April 20, 2025 • 21 mins
Inquires: 301 651 7921
In Episode 17 of RideShare RoadTalk we chat with a DC area Red-Bull rep on her way to Balos Restaurant discussing all things Boston, nutrition, the Life of Pi and a Vegan Valentine's Date Disaster. Let's Drive!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to another episode of Rideshare Road Talk
Conversations in Motion, apodcast where we create
unfiltered talk space thatexamines the meaningful lives of
my passengers, while engagingin personal and topical
discussions.
I'm your host and driver, johnFoddis, and we're cruising the
streets of Washington DC.
Buckle up, let's drive, so tellme about you.
(00:33):
What's your story.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
My story is I am, I work for Red Bull.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Oh, the um.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
The energy drink.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I work for Red Bull.
Oh, the, the energy drink.
Okay, I work for Red Bull, Ilove my job.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
So you're my person if I need the Red Bull hookup is
what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I might be, I very well might be.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I had an old narrow friend of mine who did artist
relations for a guitar companyand he would just show up at my
house with like five cases ofRed Bull.
Smart man Like here and I'mlike dude, I don't really need
all that Keep you energized.
And whoever discovered the RedBull and vodka genius.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Genius.
Yeah, we have so many flavorsnow.
That is like people are gettingreal creative with the
cocktails.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Well, it's like riding the lightning right.
Yeah, it's like you'rebalancing the edge of the
stimulant and the depressive atthe same time.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, I've had too much Red Bull today.
I'm feeling a little nauseous.
Oh no, don't do that, I'm goingto dinner.
Okay, that's good.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
So I mean, what's that like for you?
How'd you fall into that gig?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
honestly, yeah, by chance I um, I'm from,
originally from boston, nice.
I quit my full-time job andworked my part-time job um, like
basically full-time, and I wasbasically like a brand
ambassador for, uh, molsoncore's beverage company okay, I
(02:02):
see the pattern, yeah and so Imet the people on the team on
marathon monday and I'm you guysare drunk at work, I want your
job, and they're like oh,there's a program, Are you
interested?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Wait what kind of program?
First they clean you out beforeyou start.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
There's a program to like get you like hired.
Yeah.
So they flew me.
I did the interview process,three interviews, I got chosen.
They flew me out to Milwaukeefor six weeks, Okay.
And then they're like you haveto be a hundred percent willing
to relocate.
And I said okay.
And yeah, they chose for me tomove to the DMV.
Wow, and so that was right.
(02:36):
At the pandemic, I moved hereOctober 2019.
Pandemic happened hated workingfor Molson Coors.
I'm like it's a lot of oldwhite men's little, not my vibe
Fair.
And then Red Bull reached outto me and they had all the perks
Okay, they give you a car payfor your gas, pay for your car
(02:57):
insurance.
The benefits are endless withRed Bull.
And, yeah, I've been here eversince.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
That's a good start to your story.
I like it.
I like it.
I've been here ever since thatthat that's a good start to your
story.
I like it.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I like it I've been here ever since so the boston
connection.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
You still have people back there I do, I do
whereabouts.
I don't know what intimately,but give me a juxtaposition um.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I have family in roxbury, dorchester I have some
folks out in lynn, which is alittle bit outside of the city,
some folks in brockton, all soyou're entrenched.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Okay, that's cool.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
I am a Bostonian.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
I did a summer vacation with my family.
This was years ago.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
It was mostly Maine.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
We did two weeks and turned around at Bar Harbor and
the last stop was Boston.
Needed to go to Fenway and allthat you know.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
And I get it like I know it's a great city and I'm a
history, but where's the but?
Speaker 1 (03:52):
oh, it's coming for sure.
But yes, we had such an amazingkind of bucolic downshift kind
of experience in Maine.
The stimulus overload literallyruined the whole trip.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Really, because that was our last stop.
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
I was like nah, I'm like in lobster blueberry pie
mode, getting up at like 11, andall of a sudden I'm in Boston
and now there's like bullshitgoing on and just tension.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
It's a lot and it's my thing I get it right.
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I can roll with that.
I just wasn't in the rightmindset for it.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, so Definitely got to be in the right headspace
.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah, yeah, for a good old boss soon.
Yeah, my kid, my oldest son, hewas a football kid.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
And he was being recruited at some schools and
there was one north of was,north of providence, which I
know isn't boston, but they hada business program that had a
feeder program into boston andnew york by default brown or
something like I believe.
