Several Ways To Live In Mexico City: Recent Episodes
Nick Farr & Florian Posdziech
Home ownership, betting on the future, and organizing at work.
Duration: 1:22:57
- Nick Farr
- Mastodon
- Florian Posdziech
- Website
- GitHub
- Mastodon
- Auphonic Credits
Nick forgot to mention the reason bringing up the coffee shop story: In 2006, while working as a minimum wage Barista, two twentysomthings were trying to pitch him a no down payment mortgage. That’s when he realized there was something really wrong with the mortgage and housing market.
Did any of you get a good time for when Nick finished his story? Probably longer than 90 seconds.
Nick’s old apartment in Mexico City is an AirBNB: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/53845986
Nick is currently using a Pixel 7. Kristin has a Pixel 6. Raven has a Pixel 4.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slab_City,_California
Most of the population of the Grand Rapids Metro Area (https://censusreporter.org/profiles/31000US24340-grand-rapids-kentwood-mi-metro-area/) lives in an area a little bigger than the Saarland, each being slightly over 1 million people. The City of Grand Rapids has a population of about 195,000, similar to Saarbrucken’s 175,000.
nickfarr@chaos.social, brace@dpw.social
Nick and Florian talk Burning Man. Then Kathrin appears. They talk more Burning Man. Then Raven appears. More Burning Man follows.
Duration: 0:54:18
- Nick Farr
- Mastodon
- Florian Posdziech
- Website
- GitHub
- Mastodon
- Auphonic Credits
The OpenAI-generated summaries are so bad, we'd rather publish this episode without any shownotes. That's unless Nick manages to create them within 48 hours of Florian writing this text.
Duration: 0:55:05
- Nick Farr
- Mastodon
- Florian Posdziech
- Website
- GitHub
- Mastodon
- Auphonic Credits
- Shownotes
- Estella Tacos y Mezcal
- Adam Something
- Florian's band's concert dates
- Agrikulturfestival Freiburg
- Brückenaward Mannheim
- Behind the Bastards
- The Audit
- Well There's Your Problem
- Accuracy Third
- S06 E01
- S06 E02
- Jet Lag: The Game
Recorded in December 2022. Florian asked ChatGPT to provide some shownotes. But those were really boring, and so even though it was faster than what Nick provided (and more), we still won't use them.Enjoy our conversation from the past.
We realize that we haven't talked much since Nevada. But what happened in Nevada stays in Nevada. Nick took a boat to Europe, and Florian learns the trombone.
Duration: 1:07:41
- Nick Farr
- Mastodon
- Florian Posdziech
- Website
- GitHub
- Mastodon
- Auphonic Credits
- Shownotes (just a few links)
- Schilke ST30-YN
- Florian's (trumpet/trombone) teacher
Socialize nickfarr@chaos.social
flowfx@chaos.social
Recorded April 18 2022.
No shownotes, because of reasons.
Tell Nick that you miss him!
Settling into their post-pandemic reality, Florian and Nick talk all about sport and trains. All the trains. Trains in Germany. Trains in Poland and Serbia. Night trains. Train loops! And shockingly, unlike several previous episodes, this was not actually recorded on a train.
It's July 2020. Nico and Florian revisit the Tom Hanks situation in the rich parts of Mexico City. Afterwards they look ahead to Nico's imminent move to Germany.
Usually Nick writes something very witty here. Today not so much. Because Nick wasn't involved in the creation of this episode.
What podcast from two guys would be complete without talking about their other favorite podcasts? Or working from home? Or Burning Man? We cover all the cliche topics in this episode on top of weirder things like company-internal podcasts, binge writing show notes and two BIG pieces of news from our host.
Nick returns to his apartment in Mexico City and absolutely fails to eat any actual Mexican food. Florian absolutely fails to find any good beer in Germany. Plans about the future of the podcast are hatched in the draft.
A return to Spanish speaking countries and low quality audio! Florian (literally!) phones in from Mallorca to while Nick (metaphorically) phones it in while folding laundry. Talk of travels missed and travels made, including Nick's grand return to Mexico on his brand new Chilean passport by way of a Denver rehab facility. Finally: SEND US YOUR DRAFT IDEAS!
Even though we recorded this on the same day as the previously released one, we're releasing it several months later. Somehow, Nick knew this so there's a handy recap of the prior episode going into this one. We meet Nick's girlfriend from the nature center and hear a bit about his new life right after reminiscing about his old life...and the old version of this podcast.
Having covered Trains, we skip past Planes and move on to Automobiles while bringing you only mildly higher audio quality. Nick actually completely forgot about the long-awaited podcasting appointment, along with his microphone and laptop, so Florian goes with it and does a first ever podcast recording over Skype. Also guest starring: Nick's Mom.
Nothing says dystopian future podcast like calling in from a Satellite phone while riding cross-country trains in the USA. As you'll hear in the first few seconds, sound quality was not the first priority on this very remote edition of SW2L, where Nick talks all about saving the world through planting trees and riding trains while Florian tells us about the start of his burgeoning music career.
Coming out of the last super depressing episode, our guests pull off a livestreamed episode filled with beer, puns, discussion of food from a Spanish speaking country and the end of the world through catastrophic climate change.
CW/TW: Depression, Anxiety, Loneliness
Further removed from their source of Tacos, Mezcal and sunlight, Nick and Florian discuss their recent bouts with depression upon having returned to their respective places of origin. You will definitely not want to start listening to the podcast with this episode.
Nick and Florian put on their best holiday cheer for what is probably their most depressing podcast to date: How (Western) civilization will end. Because we wanted to cheer you up before the 35C3.
