Pamela 0:09

You're listening to premeditated opinions because yes, we thought about it, and then we said it anyway. I'm Pamela.

Josh 0:16

And I'm Josh, and we are two people who somehow share a brain and decided to weaponize our brains with microphones. Each week, we unpack anything, from politics and religion to carpool dread and everything in between.

Pamela 0:29

You know, it would really help us a lot if you followed us on Instagram and YouTube. Giving us a like and a follow is probably the best thing your thumbs will do today.

Josh 0:38

We are not experts. We are just way too confident in our own opinions. With all that being said, let's get started. Hey everybody, we're back. Everything's fine. Everything's fine.

Pamela 0:49

Yes.

Josh 0:49

We're fine. How are you? Are you good?

Pamela 0:53

Everything is very fine, actually.

Josh 0:54

Yeah. In fact, it's quite fine. Yeah. Excessively fine. We we are we are in a very good place in a lot of ways, but we had to take a brief pause and we want to explain it to you, and we want to kind of let you in on some things that are coming down the pipe that will be slightly different, at least for a season. Because despite what you may believe, despite the wild success of this podcast, we thanks to all three of you.

Pamela 1:23

Right.

Josh 1:23

We are we we have jobs um that we have to do.

Pamela 1:27

Like actual 40-hour a week jobs now.

Josh 1:30

Sometimes more.

Pamela 1:31

And well, you've always kind of had one.

Josh 1:33

Yeah.

Pamela 1:34

And I've just always been like, hey, hey, hey, let's do this. Hey, hey. And you're like, now you see what it's like.

Josh 1:42

No, no. I I it has all been fine. But we we've had a lot of life change in the last few months, especially. Um, and so we wanted to loop you in because we want to keep you up to date on what's going on with us and uh give you an idea of what to expect moving forward because we have no interest in not doing this anymore. We just are in a position where a little bit of an updated format is gonna help us for a little while, and then that's going to improve uh and probably change again in the summer. But let's do the life update first, and then we'll talk about a little bit of how the podcast will shift as far as schedules and stuff. So would you like to go first? Sure. Because you had some big old stuff changed right around the first of the year, and I'll let you say as much as you feel like uh uh about that. So so give us the play-by-play. What happened in January?

Pamela 2:29

Uh, in January, I got a 40-hour week contract. Huzzah! Well done. So um, it's project management, which I enjoy. Um, I'm more like a data person, like that's kind of more my jam. But this opportunity came up. Um, this particular team really needed somebody to kind of whip them into shape. So that's what I've been doing for these first three months, and then my contract just got extended through Thanksgiving.

Josh 3:00

Yeah.

Pamela 3:01

Um, but I do anticipate it kind of continuing on. So but yeah, uh, unfortunately, um, when I work 40 hours a week, that's more than just 40 hours a week. Like I I I just zone in and yeah. Um, so and it's just made it a little difficult, like when all your energy goes into your day job, and then it there's just nothing left, kind of at the end of the day. And so um, and unfortunately, you know, we live on opposite sides of the city, so it's not like we could just kind of pop in and do this real quick. Um, and someone is all picky about production and doesn't want to just do riverside, so I'm I I've definitely am changing my mind there a lot.

Josh 3:48

Like that's that's probably gonna shift.

Pamela 3:50

But you're because we really like doing this, and so like we took a break, but just because I was going through the change. Not that change, not yet. Um and then you went through a change, I did, and we'll talk about that. Um, and it just kind of came down to like we just didn't have time at the time. We needed to see what our new routines were gonna be like.

Josh 4:19

Absolutely.

Pamela 4:20

And so we were just like, we just kind of put things on pause for a minute, and then like I think we were both at messaged you, and I think we were both like, hey, um, we kind of miss it. Like, can we can we just record something? Like, can we figure this out? So here we are.

