#34 - The Dangers of Driving in Platform Shoes

Season 3 kicks off with more dad wisdom than you can handle!

Episode Highlights

In this triumphant return for Season 3 (aka "The Monochromatic Years"), our favorite dad duo tackles the burning questions that keep middle-aged men up at night: Are slippers outdoor shoes now? Why have hot air balloons disappeared? And what exactly happened to Nestle Quik's iconic metal lid?

Cold Plunge Chronicles

One host braves the frigid waters of self-improvement with a DIY cold plunge experiment. The verdict? "You feel like a million bucks" after surviving the initial shock. Just make sure someone's hovering over the 911 button while your body temperature plummets!

Plumbing Adventures

From Shark Bite fittings ("slide into place" is literally the entire instruction manual) to water valves that refuse to shut off, our hosts confirm what we've all suspected: home ownership is just watching water destroy things in slow motion.

Slipper Outrage

The cultural phenomenon of wearing slippers in public gets a thorough dad-analysis. Once you've worn them to the gas station, they're officially contaminated outdoor shoes. Where has society's standards gone? Remember when men wore wool pants and wing tips to load 50lb bags of rice?

The Nestle Quik Nostalgia Hour

Remember that heavy-duty cardboard container with the metal lid? Our hosts reminisce about the physics experiment that was launching the lid with a strategically placed spoon—plus the dangerous quest for that last bit of chocolate powder using the sharpest knife in the drawer.

YouTube Wormholes

From drumming challenges to film analysis, discover what keeps our hosts glued to their screens when they should be fixing that leaky faucet instead.

Quotable Dad Moments

• "Once you wear the slippers outside, they're no longer a slipper. It's an outdoor shoe."
• "As you know, by design, the longer you leave a TV on, the louder the volume gets."
• "The remaining little bit of Nestle Quik in that old-fashioned container is the same exact thing as dropping your guitar pick in your acoustic guitar."

Music Corner

• Ozzy Osbourne's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction gets the dad seal of approval
• Creed had their highest-grossing year in 2024 (who saw that coming?)
• The definitive list of greatest male rock vocalists (Steve Perry tops the chart!)

Dad Problems of the Week

• Getting your wife tea while managing internet connectivity issues
• The PTSD from being the "orange slice parent" at soccer games
• The five minutes of peace before your car's "change oil" light ruins everything

New episodes every week! Don't forget to share with the other cool dads (or dad-adjacent humans) in your life.

#CoolDadShirt #DadPodcast #Season3 #ColdPlunge #NesquikMemories #DIYPlumbing #DadLife #HomeRepair #90sNostalgia #NewDarren #Ozzy #Slippers #NestleQuik #Tarantino #FruitLoops #SharkBites #HotAirBalloons #Sasquash #FuzzyNavel 

Where to Find Us:

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you tune in

Follow us on Instagram: [@cool_dad_shirt] 

Transcript

The only thing I Could do right now is just sit and watch.

Just. Hey, kids, we're going to a Hotel.

Because our house is really you imagine.

In season 3. Welcome to this episode of The Cool Dad Shirt podcast.

Yeah. Good morning and welcome to season 3. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sporting a sporting a hoodie. My daughter got it for me for Christmas. She said I finally looked chill and cool. So I got that going for me. It looks more like a charcoal as opposed to a black.

Nice.

Season 3 is going to be a slight shift in charcoal.

Season 3 the monochromatic years. I am drinking iced coffee and oat milk. Why? It tastes as disgusting as it sounds, and I have nothing against oat milk, but it really modifies the flavor of coffee and and it it just overpowers the coffee terribly. I think people like it because the consistency is close to.

Yeah it does. The you know the way milk feels in. Coffee. So maybe it's a maybe it's a texture thing. It sure is. Heck ain't the flavor thing.

No, it's it's not. I'm not drinking it for the flavor. I'm going to go on record and saying that I am not a fan of wearing slippers out into the public in everyday life. Is this phenomenon happening where you?

Agreed.

Are. Oh yeah, yeah, it's it is complete. Slacker, where it makes me crazy.

I don't understand it. As soon as you wear the slippers outside, they're no longer a slipper. It's an outdoor shoe.

Yeah, right. Yeah, that that's a one time. Deal. Yeah, the idea. Of slippers is to only wear something inside, so you're not spreading germs throughout your whole house. Yeah, you have clean shoes. Keep your feet warm. But yes, if you just went down to the. The local gas station and it like. Yeah, not slippers. Yeah.

Filling it up over a pump, #3 standing in the last landscapers spillage. It's not something I want in my.

Oh.

God's like no God knows what was on that pavement 10 minutes ago.

They're staying at, they're wearing them everywhere. The bagel store, the gas station, the grocery store. I'm perplexed by this. And forget just how people are dressing that aside, just the slippers are they've gone too far at that point.

I think yeah, it appears as though you just rolled.

