Brown Note: Helping People with IBD Find Hope and Support With Andrew Giffin — About IBD Podcast Episode 204

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Amber Tresca talks with Andrew Giffin, a product manager in Toronto who was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at 19 after years of symptoms in high school. Andrew shares his experience navigating three major surgeries, adjusting his career path away from law enforcement, and learning to manage stress as part of living with a chronic illness. He also discusses developing apps, including Brown Note, a free, anonymous peer-support app for people with digestive diseases. Brown Note was inspired by his own feelings of isolation while preparing for his third surgery and is available on Apple, Android, and the web.

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Key Chapters & Timestamps:

  • [00:00:05] — Introduction to Andrew Giffin
  • [00:01:49] — Early Symptoms and Diagnosis Journey
  • [00:03:53] — The Challenge of University Life
  • [00:07:09] — First Surgery and Recovery
  • [00:09:30] — A Ruptured Appendix Emergency
  • [00:12:28] — Changing Career Aspirations
  • [00:15:53] — Coping with Life Changes
  • [00:18:32] — Developing the “Flusher” App
  • [00:21:14] — Lessons Learned from “Flusher”
  • [00:24:54] — The Creation of “Brown Note”
  • [00:27:50] — The Goal of the “Brown Note” App
  • [00:30:12] — Andrew’s Current Reading Obsession
  • [00:33:59] — How to Find “Brown Note”

Find Andrew Giffen at:

Find Brown Note at:

Resources discussed on this episode:

Pop culture references:

Find Amber J Tresca at:

Find Mac Cooney (mix, sound design, and theme music) at:

These show notes may contain affiliate links. If you choose to purchase after clicking a link, Mal and Tal Enterprises, LLC may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

[Music: IBD Dance Party]

Amber Tresca 00:00:05  I’m Amber Tresca and this is about IBD. I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis as a teen and had surgery ten years later. Now I help people with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis understand their disease and feel seen on about IBD. You’ll get real talk on symptoms, treatment, and life with IBD straight from patients, caregivers, and experts. You’ll learn, feel less alone, and even have a laugh along the way.

My guest is Andrew Giffin. Andrew is a product manager in Toronto who was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2001 at the age of 19. He has navigated the highs and lows of a corporate career through three major surgeries. Driven by a passion for solving complex puzzles and a desire to dismantle the isolation surrounding chronic illness. He created an app called Brown Note. Brown note is a free, anonymous, here’s support app designed to connect people navigating the challenges of digestive disease.

Andrew, welcome to about IBD.

Andrew Giffin 00:01:14  Thanks, Amber, for inviting me. Really excited to share the story of Brown Note.

Amber Tresca 00:01:19  Yeah.

Amber Tresca 00:01:20  Me too. And also, I’m hoping to get a little bit more about your background. I hinted at a few things, but we’re going to dig deeper into it. And so of course I want to begin kind of at the beginning, but you told me that you were diagnosed in 2001, but that symptoms started far before that ever happened. So I’m wondering, what was it? How did you finally get that diagnosis?

Andrew Giffin 00:01:49  Yeah, it all started in high school. I would, just feel like I would randomly get sick and have to take the day off school, which obviously my parents thought I was faking. Maybe a little bit of like why I’d get randomly sick, which was really frustrating when you didn’t feel like eating and I just felt really, really nauseous. I went through a series of tests all throughout high school. You know everything. Yeah. Any tests that you can imagine anybody’s going through? So colonoscopies, the barium enemas, everything to help diagnose. And we weren’t able to really track it down to Crohn’s disease.

Andrew Giffin 00:02:26  It was first diagnosed with ulcers. And so at that point, I was like, okay, at least I have this under control. Things are going to be fine. We know what the problem is. But then I went off to university and then developed an abscess in my bowel, and just went through a ton of pain and a whole slew of hospital visits until finally I ended up leaving university in my first year and moving back home. And that’s where I was finally diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. And that was the beginning of that chapter of my journey.

Amber Tresca 00:03:00  So let me ask you about the ulcers, because Crohn’s disease is basically all sorts of, what came of that? Like they biopsied them and it wasn’t Crohn’s or they just thought, I mean, because also I feel like if they were ulcers, depending on where they were, like, that’s not really common for a teenager. So what was that whole process like?

Andrew Giffin 00:03:25  Yeah. So we basically started at the top and worked our way down.

