The Anatomy of a Reunion

, I reunite with my high school friend — who I hadn’t seen in 18 years — and meet his girlfriend of three years for the very first time. He’s now a doctor, she’s a nurse, and somehow we’re all testing the waters to see if this trio has what it takes to become regular co-hosts.

What started as simple introductions quickly turned into laughs, nostalgic stories, light roasting, and plenty of “wait… you did WHAT in high school?!” moments. Expect awkward reunion vibes, medical puns, questionable life choices from our teenage years, and that warm feeling of picking up right where you left off — even if one of you is now saving lives for a living.

No heavy topics, no scripts, just three people catching up and seeing if this comedy chemistry actually works. Spoiler: it might.

Perfect for fans of laid-back banter, real-life reunions, and humor that feels like you’re eavesdropping on old friends.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:01

Welcome to Gotta Get Said. Here's your host, Matt Cucko.

SPEAKER_02 0:13

What's happening, guys, and welcome to another episode of Gotta Get Said on this Tuesday, June the 23rd, 2026. How's everybody doing? What's going on, everybody? Have you had a good week? I've had a great week. I've loved it. Toy Story's out. We're going to see it at 4 o'clock. Me and the whole gang, I'm super pumped. You know, um, special episode today. Um, I've been teasing some changes over here, it gotta get said. And uh today's a day. Today's a day that there's a change over here, gotta get said. And before I get into this, might I add you who I'm speaking about, they're both sitting directly across from me, so bear with me if I sound a little awkward. But um, before I get into this, they don't even know I'm gonna say this, but one of the people out of the two people um that are gonna be sharing us on this podcast, I haven't seen since graduation day. I haven't seen since 2007. June of 2007 is the last time I've seen this person. And I don't want to get too sentimental, I don't want to get too heavy on the people, but it really is a crazy, crazy experience world that we live in right now, because the fact that social media exists is solely the reason that him and I are connected right now. And I know social media is a terrible place, I know that it's toxic and people get, you know, like they spew hate. I totally understand that. But there's also pros to uh social media, and this is one of them. I'm literally connected with somebody who I have not seen since 2007 solely on the fact of social media. He saw me, he heard gotta get said, he was a fan, and he reached out, and we're connecting and we're trying new things. Is it a co-host? Is it two co-hosts? We'll see, we'll see what happens. Time will only tell. But this is the first of many, and I think it's gonna be nice for gotta get said and for the listeners to um, you know, experience new things and to not only hear my crazy take on things, and it's not gonna be a debate show. If a debate happens organically, that's another conversation, but it's not gonna be a debate, it's just gonna be someone else, two other people's point of view, and not to only hear my point of view, it's just to hear everyone's point of view. And I feel like that's a great thing, and um, I'm gonna introduce them in a second, but I just wanted to get uh sentimental with them and just say that how cool it was to since to be connected with someone who I haven't seen since high school, who's lived a great life and who's in a happy relationship, and you're about to hear about all that and why, and uh, I just think it's a really cool thing, and I'm excited, and I hope uh good things happen, I gotta get said, because of it. And I hope this goes to the moon, and I hope the listeners that are here, the true day oneers, if you will, are with us to the end. And uh no further introduction here. We got Dr. Michael Ivachini, who I graduated high school with in 2007 and haven't seen since. And I got his lovely missus, Michelle. What's your not Michelle? I'm not even gonna edit that because my Michelle, we were talking about my lovely Michelle.

SPEAKER_04 3:18

Aw, nothing wrong with that, but no, my name's Ashley.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

Her name's Ashley, and this is Mike.

SPEAKER_03 3:23

What up, people?

SPEAKER_04 3:24

To meet everybody.

SPEAKER_03 3:25

My apologies for that. What up, dudes and dudettes? Dr. Mike, Dr. Ivo, Big Mike, whatever you want to call me, and my beautiful girlfriend Ashley. Not Michelle.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

Not Michelle, who also is beautiful, also beautiful and was a girlfriend at one point. A fiance, you know. Tying the knot sooner than later. But yeah, guys, I just wanted to have these people on the episode because they live a life that I will never live. They live a life that I quite quite frankly envy. You know, I'm gonna speak for Mike more than I am for Ashley right now because I really just met you. Uh, but for Mike, like this guy, like you said, a doctor. The my I've known Mike my whole life. I haven't seen Mike, like I said, since 2007. But knowing Mike my whole life, and this is the truth, he doesn't even know I'm about to say this, but like he's always been successful in my eyes. I've always looked at him and I was always like, wow, that's a successful guy. You know, he was in all the the honors classes, he was always a good, good-hearted person, came from a good family, had a good moral, you know, compass, if you will, you know, an athlete, like he's uh air shooting in front of me. I'll be honest with him, I don't want to hurt his feelings. I don't really think about him as an athlete. You don't remember, right? I knew he plays sports over here queuing you. I knew he played sports, but when I think of him and all of his great attributes, athletics is not one of them, respectfully. Respectfully, but um, but all the other stuff is the God's honest truth. And you know, I I um always found his life fascinating, and he'll tell you more about that. But you know, he was a like he's a doctor, he's traveled the world, and I always see him on social media like we all do, people from high school, and watching his stories have just been like great. Like I'm just laying on my couch and I'm like, wow, Mike's in fucking Bangladesh, Mike's in fucking Uganda, Mike's like doing all these great, amazing things that I would imagine he's doing out of the kindness of his heart. I don't know that for a fact, but it does seem like that. And uh I find that great. And I when he reached out and wanted to come on Gotta Get Said in any capacity, I was like, wow, how amazing to have another personality with someone with such an eclectic life. Hop on the mic. So, Mike, if you want to just give a little two-minute spiel to the listeners about who you are and what your uh intentions are with their host, that's up to you.

