January 20, 2025 • 34 mins
Ever wondered how a simple shift in your guiding principles can transform your life? Join us as we share our journeys through life's complex labyrinth guided by our "North Stars." John opens up about his dramatic career transition from banking to education, driven by his commitment to family, faith, and the joy of helping others. His story of mentoring a struggling student reminds us of the profound impact a single act of guidance can have. We reflect on how these guiding stars can evolve, shifting like constellations, and stress the importance of focusing on what we can control amidst the chaos of uncertainty.
The art of listening can be a powerful tool in navigating life’s challenges, and we explore this in depth, drawing inspiration from mentors like Rick Click and fictional figures such as Ted Lasso. It's not just about hearing words but truly understanding them, a skill that can foster empathy and growth. We share personal anecdotes that highlight how mentors have shaped our paths, emphasizing the importance of recognizing and nurturing the strengths of those around us. These stories underscore the power of leadership through empathy, encouraging a culture of growth and understanding.
Amidst the serious conversations, we find joy in lighter topics like potential podcast names and preferred drinks, capturing the camaraderie found in bar conversations. From the tactile pleasure of a smoked Old Fashioned to the nostalgia of seasonal memories, we reveal snippets of our personalities. As we build our community, we invite you to join us, engage in lively discussions, and share in the warmth and wisdom of our shared experiences. Your support and involvement are vital as we embark on this journey together, exploring life's guiding principles and the joy of connection.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, we're live , Gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
how are we today?
Speaker 3 (00:04):
Hey, pretty good, Luke Doing well, Yep doing great
.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You know, it's kind of one of those days where
there's a lot of things going on.
Today, I mean, we're not goingto necessarily give what day it
is, but, boy, I think by ourconversation you're going to be
able to tell what day it is thatwe recorded this.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
It is a very busy day , isn't it?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yep, a lot going on, a lot going on.
What we have talked about andyou heard it in our intro is
we're just three guys that wantto talk.
I mean, we talk about differentthings.
We talk about a lot of thingsthat are happening not just in
our lives but just everywhere.
Right, the things that you hearabout one day at a time, and
we'll pick some topics and we'llmove and we'll see where it
(00:47):
takes us.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, not quite sure where we're going with this, but
I think it'll be a good timefor us to.
I love the part of our introwhere we're actually, you know,
wanting to learn and admit whatwe're wrong sometimes.
So you know, I know there's alot of areas in my life where I
think I've been wrong before andmaybe still am.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
And I think that's probably the biggest thing that
we could lead into our firstpart of the conversation that we
had talked about was to kind ofdefine each of us, so you all
can get to know us a little bit.
Just kind of define where ourNorth Star was.
What guides our life, whatguides us day by day?
What do we think is important?
What do we think is things thatwe work toward?
(01:25):
What do we do?
So, john, why don't we startwith you?
Start with me, sure.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Let's start with you, north Star.
What's my North Star?
I think that the thing thatguides me the most is probably
family and helping others.
I became an educator because Ireally wanted to help others,
(01:54):
started out my life as a bankerI don't know if that was helping
others, but helping others buythings, buy houses, help them
get to live on their own and allthat kind of stuff but then
moved into education, which iskind of a family tradition in my
house.
My dad, grandma, mom, sister,wife, everybody in my family
(02:21):
seems to have something to dowith education.
So helping others and familybig part of my life, and also my
faith is a big part of my lifetoo.
So those are some North Stars.
It's hard to define just one, itis the biggest one probably is
(02:43):
the, uh, the helping others.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Yeah, tell us a story like where you think you helped
someone you know and it waslike it not only made an impact
on them, but it made an impacton you, wow.
That's a uh kind of a tough oneto think about.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Um, so I guess from education, many, many kids in
education over the years thatI've been in education, one that
(03:20):
really stands out is a kid thatwas really having a struggle
coming to school, having astruggle being in school, having
a struggle just being aroundpeople, and really took that
person, that young man, under mywing and helped him to
(03:46):
understand kind of how to workwith people, how to be himself
around people, and that peopleweren't necessarily—it's hard in
schools hard in high school—buthow people weren't necessarily
(04:07):
looking at him and judging himit might have been him thinking
some of those things right.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
So he's like had a perspective.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yeah, he had a different perspective and just
taking that perspective and andshowing him how it might.