Uh no, it's called bryant oh, Iknow bryant university.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I have a lot of friends who went to bryant.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yeah, it was cool, a little small, not much going on,
but way more than my schoolthat I went to where'd you go?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I went to wheaton college, so with the w wheaton
yep so north of rhode island aswell, okay, 1600 people yeah,
that is small so brian is biggerwow, okay yeah that's one of
those deals where you know whereyou stand within two weeks.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
It can be challenging or it can be like dialed in, I
guess.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I was like you know, if I probably went to a bigger
school I might have failed out.
It might have been a littleharder.
So, it was right where itneeded to be.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
My school was very small, that was down in Florida.
Okay, a thousand years ago.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I used to live in Miami.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
I would go back.
Okay, yeah, I went to school inBoca.
Okay, I know what a horribleplace to be as an 18-year-old
kid.
Terrible Late 80s, Terribletime.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
What could go wrong?
My God, I don't know what myparents were thinking.
I love Florida, yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Let me not say Florida.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, had a good time in my life.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
For sure Before Lauderdale.
Yeah, yeah, I have theopportunity where I'm building a
second business down there withan old friend of mine and she's
in Tampa and I don't know if Icould just live, live there, but
I might be able to do like amodified snowbird down there for
the winter and move some thingsaround and then come back here
(06:18):
in the summer.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, my good friend he's.
I want to say he's like 65 now.
He's a snowbird and I I'm justlike that is the life, right
there it can be, especially ifyou're renting something that's
kind of pre-furnished.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
You're not dealing with insurance.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
He owns and then, like he rents the in the off
season.
So you know residual incomeperfect yeah perfect, perfect,
which is smart.
You.
Yeah, people always want to goto Florida and South Beach.
It's not the same post-pandemicbut, it might be better that
way.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
The humidity thing is just a trunk slammer for me.
I can't deal with it anymore.
I just can't.
It's a lot.
I'd rather be cold.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Humid, or really rainy or just humid.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Yeah, I just I know I'd be a vampire like if I would
only go out at night, which isfine, but all alfresco at night,
having to do dinner or whatever.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
But it's not even like you have a lot of hair in
your head.
That's what most people areworried about is their hair
getting fuzzy, that's true.
What are you going to have alittle sweat on you.
Your hair is going to be like abush.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
I love it.
Great observation.
To be fair, I voluntarilyshaved my head like 15 years ago
Fair, thick, greek, italian.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
My hair wasn't going anywhere, did it never go back,
shaved it off.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
And over the course of time I did start seeing the
pattern on top.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
I'm like God damn Were you getting the cul-de-sac.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
The who the cul-de-s sack, the who the cold sack
that's what people call it.
I call it bullshit.
I don't call it a cold sack.
Oh, but yeah, it's there nowand I'm like all right, fine,
I'm 56 whatever it's fine,you're totally fine.
That's so funny.
So tell me more about this.
(08:01):
Um, what is it ballos?
Speaker 2 (08:05):
ballos, a mediterranean restaurant that
opened probably like a year anda half ago I would say and um,
it's literally like if they callthem supper, they're opening
more and more of them, butthey're called supper clubs,
basically.
Okay, yeah, where they're stillkind of nightlife centric.
There's a live DJ in there.
They have a whole segment where, like, the waiters come around
(08:29):
and give you a stack of blacknapkins, they cut the lights off
and then, when the lights comeback on, everyone throws napkins
Like it's a whole party.
People are standing on thecouches and then, like, the
food's also good too okay,clientele, wise vibe age range
it's a mix.
Am I gonna be like a?
Speaker 1 (08:46):
fish out of water.
On them, just just kick it,just everything's cool, it's a
mix.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Okay, all right, I would say that, like age wise,
it's a mix, but I think that,like you know, people usually go
there for, like, their birthdaydinner like you don't want to
go there like you.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
You, I don't know, like you just went deep sea
fishing or something, but um,but it's a nice vibe in there
and the food is pretty tasty aswell you know, the nice
byproduct of doing this podcastis like I get to rediscover the
city through other people's lensyeah, which is really cool and
I'm also vegan, so if you haveany vegan listeners, you can get
(09:22):
a vegan meal oh, I have a goodvegan story for you what is it?
well, my wife and I willtraditionally, traditionally do
day after valentine's day forwhatever it is we're going to do
.
So the night of I was down heredoing this and I drove a couple
of people just to get contentright and this one lady randomly
(09:43):
said hey, have you seen anyfights tonight?
I'm like what do you mean?
She goes you know Valentine'sDay, you know fights.
I'm like no, what are youtalking?
That's a thing.
