Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Toronto Mike'd #18

Episode Date: December 5, 2012

Politics! Religion! Plastic bags! Oh, and Toronto Mike's Christmas policy, Rosie's milk contest and the dangers of working from home.

Is that loud enough for you, Rosie? Sounds good. Hello, my friend. How you doing? Doing good. So you were accidentally really funny last week when you complimented me on how good I was manning the audio and the board and everything. And then I played it back that night and I couldn't hear any of the audio elements. They were all really quiet. Well, here's the thing.

You look really competent while you're doing it. You're turning and lifting and pushing things. You look slick. I really thought you knew what you were doing. It was an equipment malfunction. It's been confirmed. It was not Toronto Mike's fault. Not human error.

Well, really, to me, it was a little low, but it wasn't anything to get too upset about. Well, I take great pride in these efforts, you know. This is number 18, episode 18, so you'd think by now I would have had a handle on it. Yeah, but you just started doing the technical stuff the last few, and you really have picked it up quickly. Thank you, Rosie. You're talking and pushing buttons at the same time.

The only thing not working is my brain. Okay, so this is episode 18. I just want to tell everybody that number 18 is for Jim Clancy, an original Blue's the last major league pitcher to make 40 starts in a season. So pitchers don't make 40 starts anymore because it's all five-man rotations. He's the last guy who ever did that, and no one will ever do that again. And another interesting fact, because he started a lot of games and he played for some not-so-good Jays teams in the very early 80s. He has the most losses of any baseball pitcher in the 1980s. Oh.

But you got to be good to be like that. Like to me, the bad pitchers don't get a chance to have that honor. Like they don't get to start enough games. And yeah, the fact that he was in enough games to hit that record is kind of an accomplishment. was in enough games to hit that record is kind of an accomplishment. So Blue Jay fans are going to know him because he's not familiar to me. Did you follow the Jays in the early 80s? No, I have to admit I was a total bandwagon jumper.

It was the early 90s, the World Series. And now I've jumped right back on the bandwagon again. I'm excited for this season. I'm going to say anyone over the age of 35 or 36 will remember Jim Clancy. All right. Very cool. I remember him because there were like three original Blue Jays who hung around for a long time,

like Ernie Witt, Jim Clancy, and I think Garth Orge might have been the other one. And these guys were like the guys there from 1977, the inaugural season, and they stuck around until the mid-80s or whatnot. My favorite's still Joe. Joe Carter. I remember...

And then along came Joe. I'm actually a little... My 93-year-old grandpa, he's in the hospital. He fell. Gross. At that age when they fall. We jinxed him by talking about him.

You know what? We're talking about the longevity. And the worst part is we were having a family lunch at my house and we had such a wonderful time. And just as he was leaving, he just kind of just took a misstep and fell. It was just nothing. Anyways, he was actually jumping on the little trampoline we have. Why is a 93-year-old man jumping on a trampoline? Well, this is the thing.

He was jumping on a trampoline. We were talking about how young and sprightly he is. And then he falls. And now he's in the hospital. He was showing off. Anyways, all that to say, whenever I think of Joe Carter, I think of my nun-no. Because a long, long time ago, I was really little. My dad took me and him and my brother.

And I think one of my uncles were there, too, to a Jays game. And it was just so awesome because my grandpa had never been to a baseball game before and he was you know quite old old then and um so you know we're we're there and we're watching it and the first inning starts to you know wrap up and the inning ends and everyone you know at the end of an inning gets up to go get treats and this and that. My grandpa thought the game was over. Oh, wow. It was so cute. He was like, oh, he says it in Italian. Oh, wow.

That was great. He starts to... That's hilarious. We're like, no, no, no, grandpa. We're not done. Like, there's more. There's nine of you. And then it went on to be Joe Carter hit a home run.

And it was, you know, it was wild. It was crazy. And then he hit another home run. And so I think it was, I think to my grandpa, he just thought Joe Carter was like the best thing ever. He was like money. If you wanted 30 homers and 100 RBIs, he was just money. He was amazing. He was amazing.

Yeah. We won't go too long on the Jays talk, but I think I'm already done. You probably didn't think you'd have that much to talk to me about the Jays. There's a statistic called WAR, which is kind of a new thing called Winds Above Replacement or something. And he fares very badly in that statistical analysis. So essentially his numbers look really good to 10-year-olds, like 15-year-old fans like me.

We see 30 homers and 100 RBIs. But when you dig really deep, you realize he's nowhere close to Hall of Fame caliber. Isn't that interesting? Wow. So there you go. Wow, there you go. And of course, we give a shout out to a couple of commenters

on torontomike.com every week. And I wanted to give a shout out to Elba. Elba is a regular commenter and I'm going to guess Elba is female. That's a female name, right? Sounds like a female name to me, yes. No'm going to guess Elba is female. That's a female name, right? That sounds like a female name to me, yes. No, I'm certain Elba's female. I actually remember a little while ago,

I believe it was Elba, she posted on your site this adorable little video of, I'm not sure, it might have been her, yeah, I think it was one of her sons. Do you know what I meant? Is this her second shout-out?

Did we double dip? I don't think it was a shout-out that you did. I think I was just mentioning her adorable video. Good, because no one gets two. I'm very strict about this. Well, of course. The shout outs are important. But yeah, no, that was such a cute little video of him skating.

Oh my God, I loved it. Well, every time I see her name, I think of Abel was I ere I saw Elba, which I think Napoleon wrote. Abel was I ere I saw Elba, which I think Napoleon wrote. Able was I ere I saw Elba. Right. That's my friend, Napoleon Bonaparte. Very good. And the second shout out is to Heads Up. He comments as, I think it's a he, as Heads Up.

And I was going to reveal a secret about Heads Up, but then I changed my mind. What? Yeah. Mike! Heads Up comments. I'm freaking out. I hate secrets. going to reveal a secret about heads up but then i changed my mind what yeah no heads up he uh he comments his heads up and one other persona which is kind of an interesting not cheryl but i how do i say i gotta reword that cheryl is real a lot of people think cheryl is fiction but she's 100 real that's you couldn't you couldn't uh there is no doubt in my mind Cheryl is real exactly that

you can't no one so consistently for so long no one can fake that and I know Cheryl's gmail address Cheryl's real I know enough it's not even quite disgusting she's real right but there's a couple of fake Cheryl accounts that have been making that round that are quite funny I noticed recently and I laughed I had some I had some real laugh out loud moments on your site the past few days. Parallel Universe, Cheryl. Oh, yeah, it was funny. I died. That was funny. And I have to say, Liz made me laugh so hard because she was commenting, I think, in response to Cheryl's real passion for George Smitherman.

And I just, Liz wrote, she for George Smitherman. And I just, Liz wrote, she called him Smithershit. And I died. I died. Listen, I have a lot of tolerance. Now I can only think of him as Smithershit.

I have a lot of patience for Cheryl. Like no one has more patience for Cheryl than I do. But the two where she loses me on, whenever she talks about Santa Claus, I get mad. Like I want to start editing. Like I don't like the Santa talk. Uh,

and I won't even elaborate except I don't like the Santa talk uh and I won't even elaborate except I don't like her Santa talk well you got kids right right yeah you know what I'm trying to keep the mystery alive my daughter is on my blog all the time yeah you know so it's like I hated the Santa talk and I hated the your kids are actually right at that age too like she's eight so that's right at the age where you're still are you kidding me you don't you don't want to go there yet right yeah she has like a an elf what's the name jack who uh comes for the month of december he just shows up and while she sleeps he moves around and it's a magic elf named jack and she tells me about it like this this girl believe is believing

on steroids and you know what she should she absolutely should you know it. You know, it's really, yeah, let her have that. I actually cracked up because I actually saw Cheryl write, she actually wrote the words bah humbug. But you know that she didn't mean them ironically. Like she actually genuinely, like she meant bah humbug. She doesn't like baseball or she's going to hate, she doesn't listen, I don't think, but she would hate this podcast. She doesn't like baseball.

