Soon millions will make Medicare coverage decisions for next year, and UnitedHealthcare can help you feel confident about your choices. For those eligible, Medicare Annual Enrollment runs from October 15th through December 7th.
If you're working past age 65, you might be able to delay Medicare enrollment depending on your employer coverage. It can seem confusing, but it doesn't have to be. Visit uhcmedicarehealthplans.com to learn more. UnitedHealthcare, helping people live healthier lives. Hello. This is Hey Dude Shoes. This is an ad. But not for your ears, for your feet.
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Vanguard Marketing Corporation distributor. This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories. And we tell stories about everything here on this show, including yours.
Send them to OurAmericanStories.com. They're some of our favorites. Brittany Ruby Miller is CEO of Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment, where she leads a team of more than 500 employees across seven luxury steakhouses in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Brittany is the author of Five Star Life, the faithful fight to overcome obstacles and pursue excellence.
Let's take a listen to her story. I'm Brittany Ruby Miller. I'm the CEO of Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment. And we operate seven family-owned steakhouses, USDA prime steakhouses, kind of a white glove approach, not a corporate chain steakhouse. These aren't commissary.
Everything's made in-house. We have incredible chefs. And my dad just grew up in restaurants. He had very little family, didn't really know who his dad was. He had four fathers at one point.
He calls them his forefathers, stepfathers. And, you know, once he found out who he thought was his uncle actually was his father. And so it's just a really crazy story he has. And he went from failing grade school to I think he was all state wrestling and got a full-ride scholarship to Cornell University. And when he came out of Cornell, Weingartner-Hammond's hospitality gave him two choices, Syracuse or Cincinnati. And he was a Reds fan, so he chose Cincinnati. He was running at one point a few Holiday Ins as an innkeeper. And also, though, was really involved in promotions and marketing and started making relationships with the Big Red Machine. And through those relationships, Johnny Bench and Pete Rose, they backed his first restaurant, The Precinct. And then his second restaurant, The Waterfront, which was a five-star floating barge on the Ohio River, was backed by Bill Marsiason and Chris Collinsworth.
But we have restaurants throughout the Midwest, so we've got four in Ohio, two in Kentucky, and one in Nashville. I start my book by explaining what it was like at five years old when mom walks through the door, four and a half, walks through the door and says, your father's been in a pretty bad car accident and he's in a coma, he might not make it. And I'm also pregnant, you're going to have a baby brother.
He had an experimental procedure done and should have died, had a five percent chance of ever living without being a vegetable and being completely brain dead. And my dad's Jewish and my mom was raised Christian, and so she started a prayer chain. And my dad contributes the prayer chain of five thousand people to his miraculous healing. So then I get into high school and in college. I have a million regrets from that period.
I was living a completely empty life. So underage drinking, going out and partying and having fun, you know, I never got into drugs. I think because I was the one thing I remember my mom always did was even if she didn't believe it, she would tell everybody like what a good kid I am in front of like me. So she's a great kid. She's great athlete.
She's great student. Oh, my gosh. It's you know, she and so to me, I was like, well, I guess if I smoke cigarettes or drugs, she won't be able to say that anymore. So I just never did it. But I went to bars and I snuck in and I you know, my brother was making fake IDs at the time. So I got a fake ID and it worked.
It was really good. And so we would go out and my dad found out. And so he literally, without telling me, goes down to Bar Cincinnati, jumped all these places on Main Street, which is where the bars are. And so I didn't know.
But I go to get in with my fake ID and the bouncer looks at me and then he takes my ID and he peels off the scans. And he goes, I want you to know I'm mailing this to your dad. Go home. I love that my dad chose steakhouses to make a business because when celebrities come into town or you want to impress somebody or you want to build relationships with lots of relationships that have come in very handy with politicians. I actually gave a TED Talks on this. There's a lot of things that they all have in common. They all love bourbon, steak and red wine and decadent desserts.
And so it's very simple to build relationships in our restaurants. My dad always says when when a guy comes home after working, the last thing he wants to do is sit down to a Chilean sea bass. No, you want to have a big old steak. You want to have a drink. And, you know, it's just an accomplishment.