SPEAKER_03 5:33

What are your intentions with my daughter or son? Exactly. Matt, thank you so much for having us. Um, extremely happy to be here. Uh, it is a blessing just to be able to wake up on this side of the dirt, right? Every day is a blessing. Um, but yeah, so I want to contribute in any way possible. Um, educating people, uh learning through each other's experiences, uh huge thing I've wanted to do my whole life. Um again, back to even just high school, right? National Honor Society stuff, debate club stuff, and music. Uh tell them about me.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Tell them about me. Tell them what I do.

SPEAKER_03 6:05

There we go. Um, Matt has a very, very, very, very special place in my heart from um home ec class, home economics class. We baked cakes together. Oh my god. We baked pastas together. We learned how to become young men in that class. So that was actually some of my core memories are Matt just cracking me up every day while we're cooking, baking, cleaning. I'm like, you know, uh stay-at-home dad life, maybe we should look into it.

SPEAKER_04 6:31

I don't know about that. I'm not game for that.

SPEAKER_03 6:34

You gotta bring the cheddar home, right? Yeah, we're we're providers, we're protectors. Absolutely. Um, but yeah, uh great guy. Thank you so much for having us once again.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

Of course, I'm I'm honored to have you both on there, and I genuinely mean when I say honored, I mean that. Amen.

SPEAKER_04 6:47

We are also very honored to be here. Thank you for having us, Matt.

SPEAKER_02 6:51

So, medical field, you're both in. As obviously, as we touched. Um, Mike, because I I really don't know. I know, you know, I know you said you were a psychiatrist, right?

SPEAKER_03 7:02

So I did, it's a it's kind of a complicated story, okay, but I did two years of psych and neurotraining. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

So I could go into that for now, or if you want, or I can just kind of Well, I really just wanted to say, in a sense of like, I I Googled you uh before when you reconnect.

SPEAKER_04 7:17

You also Googled him before we reconnect. I was like, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 7:21

You gotta go, you gotta you gotta vet these people the bare minimum. You can't just let people in the house. So I Googled him and I saw a doctor, and it said psychiatrist, and I thought to myself, because I don't know my ass from my elbow, I I see him in the field, if you will. Not, I'm assuming not giving these people psych tests, and he's giving them medical exams. And I was like, oh, okay, like is he both or is he, you know, well versed, and you know? So I just wanted to touch base on that.

SPEAKER_03 7:47

That's a great point. Um, so very long story short, um, going into medicine, everybody's a rookie. You have no idea what you're trying to do. Uh you have interests, but you don't have any experience. Um, medical school, residency, hospital rotations, that's where you figure it all out. But ultimately, I was fascinated by the human mind. It's also kind of the last um bastion, the last open field. You know, we know everything about the heart, we know everything about the lungs, we know it. We at least know how they work, right? So the the mind, the human mind thoughts, thinking, feelings, behaviors, that to me was very intriguing. Um, if you had to pick one organ, obviously I picked the brain. Um, and then ultimately, in those two years in the hospital, we can go into all the other stuff about healthcare in America, corporations, and things like that. But long story short, I loved Psych and Neuro, but I do, like you said, I like to travel. I like to meet people, I like to be in the cities, I like to be in the woods. And so, long story short, it that made me want to do general medicine. So that's where I'm at now. Psych and neuro background, but general medicine from womb to grave. You know, I'm gonna try and work with everybody.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

So I'm gonna ask an ignorant medical question. Uh, because I'm just guys, by by the way, this episode is an introduction to these two great people because we're gonna keep this going for the near future and to see what it blossoms to. So this episode is just gonna be an introduction and like, you know, just a tip for lack of a better analogy of like little certain things. That's a medical term, actually. Just a tip. That's a fact. That's a fact. But I just want to let you guys know what like when you're listening to this, I just want to let you know like what this is. If it sounds all over the place, that's because it's 110% all over the place. And there's no structure right now, this episode. This episode, I just want to, you know, be up front with you guys that it's solely an introduction episode, and just so you get to know the people that are gonna be through the airwaves in the next couple of months, and so you know, so you feel a little more uh at home with them. So I'm gonna ask one question. Um, when you mentioned medical, so can you right now, if you wanted to be, just be like um like uh like a regular doctor, like like checkups and shit like that? My my primary care is what I'm saying, basically.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

Absolutely. Okay, and that is the goal, essentially, to be a primary care doctor. You're the quarterback of all the specialists, and ultimately you can do anything you want that your license that you're willing to defend your license over. You know, there's gonna be conversations about scope of practice, like, hey, maybe the quarterback shouldn't have an end-around run on fourth and sixth. You know, scope of practice. He's not running that play. As a as a physician, there's I could do injections, I could do all office procedures, but really um the ability to treat anybody anywhere. That was the goal, going back into general medicine. So you're right to answer your question directly. Uh I could be your PCB tomorrow, and then I'll know you literally inside and out.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

Do you take United Healthcare?

