Cold, Dogs, And Traditions

The holidays don’t need glitter to glow; they need texture. We start with cold air and a favorite track, then tumble into a frank Thanksgiving recap where a beloved spot serves prime rib that refuses to yield and potatoes that somehow skip the heat. That misstep opens a bigger conversation about how traditions bend: why we forgive some places, how leftovers can still feel like a hug, and what happens when a carb detente turns into a full-on food hangover.

From plates to purchases, we trace the quiet of Black Friday aisles against the thunder of online checkouts. We talk about brand storefronts on Amazon, price drops without middlemen, and the thorny tradeoffs of convenience—the packaging waste, the seven-day deliveries, and the gravity of a single platform. The shopping calendar stretches from Singles Day to Cyber Monday, and the numbers tell their own story: people are buying earlier, clicking more, and leaving doorbusters in the past.

Relief arrives on four perfect paws. We celebrate the National Dog Show and its Best in Show stunner, a Belgian Sheepdog named Soleil, and spotlight the group winners that made the ring sing. Then we hold that real-world beauty up against Christopher Guest’s Best in Show, a comedy masterclass built on improv, warmth, and the kind of ensemble chemistry that turns obsession into art. Real life still elbows in—an out-of-nowhere tooth abscess postpones surgery (MAYBE)—and our dogs reclaim the couch and our schedule with effortless authority.

Listen for the humor, stay for the honesty, and leave with a few practical takeaways: give grace when a place stumbles, shop smarter without losing your values, and keep a short list of movies and dog breeds that make you smile. If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a laugh, and leave a quick review—then make one call you’ve been putting off and put a little light on.

Find our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/447251562357065/

Transcript

Opening Banter And Cold Weather Music

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is WOMR ninety two point one FM in Provincetown, Massachusetts, broadcasting from the historic schoolhouse and worldwide at WOMR dot org.

SPEAKER_06 0:32

That's it.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Hello. Welcome to the Anne Levine Show. It's Tuesday, December second, two thousand twenty-five. And we are listening to Big House. Big House.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

It's uh cold outside.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Cold outside. And this is a Michael Tech.

SPEAKER_03 1:07

Yeah, this is uh like in my top 20.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

And I I really like this song too. Maybe you could tell a little bit about could you ask me, do you know that?

SPEAKER_03 1:19

Right, well, uh because everybody assumes that I'm talking about the like the Nenis Simon, you know, the baby it's cold outside song. So they you know that's why I ask if you know this song, because it's completely different. They don't have anything to do with each other.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

You know, so Nis Simone did baby it's cold outside?

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Holy smokes. Uh I would not have thought that would have been in her cannon.

SPEAKER_03 1:54

Well not not this song, but yeah, the No, I mean baby it's cold outside. Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Interesting. Well, I bet she wouldn't now.

SPEAKER_03 2:08

Well, you know, I mean the the the old songs are the old songs. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:16

It's uh, you know, uh Adel Dezim and Michael Boublet did a version of it in 2014.

Old Songs, New Sensibilities

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Yeah, I know. Yeah, um, and I know the old songs are the old songs. But uh I don't know. What can I say?

SPEAKER_03 2:36

What can you say is really what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 2:38

I can say my old Kentucky home isn't working for me anymore.

SPEAKER_03 2:44

No. Okay, well.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

But anyway, still not even once a year. Uh especially not once a year. At that huge clan rally they have where the horses run around.

SPEAKER_03 2:57

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

And everyone gets bombed on bourbon. Yep. Oh yeah. Anyway. And they wear goofy hats. You know, there's a guy that I follow on Instagram named Mr. Crux. Uh-huh. And among other things, he's so hilarious. He does a thing called me not do this. Uh-huh. And he shows, you know, like rock climbers on Al Capi 10 or, you know, people on those suspension brid bridges in Asia. These rickety falling apart, you know, yeah. Over, you know, a hundred-foot drops.

SPEAKER_03 3:41

Oh, yeah, those places are awful.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Well, he also does, along with me na doodis, uh-huh, he does skiddlin.

SPEAKER_03 3:52

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Which is when he sees like Irish folk dancers or any cook goofy dancers, he says, look at them skedaddling, and they're whimsy. Oh, right. Okay. Yeah. And they have a whimsy meter. I gotcha. And he also does a thing called white people, white people in. Okay. Which is one of my favorites.

SPEAKER_03 4:17

I've actually seen uh maybe uh a few versions of white people, white people, and you know, different like YouTubers and social media.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

What I think about the Kentucky Derby.

SPEAKER_03 4:30

Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

White people, white people.

SPEAKER_03 4:34

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Um now I can't for the most part.

SPEAKER_03 4:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Basically anything where people go around in a circle for hours, and you can just sit there is a very good point. Yeah, and you can just sit there getting drunk.

SPEAKER_03 4:53

That is a very, very good point.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Yeah, yeah. And yelling in the sun.

SPEAKER_03 4:58

Yeah. You although no, I did go to horse races uh quite often years ago, and uh pretty diverse crowd, to tell the truth.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Well, was that like OTB? I mean, I know it wasn't OTB.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

No, this was actually at the track. Uh yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

But I mean, was this mostly a gambling thing? It wasn't like, oh, look at the Arabian Stallion.

SPEAKER_03 5:23

Well, you know, it wasn't the biggest uh horse racing venue in the world, so you didn't get the you know I know, I just the huge renowned horses, but it was a it was a big deal for a while. Yeah. It's called Long Anchors.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Okay, so all right, it was all people, all people in yeah.

