Back-To-School Nostalgia

The fastest way to unlock a whole childhood is to say two words: Trapper Keeper. We’re on the eve of a new school year, and we end up doing a back-to-school nostalgia “best of” that turns into a surprisingly intense debate about the school supplies that mattered way more than they should have. From the legendary folder setups to the humble pencil that still felt like treasure, we relive the tiny status symbols that shaped elementary and middle school life in the 1980s and 1990s.

We get specific, because that’s where the memories live: NFL pencils from the school office vending machine, the never-ending wide-ruled vs. college-ruled argument, pencil brands you either loved or hated, and the strange reality that some kids had the 128-count crayon box with the built-in sharpener while others were making “peach” by mixing whatever broken colors were left. We also talk adhesive choices like rubber cement and musilage, pencil boxes, and the kind of DIY creativity that shows up when you don’t have the “good” stuff.

Then we hit the cafeteria classics. Packed lunches, brown bags, thermoses, field trip food, and the hall-of-fame school lunch menu items that no adult version can truly recreate, including the rectangle pizza that still haunts our taste buds. Along the way we share a few school stories that range from funny to genuinely frustrating, including punishments, bathroom rules, and the kind of teacher feedback that sticks for decades.

If you grew up loving school supplies, hating them, or just trying to make it to lunch, you’ll feel seen. Subscribe, share this with a friend who still remembers their lunchbox, and leave a review if it made you laugh. What was your one must-have back-to-school item?

Transcript

Cold Open And Big Money Jokes

SPEAKER_02 0:06

The Beer Brothers proudly present the best of.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

A podcast about the best of everything. From the mundane to the ridiculous. Just three buddies sitting around the card table talking about things that absolutely matter to no one.

SPEAKER_03 0:20

So, yes, you're not wrong. That is our old school music. I love that voice, by the way. That voice right there coming out.

SPEAKER_04 0:28

That voice is Gandhi.

SPEAKER_03 0:30

That that silky smooth sounds. That voice right there is the voice of someone who only had about six billion dollars at that moment in their life. Exactly. And now they're, you know, approaching 20 bill.

SPEAKER_04 0:43

I mean, look, when you own, when you're one of the initial investors in SpaceX, that's 100%.

SPEAKER_03 0:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Yeah. The only thing I can admit to is that I have more in common with a wrestler than you guys do.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

That's true. Yeah. The million dollar man, Ted DBA. Money, money, money, money, money. Shane O'Meck. Oh, that's great. So you correctly we agree. Ron Wrestler.

Why Back-To-School Best Of

SPEAKER_03 1:14

We are doing a best of episode tonight because get on the We are doing a best of episode because it is the night before the start of the school year here in Franklin County, Kentucky. School's school's starting tomorrow.

SPEAKER_04 1:32

So what year is this year going into? No joke. I mean, I would joke and say it's like 126.

SPEAKER_03 1:37

This is year 33 for me. Yeah. Hey, real quick. In my career.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Give me knuckles. Who here doesn't have a child in any form of school now at all?

SPEAKER_03 1:45

Right here. Boom, two of us. Boom. Boom. Shellock lock boom. Who got to pay three college tuition bills this week? Let me guess what the amount was. Was it uh about $350? Let me tell you what. Oh, you're not pretty ready.

SPEAKER_04 1:58

There is I will find it while you're introing this, but there is one thing that me and Joe Biden have in common. Okay, you sleep. And I will find it right now.

SPEAKER_03 2:08

Okay, well, that's that's this is like a that's a teaser. That's a little teaser. That's a little teaser. That's pretty cool. So uh so long story short, we're gonna do a best of uh some some nostalgia, but it's school school supplies that we grew up with, school, what were the things that we had to have, what were the things that we cherished when we went back to school?

SPEAKER_01 2:30

And first day back prep. Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

What was what was the prep? What was what was the first day like back? What were the things that we did? No, exactly the best of back to school.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Let's let's put this in reality. Two of us here graduated from public education in the early nineties.

SPEAKER_03 2:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

One of us here may have done it in the 1890s.

SPEAKER_04 2:56

It's been a long time ago for sure.

SPEAKER_03 2:58

That that's there's there's some validity to that that I did not graduate public school in the 1990s. That is that is accurate. That's right. It was a little before that. So uh but I I mean it was before the Department of Education. That's true. Well, that's true. It was before the advent of the mechanical pencil.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Oh, you know what? Never mind. I think we all were. Anyhow. All right, let's roll with it.

SPEAKER_04 3:24

Okay. So um Okay, I found this. Okay. All right, let's go. So so had to pay three college tuitions this week. Yes. And like I said, this is when me and Joe Biden have things in common. Because here's what Joe Biden said when he was asked about how much it costs to send your daughter to college.

SPEAKER_05 3:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

Fantastic. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 3:58

Yeah, so so me and Joe Biden have that in common. I almost asked Chris for a loan. Yes, because first he has no children he's paying for in college, and second, because he's got SpaceX money. A hundred percent. So Uncle Elon, you know. So, but now as we get into the things that we cherished in going back to school, I can't wait to hear the different perspective that some of us have. That's ultra the rest of it.