SPEAKER_03 10:33

Do you take United Healthcare? Uh we can talk about different payment models. Yeah, yeah. There's a lot to go into on that. Um, okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

So that's Mike in a nutshell for now. You know, he's gonna chime in as well, but uh, I would be remiss if I don't um bring up his better half, quite literally. Amen. Sitting right next to him. And honestly, this is gonna be a learning experience for everybody because as you see, I just called her Michelle about three minutes ago. So everything she said is gonna be a learning experience for me.

SPEAKER_04 10:59

I'm terrible with names too. That's really not like I thought I was gonna call you Mike by mistake. I was thankfully I got it right.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

In your defense, before we even get into it, I'm such more a Mike than a Matt. Like, I I really am.

SPEAKER_04 11:12

Like, I if someone calls me Mike, I totally tomato tomato.

SPEAKER_03 11:15

Big Italian. I'm I'm a Mike. I almost feel like I grew up a Mike, and now I'm morphing into a professional Matt. You're more of a Matt.

SPEAKER_04 11:21

Yeah, I'm becoming I'm I'm I'm gonna start getting the both the all confused.

SPEAKER_03 11:25

I'm having early onset Matt.

SPEAKER_02 11:27

That is fair. So do you wanna tell us a little bit about yourself being a I would love to exactly because let's like to know? I just want to know. Like, so like um I want so you're a nurse, right?

SPEAKER_04 11:39

Correct.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

You're an RN. And what field are you an RN in?

SPEAKER_04 11:43

So I am a med surge nurse.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

And what does that mean?

SPEAKER_04 11:47

So it stands for medical surgical, so it's basically just like a general, a general inpatient uh hospital unit.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 11:57

Um we we take a multitude of patients. We don't it's just you know, it's not like like labor and delivery psych, like there's certain departments that specialize obviously in certain departments.

SPEAKER_03 12:08

Of course.

SPEAKER_04 12:09

We pretty much see it all.

SPEAKER_03 12:11

There are specialty departments and then there's everything else. Right. And you're kind of in the everything.

SPEAKER_04 12:15

Where the everything else heads.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Okay, okay. So you're not so so what is your I'm because I'm actually asking this. So like what is your like every day look like? Do you go to a certain floor?

SPEAKER_04 12:25

Yes, I have a home unit that's like my home base that I go to every day.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

And then you like literally spread out throughout the hospital and like like depending.

SPEAKER_04 12:33

Depending on the staff. Um we have actual nurses that we call them float nurses, they're part of like a float pool. So depending on what staffing is like, they're the ones that will be first to get sent out to wherever the needs are. I primarily stick to my home base, but every so often, if there's needs on other floors, if we have more staff, other floors have less. We'll whoever you they kind of go, you know, down a list, and whoever's next will get sent to so I do I do get sent to other units, but they're usually other med surge units.

SPEAKER_03 13:04

Okay, occasionally maybe an ICU emergency department, but but jack of all trades, I would say as a nurse, jack of all trades. Right. And can I just comment as well? There's definitely a lot of spreading, but that's getting into like body orifices, and we should save that for that.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 13:22

Definitely a lot of spreading, though, uh apparently, unfortunately, fortunately, however you look at it.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

So I know a lot of nurses, like I told you before, but you know, personally in my life. I so I know I know just enough to make me sound ignorant when it comes to nursing. So I knew like the floor and like the stuff like that. My question to you is why did you become a nurse? Did you become a nurse because it's a good paying job and the hours are good? Because there's no wrong answer to that. I know a lot of people say that sometimes, and they're like, Oh, like I became a teacher because it's a good job, and you're off summer, and people like feel like that's like a terrible answer, but it's not. It's a job's a job. Or did you actually become a nurse because you want to like help save lives?

SPEAKER_04 13:58

Yeah, so basically that. So I actually, before I went into nursing, I like Mike, I actually was going the pre-med route.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 14:07

Um, so I initially wanted to be a doctor. That was my thing. I knew I always wanted to work in healthcare, but my thing from a young age, I was like, I want to be a doctor. I don't know what kind, but um, as I got into it more, I I started working in the hospital as like a nurse's aide just to gain, you know, experience, exposure, um, all that. And you know, obviously we work alongside all the nurses, and I got to see like the ins and outs of what what it's what a nursing the day to day. Of course, of course. So the more I experience I got in that, the more I was like, you know, I I I eventually just kind of pivoted. I I my passion with like becoming a doctor, it kind of shifted to nursing. I was like, I like what they do, you know, they're really, you know, they they they they're making a difference. You know, like you said, hands-on, yeah, very hands-on face-to-face with patients, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

Six years less schooling. It's gotta get said.

SPEAKER_04 15:02

Like, gotta get said, it was no joke, but obviously it's you know, we're you know, the doctor, you're like the brains.

SPEAKER_03 15:10

I was just gonna say, in the healthcare sense, exactly. I had no idea what I was going into either, right? This is actually, we could do a whole episode of that for anybody who's got kids interested in healthcare. Yeah, there's levels to the level of care, to the level of education, to the level of debt, but also just in general, the physicians are the brains, but the nurses are the brawn. The nurses are the hands-on, the day-to-day, the face-to-face. Right. We could not do what we do without.

SPEAKER_04 15:31

Like we need to be well educated, but we don't need to know the ins and outs as much as you like, you need to know all the the gritty details of everything. We need to know.

SPEAKER_03 15:40

You need to know that the the opening end of the GI tract and the closing end of the GI tract, right? You know? Yeah. Oh, you gotta know front from back, you know, anterior from posterior, right? Sure. I will say this. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 15:55

Nurse and doctor.