Instagram Humor And Viral Bits

SPEAKER_03 5:44

I mean, yeah, it was it really was a but the Seattle area actually is pretty diverse to, you know, so you know, in its entirety, it's pretty diverse.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

Now I have mentioned him, so I just want to make sure I I name check him. It's Mr. Crooks. And it's either M-I-S-T-A-C-R-O-O-K-S or M-Y-S-T-A-C-R-O-O-K-S. Oh, okay. Anyway, at Check Him Out There you go. Mr. Crooks. Mr. Crooks. And he also does Mi Fatback. Um, because I guess in Jamaican slang, fat back has to do with if someone's really fat, right? You call them a fat back.

SPEAKER_03 6:39

I gotcha, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

So Because they have a lot of back fat. And yep. And he does this whole thing about where he shows people making ridiculous dishes or sandwiches, and it's like fried cheese around a layer of fried butter, around a chocolate ice cream cone, around a piece of cake, around a cupcake. Just like insane stuff only in America.

SPEAKER_03 7:15

Wow. Okay. How about a toast sandwich?

SPEAKER_01 7:19

Oh, tell what that is.

SPEAKER_03 7:21

Well, that's British, by the way. And uh, and it was was in included in one of, you know, one of the big houses, you know, like High Claire, you know, the the big houses like Downton Abbey and stuff like that, in one of their cookbooks for uh for when visitors came. Right. And it was a toast sandwich, which was a sandwich, meaning two pieces of bread. Right. With a piece of toast in between.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Now, see, I want that.

SPEAKER_03 7:56

Well, you you know, I actually watched this happen on a on a on uh I watched this ne these YouTube videos on a show called QI. Quite interesting. It's a British thing. Anyway, um they handed out all these different food items they were talking about, and one of the guys got this toast sandwich, and he's like, This is really good. Exactly. I can't I he says, I don't know why it is, it's probably just the texture difference between the two things. I mean, it's just it's like, yeah, it's good, and uh he he ate all his.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Who needs to met? I mean, you know, you've got toast with some butter.

SPEAKER_03 8:38

Right. And when they say, you know, man cannot live on bread alone, well, bread and toast. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Amazing. There we go. Yeah. I can I can totally get it because toast is like one of my favorite foods.

SPEAKER_03 8:53

Yeah, yeah. Toast sandwich, though, yeah, that was especially reserved for uh visiting uh guests.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:01

So yeah. So that's that's quite interesting, I suppose.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

It is. So we had Thanksgiving, speaking of Oh yeah, we did. Speaking of nice. It was nice, yeah. However, we went somewhere that we have gone every year for quite some time and other years in between. And what would you say about it, Michael?

SPEAKER_03 9:44

Well, you know, you and I aren't going to have the same opinion. Um because everything was fine for me. Everything was everything was good. Um no no one got upset about anything, except, you know, there's this, you know, w detail here. One detail that that that was kind of glaring, but uh Well, there were two details. Okay, well you you tell them what it is, because uh yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Well, one was that a friend of ours ordered prime rib.

SPEAKER_03 10:23

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Now describe how prime rib should be.

SPEAKER_03 10:28

Uh eatable with a spoon.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 10:34

And how was this prime rib? It was apparently pretty pretty tough.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Well, I mean, we could look at it and see that you couldn't. Even with a steak knife, they were having trouble getting through it, yeah. Through it.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Okay. So our friend thought maybe it's because it's too rare.

SPEAKER_03 10:55

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

Which was not the case at all.

SPEAKER_03 10:59

No, actually it looked cooked perfectly.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

It was cooked perfectly. Yeah. Um, it just that it was an inedible piece of meat.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

Yeah.

Toast Sandwiches And British Oddities

SPEAKER_01 11:09

And so we called Tovala over and said, Um, you know, this is the situation. And she said, Oh, all right, let me take that back to the kitchen. And she came back and said, Did you just want this cooked a little more? Or and I said no. I said no. Because I know that this friend of ours would have said yes, and all that would have done is make the whole thing worse. Okay, yeah, yep. So um she ultimately came back. I'm calling her Tavala, if you know you know. She ultimately came back and said, actually, the chef says all of the prime rib is like this.

SPEAKER_03 12:02

Yeah, it's gonna be there all of the cuts of it are gonna be the same, pretty much.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

I mean, because it's coming from the same piece, which you know totally shocked me, you know, that this place that we have gone to have never had anything remotely like this happen.

SPEAKER_03 12:24

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Um, and so our friend traded it in for the turkey traditional traditional feast, which is, you know, stuffing mashed table, blah blah blah.

SPEAKER_03 12:40

And which they were fine with.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

Yeah. So except you don't know this part. As we were leaving, she whispered to me, and I believe her, the potatoes were ice cold.

SPEAKER_03 12:55

Oh, that was in the first potato, yeah. That was the uh gratten potatoes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

So, all right, so that also is glaring.

SPEAKER_03 13:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Your your potatoes should not taste like they just came out of the fridge. Not until the next day.

SPEAKER_03 13:14

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

No, I I agree. Um I was really disappointed in that, not for not for myself. You know, if it had been myself, um, you know, I would have whatever. I would have handled it a little differently, but I certainly wouldn't have been on tender hooks about it. Um, but it was I just I felt really bad that, you know, we told this friend of ours how fabulous it is. And it wasn't. It was a bummer. So anyway, um I'm I'm obviously gonna give them more chances before I throw in the towel. So uh and I would never say their name, but that was unfortunate. Um since then, so what we usually do is we make a little something something Thanksgiving if we go out to someone else's house or to town.