Andrew Giffin 00:03:29  And then as soon as they found any scarring in my bowel, which was just right, just at the beginning of where your stomach goes into your small intestine. Okay. They found some scar tissue there. And so once they found that, they were like, okay, it’s ulcers, and I. I had to kill the bacteria in there that they can’t remember the name of it now.

Amber Tresca 00:03:50  Oh, okay. They thought it was H. Pylori.

Andrew Giffin 00:03:52  Yes. Thank you.

Amber Tresca 00:03:53  Okay.

Andrew Giffin 00:03:53  Yeah. so they thought it was that. And then that was kind of the end of the discussion and I was feeling better. And then any sort of yeah, I made it. I made it at least a month at university before, the Crohn’s kind of took over. So the stress of living alone and, exams for the first time, cooking. So my diet was also not very great. Yeah. so all those things kind of compounded until, my, my bowel actually perforated and created an abscess, which was extremely painful and took about two years to finally, I actually ended up having the surgery when my, my appendix ruptured.

Andrew Giffin 00:04:32  And so they ended up. Yeah. So I’ve been dealing with both at the same time. And that was around 2002, 2003. But it was a lot of like prednisone and, yeah, a lot, a lot of different ways that you can, treat Crohn’s disease. I went through all of that in my first year of university in my second year.

Amber Tresca 00:04:53  yeah. There really wasn’t a lot available at the time. The first biologic was approved in 1998. Well, you’re in Canada, so I’m actually not as certain of the timeline there. I’m assuming, though it is very similar. So at the time biologic was still very new. There was only one. So yeah, prednisone. And then like Amy amaranth thank you. Like some immunomodulators. And so for the H they thought it was H. Pylori. Did they put you on like a bunch of antibiotics and stuff?

Andrew Giffin 00:05:25  Yes, definitely. I went through a whole, regime of antibiotics in order to to kill the bacteria, and all the fun stuff that goes along with that of just losing your immune system and your good bacteria in your body.

Andrew Giffin 00:05:38  Yeah. but then that’s that did lend itself to what I thought was the solution at the time.

Amber Tresca 00:05:46  Did you feel better when you were on the on that treatment?

Andrew Giffin 00:05:49  Yeah. I think at the, at the time, I thought I was under control, like I wasn’t getting randomly sick, but it was. It was literally like at the last just before graduation, when I get this diagnosis. So it was my final. I remember it was my final semester of high school. So there was just a lot of things going on at the time. Of course. Emotions. Yeah. And so it was to me, it was like, okay, this this will be great. We can end this chapter here in high school and this, this sort of random sickness that I’ve been kind of having, and then move into university and kind of start my, my new life. Little did I know, I did start a new life, I suppose. But yeah, not the one I really was expecting.

Amber Tresca 00:06:34  Very good point. Yeah. Because you also ended up, as you mentioned, some surgeries. You mentioned the appendicitis. I don’t know if that if you’re considering that in, in the, the, the surgeries that you had for IBD or if that was yet another one. but okay, so you were pulled out of college for that in the beginning, and then you’ve had a few more since then. So like, what was that like to, just to to be taken away from what your peers were doing or what you were doing at work when you moved into your career and then had to take that time for recovery?

Andrew Giffin 00:07:09  Yeah, I’m going to say in retrospect, I was really fortunate that I had my first surgery while I was in university because it wasn’t I hadn’t started working yet. and it gave me an opportunity to get really, really frustrated with the disease and feel very, have a lot of, you know, just being very, upset about the fact that, you know, I couldn’t live the normal 20 year old life.

Andrew Giffin 00:07:35  So there was no, you know, late night drinking, partying with friends. That was it was on the table. But it was very difficult afterwards. My recovery time after those events, and parties were a lot longer than other friends, and I was still getting randomly sick, so it was very difficult to plan anything with me. So if we made plans to go to a concert or anything like that, I would be the one who was, who would be the one that would cancel last minute. I’d have to pull out. Yeah. and, you know, you get the reputation of being very like, oh, this Andrew’s very sketchy. You never know if he’s going to show up or not. so, yeah, I was very resentful of that at the beginning, but it did give me the good takeaway from this is that I did kind of have to check out from university and that life and move back home, and being back home really did. I’ll say this nicely, but like, it really did drive me to focus on what I wanted.

