Running for State Senate District 25 and Living Without Regret | Ken Navitsky #002

Hey, it's Karissa from Sun Control. I am here at Allstar Basements. We have a special guest on today, Kenny. Hey, Kenny. How you doing? I'm doing outstanding. It's great to see you, man. It's been a while. See you, too. Yes, it has. So, we have you here today. We are just wanting to kind of talk about your story, see who you are and your big long expansion. Well, you know, I I've been told many times I could write a book because in my 52 years, I've been You're not 52. I'm 52. H never 52. I've I've had probably some of the most amazing cool jobs that you could ever imagine. Yes. And uh I'm sure we'll probably touch on a lot of that, but uh this is one of those cool moments where you kind of get a chance to step back. As you know, I was running an election in November. It ended. So for the last seven, eight months, uh our family's life has been non-stop. But, you know, to compound that with working for your brother here at All-Star Basements and uh the fact that I've owned several businesses and and done the things that I've done, we can have a lot of fun today. Should be it should be a good a good group. Great. Should sounds like a great time and can't wait to kind of hear more about your story and some of those cool jobs that you talked about. So, let's kind of start back. You went to school. Well, you're from Florida originally. I'm from Florida originally. I was uh Sarasota, Bradon area, born and raised there. And I was a, you know, a beach boy. I really truly was. And uh, I started playing soccer because I got angry at my cousin because he was playing soccer and was winning these little trophies. And when I was like 9 years old, I kept seeing him get all these little trophies. I was like, how is he getting these trophies, you know? And then by the by 10 years, I became a soccer player at 10. and I really very rapidly moved up the Florida Youth Soccer Association rankings, became an all-state player, which made my cousin uh I'm sure proud but angry all at the same time. And in doing that, once I got into high school, it parlayed into not just soccer, but track and football. And then I became kind of a natural football player, played quarterback a little bit. Nice. Um we ran a wishbone. And in Florida, there are a lot of really, really great athletes. And there's not, you know, to be completely honest, there's not a lot of white quarterbacks running the wishbone. There just aren't. And and our high school is no different. You know, all my my my whole crew was just this diverse group of people. And I knew where I fit in the scam. I was a great uh athlete, but I couldn't run a 4340, you know, and and that's just how it is. And so when it was all said and done, uh after moving to defensive back, same problem. Uh even though I was fast, I wasn't lightning. And in Florida, the high school athletes are amazing. I mean, you don't see a lot of kids in high school that are great athletes that don't have division one, two, or uh onea scholarships. They're they're going places. I ended up kicking and being a punter. And I was good enough to receive interest from schools like Old Miss, Western Kentucky, Florida, the University of Miami. And uh I ended up going to Old Miss. Like that place. I signed there. And right when I signed, Billy Brewer got let go. Oh boy. And I really love Billy Brewer. He was an amazing guy. SEC football. But there was one school that kept calling me even though I signed my letter of intent. It was Minnesota State Mano. And uh once all of that happened, I thought, well, maybe this isn't where I'm supposed to be. Maybe I, you know, I'm a very faith-based person. Always have been. And I I felt this pull going to Minnesota. Picked up the phone cuz there was no cell phones back in those days. There's no texting or anything. Not a big bag. I just picked up the phone, used the uh long distance credit card, you know, and I called Coach Ron Reese and I said, "Coach, if if I were to pack up all my stuff and leave here and come there, would you guys still be willing to help me out and take care of me?" And he said, "Absolutely." So, that started my uh journey from the South Florida beaches and the white sand to the white snow of the great white north. I didn't know Minnesota didn't have mountains. I thought there were going to be mountains here. There were no mountains cuz I'm a I'm a Southern boy. Yeah, I'm a Southern boy. So, came up here, kicked uh for Minnesota State for four years, set a whole bunch of records. Uh I was very blessed. I had all American honors for the USA Today and three-time allconerence. And that's when Minnesota State was in the North Central Conference. North Central. Yes. with the Bison, the US, North Dakota State, North Dakota, Morningside, UNCC. So, it was probably the greatest division 2 conference in the history of college football and uh you know, as other teams started to go D1, Minnesota State opted to stay D2, which is fine. They've been doing fantastic. They have a good That's all I got here. That's all I got here. So, you brought up Morningside. You have your son that's now playing for Morningside. Yeah, he is a a Morningside Mustang. They are in the NIA now. And I I always tell people the easiest way to think of Morning Side is probably they're the Alabama of the NIA. They're very successful. They've won three of the last five national championships. Um he's already got a national championship ring. He works really really hard and uh he you know he he's one of those perfect examples of he's not overwhelmingly fast. He's not overwhelmingly big, but he's a very good, respected uh community piece when it comes to the athletic community here in Rochester. And yeah, he was a Sertoma athlete of the year his senior year. And to come out when COVID was happening, a lot of schools didn't know, do we have scholarships? Do we not have scholarships? Are we going to have kids that can come back? Nobody knew what was going on. So for somebody like Parker when he was originally getting in, you know, there were people like Montana showing interest. it really just kind of went quiet, right? And when Morningside called, he basically realized that he wasn't getting a whole lot of interest from a lot of the bigger schools. Ended up getting an amazing opportunity, blessed to get a scholarship and he's been playing there. He was red shirted and this year he was dressing for home games and uh you know in the next three years he's anticipating obviously playing next year and and growing and becoming part of their program. But, uh, you know, CO threw everything. It sure did. into freeze frame. Everything stopped. Yep. I mean, especially going, my daughter's the same age as Parker. Having them go through that, trying to figure out, okay, are we going to be in school? Are we not going to be in school? Are we going to be learning from home kind of which realm to do? She chose to go to Mano, too. So, I'm I'm There you go. The main Mavericks. Love it. Yes. Um, so with Parker going to Morning Side, you have Payton. Yep. who is trying to get into being more of a ranger. You were talking about Well, here's Parker wants to be a forest ranger or an environmental science or a DNR officer. Payton, my daughter. Payton, sorry. No, that's Well, it's not like you don't have Payton and Parker. Payton Parker, which is funny. They grew up with Payton and Parker. They They're all in the same program. Yes. Uh but our daughter Payton is is she wants to be a forensic investigator. And I don't know where that came from, but that's She loves it. She's well on her way. She's got one more year of school and she'll be graduating from the University of Wisconsin Platville. Awesome. And and ironically enough, I think she wants to go to Florida. Oh, perfect. And uh you know, Florida seems to be the place everybody wants to be these days. So, she wants to be down there. And I think that, you know, forensic investigation is one of those things where if you're in a size town like Rochester, I believe there's one or two, maybe three here. Harder to get in, hard, but you've got to have the background, the stamina. You got to have all 400 500,000 people. Yeah. A bigger city to be I mean I think we've got one or two here. Y but you know you go to Steuartville or you go to Byron or you go up the road to Canon Falls. I don't think they have any there. So you're going to be put into an urban environment that is considerably larger than where you're at. And uh but she seems to embrace it and she's really excited about it. And you know it just everything goes so fast. It it does. Especially when you have kids, like you know, everything kind of flows along as it goes and then you have kids and it's like, okay, where's the time gone? Like you're graduated, you're graduating, you're going on to your degrees, you're doing your thing. And I tell people, don't blink because um it is truly one of those things where you you just have to kind of take it all in and be thankful for all of the moments. And I've always taken different moments in my uh my careers, my jobs, the things that I've done to to try to just take it all in for a moment because I've I've done and seen things that a lot of people uh not nothing bad, you know, but just amazing opportunities that I'm so thankful for. And I I always try to remind myself sometimes you need to stop, take a breath, look around, and take it all in. And I've got moments that I'll share with you later, but you just have to do that. But when you watch your kids grow up, Yeah. it seems like every time you blink, you lose three years. You sure do. And it's it's it's sad, but it's invigorating. And it's it's u I'd go back. I would go back in two seconds. I really see all those parents with the young kids, and I'm like, "All right, that that I miss those moments." But seeing them turn into the people who they are and grow and develop and just all the little stages in between is is within itself. It is. And I it's an amazing journey. And you know, I I think that we in today's society with all of the social networking and the social apps and all the things that are going on, they do so much good, but they also rob a lot of our uh youth of the opportunity to truly appreciate a lot of the things. I mean, um you know, I I've made this comment to my kids before. You know, one of these days you're going to stand before your creator. Yes. And you don't want your creator to look at you and say, "Do you realize you spent 56% of your life looking at a 4 in x 6 in screen when you were driving through all of