She doesn't like podcasts. She doesn't, yeah. She doesn't like Santa and she doesn't like Rob Ford. And that's fine. But where all she loses me is on this ridiculous George Smitherman. Like, it's just not clever or interesting. First of all, he's not even considering a run, which is sort of, you know, the first detail. And the second is, can we do better than George Smitherman and Rob Ford, please?

Like, can we find another option to lead the city? Well Well, and you know, George Smitherman lost resoundedly like he there was there's very little call right now. No, he knows it. He knows it. I mean, although I was surprised because I did hear that interview where they asked him, would you be interested? And he's he was he responded positively. And I had to stop for a second because really? Really? We can do better. We've tried that. But the one thing I will say is Ford will have less support this time than last time.

Totally agree. Because a lot of people thought they'd give this guy a shot. And after two years, a lot of those, I'm not talking about the Freddie P's who think everything he does is amazing. I mean, moderates who gave him a shot to clean up the waste or whatever, cut the waste and all that. They've seen enough that they'll look elsewhere this time. So we just need a good candidate and we'll be home free. No, you're absolutely right. I did a bit of like an informal poll of people

that I knew in my family that had voted for him initially, but that are moderate. You have people in your family who voted for Rob Ford? I certainly did. I don't have these people in my family. Politics, there's a lot of good discussion that goes on. But they all look elsewhere this time. Correct.

All of them. Correct. I think so. Yeah, exactly. Okay. So I went to Snow White, the deliciously dopey family musical at the Elgin Theater on when did I go last Thursday so Monica and I and the two kids and every I'm gonna I'm not joking I've never been to one of these Ross Petty things like I've seen them advertised for 17 years I've never gone this thing was funny like I laughed out loud and the kids were amazed by it because Ross Petty is in drag and he's the

evil step queen or whatever the hell she is. Step mom. Evil step mother. Whatever she is. And then, you know, it's just, it was just super funny. And there was a lot of Rob Ford jokes. And there was like a lot of Toronto stuff in there. It was very interesting and funny.

And I was not bored for one of the two hours. That's great. I haven't been to one of his productions before, but I've heard that he draws a lot on, you know, pop culture and stuff that's really timely. And the kids, you know, the kids really love it. Was it at the Winter Elgin? Yeah. Oh, it's like my favorite theater in Toronto.

It's so beautiful. The last time I was there was to see Conan O'Brien's show. He did. He came here for a week of shows. I was on the Adam Sandler one, me and my brother Steve. That's cool. Yeah. And that's the last time I was there.

But this time it was fourth row center. It was it was pretty. You've moved up in the world. Yeah. Oh, yeah. last time I was there. But this time it was fourth row center. It was, it was pretty awesome. You've moved up in the world. Oh yeah. So I'm coming in and right with me, I go to this media line, which always impresses my son. He's always like, we get to go to the media line. Like I always have to say, yes, son.

Dad, you're important. Dad, he's a member of the media. Like it's, I guess it's, yeah, I'm used to it now, but I guess if I step back and say, what the hell am I doing in the media line? But guess who was in the line with me? Christine Bentley was there wow um Scott Thompson from Kids in the Hall I love him did you meet did you talk to him or you know what I was right beside him for a long time and I didn't even like want to bother him even though I'm a diehard I watched Kids in the Hall every week for its entire run and I love that that show. He's so funny.

He apparently starred in a previous Rob Petty. What do they call him? Fractured Fairy Tale. I could see that. And Peter Gross, of all people, was sitting right in front of me. Oh my gosh. It was Toronto. It was just like the Toronto who's who at Snow White.

That's so great. Me, Peter Gross, Scott Thompson, and Christine Bentley. Yes. Well, your gang must have been suitably impressed by their seats. That's awesome. Yeah, and so somebody left a funny comment when I wrote about this. I think it was Ryan G., who always leaves funny comments. One of my favorite commenters, and he mentioned that when he was driving by the Elgin, I guess on the weekend when they let out one of the matinees or something,

he said all the soccer moms and their kids just started like spilling onto the street, like at Yonge and Queen, like don't have a sense of where they are. And I just thought that was kind of funny. Why is that? Well, I don't understand. Well, they were just leaving the theater? Like they all spill out of the theater

and then they don't have a sense that, you know, there's a busy street. Like they just sort of like walk. I don't care about cars. They're going to cross wherever and the cars just sort of have to avoid. You know, people, I suspect that they're from like maybe from Mississauga or Oakville or Etobicoke. And they don't have streets like that there.

Um, okay. I don't know. You have to read the comment. Okay. It was funny. So that was the comment I left on by Ryan G. Well, that's... Yeah, I'm just...

You're upset because you think I'm putting down soccer mom. You know what? I think you lost me. I find the whole thing... I find the term soccer mom annoying. It's offensive, right? A little bit. It offends mothers who have kids who play soccer.

Well, it's just... Because you know the problem with the term soccer mom is it's become sort of synonymous with, you know, like. Bubble wrapping and stuff. Suburban, non, like not used to culture. Like that little story you told, it was almost like he just assumed. Oh, yeah. The soccer moms aren't used to, they don't know how to go to the theater.

They don't, they've never been on a busy downtown street. I bet that's probably not the case. Most soccer moms, I would argue, have moved out to the 905. Right. Yeah. But I bet you the mayhem more had to do with just, you know, having tons of kids and the fact that, you know, they don't know how to walk on a Toronto street. But that's okay. You know what?

I didn't read that. So why don't they know how to walk on the Toronto street? Because they are used to Mississauga. Right. I don't know. You take it up with Ryan G. I'm just the messenger here. I just provide the platform.

Interesting. They're excused. They express belong to the author. Well, I won't play Ryan G unless he called. up with ryan g okay i'm just the messenger here i just provide the platform interesting they're excused they express belong to the well i won't play ryan g unless he called them yeah i don't know i don't know why the term soccer mom is his i don't know either weird it's a weird one but it's yeah it's it's i always associate soccer mom with the the moms who are trying to bubble wrap all of our kids well fair enough sure yeah like that that playground is unsafe i mean you know or like the woman that wanted to get the trees cut down because her kid was allergic to acorns can you i still can't believe that she was nuts am i right i think an outlier i thought that was nuts like i you know yes you want to protect your your child but my god like it's a tree

there's it no no you're not like that but do you remember their appearance i can't remember where this was but they didn't like the wi-fi where was that the school has wi-fi and they didn't like their kids being exposed to the wi-fi currents uh it was they had to remember that yeah and they made a big stink about and i just like i didn't know where to go with that like there's no science it's all junk science it's like uh what's her name uh the playboy bunny who went on oprah and told all the moms to stop uh getting their kids vaccinated don't speak her name you know how i feel about her well it's the same thing if you see all this stuff is based on junk science no it's absolutely true

um so no more junk So no more junk science. No more junk science. Okay, so while I'm at Snow White hobnobbing with Christine Bentley, Scott Thompson, and Peter Gross, I'm wondering why Rosie isn't there because Rosie's MyTorontoScoop.com is really taking off. In fact, I was over there the other day. It's one of my stops on the World Wide Web. And I saw that MyTorontoScoop.com is having its very first contest. Oh my gosh.