SPEAKER_04 15:56

Correct.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

Don't who cares about him being a doctor yet? Yeah. You give us the real deal right now. Not him personally. Damn right I am. Not him personally, but when you're at work every single day, are for the most if you were to give a bl a blanketed statement, are the doctors like a little snobby to the nurses, or are they actually nice and enduring?

SPEAKER_04 16:14

No, I'm in my experience, I feel like I've I've never personally had a bad experience. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:20

I would have thought the opposite. So that's that's nice to hear that.

SPEAKER_04 16:23

I'm sure it happens, you know, you have the occasional bunch, but in in my personal experience, I've feel like the doctors have always are always very disrespectful, very you know, they'll most of the time they'll you know they'll go out of their way to do what you know everything they can for you. I've never never had a bad experience. Everybody's always been kind and respectful, never made you feel never made made me feel lesser than nothing like that. Like they've treated you like like an equal, you know.

SPEAKER_03 16:50

I will say, I will just chime in and say a lot of doctors, especially in America today, like they get a bad rap, right? Like they're just trying to make money off of me, they're just they're not listening to me. Thank you. There's a lot of amen. Great movie. Great movie. Uh, there's a lot of great doctors out there, and the majority of them, the majority of the time, are good people acting in a good manner. Now you're gonna get your occasional doctor who's on his 25th day and is exhausted. Correct, it's or is being rushed by the insurance by the payment model. Right. You know, but the majority of them are good people with good intentions. You're always gonna get your occasional guy that guy or girl who, you know, was kind of never really felt that way about themselves, but now they got a degree, they got a white coat, and you know, I might deflex on my haters a little bit, you know. There's but those people are out there, but the majority are they're good, like kind-hearted.

SPEAKER_04 17:39

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_03 17:41

I will give that plug for the medical industry.

SPEAKER_02 17:42

All right, yeah, yeah. For the record, that was not sponsored by the doctor who told us that the doctors were cool.

SPEAKER_04 17:49

Yes, that was the doctor. I noticed.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Most of them most of the time.

SPEAKER_04 17:53

And it's all you, honey, not me.

SPEAKER_02 17:56

Before we put a bow on the introduction portion, because this is a uh comedy podcast, so I gotta throw some balls at you guys just to see how you handle it, just to know that, let people know like where you're coming from with certain things that we feel gotta get said, right? That's what we that's why we're here. You guys are listening to this right now and you're like, come on, enough of the introductions, but we have to do the introductions, guys, because if I came here next week and I put these two people on the mic and we started talking, you'd be like, who are these? Well, who are these? This is the episode of me telling you exactly what I'm saying. Who the hell is this guy? Exactly. Who the fuck is this guy, Conrad? Who the hell are you? Exactly. That's why that's why I'm doing it. So I will put a bow on this real quick, real quick. And it's I shouldn't even put a bow on this, but I have to because it's just in my brain. When my fiance had our second child, the nurses were very like, it was obviously labor and delivery. She had a C-section, and so we were in a surgery or surgery room. The um the nurses hated the uh anesthesiologist, anesthesiologist. Sure. He was like, he was a little bit of a dick. Like he came in, he was very like mono, like you know all business. All business, very like, yeah, it wasn't chat. Like if I told a joke, he's not cracking us mom. So like right. So he's Stoneface McGee. So it led me to think, I was like, oh, like, this guy is this just this guy, or is everybody a little snobby towards the nursing? Because the nurses clearly didn't like this guy. So you feel it in the room, right? I was just like, because like when they saw the name of the person come in, the NFC dial, they were like, oh, that guy, and like I like he came in, I I I got it, you know. Not that he was mean to me, but I get how you wouldn't like that guy. Totally. So um, but yeah, that's the introductions of Mike and um his beautiful, significant. Uh do you say significant other when you're not engaged?

SPEAKER_03 19:36

Uh, what does it matter, right?

SPEAKER_02 19:37

Because you are your girlfriend, future fiance, future fiancé, future wife, she's like, she's like, I'm waiting, future fiance.

SPEAKER_04 19:44

A lot of people have started calling me his wife, and I'm like, I I I'm not hating it. I'm not mad about it. I'll take it.

SPEAKER_03 19:50

We're three years into the 10 years of common law marriage, right? Yeah, I was gonna say we're basically there.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

Three three years is like, you know, so basically in the next three to five years is when things start elevating. Clearly. You know what I mean? Things start elevating. So yeah, those are the introductions, and uh, I hope you guys enjoyed it. But there will be so much more where that came from. That was literally just a little tidbit. But let's get into the fun stuff, right? Let's get into the fun stuff. So, you know, last episode I spoke about summer, I spoke about the beach, I spoke about the do's and the don'ts. You know, talking to these people right now, they both live in Pennsylvania, you know, landlocked. So, like I'm imagining zero beaches, you know. So I would imagine you guys aren't super beach people. I'm sure you are in theory, but you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_03 20:34

My point is In theory and in practice, two different things.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

Exactly. In theory and practice, two different things. Well said. Well stated. Gotta get said, gotta get said. My point is, do you guys have any do's, do's, and don'ts? Anything you you you don't like about what like summer come what summer brings, or do you guys love everything about summer? You guys are from PA, you guys are from the woods, it snows over there, like the winters are let me tell you something. They live an hour and a half from where I live, and I lived where they lived, and the winters are night and day. Yes. Our winters, that hour and a half are night and day. The roads, when it like I was telling, your name's Ashley. Yes. Okay, see, you got it. You're better at names than I am.

