In My Footsteps: A Gen-X Nostalgia Podcast

Episode 112: My Cape Cod Roots; Celebrating 3 Years of Sobriety; Bob Barker & Price Is Right; Weird Vermont Laws(8-13-2023)

• Christopher Setterlund • Season 1 • Episode 112

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Episode 112 begins with a segment I've wanted to do and share for quite a while. Straddling the line between two generations has allowed me to see things the way they were and the way they became. I celebrate this fact as I look at my Cape Cod roots. Reminisce about things that used to be on the Cape, and for folks of my generation look back at how life was in general in the 80s and 90s.
With the recent passing of Bob Barker it is only appropriate to go way Back In the Day and take a look at the Price Is Right game show, specifically the 35 years that Barker hosted. It is highly likely that people who grew up during his time as host will find some fond memories in this segment.
We are up to the 4th New England state in the series of weird laws countdowns. This week's Top 5 is a look at weird Vermont laws. Giraffes, doves, dentures, and more make up one hilariously random segment.
On September 12, 2020 I decided to quit drinking. It was a difficult task but September 12, 2023 marked 3 years of being alcohol-free. I take a deep dive into my story. My journey through the rough times when alcohol ruled my life to the challenges of quitting something so difficult to defeat. If my story helps even one person it will have been worth sharing.
There is also a brand new This Week In History and Time Capsule featuring Pete Rose becoming Major League Baseball's all-time hits leader.
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Speaker 00:

Hello world, and welcome to the In My Footsteps podcast. I am Christopher Setterlund, coming to you from the vacation destination known as Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and this is episode 112. It's a jam-packed episode this week, sharing a lot of stuff near and dear to my heart. We're going to start off as I share the story of my Cape Cod roots, my connection to the Cape, and what it was like growing up here. I have also just passed three years alcohol-free, so I'm going to do a little bit of a deep dive and another retrospective into what it was like quitting alcohol, the effect it had on me and my life before and after and just words of encouragement and advice if anyone needs them. We're going to go way, way back in the day and look at the legendary Price is Right game show and Bob Barker, the host, who recently passed away at the age of 99. There's going to be a brand new top five that are going to be the top five weird Vermont laws to continue that series we've been doing. And of course, there'll be a brand new This Week in History and Time Capsule all Welcome in, everybody. I hope you're enjoying the last full week of summer. September 23rd is the first day of fall. It's my favorite season. My favorite time of year has begun. Like I've said repeatedly, it is the time from after Labor Day to the end of the year. I love it. The weather's still nice. There's just fewer people on the roads, on the beaches, on Cape Cod. This is our summer, basically. So there's so much to get into on this week's podcast, but I had a couple of things I had to bring up to start. First of all, coming up next week is a special bonus episode. Episode 113 is going to be an interview with Frank Durant, my friend, the producer of the Lady of the Dunes documentary. We do a lot of catching up on what he's been up to in the last year or so since he was on the podcast last. And I won't give away much about that, but I will just say that the day that we recorded that interview was the day that the Lady of the Dunes case was closed. In fact, I got the news about an hour before I was meant to interview Frank. And even though the interview was not meant to be a lot about the Lady of the Dunes, we do get a lot into it because the timing was unbelievable. Authorities have named Ruth Marie Terry's husband, Guy Moldovan, as her killer. Now, they didn't say anything about accomplices or anything else in detail, but they've basically said he is the one that did it. Once Ruth Marie Terry had been identified and they mentioned her husband, Guy Muldovan, and you do any kind of look into his life, it was pretty obvious he had to have something to do with it. It still blows my mind that I had even any association with the identification and solution to the Lady of the Dunes case. Granted, I just wrote the book based around Frank's documentary, but still, if you had told teenage me that I'd be even a peripheral character in the solution to the case, I'd have said no way. But that full interview is coming up next week, episode 113. The following week, there will be no new podcast as I'm going to set up the subscription feature with the podcast through Buzzsprout and Patreon. So I'm going to use that extra week to kind of get that set up. So it'll be the last week of September that you'll be able to subscribe to the podcast, get the bonus episode, the subscriber only episodes. So that's the next step coming up. The evolution of the podcast. I wanted to make sure that I took a moment to thank everyone who's been listening. August was the best month ever for downloads for the podcast, which is mind blowing. And I'm so thankful because putting these episodes together, it is a lot of work to research, record, edit, market. And I love every bit of it. So it's very rewarding to have people that listen regularly. And I'm going beyond family and friends. I'm talking about people that don't know me that decided to take a chance on this podcast. And I could go on and on. There's so much to come. But I also want to dive into the meat of this sandwich that is the podcast. So this is something special, something I've wanted to share for a while. The story of my Cape Cod roots. So let's jump right into that now on episode 112 of the In My Footsteps podcast. I feel that I was born at the absolute best time to appreciate Cape Cod for all that it is and all that it was. I'm old enough to remember things, quote unquote, the