SPEAKER_03 4:28

Because I have a feeling that there are two of us that are not going to share the same advantages, let's just say. And that's okay. Right. It's we hey, it's it's a unique world, and all of us bring something unique to it. So let's hear

The Trapper Keeper Status Symbol

SPEAKER_03 4:44

it. Yep. So what the first question is what would be the one thing that you would look back on your childhood and say, that was probably the coolest thing that I just had to have and was able to have. Uh my favorite going back to school supply. Now that you've you've tasted the coffee at least, I'm I'm proud of you for doing that. Now I'm drinking it. Now you're now you can make that anytime.

SPEAKER_04 5:14

That's great. Awesome. So would Janie like that? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

I think anybody who even remotely likes the smell of coffee would like that.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

Yeah. That's just a that's delicious. That's a double shot of espresso. So it was one shot for you and one shot for you.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

So I'm getting a double shot of espresso. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:29

Double, double. Yum.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

All right. So what anyway? All right.

SPEAKER_03 5:32

So the the one thing that you would look back on and say, man, that was the coolest school supply. That, you know, all the cool kids had to have this. I actually got this or whatever. What in your mind was like, oh man, that was that was something that was special?

SPEAKER_04 5:47

Go ahead. I remember getting a trapper keep trapper keeper folder pack. Yep. And it was pretty cool because I had a folder for each class. And and, you know, when you're in fifth grade, sixth grade, that was kind of a it was kind of a cool deal.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Did you get one with a picture on it or just a solid color? Just solid. I got solid. Mine were always blue. When the trapper keeper came out.

SPEAKER_03 6:12

Mine were. Holy cow.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

I never even got one. They hadn't made them. If I'm not mistaken, the trapper keeper came out in like 83. And that was all I could tell.

SPEAKER_03 6:26

They hadn't made them. Mine, mine were. I'm never gonna get over that.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

Third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade.

SPEAKER_04 6:32

Well, my mommy got me one for science and one for algebra. Did you get a new one each month? But the trapper keeper.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

I can say without a doubt, right now, since you brought up Trapper Keeper, that's the one thing that I always wanted. Because let's face it, you were lame if you had a cat folder or a Pac-Man folder or something. But if you had a trapper keeper, you were cool.

SPEAKER_03 7:03

Mine was actually an off-brand. It was a frapper meeper.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

But that's the only thing I ever got that I really truly wanted. And we can get into the rest of the stuff in a minute. But I trapper keeper was cool with me. You had the sports one, didn't you?

SPEAKER_03 7:18

No, I did not. I never got a frapper keeper or a trapper keeper. I honestly never had one. Um that was uh that that was an unfulfilled wish for me.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Did you get the you didn't get the Radio Shack version even?

SPEAKER_03 7:31

Uh no, Radio Shack. Because they made the knockoff everything else. No, tandy, the tandy trapper keeper. That's good. No, um, so or realistic. That was um I I'm gonna go just to something that was simple, but golly, I looked forward to it every

NFL Pencils And Pencil Politics

SPEAKER_03 7:50

year. And that was the NFL pencil. Yeah, I had some of those. Yes. And um we had uh there was a pencil machine in the in the office of the school, and you put a nickel in and you get a pencil.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

And can you give me a pencil while you're up? It'll cost you a hard nickel.

SPEAKER_03 8:09

And they were they were a nickel to get uh an NFL pencil, and you'd turn the thing, and doggone it, if I'd get like the Chicago Bears or something, or the Baltimore Colts. Oh, that's great. That's that's you know, yeah. I always wanted a Bengals one, and it seems like I never got a Bengals one.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

What's the statute of limitations?

SPEAKER_04 8:29

Well depends on what kind of act it is. Okay, if it's a felony, it's unlimited in the great state of Kentucky.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Yeah, oh that's not a felony. All right, go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 8:37

Yeah, I I if it's less than a thousand dollars, it's a misdemeanor, it's one year.

SPEAKER_03 8:41

I was a man of uh uh a boy of Simple Pleasures, and uh that that simple pleasure was getting that NFL pencil every year. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Pencils, Greg, did you get pencils? Did you get Ticonderoga? Did you get the nice yellow ones?

SPEAKER_03 8:56

I had the yellow number twos, not the high end one. Did you get the 2.5s that didn't work on the uh standardized tests? No, but here's what's funny.

SPEAKER_04 9:04

I can tell you I've grown possible. It's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Yeah. So let me I'll tell you about my pencils in a second, but I never could stand Gold Lemay. If you needed a pencil and a teacher gave you a choice pencil because they were real soft and they were really soft writing, and they were terrible.

SPEAKER_05 9:20

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

I always liked the other ones. All of my pencils when I was a child were blue, navy blue, and you'll never guess what they said on them. Did they have the royalists on them?

SPEAKER_04 9:30

They they had the presidential ones.

SPEAKER_03 9:32

Did they have the presidential seal on them? Did they honestly did they have your family crest on them?

SPEAKER_01 9:38

No, but I can tell you what they did say. Yes. Commonwealth of Kentucky. You owned the most lame. Got it. Never forget going to surprise. We do all our back-to-school shopping at Hills in in Lexington, number two. It was called Hills. Beverly. Of course. Of course they did it in the Hills. And what they didn't get there, we'd get it at Hex, which was another like Kmart. The Hills of Beverly. Hills and Hex and Kmart and Walmart are all about the same. I think Hills was about a four steps down though. But uh, I'd always like mom, mom, mom, I want these pencils. She's like, No, I got your pencils. Um I'd get home and I'd have a stack of Commonwealth of Kentucky pencils to you. Perfect. All right.