the wonders that were created for you to appreciate?" And that's probably my biggest challenge is, you know, pay attention to this. Yes. You know, we'll go to the Grand Tetons. Look at that. That's an amazing thing. Or you're, you know, Yellowstone, look at that. And my kids are pretty good about that. But I I you know, it breaks my heart when we're at Old Faithful or we're getting ready to go to the Grand Tetons and I see families and their kids are looking at their phones and they're not looking because it's it's robbing us a little bit of the ability to be thankful for all that we have and instead we just are trying to get famous on Instagram or social media and it's like I've got 10,000 followers. Nobody cares. Nobody could care. You put the phone down, kind of notice your surroundings, pay attention. you start to kind of feel things, set yourself back, reset, see how small you really are in the world. It's a speck of salt. You're you're you know when when when you leave this earth and you go to your other you know dimension when you when you go to meet your creator when you pass from this life you will be shocked at how fast even the people who loved you most get right back going and get back in the boat and start rowing in a direction and get going. They they doesn't mean that you're going to be forever forgotten, but it means that their lives are going to keep going and it happens like that. It's not you. You're your impact in the world is is by definition you, your family, and your close friends. Outside of that, most people don't even miss a beat. It's an unfortunate occurrence. Too bad. Good luck. I got to get back into the boat and go do what I got to do. Going to continue on. Absolutely. I'll remember you in your ways, but I'm going to keep doing my thing. And uh that's just the way it is. So, I think that we really need to kind of focus back in on that is is people and realize that the people that matter most are usually the people that are right and left of you. And those are the people that matter the most. I this whole social media thing, you know, and it's it's amazing in the way that we can communicate. It's great to see people I went to high school with. It's great to keep those relationships going because wherever I go because I'm a host in motorsports. I'm sure we want to talk about that, but I travel all over North America and I I bump into people I went to high school with all the time because social med that's the beauty of it and the networking for business kind of everything like that. It gets your name out there lets you be seen. People who are looking for you, it's easy to find and they know where you're at and it's an easy touch back. Hey, how are you doing? But the downside is the misconception that people are going to somehow get famous on Tik Tok or Instagram and they got 100,000 followers. I've got friends that have two, three, four, 9 million followers. Correct. And I, you know, it's funny. I still don't think of that as being famous. I just don't. I uh And a lot of them will tell you if they're honest, it's nonsense. Famous is not what you think it is. And in the jobs that I've had and the things that I've done, it isn't. It's it's everything we look at is through a lens and it's what we perceive. And I would just wish that we would realize that this is what's important. Absolutely. All that other stuff out there can get you in trouble and it's not that important, man. Now with your family, your friends, this is life. That's nonsense, right? It really is. Well, like you walk into a restaurant, I'm sure Kelly sees this all the time. You walk into a restaurant, you see people walk in there as a family, as couples, and they're both on their phones the whole time. They don't have any conversations. They don't carry on anything. Hey, how was your day? Or what do you want to eat? It's already either I'm going to quick order the food. I'm going to get the food to go cuz I'm already on my phone. Life's too short. I have too many things to do. Instead of just taking a moment, sitting down, having that conversation, taking a deep breath. I mean, it's it's crazy. It's frustrating because uh it's our job to be stewards of the next generation and I have absolutely no problem saying that we've done an incredibly poor job. uh when I see what is happening with kids and politics and the turmoil that we find ourselves in instead of being incredibly grateful and thankful for all of the things that we have it it's one of the reasons why I ran for office. You know, I think a lot of times that the people that set out to come to this land and create a new world, if they saw the things that our youth are dealing with and getting upset about, I I I'm ashamed. I mean, the things that we're watching happen and the things that our kids are confused about, this is insanity. And and there are so many things that really, really matter. But we have allowed just this ridiculous gaggle of stupidity to overtake our culture when there's real work that needs to get done and there's food that needs to be put on the table. There there are infrastructures that need to be maintained and built. There are diseases that need to be conquered and sicknesses that need to be conquered. And we're worrying about woke things that are destroying and wasting valuable time. And uh you know, as civilization slowly continues to degenerate and fall apart, those that are the most worried about things that don't matter are going to be the biggest burden. They're going to be the ones that are unable to provide for themselves. And I think that that's probably one of the most scary things. I I've told my kids many times, as long as you're willing to get up, right? Be thankful, put in a hard day's work, you're going to be very successful. Yes. Because we've got an entire generation of people that are not worried about doing that. And it's creating an amazing worker shortage, confusing time in our history that that like I said, the reason I ran for office was because I'm just tired of the lack of total common sense. Yes, that's it. I mean, you can see kids, younger generations, older generations, especially with all the co stuff that went on happening where they want to work from home. They don't want to work. They want to just do things from their technology, their phones, their computers, everything like that. But who's to say those employers then can't outsource your jobs? Absolutely. They have call centers that can do the exact same thing you are for a lot less than what a year in India, you know, China, India, common sense. uh they can pick up their business, go to Ireland with the the tax rates, they can do whatever they want. And right, it's it's like I said, I look at some of the leaders that we have today, not just here in the United States, not just Republicans or Democrats, just leaders in general. Uh and then I look at some of the leaders that other countries have propped out there, and I look at them, and I wouldn't put them in charge of a little league baseball team. No, they they they are unable to think critically. They have zero common sense. Their street smarts are non-existent. And somehow they have hopscotched their way up the ladder to these positions of incredible power. And we need real true serious leadership right now. And I'm looking at some of these people and they've never run a business, let alone something that is going to constitute furthering the human race. And um you know it you can just go on and on example after example and we really seem to get tied up wasting a lot of energy on things that are really really not important right you know like what should we do with our military? Well our military is a hammer. Yes. It's designed to win wars. That's what it's made for. It's not a social experiment. It's not a social club. Right. You need a strong military that is focused to the precision of a pinpoint. Yes. And that's what it's for. And we somehow have got it turning into some uh social club, some experiment of human necessity or feelings and and and that doesn't help any of us and and it really hurts us. And I think that this is all going to come back and get a lot worse before it gets better. And hopefully when it does start to get better, there's still enough of the republic left to put all these pieces back together. And it's really deep. But I mean, you're you're talking to somebody that was in the special congressional race. Yes. For the late great Jim Hagardorn and then transition from there to the Minnesota Senate race, right? And it was all based upon one simple thought. common sense, correct? All was it was not about any agenda. It wasn't about uh special interests. It was about making common sense common again. And that was my whole campaign here in District 25. And we came up a little bit short, but you did a great job. I mean, the numbers are great. The turnout was great. It was. And the beauty in all of this, uh, Chris is as we went through this, we didn't really know a lot. We literally started on the fly, right? And we built a machine. Uh, and that machine ended up being 20 to 30 volunteers that made 58 uh,000 phone calls. They handed out 84,000 pieces of literature and knocked on 84,000 doors. And the people that we met are passionate. They're such great people that love this country and want what's best for their grandchildren and their children and for the republic. And it fills your heart with uh with pride knowing that they're out there cuz they're out there. There's a lot more good people and there's a lot behind the scenes that nobody sees. the face or whomever's running, whether Democratic, Republican, but everything that goes on behind the scenes, all the people out there, all the people that want what you want, what everybody else wants is hard to kind of come by these days or hard to know that they're out there. Well, one of the most common questions I was asked is, Kenny, if you don't win, and I knew we had a really big uphill climb. It was a redist. It took away Byron. It took away Cassin. It took away a lot of the farmers which I was endorsed by the the Farm Bureau and the farmers. So, and it put me into a very urban environment. Vast majority of the votes were coming out of the heart of Rochester. Y but when they would ask me, Kenny, what if you don't win? And I would always tell them two things. Number one, I will sleep like a baby the next day because I've done everything I possibly can. We ran a first class campaign. We never did or said anything that would be uh detrimental or mean-spirited to my opponent. We we always were first class. And I