way they used to be, yet young enough to enjoy things the way they are. For those of you that have been listening to the podcast that don't know, I was born in 1977. Oh my God, I know. I am every bit Generation X, but yet I'm also a part of Gen X that is the smaller micro-generation known as a Xenial. If you want to know more about what a Xenial is in depth, check out episode 24 of the podcast where I talk a lot about it. Basically, I straddle the line between generations, and that gives me an insight into two worlds. I am of the age where I was able to see and experience a little bit of old Cape Cod that people romanticize about, and I was also able to watch as my home changed and adapted with the times. During my childhood, landline telephones and phone booths were common. I remember actually waiting for friends to call and actually having to remember people's phone numbers. I can still remember my home phone number from back in the 80s, my Nana's phone number. Yet, as an adult, I love the convenience and the technology of smartphones. I love not having to know phone numbers, just clicking on a contact and go. In fact, if push came to shove, I don't think I could tell you anybody's phone number right now. Family, friends, work, nothing. I don't remember any of them. That's what smartphones are for. Throughout my childhood, I would be tossed outside by my mother during summer to go off and play with my friends, only coming home when it was almost dark. I definitely didn't fear being abducted back then, though I'm sure there were bad people back then. That's not something that was invented in the last 20 years. Cape Cod seemed more innocent, though. I'm sure it wasn't, but it seemed that way to a kid growing up back then. I was born at a time when vinyl albums were mainstays and not something kind of seen as nostalgia now making a comeback. You've heard me mention it on the podcast way back, but I had a collection of albums as a 6, 7, 8 year old that might shock people today. Artists like Rat, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, Van Halen, and Motley Crue lined my shelves. Of course, I had the first pressing of Michael Jackson's Thriller album as well, and I used to play it loudly out of my window on my Fisher-Price record player so that all of the neighborhood kids could come and dance in the front yard. That's real life happening. I had young, hip parents who influenced my style growing up. However, as much as I loved making audio cassette mixtapes off of local stations like Cape 104 or 96.3 The Rose, I can honestly say I prefer MP3s and iTunes to Maxell and Memorex. I am old enough to remember walking or later driving to the video store to rent VHS tapes. yet I'm young enough to fully enjoy Netflix, Hulu, and the instant gratification that all of these streaming services now supply. Sure, I played Atari 2600 and the original Nintendo, but they were bit parts of my childhood, not the thing that defined me. Admittedly, I did spend a good amount of time at the video arcade, but Rampage wasn't going to beat itself. It was a time when walking seemed more common, like after family meals on holidays, there was always a place to walk with the family, and those are hugely important memories to me now. I am old enough that I have seen the first three schools that I attended close. I went to South Yarmouth Elementary School on Route 28 with Lawrence MacArthur as my principal. The school eventually would bear his name after he passed away in the mid-1990s, before ultimately being closed in 2013. It reopened as a campus for Bridgewater State University in 2015, but I'm not sure what's going on with it now. It looks like it hasn't been open in years. I then attended John Simpkins Elementary School, which is located on the same plot of land. It actually served as the first high school in Yarmouth before Dennis Yarmouth High School opened in 1957. It closed in 2006 and was transformed into the Simpkins School Residences, which is senior housing, in 2014. And most recently, Mattakeith Middle School, my third school I went to, is closed down. There's a new middle school located on Station Ave right near Dennis Yarmouth High School in Yarmouth. So kindergarten through eighth grade, all those schools are gone. I'm old enough to remember the Cape Cod Mall in the days before it expanded. In those days, it was anchored by Woolworth, Filenes, and Jordan Marsh, and even had a separate cinema on the property. In episode 110, I did a deep dive into being a mall rat in the 1990s. But to briefly go into that, I remember spending Friday evenings searching Record Town and Tape World for my next musical interest. However, I still am young enough to enjoy the convenience of what the expanded Cape Cod Mall has brought. Even as malls are kind of dying, it's a big spot now with everything under one roof. I am old enough to remember legendary Cape Cod icons like Thompson's Clam Bar, Mildred's Chowder House, Joe Max, and the Mill Hill Club. There were fewer Shaw's and Stoppin' Shops and more Angelo's, Purity Supreme, and A&P's. I frequented Bassett's Wild Animal Farm in Brewster and visited the legendary Cape Cod Coliseum. although it was to see Sesame Street on ice, not some crazy concert. I am old enough to remember the grounding of the 473-foot freighter Eldia at Nauset Beach in 1984 and not believing how big it was. I saw the breach of North Beach and Chatham in 1987 and am amazed to see that it's almost healed itself to the point that they may have to dredge it to keep that fishing line open. Hurricane Bob and the perfect storm in 1991 made me appreciate the wonders of electricity after losing power for many, many days. My childhood was a time when drive-in theaters were still the norm. At their peak, there were more than 4,000 drive-ins in the United States. As of now, there's a couple hundred. I thought they might start to make a comeback during COVID, but it didn't really stick. The Wellfleet Drive-In is all that remains of their legacy on Cape Cod. However, I have fond memories of being elementary school aged and visiting the Yarmouth Drive-In across from Captain Parker's Pub on Route 