Josh 4:35

Yeah. All of that is absolutely accurate. We are we're committed to this. We want to, we want to keep doing it. And in fact, we have some pretty cool ideas about what we want it to be in the future. Yeah. Um, and it's just gonna require it required a little bit of us understanding what our realistic bandwidth was. Um and you know, you so you had a a big change in January. Uh I do want to clarify for the ladies and gentlemen, though. So you we've talked about your professional background a little bit, but I think your path to like the project management sort of role wasn't necessarily linear. Like you when you came out of school, you were trying to do something completely different. And then you kind of evolved into project management. But knowing you and knowing your personality and your skill set and all that, and and to anyone who's listening who's known her for four seconds, you're like, oh yeah, she's great at that. She's obviously that's something she should do. Um, and so what was kind of that path, just in in a handful of words, what what was sort of the path that got you to project management from being sort of a data analytics person? How are those two connected?

Pamela 5:35

Um, and I know we've kind of talked about my background before, but you know, I originally was just, you know, when I was in college, I really just did not know what I wanted to do. And it was a matter of like, if I'm gonna have tens of thousands of dollars in student loans, like I got to be able to come out of that, being able to pay those off. So I took a business trajectory. Um, unfortunately, I went for finance, um not knowing that the banks were going to collapse as right before I graduated. Right. Um, and so yeah, that pivoted me actually into projects. Um, it's funny though, because I didn't realize that's what was happening at the time. It was just, you know, working for a big organization, there's constant change, especially in healthcare and insurance. Um, things change so fast, and you're just like, you're gonna be on this team now. You're gonna report to this person, you're gonna be in this building now, you're gonna work with these people, and so you're just you're wherever the work is.

Josh 6:39

Yeah.

Pamela 6:40

And so I do remember though, really enjoying working on projects. Um so I've always been in that space as a business analyst, as a data analyst. Um, and then at one point we were moving down here and I had to make another pivot. Well, I also just graduated with my master's degree in data analytics. So again, trying to stay in that data space, um, but always kind of defaulting back to projects. So um, yeah, I was in project management. I got a I got a consulting role in project management when we moved down here, loved it, and then um was off work for about a year and change until early this year. Um and that kind of it was one of those like I'd love to have work, but like I was also kind of seeing the creative side of things. That's where this came into play. It's like, okay, let me let me see what else I can do outside of the things that you know that I was in school for and that I I'd always done. Like maybe I've got talents elsewhere. Yeah, clearly, I still need to default back to project management, but it's fine. Well, it's hard to replace like full throttle, like but and the good thing about this role now that I'm in, yes, I am a project manager, but it's so much more than that. You know, like I'm not just managing projects, I am also providing content and doing you know, slide decks and contributing to the team in other ways than just basic project management. And I just had this conversation with somebody recently. You know, there is a difference in project management between like construction type projects and like tech projects, they're very, very different. Um, and I really do think that in tech project management, you really do there are skills that you need to be able to do to be really effective as a project manager outside of just project management skills. Yeah, yeah, you know, like you've got to be able to contribute to your team when things hit the fan and you know, somebody gets another job or things change. Like you need to be able to step in sometimes to some of those roles. Some of the roles. Like, obviously, I can't be a developer, but there are other ways that I can contribute. So anyway, yeah, no, that's really cool.

Josh 9:14

I I I I know it was a huge deal when that whole thing started. I know that it was you know provided some some relief and a little bit of of stability for a season, and and that's that's huge. And I know that has been a real relief.

Pamela 9:29

Yeah, and I mean it's like I I was looking for work, I didn't feel like I needed it, but I also was like, if I'm going to go back to a 40-hour week gig, I was very picky about what I was gonna do. And so I this is a 1099 role for me, which I personally love. Like I really think that I thrive more when I'm kind of I've got a little bit of a layer in between, like some independence. And I feel like it helps me actually like kind of manage and control things differently than if I'm reporting to someone within the organization and then all the politics that come with that, like it just it kind of removes a lot of that, and I feel like I could just be a lot more effective and move a lot faster when I'm not stuck in some of this bureaucracy and stuff.

Josh 10:23

So yeah, well, I just jumped into the bureaucracy, that's what I think. Yeah, you did, but but it's also kind of cool how it came about.