said number the the other thing is is I'm going to feel really sad and crushed for the volunteers. The people that put themselves out there and knocked on strangers doors that never thought about that. Yeah. or would stand before people and talk and and and sing your praises that maybe were afraid to talk in front of people that put themselves out there and pushed them to be better and find out more about themselves than they ever did. Those people and the way they looked at you, it was kind of scary, but I I I always said that those are the people that mean the most to me and and that's where the impact is going to be on me because I'll be fine. I'll always be fine. and um being a person that's based in faith and doing the things that I do, I always figure it out. But it's the people that put all that faith and trust in you that I kind of looked at and went, man, I I don't want to let them down. I don't want to let you down. Yeah. I don't And so that was probably the most important thing. But, you know, November uh came and we didn't have the outcome that we wanted, right? And now the people have a minimum of two years because now Minnesota's governor, the Senate, and we lost the House, right? And that's dangerous. It is any crazy idea, and it works both ways. If it was all Republican control, it's the same way. Any crazy idea now has no roadblock, right? There's nothing. You want 10year-olds to vote? Well, if they put it on the docket and everybody's crazy enough to go along with it, uh, that's what you get. If you want abortion all the way up to the moment of you can do that. If you want no guns, you can create legislation to get rid of this. If it literally is crazy. If you want to start throwing people in jail because they don't use the right pronouns. That's what you get when you have absolutely no checks or balances. And I think we're going to find out in a crash course lesson that, you know, I've got many liberal friends, traditional liberals, that are just as concerned about this as I am. Y and uh we're going to get a crash course in just how crazy things have gotten, right? In just how uh unabashedly people are willing to put forth ideas and see who stands and votes on these things. It can get very challenging. It can change our life overnight. It will and it very well might set us back. I mean, you never know how many steps forward each or every party handles that in a sense could just bring us back to square one. Or maybe it'll be the greatest experiment in humanity and we'll be in a much better place 2 3 5 years from now. Who knows? I I don't know. I I don't have any of those answers. I just think that anytime you give one group of people the ultimate power, you're creating an awful lot of challenges. And I think that sometimes you need people like I spoke with many Democrats, maybe many progressives, liberals during the campaign and I think that that's important. You have to hear what's going on out there because I see both sides. You can't live in a vacuum. You have to understand. You got to watch CNN. You got to watch Fox News. You got to watch MSNBC. You've got to read Breitbart. You got to, you know, ride the USA Today. You've got to do that because the person that tells you they know everything is the first person you should check off the box and go, we'll never vote for you and I'll never listen to you in the background. Get away. Because if if somebody tells you they know everything, that's the first person you check off and go, well, we're not going to listen to this guy because they don't know. So, that's kind of the the the rule I've always had is let's be open-minded, but not to the point to where your your brain falls out of your head, right? Stay smart and that's that. So, yeah, politics is what it is. I guess everybody knows. But uh we gave it everything we had and I made amazing friends and I met tens of thousands of patriotic Americans, Democrats and Republicans. And I'm very thankful for the opportunity to do that. And I I I won't regret it all. Not even a little bit. You can see by talking to Kelly, talking to your kids, seeing them everywhere, how proud they were of you. Like that in a sense, not just the community, your family, I mean, everybody standing behind you. Um, one of the things you kind of were touching on that I think we want to go back to is let's talk military. Your father was in the military. He was. Yep, he was. And he just passed away and I'm sorry to sorry to hear about that. Um, so how much of a drive for you going into running for Senate was his background his Well, my father was an air first class in the Air Force. He's uh he's no longer with us, but he's he was my dad lived a long great life. He's he's my hero without question. And one of the toughest things about uh watching your parents age is when they suffer, right? My dad's going I understand and I talked with Rob about that too. So, you know, when my father picked up the phone and called me and said, "Son, I'm going to go on a pallet of care." He said it with conviction and almost with a a breath of relief. And I said, "Well, Dad, I love you. You know that. And uh I'll try to get home as soon as I can." And unfortunately I didn't I was in uh Atlanta when I got the phone call but I said don't wait for me go and I will see you when I see you and and being a person of faith that that gives me great comfort. So he you know he fought in Korea was 100% disabled vet. He survived a plane crash and he survived a battle where he was trapped on top of a hill and 24 25 of his fellow uh uh airmen were killed and only three people survived. He was brought down off of that mountain, barely made it. Uh and you know, one of the most humbling things about my father was I didn't know about the battle on the hill, right? I didn't know about that. I knew about the airplane crash, but when I was growing up, my father never wanted nice stuff. He never wanted a new car. He never wanted nice clothes. He He didn't want Rolexes or jewelry or He never cared about any of that stuff. It didn't matter. And when it all came out and I talked to uh his doctor at the VA, he said, "Your father has always had survivors guilt." And it made sense. It made sense then. Never wanted great stuff. So he always raised me to be very humble uh and to be thankful and to not always feel as if you need the top shelf and and for me that was huge and he he was a great teacher. You know he very rarely yelled at me. He very rarely had to. My father was a very serious man and I could tell that when he said something he meant it and he just did it. Yeah. And I'm my father's son and I still am to this day. So, you know, I'm very thankful that he's no longer suffering. Um, I've still got an amazing stepmom that I just adore to death. And my my uh my my actual birthother, she passed away in 2011. But this is the journey one, right? And and we're you live and learn and take things from the past, make them through to the future, but you continue as your parents' children to carry on their beliefs, their morals, their stamina, their growth. I mean, everything. my dad's fight still what he's going through today. Um, just never accepting the next step, never wanting the next step, just continuing that fight, seeing that go through as a person. Not only brings it out of me, but I instill it in my kids, they see it, all my brothers, their kids all see it. It's just one of those journeys that you go through and you carry on with you. Well, and it's it's it's one of these things because I I think that even the folks that are watching this can put themselves in these situations. As we get older, life gets busy and we I don't want to say you take your family for granted. I I don't think that's fair, right? But life happens. And you know, we we're going through this right now with with our kids. Our son comes home all the time. He just spent three and a half weeks at home. anytime he can get a chance. He drives 4 hours and 45 minutes and he gets home and he spends a weekend just to touch base. He loves coming home. Now my daughter, right, she is 3 hours and 15 minutes away and she doesn't come home that often and and I have sat down and explained to her, "Honey, just just walk through this with me." Right? Right now you're in school. You bartend. You do this, that, and the other thing. Y you know, you come home for Christmas for 5, six days, you come home for Thanksgiving for 3 or 4 days, and then throughout the year, you might come home sporadically for a birthday for a day or two, but you're looking at like 10 to 12 days, right? There's 365 days in a year. Yeah, understand that. Mhm. When you become a mother and you get married and you create your own life, those days are going to drop to probably between 2 to 5 days a year maybe. Yep. If you're lucky. If you're lucky. I'm 52. The average person lives to be 72 73 maybe. So that gives you 20 years. So you take that 20 years and you multiply it by five days, 10 days, whatever it may be for you. Yep. Total. So that's the total amount of time you're ever going to sit before your family before they get called home. If they get called, they might get called home before, right? And so I I've always thought about that and and I think that sometimes you just have to break it down and go, I'm not saying it because I want you to feel bad, right? I'm saying it because I don't want you to feel bad when it's done and over with and you look and go, damn, I should have spent more time with my mom and dad. always the would have, could have, should have, like having my dad be sick, knowing that days are numbered. Um, never knowing did I spend enough time. Did I do enough? Was I there enough? Did I talk to him on the phone? Not just picking up the phone, but getting the kids in to see him. Now they're like, "Hey, mom. Let's let's go see grandpa. All right, let's go. I don't care what else is going on. That phone's ringing and you see it's mom and I just don't have time right now. Click." And I don't care if it's a pocket dial or what it is. you're going to pick it up and if you don't pick it up and you never know, you never heard that voice on the other end of the phone again because you you you I just don't want that to be something. And and I think that no matter how much you see your parents, you can never see your parents enough and you can never tell them you love them enough. That's the one thing I can honestly say. Every single time I saw my mom or dad, they did they never had to wonder if I loved them cuz I mean perfectly. I told them every time I talked to them how much I love them, how much they mean