Tell us about it, Rosie. I'm so excited. Well, as you all know, TorontoMike.com always has tons of contests because he's a very, very popular website. But my little website had not yet had the honor of hosting a contest. But I have my very first contest and it's to win free milk stuff so you should enter it mytorontoscoop.com i love milk uh how much milk would i win you would win quite a bit it's um how many liters it's shelf safe milk so it's um that sounds creepy like i don't know if i'm into that i know maybe i should have said that it's sponsored by tetra pack so it's milk in

a box but is it real milk absolutely it's totally they can put it on a shelf totally real milk right and so they're trying to it doesn't go bad no it's um the same way you know juice in a box it's it's milk in a box enter the contest you could win it and then you could try it well monica drinks almond milk and it goes in the shelf but it's not from a cow almond milk right this is from a cow and you're saying it goes on the shelf not the fridge no not the fridge i mean after you open it you have to drink it sure you're gonna put in the fridge after you exactly but in the meantime while you're waiting to use it before you and how many liters am i winning i just want to know

okay so you get a one liter for the for the fridge or big thing. And then you can also win, what comes in the gift pack is individual little boxes that can go in a lunch. Like Tetra Packs. Exactly. So Tetra Pack, is this them or Milk doing this? It's actually Tetra Pack. And did they contact you? I have real questions, Rosie. You know what?

Someone contacted me. I was actually going to ask you if this was real or not because Mike is my all things HTTP on the internet. He advises me on. But no, it was actually sort of a third party on behalf of them. Okay. And they said, hey, you're an up-and-coming local blogger. Would you promote our Tetra Packs? Very good.

And you have lots of... When does the contest close? How long do I have to enter? Okay, you have until Friday. And then I will randomly pick a winner. This will probably go online on Wednesday. It's actually online right now. I have five entries already.

Oh, that's like a... If I enter now, I've got like 18% chance or whatever. That's the thing everyone you have a really really good chance if you shouldn't put this on the podcast am i eligible um yes you are eligible oh because uh monica wanted to i have apple chips right now uh no you know my site and monica wanted to win them and i said she wasn't well because she's like a family member you know what not yet rosie but um okay i just thought of something yeah you maybe aren't eligible because Well, because she's like a family member. Not yet, Rosie. But, okay, I just thought of something.

You maybe aren't eligible because you power my website. So perhaps you aren't eligible. However, Monica would be eligible. So can you tell Monica to please enter my website? And how will you pick the winner? Well, that was my next question. What do you do? Do you put everybody's name on a little piece of paper? No, I go to a, there's a website where you say okay let's say i have 50 entries

it's a randomizer and i say pick a number from 1 to 50 it spits out a number there's a website that will do that that's amazing yeah there's more than one website that does that actually it's like a randomizer i thought to myself after i put the um i put the contest online i put it up on my site and afterwards i thought i wonder how because you had a contest running for a razor and I actually wondered. Dale won the brawn beard thing. I was wondering, I wonder if Mike writes everyone's name

on a little piece of paper and puts it in a hat and picks it out. I'm like, that seems ridiculous. There must be a better way of doing it. I careered that to Dale today.

Oh, very nice. Okay, so you have to tell me the random website so I can pick it on Friday. Yeah, no problem. You can Google it and find it, no problem. Okay, so enter everyone, mytorontoscoop.com. Yeah. My first contest. And by the way, to um tell me the random website so i can pick it on friday and find it no problem because enter

everyone my toronto scoop.com yeah my first contest and i by the way here's another little trick because i do a lot of these but usually they'll say uh here's one for your and you know they'll give you one but at the last you know if you get a bunch of entries now usually i get more than five but let's say you gotta start selling my rosie well i thought five was pretty good i just put it up so let's say you've got five. You can actually go to that person because how much does that gift pack of Tetra cost them? Like you can say, hey, can I have five? And a lot of the times they'll say, oh, I can get you three. And now three out of five, just one.

Like always. That's so smart. Always. I know I'm very smart. So I'm going to do it again. Like I'm going to get these. I got these apple chips and I got one right now. But at the last minute, I'm going to ask her.

I'm going to her I'm gonna tell her like there's 30 entries can we give away more than one and she's gonna say yeah I can get you five so if I get if I get more than five entry I mean I right now I probably don't wouldn't be able to do that because don't tell them how many you have just say can I have more than one because I've got some good response here and just see how many they'll give you it's so excited especially one liter of milk this is costing them a dime. Okay, Rosie. This isn't a brawn shaver. Okay.

I actually think it might be more. I've forgotten in my excitement. I actually forget. Okay, look. I forget. Everyone's going to go to my Toronto scoop and enter your first contest and it'll be a huge success. Yes.

Very exciting. Rosie, so this, I've been teasing something forever and I'm going to keep teasing it, but I was going to tell people how they get to heaven if they believe. But it leads to a bigger discussion about what do you believe and why and what it's like at this time of year when you don't believe,

but the whole everything is about Jesus. This is Jesus's birthday and everyone's wanting to hear nonsense like there's a war on Christmas and people don't want to call it a holiday tree or best wishes and a bunch of this ugliness. And then the Rob Ford thing, not to tie Rob Ford to that, but politics. I got good friends, Freddie P, who are just sending me all these links and emails and Facebook postings. Like, give your head a shake, Mike. How can you be in favor of what's happening to the great Rob Ford?

And I just wanted to do a general, I think I just felt it was time to just say that there's a reason you're not supposed to talk about politics and religion at business events or anywhere you don't want conflict. Because I can't imagine two topics that divide more than politics and religion. Can't imagine two topics that divide more than politics and religion. It's funny because I think I was just saying at my family dinners, there's nothing that gets everyone more heated. And the voices are rising and everyone's yelling than politics. But religion, we leave alone. I actually find it... Maybe you're all on the same page like that's one thing with me and my family politics we're always on the same page and these

arguments don't last very long politically because the only religion fights not fights discussions that are interesting right now for me are with monica because there's a semblance of something that's been you know uh pounded into her head since birth that she thinks must be true because it's all she knows. And it creates a little bit of an interesting discussion when we break it down or whatnot. But politically, if you're aligned, it makes for a very short discussion. Absolutely. I tend to find, too, that, you know, when you're just having discussions about religion and, you know, it's never black and white. you know discussions about religion and and you know it's never black and white and when people feel differently if you believe say you believe in in god um and someone else doesn't it's it's

hard it's hard to it's divisive it's really hard to sort of let's take god out of it let's talk religion like like you're a italian woman yeah and uh italians traditionally have been very catholic that's right and i'm gonna guess no no i can't i can't even pretend i know what's his name no no no no no you can just call him grandpa i actually call him grandpa but it's no no yes no no no no no is a diehard believer like he's all about the no you're just kidding me none no no no no but this is grandpa in italian no no no no but we'll call him grandpa that's fine grandpa in italian uh he's he's uh he's probably a staunch catholic and uh big vatican booster staunch doesn't even begin to exactly describe it so. So you come from a long line of, you know, big believers.