SPEAKER_04 10:20

I mean, there's benefits of being the biggest landowner in the state.

SPEAKER_03 10:25

So what were outside of that one thing, obviously, um, let's move on to what would be the next big thing that you had to have.

Lunchboxes Brown Bags And Cafeteria Food

SPEAKER_03 10:35

Now remember, we're we could talk lunchboxes here. We could talk about lunchbox, always had the brown bag.

SPEAKER_04 10:40

Okay, but that was gonna be what I was gonna say because lunchboxes were a big deal. Did you eat school lunch or did you pack your lunch?

SPEAKER_03 10:47

I uh I've got a packed lunch every day. And I'll I'll explain and you liked it.

SPEAKER_04 10:53

I'll explain I was the school lunch person.

SPEAKER_03 10:55

No, I'll explain what my lunch was because once I got old enough to make it, so when I was like eight, I had to make it myself. But up until that time, I had the same, I had the same lunch every day. Uh, a fried egg on on bread with mustard. It was an egg sandwich. Okay, I like your people beat you in the afternoon. And it was cold, a cold egg sandwich, a cold egg sandwich on um call scudder bread every day. And I ain't no lie. Mustard, egg, and it was and then my mom says, you know, once I got old enough, she's like, You gotta fry this egg anymore. I don't have time for you. So I started learning how to fry an egg in the morning and make my sandwich. So let me ask a question about that.

SPEAKER_04 11:40

Yes, I have I have lots of questions. And that's it's a brown bag. That was a brown bag. But let me ask a question. Yes. Okay. Yep. Was it a hard fried egg? Yes. Oh, yes, completely hard. Like no, yeah, like brown on the edges 100%.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Yum, I'm perfect.

SPEAKER_03 11:57

Yes. Yeah, perfect. That's the only way you could eat that egg cold. You can't eat a runny egg cold. No.

SPEAKER_04 12:03

Yeah, it's it it it was I I don't know that I've ever known anybody to bring a fried egg sandwich for squirrel. That was my honestly, I don't believe that I ever saw that.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Or at work or anywhere.

SPEAKER_03 12:16

And if it was a really, really special day, I'd get a can of pudding. The little cans of pudding that had the little, you know, did you ever have a can of pudding? No. I don't recall pudding. I used to have a can of pudding, and that was a good day. Like Del Monty pudding. Oh, the snobby guy.

SPEAKER_04 12:35

Right.

SPEAKER_03 12:36

So you hung out with Chris a little. Of of the Monty pudding, Del. Let me clear.

SPEAKER_04 12:40

Chris had the workers make the pudding and just take off the skim off the top, but he had the pudding skin that was delivered to him.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

I hated that S-cargo that I had to take. By the way, I've never heard it called Mandad Boog Boogaloo caviar. I've never heard it called Pudding Skin, but that's exactly what it is.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Exactly what it is. And Jello would get skinned too. Heck yeah. That was terrible. All right. I was only allowed to take my lunch on when we had like a field trip, a school field trip like Shakertown. And then the only thing I was allowed to take. So how was to go visit your other house on the school field trip? This was this was peanut butter and honey sandwich. Oh yeah, that's good. Yeah, that's good sandwich. That's good. With uh a bag of whatever chips we had, you know, and in a not even a Ziploc bag. This was before Ziploc. It was a sandwich bags.

SPEAKER_03 13:31

Yeah, that had the little that was. Folded over. Yeah, fold over.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

And uh probably a Pepsi free wrapped up in aluminum folded. Aluminum floil around the can, man. Keep it cold. The problem is my sandwich would be cold too when I get it. Yeah, but honey and peanut butter, because like, oh, it's gonna get hot. And you and I'm like, can I get jelly at least?

SPEAKER_03 13:48

No, when I told when I told Ava about having the egg sandwich every day, she's like, Well, did you heat it in the microwave? I'm like, what the fuck? Microwave didn't exist. I had a cold egg sandwich every day of my life.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Electricity. Why would you have a worry about it?

SPEAKER_04 14:00

I mean, you had to go start the fireplace at school. Now, uh, but you had a lunch box. You had a lunchbox. I had a lunchbox. Which one? Uh I had a baseball lunch box. I was gonna say, I was gonna guess. And it had the little thermos that come in. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:15

I did have one of those at one time, I must admit.

SPEAKER_04 14:18

99% of the time I ate school lunch. And and Fridays, the rectangle pizza. And corn. And corn was as good as it got. And we got we had fruit cocktail with it. On a on a cheese. We had a block of cheese. On a very Reagan cheese.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

That was the best. Sometimes we had the Reagan cheese in the lunch. That was that was fantastic. Occasionally it was a cheese sandwich with mustard on it. That's because government cheese. That's because the fat content has to be a million dollars.

SPEAKER_04 14:49

It was awesome, is what it was. Um so but so okay, let me you work in the schools. You know why was that rectangle pizza so good?