Pamela 10:31

Yeah, yeah, and you know, I think that there's a time and a place for people like to flip back and forth between entrepreneurship, contract work, consulting, corporate life, like and this was a really good opportunity for you, and you know, it you already knew like the adjustment it was gonna be from owning your own business and calling the shots and all the things for almost 10 years to now you get the political landscape with it.

Josh 11:03

Yeah. So I for the last 10 years, I have um been one of the owners. Uh I was the the founder, and then eventually I brought on business partners, but I was one of the owners of a creative media company that um did a lot of great work for some household name clients that I'm really proud of. And we produced video film and live events for clients of all shapes and sizes, and um it that that business was good to me. I mean, I I got to travel to some very cool places, I got to do some very cool work. Um, you know, I look back very, very fondly, and me making a change was not born out of unhappiness. It wasn't like I am I'm mad and I'm upset and I'm miserable and so I'm gonna go find something else. Yeah things were just kind of moving right along as usual. And then uh a friend of mine who worked for uh works present tense works for a company uh in Dallas that that is a larger creative media company um than what I was a part of. They were trying to hire essentially a business development position. And it started off in life as kind of you know more of an account executive, and then it evolved pretty quickly after some early conversations into more of a business development role. And so uh yeah, I the the conversations started way back in November of 25 and and took about four months to really completely settle. Um and that whole time I was sort of waiting for it to unravel. I was sort of waiting for something to go sideways, and you know, we weren't gonna be able to come to terms on you know, payroll or whatever. Like I just I just sort of assumed that it wasn't going to work. And I think that was me trying to not just protect my own expectations and and sanity, but I also I really struggled in that season uh of like feeling like I really needed to keep my focus on my business, even though I was having these conversations with a whole other company. I don't know, something in me was just like, don't take your foot off the gas though. Like until you start this next game.

Pamela 13:08

Oh, absolutely, yeah.

Josh 13:10

Keep your foot on the gas.

Pamela 13:11

Well, and then it was like I feel like this happened to everybody. It's like once we had the election, then everybody started coming out of the woodwork of like, hey, what are you doing? What you got going on? Hey, I could we need we're hiring, we're doing all these things. It's like, y'all, like we've been available. Well, maybe not so much you, but me. I'm like, and a couple other people I know were like, you wait till the 11th hour to like, okay. Um, no, I remember yours was very um organic. It was kind of like, oh yeah, I was talking to my buddy about this, and you know, he works for this organization, and oh, they're kind of looking for people, but it was like you were weren't looking for anything, like this was just kind of it, you just I saw I watched it evolve into like, oh well, now he wants me to talk to this person, so I'm gonna have a conversation with them, and then it was just kind of one thing after another, and then it like you and I had several conversations about it, yep, of like and I'm the person who I'm very skeptical, and I'm gonna ask you everything that can go wrong and what you're gonna do about it.

Josh 14:17

Yeah, which is helpful though. Yeah, it's helpful.

Pamela 14:20

It's like okay, if this if this happens, what then? If this happens, what then? Like, yeah, and making sure like okay, no commitments until everything's kind of in writing and and all of that, and you had some big conversations you had to have that yeah, I know were stressful.

Josh 14:39

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's you know, I've I've had um uh uh one business partner for several years, since about 2018-ish. And then we brought on a second business partner um i uh about a year and a half ago or so. And you know, yeah, telling them what was going on was one of the harder conversations I've had in the last 10 years. Oh, I remember like I was I I I worked so hard at at trying to get that right, but I couldn't even I couldn't really define for you what right even meant. Like it just I I could tell you what wrong meant, but but but I couldn't really identify like this is the target I'm trying to hit. I just knew what targets I wanted to avoid, and so um you know that was that was tough.

Pamela 15:21

And and I I definitely I think that was the most stressful part for you.

Josh 15:25

Yeah, yeah, it was. I mean kind of breaking that nation. Yeah, it was, and and um, and they were very gracious about it and very accommodating and and continued to be throughout the whole process. And and then um, yeah, I the way that the schedule fell, um, I went ahead and wrapped up my um ownership stake in that business the the first day of my kids' spring break. And I had this whole pipe dream in my head of like, oh, I'm gonna have five days of just nothing, and I'm gonna it's gonna be fun and relaxing and and great. And uh then I was I was scheduled to start this new job the the following Monday. So I was gonna have a week in between. And man, just nothing that I try to do.