SPEAKER_04 21:16

When I was telling you, a few tries, you got it on the second try.

SPEAKER_02 21:19

When I was telling not Michelle, uh no, when I was Snooky.

SPEAKER_04 21:23

When I first met Snooky.

SPEAKER_02 21:24

No, way more beautiful than Snooky. Way more beautiful than Snooky.

SPEAKER_04 21:27

We do love our Snooky.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

I love Snooky too.

SPEAKER_04 21:29

We met Snooky, she's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

Fun fact about Snooky that you got I didn't tell you guys in the future when I first met you. Um my fiance's sister's daughter. Crazy.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

I know, I know.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

It's really not that.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

I'm trying to keep it. It sounds further than it. It sounds further than it.

SPEAKER_02 21:45

Low key, my sister in law's kid. Facts. She um she's on she's on Snooky's cheer uh daughter's cheerleading team. Oh, good, shells. Yeah, so like good for the team. Yeah, so that so they see Snooky all the time. Very jealous. Yeah, Snooky, and her daughter's on. Amazing at here. Like there, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:02

I've seen I've seen her.

SPEAKER_03 22:03

When we met her, it's literally her job to be nice. But she was genuinely. It was she was spending extra time with everybody. Yeah. Quick plug for Snooky. She was spending extra time with everybody, and it was her managers that were like, okay, speed it up. Come on, move it along. She was talking, she was taking pictures. She was very nice.

SPEAKER_04 22:21

She was great.

SPEAKER_03 22:22

Snooky, we'd love to have you on one day.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

We're OG fans. I have it in.

SPEAKER_03 22:28

I can get that in. We will travel. We already traveled from PA to Long Island, and now we're traveling PA to Jersey Shore. So we're we're travelers.

SPEAKER_04 22:35

We're willing to make the trip.

SPEAKER_02 22:37

Yeah, they are travelers. But my point is when I was talking about summer, I was talking about do's and don'ts and things that make you excited about summer. And I just want to hear your guys' take on it. Do you guys love summer? I'm assuming you guys love summer, right? You seem like lovable.

SPEAKER_04 22:49

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

Okay, you love summer?

SPEAKER_03 22:50

Love summer.

SPEAKER_04 22:51

I love the bugs that come with it, but love everything else. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 22:54

Yeah, she's an anti-insect person.

SPEAKER_04 22:56

Who is I must have a certain blood type that the bugs love, and it's not a mutual relationship. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:03

However, I'll I will say, as a as a physician, as somebody who's always loved loved animals and life, even as a kid, I would like save the spider, save the mosquito.

SPEAKER_02 23:13

Definitely saved the spider.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

Yes, I'm a kid.

SPEAKER_04 23:15

My dad was the exact same way. I'm like, you are my father.

SPEAKER_03 23:18

I walk up your driveway and you're like, oh, save the spider guy. Just look at him.

SPEAKER_04 23:21

I'm ready to, I'm ready to, I'm ready to kill him. He's like, nope, nope, let's take it outside. I'm like, you're a you're a better person.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

But in one sentence, I absolutely love summer. Have always been a summer kid. Love summer in the Poconos. Great place to grow up. But also uh down in Guatemala, 95, 100 degree heat. Phoenix, Arizona, 100, 120. I love the summer. Bake me like a crispy piece of bacon. I absolutely love the summer.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

You love the summer as well? Oh, I do. I do. Do you guys like surf or anything? No. Okay. Wake board? Okay.

SPEAKER_03 23:47

But really, just casually. I'm an all-sports guy too.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

He's really trying to press the sports on you guys.

SPEAKER_03 23:55

Did you know I'm a 37-year-old former athlete?

SPEAKER_02 23:58

This guy in eighth grade, you know what I mean? He he was killing it.

SPEAKER_03 24:02

Did you see my high school warm-up tape?

unknown 24:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:05

Do you want to check film? That is fun. That is fun.

SPEAKER_03 24:09

I will go a deep dive on my athletic accomplishments, but not today.

SPEAKER_02 24:14

We save that for another episode. That one might not air. That's Mike alone on YouTube.

SPEAKER_03 24:21

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 24:22

What was your favorite sport in high school, Mike?

SPEAKER_03 24:24

Ooh, ooh, tough question. The camaraderie of the soccer guys was unmatchable. The intensity of basketball was unmatchable. That's fair. So soccer and basketball, I loved football as well. I loved track as well. Track probably had the most discipline. Okay. So the camaraderie of soccer, the intensity of basketball, the discipline of track and field. If I had to pick, though, number one sport, soccer. Best at was best at soccer. I was the best at soccer. Grew up playing basketball, but you know, 5'11, uh kind of skinny, white guy. You know, there's limits. Yeah, absolutely. We have human limitations. You know, so um great memories, but soccer.

SPEAKER_01 25:00

Track is for the love of the game.

SPEAKER_03 25:01

For the love of the game.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

You get nothing for the game.

SPEAKER_03 25:03

Blood, sweat, and tears, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:05

You have to love to do that. That's what I mean.

SPEAKER_03 25:06

The discipline, dude. Yeah. The discipline. And I didn't do that too. I give those guys credit because second one. It was never a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 25:13

I can't even imagine getting a second one. Yeah. It's like when people say that, I'm like, I don't even know what the first one is like. I envy the first win.