SPEAKER_03 14:59

I mean, I people try to recreate anywhere else. Yeah, people try to recreate it. It is not as good. It's oh, that was so good. And I'll I'll give it, I'll give you another one. Occasionally my mom would let me eat the school lunch, and Thursdays was always cheeseburger day or hamburger day. It varied week to week. Right. That was a fantastic day because they had the you know regular old cheeseburgers or whatever, but they had fries and they were really fried. Right. Fries. Oh yes, that was some good easy. What was your favorite school lunch?

SPEAKER_01 15:32

So when I went to my original elementary school, which they ended up closing when I was after my second grade, between second and third grade, mom would always send me with a check, and I'd have to go stand in line on Monday mornings and and give the principal my check for my lunch. A traveler's check? And I think correct me if I'm wrong. I think lunches back then were like 45 cents.

SPEAKER_03 15:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

But mom would always write a check so she could, you know, make sure it was paid. Well, the problem is, and I only had to eat school lunch and I deduct it off their own taxes. I hate milk. I hate milk. And I didn't like half the crap they cooked at school besides the pizza, but I would pick around it or beg chips off people. When I got to the new school and they started busting me to the because with all the rich kids, to all the rich kids like that. With all the others. Right. Right. With all of my fellows. Right. When they sent me for the people who lived down below me. When they sent me to the rich kids school, uh because they closed my school. At least you know, um, mom would send in a check and I'd have to take it to the office. But anyhow, up until high school, you know, the pizza was the best. When I got to my high school, mom's like, you're on your own. You know, lunch by that time was a dollar five. I'll never forget when I was in high school. I was like a senior, it was a dollar five. Sometimes I would skip lunch. I still didn't drink milk, but at Franklin County at the time, and I don't know if they do or not, they had a salad line bar, a baked potato bar, a hamburger bar, and a pizza bar. All fork every day. And I that's how I don't know how county is now. And a hot line. So it's five meals. You had a hot or two, whatever the hot thing was. And I'd always go to the burger line because I love their fries, but the burger was I mean soybeans is what it was. But I would peel the bun back and put a whole bag of fries on top of my burger and eat that, and they sold water, I'd pay that out of pocket. That was the best lunch to me. Was that soy burger with fries and water? But I was in high school.

SPEAKER_03 17:15

Did you ever have school breakfast growing up? No. A couple times. Yeah. Uh school. Not daily. Not daily. We didn't. I I never had it daily, but occasionally. Oh, there was most days it was just a thing of cereal or whatever. But on Thursdays, the same day as the burgers, on Thursdays, they had a really good school breakfast at my elementary school. And it was eggs that were scrambled eggs, but they were like soft and kind of powdered. Oh, no, they were no, these were real eggs. That's the way they're supposed to be. There were real eggs. Real okay. And they were a little runny. And they may have even put some government cheese in them because they were just so even better. And oven toasted with tons of butter on it. Toast. So it was those those scrambled eggs with that buttery toast. God, I'm mouthwatering thinking about it. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

So besides the food, let's get back to yeah.

Pencil Boxes Glue And Paper Debates

SPEAKER_01 18:06

Yeah, so we talked about the lunchbox. I never had a lunch box. Well, I never took my lunch unless it was a field trip. What about a pencil box?

SPEAKER_04 18:13

I don't recall ever having a pencil box.

SPEAKER_03 18:16

I never had enough pencils to have a pencil box.

SPEAKER_04 18:18

I had to scavenge for pencils.

SPEAKER_03 18:20

But I I remember faintly um like a bag, like a little zippered bag that my eraser would go in there and the compass and the um Protractor. Protractor.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

Um, yeah. Yeah. So I never had a pencil box either. And if I did, it probably would have said Commonwealth of Kentucky, but I didn't have a pencil box.

SPEAKER_04 18:43

But there was a guy in the store.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

I tell this story all the time. So probably would have said Ashford Stud. When I was in second grade, there was a guy in third grade. I'm not going to mention his name. When he turned 16, he bought a pink Cadillac convertible, like a 62. And long hair, nobody ever messed with this guy because he would kill you. And he lived on Home Street. To this day, he's a mechanic and a drummer in a band and probably one of the nicest guys you ever meet in your life. But back then, you assumed the worst. He took a pencil box and lined it with shag carpet.

SPEAKER_04 19:13

That's hilarious.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

Now keep in mind, this is like 1980. That's pretty good. Lined it with shag carpet and drew like Kiss all over. He's a big Kiss fan. Uh-huh. And nobody screwed with that guy for that very reason. We were terrified of him. But he had shag carpet in a pencil box. And I'll never forget, I went home and told Dad, I need a pencil box. And he goes, for what? I said, I put my pencils in. He goes, You don't have that many pencils. And I said, and I told him about this guy. He goes, stay away from that guy.

SPEAKER_03 19:36

Yeah. How about what type of substance did you buy for adhesive? Uh you remember musilex. Did you have uh did you have rubber glue?

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Rubber cement, or were you an Elmer glue kind of a person? I had musilage, which was the brown snot stuff with the orange rubber tip.

SPEAKER_04 19:55

I had that. Yeah, where you could you'd like squish it down and rub it across the room. That's rubber cement. I I I've had that.

SPEAKER_03 20:02

But why couldn't I get Elmer's? I always got musilage. Well, that's the that was the fancy brand. It was not the fancy brand.

SPEAKER_04 20:09

1000%.

SPEAKER_03 20:10

You could you could roll that up and make little fake boogies.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

You know what's funny is I think the state probably used that, is what I was assuming.