Thanksgiving Outing Goes Sideways

SPEAKER_03 14:24

I mean we often we traditionally kind of do go out. Right. You know, we used to go to the city to New York and go and then um and now we're you know we're we're going out here to various places we've been to, but yeah, it's it's kind of it's kind of our tradition now is to is to go out, but we tend to try to make everything a little bit here at home too.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

So you want your turkey sandwich, right?

SPEAKER_03 14:56

Your day after stuff, right? Oh yeah. Well and and pie, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Obviously. How's the pie going, by the way?

SPEAKER_03 15:07

What pie?

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Really?

SPEAKER_03 15:09

Well, I mean, you have some pie.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Oh my gosh. Well, that was quick.

SPEAKER_03 15:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Wow. Well, that's good.

SPEAKER_03 15:19

I'm glad that's really good. And that was uh me sized pumpkin pie.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Ooh, miso, miso, miso, miso eating this pumpkin pie. Yeah. Wow. Um, well, when it comes to other leftovers, how are we doing, Michael? Uh, you know, we got a little bit left. How's the stuffing situation? We got we got some. Okay. Not a lot, but we got some what are we mostly out of? Um mashed potatoes.

SPEAKER_03 15:55

Yeah, yeah, I think so. Uh no, we're closer to being out of stuffing than we are mashed potatoes. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

And then turnips and carrots.

SPEAKER_03 16:03

Turnips, carrots, yep.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

Turkey itself.

SPEAKER_03 16:06

Oh, squash. Really critically low on the squash, actually.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Critically low. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:12

There's some more like one more serving of that.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Oh dear. And what about turkey itself?

SPEAKER_03 16:18

We got a bit of that left, because we cooked a half a turkey.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Right.

SPEAKER_03 16:23

And we've only eaten, you know, a couple big chunks out of that.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Okay, well, we'll have to put some.

SPEAKER_03 16:28

Because we came home with a lot from the restaurant.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Right, that's true. They gave way too much turkey.

SPEAKER_03 16:34

It was so much food. And um, yeah, it was like a 10 pound. We brought like 10 pounds of food home.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Well, so I don't eat any of this stuff or anything like it. Not usually on a regular basis. No, not at all. Never. Um, but something kicked in.

SPEAKER_03 16:54

You don't you don't do bread, you don't do uh starches that are, you know, I mean, like mashed potatoes, that's just really just starch. You you don't do those things, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Um, or stuffing.

SPEAKER_03 17:10

Right. Well, yeah, because I was thinking, because bread in there, and you don't do regular bread ever. Or cranberry sauce. Right, true.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

I mean, I have been eating like way above and beyond any amount and any, you know, sort of carbs and sugar than I ever eat.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

And I feel really weird because I haven't felt this full in a long time.

SPEAKER_03 17:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

And it's day after day, and even though I'm only eating one meal a day, uh wow. If it's Thanksgiving, it's a lot. Oh, we also have these rosemary rolls.

SPEAKER_03 18:06

Oh, yeah, those are good.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

That are just killing me.

SPEAKER_03 18:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Anyway, so yeah, Thanksgiving food. I'm not sure why we do it.

SPEAKER_03 18:16

Pretty thankful for Thanksgiving food, really, if you want to know.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

I'm not sure why we do it.

SPEAKER_03 18:22

Well, because it's good. That's true. And because we're kind of like fattening ourselves up, you know, for a hibernation. I thought I was already hibernating. Um, you know, because winter's coming. It's yeah, it is. It's kind of here. Twenty twenty days, nineteen days till the sun starts, uh days start getting longer. Yep. So that's very nice.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

I love to always say that to Michael in the depths of the doldrums. It's getting lighter every day.

SPEAKER_03 18:53

Yeah. The first day of winter is actually one of the greatest days. Because that's the day it starts. Right. The next day it starts getting lighter.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

The lights. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:04

And that's why because the dark is there's a we have a lot of dark right now.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

But it's totally doable because there's all this literal shiny things to distract you.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

Yeah, true.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Tons of it.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

So speaking of which. Speaking of Black Friday.

SPEAKER_03 19:26

Shiny. Oh yeah, Black Friday. Black Friday. Let's talk about that. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

What the hell?

SPEAKER_03 19:35

Uh, well, no one was in the stores, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

Were you over there?

SPEAKER_03 19:40

I I didn't go to uh shopping anywhere, but I did see a lot of videos online from different uh news organizations around the country, and they're they're all saying the same thing. The stores were pretty empty.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Okay, so we don't know what it was like here on the Cape. It could be different on the Cape because our choices are so narrow.

SPEAKER_03 20:02

Well, yeah, it's just it's it's not like people didn't shop though. It's they just didn't go out to shop. They bought online to the tune of almost 12 billion dollars in the United States.

SPEAKER_01 20:19

And what's the usual price tag, do you know, of shopping on Christmas? Good question. I don't know. I'll look that up. Well, of course, then yesterday we had Cyber Monday.

SPEAKER_03 20:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

Um, which I I don't understand. I mean, that's no longer different from Black Friday. This is all online. And then now what's happening is early Black Friday.

SPEAKER_03 20:56

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

I think uh I mean, I believe Black Friday from now on is gonna be in July.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

It's just stupid. It's just like, look, just spend your money online all the time. Right. And horror be known, Amazon, I bet is getting the lion's share.