SPEAKER_03 25:19

How about when your coach says you just did seven reps, that's great, you got seven more. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

And you're like, wait, wait, I thought I thought you only said seven, coach. My biggest fear in high school is a betrayal. Yeah. I was always a big guy. In high school, I used to literally get anxiety about like, you know, the once a year when the gym guy made you run the mile. Yeah, we'd have to do the second about running the mile.

SPEAKER_04 25:39

Yes, the mile run. That was the bane of my existence.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

And like the Mike Ivaccinis of the world, quite literally, it just is what it is. Yeah. They were ready. They fucking days to go out and stretch. Woke up pumped that shit. Woke up pumped out.

SPEAKER_04 25:50

I was on the complete opposite end of that spectrum.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

PRs for the mile. PRs for the mile. And I was, I used to like get crippling anxiety about the mile. And I always thought to myself, I was like, now that I'm older, probably the same age as these gym teachers were, maybe even older. Yep, yep. Like, dude, you obviously see I'm the fat kid. You know what I mean? It just is what it is. I just, I am the fat kid. It is what it is. They just want you to try. But like I feel like they were a little much. I feel like they didn't want me to try. I feel like they wanted me to try to try to try to try to get away. It's like, dude, I'm not like I understand that I needed to make changes in my life, but we're not doing it today at the mile. Right. Like it's it I I should be able to walk the mile. They wanted you to just flat out run like a whole life down there. Were you an athlete?

SPEAKER_04 26:34

Uh I did play sports growing up. Um I played, I dabbled in a little bit of everything. My sport was volleyball. Okay. Loved, I still love volleyball to this day. I eventually in high school went like the chorus theater route, but I played a little bit of volleyball in high school, but middle school, elementary school, middle school, like part of high school, like volleyball was my thing.

SPEAKER_02 26:55

When you say theater, you mean like plays? Oh, theater, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:00

I was more so in like the chorus like part of it. I'm a singer, I've been singing. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:04

Oh, yeah, I did a little bit of acting. No, no, no, no, no. Wow, that's cool. Yeah. I never see look, I'm learning all these things. We have to have you sing one episode. I won't put you on the spot.

SPEAKER_04 27:20

I'll prepare something for you guys. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:22

What do you like to sing? You like what you like, pop culture? You like.

SPEAKER_04 27:26

I like a little, I I I've always kind of just grown up singing everything. I mean, I grew up in, you know, private school. A lot of it was like, you know, church music, like a lot of more like even like in high school, like more musical, like opera type stuff. Of course.

SPEAKER_03 27:42

Even that right there is a potential topic. Public school versus private school. Oh my god. Growing said, but private schooling up like, oh, private school. I didn't know.

SPEAKER_04 27:47

I went to private school my whole life.

SPEAKER_03 27:49

Growing up in public school like us, growing up in private school like her, you know, there's a lot of people. What to grow up in?

SPEAKER_04 27:54

Uh Bethlehem.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

Oh, you grew up in okay. That's cons that's a city, right? Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 27:58

Bethlehem, Easton, Allentown.

SPEAKER_02 28:01

Bethlehem is that that's it. That's the Bethlehem, right?

SPEAKER_03 28:03

Oh, yeah. Not the Bethlehem. No, no. No, that's what I'm asking. It's not the Beth.

SPEAKER_02 28:07

Growing up? I'm not kidding. I was actually asking.

SPEAKER_03 28:09

I don't think Jesus walked over here in the United States. All right, that's the one.

SPEAKER_04 28:13

Growing up, I legitimately thought that this our Bethlehem was the Bethlehem. And I was very disappointed when I found out it wasn't.

SPEAKER_03 28:20

I don't even know. Somewhere over there. Okay. Yeah, somewhere in the Middle East, there is a Bethlehem. Okay. I actually don't know. That's where I was.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

I swear to God, I thought it was that.

SPEAKER_03 28:27

I'm not kidding. It might be in Israel, might be in Jordan, might be in Lebanon. I don't know. But there is an accident.

SPEAKER_02 28:33

You're not alone. I was like, Jesus walked Bethlehem.

SPEAKER_03 28:35

Yeah, Bethlehem, Allentown, he's the same.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

Allentown is Scranton, right?

SPEAKER_03 28:40

Scranton's the electric city. Bethlehem, actually, quick plug for Pennsylvania. Do it. And our governor, and just what we're doing. Pennsylvania specifically got named a couple of like best in nation things. Wow. Bethlehem got named one of the small town main streets. Best main street in the state. Okay. Now, again, you know, reporters are biased. They're plugging where they want the money to go. You name it. But it did get named. It got reported. At the least, it's very pretty. Yeah. That's what that means. Downtown Bethlehem, historic Bethlehem.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

Your governor's that like bald dude that like underdresses, right?

SPEAKER_03 29:10

Um, no. Good question. That's the senator.

unknown 29:13

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 29:14

Senator. And we can get into all that if we want to. Oh, yeah. Senate versus governor. The governor is like the president of the state. Okay. So Governor Shapiro is like the president of Pennsylvania. The bald guy who underdresses is Fetterman. Okay. Big tall guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:27

You want the goatee. Yeah, that's a good thing. Very recognizable. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He always like makes bowls.

SPEAKER_03 29:32

Future mad if you have like a couple of strokes.

SPEAKER_02 29:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They're coming.