Out a bit and overall I was thinking about. How fancy people used to dress like in the 20s? Yeah, even when they were doing physical labor, it was like wool dress pants. Dress shoes. Suspenders. The guys like carrying 5050 LB. Bags of rice, loading them on a truck. He's got pleated wool pants on, and some dress shoes. A nice wing tip shoe.

That it was, it was a different time.

For sure, Clancy, when you finish that load, we got a second one coming in.

Let me grab my fedora.

As relaxed as they got, maybe if it was very physical they would take their dress shirt off and just have one of those white tank tops.

Yes. And they still look better than the people walking around the. Store. They still look so cool, right?

There's a boxing match. 2 dudes, you know, put up your.

Dukes.

They got a pleated little trouser on the whole trousers and suspenders and a white tank top. That's how fighters dressed in the.

20s, you know, you used to drive me crazy. That doesn't drive me crazy anymore.

What's that, rich?

When I call my parents and they yell at each other from room. To. Room that that used to really bother me and I forced myself into a mind to reset. That just think this is funny. And you know what? It's really funny. Now just embrace the moment. Hoping.

You gotta enter the conversation just like a real loaded question that you know is going to trigger.

One of them has to. Check with the other one who's definitely.

Yes, yes.

In the other room. So they will definitely yell and they definitely will not hear what's happening. Dude, it's it's hilarious.

Can you tell me when the last time you changed that that HVAC vent was, oh, hold on a second, let me.

It's exactly. Check where we went? No. The vent on ABC. No HVAC.

God forbid somebody walks to the other room. I also noticed a shift recently. Remember we talked before about people in the service industry saying I I would joke around and say, oh, absolutely, you know, can you can I get a small whatever? Absolutely. I've noticed a shift. I'm getting a lot of, of course. Can I can I get, you know a medium sized? Of course, of course. Ohh, I've noticed that in the past month or so. I don't know if it's some kind of societal shift, but keep an eye out for it.

A shift in customer service training maybe?

I guess check in with Jenna, see what the prevailing acknowledgement is.

That's what they're doing at the local Starbucks. This is a great marketing exercise. Is it accompanied with an eye? Roll. Or is it like a very? Friendly. Accommodating. Happy to help, of course.

Oh, it's a very accommodating, of course. It's it's no problem. Absolutely. I will do this. I got you.

It's not the same, of course, as when you ask your daughter to bang out those dishes that are piling up in the sink.

That's where the eye roll, the attitude and everything else comes in.

Yes, it's very relative of saying. It is when you're getting paid $20.00 an hour. The of course comes with a little more pleasure. When you're forced to do it for free, it's a different of course.

But the big side helping of attitude.

You've never told me about your cold plunge that you mentioned a few weeks ago, so I got that #2 on my list right after slippers.

So yeah, we talked about it before the health trend of the cold. Plunge and I've, I mean, we've talked about it many, many months ago and I decided here on the little Christmas break over the past few weeks, I've I've actually done it twice. I sat down and I did about 37 seconds of research on this. You should definitely do more if you want to try it, because don't listen to us clowns about health related things. But anyway, I found out that. You don't need to actually do an ice bath all the way down to like 36 or 37°, whatever that is, just super cold water right from the tap. You're coming in in the in the low 50s. Typically, and the the frightening shock that your body feels is is similar, so no need to go fill it with ice if you don't want to, which I recommend. So I want to see how it went and turns out the 1st 10 seconds are absolute misery and it's super super uncomfortable. But after like 10 to 30 seconds your body. Starts to kind of come to terms with it and both times we went a full 3 minutes. I gotta tell you, you feel like 1,000,000 bucks getting out of there. When when all the heat starts coming back in. The blood really starts going, dude, you feel like 1,000,000 bucks. It's pretty great.

You've gone 3 minutes, is what you're saying.

3 minutes both times. Yep. Did you?

Plunge right into cold water, or did it transition from warm to getting colder?

No, I filled the bathtub and the first time, and here's a little tip for it the first time you get in, your feet are freezing. You sit down. You're freezing. You have to do it really fast. You have to, like, just get like you gotta.

Yeah, yeah. There's no. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Forget about any acclimation. This is not happening.

Well, the exclamation actually happens faster if you just get in. If if you slow roll it on, the agony is just prolonged. So I recommend the which I I think is kind of the point anyway. It's the shock, your body, your body kind of freaks out. It's supposed to release all this anti-inflammatory stuff. Your blood gets concentrated your head and heart and that's where all the all the benefits come from I guess.

Get. Crank up the cold water. Fill up the tub, hop in, try to stay 2-3 minutes and get out.

Your your breath gets taken away, like when you first sit, when you when you lay down, you visibly struggle. Look at.

Yeah.

Your breath.

Should you make sure someone is in with within earshot the first couple of times you do this, I'll be like honey. Just stay within in your shot if you.

Can type 911.

Don't don't hit send. Keep your thumb right over.

2nd.

That button hover right over that send button.

So as you.

Cause your arms go. It'll accidentally hit the send and make sure your arm is dangling outside the tub when you do that.