SPEAKER_03 21:24

Yeah, I'm sure they're getting, um I sure, I'm sure they are, yeah.

Leftovers, Carbs, And Food Hangover

SPEAKER_01 21:28

I bet they are. And so I mean, one thing I noticed is that I have someone in my life that I wanted to get some cosmetics for.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

And I won't have anything to do with Sephora anymore, which is a long story. Um, but I figured now, where can I get all of this? Where can I do the same thing? So I went to Ulta, they were out of one of the things. I tried a few different places, and then I said, well, let me try Amazon. Now, all these stores in quotes. So let's say you did go into Sephora and you wanted uh oh, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 22:20

An eyeliner. Just yeah, pick something. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

An eyeliner in a particular brand.

SPEAKER_03 22:27

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

Well, you can go on Amazon and find that brand. So say it's Dior.

SPEAKER_03 22:38

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 22:39

Dior has a store on Amazon. Right. So you know, guess what? They had a sale. Yeah. Right. And so it used to be that buying on Amazon was a little hit or miss or hit and miss, as my father used to call it. Um, it's a little hit and miss.

SPEAKER_03 23:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Because you didn't know, like, all right, so is this just coming from, you know, some fake place, or is this the real, is this really Dior? Well, now these manufacturers have storefronts on Amazon. So I went on Amazon, I picked out all the stuff I wanted, and ching, it was way less than if I had gone to Sephora and had loaded up my cart with these same things.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

Um it was less, and I mean, it does make perfect sense because these manufacturers have no middlemen. They don't have to pay, Dior doesn't have to pay Sephora.

SPEAKER_03 23:50

Right. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

It comes straight to me and I get that discount.

SPEAKER_03 23:55

Yep. And they make a little more off of it. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

So um it all makes sense. And I hate it. I hate knowing that I'm giving my money to this one enterprise.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

But I don't know how you and now that their little trucks are driving around everywhere.

SPEAKER_03 24:16

That's right, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:17

And they show up at your house seven days a week.

SPEAKER_03 24:22

The fact that they or the you know, UPS or anything.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

The fact that they ship a pencil in like a refrigerator box.

SPEAKER_03 24:31

Well, that has happened, hasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Many bothers me. The wastefulness of their packaging.

SPEAKER_03 24:38

I mean, they're they are trying to do better, but uh, you know smaller things are getting put in like massive bags. Well, occasionally where they're trying to eliminate boxes altogether, but that you know, yeah. It hasn't happened everywhere yet. So you're still getting, you know, you ordered a little desk calendar and it's coming in a box you could put a VW in. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Well, there you go. Exactly. That's ridiculous. Anyway, um, so here are some of the days, in case you didn't know. Major November shopping days. Singles Day. Have you heard of this, Michael?

SPEAKER_03 25:24

That's a shopping day.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

November 11th started in China. This has become the world's largest online shopping day. Okay. With massive sales from retailers globally.

SPEAKER_03 25:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

Well, I mean Singles Day.

SPEAKER_03 25:46

That's not what they will call it here, you know, since it's Veterans Day.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

Right, but I 1111, I think that's why it's Singles Day, maybe.

SPEAKER_03 25:59

Oh, I see. Okay.

Black Friday Empties And Online Surge

SPEAKER_01 26:00

I don't know. I don't know. Then we have Black Friday, yep. Which traditionally marks the start of the holiday shopping season. I know a family that when catalogs started coming in in blah, like October, I guess, is when the catalogs start coming in for Christmas. They would stack them all up, and then after Thanksgiving dinner, they would get out all the catalogs, sit around the dining room table, and start going through and circling things they wanted for Christmas.

SPEAKER_03 26:45

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

Does that sound familiar to you? Yeah, yeah. See, I didn't we didn't do that.

SPEAKER_03 26:54

Oh, yeah, yeah. We had uh it was we were a big catalog people.

SPEAKER_01 26:59

Yeah, now given that I don't know, whatever for whatever reason, um my family was a little different than say the rest of our, you know, our greater family, you know. I mean, I have some some cousins and aunts and uncles that probably were doing this, uh-huh, but for some reason not in our house. Um we just weren't doing that. Yeah um that big, you know, around the table. But yeah, the days of catalog shopping are virtually gone. Um and I mean, of course, hard print.

SPEAKER_03 27:51

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

But then we have Cyber Monday, right, which is today. Now, there's a thing called pre-Black Friday.

SPEAKER_03 28:03

Yeah, yeah. So Amazon and uh Walmart were both all in on that this year.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

Many retailers begin offering deals in early to mid-November, sometimes weeks before Black Friday itself. And these sales can be spread over multiple days or weeks. So here's what I did with one thing that I knew, one gift. I basically buy gifts for two people. I I mean Christmas gifts. Um anyway, and for one of them, I had found this item that was perfect, but it was more money than I wanted to spend. And it went on sale like whenever, a few weeks ago. And I said, okay, but and then they're advertising, and just wait, there's more. Black Friday is coming. And I thought, let me wait till Black Friday and see if the price goes down. Right. No. What about Monday? I will check, except it's already on the way here.

SPEAKER_03 29:17

Ah, well, let me ex uh let me let me tell you what uh what happened uh yesterday. They expected or you know, on Black Friday, not yesterday, they expected around$11.8 billion was spent. What they expect for uh this Cyber Monday, this past, you know, the day we just passed, it's$14.2 billion in you are kidding me. No. Matter of fact, last year, Cyber Monday sales were twenty-two percent higher than Black Friday sales.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

So you're thinking I I wonder why that is. I wonder if it's just because um I don't know, maybe Thanksgiving Friday you got stuff going on, you're going to the game, you're what people are traveling. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 30:16

You're sleeping in um from the LC.

