Tea, Tillers, and Tangerines: Starting a Garden in Michigan

Flood And Garlic: A Backyard Disaster, a Bear on the Loose, and the Great Speaker Search

Mike and Nelson open with garden talk, but this is no ordinary planting update. Nelson goes the budget route this year, seven five-gallon buckets of peppers, tomatoes, and strawberries on a rental property where a raised bed didn't make sense. Mike, meanwhile, comes home from a work trip to find water shooting over his back fence and his garden underwater, the handiwork of a strange elderly neighbor trying to scare off four blackbirds with a water feature. The knock-on-the-door confrontation that follows is peak GoManDo: awkward, a little absurd, and somehow resolved within a couple of days.From there the guys cover the bear that's been wandering downstate Michigan, hopping expressways and beehives and racking up local social media fame, before settling into the small stuff that makes the show tick. Mike dials in his spearmint tea at 200 degrees, hands Nelson a bottle of Garlic Expressions from outside Toledo, and finally, gloriously, cancels SiriusXM after a customer-service nightmare. That cancellation kicks off a hunt for the right portable Bluetooth speaker, with Nelson steering Mike away from Sonos and toward JBL, Bose, or Soundcore based on hard-won barbershop experience.The back half turns personal and practical: the annual legal-guardianship paperwork for Mike's mom and the oddly memorable court worker who filed a glowing report, a meatball stew Mike has been living on for three days, the search for a new caretaker that finally landed on a reliable local, and a deep dive into what to read after the Peter Ash series wraps. Brandon Sanderson, Don Bentley, and Douglas Preston all make the list.Key Takeaways● Container gardening in buckets is a smart, low-cost way to test the waters when you're renting and not sure you'll stay.● A flooded garden traced back to a neighbor's water feature is a reminder that a calm knock on the door often beats a confrontation.● Tea temperature matters: Mike swears the jump from 175 to 200 degrees pulls noticeably more flavor.● Canceling subscriptions like SiriusXM and medical alert services can be a genuine ordeal, but worth the persistence.● For a stay-at-home speaker, skip the $500 flagships; Sonos leans on a glitchy Wi-Fi app, while Soundcore offers solid Bluetooth sound for less.● Annual legal guardianship requires fresh paperwork every year, so a good lawyer and a reliable local caretaker make all the difference.Timestamps00:00 - Bucket gardens, seven veggies, and keeping the chickens out01:16 - The flooded backyard and the strange neighbor next door05:49 - Renting, reeling it in, and the bear loose downstate08:16 - Spearmint tea at 200 degrees and a Garlic Expressions gift11:02 - Godzilla clips, canceling SiriusXM, and the portable speaker hunt16:03 - Yearly guardianship paperwork and the odd court worker19:42 - Meatball stew and the case for a good local butcher26:33 - Finding a new caretaker who actually works out28:48 - Life after Peter Ash: Bentley, Preston, and Brandon SandersonConnect● Website: https://www.gomando.com● Hosts: Mike and Nelson#GoManDo #PodcastLife #TravelPrep #LifeUpdates #EntrepreneurLife #ContainerGardening #BluetoothSpeakers #SiriusXM #GarlicExpressions #BrandonSanderson #Mistborn #PeterAsh #MichiganLifeThanks for watching!GoManDo is all about life's everyday moments — from cooking and travel to growing older and finding humor in the little things. Join us as we talk about life, share personal stories, and reflect on the good stuff that makes it all worth living.🎙️ New videos every Tuesday 📍 Subscribe to follow along: https://www.youtube.com/@RealGoManDo👇 Connect with us on social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GomandoLLCInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/gomando/Website: https://www.gomando.com

Gardening Wins, Cutting the Cord, and the Age of "Don't Know What to Believe"