to me. I would kiss them every chance I got. I'd hug them every chance I got. I don't ever have to have them go, I wonder. I wonder or have them leave and be like, "Okay, the last time I saw you, tell them breeze by see you later." No. And and but those are the little things that I think that you just have to kind of instill in that, you know, and with my job as a motorsports host, I spent five I was very blessed the last few years cuz I was in Florida doing shows a lot, right? and I could bust away for a couple days and spend time with my my dad and and I wish my kids could have hung out more with my my mom and dad, but I got a chance to go hang out. And even if it was just a day, I'd buzz over there and hang out, have lunch, and you know, just let them know, yeah, hang out, look at my dad. And uh you know, we were we were down as a family uh and spring break last year and it was the coolest thing cuz my my daughter and my son were sitting over on a couch and I was sitting on a couch over here and my dad had his his recliner here, you know, his chair and we were all just kind of sitting there watching TV, but I just kind of was watching my dad and he was watching the kids. Yep. Just TV going y I'm where you are, right? Watching him. He's just watching his grandkids and you could tell it was like he's beaming. He's having like this is the coolest moment, but it just passed by and I get teeyed because it's like cool. It's like that's it. That's what it's all about. And so those are the moments that mean the most. We really need to get back as people to make sure that people understand it because like I said the these these phones and everything they just gobble up so much of our time and it's just like my dad he doesn't know that phone he's probably you know they still have the the rotary you know my dad doesn't care he looks at this what the hell is this all about you know but here's my dad looking at his his grandchildren going man this is great and so we had a lot of those great moment moments where we can be very thankful and you know those are the moments that matter. a lot of this southern nonsense. My my dad, you you ask you what your dad in politics? My dad hated politics, right? Hated politics. But my stepmom set him straight. Your son's your son's running and you're going to support him. And my dad's like bristled. But you know, he he was definitely proud. And uh but yeah, it was kind of funny cuz when I told him, he's like, "You're just aching to have me not like you, aren't you, son?" And I just kind of giggled. So that's that's all part of it. But through my travels, I had chance to go see him a lot and I'm very thankful for all that. So back to your motorsports, you did a lot of traveling. You started off at the Monster Jam. You did the Hot Wheels. Yep. Did the Hot Wheels. How much time were you on the road? And tell us a little bit about that. I have been all around the globe. I've been to Europe. I've been to North America. I've been uh over to the Middle East. I've had the opportunity to go to Australia, which is beautiful. Uh that was all Monster Jam and Hot Wheels. And uh I started that in 2012. Uh worked my way up the chain very quick at Monster Jam. And um it's like I said, I've seen and done things uh that a lot of people would just think is the most amazing. I I I remember one of those moments we were talking about where I'd step back and take it in. I was at Metife Stadium in New York and it was the first time Monster Jam had ever been to New York at Metife Stadium and at the time I was the reporter that had to, you know, at the end of the show they do what's called freestyle. Yeah. And Maximum Destruction had just went out and rolled his truck. It was the end of the show. His truck was literally smoking almost on fire. There's 50 60,000 people are on their feet and I'm I'm driving out to the middle of the dirt track through all of this carnage with the microphone and my camera guy and we're setting up the shot and I was told in my ear Kenny don't interview him just give Tom the microphone and I did I just walked out there and Tom great job and I gave it and he took it and the camera guy went and I remember just standing there and I'm standing at the what would be the 50 yard line of Metife Stadium and one of the most beautiful cities of the world and there's 50 60,000 people there. There's smoke in the air and I remember thinking what an amazing moment, right? I'm one man standing in the middle of a dirt track in the middle of Metife Stadium. And it just is something I never aimed to do. I was a pharmaceutical rep before I did that. Right. And it just goes to show you, you don't know what the next hour holds, let alone what the next day, the next week, the next month holds. Because I was a sales rep, and I'm still a sales rep for your brother here at All-Star Basements. I love this company. It's an amazing uh it's an amazing company, great gig. I love sales. I love meeting people and trying to help them with their their problems. But the next thing you know, I'm no longer a pharmaceutical salesperson. I'm working my way up the chain at at uh you know using my degree in communications. Yes. And if you would have told me a year before that you're just standing in the middle of that I would have laughed in your face and said yeah sure absolutely. So that's just how it goes. I mean, you don't know. And I always tell a lot, you know, one of the things, social media, I talk with a lot of my friends and they say they'll just shoot me questions about this that or they'll they'll pour their heart out to me because everybody's got hardships and for some reason a lot of folks will ask me for my opinion on things and and I try to just be as objective as I can, but I always tell them that it's like, you know, you might be at the depths of hell one day and think that there's just no use, right? And then the next day everything can totally change and you'll be in an entirely different situation and all it takes is a little bit of faith and the ability to just push a little bit further and not give up because you don't know what the next minute holds, but you just push through. I mean, I I've done so many things, sales, traveled all over, uh, TV, you know, with the Monster Jam and Hot Wheels and and I've signed tens of thousands of autographs, right? It's the coolest feeling in the world when you're when you're with Hot Wheels. Freddy and I were the front of the show. We were the You're the face of Monster J. Face of that. And it's so funny cuz you leave selling waterproofing the basement, you know, and walking in kids and mom and dad's homes and seeing little gravedigger trucks and stuff and not saying anything. No. And then all of a sudden you're on a plane Friday, you're flying and you're in wherever. You're in Raymond James Stadium doing Monster Jam and you're signing autographs and taking pictures and and really connecting with all these people and you're a really big deal. And then you hop on a plane and you fly back to Rochester and I'm just driving around in the avalanche at Allstar Basements doing what I do and once in a great while somebody will say something like, "Man, are you that guy?" Yeah. And it's kind of funny and it's almost always a home where there's little gravediggers or Hot Wheels monster trucks or something. But it's just it's it's it's an amazing life that I never in a million years anticipated having. Right. And you know, I've bartended, I've DJed, I've done uh I I've done every job because when it's time to make money and you have to provide for your family, you're going to do anything. You have to do it. And and that's all there is to it. And you just don't ever know what's going to happen the next minute. And and and I'm the perfect example of that. I mean, I'm not overwhelmingly intelligent. I'm not overwhelmingly brilliant. I I just literally work hard. I put myself out there. I get rejected, right? And sometimes I get accepted and through those acceptances you you build something. And at 52, I would say that I have done and seen more than I ever deserved to have done and seen. And if I were to stand before my creator tomorrow, I would have no desire to utter I wish or I didn't try. I would have nothing but thank you so much. That was amazing. And I think that that's what we need to focus on is I don't ever want to stand before my creator and be like, "Man, I I really wish that I did this." No, no, no, no, no. I'm going to stand and go, "Thank you for the ride. That was amazing." Yeah. And I'm so grateful. And And that's what I always try to instill in people. I It's And don't get me wrong, I'm not always this beam of sunshine and and nobody is. I mean, you wake up, you never know what tomorrow's going to bring or 5 minutes from now, but you just keep pushing through. Yeah. Anxiety, it's all there. Just But you figure it out and you work the problem and you get to the next lily pad and then you get to the next lily pad. You just figure it out and and before you know it, you got enough stuff around you where you're good. I I I don't know what tomorrow holds, but right now we're doing great. It's kind of one of those things too where you get on a roll like you just kind of keep the grind going and you just don't give up. You wake up every day is as a new challenge, something else could come up, but you learn from those as you go along, too. Yeah, absolutely. So, back to the Hot Wheels and Monster Trucks. I know you've made your name. A lot of people know you from Bigfoot, from Sasquatch. Let's let's go and tell everybody a little bit about that fun story. Well, there's Bigfoot in Hot Wheels, too, but no. Uh I you know it's funny the whole Bigfoot Sasquatch the the big hairy primate thing that I have this obsession with is funny because all I did one day was when Payton was smaller my daughter she would always watch the TV show Finding Bigfoot with me and we would that was like daddy daughter time. We'd always just kind of Yeah. Well like I Spongebob with Parker always you know you just had your little moment. Yeah. And it was like our thing, you know, and and we would watch it. And I just put on uh social media one night on Facebook watching Finding Bigfoot with my little girl. What an amazing daddyaughter thing that we do every week. Yeah. And then all of a sudden, fans started bringing me stuffed animals and coffee mugs and air fresheners and t-shirts. And I do love Bigfoot. I genuinely do. I think it's the coolest thing ever. But what's even better is is how the the fans of motorsports that like what we are all part of, you know, because I'm