28. It was there that I saw movies like E.T., Return of the Jedi, and Flash Gordon in the warm summer air. Other drive-in theaters in Dennis, Hyannis, and Falmouth also once dotted Cape Cod decades ago. I remember there being more salamanders and fewer turkeys and coyotes. I was warned about jellyfish stings when stepping into the ocean. Great white sharks, not so much. I remember the noon whistle in Yarmouth scaring me on numerous occasions at recess at South Yarmouth Elementary. I remember more Friendly's and fewer Dunkin' Donuts. Bradley's instead of Walmart. Cape Cod seemed much larger then. A family trip to Edaville Railroad in Carver felt like a drive across the country. But today, Chatham, Provincetown, and Falmouth, they all feel like an arm's length away. Amazingly, for all of the changes that I have seen in my lifetime, there are some things that remain the same. The scent of Cape Cod potato chips cooking as you pass along the Mid-Cape Highway, although it used to be exits 6 and 7 until they changed the names. 106 WCOD is still on the radio. You can get delicious ice cream during the summer from places like Four Seas, Lil' Caboose, and the Ice Cream Smuggler. There are still kids and families sledding on the golf courses during the winter. There's the Barnstable County Fair in July, the Cranberry Festival in Harwich in September, and the Yarmouth Seaside Festival in October. And then there's the natural beauty of Cape Cod. It's everywhere. You can't be down here and not see it. You have to go out of your way to avoid it. The Cape Cod National Seashore is as close as you can get to how the Cape must have looked when it was first settled hundreds of years ago. Summer drives along the shore routes in East Ham up through Provincetown are heavenly. They still are. Route 6A is a blast to the past with its historic homes and tree-shaded scenery, just like I remember as a child. Yep, I feel like I was born at the absolute perfect time when it comes to the history of Cape Cod. I have watched the Cape change in some ways and stayed the same in others. But this is only my story, though. I think people of my age, whether it's Cape Cod, New England, anywhere across the United States... If you've lived in the same area for a long time or have left and come back, there are changes you've seen that you've liked that you've not liked. But I can only speak of my home. For those of you that are my age that grew up on Cape Cod, what are some of the things that you remember about Cape Cod as children? And what changes have you enjoyed and what have you not enjoyed? This was a little bit of my love letter to my home, my Cape Cod roots. This week in history, we are going back 38 years ago this week to September 11th, 1985, and Pete Rose becoming Major League Baseball's all-time hit leader, and he did it against the San Diego Padres. Pete Rose is definitely an interesting character when it comes to sports history, as he's the all-time hit leader in Major League Baseball, yet he's not in the Hall of Fame for his ban due to gambling. But on September 11th, 1985, he got hit number 4,192, which passed Ty Cobb for the all-time lead. He got this hit against San Diego Padres pitcher Eric Hsiao, so he's forever the answer to a trivia question. Rose ended his career with 4,256 total hits. Just for reference as how out of reach that record is, the current active leader in hits is Miguel Cabrera with 3,158, more than 1,000 back. And the thing is, Cabrera's on the verge of retirement. He would need another, what, five, six really good years to come close, and he's going to retire. I'm looking at the active leaders in hits on baseballreference.com. And if I'm being honest, I don't see anybody that's even close to touching this record. Pete Rose was nicknamed Charlie Hustle, and he played from 1963 to 1986. He got in trouble with the gambling after he retired as a player and when he became a manager for the Cincinnati Reds. He is also the Major League's all-time leader in games played, which I didn't know until now, at 3,562. He spent 19 seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, five seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, and he actually played 95 games for the Montreal Expos, which again, I didn't know until now. That was in 1984. Man, I love baseballreference.com. If you're an MLB fan, I highly recommend that site to fall down the rabbit hole of meaningless random statistics. I was such a nerd for stats like that as a kid. I still am to a degree, and I'm glad that I have passed on that trait to my nephew Landon, who has more knowledge of stats than I have now. I just trust that he knows what he's talking about after he's proven himself right many times. But yeah, Pete Rose was banned from the game in 1989 by Commissioner Bart Giamatti for gambling on the game, and he's now 82 years old and still not in the Hall of Fame. I think it's because he knowingly did it and has admitted he knowingly did it. So there's the code of ethics. You just can't let him in the Hall of Fame, which sucks, but nobody told him to gamble on baseball. So that is the strange saga of baseball's all-time hits leader, Pete Rose, who broke that all-time hits record that was held by Ty Cobb 38 years ago this week in history. And now it's time for a brand new time capsule. So we're going to go back 54 years ago this week to September 10th, 1969. I wanted to use some symmetry. So we're going back to this period of time because Pete Rose got some other hits against the San Diego Padres, the team that he broke the record against. And this was the Padres' first season as a team. So let's see what was going on in the world of pop culture back then. The number one song was Honky Tonk Woman by the Rolling Stones. This was actually a non-album single by the Rolling Stones, so it didn't come with an actual album. The song was number one for four weeks and was one of the top hits of 1969. Honky Tonk Woman is one of eight number one songs that the Rolling Stones have had in their careers. The number one movie was The Trouble with Girls, and you could get into the theater with a ticket costing you $1.42. This was a musical