And I love steakhouses. So anyways, he built a very strong relationship with Tommy Lasorda and the Dodgers, Eric Carros and Piazza was one of them and basically became like his second dad. You know, all I know is my boyfriend is a pretty good baseball player and he comes home. I'm like, what is wrong? He's like, every single time I got up to home plate today, Piazza heckled me every single time. He's screaming like, get off the Jeff Ruby's daughter.
Her dad's in the mafia. It's going to be every time he got up, it was a different thing that he would just try to get in. And he played horrible. I was irate when it happened. And now I feel like high fiving him. And I'm like, never again will I date an athlete. They all cheat.
They're all bad. And, you know, I'm just not interested. And I'm at a Toby Keith concert and we take a picture. And Marvin Lewis's assistant, Sandy, is my mom's best friend.
She takes the picture. The next time I'm with Sandy, I'm at my dad at a box at the stadium. And so we're I'm sitting in there and I'm joking because there's this picture of this football player who has long hair straightened down to his shoulders, past his chin. And he's got this look on his face that he's just going to kill somebody. Sandy's cracking up because I say to my dad, look, there's my new type. And he's like, you've lost your mind. And I'm like, haha, I know.
Yeah, never happening. And she's like, Brittany, that's that's Caleb Miller, middle linebacker. He took it as a joke. He actually is in ministry.
And aren't you a religious studies person? Aren't you into this type? I'm like, Sandy, not a chance.
No, thank you. And she's like, oh, he's going through a really hard time. You could be a good friend to him right now.
I'm like, no, I'm not taking on a project. And you've been listening to Brittany Ruby Miller talk about her father, her early life. Many of the mistakes she made as a late teen and in her early 20s, bar hopping and partying and as she said, living an empty life.
And luckily, she had a dad who cared enough to visit all the bouncers in town and just let him know which way was up, at least with him. When we come back, more of Brittany Ruby Miller's story here on Our American Stories. Folks, if you love the great American stories we tell and love America like we do, we're asking you to become a part of the Our American Stories family. If you agree that America is a good and great country, please make a donation. A monthly gift of seventeen dollars and seventy six cents is fast becoming a favorite option for supporters. Go to our American stories dot com now and go to the donate button and help us keep the great American stories coming.
That's our American stories dot com. Doing household chores can already be time consuming and tedious, and there's nothing more daunting than facing piles and piles of laundry that need to be done. I mean, that can be overwhelming for anyone. So if you want to get those larger laundry loads done right and get back to your life, try all free clear mega packs. All free clear mega packs are bigger packs with two times the cleaning ingredients compared to a regular pack so that you can tackle any laundry load without the worry. All free clear mega packs are also 100 percent free of perfumes and dyes and they're gentle on skin, which is great for any family's sensitive skin needs, which my family, we definitely have sensitive skin. So the next time the whole family gets home from long vacation or you get the kids back from summer camp or whatever the situation is that's caused this big pile of dirty clothes. Just know that all free clear mega packs.
They have your back. Purchase all free clear mega packs today and conquer any laundry load for all fabric types. Hey, you guys, this is Tori and Jenny with the 9 0 2 1 OMG podcast. We have such a special episode brought to you by nerd tech ODT. We recorded it at I heart radio's 10th pole event, Wango Tango. Did you know that nerd tech ODT Remedapants 75 milligrams can help migraine sufferers still attend such an exciting event like Wango Tango? It's true. I had one that night and I took my nerd tech ODT and I was present and had an amazing time. Here's a little glimpse of our conversation with some of our closest friends. This episode was brought to you by nerd tech ODT Remedapants 75 milligrams life with migraine attacks can mean missing out on big moments with friends and family.
But thankfully, nerd tech ODT Remedapants 75 milligrams is the only medication that is proven to treat a migraine attack and prevent episodic migraines in adults. So lively events like Wango Tango don't have to be missed. Soon millions will make Medicare coverage decisions for next year, and UnitedHealthcare can help you feel confident about your choices. For those eligible, Medicare annual enrollment runs from October 15th through December 7th.