nobody special. I just happen to be in motorsports in a position where people see me a lot and they just love it. And it I think it's so cool that they care enough to take time to go out and find something or post something on my Facebook page or my Instagram and just it's just funny. It's a phenomenon, but it is funny. I mean, everybody knows I I uh one of my billboards for my campaign even had Sasquatch on it. So, it it just I love it. I think it's cool. But, you know, everybody in their lives have to have those little things that uh connect Yeah. that make you just kind of bring you back down and and you don't care what's going on. You can sit down and and watch a good Bigfoot documentary and the whole world starts to make sense again. And and I'm like that, too. So that's my quirky thing. Everybody knows that uh the squatchier for me the better and I totally dig it and I'm all in and uh and and so yeah that that but it's it is funny because there's just a just a one watching find a big foot with my daughter. Greatest days ever. So fortunate and then boom then it's all over. I even did the same thing. I was at our cabin up north in Ashwok and I met Michael Hexum who was on Finding Big. I got to call Kelly or I've got to call Kelly and I've got to let Kenny know and everybody else and like that's just kind of one of those connections that you have. You see things that you can connect with people and you bring it back home like just hey you know great moment here it is and yeah and let's be honest northern Minnesota pretty squatchy. It is absolutely I know pretty squatchy out there. We had in our yard multiple footsteps and I'm like when I was talking to Michael he's like oh yeah they've been seen up here this show is based up here. I'm like I know that you need to call me next time. Maybe Chris get up there with a ruler. I want to see how big these are and how far apart the stride is. Let's go. Let's get let's break it down to science here. It's awesome that it is. I love it. It's cool. And uh I've got so many Bigfoot t-shirts and uh you know it's great stuff. I absolutely love it. And you know, I grew up in South Florida on the Gulf Coast. I'm a I'm a a Florida boy and then I've lived in the Great Plains now for a long time. And my wife and I uh have a Sprinter van that we Yeah, we love to travel and tailgate and everything, but we uh went through the Grand Tetons and uh Yellowstone and I would I think I'm Yeah, I am. I'm wearing my Wyoming hat. I I I would love to move out there when Parker graduates. And I always said that when I was running, I made it perfectly clear, guys. I'm not going to be a cur politician. No desire. I'm going to go on for four years. My term is up and then I do intend to move west. And um I can't imagine a better way to to to finish out the final third of your life than looking at mountains and snow cap peaks and uh living in God's country. But you know, Minnesota is a I might not agree with it politically, right? But it is a beautiful state. It is. And there are so many great people in the state. Minnesota nice absolutely exists. Wisconsin's beautiful. The UP is gorgeous. If you take time to get your face out of your phone and go north for a weekend, you can see so many amazing things. Sure can. The Lake Superior steals a little bit of your heart every time you look at it. And it's kind of like looking at the Tetons, you know, and I tell people, you stand on Siesta Beach in Sarasota, Florida, and you look at the Gulf, right? You can feel something in your humanness that looks at that and you connect with it and go, "This is truly amazing." Amazing. And then the same thing can be said when you stand at the shores of Lake Superior. There's just something there that connects with your soul. Yes. And you just realize that we're we're part of something much bigger. Sure. And then you go and you stand at the the at the you know at the foot of the Grand Tetons. Yep. And there is nothing more beautiful in the world that I've ever seen. So the only way you get to do that is to get out of there is to get out there and go look at it and get your face out of your phone and take those deep breaths and look at it. And I tell young kids that all the time, right? This is a waste of time, right? This is going to create anxiety. It's going to create confusion. this what's in front of you really matters. You know, uh, you know, Dave Chappelle, beautiful. Well, you've been cancelled on Twitter. I don't give a damn. Twitter's not a real place. That's what he said. And that's that's a great way of looking at it. He doesn't care about Twitter. He could care less. He realizes it's the human connection. And uh that's I wish more people understood that. That that's all it's noise. It's noise. It's good for some things, but it is it's not good for the majority of things. So, and it's good to just not be around your specific people. I mean, it's yes, it's great to have your family and your friends, but to know both sides of what's going on in the world, to know what's going on in the border, to know what's going on here in the United States, to know what's going on in Rochester, Minnesota versus the Twin Cities. I mean, you've got to just be able to get out, travel, see it, experience it. But more likely, you've got to be able to feel it. Well, and and you know that just brings us all back to the sales aspect and connecting with people and why I ran. I'm in and out of during the busy season four to eight houses a day, right? And people have got very big problems. A lot of these folks are elderly. Y they live on fixed incomes and uh the moisture in the wet basement is dangerous for their health, right? Mold, mildew, they can't have that or the radon too. Radon, it it's it's huge. And so when we sit down and we talk about what the fixes are, find out that they've been in their home for 45 years. Find out that they're both retired. Uh some people are a little more blessed than others with money. But when you see elderly people living on fixed incomes that have to suddenly come up with seven, eight, $10,000 to fix a problem that detrimentally can have an impact on their health. You realize that high taxes, out of control inflation, and the stuff that we're dealing with every single day that we is a man-made problem, right? This is not something that just happened. This is a crisis created by programs, policies of men and women. We created this monster and these poor folks are now all of a sudden on the precipice of possibly losing their home. You know, my property taxes, everything cuz it all ties together. And my property taxes two years ago went up 800 bucks. Uh this year, I think they projected they're going to go up another 5 to 600. How do you do that when you don't have a job? Right. We can make it work. It's not good. it hurts us. But what if every month you've got discretionary income of $350 to $500 or just social security? Like what are you going to do? Right? So what are they supposed to do? So that was one of the main factors was how my job as just a regular everyday citizen, right? Propelled me to be a voice for people that didn't have a voice for themselves. And that's a true story. It is. I was angry at what was happening to me, right? But I'm blessed, right? I can go out and get another job. But you can see the everything that's happening coming down on you versus you're young enough to do it. You're driven enough to do it where there's people that are disabled or there's people that are elderly that can't do it, can't be out in the community, then 78 years old, 8 years old and you're you're already living on food stamps and social security. What are you supposed to do? Go be a greeter at Walmart, right? Can you even do that? I mean, do you even want to do that at 82 years old? you've you've put your time in. And uh that's the thing that I think challenges me more than anything is is I think when people say free this, free that, we're going to give free this. I don't think people understand that fully funding means you're going to get taxed, right? And I think the more that we can do as individuals, the more responsibility we put on ourselves as individuals, it's better. doesn't mean you don't need a safety net, but it doesn't mean that you have people now that choose not to work because it's more lucrative to sit at home and do nothing while you and I and everybody else that has a job is working two and three jobs to kick into this. And let's face it, we don't have the money. No. Um, we don't have there are so many things that are happening right now. It'll be very interesting to see where everything is 2 years from now. And uh but that's I mean I don't know how else to put a human face on politics than that's why I ran because of my job at All-Star Basement because of meeting people knowing they don't have the amount of money trying to help them with their financing trying to figure out how we can make this happen because it's not a luxury. They can't have mold because it can kill them, right? Or radon, right? And luckily radon, you know, is not overwhelmingly expensive to mitigate, but to get your basement dried out can be pretty expensive. And that is one thing I'll say about Rob, your brother, the owner of our company. If I call him and I tell him, Rob, and and this happens Oh, it does. Twice a twice a month. Yep. Rob, this is a gentleman. This is a an elderly uh young lady that is a veteran and they don't have a lot of money, right? Brother, we got to do something. Rob is the first person to say, "Well, let me look at the numbers and give me 15 minutes and he'll call me back with anything and everything we can possibly do together, B, and C to get it done." And it's it's and it's it's the humanity that I love about your brother because he's got such a big heart and he really does and and that's the stuff that a lot of people just don't see because Rob can be angry. I've grown up with Rob. We've coached together. I know he's a fiery guy. But I'll tell you what, he's the first person in the fight and he's the last person out with answers because he has helped more veterans, more elderly people that need this done. Right. And then there have been some instances that I know that and I won't say specific areas where he's just taken care of it. Right. So those are the things that make it very rewarding working for a company like Allstar Basements. And uh I very very fortunate to to work for somebody like Rob and and for this company. And you know when Parker went into college I basically had to give up Hot Wheels and Monster Jam because they required I be on the road 40 plus weekends a year and I said I'm going to watch my son play college football. Yes. Yeah. And Rob said, "Quit that. Come work for me. I'll give you Fridays off. You can still travel and do shows." So, a smaller promoter to Extreme Monster Trucks Live picked me up. It's Bounty Hunter, Scarlet Bandit, you know, a great company and he knows, right? Fall rolls around, season, I'm gone. I'm in the van. But, you know, spring, summer, early fall, um I'm flying every weekend or, you know, that's just the road. It is what it is. and and I'm blessed to have that opportunity, but like like I said, small family business, right? 