Pamela 16:09

I know, like everything kept falling apart, and like it's okay.

Josh 16:13

Like it just it was it ended up being fine, and and I I got what I needed out of that week one way or another, but it it was definitely a little bumpier than I expected.

Pamela 16:22

Yeah, um, yeah, because that was me, I got sick. Oh yeah, and then Logan got sick, uh-huh, and so that started spring break just off on the wrong foot. Yeah, it did. Um yeah, and then and then just people were canceling things on you, and and it was just kind of like, well, it wasn't my favorite, yeah.

Josh 16:42

It wasn't my favorite, but uh we we we got to the other side of it, and uh I started my new job uh so as of the recording of this right now. I started my new job six days ago. We're recording on a Sunday, um, and so yeah, this previous Monday. So I I've been there uh some total of five days uh and they still want me. So that's that's a win. Um they're they're still interested. I I am acclimating to a lot of things. Um you know the I knew that this was gonna be a different environment. I knew that it was gonna be um a a transition on a lot of levels, and I just I know that it was uh my favorite thing about that was when you were like, so I have an office. Yep.

Pamela 17:28

And they're asking me what art I want to put in my office. And you're like, and I'm not used to this.

Josh 17:35

Well, and so yes, that's very true. And I'll take it a step further. They were like, Yeah, um, like on my first day, we came in and I did all the usual stuff, the HR meetings, and then they had me meet with IT. Totally fine. Uh IT director's great guy, hit it off immediately. Um he's he's so young though. Sorry, total aside, he's very, he's obviously very intelligent and very skilled, but he's like 24. Um, but anyway, uh that's just the production industry. It gets young out there sometimes. But he uh he and I were meeting and talking, and he was like, Well, what kind of monitor setup do you want? And I was like, Well, what what do we got? Like, you know, like because he was issuing me a computer and you're like, I want a whole studio. I mean, kind of, but so finally at one point he he was like, Um, he's like, Well, I'll just order you one of the ultra wide ones. Like, how big of a monitor do you want? And I was like, I'll take the biggest one that you're willing to buy. And I was kind of joking. And this dude ordered a 45-inch monitor that is like curved, isn't it? Yes, it's a curved 45, it is massive. It's the size of my desk. Like, it's huge. I love it. But it was comically big. So that happened first, and then once so he they also ordered a TV. Oh, it it's it's it's huge. And then uh they also ordered an office chair for me because the ones that they kind of had around were just a little bit beat up and stuff, and so they very coolly were like, let's get you a fresh one. Like the everything around here is kind of torn up, and so um I picked one out and sent them a link. Well, the monitor and the chair came in at the same day, and so their IT director was like, Yeah, I'm gonna send somebody over there to to put it all together for you. And I was like, What?

Pamela 19:25

Like You've been your own IT for so long that you're just like, I could do it, but I could have someone else do it.

Josh 19:33

Exactly. That is that's to the letter what I thought.

Pamela 19:36

I was like, Of course it was, because twin brains.

Josh 19:40

But I was like, man, I I've been doing this myself for so long, and maybe I should let somebody else do it. That sounds great. Um, let's lean into the process.

Pamela 19:49

So and then he goes in the next day and he's like, no, this is all wrong. I'm just kidding.

Josh 19:54

No, it did move a bunch of stuff around, but that's fine. Uh but uh after it was assembled, I let the assembly happen and then I moved stuff. But yeah, I mean it's uh I will say that like I I'm acclimating to some of the cultural pieces of it, not because the culture is bad, it's just different. You know, yeah.

Pamela 20:11

Every culture is different.

