and take experiences you've had and apply that to your kids. But I think the most important thing is keep in mind what's best for our kids. think tried to do that. But ⁓ you lessons. ⁓ Some work, some don't. Yeah, always. And as a dad, I think I have no experience with that. But what are some of the best dad moments that you had? my gosh, there's so many. Have you seen those videos where like dads just have that angst thing to catch their kids when they're about to fall and everything? Did you ever have one of those moments where you just go... I chased my daughter all the way down the stairs and just could not. It was like this far away from catching her. You her? She fell? Yeah, I couldn't catch her. Gosh. ⁓ And know, it was... scary moment, you know, of course, you know, kids just seem like they can recover from, you know, anything and she was fine after crying for a while, but I just remember I was chasing her down these stairs, you know, and I just couldn't get a hold of her, you know, and we were at my wife's grandparents one time for dinner and she fell and she, she teeth went through her bottom lip and we had to take her to the emergency room and get stitches. And, ⁓ my wife, I had to tell her, ⁓ go sit down over there. Cause she looked like she was going to pass out. ⁓ I'd, you know, having played sports and football and things and having, you know, having had injuries, nothing serious, but, those never really bothered me. You know, I had broken fingers and things and So when you see your kid like that, there's nothing you can do. That's very hard, you know, to watch that because I can't fix it. Which one of you two saw it first? Was it you or was it Brenda? Brenda. she came downstairs and got me and says, we, and we had been there like 15 minutes. ⁓ have to go to the emergency room. ⁓ of course we went out. So I, I stood with her while they stitched her up, you know, and of course they give her the shot of no cane in the lip and she's screaming. then I go, so tough, you know, I kept telling her you're tough. But you was mostly for you. ⁓ then after it went numb, she goes, dad, it doesn't even hurt. I'm so tough. And I'm like, yeah, you are, you know, just like your dad. But you know, one of the things I'll tell you that's great about ⁓ my family, you know, and we live close to them. So it's not that my family wouldn't be, my parents have been in Arizona, I've been in Nebraska, but my wife's family is very close. And so we have a lot of family gatherings. Every Sunday night we have dinner there's something going on where they can't. But usually everybody comes and you get to know your brother-in-law as well and your nieces and nephews. And I think that's been a great thing for our family. And I my credit to my in-laws for, you know, they're They've created that bond in their family. I see that in my daughters with each other. And I think they've learned from their grandparents example ⁓ the fact that we went, you know, we always went. I think they've gotten closer and they have that bond and they want that. ⁓ They to be close like that. So I think that's good. Your family get together like that, have those gatherings. So it was a little tougher for my family because we... We all lived separate like in different places. I mean, for the longest time I lived in Mexico and would always get together for Christmas. Christmas was like the family time and everybody came together and everything. But I mean, as you get older and everybody, you know, starts getting their families, I think everybody just started going their own separate ways. But we still try to, you know, always have those little family gatherings here and there. is not as soft thing as you would like to, but it's always good to have that bond with the family. ⁓ think it's tough sometimes when you don't have any family members around. So being close is always a great time. know, the one thing I learned is when my parents lived in Arizona and I was in college in Fremont. I learned to take care of some things on my own that I couldn't rely on my mom and dad to do. And that helped me, think, grow up. It wasn't always fun, but had to learn to take care of some things ⁓ I couldn't put it on anybody else. So going back to your childhood again, or maybe it's even now, I hope it's not now because you go to my daughter to get your hair done, but any bad hair moments, any bad haircuts? Now when I was a kid, I think that the last time I had a bad haircut, ⁓ was an accident. So so I was telling you that I used to work construction during the summers, right? During my high school, my high school I used to work construction during the summers. And one time it was it was just a day. I I got pulled over that day for you know, going a little too fast on my way to work. then that ⁓ day we were working on up a wall, putting up wallpaper in a restaurant and you to put glue on the wall before you put up the wallpaper or the, you know, the plastic and We only had like a two foot, three foot ladder and it was a pretty big wall. So I was stretching as