SPEAKER_03 20:18

That's funny. Did you ever taste either rubber cement or fake?

SPEAKER_01 20:25

You never tasted Elmer's glue? No, but I would steal it from my neighbor, put it on my fingers and roll it around till my finger stuck. Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_03 20:31

Everyone did that. You can still feel it right now, right? Yeah. Uh what about the little pokey compass things? Did you ever get into uh trouble with your compass? No. Boy, you're a lamo. You know where you went to the city. You've got to remember. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 20:48

I mean, here's what you're forgetting that Chris didn't get into trouble. I apologize. Chris didn't have to go to class most of the day. Look, I thought about Chris yesterday. Yes. Hallie showed me something because she's leaving to go to college next week. She showed me this thing she's got on her iPad that takes notes and then it'll summarize things for her. And I said, So that's what it was like to be Chris growing up. 100%. You had the servants in the classroom who took the notes. So which reminded me, I mentioned it to you, and you made a great reference. Yes. So look, is this what it was like to be you growing up?

SPEAKER_03 21:23

Seriously.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

What's that?

SPEAKER_03 21:25

Rodney Dangerfield in back to school when he sent his secretary into the class and she did shorthand for the notes.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

No, transcription.

SPEAKER_03 21:34

She's on the little bloom, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop. And the professor came over and let Mr. Thorn Thornhill know this, please. He will never. Mr. Mellon.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Mr. Mellon. Mr.

SPEAKER_03 21:45

Mellon pass this class. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 21:49

Is that what it was like in fifth grade when you had the servants taking notes for you?

SPEAKER_03 21:53

No. All right. Here's another question then. Let's talk about what you wrote on. Did you get a big notebook? Did you You have loose notebook paper, and or if you did, was it wide ruled or college ruled? So mine was wide ruled.

SPEAKER_04 22:08

I was wide ruled until I got to high school.

SPEAKER_03 22:11

Until high school.

SPEAKER_04 22:12

And I I'm I'm wide ruled to this day. Really? I am the only person in our law firm that uses wide ruled paper. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 22:20

That's a that's a fun that is a where is it?

SPEAKER_04 22:23

I very rarely have it fun facts. That's wild. I used wide rolled paper to edit. That is a great fun fact.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

Now, funny story, side note.

SPEAKER_04 22:33

You invented wide rolled paper?

SPEAKER_01 22:35

If I use lines paper, which is my notebook I use is college. You never had to use paper, your servants did. Do you know what I used in college?

SPEAKER_03 22:43

Yes, we do. We know lots of things that you used in college. Exactly. They're on a band list.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

Graph paper. I use graph paper all through engineering school. Okay. 100%. And not because I used it as a graph, it's because you're drawing diagrams and doing all the and when you get into calculus and all that, it's easier to use a quadrueled graph paper. So to this day, I still prefer a blued quadruple graph paper to work on.

SPEAKER_03 23:08

So one of our directors in uh at Central Office actually uses uh Jamie Miller, actually, our director of special ed. I always see her taking notes on graph graph paper. But I guarantee it's quadrule. Yeah. Guaranteed.

SPEAKER_04 23:21

It's always the wide rule kind of guy.

SPEAKER_03 23:23

I I like college rule once I got into high school because I like to write small. Um, but now I can't see it. So uh I need to go back to wide rule. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 23:32

Yeah. So so in our supply clo supply room at my office, there is a huge stack of college rule legal pads, and then there's a really small stack of wide rules. It's gonna be a good one. And everybody knows not to touch those.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

That guy needs to use regular paper. All right. Let's talk about the big one in the the big elephant

Crayons Markers And The Supply Gap

SPEAKER_01 23:54

in the room.

SPEAKER_03 23:54

What clothes? We'll get back to that. Your vast wardrobe.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

Crayons.

SPEAKER_04 24:00

Well, look, there we go. Here we go. We had this the other day. You thought I used the I used the school's crayons. God's honest trick. Were they the fat ones or the fit ones? I didn't we had thin ones at Harold Elementary School, but I didn't have my own. No. I always was envious of people like Chris. Yes, who had the huge variety box of 128 with the sharpener built in.

SPEAKER_05 24:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:28

Uh I mean, my favorite color that I never got the color with was cornucopia, which was this blue color. Uh-huh. And I know Chris has had doubles. It's like it's like the infamous 10 millimeter socket. You probably had like 12 of them.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

You know what's funny is I do have like shocking wrenches. I have more 716s and 10 millimeter wrenches and sockets on do anything else. See? Well, there you are. No surprise.

SPEAKER_03 24:54

So, in other words, he had burnt sienna and raw umber. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

That's funny that you say that. Yeah, of course it is. But yeah, mom would only buy me the eight pack. This is God's honest truth. I mean, eight times twelve. Yeah, exactly. And I remember walking into class and I had my trapper keeper and my I had my crayons, and I'm looking over at his cell phone. I'm like, well, Jared over there's got a got a pencil sharpener. And the teacher had the list, you get a pencil sharpener. So I got the sharpener. You know, I look over and Ridditch or Doug or one of those guys would have a pencil sharpener that had the collection thing on it. Yeah. No, I got the one I think mom used on her eyeliner or whatever, or whatever it is. Shaved everywhere. So you get all of your desk.