drama starring Elvis Presley, Vincent Price, Dabney Coleman. Produced by MGM, it was one of Elvis' final film roles. Of course, as he did with all of his films, Elvis also recorded the soundtrack for the movie, but it wasn't a big hit. He had actually had a series of less than positively received songs. That was where the Elvis comeback 1968 show kind of came from, as he was on a downswing. And so this was kind of a way to try to rejuvenate his popularity. The number one TV show was Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. This show was such a big hit in the late 60s and early 70s that I know it's been mentioned on previous time capsules on the podcast. It was a comedy variety show, Dan Rowan, Dick Martin. The show was on for six seasons and 140 total episodes and kickstarted the careers of such names like Goldie Hawn, Ruth Buzzy, Henry Gibson, Joanne Worley, and famed announcer Gary Owens. This was a staple on Nick at Night in the 1980s. So Rowan and Martin's laughing despite it predating my life was actually a big part of my childhood. And if you were around back then, September 10th, 1969, you've either just gone back to school or are preparing to go back to school and you need some new shoes for gym class, well, you're in luck. You can get a pair of the Jeepers gym shoes from Sears. on sale for $4.47, down from usually $5.49. If you have no clue what the Jeepers' shoes are, they look so much like Converse All-Stars, the Chuck Taylors. So if you have those or if you've seen those, those are kind of what the Jeepers look like, and you can get them cheap. All you have to do is go to Sears. And that'll wrap up another time capsule, another This Week in History episode. And it's now time to return to the top five as we look at more weird laws from New England states. Get ready to laugh and shake your head as we look now at the weird Vermont laws coming up right now on the top five. Oh boy, so it is time again for the weird laws segment, also known as the top five. This week we are going to look at the top five weird Vermont laws. This is state number four out of the six New England states. After I did the Rhode Island weird laws, I liked it so much and there was such a positive response that I decided to just do all six New England states. So there will still be New Hampshire and Massachusetts to come. And once I finish all those, I'll likely make a video to put up on YouTube with all six states, kind of to wrap it all up. A funny thing, when I did the first three weird law segments, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Maine, I said I found so many laws that it was tough to cut down the number into a manageable segment. That was not the case with Vermont. I don't know if it's just something about the state itself, but there weren't as many weird laws as I found with the other states thus far. But that doesn't mean there aren't some really crazy, funny laws that we got to go over right now. As always, I've got a couple of honorable mentions to kind of get things going. There are two this week, and you'll find one is a lot crazier than the other. So, honorable mentions for weird Vermont laws. It is illegal to use colored margarine in restaurants unless the menu indicates it is permitted in two-inch-high lettering. That is very specific. And also, one more honorable mention. It was once illegal to tie a giraffe to a telephone pole. Notice I said it was once illegal. I don't know if it means that now you can do it. If you have a giraffe in Vermont, you can tie it to a telephone pole. But now let's get into the actual top five weird Vermont laws. Let's start with number one. Women need permission from their spouses to get dentures. I don't know if too many dentists are strictly watching this law. But if you're a woman out there and you start losing your teeth and you're married, you need your husband's permission in order to get dentures. So if they are jerks, they could say no. Of all the things that are seen as sneaky for someone to go get behind their spouse's back, dentures I don't think is tops on the list. As I've said with a lot of these segments and laws, I don't know what would cause this to have to be made into a law in the first place. Number two, delivery men have to walk backwards in driveways of a house worth more than $500,000. I can only assume that this is for them to prove that they didn't steal anything when walking out, which really shows how much these rich people trust their delivery men. And it does specifically say delivery men, so I don't know if you're a female delivery person, you don't have to walk backwards. And why is the cutoff a $500,000 home? You're telling me that people that have a house that's worth $450,000 can't have nice things? And again, was there an epidemic of delivery men stealing things from the houses they were delivering to so they had to make a law instead of maybe just installing cameras? Number three, whistling underwater is illegal. The first thing I thought of when I saw this is, Is whistling underwater even possible? Don't you need to blow air out to whistle? So if you're underwater, what are you doing? And why is it illegal if you can do it? Do sharks hear whistling and they come in? I don't think they're like dogs. Unless back in the day people were stupid and trying to whistle underwater and drowning. And this is one of those for-your-own-good laws. Kind of like seatbelts or bike helmets. You know, when I think of safety, I think of bike helmets and seatbelts and not whistling underwater. Number four, it is illegal to undress in public, but if you leave your house naked, it's totally fine. Now, the law is not worded that way. I just kind of threw that in. So you can't leave your house and then get naked outside, but if you leave your house naked, it's, I guess, all right. This all comes down to how do you know that they were naked coming out of their house? How do you know they didn't undress in their front yard and nobody saw them? A lot of Vermont is rural. There's not neighbors right on top of each other. And isn't this just a common sense law? If you were walking down the street anywhere and you saw