far as I could with that brush to put up the glue. in one of those stretches, I got too close to the wall. So my head got stuck to the wall. So had, I had this super strong glue in my hair. ⁓ And that when you started using gel? No, ⁓ And had to go get a haircut immediately and the guy was just like, hey listen I can't do a lot because it's really in your hair so let's cut as much as we can off and then we'll just save it later on I mean my hair grows really fast so I mean two weeks later I was back at the barber shop you know fixing the haircut that I got but I think that was the worst haircut That was hard for you because your hair is important. Oh, yes, you have no clue when I went to the military and they had to shave it off. It was the worst moment of my life. know, when I was kid, I think up until we were, I don't want to say like seventh grade, we go out on the porch and my dad would take the clippers and give us a buzz cut. Oh, really? And I'd cry, know, and I'd take a hat and I'd wear a hat everywhere because I hated it. And then my mom finally said, no more of this, they can wear their hair however they want. And then I went through just a few years later where the long hair came in style. And of course, you know, in style, so you want to be that guy. And so try and grow my hair out. Well, my hair gets, it gets longer, it's really curly ⁓ wavy. And my would get so long and then it curled back up. And so it looked so stupid, but everybody had long hair. So, you know, I was trying to wear it like that. And my wife ⁓ her mother were going through pictures with my mom for our slideshow at our wedding, they have this picture where my hair is all curled up like that. And they're all laughing so hard. Where's picture at? Yeah. ⁓ We to see it. Yeah. No, we don't. And I said, do not put that in the slideshow. Yeah. Guess they did? Put it in the slasher. Yeah, and everybody at our wedding reception is dying because they're laughing at my hair, which you know what? It still bothered me, you know, that why'd we put this in there? You know, I'm going to reach out to Brenda. Maybe she has a picture. Yeah, I bet she does. And yeah, I don't want to see that show up in anything on Dears, but... It's going to be your birthday post. You know, it's all about looking cool. Did you have any failed attempts at looking cool? Failed attempts at looking cool? You thought, boy, this is cool, I'm doing it. And then you go, yeah, that was the dumbest thing I ever did. Now, I don't think I was not much of a trendy person. So I never, I think I've always done like classic haircut style and, you know, clothing wise, I'm always a very, as long as it doesn't look bad. And I was never wearing any trendy clothes. So I don't think I've ever tried anything. Well, it's still hard to get you to wear a shirt that's not black or gray or some neutral color. no, it's, yeah, I'm not, I'm not that far out into the color scheme. So no, I don't think so. How about you? You know, the only thing I can think of besides the hair deal, which was bad, when I was in college, there was a point where the suspenders came back in a little, but they weren't the wide ones. They were thin. You that The good thing back then is, you I worked out like six days a week because I was playing college football. so, you know, I was built a little different. And so, you know, when you're built, you know, and you're in good shape. Tony was built like a tank back in the day. Yeah. Yeah. Those days are gone. I looked like a broken down tank now, but back then, you know, you can almost wear anything. And if you're muscular, look pretty decent. Yeah. I remember I was at a party and I got these, now the pants were cool. I probably shouldn't have wore the suspenders with them, but I had like this line. it was a yellow, a real fluorescent kind of yellow. I these green pants on, which were cool pants. Oh heck yeah. But I had the suspenders on with them and I didn't even do it on purpose, but this is how cheap the shirt was. The sleeves would roll up on its own. So it looked like I'd rolled them up to show off the guns. But, you know, I look at that and I go, Yeah, that was kind of one of those outfits I don't know that I'd wear again. I don't know if I did wear it after that. you know what? Now that I remember, I think the one that I did do that I thought I looked fantastic. I wore for prom which wasn't bad but looking at the pictures now I was like ⁓ my gosh that's it like that fluorescent orange tuxedo like they dumb and dumb? ⁓ no no not that bad not that bad I had two proms because ⁓ I ⁓ out this girl that would was to a different school so I went to mine and I went to hers and she made wear this it's a black sucks jacket but the vest and everything was pink. That must be why you like those pink golf balls. Oh yeah. Yep. Started way back then. It trauma from that day. How about back in your day in high school, things that you did that you look back on and go, yeah don't know why I was doing that. I saw the mustache. Oh my gosh, the mustache. Yeah, not growing