Yeah. No, my family is, you know, of course, on my father's side, you know, Italian Catholics. And then on my mom's side, there's French-Canadian background there and Italian and very staunch Catholics. I mean, I, you know, I got married in a church with a nuptial wedding with all four grandparents bringing up the body of Christ. Yeah. One of my bridesmaids actually reminds me of a funny story from my wedding day. One of my bridesmaids, they were all Catholic except for one, my dear, dear friend, Erin, who's Jewish, and she had never been in a church before. And leading up to the wedding day, you know, you have the rehearsal the night before. And, you know know we're in the church going through the motions and a nuptial mass is actually quite

long because you have the the body of Christ so you actually have all the parts of the mass including the wedding the wedding stuff and leading up to the day we're preparing and then at the rehearsal Erin leans over to me and she's like, Rosie, will I have to eat the body of Christ? Did you tell her it's optional? And she was so cute. She was so like,

like, like serious. And I was like, no, I'm like, you're not going to have to eat the blood of Christ. Will I have to drink

the blood of Christ? This is a smart girl, but I'm like, no. And you do realize that it's not, you know, actual,

although, you know, transfiguration would, Rosie, your Nona would tell you it is. Well, absolutely, absolutely. But it wasuration, would you believe it's actual? Absolutely. It was a funny thing because I imagine to people who aren't Catholic some of the rituals must seem

bizarre. How come in all those years I practiced this religion, I never once got to drink? How do you get on that list? I never got to drink. There has been a couple of times. Um, you've drank twice,

once at a, at an anniversary mass for my grandparents. And I think at my, my, my wedding, on my wedding day, he gave us a bit of, of wine,

but it's not going to go. You're all sharing the same cup, right? Well, you know what? It was just, it wasn't the whole church. It was just like us and a couple of people.

I can't remember. But he, if I remember correctly, like the chosen ones who got the drink, it's like, he just rotates the cup a little bit so your lip goes on the space i didn't notice oh yeah i watched this as a kid like when i used to go to church on sundays and i remember thinking like some guys got the drink i never was i mean i was young then but yeah i didn't know how people got chosen to have a sip but you know when i was little i used to like

communion because because you were hungry i was was like, it's snack time. It's ridiculous. And it's like the... I wouldn't listen at all. And then it was... Unleavened, so it kind of melts on your tongue. Yeah, like I actually looked forward to snack time. You put a little brie on that and you got yourself a snack, Rosie.

Oh my God, we're terrible. Okay, so this is all to say we're not going to talk about politics and religion because it divides. Anyways, people I really like just can't, I just wish that we could all, I hate to borrow from Rodney King, but can't we all just get along politically and in terms of religion and faith?

We may be of different opinions, but, you know, that just makes us all interesting and life less boring. I couldn't agree more. I think sometimes what happens is people that, you know, believe when they think sometimes what happens is people that believe, when they're having discussions perhaps with people that don't believe in a deity,

I tend to, and I'm not at all saying you're like this, but I have noticed there tends to be, among people that are agnostic or atheist, they get a little angry. I think it's because we used to be afraid to say it. Yeah. Like, and now we're starting to like feel like, why can't we say it? Absolutely.

But I think it's... But the world we live in is so geared towards Christianity. I don't know how... I hate to be religious with a different religion at this time of year. Like, it's one thing to just abstain. But imagine you were Muslim. I think that'd be awful because if you look, everything is Christmas this and Christmas that and Jesus is the reason for the season. It depends.

I mean, when I was working at the Weather Network, I had an intern with me for a while that was Muslim. And it came to the Christmas season. And she was young. She was maybe about 15. And the studio, I used to, this is when I was the programming coordinator. We used to decorate the studio for the holidays. And there was a Christmas tree. And I remember having a moment.

I got stuck doing it. And I was pulling out the tree. And I remember having a moment thinking, oh, is it really insensitive for me to decorate this Christmas tree with Shamir? And I just asked her, I'm like, Shamir, do you care if I do this? Does it bother you? And she looked at me and she was such a lovely girl. And she said, Rosie, she goes, I would love to decorate a Christmas tree. I've never decorated a Christmas tree.

To her, she didn't see it as the symbol of, you know. It's been very secularized. She saw it as, you know, as a person that had recently come to Canada, you know, she saw in the shopping malls, you know, her family had, oh God, they, you know, they had just gotten out of some terrible situations. And she's in this, you know, beautiful city where the malls, everything's decorated so beautifully, people are happy. And, you know, she saw it more as a tradition that just looked like a lot of fun and where people do things together, families decorate it.

And she did the best job. She decorated that tree. And it was great. And, you know, this is a little girl that when she used to walk to work, she came in one day and she wore the hijab and someone out of a car threw food at her, threw something at her. Oh, that was probably Urgy.

Urgy. Yeah, she came in and she had like a tomato, like somebody had thrown like a half-eaten sandwich at her just for it. And, you know, you learn a lot from others and from their cultures. And, you know, I don't think we should get so worked up about frigging Christmas trees or what we call them. Rosie, sometimes there's so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can't take it. Like my heart's going to cave in. Does anyone recognize that quote? That's Ricky Fitz from American Beauty. in does anyone recognize that quote that's ricky fitz from american beauty and as i recall he says

that while that plastic bags swirl in the wind and thankfully toronto city council has reversed their earlier decision to ban plastic bags or ricky fits never would have had that moment that i really liked that movie That was such a good movie. It was amazing. And I loved that. Kevin Spacey, that's an amazing movie. So good. What an amazing movie.

I saw it the week before I saw Fight Club. Or was it the week after? I saw them both back to back. And I remember thinking, I loved them both so much. And they had similar themes running through them. And I was a big fan. That's true. God, I loved Fight Club too.

And I don't, I can't, I'm not really one much for like violent violent movies um but if it's you know the movies if it's done right like Braveheart well yeah no I just I can't I can't and the older I get the less I can well I couldn't even watch Boardwalk Empire the season finale I had to watch it oh my goodness Rosie poor Scott I was like can I look now can I look now can i look now you know he has to tell me what to look but um uh sorry but yeah fight club okay so um back to plastic bags so uh i was gonna ask you like if you what you think what do you do you use plastic bags i can say that since i uh since my rebirth and recent transformation like 18 months ago

rebirth and recent transformation like 18 months ago, I have done all the grocery shopping and I have my go-to reusable bags, including this big one from Costco that can fit like a hundred pounds worth of food in there. Those are the best. I swear by it. It's my car right now. And I go to no frills and I load up. I have never taken a bag because I don't need a bag. Exactly. I, okay. Oh, this plastic bag thing is so bananas. Okay. So I've shopped for a no frills for 10 years. That is where I've always shopped. So people, I shop there too, Rosie. So people in the no frills club, like me and Mike know that you have to pay 5 cents for a bag, no frills. You always have. That was always been their policy long, long, long before any of this started. So. So I always brought my own bags, you know, obviously to avoid the cost, but also to be

But mainly to avoid the cost? Well, it's a big part of it. I mean, let's be honest, right? You know, you don't, but it's also, I mean, I didn't have to shop there. And even when I went to stores that did provide them, like Sobeys and Loblaws, I always brought my own bags as well because I have really good grocery bags, big ones that I like and I use them and it's better for the environment.

And to be honest, you can fit more stuff in and it's easier. Now, that being said, I resent the fact that someone was trying to take away the option for me to buy one should I need it. And I think Loblaws was really smart to now put in a five cent tax as well. Because if you need one, if you forget your bags, I like to be able to buy one. And I feel like I should be able to.

They were going to make paper bags available. They weren't getting rid of bags, just plastic bags. I actually like the paper bags. Paper bags are fine. I'm with you. I don't think we have to become this nanny state that bans them. I just wish more people would just stop using them voluntarily and we wouldn't have to implement. But I have a problem with retail. I have to admit, a retailer like Walmart the last time I bought a big amount of stuff at Walmart. At Walmart now the bags, they're back to giving out the bags and there's no charge. And I watch the cashier as she bags the groceries because I had only brought one big bag and I bought more stuff of my own stuff.