Yes, we are problem solvers.

I'm gonna give it a try. We've discussed this before. I used to do my ocean water training. I would go in the shower and then slowly ratchet it down and to as cold as it could go and see how long I could stay in there. That's a bit of cheating. I think. When it comes to an actual cold plunge, I think your point is, is accurate. It's gotta. It's cold from the start and you got to just get right in and and have.

That initial shock, I think it's key. I tried it over the summer too, after you mentioned. That dialing it. Down and and that felt great too. Yeah, but but the the intensity, I think. Is what makes the difference and I'm a little nervous to do it.

It's pretty cold this week, dude.

It's horrible. It's really.

Wait till. Till June, for my first plunge, especially over by you, you're keeping that thermostat at 65, so when you get out, there's not much difference between the water temperature and the air temperature. In fact, getting out of bed over at your house, it's like a cold plunge.

Well, it's it's 65 overnight during the day it's 68 ish. And then if company comes over, I will push it to 70, but yeah, but yeah, that's like 15° different than what I just have. It's up. You're.

Yeah, it's that much when you think about it, it's not like my dad's 77.

Right. Nope, it's not.

It's sweltering over there.

It's like going to Miami in the winter time.

I had to replace the faucet on his sink so I was under the sink for a while. Working at that I had the torch in there. I heated up the pipes. Just to pull the old valves off. So between that and the heat at one point I got up and walked outside. I thought I was going to either pass out or. Throw up because.

Oh.

It was so hot. My dad's like, are you all right? Let me call somebody. I said no, it's just it's so hot in there, I think. I think I'm going to pass out. I got to get some air. It's like 29° out there. I'm out there in T-shirt and shorts. Steam roll I got from you. You could literally see. Yeah, the steam coming off my shoulders. He's like, I'm worried about you. I'm like you should be. I'm. Not feeling so great right now.

You don't need to call an ambulance, just crack a. Window. Would you just fill up the tub? I.

Gotta do an ice plunge like.

This is a great time for a good time.

I'm rolling around the cold lawn just to cool off. I got some air leveled off, came back inside and of course finished the job. It just it got. So hot and from being. Under there, I felt really awful for a short while.

Did you re sweat the pipes? Or did you shark bite them?

I put shark bites on. I'm still so nervous about them. I got 2 upstairs in my kitchen and now 2 in his kitchen. I I've done the research I I've heard from a lot of people. They seem to say they work great. I've also received your expert opinion on them. So I put 2 on you know the nice little quarter turns nice and easy, you know.

Yeah, I and yeah, we we mentioned this and I had the exact same feeling as you. I I would take pride in my ability to sell our pipes. It was fun. Interesting. It was a bit of an art form.

These.

I wanted to resist the modern new stuff. You can't. Yeah, it's amazing. It clicks and you're finished.

The instructions for installation are one line slide into place. OK, then what? You ripped the package. You you must have ripped the package. I can't read the rest of the instructions.

I have this torch. What I do with this roll of solder this this. Butane torch and all the burns on my hand.

You know, as you know, if you're trying to sweat a beat on a pipe, if there's any bit of water in there, it just it will never happen.

Yep, never. It will not see.

So they worked great. Do you eat oatmeal ever?

Not very often. No, actually, I I don't. I cannot actually not remember the last time I had oatmeal.

OK, as good or bad as oatmeal is for you. And the stuff that I buy is certainly not good. It's the old Quaker oat instant package. I do have a fondness for it. I do really enjoy having it. The one thing that I've noticed, I follow those directions to a TV everyday. You put the packet in 2/3 of it. I use milk 2/3 of a cup of milk and then you know, you microwave it for like a minute. It's amazing how. Following those exact directions yields a completely different result in the oatmeal. Some days it's completely dry, some days it's still wet, some days it's perfect. It's very inconsistent and I don't know. I'm guessing that depends on the the age of the oats, maybe. Or maybe they're stale. Good, fresh. I don't know. But it's amazing how different the results are. day-to-day on the same exact two ingredients.

Your side of the process is pretty simple. As you you measure one thing. Yeah. So I'm. I'm gonna blame the quality control on the factory. I had an idea for a possibly a a pop-up feature that we would do once in a while on the show called. What are you watching? On YouTube these. Days. I like it. You go down a wormhole, you kind of get hooked on something. Algorithm kicks in and gives you a pile more of that stuff. What? What are your? I. I got a couple of things listed here. What are your? What are your go TOS when you're just chilling and you want to watch something?

It's usually a drum video or a Rick Piato video.

Yes.

I don't stray too far from those initial searches. I will say and not not to go too far off on a tangent here. What I do like about YouTube is when you put a video on or watch. One thing I'm much more happy with the suggestions that YouTube presents to me as opposed to Spotify. When I initially we spoke about this, when I initially got Spotify, I got it because I wanted to put on Minus The Bear like an indie rock group. I love and I would think after I listened to Minus The Bear, they might throw over a couple other indie rock bands similar that I would be interested in something new, that they would potentially expose me to. No they'll they'll pull. Three things from a previous playlist. It's nothing new. It's something that they've seen that I've already played, like, oh, he played Minus The Bear. Let's throw in some R.E.M. Next.