She's like yeah, I said, justwatch, you'll get one.
Okay, have a nice night.
See you later Next ride.
Young couple Date Valentine'sDay.
Right, she's a vegan, he's not.
(10:05):
They're going to dinner.
I don't know how, but theystarted talking about the book
the Life of Pie Familiar.
I'm staying out of it at thispoint, but her position was the
tiger never should have been onthe boat to begin with, because
it's not fair to the tiger.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Like taking the vegan position a little too far
outside of the bubble in myopinion.
Right, it's a book, like I getit.
So I don't know if he knew,like the door was closed before
it even opened, but he's likelaying in a little bit, like
pressing it, and he's like Idon't see it that way.
(10:49):
And then you know well how doyou feel about this.
You know, I'm going to NewOrleans and I'm going to get on
an airboat and we're probablygoing to go down and like take
pictures of little babyalligators and stuff and feed
them marshmallows and things,and then she fires back.
I don't like that for you.
So first of all, let's on,let's unpack that phrase for a
(11:11):
couple of days.
I don't like that for you, okay.
And then at that point I justcan't take it and I chime in.
I said something to the effectof well, I don't think.
I think the marshmallow isvegan, so maybe there's some
common ground there for you ohmy god, or something like that.
Oh I know it was so funnybecause you know I don't really
need the job.
I just figured, you know whynot?
(11:33):
And so it was.
It was a little icy.
And then I kind of apologizedand she was like no, no, no,
you're in it now.
And so now it was this triangleof weirdness going on and it
was so funny.
And when the guy, when they'regetting out, and he did the
(11:54):
right thing, they were going toa vegan restaurant, Like good
for you, bro, but like you couldjust tell, like there was a
pathology and it was just overbefore it started.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, he's like, this is too much for me.
Probably should have picked adifferent day, bro.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Maybe.
And so as he's sliding out ofthe car, he looks at me and kind
of laughs and I said, hey man,I dare you to get a steak later.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
And then the door shuts.
I hope you laugh.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, how did that become part of your life, that
lifestyle or that choice,political, nutritional, both
Nutritional, yeah, okay, becomepart of your life, that that,
that lifestyle or that choice,um, political, nutritional, both
nutritional, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
So I, when I moved here, I had just always had it's
just still like, I think, youforever just trying to figure
out your, your, what kind ofhealth type of lifestyle you
want to live, and so I had givenup beef and pork.
In high school, one of myclassmates told me some freaky
story.
I can't even remember what itwas, but it was enough for me
not to up beef and pork.
In high school, one of myclassmates told me some freaky
story.
I can't even remember what itwas, but it was enough for me
not to eat beef and pork again.
Okay, and then?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Oh my God, it was green for a second.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I think that I just started to.
I had a lot of stomach problems.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
And so I had, during the pandemic, I self-diagnosed
myself with a soy intoleranceand soy was in everything and I
was just miserable.
But I was like, okay, well, mystomach still hurts, so maybe
it's not soy.
So I just went down this rabbithole of just like information.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
And so I started to learn about the stuff that I was
that we're eating, yeah, and Iwas like yo, they're trying to
kill us.
Like why is all this stuffbanned in?
Speaker 1 (13:38):
europe and like we still eat it here, I'm like.
So I literally was like they'retrying to kill us literally gmo
.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
I get it, you know they call it.
You know sick care, not healthcare.
And so from then on, like justthe more information I learned,
at first it had nothing to dowith animals.
It was really just like me justknowing what I was consuming.
Yeah, and I had gone vegan onetime before, years, years ago,
but it wasn't a thing and I wasreally hungry and I was partying
hard yeah.
(14:01):
So I was eating like bags ofchips fries and at the end of
the night and I was like my skinwas breaking out.
Yeah, all things processed andso now it's just kind of like
that's how it started.
I just educated myself.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
You know that's interesting, like I mean there's
no way in hell I could ever dothat.
But I had a recent like prettybad health diagnosis.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
My question is why do you say you could never do that
?
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Well, okay, let me rephrase that I don't think it's
, I don't think I could why.
I know myself I could try, butthe longevity of that effort
might not be there.
But when I got this diagnosis,it required a complete, radical
change of the way I ate,consumed or whatever, and I've
(14:53):
been this size my whole life.
You know athletic, playedsports, yada yada.
I'm Greek and Italian.
I know how to cook.
I cook good food.
I just probably haven't justexercised well, my whole life or
whatever, or properly, butthrough this process of just
going 180, replacing complexcarbs with quinoa, lean pork and
(15:18):
chicken versus steak, lots offish, juicing vegetables, all
that reducing the sodium, allthat stuff.