They use so many plastic bags to bag. It's like, okay, two bottles of water go in here. And it wasn't that she was being sloppy or lazy. It's just that, you know, I think it's human nature. I don't have to worry about the, I can give out as many as I can. So why not just give this customer? I cannot believe how much plastic I had when I got home from Walmart. I never would have bought that many if I had to pay five cents. And I feel like if I, she had had to charge me, she would have used less. So I think that the five cent charge, all that like Loblaws, because Loblaws decided to keep it even after it was reversed.

I think they should also charge five cents. The option's there if I need it. But, you know, research shows that having the five cents cuts back so much on people using them. I have a great idea, Rosie. Let's charge 10 cents a bag. Absolutely. I totally agree with you. I totally agree with you.

Charge 10 cents. Stop agreeing with me. Well, it's true. The point is that. but don't take away my right to buy one. I really do think that I should still be able to buy one if I want one. Also, you know, I read some interesting stuff. Cities that have banned bags, like San Jose, California, they have a plastic bag ban. They say that in some cases people actually end up buying the heavier plastic bags more for their kitchen bags, like their kitchen garbage. So it's not really stopping the use of plastic bags.

Good point, Rosie. So we're okay with this reversal? Oh, God, yeah. Okay. So what did you think about the initial do you think it was just uh a knee-jerk reaction that day that they actually you know initially but apparently it's common for them to uh vote for on something and then go back and look into it further and then reverse like this apparently is how council works sometimes so i don't know i just it's all

fine it's bananas denzel minnan wong got his Denzel Minnan Wong got it done. But I can go either way. If you'd banned it, I'd be okay. And if you reverse the ban, I'm okay. I'm okay on this one. Look, it's a frigging bag. How upset am I going to get about it? But on this one, if I had to pick either or, I would prefer.

Although, I'm not thrilled with... I still think there should be a tax. I'm not okay with just Walmart giving me 80 billion bags. I hope Walmart's listening to this podcast. Rosie. Yes. We talked about the newsroom, the Aaron Sorkin newsroom, not the Ken Finkelman newsroom. Yep.

Do you remember 60 Degrees of Sunset Strippers? 60 Degrees. What was it called? 60 Sunset Strippers. 60 Degrees. What was it called? 60 Sunset Strips. Oh my God. Now I can't. Now because you said that. Okay, this is quite dramatic music.

I liked that show. I watched the whole first season. So did I. Matthew Perry. It was great. I'm so sad that they cancelled it. It ought to have been Matthew Perry. Although the plot line did get a bit ridiculous towards the end. But so was the newsroom.

No, no. I was just about to say. I don't agree. The West Wing is the last awesomeness from ridiculous towards the end. But so was the newsroom. No, no. I was just about to say, I don't agree. The West Wing is the last awesomeness from Aaron Sorkin. The newsroom, still good. Plot on 60, what the heck was it called? This is so crazy. 60 Sunset Strippers.

I liked it, but it's gone now. So this, there was an episode following the New Orleans, what do they have there? Hurricane and flooding, etc. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Okay, I was close. Sorry, go on. I had all the right words in the wrong order. I don't know where degrees came from.

So, there was a, I remember this song appeared in the episode where the New Orleans musicians came in to get like a paycheck and it was really kind of a neat little thing Sorkin did and I at the time it was on the NBC website and I downloaded the mp3 I didn't know this show wasn't going beyond a season but I downloaded it and I because I loved this arrangement I love this this is uh Oh Holy Night by Tipitina's Foundation. And I love this arrangement.

So I posted it on torontomike.com earlier in the week. And people can download it and play it at their cocktail parties this year. Gorgeous. I have to admit, I do enjoy, you know, when it gets Christmas season, getting my favorite Christmas songs put together. Other than this, what's your favorite Christmas song? Oh, The Pogues, Fairy Tale of New York. That's so beautiful.

By far my favorite. It's the only Christmas song I can actually listen to outside the month of December. Mine is The Pretenders, 2,000 Miles. 2,000 Miles, that's also good, though. How gorgeous is that song? You're on to the good ones. There's only a few good ones.

I know, I know. You've hit one. And Little Drummer Boy, there's... Oh, though. How gorgeous is that song? You're on to the good ones. There's only a few good ones. I know, I know. You've hit one. And Little Drummer Boy. There's, oh, this escapes me now. There's a good one of that, too. Oh, I thought you were going to go with the famous David Bowie and Bing Crosby version. So good. Near the end of Bing Crosby's life.

I have shivers just thinking about it. So beautiful. The Bing Crosby one? Yeah. So beautiful. Because it's like the old school met the new school and they like, it just happened live and it worked. I like David Bowie.

And Bing was dead like two years later or something like that. So, so, so good. Yeah. So there's, you know, certain beautiful, but that Pretenders one. Oh my God. I just, I love it so much. This is beautiful. Yeah.

So I like getting, getting all my Christmas, Christmas songs. Oh, and I absolutely love Vince Guaraldi trio. Of course. The Charlie Brown Christmas CD. I could just play it like over and over and over and over. I think I bought it, the CD, like five times, you know, lost it, downloaded it, everything. It's amazing. It's so good It's so good I wonder if Like you know Our kids You know for me

Charlie Brown And Snoopy And Peanuts And all that Will our kids even care about I mean No they're gonna play That thing into the ground

Trust me That Charlie Brown Christmas special Gets lots of Freaking exposure Every single year So good It's super religious though

You rewatch that thing It's super Christy at the end. Christy. That's okay. I mean, this song is Oh Holy Night. Like, this has no lyrics in it. But, I mean, it's not a secular song.

It's fine. There's a lot of beauty that came out of religion. And you can embrace it without embracing the foundation. Well, I think that's the thing when you talk about, you know, religion. Some beautiful art. I mean, you look at this you look up at the sistine chapel it's pretty much one of the most beautiful things i've ever seen and you know what it what inspired it right but anyways darn tootin um so uh on the topic of

christmas i just thought i'd share with you my christmas policy you have a christmas policy i don't know your christmas policy it took a lot of courage to implement this i had to do it in baby steps which i actually documented along the way on my 10 year old blog happy happy blog anniversary so uh but essentially there's an exception to this rule which is kids but except for kids like yes kids under 18 i guess or whatever uh there's a i have a strict no buy no receive christmas policy i don't want any stuff i have enough stuff and we're not going to exchange gifts we're going to exchange like conversation and we're going to break bread together and we're going to you know be together and enjoy the what i like about this

season and we're not going to make it some obligation to give me something that I don't need or want. So for the kids, you do the gifts and then for the adults? Nothing. My brothers and I won't exchange anything. You know, I can see that that probably was hard to do at first, though. Well, a lot of people rejected at first because they're like, but you know i want to give you something but then once you you know you realize that in my opinion what's nice about christmas time is that families get together to have you know you know bad food and good food and chocolatey desserts and and drink and be merry and we all get to be together and talk and we don't see each other that much and we can talk sports or whatever and that's what I like about Christmas I don't I don't need you know a DVD set of something or