SPEAKER_04 25:34

I didn't have a sharpener of the first. No, I had to go up to the front and go, no, no, no, no. No, no, crayons.

SPEAKER_03 25:41

That was for crayons. Let's be honest. Let's stop. I never had a crayon jar not. Since ever on since we did movie references, the movie as good as it gets. Yes. Okay, when Jack Nicholson in the beginning of the movie is washing his hands and he's super hot water and he unropes uh unwraps one bar of soap of neutrogena soap and then throws it right away and then opens another one. That was him and his boxes of crayons. He had a new box every day. Well, let me tell you.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

So why did I have the eight-pack of crayons? Because you got a new set every day. Nope. The truth was, mom said you only need the basic colors. And I remember sitting there in class and the teacher's like, get your crayons out. And I reached over, I'm like, Can I borrow your peach or your blue-green or your green-blue? Or remember peach was flesh tone cut? I don't remember that at all. I had eight. I had eight as well. That's all I read. But I didn't have any. I had the schools conglomerate that were the broken ones from the restaurants, probably. Why my cherries?

SPEAKER_03 26:41

Why my painting ability is getting better is because I know how to mix colors because I had to come up with peach. I'll take my white one and my brown one, a little bit of red and some orange. There we go.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

Peach! Well, I remember mom's like, all you need is the basic colors. That's all you need. So when it came to markers, I remember having to have markers in like fifth grade. I got the felt tip, you know, the cheap blue and red.

SPEAKER_04 27:04

Those are the expensive ones.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

The fact that you have markers, just red and blue. I had red and blue and black. Do you know who uses those particular felt markers? Do you the Commonwealth of Kentucky?

SPEAKER_03 27:17

Do you do you realize that if I wanted a wet style ink, I had to poke myself with my compass and use my blood?

SPEAKER_01 27:26

All right, I got a funny story to tell you guys. So, besides our crayons. What kind of do you have big pack or little pack?

SPEAKER_03 27:33

I had, first of all, they were called playcraft. They weren't crayons.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

Those are the expensive ones.

SPEAKER_03 27:38

No, they were not. They were the cost-cutter version of crayons. So, yes. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:45

So I was thinking the other day, I remember for some reason you you had you brought this to us, our attention. We said this was a fun idea. Talk about a personality. And I didn't realize at the time how I don't know if Gutsy or I was trying to be smart or what, but I'm in fourth grade. And at Hearn Elementary, which is now their new early learning village, it was all open classrooms. And we had a place called the Pit, which is in front of the teachers, and they sit all in this big raised-up thing. It's now their like auditorium. There is no cafeteria in Hearn. They would roll these big carts in and they'd have trays on them for lunch, and you ate at your desk.

SPEAKER_04 28:23

That's weird.

SPEAKER_01 28:24

It was weird. And the teachers would call you up by Miss Morris or Miss Crossway or Miss Whoever, you know, and you and your class goes up. Well, every once in a while they try to make it fun. You know, if you're wearing blue, go get whatever. And I was sitting there one day, and I don't know if I was feeling feisty or whatever, and they said, uh, if you're not wearing tennis shoes, you can get your tray.

SPEAKER_04 28:45

You had unpenny loaf. I know, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

Alligator skin.

SPEAKER_04 28:51

Did they say if you're wearing a bow tie today?

SPEAKER_01 28:55

I stood up.

SPEAKER_04 28:56

If you're wearing Dior today.

SPEAKER_01 28:58

It uh it um sorry, I just got a text in real quick. Um anyhow, I got up and walked to Birmingham got my tray. And I get back, and everybody's around me's like, dude, what are you doing? You're wearing tennis shoes. And I had on what we would call tennis shoes. And I said, I do not play tennis in these shoes. I do not play tennis at all. These are not tennis shoes. Right.

SPEAKER_04 29:20

He's got his own special outfit for when he plays tennis. Exactly. It's gotta be an all-what, because we only play on grass. That's the only way a good tennis shoes.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

Slazenger makes my tennis shoes. A couple things. But hang on, think about that. I said, I don't play tennis. These are not tennis shoes, these are simply shoes. All right, the teachers never said a word, nothing.

SPEAKER_04 29:41

All right, Greg. So what are what are not necessarily stuff you had, but what are some of your most memorable things that happened in your school

Spankings Bathroom Rules And Sticker Trauma

SPEAKER_04 29:55

time? Yeah. So I got I got what? I got I actually have two. All right, let's go. The first one I got spanked in kindergarten. Ooh. We had when I uh Harold, we had half-day kindergarten. What'd your teacher look like? Miss Parker? Yeah, she looked like she looked like Greg Dammer Valentine. Did you teach Jim too? We didn't have Jim. Our gym was a blacktop. Oh, I gotcha. But anyway, so she was mad, people were talking and stuff like that. And it was getting about lunch time. Look, I like my lunch. Yep. So I raised my hand and she called on me. And I asked her what was for lunch, and she spanked me because I talked in class. Oh boy, that's not that was not well received. No.

unknown 30:42

No.