Andrew Giffin 00:08:33  And what I wanted to do was to go to university and graduate university and start to, like, start my career, because you’re kind of at a crossroads at that point, because you could also decide to let the disease kind of overtake you and stay at home. It’s a lot more comfortable there. And I remember after that first surgery, I couldn’t. You can’t lift anything after you have stomach surgery. and I, I went and bought, like, really thin paper binders so I could carry them to class. Oh my gosh. I didn’t use any textbook. I just, I did all the. I wore suspenders of my belt. Wouldn’t rub against my scar, but I did anything that I could to get back into university and start going to classes so I could, you know, get it, get my, get a job.

Amber Tresca 00:09:19  Andrew you’re a problem solver. I knew that. But like these are things that would never have occurred to me to be able to get back to school while still trying to recover.

Amber Tresca 00:09:30  So where did the appendicitis and the appendectomy come into play here?

Andrew Giffin 00:09:34  It was so we were treating, when I had the obsessed. I was in and out of the hospital often. Yeah, because the pain was overwhelming. and they were really trying to treat it. I was, I was, what, 20, 2021 years old at the time, and they really didn’t want to have surgery at all. They wanted to see if they could deal with it with medicine, but at that point I was pretty far gone and I remember I had to go in for an emergency. like I couldn’t eat anything because I was getting blocked all the time because of the abscess. Yeah. And they ended up giving me a pick line and sending me home. And during that time, the inflammation now had spread, I guess, into my appendix. And I remember I was with watching TV with my friend and I just I keeled over in pain. Basically, he ended up taking me to the hospital and was because my appendix had ruptured.

Andrew Giffin 00:10:26  Oh my gosh. Because it was hard to know the difference between the pain from the appendix and the pain from the Crohn’s. So it all just kind of manifested into this surgery that I ended up having. relatively. Yeah, definitely in emergency surgery, to, to take care of it. but I was very thankful that, you know, the housemate that I was living with was able to get me to the hospital, and he was there with me through that process until my parents could come up and visit me. I was in Ottawa at the time.

Amber Tresca 00:10:54  Okay. Yeah. I mean, I’m sure you know this, but that’s very serious. I mean, like, Crohn’s is serious too, but like, your appendix bursting is like that. Can, you know, kill people?

Andrew Giffin 00:11:06  Yeah, definitely. Definitely.

Amber Tresca 00:11:08  That’s a lot. And I think that also speaks to how painful. Like, it can be difficult to describe pain and how painful something is. But the fact that you were just dealing with an appendix that was just about to burst and you were like, well, I guess it’s the Crohn’s, you know? I mean, that speaks to how painful all of that is.

Andrew Giffin 00:11:32  Yes, I’ve definitely had doctors tell me I have a very high pain tolerance because it’s very difficult to gauge how much you just get so used to. Well, you can get used to just dealing with, like, the cramps and the pain and pushing through. But you got to learn to not do that. Sometimes if you have insights and things can get really bad.

Amber Tresca 00:11:53  Yeah, I mean, high pain tolerance, blessing and a curse, you know, because that, that was a great. Wow. Well, gosh, I’m glad that you had a housemate that was like, yep. Nope. Let’s go. We’re going to the hospital right now. I’ve known a few people. Ambulance was the way that they went to the hospital with appendicitis, so. Yeah. so we’ve been talking about how you were dealing with IBD, all of this coming at very pivotal points in your life. Not that it’s ever a good time, but at a time when it’s really going to change your life trajectory. Really.

Amber Tresca 00:12:28  And you mentioned to me, the first couple times we talked about how you actually had a different career in mind. You weren’t always going to go into, into a corporate career. Can you can you talk a little bit about that?

Andrew Giffin 00:12:43  Yeah, definitely. When I was in high school, CSI Miami, or Crime Scene investigators. Miami was one of a very, very popular show at the time. and it was about forensic police officers, looking at crime scenes and kind of solving problems. And as a somebody who loves a good puzzle or problem, this show really spoke to me. and what I really wanted to do was get into law enforcement and look at the sort of forensic law. and I remember when I was first, like, talking to my gastroenterologist in Belleville, it was just like, it’s not really a life that you can get into because it’s very physically demanding. That whole, like, sketchy persona that I was kind of telling myself at the time, too.

Andrew Giffin 00:13:32  Yeah, it’s it doesn’t really work in law enforcement where you have to be very reliable and you have to be more solid and be able to, yeah, be be relied on by others, the community and your other law enforcement professionals. So I had to walk away. I had to make some choices early on of like, what type of work that I would end up doing. and so I was also pretty techie. It was also lended itself nicely to the, the forensic aspect of things. Yeah. and so moved more into computer science, and ultimately business.