SPEAKER_01 30:19

Yeah, you have a hangover. Yep. Um if I sound a little strange today, it's because I am definitely still in food hanger.

SPEAKER_03 30:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

Food hanger. That's what I call food hanger.

SPEAKER_03 30:33

I'm also I'm I'm I got my own thing.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

You do?

SPEAKER_03 30:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

Oh, tell.

SPEAKER_03 30:39

Well, you know, Thanksgiving was Thanksgiving was great. That's right. Uh I had a toothache all all through dinner. Uh-huh. But by the time I went to bed, I had a uh softball sized lump on the side of my chin.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:56

From uh an abscess. Right. And a tooth. And I'm still, you know, I'm still it's it's almost you know completely gone now, but uh, I'm still dealing with a little bit of it.

SPEAKER_01 31:08

Well, it's definitely and it messed up, you know. Significant.

SPEAKER_03 31:14

Yeah. I I I had a surgery scheduled. I I can't do that now. Michael's supposed to have hand surgery uh tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 31:24

Yeah. And so we I I realized when this was happening, there's no way they're gonna do a surgery.

SPEAKER_03 31:35

And even if I st if even if I'd started on uh antibiotics today or yesterday, you know, whatever, uh it's still not early enough.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

It's not soon enough for them to uh and I mean the risk is just so at ways. Yeah. You know, um they're not gonna admit you and give you IV antibiotics and I wouldn't think so.

SPEAKER_03 31:57

No, no. They would no, they w would rather just do the surgery and send me home. I would say. Right?

SPEAKER_01 32:04

Well, I think you know, Blue Cross Blue Shield is gonna say nope to any of it. Yeah, I agree. And say, well, if it has to be three months from now, that's when it has to be. Right. Anyway, we shall find out.

SPEAKER_03 32:21

I'll have a fun summer. I'll do uh have both hands done, and I won't be able to do a dang thing.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

Yeah, that'll be wonderful. It'll be fun, fun for all.

SPEAKER_03 32:31

Great, yeah. Speaking of fun for all, there's there uh there's a dog thing happened.

SPEAKER_01 32:39

Best in show in film and in reality. Yeah, that's true. So I had a friend here last week, a good friend of ours, and we were talking about movies that would be good for Thanksgiving. Right. And it occurred to me, oh my god, Westminster Dog Show is right after your the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

SPEAKER_02 33:13

Uh-huh.

Amazon Storefronts And Packaging Waste

SPEAKER_01 33:14

And so Best in Show, the Christopher Guest Joint is perfect. It really is, yeah. It's a great because it's about something that happens on Thanksgiving. Yeah. And it's hilarious. And there's nothing, you know, I hate to use this term, but it pleases me. Hall Markian about it. Yeah, yeah. You know, not a tear is shed. Um, and you get to see the most ridiculous and sublime. Absolutely. Sublime are these dogs, they are stunningly gorgeous, beautifully trained. They're just and they're dogs. Yeah. You know, and so every now and then, instead of being these like show pieces, they bust out and turn into dogs.

SPEAKER_03 34:17

Which is It's one of the great things about it.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 34:21

Yeah. Now let's talk about what just happened because it wasn't Westminster. It was the National Dog Show, which is AKC.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

Oh, oh, oh.

SPEAKER_03 34:32

Westminster actually is going to happen at the end of January. Right. January 31st through February 3rd. Uh, it used to be at this time of year. And then when COVID happened, they moved it uh both time-wise and place-wise. They moved it to Billie Jean King uh Center in Queens, and they did it in May. God, I have no memory of that. This is the first year they're they're bringing it back, but it's going to be in January. So well we had the AKC uh Kennel Club show, which is, I believe, the oldest dog show in the country. It started in 1877. And uh wow.

SPEAKER_01 35:20

Well, I didn't know that this had happened. Yeah. Um, but I'm glad to know it happened recently, and it wasn't just my other example of my mind going.

SPEAKER_03 35:33

No, no, not at all. Um but there was uh we do I do know who won best in show at the 2025 National Dog Show. Yes. And that's Soleil. Her name is Soleil, she's a Belgian sheep dog. Funny name. Gorgeous, gorgeous dog. Just mind-blowing beautiful, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

She is a hundred percent black.

SPEAKER_03 36:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:01

There is not one hair on that dog that isn't black.

SPEAKER_03 36:05

So pretty. Of course, the uh, you know, the herding group went winner. That's was the same dog, but uh let's see, a shihtzu won the toy group, a uh miniature schnauzer named Baby Joe won the Terrier group, a giant schnauzer named Dino uh uh won the working dog group. Non-sporting group winner was a Bichon Frise named Neil. I love these names.

SPEAKER_01 36:33

That dog was hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 36:34

Uh the sporting group winner was Tyler, who was an English setter who was dropped at gorgeous. Uh, the hound winner was an American foxhound, which was so beautiful. There were two of them. Um, no, he's the were was reserved best in show. So he was like the number two dog.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

I see.

SPEAKER_03 36:55

Yeah. And oh, what a pretty, pretty dog that was.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

Well, that part of it is delightful.

SPEAKER_03 37:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:03

Just delightful. Uh and it's very much worth watching. Unlike, say, the puppy bowl, which I can handle maybe 10 to 15 minutes of. Yeah, yeah, it gets so stupid. And then it just gets so stupid. Yeah. But uh these shows are extraordinary. They really are, yeah. If you like animals, if you like dogs, uh anything.