SPEAKER_04 30:42

Did you ever get a spanking in school? No. Did you? No. Okay. I got another one. Okay. This one was not well received either. So, you know, you've been in a classroom, you know, people start going to the bathroom and they don't really have to go. Yeah. So all these people. Second grade. Second grade. All these people, you know, we were in a unlike unlike Chris's experience where it was marbled halls and things like that. Yes, of course. My second grade was in a trailer at Harold Elementary School. And I had to go to the bathroom. Number one, not number two, because nobody does that at school. No, that's ridiculous. So why would you do that? Number one. And the teacher said, No, you can't go. People have been going people have been asking to go and they don't really need to go, you can't go. I went and sat back down. I waited about five minutes, went and asked again. She said, No, I already told you you can't go. I was a resourceful young man. I walked to the back corner, let her fly. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

This was her senior year.

SPEAKER_04 31:48

Second grade.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

I gotcha.

SPEAKER_04 31:50

Second grade. Not well received. And and my mother did not take kindly to me not getting to go to the bathroom.

SPEAKER_03 32:02

Yeah, that's ridiculous. I mean, the fact that a teacher would deny uh, you know, I mean So that's two times I now I got spanked a few more than that.

SPEAKER_04 32:12

But those are those are two that I didn't need.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

That happened in your school district with my son when he was in uh at Bridgeport. Really? And I had a little talking with the teacher. And uh had a me and Mart Marty Lale are still tight over there.

SPEAKER_03 32:25

I have I have had many discussions with employees about that. My mother was not happy. Yeah, so I I I'll share, I'll share the it's a sad story. So, you know, Chris, I know you're not you so it's normal life. Normal life. Right. So I I was not very artistic. Uh I can barely draw a straight line. I tuned it. Yeah, exactly. So long story short, I um I love to I loved it when we had a coloring assignment. Okay. I love to color what you know. And it is so you would get like a little a little sheet of paper and it'd be like a a map of the 13 colonies, yeah, and you'd color in different colors for each one or whatever. Okay, I used to love this. So anyway, in second grade, I colored in this map and I was so proud of it. And then I took a black crayon and I outlined all of the states so they would have black outline to go around to differentiate them from the others, even though there were different colors. And I was super duper proud of this, and I turned it in. Okay, now when you got your your things back from the teacher, she wouldn't put like a grade on some of these things, she would put like stickers, right? And uh, if you got a you know, like a Clifford the Big Red Dog sticker, that was huge. Even better. Yeah, I got my paper back, and Mrs. Raimi, the teacher, had given me a Clifford the Big Red Dog sticker with a sheet over his head, and he had the big sad eyes, and she wrote on it, no black outlining. Oh my! And I still to this day remember that as like one of the crushing blows of negative reinforcement. Clifford the big red dog had a sheet over his head, his little eyes going through the little holes, and he had looking all sad. It's terrible, yeah. Whatever happened to her. Uh, she did. She got hit by a car. She did. She was old as dirt then. But uh, but it was funny because her and my mom were like big buddies. My mom was a teacher of first grade in the school, and uh that year we went out to her house uh on Thanksgiving morning to drop off some food for her because her husband had died or something. Did you poop in her yard? I wanted to desperately.

SPEAKER_04 34:56

I'm like, You know, there was a time, Janie. You you all know my wife, obviously. There she got in trouble one time at school. And I can't, I honestly can't remember if she got spanked or not, but she got in trouble at school one time. You know what she got in trouble for? Reading a book while they were talking. Oh my god. She literally got in trouble for reading a book while the teacher was talking.

SPEAKER_03 35:20

I I would give rewards for kids if they would read a book in their off time.

SPEAKER_01 35:25

The only times I remember getting in trouble in school, and I was always terrified the teacher was going to tell my parents because whatever happened in school was gonna be so much easier than what happened when I got home. I mean, let's face it, big big Keith would have. Anyhow, in second grade, I remember having to go stand in the corner for talking. Um I remember in sixth grade, I got in trouble for talking and I had to write sentences. Yep. By Miss Banasse.

SPEAKER_04 35:53

Sentences the sentence, the sentence punishment sucked.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

Well, here's the thing. I don't I mean Did you ever have to do that? Uh I did.

SPEAKER_04 35:59

That was a punishment my dad would give you.

SPEAKER_01 36:01

Five hundred times. Well, this was like a hundred times I will not talk in class. So I just went, I I will not talk about it. Yeah, yeah, actually I did. Yeah. But it was like, that's the only time I remember getting in

Gifted Program Drama And Winning The Argument

SPEAKER_01 36:11

trouble. But I will tell you again, I was the I don't know. I don't know what my parents did to me. I remember being in fifth grade. Besides giving you everything that is impossible for a human to enjoy in Franklin County back then, starting when I was in second grade and it went all the way through fifth, they had something called Pegasus, which is you're all's GT now, the gifted and talented person. Of course, of course you do. But it was called Pegasus, but anyhow, so what would happen is one day a week you would go to this other part of the school and do all this, you'd learn computers and foreign language and all this crap, right?

SPEAKER_04 36:43

So long story foreign languages when you were in fourth grade.

SPEAKER_01 36:46

Uh second through fifth. But anyway.

SPEAKER_04 36:48

So yeah. So anyhow, but they they don't do that in public schools, right? This one's public. This one's public. Nah, uh. Anyhow. No.

SPEAKER_02 36:57

So the problem.

SPEAKER_04 36:58

My wife's a public school employee. You're a public school employee. That don't happen. It does not happen.