We might need to change thatperspective a little bit and uh,
it worked out really well.
We got him school, got himworking, uh graduated, just uh,
a success story.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, you see him much now.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
You know it was one of my stops, many stops in
education, and it was.
It was a ways away from here,so I don't see them a whole lot.
If I do, I certainly will sayhello.
But yeah, I've seen a lot ofkids over the years that say
thank you and sometimes I don'teven remember their names.
I hate to say that you don'teven remember what you've done
(05:03):
with kids or for kids because,yeah, well, you know you just do
it naturally.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah, with as many kids as you've probably impacted
, you know hard trying toremember one name now is.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
It's probably hard, it's always difficult.
But not you know, in education,I think that obviously you
you're in contact with a lot ofpeople, whether they're adults,
whether they're kids, I mean,there's always going to be
somebody.
And over the years, you know,we are the half-century crew
here, so we've seen and met alot of people over the years.
So it's one of those thingsthat we can.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
By the way, that doesn't mean I've been in
education for a half-centuryCorrect, I have not either, only
a quarter-century.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I think, tagging off of what John said, I think that
one of the things that I'vealways looked at is that as I've
gotten older, it's kind of likeyou know you go out in the
middle of the night, out in thebackyard with your wife and you
want to look at the stars, youknow, and you see the Big Dipper
, you see whatever you see.
But then if you go out, youknow, a week later on a nice
clear night, they're not in thesame place.
Those North Stars kind ofchange where their position is.
(06:08):
So when I've always looked atthis kind of question when we
were thinking about this earlier, mine's kind of changed.
And as I got older, one of thebiggest things that I've looked
at is in our world, I thinkthere's a lot of people that
really have a lot of anxietyabout a lot of things, and one
of the things that I've learnedis really I just need to do the
best that I can to controlthings, that I actually have
(06:29):
some control over, all thoseextraneous things that are
always in our kids' faces and inour faces from social media and
from the news and everythingelse.
So many of those things wedon't actually have any control
or responsibility for.
So I really try to live by theidea that I do the best that I
can to control the things that Ican and to do my best to make
(06:51):
sure that I'm also listening toothers and making sure that my
focus is not tunnel vision.
I really try to.
In our intro I know we put thatin there that we want to make
sure that we can talk withpeople and have discussions
without it being adversarial.
It doesn't have to be.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
And that's a rare thing, right?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yeah, I mean it is, but you hear it so many times
where it's this fight to thedeath over something that you
think or that I think.
And just because we both thinkof something differently doesn't
mean that you're wrong and I'mright or vice versa.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
It doesn't mean anything.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
As we're sitting here , with you with an Ohio State
shirt on, and me with a Michiganhat.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
I mean we can still be friends.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Well, you got something on, I got something.
Come on, john, let's not startthe first show with that.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
But I think that that's, you know, really trying
to be, if you want to say, agood human being, to really just
be that person that can listen,that can learn.
You know, I mean, I think asI've gotten older, my dad used
to tell me all the time aboutcommon sense, but I think it
took me a while to really figureout how to actually learn
(08:06):
something.
You know, there was hands-on.
There was always that, like I'ma better learner when it's
hands-on but I think that thatlistening part and really
thinking about it is the way todo it and the way to learn and
to grow.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
You know, we have two ears and one mouth, for a
reason.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
We do, john, we have two ways to hear and listen.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
And really hearing and listening are a little bit
different.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
I think we can hear a lot of things, right, you bet.
And a lot of times, while we'rehearing people talk, we're
actually thinking in our mindhow we can maybe come up with a
different way of saying howwe're right and it's it's.
It's hard to actually listenand still, you know, say, okay,
(08:51):
I may not agree with youcompletely, but we're still
friends and we're listeningwithout judgment Yep, yep yeah.
Yeah, Ted Lasso has a great,great quote.
It's a great show, but he has agreat we're going Ted Lasso
episode.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yes, he has a great show, but he has a great quote.