Right.

And what I like about YouTube is I can put in something like a hard bop jazz trio, and then they'll start throwing a whole bunch and and they'll definitely be ones that I know. But maybe some new songs, they'll sneak in a couple of artists that I've never heard of. And for that reason, I really do.

Enjoy that? I totally agree. Totally agree. And. The two things. So when something novel does come in it they they guess pretty right. One of the things that I I've recently been fascinated with is filmmaking. I don't know why something threw something at me. But I found this guy lancellotti I don't know, but he the original little thumbnail teaser was breaking down the brilliant scene at the end of inglorious ******** and all the camera angles of that. That famous scene at the end of the movie where they're having a drink and the German meets the Brits and and he goes down. It's about a four or five minute scene. The his breakdown is about 45 minutes. It's just the changing camera angles and why it was pointed this way. Why the colors came in the glass in front of the people is moving around it. It's not accident. You have a whole new appreciation of. Making going down that and so that's been one of my favorite new and that that turned into Breaking Bad. You know the the camera working Breaking Bad was spectacular also. So you start going down and what an appreciation you have for the craft of filmmaking that was my latest venture into a.

Wormhole. When we first started doing this, I told you that. Who knows what this would lead to? The one thing that I know that I definitely want to do is make a documentary.

I can't wait to see you. How that manifests itself. I know you're still figuring.

It out, but I'm throwing it out there cause I'm expecting. Your help. OK, alright. And after they lob over Quentin Tarantino like, I wonder where they go next.

I I think if I kept going you would see the brilliance of just great films and you don't know why they're great. Like you just have a feeling about a movie or something or a song even and you don't understand the production that went behind it. And when you understand the genius of a like a Rick Rubin or a Brendan O'Brien, you start seeing how these things are crafted and you start understanding why, why they're amazing.

What was your initial search?

I don't think I was even searching. I was probably one of the thing, one of the, the other one. I was gonna talk about is drumeo. I know you're a drumeo fan. Yeah, I'm not even a drummer. They have a new feature that they've been doing. I don't know. For the past year or so where they have famous drummers come in. And play a. Song they've never heard before, and they play the track without the drums and they have to come up with a drum part for a famous song. That they're they're not familiar with this has exploded for them. The view is, if skyrocket, I think this is. That because you just see really famous people doing funny things, even though oftentimes they're quite different, they are still spectacular performances. And once again you get to see the craftsmanship of a professional doing something interesting. So my two things on this new feature that we have is filmmaking and the drumeo blind. Challenge.

Yeah, you're right. Tromeo super successful educational drumming website. That feature has exploded. It's not even like they're slightly known artists. They're huge. Chad Smith, Stuart Copeland. It's great to see them come up with something because a lot of times I know. What the songs are, yeah. So it's really neat to see what they come up with that might be different.

It's it's so successful. Justin, who's it's next to me at work. Brought it up one day. He's he's not even a musician. But like the algorithm gave it to him. And he was like, this is amazing. To watch these guys play this stuff so they they definitely hit it right with that new feature they have. Yeah, it's a good one. You. What else drives me crazy? You ever see an advertisement? And they talk about 100 years of combined experience. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life, if you.

Yeah, there's there's 49 people working at the company. They got 100 years combined experience. You're supposed to be impressed.

So if you have 100 interns all working there and you put on your commercial that you have 100 years of combined experience, that means you have a company. Who has no idea how to do.

Anything they've been in business for an hour and 45 minutes.

Yes, goodbye. Listen, if you total all. This up.

That's a great lie, but I heard something the other day and I couldn't figure out where it came from. It was soft on the skin. Tap around the eyes. I can't figure out where it came from and it sounds a little creepy it does.

But I'm intrigued.

Where did I hear that from? I've been searching for it on the Internet. You know what happens a lot. Of times my. Wife will have the TV on all night long and I'll be in and out of sleep. And as you know, by design, the longer you leave a TV on. The louder the volume gets without you hitting it by three in the morning, the volumes on about like 89, it's ridiculously loud. Even the pets can't. I'll be in and out of sleep dreaming and then I'll be hearing bits and pieces of movies that work their way into my dreams. I'll continue to research that, and if I find anything, if I can drag it down, I'll let you know. My niece sent me something around the holidays which I thought was kind of sweet back in the mid 90s.

Can't wait to see what that is.