That to me was the kicker washow much sodium is in things
that don't necessarily need tobe there, like a frozen chicken
breast plain that you wouldthink is super healthy, that you
would get, say, at Costco, haslike 700 milligrams of sodium in
(15:42):
it and they're injecting itwith it.
And you're only supposed to have1,500 for the day.
So I think I'm making thesegreat adjustments limiting my
inbound, but what's already inthe product itself is derailing
me.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
So I get it.
I think that's great when youhave that much self-awareness
and you do a change like that.
Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
It's definitely not easy and I find myself trying to
shy away from putting myself inthe category of vegan because
when I was in Europe, trust andbelieve I was eating some prawns
okay, I had some octopus like.
I can't eat that here yeah,yeah, that's so I just I, just I
just think I'm like I'm aconscious eater.
(16:26):
Sure, I'm gonna start callingmyself that aly either labels
are bullshit.
Labels are meant religion, uh,political party.
Everything is meant to divide usyou know, and we don't need to
be divided, we need to be comingtogether I agree, and you
should be able to to eat whatyou want.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Just don't tell me it's because of a tiger on a
rowboat that that puts you onthat journey, because that's
some bullshit right there.
It just is.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
That girl was so crazy, yeah however, I do feel
that people have majority ofpeople have food addictions and
people are like.
People know that, like eatingan excessive amount of meat or
processed food or fried food isbad for you, but they're like,
so people, and that's why I saylike.
(17:13):
Why do you think you can't doit?
It's because you want to eat.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
What you want to eat, yeah but it's also like you
know, it's bad for you right soit's just like yeah, but to be
fair though, I've been eating soclean now for like six months I
don't want to eat anything ubersaturated because I'll feel
horrible.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Yeah, I just don't want to eat anything uber
saturated because I'll feelhorrible.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Yeah, I just don't want to do it Like, but I've
learned a new way to enjoy thefood that I do happen to allow
myself in small bites.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
It is a process.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
I adopted the Japanese.
What is that, Umami?
It's about the experience, thetexture, the flavor.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
I don't need a big, huge plate of one thing, just
give me a couple small bites of,and if I'm in a jail, you know
five, six nights a week.
At home I go out once to dinnersomewhere and that's cool and I
kind of enjoy that kind ofchange of my, my brain chemistry
(18:07):
that way what is this placehere?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
this must be new which one that 12 17.
Nexa rose bar.
I've never seen that before inall my drunken nights.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
I was gonna say.
I'm never here in daytime, likeat night I can wash things out.
Probably because of the signage, I haven't been outside in a
while.
Rewind.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Oh, it's a rug store.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Not as exciting as I thought it was, but yeah, that's
my story, okay.
I like it.
I like it, and you're youngenough to where you're going to
have a lot more chapters, whichis great.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
I hope so.
Yeah, what's considered youngthese?
Speaker 1 (18:59):
days.
Who knows, man, who knows?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
I mean I'm 56.
I thought you were 57.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Damn it.
Give me three weeks.
In my head it's a ping ponggame back and forth.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Both ages are good.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Yeah, Like I know you're vegan, I'm just going to
tell you straight up Surfsidefish tacos off the hook.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
I've had Surfside before, but I definitely had
vegan tacos.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
I'm sure those are good too.
They are Well if you like lambthough they say the lamb at
Bala's is really good.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Okay, I'm totally going to drill into that for
sure, I appreciate that NormallyI pass that on to someone else
in my journeys, but I'm going tohold that one for myself.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Yeah, I think you'll enjoy it that this is a supper
club.
They just opened Bar Angie.
It's funny, it's my.
Gaija, is that your wife's name?
Speaker 1 (19:59):
No, no, it's like a nickname for one of my kids.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
oh, it's at the light on the left okay, cool balos
bar angie.
Similar kind of deal gaia, Idon't want to pronounce it
g-a-i-g-a-i-a.
That's the new one, that justit's not open yet.
A-i-a.
That's the new one.
It's not open yet.
It's opening next week.
Okay, oh, this isn't the chat.
(20:21):
Cool, beautiful, it was lovelychatting with you, yeah yeah,
enjoy your evening.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
And small world, who knows, maybe I'll see you in
there someday.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
For sure, you never know.
Be safe, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Take care.
Bye now this episode ofRideshare Road Talk.
If you've enjoyed what you'veheard, we'd love for you to
review the podcast on yourfavorite listening platform,
like Apple or Spotify.