that again. You know, Cheech off of Cheech and Chum? Yeah. You kind of look like Cheech a little bit. Yeah, don't go looking for those pictures, guys. You showed me that picture. Yeah. Oh my gosh. No, I don't think back in high school I was... Can't think of anything. You know, I don't... And I'm trying to think back and I think probably really close friends, which we moved quite a bit in my school years. And I don't, you know, there's that point where, you know, I didn't grow up with these guys, so I'm not there close. You know, they had stories about when they were kids. I have that with them. I was kind of jealous of that, but I don't really know if my true personality came out ⁓ back then, know, cause you always thought I have to be cool. I want them to like me. so I don't know that, you know, I know you don't think I'm humorous, but I've always had that part of me. ⁓ I don't know how many people got to see that because, you know, gotta be cool. Yeah. And I don't think that side of me came out as much. ⁓ You I don't, during high school, I didn't do many extracurricular activities. So I think only The only sport I did throughout high school was soccer. And I did that from freshman year to junior year. And in junior year, I stopped playing because I started working. And now, looking back at it, I guess the thing that I would have liked to do was just have more fun throughout my high school career and just do more activities. I would have loved to finish out my soccer career in high school, which I didn't go to. I didn't play soccer in college either. So, but it would have been fun. know, that having getting to play college football was one of my dreams and I loved it. And so I was appreciative of being able to do those things, but you know, we didn't have a lot of money and so I had to work and I was hard to balance, you know, between. work and ⁓ those kinds of things because that can take a lot of time, know, when you throw in the weightlifting and then camps and things you go to. But something I still look back on, you know, proudly that I got to do that and that it went well. And ⁓ I'm appreciative of all the people I met doing it. So let's talk about real life struggles. What kind of things stress you out? Because I don't see you get stressed too often. You know, lot of people think that, a lot of people think that I don't get stressed. I do get stressed. I just don't show it a lot. I try not to let things get to me quite often. I think it's very hard for people to get under my skin or, you know, just for me to react. it takes a lot. So I try to stay calm, try to stay cool. ⁓ And of the time I'm very positive. I'm always, you know, trying to have people see a better version of myself and you know so they can bring out a better version of themselves as well. kind of things stress you the most? That's hard. Money. Money is a very, I mean, money is always stressful. Yeah, you're right. ⁓ is always a stress, especially when you're starting out your life and doing everything. And I think that I'm the type of person that just wants everything to happen all at once. And it me out when I can't get that to happen. So, you know, having to ⁓ do things by little. to not spend as much money and to do all that, that kind of stresses me out. You know, I think, you as you get older, you get into adulthood and one of my, you know, when you grow up and you don't have a lot of money, know, and you watch your parents struggle with some of those things. I always wanted to, you know, part of getting an education and getting career is. I didn't want to have to worry about how I was going to pay my electric bill, how I was going to pay for the house, the rent or the mortgage. I just didn't want to have to worry about those things. And so I think, for the most part, those kinds of things didn't stress us because we knew we could pay our bills. The hard part is when you get something unexpected like, hey, your heating and air conditioner went out. Oh yeah, that's how expensive. In the higher priced items. Because when your teachers, like we were, You know, we don't have a lot of cash on hand or something like that happens. And so you find out besides just paying bills, you're going to have that, you know, savings. Yeah. We can put this on payment that we can afford with our budget. So I, I don't know that money was as much of a stress thing. I think one over the years. And I think even, you know, when I was in school and playing sports, And even as a coach, of the things that stressed me was fear of failure. I was, you know, when you move like we did, I was always afraid if I wasn't good at this, would the other kids like me, you know, would they be my friends just knowing me or ⁓ is because I'm good at this? And I that motivated me. I think it be a motivator to. And then ⁓ also when was coaching, You know, cause I know you, I'm sure you've ran into somebody going, yeah, he was mean. I was, I was afraid to fail. Yeah. And sometimes that stress, you know, people don't see it as stress. They see it as that's your