As you know, I was in the Sky band and used to play a lot in and around and outside of Long Island, and my niece happened to be, you know, like a huge, huge fan. So I I got some really cool St. creds, you know, being in a band and playing all these places that like her and her younger friends used to go to, you know, she used to dress. Nicky. Mm-hmm. I don't know where I found it. I found the newspaper article that said something about the dangers in driving with platform shoes. And I had sent it to her just randomly or I. I think I went. I was over at her house and I just. Put it on the refrigerator. She was young at the time. She was 17 years old, probably, and I think I just put it on the refrigerator with a magnet or something like that. And this Christmas, she said that just the other day, she was thinking about that article. That's a long time ago. That's 30 years ago, and it just came out of left field. So I was kind of touched by that.

Yeah, that, that that's a great story. And also a great title for an album.

I mean, you know, she's all grown up now. Grade has a super cute daughter, so I thought I was kind.

Of touched by that. Yeah, it's funny. It's funny. What leaves an impression on you and I obviously it it was silly. Funny. It was topical at the time and it it was a connection to you.

So that's. Hey, did you see any of the Ozzy Osbourne induction into the rock and?

Roll Hall of Fame. I did catch a few of them, yes. Yes.

It was pretty fantastic. They had Jack Black did these, did they? Yeah. Did the presentation and the the speech, which I thought was good. It was a little sad, though, because they had Ozzy in this very cool looking chair. They kind of just rolled the chair out.

Obviously, yeah, that's the. That's his ally, I think. Yeah, yeah, it's a it's. It was a a hard life. Well lived, I suppose. Yeah. But it's great that he was able to actually witness a seriously all those people that found inspiration in the the amazing work that he did.

Little little. Yeah, it was nice to see his whole family was there and and they were obviously very touched. Yeah, it was a pretty good tribute, Chad Smith, who we just spoke about. Yeah, play drums fantastically. Guys in his mid 60s and still still killing it. Still killing it recently. I've been hearing actually some of his best drumming. It's funny how yeah maybe he's just stylistically.

You know, getting away from the Chili Peppers a little bit into venturing into a new ground, but. That that guy punishes the drums that like he's got, like, overhand swings. That that is insane. How hard he.

Plays and I'm seeing him come up all over the place. He's very busy lately. I see him like on all these pop-ups. Chad Smith showed up here. I don't know if it's if it's all stuff that's booked out on his calendar, you know. Oh, yeah.

That's good.

Yeah, I'm gonna be in town Tuesday. I'll. I'll jump in, you know, or just shows up and say, hey, I'm Chad Smith, you know?

Make heard of me.

Where's the drums? But it's really exciting and I I love seeing him all over social media.

And he's a character, too. He's.

A character? Yes, you had to have drank Nestle quick when you were a kid, right?

Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah.

I'm gonna take a sip. My coffee on that one.

That was a staple in the.

House forget the coffee. I'm gonna pour a glass of champagne right now. What a victory. This is great news. Attention all cooled down and podcast listeners, rich crystal drank Nestle quick chocolate milk in the 70s. You know, one of the greatest things was not only making it and drinking it, it came in that heavy duty cardboard box.

It's a great.

Thing. With that metal lid on it. Yeah, yeah. And nothing. The game with your friend.

You're to pry off the.

Was always to see who could launch that with the highest, so you'd press it down really hard on the top and then just position your spoon a little bit so it was dangling over the edge. You would give it a good whack to see how high you could launch the. Cap into the air so. Not only was it delicious and provided. And less entertainment.

It was a it was a total lesson in physics at how a lever works. Yes, see if they just taught it that way in school, I might be a physicist.

Today, if you're elementary science teacher brought in some Nestle quick and said we're gonna learn about a lever today, it would have stuck with.

You. Well, the great thing about that was you had control over. You had control over how obnoxiously. Sugary your drink was going to become right. This was not some pretty you could you could heaping teaspoon after heaping teaspoon you could put.

In there you could put 3. You could put two it was.

Up to you. Well, that reminds me. Back in the days of, you know, a million years ago when I used to eat cereal growing up my mother, God bless her, you know. We tried to. Try to dial down the sugar and the carbs a little bit. I remember instead of the the Captain Crunch and fruit loops and all those great, great cereals, she came home with something with grape nuts or something like that. But she quickly found all the kids were were putting 17 teaspoons of sugar on top of it, like way exceeding what? What the factory? Would have put into some. You know, so that was short lived. We all went back sadly to horrible sugary cereals.

You had to overcompensate. The horrible taste with more sugar, mom. And one last thing about the the Nestle quick because of the design, you couldn't always get the remaining little bit of quick and so you would have to look for a very thick serrated knife. Now the activity becomes dangerous because now you got the cardboard box on its side.

Take that.

Yes.

So.

You're asking one of your buddies to hold it. It's you, machete. Chop it with whatever you touch, or you can find in the kitchen because you needed to get that last little bit of quick out.

That's right. The remaining powder at the.

Bottom the remaining little bit of Nestle quick in that old fashioned container is the same exact thing as dropping your guitar pick in your acoustic guitar.

That's right. You'll never see it again. That's a funny meme about that. It showed a picture of a guy in a lab coat holding an acoustic guitar over his head and says MIT scientist almost gets guitar pick.