Your support helps us so much,and don't forget to reach out on
Instagram with your feedback ortopic suggestions.
Until next time, let's drive,thank you.
Welcome to another episode of Rideshare Road Talk
Conversations in Motion, apodcast where we create
unfiltered talk space thatexamines the meaningful lives of
my passengers, while engagingin personal and topical
discussions.
I'm your host and driver, johnFoddis, and we're cruising the
streets of Washington DC.
Buckle up, let's drive, so tellme about you.
(00:33):
What's your story.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
My story is I am, I work for Red Bull.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Oh, the um.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
The energy drink.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I work for Red Bull.
Oh, the, the energy drink.
Okay, I work for Red Bull, Ilove my job.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
So you're my person if I need the Red Bull hookup is
what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I might be, I very well might be.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I had an old narrow friend of mine who did artist
relations for a guitar companyand he would just show up at my
house with like five cases ofRed Bull.
Smart man Like here and I'mlike dude, I don't really need
all that Keep you energized.
And whoever discovered the RedBull and vodka genius.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Genius.
Yeah, we have so many flavorsnow.
That is like people are gettingreal creative with the
cocktails.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Well, it's like riding the lightning right.
Yeah, it's like you'rebalancing the edge of the
stimulant and the depressive atthe same time.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, I've had too much Red Bull today.
I'm feeling a little nauseous.
Oh no, don't do that, I'm goingto dinner.
Okay, that's good.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
So I mean, what's that like for you?
How'd you fall into that gig?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
honestly, yeah, by chance I um, I'm from,
originally from boston, nice.
I quit my full-time job andworked my part-time job um, like
basically full-time, and I wasbasically like a brand
ambassador for, uh, molsoncore's beverage company okay, I
(02:02):
see the pattern, yeah and so Imet the people on the team on
marathon monday and I'm you guysare drunk at work, I want your
job, and they're like oh,there's a program, Are you
interested?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Wait what kind of program?
First they clean you out beforeyou start.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
There's a program to like get you like hired.
Yeah.
So they flew me.
I did the interview process,three interviews, I got chosen.
They flew me out to Milwaukeefor six weeks, Okay.
And then they're like you haveto be a hundred percent willing
to relocate.
And I said okay.
And yeah, they chose for me tomove to the DMV.
Wow, and so that was right.
(02:36):
At the pandemic, I moved hereOctober 2019.
Pandemic happened hated workingfor Molson Coors.
I'm like it's a lot of oldwhite men's little, not my vibe
Fair.
And then Red Bull reached outto me and they had all the perks
Okay, they give you a car payfor your gas, pay for your car
(02:57):
insurance.
The benefits are endless withRed Bull.
And, yeah, I've been here eversince.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
That's a good start to your story.
I like it.
I like it.
I've been here ever since thatthat that's a good start to your
story.
I like it.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I like it I've been here ever since so the boston
connection.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
You still have people back there I do, I do
whereabouts.
I don't know what intimately,but give me a juxtaposition um.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I have family in roxbury, dorchester I have some
folks out in lynn, which is alittle bit outside of the city,
some folks in brockton, all soyou're entrenched.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Okay, that's cool.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
I am a Bostonian.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
I did a summer vacation with my family.
This was years ago.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
It was mostly Maine.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
We did two weeks and turned around at Bar Harbor and
the last stop was Boston.
Needed to go to Fenway and allthat you know.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
And I get it like I know it's a great city and I'm a
history, but where's the but?
Speaker 1 (03:52):
oh, it's coming for sure.
But yes, we had such an amazingkind of bucolic downshift kind
of experience in Maine.
The stimulus overload literallyruined the whole trip.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Really, because that was our last stop.
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
I was like nah, I'm like in lobster blueberry pie
mode, getting up at like 11, andall of a sudden I'm in Boston
and now there's like bullshitgoing on and just tension.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
It's a lot and it's my thing I get it right.
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I can roll with that.
I just wasn't in the rightmindset for it.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, so Definitely got to be in the right headspace
.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah, yeah, for a good old boss soon.
Yeah, my kid, my oldest son, hewas a football kid.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
And he was being recruited at some schools and
there was one north of was,north of providence, which I
know isn't boston, but they hada business program that had a
feeder program into boston andnew york by default brown or
something like I believe.