someone stripping themselves naked, wouldn't you call the cops or maybe run away? I don't know. And finally, number five on the list of top five weird Vermont laws, it is illegal to put doves inside the freezer. Now, I'll make it a point to say this has to do with hunting. If you shoot doves, you can't put their carcasses in the freezer. I don't know why. I had to find other listings of this law to make sure because at first when I saw it, I thought it actually just said putting doves inside the freezer was against the law, which would just be animal cruelty. But when looking at different sites, I did find that it was hunting. And I don't know why specifically it's doves because they would actually fit in most freezers. And do they have people going around to houses in Vermont checking the freezer to make sure there's no doves there? There's just so many funny, crazy laws that I have been finding in the six New England states. Go to stupidlaws.com. I put a link in the description to the podcast. If you're not from New England and you want to see what your state has for stupid laws that are on the books or used to be on the books, these have definitely been a lot of fun. And coming up next on the list of top five weird laws will be the state of New Hampshire. So get ready to see what kind of foolishness they have there. Terms such as legend, such as icon, are used quite freely today to describe those in entertainment. In many cases, they are not deserved. But in the cases such as musician Jimmy Buffett, who passed away recently, it was richly deserved. And when I heard of the passing of Bob Barker at the age of 99 on August the 26th of 2023... I decided to scrap the segment I had planned for back in the day that was going to feature what it was like to have a sick day in the 1980s or 1990s from school as a kid. And I wanted to shift it to talk about the impact of Bob Barker and the Price is Right game show, not just on my life, but on the life I'm sure of thousands of people, millions of people. And we'll still do the segment on sick days from school in the 80s and 90s. But the funny thing is that there's going to be some crossover when talking about Bob Barker and The Price is Right because I'm sure kids that grew up in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, your sick days from school likely consisted of watching The Price is Right with Bob Barker. Bob Barker hosted The Price is Right from 1972 to 2007. That's 35 years and a total of 6,586 episodes. You know it's hundreds and hundreds of millions of people have seen at least one episode of that show with his run. There was an original version of The Price is Right that began in 1956, and it was hosted by a man named Bill Cullen. and started by Mark Goodson, who you may recognize his name from the current version of the show, where they say it's a Mark Goodson production because it was his idea. The original version of the show ran until 1965, and it was similar in nature to the revival of The Price is Right that came in 1972, where it was bidding, getting the closest bid without going over. Except one difference was there was a returning champion and three other people that they would play against. So closer to the Jeopardy idea. But what exactly was it about The Price is Right with Bob Barker that was so special, that left it so ingrained in the minds of generations of people? For me, it was the interactive nature of the show. And what I mean is a lot of game shows, you're in one spot. Jeopardy, you never move from those podiums. Even Wheel of Fortune, you spin it, but you don't really go anywhere until the end. With The Price is Right, there were so many different games you could play. Even the beginning with Contestants Row, where you all have to bid on something that's on stage, get the closest to the actual retail price without going over, and you'd get the people that would bid the $1 just to be jerks. But then whoever won and got to go up on stage and actually play games, there were so many different ones. There would be a total of six of these games played during the one-hour format of The Price is Right. There were some iconic games, and I'm sure as I start to mention these, they're going to bring you right back to your childhood. The first one I thought of that I wanted to talk about was the cliffhanger game, where there'd be the mountain man, the mountain climber, and you'd have to guess the price on everyday objects, three of them, one at a time. And however far off you were, the mountain climber would start to move up the mountain, and there'd be the yodeling music playing as he went. And there'd be no way to know when he would stop. You would just hope that he would stop. and either he would stop and you'd win, or he'd go over the side. There was the dice game with the huge puffy dice that would correspond with the price of whatever you were trying to win, and you had to guess higher or lower if you didn't get it right on. There was the hole-in-one mini-golf game to win a car, and then it became hole-in-one or two, I think because they felt bad because no one could sink that putt. And then there was the legendary Plinko, where you stood at the top of this board and you had the chip that you have to drop down, and as it goes through and hits all the little rods and bounces it around, and it could land into any amount of money. Now it's up to $25,000 is the big spot in the middle. It was $5,000 back in the day. There was the punch-a-bunch, where you had to guess the prices of specific items, and if you were correct, you got a certain amount of attempts to punch holes in the punch board. And then Bob would grab whatever was inside and tell you what you won. I could go on and on just naming these games because that's what reminds me of being a kid. They were fun, interactive. Well, not interactive in that you could play at home, but they were different than a typical game. And when you're at home, sick, 8, 9, 10 years old, you want something that's going to make you forget that you're sick. I guess that's one of the biggest compliments I could pay to The Price is Right, is that it would make me smile and