Amber Tresca 00:14:08  Yeah, that makes sense. So I’m wondering about the conversation that you had with your gastroenterologist, though, because I was diagnosed at 16. I don’t think anybody ever mentioned to me like, like I fully graduated from college before I realized, oh, I cannot be out, like, in wetlands with test tubes and, like, all of that, like I had wanted to do. I have to do something where there’s a bathroom closer.

Amber Tresca 00:14:39  So, like, how did that how did that all come about, this discussion that you had about future career.

Andrew Giffin 00:14:46  That’s a that’s a really good question. I think it was a lot guided with my parents as well. just trying to they were definitely helped me be more pragmatic or realistic about, you know, what would be possible. Yeah. you know, being an airline pilot, like, any, any of those things that you might want to be when you’re a kid. they were like, well, you know, that’s great, but maybe you should think about this. And so I feel like there was it was half like getting diagnosed and talking to a gastroenterologist. And then also, like from my parents, kind of guiding me towards like, let’s find something that’s a little bit more 9 to 5. We have a little bit more vacation, a little bit more stable. bathroom adjacent is also really important. Yeah. so, like, maybe start thinking about those types of careers. And, my dad worked at, at a bank.

Andrew Giffin 00:15:37  So that was also, I think he was kind of channeling that sort of energy and, like, getting in the office, get in front of him, get behind computer. Right. It’ll be a little bit easier.

Amber Tresca 00:15:53  All right, so you had to make that pivot. You had people supporting you through it. And we’ve kind of talked about it in terms of what you did. But like how did you cope with that. Having to walk away from the thing that you really thought you were going to be doing.

Andrew Giffin 00:16:07  So a lot of things happened around that time, and my parents also got separated, and it kind of was a, you know, it’s never a good thing, but it was kind of a blessing because I ended up going to counseling at the same time that I was going through this diagnosis. I ended up going to counseling because there was just so many big changes going to university, so many changes in my life. And, you know, having to leave university, having to not do what you want to do from a career perspective.

Andrew Giffin 00:16:36  It’s just so many changes. So, it was really, really helpful to actually sit down and talk to somebody. and I was able to get free counseling because I guess I was. It was either through the university or through my my mother’s health care. Sure. but either way, it was it was definitely kind of set me up on the right path. So I’ve used counseling through it when anytime I get in sort of these heavy sort of situations, it’s great to be able to talk to somebody. And I distinctly remember the takeaway was finding ways to de-stress. And as you know, with Crohn’s disease, stress is kind of like the worst thing that you can have in your life. and so that was really, really, really happy to have that sort of connection made really, really early between Crohn’s disease and stress and what I can do to to help mitigate that. And I’ve only gotten I’ve only added more things that I do to de-stress. But at the time it was reading and music. So those are the two things.

Andrew Giffin 00:17:36  and so I, you know, as I was going through my journey, early on with, with, with Crohn’s disease is that I read a ton and I listen to a ton of music, and I surrounded myself with other music lovers and book lovers, and I found that they’re also a little bit more tolerant to, like, that sort of person who’s kind of sick and kind of weird to computers. And so it ended up just working out really, really well and ended up kind of building a nice, strong network over time. But that was some really solid advice that I got really early on is just like, what can you do though? Like, what do you like that can help you de-stress from everything?

[MUSIC: About IBD Transition]

Amber Tresca 00:18:16  Coming up, Andrew tells us all about Brown Note, the app he developed for people with IBD.

Amber Tresca 00:18:32  Andrew, let’s talk about how you started developing apps for people with IBD. So the first app that you developed what’s called flusher, aptly because it was a bathroom finder. And so I want to know, how did that come about?

Andrew Giffin 00:18:49  So now.

Andrew Giffin 00:18:50  You know, flash forward, I think about ten, 15 years. Sure. so well entrenched into software development, my career has, has grown steadily along that path. I moved out to Vancouver, and in the meantime, I had another surgery in the meantime. so Crohn’s was still very top of mind. Still hadn’t quite cracked the code of Crohn’s disease until I got on. after that second surgery, I was put on Humira finally. So I did my first biologic. and that was a game changer. It was the closest I felt to normal in a long time. and I had a lot of energy. And so I went back to school to learn more about, management science, basically. So, like statistics. And it was at the, Ryerson University, now Metropolitan University in Toronto. And after I had graduated that I saw that there was a grant for if you want to build an app for accessible accessibility. And so I was like, I’ve got Crohn’s disease. I’m looking for toilets all the time.