5 years from now, I might not be able to do it healthwise. We don't know what tomorrow holds, but I can do it now so I can make that money. And that's what we're trying to do now and and to do as much as we can while we can. But, you know, my faith has always been my my northstar. And I just always seem to be able to figure out a way to make it work. It's not always pretty. It's not always comfortable, but through the high times and the low times, it's like you and I were talking about, you just keep grinding and good things will happen. They might not happen as fast as we want them to, right? They might not happen as as easily as we want them to, but if you grind and you just push, things happen. And, you know, I don't know that perfection exists. I think it's a myth, but I think that when you've got healthy kids, you've got a roof over your head, you've got clothes on your back, you got food in the fridge, maybe you got cold beer in the fridge, that's what matters. Like you, you're getting ready to go play a little bit of golf in Arizona. I mean, yeah, that's it. That's life there. You know, maybe that is the meaning of life to just be thankful for what we can do and the moments that we have. Everybody doesn't have to be a a rock star and have limousines and private jets. And I got news for you. A lot of people that have that probably wish they didn't have all that because money doesn't always buy happiness and it doesn't bring you back to where you need to be. More money, no problem. That's the way it goes. Yep. So, you've been on the road a lot. You and Kelly have done a lot of traveling lately. When you're gone with your Monster Jam, she's home with the kids. Now, you have a van life. You get to go travel to see the kids. You guys have gotten out a lot of places. Where are some of your favorite places that you guys have gone other than the tea time? Well, the UP uh is gorgeous. I I I live in the UP. I'm not worried about the coldness, though. I don't care about that. I'm acclimated. I just want visually to be stimulated. Yellowstone is amazing. The Sierra Nevada mountains are absolutely gorgeous. Have you been a glacier? I have not been to Glacia National Park yet. Being that I've lived there mountain range, that was my Well, that's beautiful, too. That's very Teton like. It is very much. And uh I I would go out there and fall in love with that too. Um there's when you talk about having the ability and being blessed. We live in a country that has whatever you want, right? You want deserts, we got it at your fingertips. You want rocky short cliff beaches, we got it. Pacific Northwest, California below zero, we got it. We got it. You know, Alaska, you know, you want beach, white sand beaches, Florida, we got it. If you want unbelievable colorful falls that just absolutely are breathtaking, we got that up in the in the northeast, you know. And you want great lakes, we got that. You want the Great Plains, got that. We have every single thing you could ever imagine. All it takes is a little organization, a little bit of saving if you can, and then taking and making the time to go see it. And I've been to 48 states. I have not been to Alaska and I have not been to Hawaii. And uh they're all beautiful. You know, everybody when you say the state of Michigan, a lot of people think, well, Detroit. Yeah. No, Michigan is beautiful. Even lower Michigan, the Trolls, that's a great state. Yeah. The UP is beautiful. uh nor you know Wisconsin is just a continuation of northern Minnesota you know so the Dakotas you got the Badlands you got the Black Hills y there's a little bit of wonderful in every state no matter where you go black hills are gorgeous too I mean I just thought about that but if you have an ATV and you want to go off-roading and you want to have the greatest trails you've ever been on Colorado's great but the Black Hills are some of the greatest off-road trails you'll ever experience in a in a in a UTV or an ATV. They're amazing. And and I think it's like 19,000 miles of trails. Y that's crazy. So, you just have to figure out what you want to do and definitely make time to do it. And the van life, you know, it's funny that you said that cuz I'm ready. I'm ready to sell everything and literally van life it. And I've got friends that do it and they love what I do. It's It's amazing. Kelly not there yet. Oh, there she's not ready. We got the van. We got the stuff. We got the name for the van. It's the van. Juicy. We got everything. Yep. She's not there yet. I I you know, but I am. And that's okay cuz she's she's opening the well with downtown in the old Doulie's building, right? So, that's going to be amazing. That's topnotch. Heather's her best friend. Heather is a between Kelly and Heather, they're devastatingly accomplished and they are going to do great things and it's part of the Powers group and you know Joe Powers and his son Nick and their family. You want to talk about going into business with some amazingly cool fun people. They are great folks and I think the sky's is the limit for them and I know that Heather and Kelly have other op uh other things that they want to do. There's a lot of space downtown right now and it's getting more and more going to get more and more and knowing the two of them, they're both driven. They're alpha females, I say, cuz they want they want to do stuff and that's all good. And so I I have nothing but I I like I said, Parker's playing for another three and a half, four years. There's no rush do that. But eventually I would really love to downsize tremendously. get a small barnaminium or something where we can put the van in it, get our cars in there, my GTO. Yep. Anything. And then spend a great deal of time on the road. Yep. Until we have the opportunity to to get called home. But I think that I just I understand, right? Everybody's worried. Everybody's got responsibilities. Everybody's got trials and tribulations. But sometimes just take a moment and be thankful for all the things that you have or have accomplished. And I that makes a big difference. Just it's real easy to focus on the one or two or three things that tear you apart. Y but man, I'll tell you, be thankful for what you got now. Yeah. I mean, you never know. Everybody always says you only live once, but really, you only die once. So, you've got to live every day. You've got to get out there, hustle, wake up, be hungry, go after what you want to do, but don't be afraid to push outside your limits. look outside the box, see everything that's going on, cuz you're sure going to miss a lot if you do. And that's why I was so proud of all the volunteers during the campaign. Uh I saw people go so far out of their comfort zone and I remember looking at Kelly just going, "This is what it's all about. People are discovering things about themselves they never knew, right?" Getting out there and talking to people, just having that communication, seeing things, seeing things you've never thought you would witness in your life just kind of brings you back and makes you who you are today. and and I'm very thankful for all of it. You know, we've we've hashed through a lot of stuff. But, right, you know, uh we're in Allstar basement. What a cool place to hang out. This was killer made for us. I mean, you know, Rob didn't need to buy the upstairs to the place, but he did. And he he did it all up with with your company and we've got all the cool stuff up here. Of course, the trackers are off right now, I see. Cuz Jeff and I aren't in competition. I know. I see that. Yeah, it's all TV now. in the springtime it'll be back up and Jeff Yeah, Jeff is awesome. He's my teammate and we sell and Karissa downstairs is our our queen bee. She takes care of everybody and it's a really cool family-owned company. We're not big. We only have about 15 17 employees and everybody works really hard. And this is is, you know, life in a nutshell. This is my people. This is what makes me happy. And and when you called and said, "Let's sit down and talk. You've done a lot of stuff and seen a lot of stuff." I was like, "Yeah, we could do that." Yeah. I mean, it's not it's not always just about everybody always says, "How is this going to benefit me in the business?" But it's also it's going to bring you back just sitting down talking to somebody, having those conversations. It's like, "Okay, life is happening again. Here's here's a moment that hit me when we were talking, you know, talking about parents, talking about war and veterans, talking about just the community." It it is amazing. And the reality is is people need people. They do. And people need to be inspired by people. And when I would stand before 100 people, 200 people, 60,000 people, you know, with a microphone, that was never lost on me. And so, uh, you know, sometimes, uh, the way you define yourself, you know, I I I've always been brought up this way. Your character will get tested sometimes in the quietest, most silent places when absolutely nobody is watching. And that's when you can learn so much about yourself. But a lot of times in those moments, the reason you're doing the things you're doing is because somebody said something to you along the way that stuck and it inspired you to be better than you normally would be. And that's why these interactions are so important because maybe 20 people watch this, maybe 20,000 people watch this. Maybe 100,000 people watch this. And you don't know where they're at in their life. And maybe they needed to hear something from you or they needed to hear something from you and they go, "You know what, man? That's That's deep. I like that. That's good. And it gets them from this lily pad to that lily pad. And that's why I think that when you have these opportunities to sit, you do it and you you try to do the best you can, right? And you don't overpromise and uh you just don't overpromise. You just do what you do and and things work out. But this was awesome. This was a great time. It was a great time