laugh and forget I was sick for an hour. Then, of course, there was the showcase showdown with the big wheel that you would spin that made that beeping noise. It had to go at least once all the way around. And you had the maximum of two spins to get as close to a dollar without going over. And whoever was closest, they got to advance to the final showcase. And there were two playings of the showcase spinning the wheel. So those final two would be at the end of the game. I always loved the final showcase, too, because there'd be two different prize packages. And it was always one was way better than the other. Not always, but it seemed like one was awesome. A car or a boat or an amazing trip. And then the other one would be like a lifetime supply of soup and a saucepan. And the people that were playing had to pretend they were happy if they won the lesser prize package. That must have been so hard. It must be hard, people being on game shows and having to keep up a fake smile, even if they're doing terrible. Because I'm sure the last thing you want is to be on a game show on national TV and just flip out if you're doing terribly. Because then you become a meme on YouTube and TikTok forever. But like I said a few minutes ago, kids that grew up in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and even into the 2000s, I would say the vast majority of them have memories of Bob Barker and The Price is Right, just with him with varying shades of hair color. I remember Bob Barker when he had fully dark hair, and then it started to go gray, and then it was white, but he seemed like he was forever, that he was always there, And even after he retired in 2007, he lived another 16 years. And that show was legendary with Johnny Olsen, the MC who then passed it on to Rod Roddy, who most of you probably remember if you're younger. And then there were the models, Barker's Beauties, that would stand in point at everything. Everything about that show was legendary, from Bob Barker to the theme music to the announcers to the models to the games themselves, all of it. Luckily, it's still going strong today with Drew Carey as the host, but it's another thing that makes me feel privileged at the time that I grew up that I was able to watch Price is Right with Bob Barker and his Prime. Well, Prime is relative. I think he was in his late 50s, early 60s when I started watching, so I don't know about Prime. And of course, who could forget Bob Barker's appearance in Happy Gilmore, where he does the celebrity pro-am with Happy Gilmore, Adam Sandler's character, and they end up fighting. And Bob Barker just beats the hell out of him. A hidden gem. If you haven't seen it, go on YouTube and find The Night of Too Many Stars 2015. There is a follow-up scene with Adam Sandler and Bob Barker in the hospital where they fight again. It's so funny. You have to watch it. I'll try to remember to link to it on social media if you follow me on X or threads where it's easier to post links. But am I right? Do all of you out there remember watching The Price is Right with Bob Barker? 35 years as host, that covers a lot of ground, a lot of people that were in the wheelhouse for that age to be home sick from school. And it's more than just that. You didn't only watch The Price is Right if you were sick. There were people that watched it anyway. I mean, they had to. It won like 30-something Emmys. And the ratings had to be good if the show was still going strong over 50 years after it got revived. And even though it's sad that Bob Barker passed away, he was 99, so he lived a full life. And even Betty White, a couple of years ago when she passed away at 99, you're sad but they lived such a full life and left so much of a huge legacy that you just smile and kind of tip your cap to them. And coming up in a few weeks, we will do the back in the day segment about sick days in the 80s and 90s. And I'm sure I will retread some of this that I've talked about with The Price is Right. But I wanted to switch it up and just do a deep dive into the show and Bob Barker. Because again, it's a huge part of my childhood and I'm sure a lot of your childhoods too. I'm sure you can hear the theme music playing right now. Come on down when they call your name out. You're the next contestant on The Price is Right. And remember to get your pets spayed or neutered. That's what Bob said at the end of every episode. So I think I'll go find an old episode of The Price is Right from the 80s and thankfully not be sick when I watch it this time. So thank you so much, Bob Barker. You've earned it. Rest in peace, my friend. On September the 11th, 2020, I stood atop Bearberry Hill in Truro on Cape Cod. and took several photos of an amazing sunset. I didn't know it at that exact moment, but that beautiful sunset would be the last one that I would see before a major change happened in my life. The next day on September 12th, I made the decision that I was going to stop drinking alcohol. It had become a major problem in my life that I had kept very quiet that nobody knew about because I was ashamed. Alcoholism is a gene that runs in my family, and I had always considered myself stronger and above that gene, and I'd never had a drinking problem until I turned 40. Drinking too much when you're in college or in your 20s, you can write that off as a part of growing up and learning. Drinking too much when you get into your 40s is not cool, and it's not funny. Because by that point in your life, you're supposed to know better. Or at least you're supposed to be on the verge of getting your life together, I guess. So the fact that I was drinking every night, every week, every month for so long, it had been over two and a half years. Going back to when my friend Matt Medeiros suddenly died at the end of 2017, that was how I coped with stress. And that's the worst type of drinking. You're not even out at bars with friends. You're sitting by yourself, sometimes alone in a room, sometimes in your car at a beach, sometimes parked on a deserted road in the dark. But the thing is, if you don't see it as a problem, then it's not a problem. On September 11th, 2020, when I took