I was driving to work the other day and I saw this water tower. I passed the water tower numerous times, but when I looked at it I then thought about hot air balloons. You don't really see hot air balloons really anymore. And and then I started wondering, like whoever thought that that was a good idea of transportation and what's happened to hot air balloons when they were popular people. And have cell phones. So like how? How the hell do you get home? You gotta have some. Idiot, try to follow you like on a I don't know. What do you what do you take? I mean, you can't take a car. You'll never be able to triangulate the coordinates where that thing might have went takes a leftover 30 acres of cornfields. I mean, forget it. It's no finding this person.

You're gonna land.

You're gonna land on a gas station or the ocean.

I think I figured it out. The reason why there's no more hot air balloons is because all the idiots that wanted and had one, they're lost, they've self selected, they've naturally deselected.

We're a better species for it. Thank you for you said to work through.

Helping me clear this up. It that's all. Maybe that'll be my documentary. What's happened to all the hot air balloons?

We'll interview the remaining people. We'll we'll question their judgment. What's the future of a hot air balloon? Where? Where? Is this going?

My dad. He's worried about, you know, my kids driving. And he asked if if we got AAA and I was, I said no, you know, we don't have AAA and he kept pushing that we should get AAA. And he said I'm going to get AAA cost next to nothing. It's good to have. And I said, you know, Dad, you don't have to do that. And he said no, no, no, I'm going to. I'm going to get you.

And I.

Going to get you some AAA. I want to make sure and if anything. While the kids are driving, they could just make a call and you know your sister will have it. My sister got a flat tire on the way home from work recently, and I think that was the the thing that really triggered it for him. So he said, can you please get AAA? I go to fill the thing out as I'm filling it out, it asks for the e-mail address. So I'm putting my dad's information in and I put his e-mail address in. And it's at aol.com, and I'm not even kidding. This is the AAA website. A window opened up and. Said do you mean and it? It replaced this e-mail address anditsaid@gmail.com even the AAA website askquestionthevalidityofthis@aol.com e-mail.

They ain't buying it.

I mean, what next? AARP can't even believe someone has an AOL e-mail address. They're like, wait, did you say? And that's not, did you say at prodigy.net?

Let's say like a typo, it's not.

Like. G Mole did you mean Gmail?

No, it's not.

Even yeah, you bring up a good point, though, about roadside assistance. I don't know, four or five years ago or so, I had a flat tire on the Northway up here and I pulled to the side of the road. Fortune was on the passenger side, and I changed. It myself but. It was terrifying that that might be the last time I changed a tire on a highway. As long as I. Of uh, just car screaming past people not paying attention. I I swear to God, I think I will sit on the side of the Northway and wait for a triple. I I would do it in a parking lot or something like that. But on the highway I want flashing lights. I'm not doing that anymore.

Even just sitting in your car off the side of the highway, the wind shake of the car from everybody speeding.

Yeah.

Yes, it's you had Kelsey in the car. I told her to go wait up on the hill. Like, seriously, just. And she's like, what's gonna happen? I'm. Like it's gonna be fine. It's gonna be fine. It the whole thing was terrifying.

Hey, I read Creed had its highest grossing year in 2024.

So I saw them on two I I didn't see them on tour. I saw that they were on tour this past year and they had a ton of dates. It was good to see them back on the road again. I, you know, we spoke how much we we like them but that.

Yeah.

That's bigger than they were in the in the 90s. Yeah, pretty impressive, right?

They had 55 performances. 825,000 ticket sales and they made just under 65,000,000, so great for them.

Oh.

That's a good summer. That's a good summer. I think they all I know they had some personal problems for a while. I think they got those ironed out. They're probably just.

Having fun these days, so good for them. Everybody that I knew that saw them said they were incredible.

Ah.

I it's too they came to space. I didn't go see him. I should have.

I felt a little bit of FOMO after everybody's talking. How great you are and you know we talked about him on the show.

I need to go.

A lot, we. We love him. Let's try to book.

Him on the.

Show for season 3, I will I'll reach.

Out to their people. I'll have to get a second microphone.

Point it the right.

Way, make sure it's aimed correctly. Yeah, actually, I'll ask him to bring. His own. He's probably got one.

They they probably. They probably have.

Microphones. Here's a funny not so funny story. I think NPR covered this story that two men died in the woods while looking for Sasquatch. So I guess they weren't prepared for the elements they went out, got themselves lost. And then I guess got real cold and and died, which is very sad. What made it funny was NPR and Sasquatch in the same heading.

NPR might be struggling a little bit to. To retain their audience these days, but hey, at least those people died for a noble pursuit. Absolutely. We still don't have an answer, but it's nice to know people are still trying to find.

Movies.

Who would you categorize as some of, like the? And I know I'm springing this on you as some of the best. Male vocalists and rock'n'roll. I think we did. We talk, we probably talked about this before too.

I I think, yeah, I think we did a a show man thing and stuff like that. You know, you want to give a little extra credit before the days of auto tune and that you know, but not not to get all classic.