I don't need stuff we have enough stuff I don't consume much all year I'll buy maybe two or three things and it'll total less than a hundred dollar I don't buy anything I don't need anything this Irish sweater being the exception Mike's wearing his irish sweater today um but what okay i actually i get that that's pretty cool but don't don't you and monica want to buy something for each other oh yeah yeah that's that's a good point uh because i have to admit like i like that idea but i feel like i'd want it by scott at least one thing you know because it's uh a newer relationship and we're still dating uh you're right that's like like how do you know i have to work that in later but that'll happen i uh you're right that's like like how do you not have to work that in later but that'll happen i'll work that in that's still gonna be baby stepped in

but the point is it certainly does cut down on a lot of buying of stuff you don't need you know here's my thing with gifts i actually i actually love buying things for people i love like you know my friends and family nothing gives me more joy than to buy you know than something that I think they're going to love or need and that they want. I'm not talking to most of the time they don't want or need it or will love it. No. And this is what I'm trying to get to. The problem with Christmas is that you are actually, you know,

it's almost like the guns to your head to buy all this stuff. Exactly. And I have, I've, I've, I've, I've got nothing. I've like just run out of ideas it's

really it's really hard and um like people like you know you buy them a book and they're like oh i do it on the kindle now or you i know you buy them a cd and they're oh i got it from the pirate bay yesterday and then you're no i actually find it all i actually find christmas shopping so much stuff we have this society consumes too much stuff no and that's the thing It's like Christmas forces you to For every single person that you care about You have to buy them something that's going to be meaningful And special and it's a lot of pressure It's expensive, it's stressful and it's wasteful

It's stressful and I find that The older I get the more I hate shopping I hate it I think I've got you convinced here I actually think I've got you one over I can't really see it flying in my family because I do think, you know, there is a lot of liking

to maybe surprise somebody with something special. But Scott and I used to buy each other lots of stuff and we definitely now have pared it down just because for the sheer fact that we don't need or want anything. Like really, right now, let me look in your eyes.

You look in my eyes. Is there anything you need right now? Nothing. Because you know what? When you need, ready for ready for this at this point you're 38 years old when you need something guess what you do buy it you buy it you do and that's why i'm like i don't need anything but if i let's pretend my phone broke it fell in the toilet it smashed i need a new phone now i don't go oh darn i guess i'll wait till christmas and ask for it i go get a phone because that's where i'm at in my life because. Because you're a grown up. Because I'm 38 years old.

Absolutely. No, and I resent the, what I do resent about this season is the pressure I have to, you know, I said to myself to buy stuff and I said to myself last year, I don't want to be stressed because, you know, we left it all to the last minute and we were shopping on the 23rd and it was monstrous and the malls and it was horrifying. And I said, I'm going to have it all done by December 1st. Of course I've done, I've done nothing. And then on your site, I saw a blind Dave. He Dave he was so funny he wrote don't string me up I've got all my shopping done except for one gift and I was so jealous I was

like he did his shopping oh he probably did it all on amazon.ca well you know what he's on to something that I have tried to do some online stuff um actually I bought some stuff for the kids online so I like I like online shopping. I when I was younger when I was in school, you know, we used to I used to love the malls, but I can't stand malls, especially at this time of year. And I hate the consumerism everywhere. Like it's so in your face and everything's trying to get you to part with your your credit card, get your credit card, your wallet and swipe it. And this is my policy. No ask, no receive. If you want to buy me something because you love me and care for me,

then help out my friends at Second Harvest where my good friend Jordy works and or donate to my Terry Fox run. I've done it every year for a long time. I missed a year because I went to Europe. I had to go to Europe. I couldn't and I missed a year, but I'm going to be back on it again next fall. There you go. That's awesome. Terry Fox. Second Harvest, missed a year, but I'm going to be back on it again next fall. There you go. That's awesome. Don't eat Terry Fox.

Second Harvest Youth. What a wonderful organization. When did you put up your Christmas tree yet, Rosie? Yes, I did. I put my tree up. I put it up on Saturday. And it was funny because last year when I put it up, my little guy was just about one and a half. And he didn't really notice.

He didn't really pay much attention. So this year when I hauled it out and I started putting up the lights, when I plugged in the first string of lights, he was sitting on the couch playing on his iPad. And he looked at the lights and he looked at me. And he started jumping up and down. He was so excited. And then he ran over.

And it was really neat to see the first sort of awareness of something really cool is happening. So, Trees Up. I tried to put it up the first weekend of December. I don't think you should do anything Christmas decoration related until December the 1st. November is too early. I see people on my street decorating the trees outside. Oh, after Halloween.

No, wrong. Some people, when they take down their Halloween stuff, they put up their Christmas stuff. See, I think city council, they should stop wasting their time with this plastic bag BS

and still no Christmas decorations before December 1st. I think Ford's working on that. Well, that would be productive because it just sucks the fun out of it. It's not special if you're doing it the day after Halloween. Come on. I'm with you, Rosie.

I'm between houses right now. You sound like you're homeless. I don't live under a bridge. I'm in a temporary home. I have a temporary fixture. So I have a little tree. Oh, I love little trees. My mom has a little tree now.

It's quite nice. So is it up? You put it up? Yeah, it's up. It was so easy to put it up because it just sort of like went into the storage closet and then I took it out and plugged it in. It's sort of like already done up. It's pretty simple.

It's kind of a tree. But I suspect when I get back in the, I would say I own a home. I just don't live in it. So when I get a second home, because I'm going to be like Donald Trump, when I get my second home, I would say I own a home, I just don't live in it. It's when I get a second home because I'm going to be like Donald Trump. When I get my second home, which might be next summer or something, I'm going to have a big tree again. When you're in your home and Monica is in charge of the decorating, you will have a big tree with lots of decorations. Yeah, she does like Christmas stuff. I love it.

I have to say I love it. I love pulling out the ornaments. My Christmas tree was actually kind of neat. Scott and I were married in November. And so we had a little bit of a, because I love Christmas, and we had a bit of a Christmas thing going at our wedding. And so I actually had Christmas ornaments as the favor. And it's so nice because, you know, 10 years later,

we'll still go to someone's house and they'll see the Christmas ornament from our wedding. But somebody actually gave us, and I think it was the best wedding gift, a Christmas tree. Oh, wow. Yeah, it was great. And so, yeah, it's our tree. Did you see the tree at the Eden Center? I did. Don't you think it looks like nothing nothing like a tree like it's a cone

but it doesn't look like a tree no it's it's it's flash it's one of those style over substance yeah i mean i i saw you know some people were getting uh hot and bothered about that but it's not hot enough to like blog about it but i was there i went there before the actually before the uh elgin theater thing uh and i just thought like it was kind of didn't look like a tree it's not my favorite one i have to admit i do prefer them more i like the traditional ones but i do like you know some of the swarovski ones they've they've done with the crystals are are they're beautiful they're so sparkly it's not my favorite one but i don't mind stuff like that i like when they do something a little bit out of the box you know you know and i like the color i love the

color okay i just wanted it's like shocking it's like a shocking pink like kind of it's it's wild yeah i liked it but i want it in my house as my tree no i think it's a tree that would be in like gem in the holograms home exactly did you uh hear the song that played while you told us that beautiful story about the one i wasn't listening to did you hear that story i was gonna say you weren't listening to me you weren't listening to me and i wasn't listening to your song that's a christ Christmas song I actually like. I Believe in Father Christmas by Greg Lake. Nice. Yeah, this is, I must say, the music today, Mike, is top drawer.

Next week we're going to talk more about Christmas music. Very nice. You mentioned to me in passing this past week, you mentioned that there was some study. Do you want to tell me about the study that you think might be interesting to discuss? Well, I'm a copywriter and I work, I have a small business.