the pictures of that sunset, I had already had one shot of vodka in me. By that point, it was just habit. I was like a robot. to the point where the liquor stores around me knew my order that I would get and knew when I changed my order. But rather than taking that as a red flag, as a sign to maybe quit drinking, I just took it as a sign that I needed to go to a different liquor store and then I could just cycle back around. Turning 40 didn't get me to start drinking. I don't care about age. I feel great. I look all right. And I've aged pretty well thanks to the genes that my grandpa passed down to me. But once you start having people close to you die and watch them slowly fade away, like I did with my grandpa, that changes things. You don't know how to cope. And being a dumbass guy at some times, you don't think that talking about it with people will help. So you retreat into numbing your mind. And I always knew exactly how much I needed to get me right to that point, right before I would have a hangover. so that it would be harder for the untrained eye to know what was going on with me. And at that time, I told myself to, you'll get through the stress you're dealing with by any means necessary. The death of Matt Medeiros, my grandpa slowly fading away due to Alzheimer's, leaving my job at a retirement home that I enjoyed where my Nina was a resident to go to a different job that had fewer hours because I wanted to train people more. And then getting stuck there because COVID broke out as soon as I started that new job. So much guilt over leaving my Nina behind. But like I said, in your mind, by any means necessary, drink more. You'll forget about everything that's going on. It got to the point that I would have a nip in the center console of my car for when I got done with work. I would have been punched out from work for a minute, however long it took me to walk to my car. suck that booze down and throw the nip into the backseat or better yet, throw it out on the street so that nobody could get in my car and see it. I was an expert at hiding what I was doing because like I said, alcoholism runs in my family and I was embarrassed that I had finally been swept up in that net. I thought I'd always be able to just skate by, have one night a week that I went out and had drinks to loosen up. Never did I think that I would go months and months and months of drinking every single night to the point where I just figured that was my life now. There was no way I could stop. That's where the excuses come in. I have found that if you really want to get something done, you'll find a way. And if you don't, you'll find an excuse. Deaths of loved ones, I mean, that's a powerful excuse, right? But I would get pissed at myself right after my grandpa died saying, this is how you honor him? By drinking all the time? Like you think that's going to make him proud? But I wanted to drink. I wanted to mask my pain, hide away from everyone. And so I did. Even after I stopped drinking, I didn't tell most people how long I had been drinking. I made it seem like it was only a few months and I kind of got out of it. No, it was two and a half years ago. But on September 11th, 2020, I finally ran out of excuses. I had said to myself, I need to drink to mourn 9-11, which is noble, I guess, in a certain way. But God, you're grasping at straws. So that next day, September 12th, I basically had to tie myself down to keep me from going to the liquor store, telling myself, you get through day one, then you get through day two, and you just go from there. A big wake-up call for me came while I was doing my job food prepping when I worked at the second retirement home. There were things that I had done so many times in different restaurants, but yet at this job, it was slower. Like, I noticed that I couldn't do things at the speed I was used to because my brain was in a constant state of flushing out alcohol from my body. And when you're in that state, you just kind of settle for whatever's there. That second retirement home job that I worked at is the most toxic, unhealthy environment I've ever worked in. And someday I will share that on the podcast without naming names, of course. But because I was in such a mode of heavy drinking, I didn't realize how terrible it was. So I stopped drinking September the 12th, 2020. I have just passed three years. The funny thing is, once my brain started to clear and it took a week or so, That was when I got the idea for the podcast. So it's kind of like this show took the place of drinking. Well, in reality, my diet suffered and has suffered a lot after quitting drinking. It was another by any means necessary. Get rid of that one bad habit and kind of pick up another one. I liken it to when people quit smoking cigarettes and they eat more and they gain weight because they need something to kind of fill that void. I am 25 pounds heavier than I was before COVID. A lot of that comes from eating terribly to cope with not drinking. And I don't regret that. Thankfully, I still go to the gym enough. If I had stopped working out, I'd probably not be able to get out of my chair. But it's kind of fitting because I've run out of excuses when it comes to my poor diet choices. So I'm almost coming full circle. Now, I'm not going to pick up drinking again to deal with my bad diet, don't worry. But it's another one of those, I have to tie myself down to not eat sugary foods and fatty foods. The comfort foods that release the serotonin in your brain and make you feel good, but then make you feel terrible after. Quitting drinking was very hard, but it's been very rewarding. And I know there are people out there that have come back from a lot worse as far as dealing with addiction. But I'm saying if I can do it, anyone can do it. If you're thinking about giving up alcohol, take it very slow one day at a time. You can do it. I'm at three years. I have no cravings for alcohol. And I look back and I can honestly say that nothing good in my life ever came from drinking ever. There's no event where I say, God, I'm glad I had those drinks that made it better. No. Sure, there are funny stories about and