Yeah.

Rocky. But you know, you got Freddie Mercury and I'm drawing a complete blank right now.

Yeah, it's hard I put you.

On the spot. But you know they they did it all without auto tune that. That was they. They had to get the performance they had to get the performance. Right. And they kill and even even something as goofy as David Lee Roth. Have you ever listened to the? Isolated vocals like he he's still a.

Pretty good singer. I brought it up just because I had a screenshot of a list that I saw on their list. The number one singer was Steve Perry from Journey.

Oh yeah, she's how I missed that one. Yeah, he's amazing.

There's definitely some on here that we missed. Lou Graham from foreigner. He can hit some high notes. I think we might have talked about this band, but the guy from steel Heart, they also had a Jimmy Jameson from survivor, Peter Cetera from.

Warner Yep.

Echo Freddie Mercury, who we spoke about Joseph Williams from Toto, Dennis DeYoung from Styx. They had meatloaf on the list. Tony Harnell from TNT Michael Sweet from Stryper. Don Henley from the Eagles and Sebastian Bach from Skid Row. That's who they.

Interesting. Ohh, that guy can sing. Yeah, yeah.

That's who they had rounding out their list. So, not necessarily like showmanship, but just some of the best vocals and there's tons of others. I happen to glance at that took a screenshot of it. Thought I'd mentioned it on the show today I remember.

A million years ago, when I had cable man I, I can't even guess it a year. This had 2008, 2010. I don't even know there was a show. I can't remember even what channel it was on cable, but they had this thing called a crossover and they would take two different artists and put them together and they would do each other songs and stuff like that. And I remember they had Def Leppard and Taylor Swift when Taylor Swift was like kind of new. And she she started singing a song. I'm. Like ohh now. She's kind of hanging in there a little. And then and then Joe Elliott started. So you're like he is 100 times. The singer Taylor Swift. It's like because she started like, I mean, she's got a pleasant sounding voice. And obviously she's very famous and very good at what she does. But man, as soon as he started singing it, it was night and day between what a really good singer sounds like.

And I had this conversation with somebody the other day at work about Ozzy Osbourne. You know, you look over his catalog of songs. His vocals are amazing. Mama, I'm coming home. Ohh, yeah. Geez. And naturally, they're they're mixed. Really, really nice and layered. Stripped him down. The guy still has fantastic range.

These.

He can sit now. There's definitely. I don't know. Maybe it's a well guarded secret. I don't know what the production is it. It's definitely double tracked and delayed. I mean, there there's something. That is the Ozzy Sound I people talk about. There must be the Ozzie sound because nobody sounds like.

Yeah.

Whatever they're doing. Thing, but he not to take anything away from him. He is an amazing singer.

He definitely deserved that induction. I think about the solo stuff, the Black Sabbath stuff every.

Everybody wanted to play with him, yeah.

I just remember getting that Blizzard of Oz on cassette when I was a kid. I couldn't take it out of my radio. The number of D batteries I went through playing that. I mean every song on there. Was a hit.

Dude, that's a great. Haircut you got there, by the way.

Ohh, thank you fresh yesterday.

You are so cool.

Thank you. Yeah, yeah. Vinny, Vinny. For the win. Yeah. My dad calls him Vinny. Boom box.

You know my doctor.

Yeah, no, Vinny. Fantastic job yesterday over there at Christopher's cuts. Nice. I'll give them a plug. Yeah, they won't listen to the show, but I'll plug.

They would love this show.

Them anyway. If you listen to the show and you like it, please share it with someone that you think might enjoy it. Send them the link, recommend an episode.

I keep getting comments and it sounds like you're just hanging out with some buddies and who doesn't? Like.

That who doesn't like hanging out with the buddies?

Can you believe we're at season 3?

Ohh I right, before the show you know we talked about my dad testing my love with hard to find delicacies. My wife tried to pull a fast behind me before I came down too. She's already on to me, right? She sees me up moving around the cabin here. She knows that I got a call with you and she said Ohh. You know what are you doing? And I said I got a call with rich here at 9:30. She goes. Oh, OK, I see 2025. You're still keeping up with your podcast? And and keeping that schedule with rich. So she's already, she's already working me and then.

Feels like it's set up, yeah.

Yeah, it feels like I like, I know where we're going. She I'm struggling now because I'm having Internet issues, so I'm up and down and and she goes. Ohh, would you mind making me a cup of tea? And I looked at her. I'm like, you know that I'm supposed to be on the phone with rich in like 10 minutes and she goes. Yeah. And I said you're putting me in a real hard position here. And then she laughed, and I kind of knew the joke was up. And I was like, I will gladly make you tea as soon as the show's over, she said. No, that's OK. She was testing me. Yep. Yep. And I felt bad. I wanted to make her tea. I always do. I always do. But I was in a bit of a crisis this morning trying to get the Internet work in and yeah, at that point, boiling the water and waiting those 4 minutes for that tea to steep would be like an.