SPEAKER_03 37:32

I can tell you who won Westminster for 2025, but that was, you know, this past February. Uh-huh. Um I did have the results here somewhere. Oh no, I'm gonna tell you who's gonna be in it.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 37:50

Are you ready?

SPEAKER_01 37:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 37:52

There are 201 eligible breeds.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

What?

SPEAKER_03 37:57

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 37:57

Oh, breeds, not groups. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:00

Toxins are leading the way with 52 representatives, followed by 44 poodles, 40 French Bulldogs, 39 Chihuahuas, 38 golden retrievers.

SPEAKER_01 38:15

Yeah, that's who is uh But then then who do we have?

SPEAKER_03 38:21

Who are the this last year's winner was a miniature poodle named Sage.

Shopping Calendars And Catalog Nostalgia

SPEAKER_01 38:28

Now, is this year's Westminster dog show gonna be so we have 2026 coming up, right? Right, yeah. Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_03 38:40

Now that's what's gonna be at Madison Square Garden again this year for you know.

SPEAKER_01 38:48

Well, I finished watching The Beast in Me. Did I mention that? Did you mention it? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 38:58

I don't think you might mention watching it, but I don't remember you if you said that you've watched I finished watching it.

SPEAKER_01 39:06

It has a thoroughly satisfying ending.

SPEAKER_03 39:09

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 39:09

I recommend this story. Is it a show?

SPEAKER_03 39:12

Is it an open ending?

SPEAKER_01 39:14

No.

SPEAKER_03 39:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:16

No. Not unless Angela Lansberry ke I why is her name Jessica Fletcher?

SPEAKER_05 39:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

Not unless Jessica Fletcher gets brought back to reprise the role of Aggie Witt. Is that her name?

SPEAKER_03 39:36

Okay, yeah, I believe.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Uh so but there would have to be a whole switcheroo and I can imagine it. And I want people to watch it just to get back to me and talk about the Jessica Fletcher Aggie Witt comparisons.

SPEAKER_03 40:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

I also have a big problem from that show.

SPEAKER_03 40:05

You do?

SPEAKER_01 40:06

Yeah. So there's a character on the show called Olivia Rodriguez, and she's a politician in New York.

SPEAKER_02 40:16

Right, okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:17

And there's a scene where she goes to have a meeting with someone, and she's wearing this jacket. It's like an indoor jacket, like an overpiece.

SPEAKER_02 40:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:30

I'm obsessed. I must have it. And I have been looking all over the internet for this darn thing. And I cannot find it. Uh there's there are the all these sites where you can look up stuff that was worn on television. Okay, yeah, yeah. And so there are a few things from the beast in me. But not many and nothing that this character wore. Um so I've been informed by AI that I need to get a screenshot and send that along.

SPEAKER_03 41:18

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:19

Um, but I don't think this is something I get on my com I don't know. We'll see.

SPEAKER_03 41:27

I I don't know either.

SPEAKER_01 41:28

I'm a I'm a frustrated person.

SPEAKER_03 41:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:32

Well.

SPEAKER_03 41:33

Well happens.

SPEAKER_01 41:34

Well. So best in show.

SPEAKER_03 41:37

Best in show. The film. What a great movie that is. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 41:41

You've gotta watch it. It's the funniest damn thing.

SPEAKER_03 41:45

And it's almost entirely improvised. That's my favorite part. Yeah. The way Christopher works is he's like, here's the idea. We want to go from this place to this place. He gets his people together, explains the idea, and he just lets them come up with their own words. And it's mind-blowing.

SPEAKER_01 42:11

It is. What I love too is if you're a follower of his and his films, you see the same sort of group of players that he always works with in these different roles.

SPEAKER_02 42:28

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 42:29

And and once you really get to know them and you realize, oh my god, that's so-and-so from that other film. There are there's one woman in Best in Show that I knew from Waiting for Guffman.

SPEAKER_03 42:45

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 42:46

But I had no idea until we just watched it this last time.

SPEAKER_03 42:52

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 42:52

That they were the same person. Anyway, it's it's amazing what each of these characters is capable of. And I think that's part of why Shits Creek is, which is supposedly coming back.

SPEAKER_03 43:09

Oh, I hope so.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

For another season.

SPEAKER_03 43:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:13

Um that I think that, you know, Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara are just, you know, with those two at the helm.

SPEAKER_03 43:24

Here, well, I mean, here's the group, right? The the basic group. Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge, John Michael Higgins, Eugene Levy, Jane Lynch, Michael McKean, Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey, Harry Scherer, and of course the uh the great Fred Willard, who's no longer with us, but everybody else is.

SPEAKER_01 43:52

And we're forgetting one woman who plays the dentist's wife.

SPEAKER_03 44:00

Right. I and I I know who you're talking about, and her name is not in this list.

SPEAKER_01 44:05

And her husband. There are two, he's a Yes.

SPEAKER_03 44:10

Yeah, I know exactly who you're talking about. He's got that very nasal and he's a big comedian. Yeah, he's uh yeah. I'll have to look him up. Have to look those two up.

SPEAKER_01 44:21

Anyhow, uh it's phenomenal. And then um for your consideration.

SPEAKER_03 44:30

Oh yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 44:33

Which has all of these people in it, right?

SPEAKER_03 44:36

Yep.