Mike comes in riding a gardening high, and it's contagious. After a brutally long Michigan winter and a bad case of spring fever, he finally got everything in the ground: potatoes, onions already poking up, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, brussels sprouts, bubblegum petunias front and back, coleus down the side of the house, and three rows of rainbow sunflowers spaced twelve inches apart. He tilled twice, conditioned the beds, and fenced the whole thing off against the neighborhood rabbits. Nelson, meanwhile, reports the barber shop is picking up as the weather warms and the downtown Carlton foot traffic returns.From there the guys get practical about the slow bleed of monthly subscriptions. The plan for after the show: cancel two stray SiriusXM accounts and lean on YouTube Premium instead, with a side conversation about Amazon's new ad-free Prime Video tier and whether $4.99 a month or $45.99 a year is worth it. That spirals into honest talk about the cost of everyday life, the $80 "small" grocery run that's become the new normal, and Mike's bigger dream of spending six months a year somewhere warm with sand and palm trees while keeping the Michigan house as home base. The catch, as always, is his 94-year-old mom, who comes first, including a failed attempt to move her prescriptions to Amazon Pharmacy.The back half goes wider and a little heavier. A quick detour into Cuba, US aid, and the reforms underway leads to a riff on corruption being the name of the game everywhere, from small towns to whole countries. After a comedic rant about eyebrows and the wild world of stiletto nails and sculpted nail art, Mike lands on the thing he'd been wanting to say all episode: he doesn't know what to believe anymore. He and Nelson dig into misinformation, AI-generated content, doom scrolling, raising kids in a world that's never known life before the internet, and the new buzzword "slop." Plus a caretaker shuffle update and some brick-phone nostalgia to close it out.Key Takeaways● Gardening pays off in more than vegetables: the prep, the planting, and the time outside are doing as much for Mike as the harvest will.● Subscriptions quietly stack up. Auditing services like SiriusXM, YouTube Premium, and Amazon Prime can claw back real money.● The cost of ordinary life keeps climbing, and an $80 grocery run is now the floor, not the ceiling.● A snowbird retirement is doable, but keeping a home base matters for mail, banking, and Social Security logistics.● Family comes first: Mike's plans all bend around caring for his mom, including ditching Amazon Pharmacy when it couldn't carry her meds.● In the age of AI and misinformation, critical thinking and fact-checking are survival skills, especially for kids who've never known a world offline.Timestamps00:00 - Catching up: Nelson's shop and Mike's garden triumph04:29 - Cutting SiriusXM, switching to YouTube Premium, and the streaming squeeze07:00 - Amazon Prime ads and the $80 grocery run09:00 - The retirement plan: six months by the beach, six months home12:25 - Why Amazon Pharmacy failed for Mom13:45 - Cuba, US aid, and corruption everywhere17:30 - The caretaker shuffle and the great eyebrow and nail rant24:32 - Don't know what to believe: misinformation and AI29:48 - AI slop, canceling SiriusXM, and brick-phone nostalgiaConnect● Website: https://www.gomando.com● Hosts: Mike and Nelson