and I really appreciate you coming out today and hearing a little bit more of your story and everything and can't wait to see where the van juicy goes with Kelly and everything else. I mean, it's just you never know from day in day out where you're going to end up who you're going to meet. Well, you can always watch like so the Instagram is easy. My regular one is Kenitzky. Yeah. Uh same with Facebook, Kenitzky and the Van Juicy. uh juici or ju I cy juicy in in it's only got like 80 followers. It's no big deal because we don't really push it. We don't care. It is what it is. It's there. But we flew out to California, found a deal. There you go. Bought it. Put some money into it. And now we've got We are van life ready. GTO is ready. The GTO's it's in hibernation right now. Okay. Yep. Absolutely. In a nice cozy but so is the van. The van is in a nice heated storage and lava shower right now. But, you know, as soon as the weather gets nice, we attack life. Uh, and we do the things that we do to make us happy. And I don't, you know, who knows? Like I said, who knows what tomorrow? I don't know. I mean, just sitting here looking around at everything that, you know, we've done as far as graphics, everything. You look down at the tray and you have your That was funny. Kind of flyers right there. This was our This was our headquarters and I did a lot of podcasts and interviews and everything in this room, but at the time we had signage and flags and stuff on the walls. Yeah, it was just great. And and you know, but I when we came back, it's funny. I don't that was probably one of the first generations of it, too. It's kind of funny, but yeah, you know, just it still sticks around there. My my website's still up, nitzky. But yeah, it it was and I still have I still have more followers than than uh the senator here. I still pastor, but that's because you bring it home and you're keep everything just normal and keep that conversation flowing. And yeah, I'm not taking it down. It's still Kenitzky for MN Senate on Facebook and I decided to leave it up because it allows people to come someplace and congregate and commiserate and I still have a voice and I'm going to use that voice and I think if the senators and the house members do good things I'll be the first one to say you know what they did because Kim Hicks is a friend. Um Liz Balden I don't know that we're friends but we're not enemies by any means and we were always very cordial. I had nothing but respect for the young lady and uh Andy Smith I really don't know a lot about cuz he was so far out of the loop there was really very little communication but I know that the choices were made and now we have to live with those choices and um one of the greatest parts about being a representative republic is if you don't like it in two years we can we can hopefully get out there and pull some levers and make some changes. That's it. That's it, right? You know, we are where we are. let's make the best of it and we can always change down the road and uh as long as we have you know the the one thing I'll close on this we're not a democracy we're not a democracy and it makes my blood boil when I hear people that are congressmen senators we are a constitutional republic and when the very people that put their hand on the Bible or the good book whichever book it is that they choose and they swore the oath to the constitution ution into our bill of rights. They say something as ridiculous as, "Well, we're a democracy." It really is hard to take him serious after that because it's the most important fundamental thing about who we are as a people and the forefathers and what they fought. We are a republic. And you know, just know that. know that, you know, no know if you're a if you're a teenager and somebody comes up around July 4th and they put a camera in front of your face and the microphone and they say, "Who do we celebrate our independence from?" You'd be surprised how many 14 and 15 year olds now have no idea. You get China, you get Russia, you get what they hear or it's Britain or what? Yeah, we celebrate our independence from Britain. It's that hard, right? You know, three branches of government. Those are the little things that just drive me crazy because it's it's it's so important to the fabric of who we are and our foundation. Just just know that. Now, if you if you don't learn anything else, know that we are a constitutional representative republic. Yep. And when people say the word democracy, it's okay to look at them a little funny because they just basically tip their hand that they probably don't know what the hell they're talking about. So, it's all there is. So, Allstar Basements, people can find them on Facebook. All-Star Basements is on Instagram. Allstar Basements is on Facebook. Allstarbasements.com. And um boy, I've met some amazing folks with AllStar Basements. Definitely if you're if you've got water problems, if you've got water questions, if you got radon questions, if you've got crawl spaces that need to be encapsulated, um you know, we even window wells. Y if you've got stuff in around your house, landscaping, we've even gotten into we we've got an amazing crew of young men that work very very hard and uh we're very fair and like I said, our owner is he's a salt of the earth and he understands uh where we are as a uh economy and he he we did not raise our prices, right? Because when you're in this business, you go by the foot. you know, how many feet do you need to jackhammer out to put in? We did not raise any of our prices this year. For the last 24 months, we have raised our prices. The only prices we raise were on things that we couldn't help, like the actual sump unit itself because it went up incrementally because of inflation and where it was manufactured. But Rob and our management said, "We are not raising our prices. Square footage stays the same. Price per foot stays the same. Everything stays the same." And um the only things that like I said we bumped up were the things that we had no choice because something costed 200 bucks. Now it cost $298. Nothing you can do. We still have to pay bills. We still have to pay insurance. We still have to put gas in the trucks which is ridiculously expensive. And it is. So you have a big fleet. Well, we have a big fleet and it gets bigger every year. So, but that was the reason it gets bigger every year because Rob does things like that. It would have been real easy to go, you know what, everything's going to be 20% more. Yeah, it just is what it is. And I got news for you. I got news for you. Depending on where we were and what the circumstances were, a lot of times those prices didn't even go up on the sumps or anything because Jeff and I are very aware of our customers and where they're at. Y and uh you can get a lot of signs when you just pay attention what's going on around you. And if we relay that information to Rob and the office, they will always take that into account and it becomes a situation where we really work hard to try to save people money and give them an opportunity to still have quality work done at a very fair price at a safe, you know, result and not destroy your life savings at it. It's one of the things that made me most proud about Allstar Basements. We don't take advantage of people and we we don't look for that, right? And you don't I mean go after competition. I mean I've known I've known the business. I've known Rochester all my life. It's it's nice when you work for that small familyowned business local. They keep it in. They keep it real. You they understand their employees come first. And that's that's huge. And you know we're very fortunate here because our competition does very good work too. We don't ever say a bad word about our competition. It's just that they're considerably larger, right? Which creates a lot more overhead. Yeah, they do pretty much the exact same thing and that's why they have to be more expensive. It's not that they want to be, they have to be. They don't have a choice. And so, like you said, we're more nimble. We're able to do things. And that's how this company was started. Allstar Basements was started under the policy of I saw what the margins were, you know, because our our owner worked at these other companies. I saw where the numbers were and it was the realization that we can do this for quality work. We can do it for a fairer price. Not because they're gouging, right? But we can start start small, start local. And that's how we do it. And I never say a bad word about our opponents, our competition. There's no need to. They're all very good people. They work hard. They have great things going for them. We fit where we fit. and we deliver. And when you've got the lifetime warranty and stuff like that, you really can't go wrong. And don't kid yourself. It's not a perfect business. Once in a while, things don't go the way you want them to go. And guess what? Rob sends our crew back out and we redo what we need to redo. It is what it is. It's it's part of the game. And uh Rob being a lifelong athlete understands that that's just one of the things that comes along with it. You might win the game overall, but every now and then you're going to hit stumbles on that path. And you have to make sure that you correct them and make them better so you don't continuously fall into that that problem. And we do that here. We're all athletes. We're all exathletes. We're all former athletes and we we drive uh this bus the exact same way. We'll look out for you. We'll take care of you. We'll guarantee our work and uh we'll do the best we possibly can to make sure that your money goes as far as it possibly can. and uh we'll stand by your side. So, do you continue to carry on with your Monster Jam when people are watching, listening, looking out, bringing in a squatchy stuff again, and hopefully they continue that on. Well, I think uh I think you know, right now the the tour is uh two extreme monster trucks live is the company I'm working for now. And uh we've got very good trucks and we're doing anywhere from two to 10,000 seat arenas, right? Racetracks, it's great. It's perfect. TV is no longer necessarily a big concern. There's a lot of work you have to do for TV because you can't let down big sponsors and stuff. This is much more laid-back, but it is so much fun. And because once again, it's not such a gigantic thing, right? prices aren't quite where they would be if you go to US Bank Stadium and see Monster Jam or you you can save money but still see trucks that have been on national TV like people don't know getting the tracks