If you're working past age 65, you might be able to delay Medicare enrollment depending on your employer coverage. It can seem confusing, but it doesn't have to be. Visit UHCmedicarehealthplans.com to learn more. UnitedHealthcare, helping people live healthier lives. And we continue with Our American Stories and Brittany Ruby Miller, who is CEO of Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment, where she leads a team of more than 500 employees across seven luxury steakhouses in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Let's pick up where Brittany last left off. So she follows up, and she ends up calling me multiple times, and she said, Caleb, really, I showed him your picture. He really has no friends up here, and he knows you're a religious studies major, and you just got baptized, so I was baptized in 2001 as well. And he just grabs the phone from her, and he's like, hello, Brittany, I'm up here drafted to the worst city. Like, I never wanted to come to Cincinnati.
I hate this city. I have no friends up here, and I just need a friend. I'm going through a really hard time in my life, and I would just appreciate it if you would just carve out some time and we can talk. I'll meet you for coffee. And he's like, that sounds like a date. I'll just come over to your house. We can just hang out as friends. And I'm like, okay. And the next thing I know, I'm sitting in my living room with my best friend watching Ace Ventura, and it's the most awkward situation ever.
We don't talk about any of his problems at all. And we just watched a movie. It's ridiculous that I fell for it. We really built a friendship first. He grew up very, very religious, very legalistic, not an excuse for anything, and his parents are tremendous. And so he ends up going to college, and he gets somebody pregnant, and he thinks this whole world's just over. And so he's at that point, I think the baby was almost due when we met, and so I'm not trying to get involved. I'm just talking to him as friends and trying to help him, and that's what he said he wanted. And as we became friends, it developed into something more, but I'm thinking, well, okay, I can deal with the kid.
The guy's got a son. I can handle that. I'm not thinking there's anything else going on with that relationship. And then we get married, and he comes to me and says, you know, I'm learning he's still massively depressed. Oh, then you throw on an injury, a career-ending injury in Seattle. I'm packing the house up to move into our new house as newlyweds, and I'm not even watching the game.
I'm listening to it because I'm in my closet packing. And the announcer comes on and is like, oh, that's a bad one. Caleb Miller is down. And then they cut to commercial. And I'm like, what the heck? And so I call Bill Conley, who was traveling secretary, I think, and I finally get a hold of him, and he's like, Brittany, he's tackling Sean Alexander. And this guy comes and just crunches him backwards, so it's like a bent path, and then lands on him. And for, he said, about two minutes, he felt it was nothing. He could not move. And then two minutes later, he's like, warmth came over his body, and he was able to walk off. Total miracle that he's not paralyzed.
But we both knew the season was over at this point. And then, you know, he comes back, and he is in the most tremendous back pain. He tried to fake, and he tried to get back in shape and do what he could do, and he, you know, he failed the physicals when he would go and practice and try to, you know, he had a couple workouts with some teams.
And so he turned down another tryout, I think, in Atlanta, and he just said, I can't play. And he said, but I've got to get my brain, I've got to get my heart right, and I've got to get my life right. And that's when he confessed again that he had cheated on me.
And I, you know, my first thing was like, I'm just done. I'm done dealing with this guy. He's got to get his crap together, and I'm not going to be the one that continues to just sit there. And this has been years now of him being fickle and wishy-washy, and now he's blaming it on depression, and come on, I'm not buying any of it.
I could tell he was genuinely sorry. He wanted to change. So I'm like, I've got to at least give it a shot. If you're dying to yourself at this point, you're dead. That's all gone. Now you want to pick up the pieces and fix yourself.
This is the one and done shot to do that. If you want to go figure that out. And so he goes to the Meyer Clinic.
It's amazing. And I remember your last session of the three weeks is with the spouse, and the counselor said, Look, I got to tell you, Caleb's personality is not like many that I've counseled, and I don't know if you can change personality. And Caleb looks, and he's heartbroken because he's needing to convince me that it's worth, like I'm better. And he said, and also, he's not ready to leave. That part was true. The part about you can't change personality is not true. And that guy actually was not a good counselor, doesn't take any credibility away from the program at the Meyer Clinic. He just wasn't a good counselor. And so they got him a new one. But my counselor said, You've got to just continue to pray.
Those are your weapons. And so I prayed for Caleb nonstop during that time. He goes, and he stays for another three weeks. And at this point, I can tell there is significant change. Is he fully healed?
No. But this is a different person who I know is going to be putting in the work to change himself. But then they tell me upon his checkout that I should check in for three weeks. And I'm like, what? I'm fine.
What do you mean? I'm not losing my mind. These are crazy people down here. He told me some of the stories of these people, and I'm like, wow, that sounds like a serious psych ward.