Toledo Museum, Hantavirus Scares, and the Eyebrow Rant

Mike and Nelson kick things off with a tea experiment, a fresh spearmint blend from Meijer steeped a full half hour ahead of time, still scalding when they raise the mugs. From there Nelson recaps the in-laws' visit from Florida, including a stop at the Toledo Museum of Art (currently mid-renovation through fall of 2027) and the Toledo Botanical Garden, complete with an artist village of pottery guilds and woodworkers. Mike, a Toledo regular thanks to his Indiana commute, raves about the museum and drops a tip on Tony Packo's, the famous Hungarian hot dog spot. The conversation drifts into real life: Mike's local pharmacy is closing, and today's post-show project is finally migrating his mom's prescriptions over to Amazon, a task that defeated him solo last week. They riff on a USA Today piece about a divided America, Cuba's communism fatigue, and a cruise ship hantavirus outbreak that has Mike convinced his post-Malaysia mystery illness from last year was the same untreatable kind of bug. He's also itching to plant, soil prepped, petunias waiting, but Michigan nights keep dipping too cold to pull the trigger. The back half gets fun. Mike pitches a charitable idea inspired by a TikTok creator who pays for lunches at struggling restaurants, wonders if their following can support something similar, and updates Nelson on his reading life: the Peter Ash series got back on track with The Runaway, while Barry Eisler's Tokyo-based assassin John Rain is testing his patience. Plans are taking shape to record a remote episode with his former Malaysia driver via Zoom. And finally, the rant: ladies, leave the eyebrows alone. Key Takeaways ● The Toledo Museum of Art is mid-renovation through fall 2027, but worth visiting even partially open ● Local pharmacies are quietly closing across small-town Michigan, pushing customers toward Amazon and CVS ● A hantavirus outbreak on a European cruise ship is renewing concerns about untreatable viral illnesses ● Slow travel still wins: Tokyo remains Mike's gold standard for cleanliness and respect ● A remote podcast episode with Mike's Malaysia driver is in the works ● Pet peeves of the week: aggressive eyebrow work and white toenails Timestamps 00:00 - The spearmint tea experiment and a scalding first sip 02:01 - Nelson's in-laws visit and the Toledo Museum of Art 02:51 - Tony Packo's, Hungarian hot dogs, and Toledo food spots 03:59 - Mother's Day, mom's mobility, and switching pharmacies to Amazon 05:20 - The Carlton pharmacy closing and what it means for small towns 07:30 - USA Today, a divided America, and Cuba's shifting future 09:30 - Garden prep, cold nights, and the Mother's Day planting rush 11:24 - The cruise ship hantavirus and untreatable viruses 14:17 - A TikTok charity idea and brainstorming local giveback 16:00 - Peter Ash, John Rain, and a remote episode from Malaysia 20:46 - Toledo Botanical Garden, zoos, and the eyebrow rant Connect ● Website: https://www.gomando.com ● Hosts: Mike and Nelson Hashtags #GoManDo #PodcastLife #TravelPrep #LifeUpdates #EntrepreneurLife #ToledoMuseumOfArt #SlowTravel #Tokyo #Gardening #Hantavirus #SmallTownLife #PodcastRant