We're going Ted Lasso in thefirst episode.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yes, Wow, he has a great quote that says don't be
judgmental but be curious.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
I just love that so anyways.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
He says it's from Walt Whitman.
I don't know.
I've searched and it'sdifferent people that it's
attributed to.
Well, I'm sure it's Apple.
It's in Ted Lasso.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
That to.
Well, I'm sure it's Apple, it'sin Ted Lasso, that's for sure.
That's their rendition of it.
I think, when I think of a NorthStar, back when I was I don't
know 16, 17 years old, I wasreading the Bible and Psalm 37,
23 came up in that particularreading for that day, and it
says the steps of a good man areordered by the Lord and he
(09:46):
delights in his way.
Though he fall, he will not beutterly cast down, for the Lord
upholds him with his hand.
And so I guess my North Star isknowing that there will always
be like whatever steps I take, Iknow they're being directed by
the Lord.
You know they're being directedby God and under his providence
.
Things are may not always beperfect, but they'll always be
(10:08):
right at some point.
It may not be comfortable, butthey'll be right.
And I think the guy that kind ofreally helped me process some
of those things and was a guynamed Rick Click, who was a high
school teacher when I wasgrowing up.
Wait, what was his name?
Yes, you heard it, rick Click.
(10:28):
Yeah, and maybe he'll listen tothis at some point.
He'll probably see it out theresomewhere.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Well, if you are, Rick, welcome.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yes, absolutely.
But he made a huge impact on meand kind of helped me develop
with that North Star for life isgoing to be.
And here we are, almost 40years later.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
And I think it's funny that you say that, because
I know that was one of thethings that I was thinking about
as we were talking about topics, and things to talk about were
people that have had a hugeinfluence in our lives, and in a
meeting that we had a coupleweeks ago we were talking about
that and I remembered one of myteachers whose name his name was
(11:11):
Mr Wire and he was a verysoft-spoken but very direct
teacher and he also had the bestpenmanship I'd ever seen for
anybody up to that point,probably since then and he
taught a class that was calledModern Communications Media and
I was taking the class and I waskind of my high school
(11:33):
educational career probablywasn't a whole lot of things to
write home about as far asacademics goes, but I remember
writing a paper about somethingand he gave it back, handed it
back a few days later and in redink across the top it was Mr
Peterson, the hole that you aredigging for yourself is
beginning to resemble the GrandCanyon, and I remember it hit me
(11:56):
and I was like you know, Icould probably do so much better
at this if I really put my mindto it to do it, and I think his
quote there kind of stuck withme Like it made me realize that,
hey, somebody realized what mypotential could be.
Called you out on it and Iwasn't even thinking myself of
making myself or driving myselfor being motivated enough to
make myself better, but justthat quote from him, I think,
(12:19):
did a huge thing for me, to helpme be motivated, and I think
those are the kinds of thingsthat we, as leaders, as we
aspire to be leaders, I thinkthat that's something that we
need to do is find that somehow,with the people that are
surrounded around us, to helpthem.
Whatever it is, like John said,about helping people and about
(12:40):
doing something, it's findingwhatever that is for somebody,
being able not only first tohighlight it but then to get
that person to understand it,which some people have a wall up
, let's not lie.
I mean, some people have a wallup and they don't want to hear
it, but I think it's importantfor us to be able to do it.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Understand it and then act on it.
That's the hard part, isgetting them to actually do what
they need to do Walking the wayof the Lord, doing your work in
the way that you need to doyour work.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
And I think it's important to even just saying
that and thinking about it asI'm talking is that we still
have to circle around to thatand say we can try to guide
somebody that way and we can dowhat we can, but again, whatever
their perspective is, theymight have something that we
don't know about that's drivingthem in a different direction.
(13:36):
So we need to be aware of that.
We need to be able to say hey,you know what?
I'm not going to force thisperson or push them.
I'm going to continue to try toguide them if they want it or
if it's my spot to be able to doit.
But I think we always need tobe cognizant that there's
something, possibly, maybewhatever that they have going on
in their mind or from theirexperience that's holding them
(13:58):
back.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
And that's the listening part that you talked
about earlier.
You got to listen withoutjudgment so that you can get to
that trust.
That trust and anybody can be aleader.