Crazy. I'm like, I'm not going to that program at all. I'll do my own thing up here. I've got some good counselors.
And they're like, no. And so when I get down there, the number one thing that was unveiled was that I was dealing with perfectionism. That I just always kind of thought that that was a good thing.
Like, I'm just excelling in everything I do. And I realized it could be a mental disorder. My marriage had to be perfect. My body had to be perfect. You know, I had 10 years of an eating disorder that I never told anybody about. And then, by the way, I've also got this thing I need to work out with Caleb.
The crazy thing was we really didn't. I mean, I processed that with my counselor. And what I loved about my counselor is, and I've been to many therapists. When you hire a therapist, it's not you just don't go and like spill everything and hope they're the one. You need to interview a therapist like you're interviewing an employee. Because my mom and dad got me a therapist when they chose to get divorced. And this guy, all he did was listen and he never gave me feedback.
He never gave me tools. He never… And I'm like, I don't need to go and just talk. Like, I need you to give me some advice.
Talk to me. I actually had three counselors like that in my life. Then I go to the Meyer Clinic and she actually gives me her opinion. I'm like, wow, this girl is awesome. And she looks Caleb in the eyes and says, what you did is wrong. No, what you're doing right now, she validated me so much. But she would also validate him that, hey, that's toxic.
That's below the belt. You can't say this. Here's the tools to fighting. And so because she was such an amazing counselor and she said, your biggest issue, Brittany, is your perfectionism and the other stuff you're going to heal. We're going to help you with the marriage stuff to get over.
But like you need to really be focused on yourself down here. And that's what that's what happened. Where I am now is almost married 15 years and it is the best marriage I could ever hope for. And I remember when my pastor's wife, Kathy, when I called her just sobbing hysterically that there's I mean, it's just was it. I was so blindsided when I found out he cheated in our marriage that I was just it rocks you in unless you've experienced it. And I also think people who haven't experienced it will never really understand how beautiful the healing can be.
She told me that day, if you can forgive him and put in the work and he truly is repetitive and he's sorry, you will have the most rock solid marriage. And she that's what she told me. She goes, you know, and Pastor Dale shares this, my pastor up here.
They share it publicly. And same thing with my mentor for Taylor and Sandra. I would have never known that that happened. And then I'm like, people are coming out of the woodworks. It's unbelievable how common it is.
I mean, I really thought I was like the only one and nobody can know. And when you deal with that, the the greatest healing, even if it far exceeds the Meyer Clinic, are meeting and talking to women who had also been there and who chose to stay and fight. And it is the best decision that I made because Caleb is the most amazing father and the most amazing husband, and he truly is a testimony that you can change. Like that counselor was wrong.
That was a lie. And you've been listening to Brittany Ruby Miller tell the story not just of her marriage and her husband's infidelity, but how she got through it and how she learned about herself, too, particularly her perfectionism. Anyone who's been around a perfectionist, it's not pleasant. It's really not pleasant.
It can be one of the most unpleasant things of all because you're always disappointing that person and they don't even know it and they're disappointing themselves. And my goodness, so many relationships do survive infidelity and come out on the other side better. And sharing that story makes anybody who's gone through that feel less alone.
When we come back, more of Brittany Ruby Miller's story here on Our American Stories. Doing household chores can already be time consuming and tedious, and there's nothing more daunting than facing piles and piles of laundry that need to be done. I mean, that can be overwhelming for anyone. So if you want to get those larger laundry loads done right and get back to your life, try all free clear mega packs. All free clear mega packs are bigger packs with two times the cleaning ingredients compared to a regular pack so that you can tackle any laundry load without the worry. All free clear mega packs are also 100 percent free of perfumes and dyes and they're gentle on skin, which is great for any family's sensitive skin needs.
Which my family, we definitely have sensitive skin. So the next time the whole family gets home from long vacation or you get the kids back from summer camp or whatever the situation is that's caused this big pile of dirty clothes. Just know that all free clear mega packs, they have your back.
Purchase all free clear mega packs today and conquer any laundry load for all fabric types. Hey, you guys, this is Tori and Jenny with the 9 0 2 1 OMG podcast. We have such a special episode brought to you by nerd tech O.D.T.