IRS Jury Duty, Reverse Sear Steaks, and the Friday Traffic Meltdown

Nelson is back after a stress headache knocked him out for a week, and Mike picks up right where they left off: gardens going in, taxes raising eyebrows, and a kitchen experiment that might change his weeknight dinners forever. Mike walks through the planting push at his place, sunflower seeds in (the multi-colored five to six footers), onions and potatoes down, and a fresh three-tier planter on the way from Amazon to hold the herbs and scallions. The greenhouse run set him back over 300 bucks, another reminder that even dirt and seedlings are not immune to sticker shock.The legal and tax updates pile up. The second jury duty summons resolved itself online with an "excused" page he could not click past, which checks out since he is already excused as his mom's legal guardian. Then comes the IRS letter holding his refund for a 60-day review, the kind of note that triggers identity-theft paranoia until his Aunt Marlene can decode it. He digs into the annual guardianship report, the conservatorship question his lawyer keeps dancing around, and the bank-statement back-and-forth that wasted a perfectly good afternoon. Plus a quick book review: Nick Petrie's Peter Ash series number seven, The Runaway, is a return to form after the strange Iceland detour in The Wild One, and Barry Eisler's John Rain assassin series gets a tentative first try.The back half goes practical and a little philosophical. Mike pulls off his first reverse sear, a filet mignon at 250 for 30 minutes, then a screaming-hot stainless skillet with butter, olive oil, and garlic, finished with a side of cucumber-pepper-onion salad doused in Toledo's own Garlic Expressions. He is never going back. The guys preview the new intro and outro Nelson is cutting (hot chicken in Malaysia included), debate how to handle the Godzilla rights problem for Mike's "guy," and lock in a plan to dump SiriusXM for YouTube Music. Then Mike vents about Friday and Saturday traffic: a road system that used to be empty now full of maniacs gunning it through every light, with no end in sight.Key Takeaways● Stress is the silent killer, and walking away from a 12-layer management nightmare 12 years ago is still the best decision Mike ever made.● The second jury summons cleared itself: the online portal locked Mike out at "excused" thanks to his guardianship status.● The IRS holding a refund for a 60-day income and withholding review is unsettling, but step one is calling the person who actually filed the return, not the credit bureaus.● Reverse sear method: 250 degree oven for about 25 to 30 minutes, then a hard sear in a hot stainless pan with olive oil, butter, and garlic. Perfect crust, perfect medium rare.● Garden math hurts: a single greenhouse run came to over 300 dollars, with 6.99 plants where 4.99 used to live.● Friday and Saturday driving has become a full-contact sport, and the only cure is staying home on Sunday morning before the church crowd.Timestamps00:00 - Nelson's stress headache and Mike's escape from corporate layers01:30 - Garden plans, raised beds, and borrowing the electric tiller03:14 - Sunflowers, scallions, and the new three-tier planter05:00 - Peter Ash book seven and trying out Barry Eisler's John Rain08:34 - The second jury duty summons resolves itself online09:42 - The IRS verification letter and calling Aunt Marlene12:00 - 300 bucks at the greenhouse and multi-colored sunflower seeds14:25 - Guardianship paperwork, conservatorship questions, and lawyer back-and-forth19:00 - First-ever reverse sear filet mignon, plus the new intro and outro preview23:30 - Killing SiriusXM for YouTube Music and chasing down mystery charges25:30 - Friday traffic, weekend madhouse driving, and the Sunday morning loopholeConnect● Website: https://www.gomando.com● Hosts: Mike and Nelson#GoManDo #PodcastLife #TravelPrep #LifeUpdates #EntrepreneurLife #ReverseSear #IRS #JuryDuty #GardenSeason #PeterAsh #JohnRain #GarlicExpressions #YouTubeMusic #FridayTraffic

Petunias And Sequels: Solo Spring Cleaning, Movie Sequels Gone Wrong, and the News That Won't Stop

Mike flies solo this week after Nelson bailed on production duty, so the show looks a little different, filmed on a phone with no board, no fancy mics, no co-host energy. What it lacks in polish it makes up for in honesty. Mike walks listeners through a packed spring weekend: planting beds prepped, onions and sunflowers going in, red potatoes cut and callusing on the counter, and bubblegum petunias acclimating outside, destined to share planters with deep, near-black potato vines for a pink-on-black combo that should stop traffic. From there, life keeps interrupting the gardening. Mom, 94 and recovering from a shingles outbreak, has a new earache and another doctor's appointment on the calendar, the kind of weekly visit where the staff feels like family. A second jury summons shows up after Mike was already excused as her legal guardian. The IRS sends a letter holding his refund pending a review, and the whole thing smells like the new normal of constant digital paranoia. Then there's the Friday fish sandwich saga, three drive-thrus deep, ending at a twenty-dollar Culver's order and a vanilla malt with chocolate and marshmallow for Mom. The back half gets reflective. A trailer for The Devil Wears Prada 2 sets Mike off on the whole sequel-industrial complex, the late-career action movies where aging stars somehow still get the girl and win the fight, and why he stopped paying for theater tickets altogether. He closes on something heavier: the steady drumbeat of mass shootings, the numbness creeping in, and the frustration that nothing ever seems to actually change. Timestamps 00:00 Solo show, spring planting, and the bubblegum petunia plan 03:30 Mom's shingles, the earache, and weekly doctor visits 05:14 Garden prep, zone six timing, and a second jury summons 07:21 The IRS letter, identity theft fears, and calling Aunt Marlene 08:30 The Friday fish sandwich tour: Arby's, Wendy's, and a $20 Culver's 12:04 Devil Wears Prada 2, aging action heroes, and why Mike quit theaters 15:30 Gun violence fatigue and signing off solo Connect ● Website: https://www.gomando.com ● Host: Mike #GoManDo #PodcastLife #TravelPrep #LifeUpdates #EntrepreneurLife