Eternity. Yes, it would. Time would actually slow down.

Yeah, my older daughters in the kitchen last night, she takes out this nice giant orange and starts cutting it and slicing it up and all of a sudden I had this flashback of her as a kid playing into mural soccer. There was always who's weak, is it to bring the snacks, who's weak is it to bring the oranges, which is very stressful. You got enough to worry about. And on top of that, somebody's always. Somebody's real cute. Like, oh, let's create a schedule and see who brings the oranges, who brings the juice boxes for after the game. She's cutting the orange and all of a sudden a little whiff of that anxiety came along with that orange and I thought, ohh, that was such a nice time. It's a shame that it had to be ruined some over controlling parent. You know that that wanted to run a schedule and make other parents have to do things. Let me show up on my own. Let me forget to bring any sort of.

Hydrating thing from my daughter. Now you got me on the spot publicly here? Well, worse than that. You forget. You forget the hydration for the entire team. You don't mean exactly. Yeah, those are the stakes. That's what they do to you. Yeah, and the it's funny you you started with the the power of the sense of smell connecting to memory. I just had this.

That.

Experience a couple weeks ago I went. There's a local restaurant, small chain here called Druthers. I went in to use the the restroom and the the urinal thing in there that scented had a really strong Peach scent. It instantly took me to like 1988 in college when all the girls would order a fuzzy navel, which was. Each knobs and orange I think Peach knobs and oranges. We have to Fact Check on that one. But I'll never forget being around college girls. With that intense.

Smell of Peach. It took me.

Dude, in a millisecond it took me back to to to Plattsburgh. In that setting just a ridiculous fake smell of Peach.

Next thing you knew, you were smelling polo Cologne and Aussie hair moose.

Yes.

Yes.

Ohh, you just painted a whole.

Picture your nose was going ballistic at that.

Point yes, yes, all of the above.

Over the history of the show, that could have been one of your greatest lines ever. Dude, you smell like the 90s. Christmas for us is busy. We finally got through the holidays and I'm thinking to myself. OK, great. We're headed into this weekend. New Year's is behind us. I'm starting to feel some relief from all this chaos. And I don't know why, but as I'm driving, I'm feeling very caught up in life, thankfully. It lasted about 7 minutes and I know this is not a big deal, but here I am. I'm I'm thinking to myself. I can finally take a breath. Maybe this weekend I can relax a little bit. Who knows? I mean the possibilities are endless. And as I'm getting in the car drive. Driving I see the the change oil light comes on. So now I'm like I'm right back. I'm right back, thrown into it again. Here we go. My list is already starting again on stuff that I'm behind in. I got two cars now. I gotta get the oil changed. You know what next? And it was a very small little thing, but I just felt like my peacefulness. Didn't last, you know, nearly as long as I hope without having. Like I mean the list is already building where where we're five days in and I'm already and not that not that changing the oil is a big deal, but you understand my point, right, I'm thinking I I don't have a list and now my car is even giving.

You couldn't, yes.

Me the list.

You couldn't have one day of peace.

Let me drive in. Ohh I got out the door. My wife, my wife didn't need anything. The kids didn't ask me for. The kids were asleep when I left. They didn't need any no rides, no money. They didn't have to go anywhere. No one had to work. I think ohh I got it. Let me just get in the car. I can. I can drive in, pull out of the driveway. Ding Ding change oil.

Thought I heard the door. There's the door.

I do. I do hear the door. Yeah. See what's going on here? This is always exciting.

Where's my tea?

Did you need money or something? Will you need my debit card? Rich, could this come at any better timing just coming back down, let me give her some. Money and then.

OK.

I'll I'll fill you in where the rest of the story's going. Let's get this on tape some. This is going to come back to me. I'm gonna be in trouble at the end. This I hope this is a good podcast, because it's going to be the only one for me in season 2025. This will be a signing off folks, not so weird. Season 3 had one episode. It'll be like people will be listening for a few months and they'll it'll finally dawn on them. They'll. They're like, whatever happened to that, that guy that used to be? On was rich. We haven't heard from him in. A while we never speak of it.

It's just my show. Now. I I'd like never say what happened.

Just exactly completely ignored. I crop the icon down to just me. I love that characters fall off shows and they never address it. Yeah. Why were the three different daughters? Not like that Roseanne show like no one ever questioned it.

Yeah. Famously what bewitched there was 2 darrens, and like it never now, it was just a new guy.

Multiple batches.

Yeah, we got a new Darren this season. Don't say anything, they'll never know.

Didn't I think happy days didn't. Didn't really have a brother or something. Just vanished.

Richie's. Richie had her brother disappeared. Seinfeld's parents were different, too.

Ohh like in the pilot or so or the very.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Early on.

They had. They had one set of parents and then another. Set of parents. Alright dude.

All right, man. Have a good week. We got some good.

Yeah, yeah, I'll catch up with.

Stuff here. You soon. Alright, see you then.

Alright, later bye.