We recorded it at I heart radio's 10th pole event, Wango Tango. Did you know that nerd tech O.D.T. Remedia pants, 75 milligrams can help migraine sufferers still attend such an exciting event like Wango Tango?
It's true. I had one that night and I took my nerd tech O.D.T. and I was present and had an amazing time. Here's a little glimpse of our conversation with some of our closest friends. This episode was brought to you by nerd tech O.D.T. Remedia pants, 75 milligrams. Life with migraine attacks can mean missing out on big moments with friends and family. But thankfully, nerd tech O.D.T.
Remedia pants, 75 milligrams is the only medication that is proven to treat a migraine attack and prevent episodic migraines in adults. So lively events like Wango Tango don't have to be missed. Soon millions will make Medicare coverage decisions for next year, and UnitedHealthcare can help you feel confident about your choices. For those eligible, Medicare annual enrollment runs from October 15th through December 7th.
If you're working past age 65, you might be able to delay Medicare enrollment depending on your employer coverage. It can seem confusing, but it doesn't have to be. Visit UHCMedicareHealthPlans.com to learn more. UnitedHealthcare, helping people live healthier lives. And we continue with our American stories and Brittany Ruby Miller, who's the CEO of Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment. And we had just heard about how her marriage had improved, actually, after an infidelity and a real reckoning and probably some repentance and forgiveness.
And now let's pick up where Brittany last left off. So I had graduated from U.C. I start culinary school. I'm managing, you know, so I served for a really, really long time and I just worked every position. I ended up being in the operations for 20 years and love restaurants and learned every position.
And that was one thing that my dad really a great decision that he made because I wanted to, as soon as I graduated, go to corporate office and start doing what I thought that I should do. And he's like, you have not served yet. You've done every other position, though, but you haven't served.
I'm like, I know. But I learned through watching other people serve. I've read every training manual.
I created the documents, probably. He's like, no, until you serve, you really don't understand it. And it is the hardest job.
I think every citizen should have to serve at some point in their life. And I think everybody should work off of tips, too. And so great experience. Did that for a couple of years.
And then I got into management and then I go to the corporate office and my intro was guest relations manager. And so I go to take my first call and I'm listening to this guy tell me this crazy story that we refused a seeing eye dog and and his spouse. They're blind and they came to the precinct.
And how dare we not serve them? And we turn them away because he has a dog. I just called my manager and go nuts on him. I'm like, what is wrong with you? How could you do this? And he's like, Britney, what day was it like that?
We never had a dog in here. And who was the server? And he goes, let me get back to you. So I'm like, oh, he's lying through his teeth. He just doesn't want to get fired.
He knows this happened. And I had just installed caller ID at the corporate office. And so it came up from a hotel and I'm thinking it's just a guest at a hotel. And I go to take his phone number down and my best receptionist voice, like trying to do everything very professionally.
He won't give me the phone number. I'm like, OK, that's weird. But it doesn't dawn on me that it could be any scam until a couple of calls and a couple of different hotels later.
Motel six, Red Roof Inn. It was just very bizarre. And meanwhile, the story is not adding up at the restaurant level.
Somehow I'm super slow. It takes three calls from three different hotels to realize this guy is scamming me. And it's the first complaint I ever took. And I will tell you, those things don't happen very often.
I've now been in the corporate office for over 10 years. Those things do not happen. There's an occasional weird thing, but something like that, that is so premeditated and planned out.
And it's bizarre. And thank God it did, because I then made the decision that I'm going to always take my employees back first. All feedback is relevant. That doesn't mean I agree with it. And so our team is innocent until proven guilty. And we take 48 hours. If you complain at one of our restaurants, I thank you for your feedback before we accept, I don't tell them this, but before we take any, we train on this.
There's zero liability that's taken until we invest some time into talking to the manager, looking at our cameras, looking at the guest check, seeing what was calm, seeing how long the ticket time was, how long it took to get drinks. And so we do a full report on every single complaint that comes in. And most of the times, look, the server screwed up or we own it, we have to apologize. And that's what we do and we handle it. But I realized that I need to make sure that my team knows that I trust them.