SPEAKER_03 29:36

Just to be honest, real quickly, that is a joke, but it is true. He had strokes. God, God bless him. He's recovered. But it is kind of funny because hey, that could be you in like 50 years.

SPEAKER_02 29:45

Wow. I always know him of that.

SPEAKER_03 29:48

Recognizable guy, though.

SPEAKER_02 29:49

We'll get into your, like I said, these are just introductions. Have you ever met him? No.

SPEAKER_03 29:53

Okay, because you've met world. Exactly. Exactly. That's why I was like, local government, public policy. I do have some background in that, but I haven't met Fetterman yet.

SPEAKER_02 30:01

Okay, okay, okay. That's cool. That's cool. Alright. So, like, you know, that was really anything you guys want to say to get off. Like I said, guys, I I know this episode wasn't the funniest episode on the world. I totally understand. But this was just an introduction episode. I had to do it. It had to get done. It has to get said. It gotta get said. Some people say, gotta get said, like you said. So, you know, bear with me on this episode. But I will say this, not to uh, you know, get too, you know, in detail with everything, but like, you know, we're trying new things. So like in the for the up uh for the foreseeable future, they're gonna be through the airwaves. And I really feel like it's gonna be an awesome thing. I really feel like it's gonna be um funny, I feel like it's gonna um, you know, give the podcast more of a uh legitimacy. I feel like it's gonna only do great things. So although, you know, first time I haven't seen these people in 20 plus years, ever, some ever. Not Michelle ever. And um and but my point is Nurse Michelle.

SPEAKER_04 31:01

Get it right.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

Nurse not Michelle. Uh my point is this I'm trying new things that gotta get said. I really feel like this is the way to go. I really feel like the mix of all of our different personalities are gonna translate to funny episodes. I really feel like And knowledge gained.

SPEAKER_03 31:19

And knowledge a lot of knowledge to be gained.

SPEAKER_02 31:21

I just learned that Jesus didn't walk an hour and a half away from here. And I I know that read funny, but I literally just learned that.

SPEAKER_03 31:30

So, like The more you know, the more you know the more you know.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

So, yeah, so we're doing fun things over here, gotta get said. We're making fun changes, and I'm excited for it. I'm I'm pumped, I'm fueled up, I'm energized, and I really hope that you guys feel the same way. Uh, if you listen to this episode and you thought maybe it was a little clunky, it was a little clunky. We just met each other. I wanted to introduce them to you guys, but in coming up next episodes, everything's gonna be tight, it's gonna be funny, and you guys are gonna love it. And I'm gonna give them the mic just to say their final thoughts to everybody. But I just wanted to um set the premise with that and let people know that what this episode actually was, and to stay with us and to believe in us and to keep liking, keep subscribing, keep texting me ideas. I'll I'll relay it, and I love all you. And here's Mike and not Michelle. Ashley.

SPEAKER_03 32:21

Not Michelle, not Michelle. Nurse Snookie though will work. Nurse Snooky will work. I'll accept it. I will say that I will piggyback on what Matt said um all over the place today. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much. Of course. My whole goal of even wanting to do this is I have got some very crazy, somewhat movie-like experiences in life, and I want to share those with people. Absolutely. Uh, there's knowledge to be gained, and we can learn from each other's experiences. There's so much to talk about, current events, politics, media, you name it. Um, I'll run down a list of just some genuinely crazy life experiences, wild stories. There'll be a whole separate episode. We'll talk about them. And ultimately, actually, before I even go down this list, let me say this. We encourage everybody to throw their ideas towards what do you want to hear us talk about?

SPEAKER_01 33:07

I love that.

SPEAKER_03 33:09

Yeah, let us know. Eventually, we'd love to have people call in. Live shows, calling in on the line, but tell us what you want to hear about, right?

SPEAKER_04 33:16

Open to suggestions.

SPEAKER_03 33:18

The goal is to be unbiased, yeah, unbiased, uh, reasonable takes on literally anything. Um, I will say, just again, quick plug on just my career experience: medicine, local government, uh, nonprofit, international, and national. Um, I've got stories about child trafficking. I've got stories about um genuinely grew up with a friend who became an axe murderer. I mean, you want to talk about that? You want to talk about medicine? You want to talk about policy? You want to talk about jokes?

SPEAKER_02 33:46

Uncle Willis.

SPEAKER_03 33:47

Yeah, you you wanna you wanna talk about Uncle Willis? I mean, you name it, we can talk about it. Uh, been there, done that, but not in a bad way, just in a way of we were learning as we go, and we are here for it. So thank you so much. Guys, how polished was that, right? That's PhD polish, right?

SPEAKER_02 34:03

That was pretty great. Just to get on the mic like that and just give that formal goodbye.

SPEAKER_04 34:07

That would that was very no pressure, but yeah, you I mean, I can't, I don't think I can top that. You're prettier, so good. He's got he's got his way with words. Like he's he's he's you know more polished than I am, but no, but but genuinely we're very excited. I've been me and Mike have been talking for a while about like wanting to get into the whole podcast and share experience. I've been we're really genuinely excited for this. And it's just the idea, just it's just so fun. You just you're sitting around, you're having good conversation with good people. Like, I mean what what's not to like about it.

SPEAKER_03 34:40

And join us, join us, right? Talk to text Matt, we'll just talk.

SPEAKER_04 34:44

Clearly, we can talk. So and we love we love let's get involved.