I work from home most of the time. Rosie, I work from home. And Michael works from home as well. Toronto Michael. It's, I've always, you know, I've always, there's a lot of benefits to it and I've always quite, you know, quite liked it. And I was reading, there was an article in Maclean's magazine,

and it really grabbed me because it was negative. It was, why would you want to work from home? And in it, it references a study from BYU, Brigham Young University, where Mitt Romney went, and it said that that working from home due to the lack of social interaction can be as unhealthy for you as smoking. And that people that work from home, by not being involved in the day-to-day interactions with human people, you know, going, getting a cup of coffee,

how was your day, how was your weekend, that that over time can actually cause duress to your emotional state and can be terribly, make you terribly sad and sick. May I just say that study's wrong, okay? I had a feeling you were going to react like that. It's just because I've been,

when did I start working from home? In October, 2011. So over a year ago, I started working from home. And although it took me a few months to adapt I'd say just it was so many years of cubicle culture that I think I didn't know when to break and I didn't know when to eat and I didn't quite get the rhythm down but since I came back from Berlin in January 2012 I basically uh structured my day and I've been doing it since January and

it's I love it so much now. Like I wake up, I get, I put my coffee on and my French press coffee. I check my email. I have like a European stuff I'll typically do in the morning and then like North American stuff in the afternoon. And I have a sort of a system for what, when I work on what at 12 o'clock sharp, I go do some exercise. Like right now it's swimming, but I go and then I get back and I make sure I eat. I eat a healthier lunch than, you know. Well, that's one thing for sure. No, that I can definitely think, I think it's true, particularly for food. I think when you work from home, you definitely eat better because you're at home. So you have the ability to make things. I thought

it was really interesting because I've been working from home since I was pregnant, so 2009. And just recently, I started back one day a week for a company in a traditional work environment. So it was... What day of the week? On Mondays. So you're miserable on Mondays. So Mondays is like the... And it was funny because it was a bit...

It's hard to go back, right? Well, it was interesting. It was the whole get in the car a bit, it was a bit. It's hard to go back, right? Well, it was interesting, you know, it was the whole, you know, get in the car and, you know, drive and, you know, good morning to everyone. Can you work in a robe? No, the robes are, it's actually quite, it's a corporate. So you can wear a robe? It's quite a, no, it's quite a corporate environment. Oh, I'm not good in those environments.

Yeah, and it's, no, you don't, they don't, no jeans, no robe. And I mean, that's, that's fine. And it's, no, you don't, they don't, no jeans, no, no robe. And I mean, that's, that's fine. And there was this part of me that was like, oh, it, you know, there is something about, you know, getting dressed up in your little business suit and going in and, you know, this and that. But do I really, you know, do I really miss that?

Maybe because I worked for so long and yeah, I, I mean, so long, I'm not going to work for 50 years, but you know what I mean? It's, it's, I, the office, I had my fill of the office environment is what i was trying to say and yeah it's um this whole notion that it's there's no socialization i think it's really incorrect too because i don't know what other people are like when they work from home but i'm connected by skype and all day long i'm having conversation one-on-one conversations and group discussions via skype work work related stuff i'm there's a lot of just not in person but there's socialization that way and sometimes in the summer i'll at lunchtime i'll bike to my mom's instead of swimming i'll go on a bike ride to my mom's and and hang with her for half an hour and bike back and i do a lot of socialization

in the evenings and weekends like i never have an alone evening and weekend. It's not like you're alone all the time. Like from nine to five, I get a lot of stuff done and I'm very calm and I get my swim in and I eat healthy and I'm good. It works for you. It agrees with me. Yeah, it was funny because normally you just you always hear so much positive stuff. So it was interesting to see an article that, you know, was sort of. Don't they have magic underwear as well?

see an article um that you know was sort of don't they have magic underwear as well one thing i did find when i started working from from home was i did find though that um people i do think people don't tend to respect it as much um i remember um in terms of you know you're the fact that you are working i remember shortly shortly after I was working on a really demanding project, and it required a lot of focus. And I remember a girlfriend calling me and saying, oh, why don't I, not that you're home in the mornings, why don't I come over for coffee? She was on mat leave.

And I actually couldn't believe how offended I was, because if I was in an office,'t believe how offended I was because well if I was in an office would you like if I know of course I don't know think of that but you do have more flexible hours working from home absolutely but you know I still want people to respect the fact that I'm working right it doesn't of course yeah it's uh you're still working in fact I get more done at home because no one drops by my cubicle to tell me about their weekend. Think about how much time you waste at work. Or even just getting a coffee

at the cubicle culture and office environment. Somebody catches you and then tells you a war story. Usually it's a big boss who's got some war story they want to tell you. And you got to like pretend you're interested for 25 minutes. No one's doing that anymore.

It's just, yeah, the political, never mind. No, no. All right, so we are agreeing again. We always agree, Rosie. I like this, I like this. Do you remember this, Rosie? rosie hold me dr who i can't go anymore i gotta shut this down this is this was not my this was not my uh thing okay i i do remember it i was raised on tv ontario so this was i guess after school i was planted in front of it was channel two it's still channel two i guess and

it had programming at like five o'clock or four four to six or something was like a block of stuff i would watch i think there was polka dot door in there. Maybe Jeremy. Oh, my name is Jeremy. Dr. Snuggles. Friends to the End. I think In the Green Forest. The Green Forest. And I'm trying to remember, but the chalk guy, Simon. And my name is Simon.

And the things I draw. There's a boot. Talk and boot. What was that? Read along. Read all about it or something. Talk and boot. Mike is not looking at notes. He is remembering all of this

it's very impressive oh my god these shows yeah these tv ontario shows in my head but i guess the last show for my age group at the time whatever i was eight or nine or whatever was at like 5 30 and at six o'clock that dog that exact because i had to go hunting for the right version there's a million and one versions of this doctor who theme they have different iterations of this series through the years but the 1980 to 1985 version is the one i just played and i distinctly remember just it creeped the hell out of me hearing that damn theme song at six and i couldn't get that no no no remote control Rosie I gotta I couldn't get the tv off fast enough I was the remote control for my dad you know it

actually really traumatized me like uh to this day I can't even hear somebody say anything positive about Doctor Who and if I even like even phone booths are starting to freak me out and I know a lot of nerds it's a very uh I don't want to call it a nerd show but the same guys who like Star Trek seem to like Doctor Who and there's a science fiction kind of yeah yeah they have high IQs the people who like Doctor Who which would mean you probably think I would like it of course but I can't even like entertain the idea of trying any of these Doctor Who iterations spooky no too spooky it is spooky spooky. That's very, so that clip you just played,

that's the one from when we would have watched it back in the day. Wow. So I tweeted off the cuff one day, I tweeted, you know, that at six o'clock every day that Doctor Who theme song

used to scare the shit out of me. And I got a lot of people who agreed. That's hilarious. A lot of 30-something-year-olds, like even Daniels Brown, he had the same experience. I think any of people who agreed. That's hilarious. A lot of 30-something-year-olds, like even Daniels Brown, he had the same experience. I think any of us who watched that, whatever the 5.30 show was,

I think it was Polka Dot Door, but I don't remember. Tell me, Rosie. I'm pretty sure Polka Dot Door was 5.30 because I remember my mom, she was a teacher. She'd pick me up. We'd come from my grandparents.