And even if they screw up, I trust them to do the right thing to make it right. But at that point, you know, my dad, the way that he ran the business was very hands on, one man show. And he is a maniac for restaurants being the best and insane amount of national awards. I mean, USA Today, top 10 travel and leisure, top 25 steakhouses. I mean, the list goes on on the Food Network Best Steakhouse in Ohio. And so at this point, we have a really good company. I know our restaurants are great, but everything is tribal knowledge, whether it's the mac and cheese that's famous to the way that we are hostess's answer phone, like everything is just passed down.
There's nothing documented. And then I become director of operations and my dad brings on Russell Mancus. So Russell started as the GM of the waterfront in 1986. And then he left. He wasn't there very long because he was recruited by Hilton. And so he goes to open Hilton's all over the world.
He's in Asia, Mexico. He opened Times Square and then he landed at the Drake. So he's running the Drake at that point. He's the general manager of the Drake. And dad goes to Chicago to write his book, which is an amazing story.
It's called Not Counting Tomorrow, his life story. Dad comes back from writing his book and he said, I think Russell is going to come be the managing director. And I'm like, oh, you know, and there's a part of me I'm like, why do we need a managing director? I'm director of operations.
We're fine. And I'm nervous. I'm about to get a new boss. I've always reported to Jeff Ruby. But Russell said, look, Jeff, I got two years left before I retire and I want to retire knowing that I did something really great. And I'm going to move back to Cincinnati and I want to mentor Brittany and position your company to scale.
He was the best thing that happened in my career. I had only seen the very eccentric, colorful, charismatic type of leadership before. And that's passionate and that's good. And that's why he has a company the way that he has it. But it also takes somebody with a leadership that's more calm and not as reactive and rational to be able to build a business. So my dad built a brand. Russell built a business. I joke that his middle name was metrics like Russell metrics, Mancos, because I couldn't just say we did a great job.
I'd have to show him data, show him numbers, explain why our numbers were so good, explain why our guest sentiment was so good. And then when we would open new restaurants at that point, it was great because we built training documents for every single department. The way that we look at it is if we go to build a restaurant, I've got the playbook here on here's how to do that for everything from finance to operations to culinary. And we built three restaurants in four years and then he retired.
And so I've been president and CEO for a couple of years and then covid hits. I grew up from this time I was five years old. Five stars is what you strive for.
It's crazy at five. I knew who our critic was here in town. I knew what it took to get five stars in the restaurants. And that's what we strive for. And then through this journey, I said I was living a one star life. God wants us to have a five star life. He wants us to have the fruits of the spirit. He wants us to have the joy, not happiness.
He wants us to have joy in our hearts. And five stars to me became not just in my restaurants, but that's when it dawned on me that we need to be striving for five stars in our personal lives as well and celebrate the victories. We've got so much craziness that's happening around us. I am living my five star life, but it's because I put in the work when it was the one in two stars. And I'm so glad that I did. So just to summarize the where Caleb and I are now healthiest relationship I could ever ask for. Amazing relationship with Caden's mom.
And we co-parent better than anyone out there. I believe it took a lot of. No, it didn't. It took one conversation. I sit down and there was a massive amount of healing and she is my friend now and we are close and it's awesome. And my kids are absolutely incredible. They would not be here today if I chose to walk away. And so for marriages, I just want to say it is really worth fighting for.
And it is a life or death, literally a life or death decision when you go through those hard things. And I'm so glad now that I've got, you know, after five years of infertility, we have three miracle babies. That's the one thing I didn't say. I found out I carry a gene mutation that makes you very prone to neural tube defects. And I had a neural tube defect baby. I had a 30 percent chance of ever having a healthy baby.
And I've had three fully healthy babies. Hands on prayer. Crazy miracles that happened. And for anybody listening, God's got a destiny and a purpose for you. And don't be ashamed to celebrate five stars.
He wants us to have the best lives we can. And a great job, as always, by Greg on the production and the storytelling and a special thanks to Brittany Ruby Miller. And she's the author of Five Star Life, The Faithful Fight to Overcome Obstacles and Pursue Excellence. And she is so right that marriages are worth fighting for.
I read recently that four out of five marriages that were on the brink of divorce five years later was stronger and better than ever. Having the reckoning that ultimately Brittany had and her husband, it really shook me when she said the words, I was running five star restaurants, but living a one star life. And that's so many of us putting in all of our excellence into our work and not into our families.