ready everything that goes in ready that there's so much just like everything that goes in behind those scenes getting everything ready so and the rule of thumb is simple whether you're doing a show for 100 people or 80,000 every show is the same meaning we put out 100% effort every single time because some of these families don't have a lot of money and they're making that commitment to come and show their kids a good time and uh we don't have any idea what's going on in their lives back home. But when they come and sit with us, maybe we can just give them two or three hours where no matter what's going on, they can forget about all that and just see their kids' faces light up and just understand that this is their family time. I take great pride in that, you know, because sometimes I'm tired. Sometimes it's the road is long and weary, but when the light goes green and you're on, you you put forth every single thing you possibly can to make sure that they go home and they're happy and uh I that's a really cool thing to have the opportunity. Not everybody gets a chance to do that. So that's it's cool to be a part of that. Great. So lastly, we wanted to talk about your why. Is it your family? Is it your friends? Is it just your internal drive? What do you think is your biggest reason why you do and who you are what you are today? I I just I love life. I I Right. I mean, it sounds goofy, but like what does that mean, Ken? I just I love the unknown. I love the the fight. I I love the You know, I always make the joke of, "Well, all this will change when Publishers Clearing House knocks on door. I get 5,000 a power $5,000 a week for the rest of my life. It'll all change and as much as I say that I mean that would be amazing, right? But your life might change different way. Yeah. I mean sometimes I think it's the chase that is the most exciting and most rewarding part of the journey. I mean, I I I mean, if I could sit down with somebody like Michael Jordan or somebody, I would be like, "You've accomplished so much and and I you were so hungry and you're the best at your at your trade and but how when you finally get there, I mean, you can go do anything. You can buy anything. You can Is it a let down, right?" And and I I I would love to one day be able to answer that question on my own. But I got to be honest sometimes just the whole challenge, you know, I want this, I've got to do this in order to get that. Okay, I did that. Now, because I have this, now I can do this and now that is the neat thing about life. You put those puzzle pieces together and if you work really hard and grind, you can see and do amazing things. And I I don't know, man. Some for me, I guess it's the battle. It's the It's the chase of y that anticipation of getting to that next ring and grabbing a hold of it and seeing where it takes you. That's my drive. I mean, right, love my family, uh, my friends, people I met, it all matters a great deal. They're part of the foundation of who you are. But like I said, it's those quiet moments when nobody's looking, right, that still define you as a person. And I still think you need to push. You need to drive forward because could be gone tomorrow. Yeah. part of the reason why I like golf. Golf is one of those tricky games. It's not about beating everybody else, but it's your mental game. It's it's nobody to blame but you. You do what you do and how you do it and why you do it, but you just get up and you keep going. Tomorrow's a new day. The next nine is a new day. You just you do it. It's your drive. It's it's your why. It's life in a nutshell. And I love the fact that you golf. I follow you on on Facebook and everything and you're all over the place doing it. Yeah, you know, it's a perfect example. Personal responsibility. You have nobody to blame but yourself. And it's not the end of the world. You know, I see people breaking their clubs and throwing them in and it's like, dude, really, you I've played competitively. You get to the point where you know everything, but you take a step back and I'm like, okay, I'm playing this. Why? Because I enjoy it. or anything else but getting out there in nature, traveling around, doing your thing, being with the people that you want to play golf with, but you're also hitting your goals. You're doing the things you want to do and you're doing the things you've always wanted to do. Going to the places, bucket list places that you've never thought, hey, I'm going to go to Ireland in two years or I'm going to go play beach or I'm going to do this. I mean, you see people Tiger Woods, you see Brett Favre, they've hit their max. They've done their thing. If you would have known in your life at their age, hey, when you hit 50 years old, you've had what, a thousand concussions, Brett Favre or anybody else, your life is going to be diminished, would you still do it? It'd be one of those interesting questions to ask him. It would. You know, the sacrifices and the the stuff that you put forth and the impact it has on you as you get older. And, you know, golf for me, I I I love golf. I'm not good at it. I have great clubs. Um, my rule is very simple. I don't play golf with people that yell and scream and complain. I don't do it. I don't have time for that. I don't. We're all paying to play. So, I don't care what your handicap is. I don't care. If you're not out there having a good time, you're wasting my time cuz I don't golf enough to take it that serious. But, I have golfed Spanish Bay. I have golfed Pebble Beach at places I have no business being on that course at all. One of the funniest things is we're talking about pressure and I, you know, kicked in big games and I've done all these things, stood in front of 80, 90,000 people. One of the funniest things is we're at Spanish Bay. Y, we're in the the tea box right at hole number one and there's literally the clubhouse overlooking it and there's hundreds if not a thousand people eating, drinking, and all they're doing is watching people tea off from the fle. I'm the worst golfer. It's like and I remember standing there and all of a sudden I look up and I look down and I'm like, damn, there's a little bit of pressure here, man. I better I better make sure you and then all of a sudden I'm just starting to think, Lord, I just want to hit the ball. I don't even care if it goes into the bay. Just please let me hit the ball, you know? I just was like, and it was so much pressure and I remember thinking and I hit it and and I shanked it and went up. God only knows where it was. It was on like I found it, but it was like hilarious. Terrible. But I was 100 200 yards away from that end. I didn't have to worry about I remember walking to the ball going I haven't been that nervous since kicking the game-winning field goal against North Dakota State. I mean I haven't felt that type of exhilarating pressure. So it's funny cuz people don't understand. It's like I don't care about golf. I don't care about golf. Wait, everybody's watching me. I better not miss this ball, man. All of a sudden it's not that fun. So but it also brings you back down. You get those days where you're having like the best day of your life and you can't hit a golf ball and you're like, "All right, back to ground zero." Yeah, this is the day we're having. Let's do this. Let's figure this out quick and get it done. So, or grind through it. Just grind. Just make it done and get finished and go practice. Great job today. Can't wait to shoot it. A 100. Yeah, more like a 110. Absolutely. Okay, now time to go out and get that van and go travel. I'm over this. But hey, listen, it's not the clubs. Just won my day. And thank God I didn't have to provide for my family because we'd be in big trouble. So those are the other things. Put things in perspective. But you can do it the rest of your life and you enjoy it. You do the things you love. You get out there with people you love and you enjoy life. That's it's simple. Do the things you can do that require a lot of effort when you're younger. Y don't hold back on it. I don't have hardly any regrets on any of that stuff. Y and I I I know one of the saddest things is when you get two or three beers in and guys start telling you their stories about how they had a chance to do this after high school and they just didn't do it. And and I don't have to worry about that. And it it's sad because I think that you're young ones, right? Those days get taken away very fast and then you grow up and real life hits you hard. And I don't blame kids for wanting to stay in the bubble, but the reality is you can't stay in the bubble. You got to get out and you got to go find yourself because if you don't, you're just missing out on all of this amazing thing we call life. And I get out, do your thing, be thankful for everything and uh hit the grind. Things things work out. They really do. I think it's really big, too, when you talk about people being stuck in situations. I know a lot of people that are. You've got to just get out there. Do it for yourself. Figure it out. Get out. Enjoy life. Get out. Get outside. If that's even just going for a walk, get out in nature, do something different that's going to get you out of your routine. Yeah. Listen, take a risk of slipping and falling on your ass on the glare ice. Get out there and walk. Do it. You know, go travel. I don't Something's going to happen. But get out somewhere where you feel small. Just reset somehow. I I I encourage everybody to just, you know, push y press forward. I And I don't have all the answers. I I you know I've had down times too. I I've had challenges and and and stuff, but I just don't want to be the person that doesn't live because I'm so afraid of dying, right? I just don't want to be that person. I want to live until it's time to be gone. And and like I said, I will never stand before my creator and say the words I wish. That ain't going to happen. I've done everything I possibly can. I've seen things, done things. I'm so fortunate and I'm ready to just keep pressing forward and who knows, right? You kind of hear a quote. I keep having a quote go back through my head, but you live like no one else today so you can live like no one else tomorrow and you just kind of keep going through it. So, I'm in. Yep. Perfect. Well, it's great having you here today, Kenny. It was awesome. Thank you for having me. and hope to see you on Monster Jam and here at Allstar Basements and hope to see you guys traveling around seeing your kids and can't wait to see what their future brings either. Thanks for your time. Hello. It's great. You bet. Good to see you.