Naturally, it was taped at a Starbucks in an Airport.
In a return to their vaguely Mexican food related podcast past, our co-hosts and a special guest feast on Baden-Württemberg's finest....tacos. Warm up to the faint sounds of this past summer's World Cup as our hosts opine on the usual set of topics: Beer, Language, Food Authenticity and (Reverse) Culture Shock. Also, for the first time on the podcast, food orders are placed in three different languages.
What used to be a vaguely Mexican food related podcast is now a vaguely Air Cargo and Freight Hauling podcast. The lovely glass roof of the Frankfurt Airport Squaire shows you HOW LOW THOSE PLANES ARE FLYING OVERHEAD. You'll notice this point come up a lot as a jetlagged Nick meets a fresh-from-work Florian for their first face to face meeting since they both moved back to the countries they are citizens of. Also, for the first time on the podcast, Florian orders in his native language.
Recorded LIVE from the 18th Gulaschprogrammiernacht, using transcontinental "your mom joke technology" and enough callbacks to keep a field phone network busy, our intrepid hosts return from their six week hiatus with an all star cast of SW2L's best listeners! No Nerd topic was left behind, as the conversation drifted along topics as diverse as making music with Game Boys to the arcane process of compiling GPL software written by people who make money selling binaries. Our guests also discuss their experiences at the #GPN18.
Call the waaaambulance, because Florian and Nick ended up getting solidly burned by our special guest and Florian's wife: Kathrin. Between those sick burns, the happy couple reflects on their time in Mexico and what heading back to Germany will be like. Nick does his best to be inoffensive and horribly fails.
After taking care of some business from the brand new Mastodon account at Quentin, Florian and Nick get to talking about their favorite places in Mexico City. They both order shockingly non-Mexican dishes at Lalo. ticking off yet another mythical coffee filter recommendation.
The draft idea was "WTF Moments", and we delivered. So much so we even had to censor ourselves. Nick really wanted to talk about the good times, yet utterly failed in that while absolutely crushing the WTF draft. Florian shared some amusing automotive tales and reasons your German web concern should hire him.
Nick's parents are in town visiting and well...now we know why he's so talkative! Ignore the preface and enjoy Florian, Paul and Bridget as they gang up on poor "Nick-O-Laaaas" while conversationally meandering through racism, being immigrants, getting drafted and other topics having not so much to do with food or Mexico.
The Cyberwehr, sounds of buried rivers, afternoon urban silences and other things that may or may not exist depending on your point of view smashed right up against some of the most iconic and real sounds of Mexico City. As is customary, Nick goes conceptual while Florian keeps it so real, he has audio proof to back him up.
"These kinds of things are tattooed on the minds of the Mexican people," says Jahshua in our first episode where race, class and inequality are addressed head-on. While nothing so complex can be contained in a single podcast episode, many insights on how we arrived at today's Mexico come alive through the thoughts of Jahshua and Edgar in this very special episode of SW2L.
As you can hear from the first few seconds, this is not the typical SW2L. Recorded ON A BOAT in the "Little Venice of Mexico" where the flowers grow, Florian and Nick take a step back and let Jahshua and friends do pretty much all of the talking. Whether it's the origins of the ancient Xochimilcas, uncovering how Porfirio Diaz was a player or why Reggaeton is so popular today, our special guests have a little something for everyone.
In this "emergency podcast" episode, Nick and Florian reminisce about the upcoming episodes they just recorded and really stoked about! While there was no actual emergency, despite the unexpected downpour, the crew hopes this mold-breaking episode will help properly set the stage for the upcoming two-episode Xochimilco special!
Swapping tortillas for a few baskets of bread, Flo and Nick lose themselves catching up on all the things in this super episode! From addressing social media's questions to never quite answering why Mexico is a rich country, this episode runs through topics like a twenty course meal of appetizers.
Finally, our intrepid Güeros get around to recording in an actual taco restaurant! What a perfect preface for the "Why Mexico City rocks" draft. Florian sticks to the concrete reasons, while Nick rambles on with the conceptual before inviting some of the Quentin locals and employees to tell us what makes CDMX extra special.
Entrees were skipped after the team barely finished the suggested appetizer bowl at the Baseball themed seafood place called El Peladito. Fresh back from Germany and Michigan, Nick is not letting Florian get away with complaining about Mexican winters. Following up on the hopes and fears from the last episode, the good and the bad from the 34c3 is very carefully addressed.
Meeting at their favorite coffee bar, Nick and Florian go dark again. Collapsed buildings, buried, pre-columbian artifacts, and a world full of harassment. But Nick has a plan to make the world a better place.
[Apologies for the miserable audio quality. Hang in there! The next one will be better.]
A Japanese supermarket sets the stage for Nick and Florian to discuss the several ways to die in Mexico City. Florian also learns the real difference between Tequila and Mezcal.
Florian and Nick get lost in their "Only in Mexico" draft and almost completely forget to talk about their dinners, or the pie that Nick made (famous on Instagram). From taking a stab at the real meaning behind "ahorita" to why Mexicans rush onto collapsed buildings after earthquakes, our gourmands share what they find strange and unique about the raza cosmica.
Starting off with great Conchinita Pibil and finishing off with a ridiculously overcarbonated ale, Nick and Florian figure that perhaps two Gueros from different continents could eat their way to a good podcast.
This time around, our gourmandistas focus on the September 19th earthquake, Nick's role as a volunteer "Brigadista" in the Alvaro Obregon 286 building collapse and, as always, life in general in Mexico City and environs as experienced by two extranjeros.