The story of Brittany Ruby Miller here on our American stories. Doing household chores can already be time consuming and tedious, and there's nothing more daunting than facing piles and piles of laundry that need to be done. I mean, that can be overwhelming for anyone. So if you want to get those larger laundry loads done right and get back to your life, try all free clear mega packs. All free clear mega packs are bigger packs with two times the cleaning ingredients compared to a regular pack so that you can tackle any laundry load without the worry. All free clear mega packs are also 100 percent free of perfumes and dyes and they're gentle on skin, which is great for any family's sensitive skin needs, which my family, we definitely have sensitive skin. So the next time the whole family gets home from long vacation or you get the kids back from summer camp or whatever the situation is, that's caused this big pile of dirty clothes, just know that all free clear mega packs, they have your back.
Purchase all free clear mega packs today and conquer any laundry load for all fabric types. Hey, you guys, this is Tori and Jenny with the 9021 OMG podcast. We have such a special episode brought to you by Nerd Tech ODT. We recorded it at I Heart Radio's 10th poll event, Wingo Tango. Did you know that Nerd Tech ODT Remedipant 75 milligrams can help migraine sufferers still attend such an exciting event like Wingo Tango?
It's true. I had one that night and I took my Nerd Tech ODT and I was present and had an amazing time. Here's a little glimpse of our conversation with some of our closest friends. This episode was brought to you by Nerd Tech ODT Remedipant 75 milligrams. Life with migraine attacks can mean missing out on big moments with friends and family.
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Here's Robby with the next installment. We have the freedom to call ourselves what we are. We have the freedom to, well, speak. And we expect that this is protected by the Constitution, unlike, say, running a red light. Now, that you should be punished for. But what if you got a ticket for speaking about red lights? Well, that happened in Beaverton, Oregon, to Mats Jarostrom.
He was also told that he wasn't an engineer, which he was. So I grew up in Sweden. I listened actually to R&B music a lot when I was growing up.
It was kind of the disco age, lots of bass, drums, and so I was interested in reproducing that with loudspeakers. And that's actually the reason why I started to become an electronics engineer. So I had the four-year electronics courses in becoming an engineer in that field. After that, I went into Lynchman's Technical College to continue.
There I actually met an American exchange student, a cute girl. That's actually the reason why I finally ended up in the United States. A few decades later, in Beaverton, Oregon, this whole red light business started. Well, for me personally, it started out when my wife received a red light camera citation in the mail. Didn't really pay attention to traffic signals.
And I think most people don't really pay attention to them more than, hey, they need to stop or go. But this time, Mats gave it a little more interest than usual. Well, a lot more. Mats, in his own free time, took an approach that most of us would never even think to. Due to his rather inquisitive nature and the fact that his wife had only run the light by 12 one-hundredths of a second. So it was a really small margin that she had triggered the system with. And so I was curious to see or find out more about it. And my wife and I went to the intersection and actually used a video camera to study the timing of this device. And when they compared their findings to the times that the city of Beaverton had listed on their website, turns out the red light was changing faster than the website said it should. So we thought that, hey, my wife could bring this information into the courtroom, the municipal court, and present that to the judge and see if she can get the ticket dismissed. And the judge literally just said, hey, look at the video here. It looks like you ran a red light. So it proves that you did something wrong and you have to pay. That didn't really sit so well with me, so I took it in actually to the city hall and brought this information to them. And there I was equally dismissed. While investigating traffic lights, he came across an equation that's meant to calculate how long a yellow light needs to be for cars to stop.
But he noticed something was wrong. This equation that's used mainly in the United States of America was developed back in 1959. However, it's only applicable for straight through lanes because it's designed to be a minimum stopping distance that you traverse at constant speed. And you can only traverse that distance at constant speed if you go straight through an intersection.
And it doesn't then apply to when you make a turn. I thought initially that by taking this information that I had learned to the board of engineers here in the state of Oregon, they can bring that information out to our practicing engineers around the state. But instead of looking into the subject matter that I brought to their attention, they were more interested in that I had said that I was a Swedish electronics engineer. So there were two things that they were complaining that I did wrong or illegally. And that was that I called myself an engineer without being licensed in the state of Oregon. And the second one was that I actually talked about traffic signals without being licensed to do so. I actually talked to the board of engineers of all the First Amendment rights that we have, not only in the U.S. Constitution and then also in the Oregon's Constitution itself. But they ignored all those things that I brought up to their attention.