Josh 20:12

Yeah, and and I'm I'm learning the the personalities and and roles and responsibilities and things like that. And um, I'm pretty happy with how this first week went. I I think that they it's funny, they sort of created this role for me. Um and it's it's a long story, it's not for today, but but they basically created this role for me. And what kind of makes me chuckle sometimes is like, oh, you guys don't entirely know what to do with me sometimes. Like, and that's fine. That's fine. Like, I'm totally okay with it. Uh, but it just I get this vibe sometimes that that it's like, should we invite Josh into this? We should probably invite Josh into this. Well, okay, but what what will we do if we invite him into this? But I don't know, but it seems like he should be in here. Like, yeah, I can tell those conversations are happening, but I'm thrilled with how it's all going. Um, I hope I'm there for a very long time. Um, and then yeah, so with all of that combined, we, ladies and gentlemen, dear gentle listener, um, we are going to make a a little bit of formatting change, uh, really starting today, starting now. Um, so our first one is we're gonna go to every two weeks. Um twice a month.

Pamela 21:22

For for a season. Yeah. Um, because we really enjoy doing this. And as soon as you put the la like announcement out, people are like, is everything okay?

Josh 21:33

Yeah.

Pamela 21:33

Like, um, and then I started getting like, I kind of miss you guys. Like, what are you doing? Like, it's what's going on. Like, they were trying not to be nosy, but they were just like they were like, I kind of miss hearing you. Like, and I was like, Yeah, I kind of miss doing this. So um, I'm also really bad about, and I'm sure y'all have probably already picked this up, like, I will pick up a project for six months and then something else happens and then that just falls away. So I didn't want that to happen. With this. Yeah. And we're right at the six months mark. So we are, yeah.

Josh 22:04

Yeah. So that's part of it. Um I am caving to the peer pressure from my co-host. Uh and we are going to do some of these remotely. It's good pressure. It's the right kind of pressure. You're right. You're absolutely right. We should have a lot of things. Of course I am.

Pamela 22:19

Duh.

Josh 22:21

I've said too much.

Pamela 22:22

Uh the they Do you see my head getting bigger? Uh-huh.

Josh 22:26

Yeah. That's all right. We'll we'll we'll figure that out. But uh we are gonna do some of these remotely because we do live on polar opposite sides of Dallas Fort Worth right now, and that's a little tricky. Um, so I am going to swallow my uh uh technology technological pride and and we're just gonna embrace the tools that we have available to us because we should. Yeah. Um and so some of these you'll you know that we're gonna do everything we can to maintain the audio and video recording quality that we have. Um, but you know, it might look a little bit different aesthetically uh for a brief season at least. Um and so yeah, those are the big announcements. We're gonna we're gonna kind of carry this format into the summer um and then reevaluate. Um we've we've got a lot of other change and transition in the summer, um, but that is something we will talk about down the road. Um but yeah, we've talked about some cool things. I I don't mind teasing a little bit, I don't go into details. But I mean, I think we do some of our best work when we're in interview formats. Yep. And so we're gonna lean into that. Uh we are just we're freaking fortunate, man. We know some cool people and um we want to bring them on and let you all hear from them and and experience the coolness that we get to see.

Pamela 23:40

We also want to accept suggestions if you want to be on.

Josh 23:43

Right, yeah, yeah.

Pamela 23:44

Please like reach out, yeah.

Josh 23:45

Tell us um bottles of tequila get you to the front of the line. Um, you know, well, it's not wrong.

Pamela 23:52

Um, we also want to bring some people back on. Um, you know, we've had Krista on twice. Uh, I want to bring Chandler. Absolutely. My friend Mike Chandler back.

Josh 24:00

Shout out to Mike. What's up, buddy?

Pamela 24:01

Yeah, he is starting a YouTube channel that you should follow. I'm gonna put it in the show notes. Sorry, Mike, like you're about to get more followers.

Josh 24:10

Yeah.

Pamela 24:10

Um yeah, so I want to have Mike back on. Um actually, so next month is Salesforce TDX conference. Um, and so you will probably be seeing Mike and I together in San Francisco.

Josh 24:26

Yeah.

Pamela 24:26

Um doing some I don't know, collaborating. And I mean, we're gonna be hanging out anyway. Um He's good people, yeah. So I'm excited about that. Um, yeah, the summer we've got vacation.