Uh no, it's called bryant oh, Iknow bryant university.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I have a lot of friends who went to bryant.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yeah, it was cool, a little small, not much going on,
but way more than my schoolthat I went to where'd you go?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I went to wheaton college, so with the w wheaton
yep so north of rhode island aswell, okay, 1600 people yeah,
that is small so brian is biggerwow, okay yeah that's one of
those deals where you know whereyou stand within two weeks.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
It can be challenging or it can be like dialed in, I
guess.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I was like you know, if I probably went to a bigger
school I might have failed out.
It might have been a littleharder.
So, it was right where itneeded to be.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
My school was very small, that was down in Florida.
Okay, a thousand years ago.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I used to live in Miami.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
I would go back.
Okay, yeah, I went to school inBoca.
Okay, I know what a horribleplace to be as an 18-year-old
kid.
Terrible Late 80s, Terribletime.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
What could go wrong?
My God, I don't know what myparents were thinking.
I love Florida, yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Let me not say Florida.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, had a good time in my life.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
For sure Before Lauderdale.
Yeah, yeah, I have theopportunity where I'm building a
second business down there withan old friend of mine and she's
in Tampa and I don't know if Icould just live, live there, but
I might be able to do like amodified snowbird down there for
the winter and move some thingsaround and then come back here
(06:18):
in the summer.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, my good friend he's.
I want to say he's like 65 now.
He's a snowbird and I I'm justlike that is the life, right
there it can be, especially ifyou're renting something that's
kind of pre-furnished.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
You're not dealing with insurance.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
He owns and then, like he rents the in the off
season.
So you know residual incomeperfect yeah perfect, perfect,
which is smart.
You.
Yeah, people always want to goto Florida and South Beach.
It's not the same post-pandemicbut, it might be better that
way.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
The humidity thing is just a trunk slammer for me.
I can't deal with it anymore.
I just can't.
It's a lot.
I'd rather be cold.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Humid, or really rainy or just humid.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Yeah, I just I know I'd be a vampire like if I would
only go out at night, which isfine, but all alfresco at night,
having to do dinner or whatever.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
But it's not even like you have a lot of hair in
your head.
That's what most people areworried about is their hair
getting fuzzy, that's true.
What are you going to have alittle sweat on you.
Your hair is going to be like abush.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
I love it.
Great observation.
To be fair, I voluntarilyshaved my head like 15 years ago
Fair, thick, greek, italian.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
My hair wasn't going anywhere, did it never go back,
shaved it off.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
And over the course of time I did start seeing the
pattern on top.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
I'm like God damn Were you getting the cul-de-sac.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
The who the cul-de-s sack, the who the cold sack
that's what people call it.
I call it bullshit.
I don't call it a cold sack.
Oh, but yeah, it's there nowand I'm like all right, fine,
I'm 56 whatever it's fine,you're totally fine.
That's so funny.
So tell me more about this.
(08:01):
Um, what is it ballos?
Speaker 2 (08:05):
ballos, a mediterranean restaurant that
opened probably like a year anda half ago I would say and um,
it's literally like if they callthem supper, they're opening
more and more of them, butthey're called supper clubs,
basically.
Okay, yeah, where they're stillkind of nightlife centric.
There's a live DJ in there.
They have a whole segment where, like, the waiters come around
(08:29):
and give you a stack of blacknapkins, they cut the lights off
and then, when the lights comeback on, everyone throws napkins
Like it's a whole party.
People are standing on thecouches and then, like, the
food's also good too okay,clientele, wise vibe age range
it's a mix.
Am I gonna be like a?
Speaker 1 (08:46):
fish out of water.
On them, just just kick it,just everything's cool, it's a
mix.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Okay, all right, I would say that, like age wise,
it's a mix, but I think that,like you know, people usually go
there for, like, their birthdaydinner like you don't want to
go there like you.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
You, I don't know, like you just went deep sea
fishing or something, but um,but it's a nice vibe in there
and the food is pretty tasty aswell you know, the nice
byproduct of doing this podcastis like I get to rediscover the
city through other people's lensyeah, which is really cool and
I'm also vegan, so if you haveany vegan listeners, you can get
(09:22):
a vegan meal oh, I have a goodvegan story for you what is it?
well, my wife and I willtraditionally, traditionally do
day after valentine's day forwhatever it is we're going to do
.
So the night of I was down heredoing this and I drove a couple
of people just to get contentright and this one lady randomly
(09:43):
said hey, have you seen anyfights tonight?
I'm like what do you mean?
She goes you know Valentine'sDay, you know fights.
I'm like no, what are youtalking?
That's a thing.
She's like yeah, I said, justwatch, you'll get one.
Okay, have a nice night.
See you later Next ride.
Young couple Date Valentine'sDay.