So I thought that was clear that I could move on and and continue with my quest. And in his research, Matt's figured out a way to solve the problem of traffic lights not taking account for people making turns, you know, as one does in their free time. And I presented that one in an email that I sent out actually to 60 Minutes and to the National Board of Engineers. I also forwarded that email to the Board of Engineers, which they then later deemed to be illegal. And that's how it actually started with an investigation by the board that lasted literally two years or almost two years and a fine of five hundred dollars. It was actually very stressful to be in an investigation, and especially if you're being told that you're illegal for saying who you are.
I am a Swedish engineer, and it hurt me not to the core, to be honest with you. I just wanted to bring information out so we can talk about it. I'm just sharing some ideas. And I think that's a fundamental thing for all of us, that we should be able to be free to share ideas.
If we don't have any ideas or people don't dare to share ideas, that means we don't have any ideas to to to pick from. And obviously that's not good for for the whole. There's this thing in America called the rule of law. It's the idea that there are publicly known stable laws that are applied to everyone. So in Matt's case, the rule of law is that the First Amendment covers his right to speak truthfully and openly, truthfully about who he is and openly about any ideas. The government can't just violate rights because they want to. If they do because of the rule of law, Matt can do something about it. He can go to court and point to the law, in this case, the Constitution, and say this can't be done. And a court of law rules on it.
And he did. With the help of the Institute for Justice, Matt took the engineering board to court and sued them to secure his rights. Here's Matt's lawyer from the Institute for Justice, Sam Gedge. The board has had a really remarkable history of enforcing these laws against all kinds of different people. And the board's enforcement practices really fell into two camps. One, they went after people who simply talked about technical topics like Matt's talking about yellow traffic lights or like people talking about power plants or landfills or really any kind of engineering topic you can think of. At the same time, though, the board was equally aggressive in policing the word engineer.
So all of the software engineers working at Intel in Oregon couldn't call themselves engineers, a sanitation engineer couldn't call themselves an engineer, a domestic engineer couldn't call themselves an engineer. And for most people who were caught up in these really onerous enforcement proceedings, it simply wasn't worth it to hire a lawyer and to try to vindicate their First Amendment rights. So the board just kept getting away with it.
There is no engineering exception to the First Amendment. Our claims really fell into two buckets. One, Matt's had a First Amendment right to talk about the math behind traffic lights and he wanted to continue talking about traffic lights. And we needed a federal court order securing his right to do that. And likewise, we sought similar relief from the federal courts protecting his right to describe himself truthfully using the word engineer.
And thankfully, the courts ended up siding in Matt's favor. So we could even help all engineers here in Oregon and they will probably help across the country as well to be able to say who we are without being deemed illegal. So how has he been using his not necessarily newfound but newly affirmed freedom? I have presented actually my ideas to the Institute of Transportation Engineers. It's an international organization based in Washington, D.C.
They have about 15000 members in 90 countries. And right now they're going to have an appeals board set up where I can do or go and present my my ideas and my solutions, because I feel it's important. I don't feel like people should get a citation for just doing a safe and comfortable turn. And here in Oregon, the citation is 260 dollars.
And for a low income person or family, that is a big expense for not necessarily doing anything wrong. The second one is also I feel like we need to be prepared for autonomous vehicles because they are going to be programmed to drive through intersections safely and comfortably. And that's actually what we should also be doing today as humans.
We need to be able to drive through an intersection safely and comfortably without having to slam on the brakes or accelerate into the intersection to kind of fix the underlying problems that we have today. And I think I have the voice right now to do so. And the solution he presented to the board of 15000 individuals in 90 countries, it was accepted and is being pushed out internationally and all without a government issued engineering license.
Matt Yalstrom story, another part of our rule of law series here on our American stories. Geico asks, how would you love a chance to save some money on insurance? Of course you would. And when it comes to great rates on insurance, Geico can help. Like with insurance for your car, truck, motorcycle, boat and RV, even help with homeowners or renters coverage. Plus, add an easy to use mobile app, available 24 hour roadside assistance and more. And Geico is an easy choice. Switch today and see all the ways you could save.
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Whisper: medium.en / 2023-02-16 02:09:24 / 2023-02-16 02:28:40 / 19