SPEAKER_01 37:03

Anyhow, yeah, go ahead. So I'd go to this class and you would miss um all day from your normal classes, right? Yeah. And then I'd go back. Well, I remember um this is again, this is in um this was in fourth grade, not fifth grade, fourth grade. Um, and uh my teacher at the time was Miss Yeast, and I had another teacher, I can't remember her name, Baker or something like that. But anyhow, I remember coming back in and they sent out uh they sent a re uh a letter home to my parents, and we were getting ready to go to my cousin's house and for sales for the you know, hung out all weekend, the pool and all that. And they send a letter home to my parents, and the next thing you know, my dad's given given me everything he can because I am apparently extremely behind on my assignments in Miss Yeast's class and Miss Miller, Miss Miller was her name, their classes. And I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about. I've done all this. So I get yelled at, didn't get to go to my cousins. I come in on Monday morning, I grab my workbook, and because dad told me, just go see Miss Yeast and have her mark what you need to do, and then go do the same thing with Miss Miller. So I get him a workbook so they mark all this stuff. Well, come to find out. I'm sitting there going, This was never assigned to me. This was given to us or the class when I was in Pegasus. Well, you need to do it. That's your responsibility, pal. But hold on, and I'm like, I'm not gonna do this. So I remember I walked up to Miss Yeast, and I said, Can I go see Mr. Vickers, the principal?

unknown 38:31

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 38:31

And she goes, What for? I said, I just need to sing. So she lets me, I go see Mr. Vickers, and I sit down in his office. Here I am, fourth grade, 10 years old, and I'm like, if I'm in this gifted and talented program and I'm missing work because of it, why am I having to do double work? That makes no sense. And he sided with me. Wow. Of course, do you ever know John Vickers? No, he was like 6'9, 6'10. Was it her and he was awesome? But yeah, I went and sat down with the principal and I said, This is bull. I'm not doing this. And he sided with me.

SPEAKER_03 39:00

Well, I'm not I'm honestly I'm not shocked by that because of the power that your family has. Right, right. I mean, I mean the amount of uh I mean, I think that entire uh east wing of that school was was donated by your family.

SPEAKER_01 39:16

Ridiculous. Did you guys walk to school or did you ride the bus or your parents take you?

Bus Rides No AC And Wrap-Up

SPEAKER_01 39:20

Where you lived, I guarantee you either rode the bus or parents took you.

SPEAKER_04 39:24

Sherry Kahn drove the school bus and she drove like a maniac, and I rode the school bus.

SPEAKER_03 39:29

I usually rode with my uh mom because I actually went to the school that she taught at. I was supposed to go to the other school that was closer to the neighborhood, but since she taught there, she just wanted to keep an eye on me, I think. So you had people drive, yeah. I rode the school bus. I walked to school until they closed my school. Yeah, the school bus, uh, I think it was what what what was the brand of it? Uh Bentley, I believe.

SPEAKER_04 39:54

Noah It was weird.

SPEAKER_01 39:56

It said R R R on there. So I walked to school, kindergarten first and second, and then they started busing us. So Well, when you own so much land, it's not like you gotta walk far. Mom had to be at work by 7 30, so she would take me to school in the mornings and I'd ride the bus home. And Homer was our bus driver, I think is what his name was. Bus number 39, I still remember that, and I'd ride it home.

SPEAKER_04 40:19

And uh was a 39 model Rolls Royce.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

No, whatever. Yeah, it was. And that was terrible. Riding the bus was always awful. Yeah, they have they have air conditioning on them now. Yes, on the case.

SPEAKER_03 40:31

Not on every single one.

SPEAKER_01 40:32

Okay. But anyhow, I think his name was Homer.

SPEAKER_03 40:35

He was weird, he was home. I look, we didn't have air conditioning in any school I ever went to or taught in until I actually moved to Florida. So my first school didn't my first nine years of my educational teaching career were in non-air conditioned rooms right on the blacktop. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:55

Well, I mean, in in that regard, the the apartment I had when I was in law school, yeah, no air conditioning. Georgetown College. Georgetown College.

SPEAKER_01 41:04

But Betsy Lane had air conditioning.

SPEAKER_04 41:06

I don't remember, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 41:07

Yeah, Franklin County didn't have air when I was there.

SPEAKER_04 41:09

We now Betsy Lane High School was almost a brand new school when I went there. Oh well uh but I honestly I don't remember. I mean, I don't recall it not having air conditioning.

SPEAKER_03 41:19

Well, since we are now 42 minutes almost into this, we're gonna have to bring this one to a close and we will bring up clothing at the at the future.

SPEAKER_04 41:28

But yes, congratulations on starting your new school year. Thank you. Janie is starting her 27? 28? She she it is her 28th year of doing speech therapy. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 41:43

And congratulations on paying three tuitions and three rents. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:47

Not three.

SPEAKER_03 41:47

Well, Roman board, so by the way, 33 years in education, 10th year as uh superintendent this year.

SPEAKER_04 41:54

So it's hard to believe it's been 10 years. 10 years.

SPEAKER_03 41:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:58

I mean, that's like the amount of time Chris was banned from live. That's true.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

We still haven't up there.

SPEAKER_04 42:06

I've been up there because I'm not on the band list.

SPEAKER_03 42:09

Feature to catch our list. You never know what or who will be the best. We gotta do college football. College football is coming up, baby.