Right, she's a vegan, he's not.
(10:05):
They're going to dinner.
I don't know how, but theystarted talking about the book
the Life of Pie Familiar.
I'm staying out of it at thispoint, but her position was the
tiger never should have been onthe boat to begin with, because
it's not fair to the tiger.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Like taking the vegan position a little too far
outside of the bubble in myopinion.
Right, it's a book, like I getit.
So I don't know if he knew,like the door was closed before
it even opened, but he's likelaying in a little bit, like
pressing it, and he's like Idon't see it that way.
(10:49):
And then you know well how doyou feel about this.
You know, I'm going to NewOrleans and I'm going to get on
an airboat and we're probablygoing to go down and like take
pictures of little babyalligators and stuff and feed
them marshmallows and things,and then she fires back.
I don't like that for you.
So first of all, let's on,let's unpack that phrase for a
(11:11):
couple of days.
I don't like that for you, okay.
And then at that point I justcan't take it and I chime in.
I said something to the effectof well, I don't think.
I think the marshmallow isvegan, so maybe there's some
common ground there for you ohmy god, or something like that.
Oh I know it was so funnybecause you know I don't really
need the job.
I just figured, you know whynot?
(11:33):
And so it was.
It was a little icy.
And then I kind of apologizedand she was like no, no, no,
you're in it now.
And so now it was this triangleof weirdness going on and it
was so funny.
And when the guy, when they'regetting out, and he did the
(11:54):
right thing, they were going toa vegan restaurant, Like good
for you, bro, but like you couldjust tell, like there was a
pathology and it was just overbefore it started.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, he's like, this is too much for me.
Probably should have picked adifferent day, bro.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Maybe.
And so as he's sliding out ofthe car, he looks at me and kind
of laughs and I said, hey man,I dare you to get a steak later.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
And then the door shuts.
I hope you laugh.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, how did that become part of your life, that
lifestyle or that choice,political, nutritional, both
Nutritional, yeah, okay, becomepart of your life, that that,
that lifestyle or that choice,um, political, nutritional, both
nutritional, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
So I, when I moved here, I had just always had it's
just still like, I think, youforever just trying to figure
out your, your, what kind ofhealth type of lifestyle you
want to live, and so I had givenup beef and pork.
In high school, one of myclassmates told me some freaky
story.
I can't even remember what itwas, but it was enough for me
not to up beef and pork.
In high school, one of myclassmates told me some freaky
story.
I can't even remember what itwas, but it was enough for me
not to eat beef and pork again.
Okay, and then?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Oh my God, it was green for a second.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I think that I just started to.
I had a lot of stomach problems.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
And so I had, during the pandemic, I self-diagnosed
myself with a soy intoleranceand soy was in everything and I
was just miserable.
But I was like, okay, well, mystomach still hurts, so maybe
it's not soy.
So I just went down this rabbithole of just like information.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
And so I started to learn about the stuff that I was
that we're eating, yeah, and Iwas like yo, they're trying to
kill us.
Like why is all this stuffbanned in?
Speaker 1 (13:38):
europe and like we still eat it here, I'm like.
So I literally was like they'retrying to kill us literally gmo
.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
I get it, you know they call it.
You know sick care, not healthcare.
And so from then on, like justthe more information I learned,
at first it had nothing to dowith animals.
It was really just like me justknowing what I was consuming.
Yeah, and I had gone vegan onetime before, years, years ago,
but it wasn't a thing and I wasreally hungry and I was partying
hard yeah.
(14:01):
So I was eating like bags ofchips fries and at the end of
the night and I was like my skinwas breaking out.
Yeah, all things processed andso now it's just kind of like
that's how it started.
I just educated myself.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
You know that's interesting, like I mean there's
no way in hell I could ever dothat.
But I had a recent like prettybad health diagnosis.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
My question is why do you say you could never do that
?
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Well, okay, let me rephrase that I don't think it's
, I don't think I could why.
I know myself I could try, butthe longevity of that effort
might not be there.
But when I got this diagnosis,it required a complete, radical
change of the way I ate,consumed or whatever, and I've
(14:53):
been this size my whole life.
You know athletic, playedsports, yada yada.
I'm Greek and Italian.
I know how to cook.
I cook good food.
I just probably haven't justexercised well, my whole life or
whatever, or properly, butthrough this process of just
going 180, replacing complexcarbs with quinoa, lean pork and
(15:18):
chicken versus steak, lots offish, juicing vegetables, all
that reducing the sodium, allthat stuff.