Andrew Giffin 00:19:57  This is a great opportunity to to actually get some money to build an app, because at the time it was a very expensive proposition. And so we actually ended up meeting and a few of my friends from university actually, got together and made a proposal, and we actually got the grant for it was around 18,000 Canadian to build an app. And the idea was I had been working downtown or I’d been downtown and just couldn’t. I was getting tired of going into Starbucks. Yeah. And then buying some random drink, just like you use the washroom. Yeah. Or feeling like a bit of a criminal asking, just like, hey, can I just what’s your code? I’m not going to buy anything, but I have to go.

Amber Tresca 00:20:42  The codes.

Andrew Giffin 00:20:43  Yeah. And so we’re kind of brainstorming around that. And and this is where flusher was born. and we started it in 2018 and we finished building it in 2019. And then when the pandemic hit in 2020, we decided to kind of shutter the project.

Andrew Giffin 00:21:04  But it was a it was a slow road to kind of build it up. We had we had hired one developer to work on it. but yeah, that was the, the idea behind the app.

Amber Tresca 00:21:14 Yeah. Which, you know, obviously we’re onto something because some of the major patient organizations have developed their own apps, and it sounds weird to say, but in the past six years, the landscape has really changed as far as app development. But what do you think that you learned from flusher? Did it change anything about the way that you are approaching your career.

Andrew Giffin 00:21:39  I think it did make me realize that I. I love solving those types of problems, and I like solving them through, through software. and it’s just a way that I can kind of cope with having Crohn’s disease is like some way that I could take back some ownership or control over, over the disease by trying to build a tool that could help me. I was just another reason was I was beginning to travel a lot with my current role when we built this app, and I could tell you the best airport washrooms to find, whether they’re lounge access, which is the most secluded ones, which one had floor to ceiling doors.

Andrew Giffin 00:22:19  And this was kind of the idea behind flusher. And I don’t know if the other the other apps actually do that, but it was really tailored towards Crohn’s people. So like, was there music in the background? Was there like the ambience of the actual like what was the atmosphere? And like looking for those premium sort of washroom experiences if you have Crohn’s disease.

Amber Tresca 00:22:39  Yeah I do believe I will be honest that I should be on those apps and I’m not which is kind of dumb because there’s times when I’m out traveling and could use a little hint or two. The code’s very frustrating. It depends on who is at the counter, whether or not they will give you the code. I was recently in Los Angeles, and the man actually looked at us and was like, you have to buy something before I’ll give you the code. And so if you all need the code to the Shake Shack bathroom in downtown Los Angeles, I got you. So yeah, I do think some of the apps do have those little extras.

Amber Tresca 00:23:28  Like what? How many stalls is it? Clean, you know. ET cetera, etc.. I’ll put links to all of that in the show. Notes, all the apps that I know of because I still think that maybe a lot of people don’t know about them. And there is a woman that has also developed a Google map with bathrooms in New York City. So I will also put a link to that. She actually lives with IBS and she’s an opera singer and kind of internet famous, so, but she’s, she’s doing the work out there. So I’m glad that you went on to develop another app that’s very different, but it is so intriguing to me. And I’ll tell you, Andrew, since we first connected, I’ve been mentioning your app to just all different sorts of people. And there’s not one person that hasn’t been like, wow, like, great idea. So just to tell everybody else what it’s about, it’s an app where people can share their challenges with IBD. It’s all anonymous and then receive responses and encouragement.

Amber Tresca 00:24:33  So you post something where you’re like, the Shake Shack wouldn’t give me the coat to the bathroom, you know. And then somebody can come in and be like, yeah, man, that sucks, you know? And it’s just kind of cool. So that’s the from my from where I’m sitting. That’s the that’s basically the gist of it. I know there’s a lot more to it. So I want to hear from you. Tell me about why you created Brown Note.

Andrew Giffin 00:24:54  So in 2025 I was prepping for my third surgery and it was it was a surgery that was to go. It was not an emergency in the sense that I didn’t have to rush to the hospital. It was planned to remove scar tissue. and during that process, I had to have, I think in 2024, I had at least three colonoscopies in preparation, getting ready for it. And I was just spending an endless amount of time in the washroom. And there’s one little secret I didn’t tell you is that I have an anal fissure as well.