My mom was a teacher. I know. Rosie, are we the same? Well, I was just a joke we have the same uh we have the same mama we have divorced teacher moms yep wow yeah okay so rosie let me get this straight uh you remember it as i remember it might have been polka dot door i watched a lot of polka dot door i love polka polka dot door pokeroo do you remember when you figured out two things one you figured out that that guy was pokeroo right yep because he was never there when Pokeroo showed up. And the second is when that camera zooms into the yellow dot to see the video,

you know, you can see there's hinges on the dots it can go into. And there's only two options. And you can pretty quickly guess which hole you're going into. And I used to go in that one. And you can call which dot the camera's going into. It is ridiculous how much I liked Polka Dot Door. I loved it. And the episodes where Polka-

Was that Marigold? Came. I just, I loved it. And I loved all those other ones too, the Jeremy and the Simon. They were so sweet. Dr. Snuggles. I liked Green Forest. I loved it.

Loved it. But I like kid shows now even. Like I have to admit, I love, I like a lot of them. Sorry. I like Gaba gaba the wiggles your kids are too old for that now my 11 year almost 11 year old and eight year old are way they're all about selena gomez and her wizards of waverly place and all this i'm so sorry you have to i'm so sorry you have that's in your world very young you know they they abandon

that kid stuff you're describing that gets abandoned pretty early yeah i could i could actually i could i could see that. I liked Mighty Machines. I used to watch Mighty Machines. I liked how they did it. Nicholas loves Mighty Machines. He loves the song. That voice is the guy who does the World Junior Championship now. And not my friend Paul Romanuk, but the other guy, Gord.

Really? Who does it right now? Gord something. That's so... Really? That's so interesting. Yeah, that's the voice of Mighty Machines. We also quite like The Cat in the Hat.

Knows a lot about that. Martin Short being... Don't know that one. The Cat in the Hat. Oh my gosh. That's a interesting. Yeah, that's the voice of Mighty Machines. We also quite like The Cat in the Hat. Knows a lot about that. Martin Short being the cat in the hat. Oh my gosh. That's a new one. Nicholas's first thing he said was, there's a part where Martin Short, Cat in the Hat, gets in the car to take off.

He's so great. His voice is just amazing. And they sing, here we go, go, go, go on an adventure. And Nicholas goes, go, go, go. So an adventure and nicholas go go go so cute rosie when i get my next set of kids i'm gonna totally enjoy that show yeah you're gonna love it it's great it's a good one can you swim yes i was on the swim team in university i didn't know that i can't believe you didn't know that i didn't i had no and i i knew you all i had no idea you

were on the swim team wow yeah um okay and high idea you were on the swim team. Wow. Yeah. And high school. I was on the swim team in high school. My girlfriend is 31 years old and is taking swimming lessons. That's amazing. Because she doesn't know how to swim. That's amazing. Okay.

Where is she taking them? Mississauga Valley. She was telling me, one thing she told me is that they have A unisex change room now What? Wait what? Yeah Mississauga Valley Apparently got renovated Or whatever

And they have A unisex change room I don't even understand There's no girls room Or boys room So when she goes To put her bathing suit on There's men?

Maybe they have Like a closet or something There must be a place to go Yeah but it's not The change room is unisex And maybe you have like Stalls or something you can go into

okay you know what I could see that sure so um okay so I was just okay so my question was okay so I was I always think

I'm thinking of my 31 year old Monica and she's doing this I picture her like she's there with like six and seven year olds like when Kramer was learning karate

right that was so funny so Monica's I mean most 31 year olds, like when Kramer was learning karate. That was so funny. So Monica's, I mean, most 31 year olds, like to me, that's a basic life skill you learn as a kid.

My mom can't swim. Wow. Yeah. And you know, for my mom, it was such a hard thing for her that she was determined that me and my brother would swim.

I loved it. I took to it well. My brother, not so much. No, no, just didn't get her in swim. Oh no, she's not the Italian.

No, her dad was French Canadian. No, she was just terrified Italian. No, her dad was French-Canadian. No, she was just terrified. She was terrified. It was one of those things. I think that's Monica's thing. She was scared of the water. Yeah, no, no.

Her parents, you know, my grandparents tried to get them. She was just terrified. She was terrified. So she was so frightened that she was determined her children would not. Yeah, good. And my brother was. I wasn't scared, but Joey was terrified. But she was determined.

He did learn to swim. Good. But he was scared. Some people are scared. They're both really, really good swimmers. determined. He did learn to swim. Good. But he was scared. Some people are scared. They're both really, really good swimmers. That's important. I'm glad Monica's learning so we can swim together. Because right now, she can't put her hand.

Yeah, it's like she's scared to go under the water. Well, and you know, the problem is that, and this is why I took Nicholas like at six months. I think people thought I was nuts. But I took him in swimming at six months. The older you get, like anything, learning a language, it's harder. Everything's harder. You have fear. You have anxiety.

You have all these things that, you know, when you're a little baby, you don't have. So make sure your kids have swimming lessons. Absolutely. Absolutely. And if you don't, we're going to judge you. Well, you know what? I even noticed it. You know, now he's two and a half and I take him.

He goes for swimming lessons. He puts his faces in the water. He dunks in. He isn't scared. And I see other kids that are only starting now. And this isn't the case for all of them. But for some of them, you could see, oh, I don't, you know, I don't want to, I don't want to. There's, it's the younger you do it, the better.

Absolutely. Good. We agree again, Rosie. I don't know. We agree again. Freaking out. It must be the holidays. One last note before we wrap things up in this episode 18.

I just wanted to say Elvis, past guest Elvis, went to Brazil. And he asked our opinion. That's the one thing I guess if you work from home, you don't get to go to. Although you do. Sorry. I was in Amsterdam. Are you kidding me? I went to Amsterdam twice.

And Berlin. I get the best. Never mind. I'm wrong. You're wrong. Berlin. Come on. I. I was in Amsterdam. Are you kidding me? I went to Amsterdam twice. And Berlin. I get sebased. Never mind. I'm wrong. You're wrong. Berlin. Come on. I'm a world traveler now.

So Elvis went for work, by the way. He went to Brazil. And he asked us what he should watch. I guess he had a long flight and some time on his hands. And I said, you know, of course, The Wire. The greatest show in the history of television. Of course you watch The Wire. So he's fine.

He downloads the first two seasons. I got updates from Elvis when he he got back he's hooked he's loving the wire i'm he tells me i'm exactly correct he gave me a long a lot of list of the stuff he loves about the show he can't wait to start season three funny thing is season three and four it gets better okay i'm like oh buckle up here big guy guy. We're going. But talking about The Wire with him, I realized I have to watch it again. It's that good. I'd rather watch that again than all these shows lined up I have to get to.

No, I'm going to do another trip down The Wire. I'm going to do the five seasons again. Elvis is hooked. It's funny because I saw that tweet Elvis tweeted out asking us, he's got all this time, what should he watch? And Mike, of course, recommended The Wire. I actually replied to him as well and suggested The Sopranos.

He chose The Wire over The Sopranos. I hate to end our podcast on a disagreement. You know, you never gave The Wire a chance because you were multitasking and The Wire demands your attention. You need to focus on it. You know what? Thank you. You got me there.

Hey, that's it. We again agree. That's another agreement. You know, there's no guarantee any of the wonderful audio I piped through this podcast showed up. So we'll find out in a minute. Fingers crossed. Cross your fingers. Bye, Rosie.

Bye, Mike. Thanks, everyone, for spending some time with us. We'll see you soon. Bye. guitar solo Well, I want to take a streetcar downtown Read Andrew Miller and wander around And drink some Guinness from a tin Cause my UI check has just come in Ah, where you been?

Because everything is kind of rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold But the snow wants me today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and green