That to me was the kicker washow much sodium is in things
that don't necessarily need tobe there, like a frozen chicken
breast plain that you wouldthink is super healthy, that you
would get, say, at Costco, haslike 700 milligrams of sodium in
(15:42):
it and they're injecting itwith it.
And you're only supposed to have1,500 for the day.
So I think I'm making thesegreat adjustments limiting my
inbound, but what's already inthe product itself is derailing
me.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
So I get it.
I think that's great when youhave that much self-awareness
and you do a change like that.
Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
It's definitely not easy and I find myself trying to
shy away from putting myself inthe category of vegan because
when I was in Europe, trust andbelieve I was eating some prawns
okay, I had some octopus like.
I can't eat that here yeah,yeah, that's so I just I, just I
just think I'm like I'm aconscious eater.
(16:26):
Sure, I'm gonna start callingmyself that aly either labels
are bullshit.
Labels are meant religion, uh,political party.
Everything is meant to divide usyou know, and we don't need to
be divided, we need to be comingtogether I agree, and you
should be able to to eat whatyou want.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Just don't tell me it's because of a tiger on a
rowboat that that puts you onthat journey, because that's
some bullshit right there.
It just is.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
That girl was so crazy, yeah however, I do feel
that people have majority ofpeople have food addictions and
people are like.
People know that, like eatingan excessive amount of meat or
processed food or fried food isbad for you, but they're like,
so people, and that's why I saylike.
(17:13):
Why do you think you can't doit?
It's because you want to eat.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
What you want to eat, yeah but it's also like you
know, it's bad for you right soit's just like yeah, but to be
fair though, I've been eating soclean now for like six months I
don't want to eat anything ubersaturated because I'll feel
horrible.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Yeah, I just don't want to eat anything uber
saturated because I'll feelhorrible.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Yeah, I just don't want to do it Like, but I've
learned a new way to enjoy thefood that I do happen to allow
myself in small bites.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
It is a process.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
I adopted the Japanese.
What is that, Umami?
It's about the experience, thetexture, the flavor.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
I don't need a big, huge plate of one thing, just
give me a couple small bites of,and if I'm in a jail, you know
five, six nights a week.
At home I go out once to dinnersomewhere and that's cool and I
kind of enjoy that kind ofchange of my, my brain chemistry
(18:07):
that way what is this placehere?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
this must be new which one that 12 17.
Nexa rose bar.
I've never seen that before inall my drunken nights.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
I was gonna say.
I'm never here in daytime, likeat night I can wash things out.
Probably because of the signage, I haven't been outside in a
while.
Rewind.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Oh, it's a rug store.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Not as exciting as I thought it was, but yeah, that's
my story, okay.
I like it.
I like it, and you're youngenough to where you're going to
have a lot more chapters, whichis great.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
I hope so.
Yeah, what's considered youngthese?
Speaker 1 (18:59):
days.
Who knows, man, who knows?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
I mean I'm 56.
I thought you were 57.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Damn it.
Give me three weeks.
In my head it's a ping ponggame back and forth.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Both ages are good.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Yeah, Like I know you're vegan, I'm just going to
tell you straight up Surfsidefish tacos off the hook.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
I've had Surfside before, but I definitely had
vegan tacos.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
I'm sure those are good too.
They are Well if you like lambthough they say the lamb at
Bala's is really good.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Okay, I'm totally going to drill into that for
sure, I appreciate that NormallyI pass that on to someone else
in my journeys, but I'm going tohold that one for myself.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Yeah, I think you'll enjoy it that this is a supper
club.
They just opened Bar Angie.
It's funny, it's my.
Gaija, is that your wife's name?
Speaker 1 (19:59):
No, no, it's like a nickname for one of my kids.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
oh, it's at the light on the left okay, cool balos
bar angie.
Similar kind of deal gaia, Idon't want to pronounce it
g-a-i-g-a-i-a.
That's the new one, that justit's not open yet.
A-i-a.
That's the new one.
It's not open yet.
It's opening next week.
Okay, oh, this isn't the chat.
(20:21):
Cool, beautiful, it was lovelychatting with you, yeah yeah,
enjoy your evening.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
And small world, who knows, maybe I'll see you in
there someday.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
For sure, you never know.
Be safe, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Take care.
Bye now this episode ofRideshare Road Talk.
If you've enjoyed what you'veheard, we'd love for you to
review the podcast on yourfavorite listening platform,
like Apple or Spotify.
Your support helps us so much,and don't forget to reach out on
Instagram with your feedback ortopic suggestions.
Until next time, let's drive,thank you.
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