personality. but you know, I think I'm a nice guy. think I'm a good guy. but sometimes that gets the best of you ⁓ and ⁓ it to over. And, and so I don't like that. And even now I have a hard time not being somebody who's, you know, just like this, I want it to be successful. That fear of failure bothers me. I've never been somebody who handles failure very well. And so I would say that's a stressful thing for me, you know, and at 60 some years old, should I worry, be worried about it? Yeah, I don't know, you know, but it's just kind of who I am. I think that, I mean, that just comes with you. You like to do things correctly and you like everything to work out. So fear of failure is a very normal thing for many people to feel. And there's really no way to overcome it other than to just say, you know what, let just, what was the one saying? God take the wheel. You know, and I think the other, I think I got this from my dad. put your head down and go to work. know, and, ⁓ I think that's been me for a long time. I think I work hard at what I do and I take pride in it. And that's the other part of that. That the pride me is that people go, that guy does a good job. I think it kill me to hear somebody go, what a terrible employee. guy doesn't work hard. He's lazy. He doesn't care about this. that bothered me more than the pay. But I've always, the other thing I think when you do that, I'm not afraid of going to do something else because I know I'm going to work hard at it. And when I was retiring from the school, my wife's like, oh my gosh, what are we going to do? And I said, well, number one, you get a pension. So it's not like I'm not getting any money. We have a retirement pension. And I can do this. I can go here and do this. Tony, you've never sold cars. I go, yeah, but I'll be good at it. And she's like, do you really know that? said, yes. And I think that drives me. don't she was doubting me. It's just the fear of a change. when you left the school and you ⁓ decided to done, did you feel a little lost? Because you had been doing that for a long time. Did you feel that sense of, ⁓ my gosh, what am I doing? You know, it's funny, had somebody tell me years ago, I got West Nile, I got really sick and changed a lot of things. My immune system, ⁓ now catch everything. And I became a diabetic, ⁓ you know, when, when I had West Nile, my adrenal glands shut down and they had to give me three steroids to do what my adrenal glands do. number one, I like 50 pounds. so I I was chotoed, was really hard for me because I'd always been in good shape and I was still lifting at that point. But I on all this weight ⁓ and I really, I mean, I could have ate every second those steroids were so strong, I was hungry nonstop. And so, with that, becoming a diabetic ⁓ and having through that and then I was getting sick more often, I had a teacher or a counselor At the school, she came and talked to me and said, I never think about getting out of football. And not being a coach and just taking care of yourself. And I said, you know, I don't really know who I am without that. You know, it's always been a part of my life as a player, you know, and then as coach and, I'd been doing it for so many years and I loved it. And, ⁓ I said, I just don't know who I am without that. I had a fear of that. Now, when I got to retirement, you know, I'd always been in the school system, you know, again, you go clear back, I was a student and I went to college and then I come out and I'm a teacher. so, know, when I was a teacher and coach, which were great years of my life, but when I hit that retirement age, it was different then. was, I'm ready for a change, ⁓ you know? And I think one of the great things about the country we live in. You can go do anything you want. And again, I've told kids and other people, you just have to be willing to work hard enough. And so I've never had a fear of changing professions. The fear is more, I'm going to miss this. And I had some of that. I'd been in the school for 32 years. so you have that fear of, am I going to miss this? And when I first started here, Brandon wanted me to go do things with the schools, like what we're doing now. And I said no, because I was afraid if I was still going that I'd miss it. I said, no, just sell cars. And I was at that point too. I just wanted to worry about me. I don't have to worry about anybody else. I just want to meet, take care of me. ⁓ know, of course that changed again, cause Tony can't say no. And I, and I really enjoy what we're doing, but you know, ⁓ again, you have responsibilities now for others, but yeah, ⁓ been good. You know, there's things you miss, but I you find that somewhere else. Yeah, and I think that ⁓ man, there's things that you keep to yourself sometimes and that bothers you a lot. And you you more anybody here or more than me, I guess you more than me should know that you were teaching young men, right? And did you a lot of those struggles? What year were you born? I was born in 1999. Yeah, I'd been teaching for 11 years. Man, look at