Cyber Monday Numbers And Why They Spike

SPEAKER_01 44:38

Um and a mighty wind. A mighty wind. And spinal tap. This is spinal tap. Yeah. What an engagement. Which we still haven't seen the I cannot believe that. What's it called? Is it this is uh the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end? Oh, the end continues.

SPEAKER_03 44:59

Yes. Uh oh and oh does Ed Begley Jr. is often in uh right.

SPEAKER_01 45:05

He's in Best in Show.

SPEAKER_03 45:07

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:09

Yeah. No, it's amazing. The Best in Show cast is phenomenal. Yeah, it really is.

SPEAKER_03 45:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:21

America's favorite acting couple. Well, we are completely dog obsessed. Yeah, that is true. Our dogs rule our lives.

SPEAKER_03 45:35

They really do. Yeah, and they kind kind of know it, really.

SPEAKER_01 45:39

I mean Yeah, I mean they have so many things that they put us through our pieces every day.

SPEAKER_03 45:46

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 45:47

Every day. I know which side of the chair I'm allowed to sit on.

SPEAKER_03 45:53

That's correct.

SPEAKER_01 45:54

I know. Which side of the chair my dog has to get up on, which is the opposite side. So I have to scooch all the way to the left, and then she likes to get up there. That's right. Then I have to scooch all the way to the right because she likes to sleep.

SPEAKER_03 46:14

That's where she wants to actually be. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:16

That's right. Um, so it's everything from that to I need two of you sitting in here for me to eat.

SPEAKER_03 46:25

Right, yeah. She doesn't want to eat.

SPEAKER_01 46:27

We've got that, so we have to it's just and we do it. We do it. It's really funny. We do what they want and they deserve it. But of course, and things happen. Like, I don't act on it. I'm not at that point. But like when we're at Thanksgiving dinner, a couple hours in, and it's gone from afternoon to evening, it's getting dark, and I start thinking, oh gosh, the dogs are gonna be wanting some dinner. Yeah, right. Yeah, and that starts motivating me.

SPEAKER_03 47:10

Right.

SPEAKER_01 47:11

And I don't feel guilty about it, but every now and then, if I hear someone say, Oh, I've got to get back to my dogs, let's put it this way some people use it as a bit of an excuse or a crutch. Uh-huh. Like, I can't stand being with you one more minute. And I have to go feed my dogs. Oh, yeah. You know, that's what comes out. The word, those are the words. Exactly. Um, but yeah, no, I actually start to get a little hitch, a hitch in my side. A stitch. Do you remember that? Did your mother ever say, You oh, I've got a stitch around? Absolutely, yeah. Now, what does that mean?

SPEAKER_03 47:57

It just means that it feels you know you've got a cramp. A cramp. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:03

You know, Krampus. I I want to know about it.

SPEAKER_03 48:07

He's coming around too, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:08

Now, does he come around Christmas or does he come?

SPEAKER_03 48:11

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 48:12

Okay. Because I saw a great Krampus card.

SPEAKER_03 48:17

Oh, did you? Okay.

Tooth Abscess And Surgery Delay

SPEAKER_01 48:19

And for a second I was thinking, wait a minute, is this dude Halloween?

SPEAKER_03 48:24

No, he's like Dark Santa.

SPEAKER_01 48:27

Dark Santa. Yeah. Okay. I'm gonna have to ask Mr. Crooks about Dark Santa. Uh-huh. Um it's got fangs and fur and it's and horns.

SPEAKER_03 48:41

I think it and a basket to carry kids away.

SPEAKER_01 48:45

And it wears like a loincloth, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_03 48:48

It's it he's depicted in a lot of different different ways, yeah. He's a fashionista. He's he looks very, you know, devil like.

SPEAKER_01 48:57

Yeah. The devil wears Prada.

SPEAKER_03 49:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:01

Oh, I might start calling Meryl Streep Priestley. Um, what's her first name? Priestley. Um, something with an E Priestley. Anyway, um, Krampus. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm just gonna refer to her as Krampus.

SPEAKER_03 49:20

So um it uh that comes from the word claw in German, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 49:25

What's the word for claw in German?

SPEAKER_03 49:27

Krampon.

SPEAKER_01 49:28

Krampen. Yep, yeah, and you know what comes from there? Crampons.

SPEAKER_03 49:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:36

And what are crampons? They're snow claws.

SPEAKER_03 49:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:41

Yeah. So I'm putting it all together. See? Yeah. See that how I do it? I see how you're doing that. I am a wordsmith. You really are, yeah. You know, you are actually the wordsmith, certainly the spelling smith.

SPEAKER_03 49:59

I do like the I do like the spell, yeah. I'm pretty sure.

SPEAKER_01 50:01

You do the New York Times um oh, spelling bee.

SPEAKER_02 50:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:07

Every day, and you always get to genius, yeah, and you do it pretty dang fast. Occasionally you'll say, Oh, I had trouble with one pangram or something.

SPEAKER_03 50:21

Yeah, I'm always upset with me if I don't get the panagram first.

SPEAKER_01 50:25

Right.

SPEAKER_03 50:25

Because usually I look at it and I'm like ding bing. I got it. Right.

SPEAKER_01 50:30

Same with me.

SPEAKER_03 50:31

Yeah, but quite often.

SPEAKER_01 50:33

Did you get the one on Sunday? Uh or the one on Monday so far?

SPEAKER_03 50:40

Uh I don't I don't even remember. It just is kind of a Sundays. This toothache has taken over a lot of my uh you know, a lot of my uh Yeah thinking time. I think so that I just kind of forget about a lot of other things that have happened.