some great times with great people. But the drinking itself is something that I don't miss and I don't look back and think that made things better. And I'm not looking to convert anyone to becoming sober. It's your choice. I mean, if you can't attend any event with people without drinking, I kind of feel bad for you. But that's also your choice. For me, I quit drinking and this podcast was born. And within six months, I left that toxic job because I finally realized, oh my God, what am I doing here? For real, when I do the episode about that job, you won't believe some of the stuff I tell you. But even if I inspire one person to give up drinking, that will make me happy. And I'm still, I'm not glossing over anything when it comes to my journey through alcoholism and recovery. But it's also, there's only so much room in the podcast. I didn't want to make this its own bonus episode. But it's also an important achievement and an important milestone and something I'm very proud of. Because when I was in the depths of this drinking problem, like the time right after my grandpa died... I didn't think I would ever stop. I thought it would only get worse until it made a huge negative impact on my life. Luckily or unluckily, I was able to hide it from everyone really well. So much so that when I said I quit drinking, nobody even knew I had a problem. But that's my story. Three years sober as of September the 12th, 2023. And we're heading for four years. And thank you everyone for indulging me as I shared this very personal but very important chapter of my life. And that's going to wrap up episode 112 of the In My Footsteps podcast. Thank you so much to everyone who's been tuning in. Like I said, August was my best month ever for downloads. And when you're coming up on three years of doing this, it's like you'll know if the show has staying power. So the fact that my numbers keep trending upwards is great. I have so much more to share. I really enjoy doing these, even though they can be at times a lot of work with research and recording and editing. But I still have so much fun in releasing them and seeing what people think. You can always shoot me a message, ChristopherSetterlund at gmail.com. Find me over on X, on Threads, on Instagram. Check out my YouTube channel. The Lady of the Dunes documentary by Frank Durant is on my YouTube channel. My video about Medfield State Hospital has really been doing well. I don't know if it's been getting spread around on social media. But just as a heads up, I went back to Medfield State Hospital a few weeks ago for the first time with my new camera and shot some 4K video. So the plan is in the upcoming weeks to do a 4K video on Medfield State Hospital. If you don't know anything about the story of Medfield State Hospital, go back in my archives to episode 73. I do a full segment about it. It's a fascinating story and still the creepiest place I've ever been to, even if now it's basically a dog park, which is wild to see all these dilapidated, creepy buildings and then everywhere people walking their dogs. It's a real weird scene. As I mentioned at the top of the show, next week, episode 113, is a special bonus episode, an interview with producer Frank Durant, his third appearance on the show. It was meant to be looking at what he's been up to, new projects coming up, but with the Lady of the Dunes case being closed on that same day, we naturally dove into some of that. But it's still a fun talk and a lot of stuff Frank's got going on. So that's next week. Like I said, the following week, there will be no new episode as I work on getting the subscription part of the podcast up and running. I want to make sure I do it right and not half-ass it. So that's why I'm kind of taking a week off to make sure it's all good. If you are listening to this podcast, the day it goes live, September 13th, tonight at 6 p.m., I will be at the Marston's Mills Library doing a presentation about my Searching for the Lady of the Dunes book and the documentary and the case. So come on out for that. Otherwise, the next chance to come out to one of my events is on September the 22nd at 1 p.m. at the Osterville Village Library. I know I was just there a month ago, but that was for the Lady of the Dunes book. This one is going to be my double feature presentation, the second edition of my travel guide, as well as my photography book into one big presentation. So come on out for that too if you can. I'll keep you posted with new events that come up. Because every time I do an event, something new comes from it. And then people, it's like a spider web. More events come up. It's great. I love it. And it's also nice to reap the rewards of having three books come out in the same year. That's probably never going to happen again for me. So I got to take advantage of it. All of my books are available on Amazon. You can also go to my homepage, ChristopherSetterlin.com. It's hard to believe that for basically 13 years, I've been working at least two, sometimes three jobs just nonstop. Sadly, I still need a day job as I supplement my podcast and writing. My hope is someday this is all I do. But I keep going and keep pushing forward because you never know who's going to be listening to the podcast or who's going to come to an event or who's going to pick up a copy of one of my books. And that's the one that takes my career to the next level. So thank you to everyone who listens to the podcast, shares it, tells people about the podcast, my writing, all of that stuff. Because like I say, I can market myself, but it means more coming from neutral sources, I guess. And as I always say, remember, in this life, don't walk in anyone else's footsteps. Create your own path. Leave the biggest footprint you can and enjoy every moment on this journey we call life because you never know what tomorrow brings. Adam, get well soon, my friend. You know I got your back always. This has been the In My Footsteps podcast. I am Christopher Setterlund, and I'll talk to you all again soon.

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Christopher Setterlund

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