that. Yeah. So you saw a lot of young men and you were teaching them. And did you notice how the struggles that they went through as them feeling they couldn't talk to other people about what they were going through? You know, I have a lot of great memories of big games. state titles, you know, and some of my coaching and, you know, the things you remember the most are those relationships. And I had a young man whose mother passed away from cancer and he would come into my room and sit and talk to me and just cry. which is really hard, you know, I don't have answers for those things, but I can listen. And, know, when he graduated, He's supposed to be up there already. And it's like 10 minutes and I'm telling my wife, we got to go and got the daughter in the car seat. And he comes flying in my driveway, gets out in his cap and gown, comes up and hugs me, you know, and he says, I'm going to miss you. And I go, you know, tough guy. can't, can't get choked up in front of him. I'm like, get up, get up to where you're supposed to be. You're supposed to be up there. And so when my wife comes out, you know, I got tears running down my cheeks and she was like, I'm like, I told you, I can't handle being late. you know, I remember those things probably more just because, you know, he trusted me ⁓ and came to me at a time that's really hard in his life. And, you he in me shared a lot of things that were really hard. And when you, you know, I have a lot of those stories ⁓ and I'm probably more proud of those, you know, at a young man who I got really close to, whose folks went through divorce and I noticed something was wrong. And, you know, he stayed and talked to me for a long time. Again, I don't have the answers for that, but I can listen, you know, and I can try and help. And, you know, but I got really close to him and, and those are, those are special things that a check doesn't show, but you take that with you, you know, and And so there's great moments there that, you know, always have with me. You got a lot of mental pressure to be dealing with all that by yourself. So we're to do a little rapid fire. Yeah. Latino culture. OK. Yeah. Because I don't know a lot of these things. So cookouts. So we have barbecues. We are carne asada. Yeah. And so I'm sure. Are we barbecuing the same things? Stakes, hot dogs, ⁓ No. No, you're not doing the same things. carne asada is a strip of ⁓ basically, but it's cut very thin and you just lay it out on the grill and then you ⁓ it and it's well So it's not medium well, medium rare, none of that, just well done. And then, well, I'm sure you had it in tacos, just chop it up and make tacos out of it. But carne asada, it's a big... Mexico or a cool Hispanic thing. We make ribs sometimes, but you know, thin ribs, just like the little bone and stuff. We use a lot of spice. Yes. I don't think, I mean, not everything that we cook is spicy. It's left to everybody's interpretation, know, spice level. But I... Definitely love the spicy stuff. Did you grow up eating spicy things? No, no I didn't. I did not like spicy stuff. And out of my family, I mean one side of my family loves, loves the spicy ⁓ And the other side loves it, but not that we're older, it's not as much. But yeah, ⁓ the spicy stuff now. Music at your family gathering. music at my family gathering. Boys, Bee Gees. Definitely not those. in the Mexican culture, music is dependent on the region that you're from. Because Mexico is a country and it has lot of different tastes in music and culture and everything. So I got to listen to a lot of different stuff than somebody in the city would. because I was, ⁓ r- I was raised in like central west Mexico or like west coast Mexico. it was, it was a lot different than, you know, somebody up ⁓ closer the border would, would- Now what kind of genre would you call that? Well, overall, ⁓ It's not pop, it's not hip-pop. no. ⁓ in, in Spanish it's called regional mexicano, which is just a certain type of- general generalized version of Mexican music that covers a lot of different types and styles, but you know, it's I not explain it to be honest with you Did you ever have to translate for your parents all the time? so when got to the US I got to the US when I was about nine years old and I started to elementary school and I had I didn't know a single word in English and After the first year of school, which was fourth grade, I believe, when I got here. After my first year of school, I understood English, but I didn't speak English that well. But I became the translator for the school because back then people weren't really used to having ⁓ Spanish speaking ⁓ kids in school. So my school didn't have a translator. I was a translator. So every time somebody would go, like a mom would go into the school office and ask to, you know, have their kid for a dentist appointment or anything. I'd be the one that was translating. So they would call me over to the intercom and be like, Fernando, come down here. So any funny cultural misunderstanding? funny cultural misunderstandings. I think that one