SPEAKER_01 50:56

I think we have to get you to uh to uh somebody to give you some antibiotics. Those bastiges. Those bastiges. You need urgent care, man. Yeah. Yeah. You know what happens when you go to urgent care? Not much. They give you prescriptions. Oh, oh, okay, good. That's all that ever happens there. Yeah. When I went there, I went there.

SPEAKER_03 51:22

I got an x-ray once.

SPEAKER_01 51:23

Huh?

SPEAKER_03 51:23

I got an x-ray at one of them once. Wow. Yeah. Well, that's advanced. But I went there, you're sure it was out here either. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:34

I went there for an ear problem. And um they gave me they they rinsed out my ear and they gave me an antibiotic.

SPEAKER_02 51:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:46

Now, as it turned out, I didn't need either of those things.

SPEAKER_03 51:52

Oh, well, that's good.

SPEAKER_01 51:54

It was a bigger problem than that.

SPEAKER_03 51:56

That is true. You had to get up in the hospital.

SPEAKER_01 52:00

Well, not not in, but at um Mass Ion Ear. Yeah. Two days I had to go up there. But um they at the very least give you a prescription for antibiotics.

SPEAKER_03 52:17

Yeah, I mean, I've gone for uh pneumonia and when I got uh prescription for antibiotics. Right.

SPEAKER_01 52:25

So that's probably what they'll give you. And I recommend it. I highly recommend it. Exactly. Yeah. Um, so you'll be feeling better in no time.

SPEAKER_03 52:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:39

Well, I was trying to get you to go over the weekend. And you wouldn't.

SPEAKER_03 52:45

No, because I knew it would go down on its own.

SPEAKER_01 52:47

So, you know, it's no, but it's not gonna you're not gonna get rid of that infection on your own. Um, it's not gonna just go away. Yeah. Yeah. The infection. I think I'm probably right. I know.

SPEAKER_03 53:02

I think you're probably right about that one.

Dog Shows: National Winners And Breeds

SPEAKER_01 53:04

Well, you know, I'm the doctor. I'm the doctor around here. What is your Christmas list? How many people are on your Christmas gift list? Um four. Four people on your Christmas gift list.

SPEAKER_03 53:25

Yeah, plus uh the the dogs and the cats.

SPEAKER_01 53:28

Right. Well, I already did their shopping, so I didn't include that.

SPEAKER_03 53:35

Yeah, I don't really have a lot of people on the show. But when it's people You're one of them. Christmas? Not Hanukkah? That's yeah, it's it's all the same time of year. So yeah, you lump it all in together.

SPEAKER_01 53:48

It almost overlaps.

SPEAKER_03 53:50

This year it ends a couple days before Christmas. But uh Okay, so I have three people And then I've got kids, you know, so I have done I've done it.

SPEAKER_01 54:04

I've done my Christmas shopping. I pretty much have too. Yeah. And the Hanukkah shopping.

SPEAKER_03 54:10

Yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_01 54:11

I finished that up on Thanksgiving Day.

SPEAKER_03 54:16

Right on.

SPEAKER_01 54:16

Because our Hanukkah party this year, we have been told we're not allowed to spend more than two dollars and fifty cents.

SPEAKER_03 54:25

Uh-huh. Yeah. And that doesn't make any sense at all.

SPEAKER_01 54:29

No, I mean, if you're buying a pack of gum. Yeah, you're that's about it. That's about it. You're not getting any more than that. Um, and this isn't a gum chewing group. No. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_03 54:43

Um, anyhow, I am You might not even be able to get a Snickers for$250. Well, where you're not gonna, you know, look.

SPEAKER_01 54:52

I'm not gonna say what I got because I'm pretty sure some attendees are might be listening.

SPEAKER_02 55:03

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:04

But uh I ended up getting something that was like five dollars. Because seriously, find something, and it was uh uh whatchamacallit. I want to say Good Friday, Black Friday.

SPEAKER_03 55:22

Black Friday, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:23

Um, it was a Black Friday situation. Oh, okay, yeah. So I was able to spend five bucks on on uh a little Hanukkah thing, and it won't even look like I spent that on it. It won't, it'll look like I stuck to the 250 situation. All right, well, there you go. So there you go. Mission accomplished, mission accomplished. I found a gift for a friend that I want to get a gift for, but it doesn't come in her size. This friend of mine needs an extra small at the largest. I see, and I can only find this in a medium, and I've lost my mind over it. I get obsessed by stuff for a while, but oh my gosh, and then it goes away. Yeah, well that happens. Um this is It's Henry Gross. What's kind of gross?

SPEAKER_03 56:40

It's Henry Gross. It's the guy who's singing sweetheart.

SPEAKER_01 56:45

Henry Gross. Yeah. And his song Shannon. Yes, which some of you will remember when it gets to the chorus. Most of you won't remember it at all. Yeah, I sure did. Um I did too, but not until it got to the chorus.

SPEAKER_03 57:07

I I got to it uh about when we got to this point in the song. Right. Like, okay, I know I know this.

SPEAKER_01 57:12

I knew what was coming next.

SPEAKER_03 57:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:15

Well, I'd like to say for everyone who is not at home, not comfortable, not with their families, and I don't know, maybe old feeling a little passed by. Pick up the phone, call that person that deserves a call from you. You know what exactly what I'm talking about. That person that keeps calling and you don't answer. Oh my god, I have two phone calls I have to make tomorrow. First thing. For all of the people who need our help and kindness right now, please reach out and take care of them and put a light on.