Andrew Giffin 00:25:26  And so prepping for a colonoscopy is not, it is a simple affair. It’s a very painful, painful experience. And so three of them in one year, I was just getting kind of like a little down on myself. I was like, why is this keep on happening? And it just you just like really hits you how isolating this, this disease is. Because even though I have, I have a very supportive partner. She just will never understand what that experience is like. and so what I was like, what would be great is. And I use Reddit all the time, but I’m more of a lurker. And so that wasn’t really an avenue where I wanted to post on Reddit to vent. And so I wanted to do was create that feeling of like, I can I can get my feelings out there and I have other people with the disease respond back to it. And just like, let me know that, you know, feel the the heartbeat of other people and the pulse of like, okay, I’m not alone in this.

Andrew Giffin 00:26:22  Other people have gone through this. and then that was the idea of, of kind of brown note is like keeping it completely anonymous. So, you know, if you’re like me, I don’t necessarily want to post all these things on Reddit because my my username is my last name, so it’s not as anonymous. I probably could come up with a better name, but, I’m sticking with it. And yeah, that was kind of the whole impetus for for creating this sort of app is, you know, just a way to easily shake off that, that sort of feeling of loneliness that you get when you’re literally stuck in a washroom when everybody else is living their life.

Amber Tresca 00:27:01  Yeah. And I will say it’s easy to use, it’s intuitive. So it’s not a big learning curve or anything like that. So I hope people will check it out. but I’m wondering though like what are you hoping? And also I should point out not just IBD, I think that you also are thinking this is basically like almost anybody living with a digestive disorder.

Amber Tresca 00:27:22  I’m also thinking like somebody living with IBS, you know, chronic constipation, gastroparesis, you know, all these things we there’s they have Different issues, but there’s an awful lot of crossover. And so I think probably this this app would be helpful and for a lot of different people, beyond IBD. But I’m like, what do you think this will do? What are you hoping that people will get out of brow?

Andrew Giffin 00:27:50  Note I’m really hoping they get that sense of like, again, I’m not alone. And I through reading on Reddit, you hear of a lot of instances of, you know, despair with the disease and it comes out in many forms. Will I be able to travel? Will I ever find a partner? And I’ve been through that whole sort of spectrum. And I’ve definitely remember being alone at night, crying, listening to the Smiths in my dorm room, like, just be the worst because you just feel like this is never going to end and there’s no end in sight because it is a it’s a chronic disease.

Andrew Giffin 00:28:30  They tell you up front that you’ve got this. And so it breeds a lot of despair and negative emotions. And so what I was hoping for is to create a sort of space where you realize that there is light at the end of the tunnel. It does get better. it does change, I should say. Yeah. and it and, you know, you have to work on, you know, finding those really strong, community that you can kind of put around yourself. This is a very loose community, but it is a way to help people kind of realize that there’s others out there. Anyways.

Amber Tresca 00:29:06  Yeah, I agree. Like I said, I’m on the app, I enjoy it. it’s one of the only apps I’m going to tell you, Andrew, it’s one of the only apps that I allow to send me notifications. otherwise, like my notifications are off. So sorry, but that’s, how I live my life. the Smiths, Do you have? Do you have a favorite of The Smiths? Yeah.

Amber Tresca 00:29:33  There is.

Andrew Giffin 00:29:33  There is a Light That Never Goes Out for sure. There is only 100% of my favorite.

Amber Tresca 00:29:37  Those of you that are not as old as Andrew and I. Check out the Smiths. Just don’t ever try to see him in concert, because Morrissey cancels most of his concerts that he schedules. anyway. But, we stan, we stan the Smiths. Andrew, I want to know a little bit more about you as a person. What are you currently reading? You’re. You’re into books, so am I. What’s your current, what’s your current reading obsession?

Andrew Giffin 00:30:12  So, at the end of last year, I embarked on the journey of reading all of the Wheel of Time. when it came out on Amazon Video. I was I’m never one to watch it. I was like, I gotta read the books first. Yeah. And so it’s, it’s quite an endeavor. It’s, I think it’s 14 books in total. and just there’s a slog in the middle if, you know, you know, it’s funny because there’s like a four books that are very just boring to read through, but it’s like, oh, don’t worry, it’ll get better.

Amber Tresca 00:30:47  Yeah, but four books, that’s a lot.