Josh 24:38

Mm-hmm. But what do we?

Pamela 24:40

I'm excited about that. So we may take y'all along with us on uh vacation.

Josh 24:45

Yeah.

Pamela 24:46

Um yeah, some other some other things coming up, and then and then we have some stories we want to tell.

Josh 24:52

Exactly. Yeah, and and we're I don't want to give away too much because I don't want to back us into a corner with it, but but one of the things that we're actively discussing is doing some things that are a little bit more storytelling and long form series. And so we are not starting another true crime podcast, so that's not the don't get your hopes out.

Pamela 25:10

It could end in true crime.

Josh 25:11

It could, yeah. My murder will be uh quite the subject of the podcast. But the what we're probably gonna do. You heard it here first, Ted. That's a joke.

Pamela 25:20

Yeah, no, great, yeah, or else something's gonna happen, and everybody's gonna look at me. That's how this always happens.

Josh 25:25

Exactly. Yeah, it's happened to you so much. It has.

Pamela 25:28

Yeah, so many people have died.

Josh 25:32

Yeah. So yeah, we we're gonna experiment with some longer form storytelling.

Pamela 25:37

We might cut that out.

Josh 25:39

I kind of like it. I'll cut it out. We're gonna experiment with some longer form storytelling. Uh probably not. And uh but we're we want to tell both some stories that that I hope are are are fun, lighthearted, and cool, and we want to dive into some stuff that hits a little bit more of the human part of just our existence and all of that. So I don't want to say more because I don't want to completely box us in.

Pamela 26:05

But exactly. Like we're still the very early stages of kind of um storyboarding some of that stuff, and just you know, again, right now, um we're just a little limited in accessibility right now, and we we want to do those a certain way, and um we're just not there yet. Um, but we will be.

Josh 26:29

Yeah, I totally agree. And so thank you for hanging in there with us. Um we really appreciate just y'all sticking around and staying subscribed and all of that. And if you're not subscribed in all the places, it's all the usual list, ladies and gentlemen. It is Substack, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook. What am I missing? Anyone? No, I'm not sure. I think that's it. Yeah, so uh yeah, we we're in all of those places. We would love if you smash the subscribe button on uh all of those various services. Um but for now we're gonna kind of tie this up. You will hear from us again in two weeks, um and which buys us a little bit of time. Um and then yeah, we're gonna carry this format into the summer and then we'll just reevaluate from there.

Pamela 27:10

So because there's a lot that goes into this, you know, it's it's not just recording, you know, then you gotta edit and then you gotta get marketing stuff put out and shorts and all the things, and and you know, it just it takes time, and it's time that unfortunately like we just don't have like we used to.

Josh 27:30

So and I think you and I are both wired similarly in that like if we're gonna do this, we want to do it well.

Pamela 27:35

Exactly.

Josh 27:36

Like, I don't want to mail it in on this. I uh you know, if we're gonna do something that's public facing like this, I I want to present as good as we can.

Pamela 27:43

Exactly. And I think that's what we figured out is kind of like, okay, um, you just have to tuck your pride away a little bit. Um, that it's not gonna be perfectly ex aesthetically pleasing. But we'll get back there.

Josh 27:59

Yeah. Thanks for hanging in there, everybody. We sure appreciate you. Um, do stick around. There is good content coming. We will be in your ear holes as much as possible.

Pamela 28:07

Yeah.

Josh 28:07

So yeah, thanks for joining us, and we'll see you in two weeks.

Pamela 28:12

Well, that's it for premeditated opinions, for the thoughts were fully baked and only mildly regrettable. If you enjoyed today's episode, congrats on having truly excellent taste and podcasting opinions. Following us on YouTube and Instagram is a quick and easy way to support us. So if you liked literally anything about today's episode, please like and subscribe.

Josh 28:34

Also, send this to someone who needs to feel seen, dragged, or both. We'll be back next week with more unsolicited insight and emotionally responsible spiraling. And until then, please stay hydrated and behave yourself in the comments. But if you don't, at least make us laugh.