SPEAKER_03 34:48

Let's have the conversation that honestly, there are conversations that are happening around every community in America and every community in the world, and yet the mainstream media, some of the mainstream podcasts, they're not gonna talk about it. So we're willing to talk about it. We're willing to talk about literally anything. You name the subject, you call Matt, you text me, you do whatever you ought to do, get on the air, get us uh to get us to talk about and get on the air with us, you know, we'll make it happen.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

Yep. Yep. That that was you know, I couldn't have said it better myself. So uh yeah, like I said, guys, stay with us on this journey. Um, we have big things planned, and we're hoping that uh you guys are along with us and you like everything. And if you don't like stuff, tell us that. Like you said, communication's a two-way street, it's not just all positive. Give us you know, constructive criticism is a great thing, and we'll appreciate that, even though we're perfect and that doesn't exist. Right, we'll we'll hear you out, you know what I mean? For the like and subscribe. Go ahead. You get a comment, we'll listen to here and there, but we'll throw it. Yeah, we'll throw you a bone. We'll respectfully, we'll agree to disagree. Respectfully, yeah, respectfully, of course. Respectfully, always exactly. But in all seriousness, guys, I really feel like this is the perfect uh trio, you know. We got a ladies take on things, and like, you know, the ladies' take on things is something that like doesn't get spoken about a lot. And like things that I like, I'm closed-minded, right? I think I know everything. We all do, secretly, we all do. Secretly, but we all have our moments, but a lady's perspective on things are you're gonna open up so because a lot of my listeners currently, right now, hopefully there's a zillion more, are women. So to hear a woman's take on things, every little thing that I'll or Mike will just never be able to like achieve is a great, great thing to have. So I feel like you know, give it like the knowledge and the world history and like the world experiences of Mike, me just chatting shit, a woman's, you know, salt. What is it called? Uh uh what a chef's kiss? Is that what you're saying? Yeah, they say that. That's a thing, right? A woman's chef's kiss, if you will. I feel like that is the perfect trio for a good dog.

SPEAKER_04 36:48

I'm very happy to bring the woman's perspective on things.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

We like kisses. We'll take the kisses.

SPEAKER_03 36:54

Thank you. When the mic's off. Yeah. Wait, am I getting a kiss? Behave. I just saw you guys. If you want to meet your heroes, you can meet us in the parking lot, okay?

SPEAKER_04 37:03

This is a family-friendly podcast. Exactly. Behave.

SPEAKER_03 37:06

Kisses between couples only, okay? But I might be getting kisses from not Michelle. I'll Michelle, real Michelle. I'll I'll film it. I'll film it.

SPEAKER_02 37:13

There we go. That's allowed. But guys, uh, like I said, same time, same place next week. I uh look forward to seeing you guys. Any feedback on this episode, anything you want us to talk about, any engagement you want to give us, please, any of our social media platforms. I'll add it all when I um I'll I'll link everyone's social media when I post up this podcast stuff. If you want to speak to anyone and you want us to talk about anything, please like, DM. Any way you want to think we're open to any and all the things.

SPEAKER_03 37:39

I'm gonna run my list of really fast super deep experiences. If you want to deeper, dive deep into church and spirituality, we can. Sports, we can, education, we can, medicine, we can, politics, we can, entertainment, we can, legal, we can. You've been fired at your workplace? Let's talk about it. We have experiences there too.

SPEAKER_04 37:56

Or if you want to still keep it lighthearted, we got you know anything. I think we're funny, so I think we can bring the humor, you know. Anything.

SPEAKER_03 38:04

We want to engage, we want to have shared conversation.

SPEAKER_04 38:06

That's what it comes down to.

SPEAKER_02 38:08

So please, guys, the engine basically to put a ball on that, we're we're begging you for engagement. So give us give us any engagement you want. Yeah, good or bad. Tell us what to talk about, and that's it. We'll do that. And like I said, I'm gonna say bye to everybody. Um, I look forward to next week. And like I said, next week will be more of a regular episode. We'll get into whatever the fuck we're getting into. Uh, you just heard those deep dives. I'm gonna learn so much. You guys, at the end of this spiel, whatever it turns out to be, you're gonna be like, damn, Matt's a fucking idiot. That's what you're gonna get out of all this. But so am I, and so are we all. The real hardcore. I definitely have my moments, the hardcore fans are gonna, I might get exposed a little bit. So the hardcore fans are gonna be like, wow, Matt, they really thought this. So bear with me, guys. You know, if you ever thought I was smart, listen to this episode, shame on you a little bit. But just know that, like, you know, we we all we all mean well, so don't don't don't don't hate us too much, right?

SPEAKER_03 38:58

That's the point. We're all idiots. We're all trying to learn. We're all trying to just make it.

SPEAKER_04 39:03

We're good hearted people. That's what a smart person is.

SPEAKER_02 39:04

We mean well, always we're all the smartest guy in the room is that says we're all idiots. We're all idiots, just not me. Yeah, he's he's he's driving home to PA like that guy's a fucking idiot. That Bethel Hamlin, I hope we'll be. Yeah, he's like, I don't know, but like Snooky's house. Well, I guess we'll entertain situation's house. Uh we'll visit. Yeah, Snooky's on the way up. Live episode one day. Oh god, that you know, right?

SPEAKER_03 39:28

Knock on wood, we'll visit.

SPEAKER_02 39:29

But guys, uh, I love you all. Uh, until then, I will see you guys, same time, same place. Until then, I'm out here and I say peace.