Andrew Giffin 00:30:49  This was the first time I actually really I leaned on AI quite a bit because I was like, I don’t want to finish this. And AI was like, you should just keep going. It’s going to get better. so I got a little support for the Wheel of Time, which is really funny, but I’m really hoping the payoff is worth it. I’m not quite at the end yet, but I’m in the final stretch. And I have to admit, the last book that I read, you can feel the momentum kind of building back up after a very long slog.

Amber Tresca 00:31:18  Okay, okay, I think I read the first one remind me of, you know, when, did he start in the author’s name is escaping me. Robert. Jordan.

Andrew Giffin 00:31:30  Yeah. Robert.

Amber Tresca 00:31:30  Okay. When did he start writing those books? Like.

Andrew Giffin 00:31:34  I don’t know, actually, I feel like they’ve just been a part of our lives forever.

Amber Tresca 00:31:39  Yeah, yeah, yeah, well, you’ve been reading them forever. There’s, like, 14 of them. I think I read the first one and, couldn’t tell you, but, I think I was out after that, which is odd because, for instance, one of my favorite books, book series ever is Dune. And I have basically made both of my children, read it, and they’re 16 and 18, and both of them were like, mom, it’s a slog. This is a slog. I don’t understand it. I don’t know what’s going on, what is happening. And I’m like, no, no, it gets better. Like the same thing.

Amber Tresca 00:32:21  So, yeah, I, you also seem to me like you’re your problem solver. Clearly, you also seem to me like you might be a completionist, which and that’s a word. I don’t know if it’s a real word or one that I made up, but like for myself, if I start a book series, I have to finish it.

Amber Tresca 00:32:38  Are you kind of that way too?

Andrew Giffin 00:32:40  I think that’s very true, that there’s I’m definitely like that with TV series or anything like that. Like, I, I, I know that once I start, I’ll have to finish it. And so I’m very reluctant to start new things sometimes because I’m like, okay, this is going to be a real thing where others are like, oh, just try it. And like it doesn’t work that way. I’m sorry. Yeah, I really got into fantasy reading when I was first diagnosed with Crohn’s, because I had a lot of time on my hands. I was living back home and I was on prednisone, so I couldn’t sleep at all. And so instead of putting that towards exercise or being on a steroid to like gain muscle mass, I just read all the time and I finished Lord of the Rings Within. I think the movies were just coming out around that time. Yes they were, and I and I went through Lord of the rings and it was wonderful.

Andrew Giffin 00:33:25  and I finished it within like three, 3 or 4 weeks of just constantly reading it. It was a very aggressive read, but it was great. It was a it was a great introduction to these like long form fantasy novels. Yeah, obviously a classic.

Amber Tresca 00:33:40  So yeah. Andrew, I want everybody to be able to find you if you want to be found and find Brown note. So this is your opportunity to plug anything and everything that you want to share.

Andrew Giffin 00:33:59  Yeah. You can download the app on brown note.app. all one word. And it’s available on Apple and Android devices. So it’s on both stores and as well as a web app as well. If you don’t want to use your phone, you just don’t get the nice notifications about it. But you can still use it on your web browser.

Amber Tresca 00:34:19  I did not know that, and I like that very much so. Andrew, it’s been such a pleasure to get to know you and nerd out with you a little bit about the fantasy novels that we enjoy in The Smiths.

Amber Tresca 00:34:33 So I will put all the information that we talked about, especially about Brow note, in the show notes, as well as links to these other pop culture things that we’ve been talking about, because they deeply interest me and I want to. It’s my show. So thank you so very much for connecting with me and for being so open and transparent about your story. it is really, really important. And thank you for sharing it with me today.

Andrew Giffin 00:34:59  Thanks so much. It was a pleasure.

[Music: IBD Dance Party]

Amber Tresca 00:35:20  Hey super listener, check the show notes to find links and information about the topics discussed in this episode. Plus, get a written transcript and much more on my website about IBD. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing it with someone else or leaving a rating in your podcast app. Reviews and ratings help me grow this show and bring you more great content. Thanks for listening and remember. Until next time, I want you to know more about IBD.

About IBD is a production of Mal and Tal Enterprises.

It is written, produced, and directed by me, Amber Tresca.

Mix and sound design is by Mac Cooney.

Theme music is from Cooney Studio. 

Do you have maybe five, ten minutes more? Yeah. Doorbell ring.

Andrew Giffin 00:36:11  Doorbell rang. But we’ll just see how that shakes out. Let’s see what that is.

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