of the funniest things that ⁓ can think of, maybe it's not funny to everybody, but when somebody doesn't know English, especially like, you know, you're working here, right? ⁓ I'm thinking of like a gardener, you know, working and lawn services and stuff. You tell them something and they don't understand you, but they'll say yes. So you'll be speaking and you're like, oh yeah, yeah, did you do this? Did you do that? Did you do that? And then he'll be like, yes, yes. And just smile because we want, as a Hispanic culture, I think we work hard to make people happy and believe that we did a good job, whatever we're doing. So we just smile and say, yeah, and say, even if we don't know what you're talking about. So then that's, I guess, a funny thing that I can think of. So any Tony did what moments? Tony did what moments? did you do Tony? That's I'm asking. ⁓ You Tony did what? I don't have one for you either. No, I... How about old man complaints? Old man complaints? Nothing. Can't think of something. Young guy complaints, be on time. I thought you'd always want me to be on time. I'm like Fernando's dad, you know, ⁓ I'm 10 minutes early is on time. My father, ⁓ I it was 10 minutes. My father and I worked together for a season. So it was from like, I don't know, let's say June to November. We were working in a concrete company we would go to the same shop. So we would go to the shop every morning to jump the company truck and then we would go to wherever we have to work. We worked there for months and my father would get there 30 minutes early and just wait for them to open the door. I would get there right on time. So we would have to ride in different vehicles because my father would get mad at me. he would get anxious and would hate that. So he would ⁓ ride a different vehicle, even though we were going to the same place. Sounds like me. Rapid fire for you. Pineapple on pizza. Yes. Sometimes, sometimes I can handle it. Sometimes I just want plain Canadian. It's delicious. It can be. old school music. love Romantic You know a little slow song AC DC dude Little rock a quiet riot bang your head, you know some Def Leppard ZZ Top That's my ear buddy best fast food See I've never even had that no no I can't say that cuz I don't even I've never had that I love that I think was one of those things where Since I don't have it often, ⁓ it. But if we had it here, I wouldn't go that often. See, I'm a McDonald's guy. I like McDonald's ⁓ my wife does not. Sorry, McDonald's. Worst trends today. Man, there has been some terrible trends that kids do all the time. I wouldn't know what to tell you that the trend is right now. But I mean, if you think back a few years, years ago, Thai Pots, people were eating Thai Pots. That was ridiculous. Was that worst trend or stupid trend? Both. You know, and again, opinions. So I'm not saying anybody's wrong if they like these things. I'm just saying it's not me. Peppers face piercing. Oh, I just don't get it. Oh, you know and I've seen one the the worst one I've ever saw Somebody had a piercing in their nose and in their eyebrow and then they had a chain connecting it and if I'm sitting there thinking that's just a driving hazard Well, yeah, I'm thinking it drive me crazy that I got always seeing this line, you know, my sunglasses are dirty It drives me crazy. My father would disown me Tony dad would have yanked it out. ⁓ grandpa would have yanked it out. Yeah, that's that era. Hopefully after today, get little bit of, you get to know us better, understand some things, but it's just fun talking about things that we've gone through in our lives or we go through daily. But definitely have a working relationship. And ⁓ there'll be times you we're bantering, that's just part of who we are and you know if Fernando would just agree with me on everything I can't it would it would be fine you he can't agree with me on anything so not it's gonna wow yeah yeah it's not on camera I can tell you that so ever but thanks for being with us today on pit stop next week we'll announce who our next guest is gonna be and we'll have somebody on here that you get to listen to besides the auto amigos Thank you for joining us. I hope that you like to listen to a little bit of our story and how we get along. I think today we went up through, we went through the ups and downs of life and the auto amigos and their backstory. So I hope you liked it. ⁓ hope we get to see you next time. Don't forget to follow us on all the platforms wherever listen to your ⁓ favorite and keep following our social media. Turn on the notification settings. So every time you get, ⁓ so every time we post something, you get a notification and you can just jump right in. Remember, following us gets you cash. So make sure you always have that on. We are about to do, find us this tomorrow, Friday here in downtown Fremont. So we're at every Friday. Yeah, we do that every Friday. So make sure you always tune in and make sure you're keeping up with our stories. Yeah. Until next time, take care of yourself and each other. Have fun.