Anybody in any part and anybodycan be a leader.
Anybody in any part of theorganization can be a leader.
Any part of the school can be aleader and give that influence
(14:24):
by listening without judgment,helping that person understand
where they are and helping thatperson get to where they need to
be.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Yeah, you know being in the I mean all three of us
have been in the people businessfor a long time.
I've not been in education,obviously near as long as you
guys have from a publiceducation perspective, but you
know people a lot, you knowmanage people quite a bit over
the years and I think that'sexactly.
I think we, you know you'renailing it, john, you know
(14:56):
listening and and then you knowacting on, you know that to try
to build that trust with, withpeople.
So, yeah, that was some.
That's a good.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
I think we should probably get a little elephant
out of the room here.
I didn't know if it was goingto be broached today, but we
probably should, and just kindof let everybody know that all
three of us work together.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Yep, we do.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
We work in the same high school building.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
We all have different roles in that building school
and that means folks we workwith ninth graders who are 14,
15 through 12th graders who are18, 19.
And that's a fun age to workwith.
It really is.
And it can be a challenging ageto work with as well if you
have any teenagers at home.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
So those things that you'll hear us talk from, that's
some of our perspective.
As you heard in the opening,we've all grown up differently
different areas of the country,different faiths, different
religions, a lot of differentthings but in our years together
we've learned to be friends andwe have a lot of engaging talks
(16:08):
, and that's kind of where thiswas born was to be able to share
some of those experiences withpeople and to get people
thinking on a differentperspective, on different things
, and to open people's minds upa little to some stuff that
maybe they hadn't thought aboutbefore.
That's kind of what I wasthinking, I mean if you guys
agree, and I think that we kindof all did, and I think it's
important for us to do thatbecause now, in this modern age
(16:30):
right, there could be peoplelistening to this from wherever.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
The other side of the world for all I know who knows?
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Which is cool but scary all at the same time.
But you know what it's neat tobe able to have your voice heard
and to hopefully you know, ifwe open up somebody's eyes, we
open up somebody's eyes.
It's all good.
Hopefully we do.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Wow, where'd all those people come from?
I don't know.
They're out outside the door, Ithink.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I hope they're not really outside, because it's
pretty cold out, but I know, aswe are, as we had looked through
some things I mean, we weretalking about some other stuff
where, where we had and, andjust just as we've started this
up and again, today is just kindof a get to know us and
hopefully to get to you too, toknow you as well, and if people
commented on things, so we couldkind of see where we were at.
But one of our initial nameswas Bourbon and Banter, wasn't
(17:25):
it?
Wasn't that one of our namesthat we had talked about?
Speaker 1 (17:27):
I think we ran that around.
That was one of them.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
We didn't want to center our whole basis of
listeners around bourbon Right,but that does flow once in a
while.
Occasionally, absolutelyOccasionally it does, and that's
good, but it's something where,again, we wanted it to be a
place where people could comeand talk and just be open about
things and talk about things.
And so one of the questionsthat we had talked about was a
(17:53):
hypothetical situation.
But we're all married guys andwe enjoy spending time with our
wives, and we just came up witha little hypothetical where you
walked into a nice bar with yourwife and it'd be weird if this
actually happened here, since Idon't live anywhere close to
where I grew up but you happento see a friend from high school
(18:15):
and he comes over and offersyou and your wife a drink that
he'd pay for.
So, john, what do you think ifhe said that?
What would you order and whatwould you order for your wife?
Speaker 3 (18:41):
for your wife well, because I know my wife really
well, I would order her a sweetdrink, and something she really
likes is moscato.
So they didn't have a Moscato,we'd figure something else out.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
So it's probably wine .
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Moscato is what she would do.
Okay, Not necessarily alwayswine, but Moscato is a good
start.
For myself.
I would order a Blue Moon.
I'm kind of a craft beer typeof person.
Uh, with the orange joy, Iwould have the orange yes okay,
(19:17):
and usually I ate the orangebefore I drink the oh yeah, good
, so that's, that's okay what Iwould order from uh a friend if
they have offered me, okay, andmy wife a drink.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Yeah, chuck, what about you?
Well, I would.
My wife's drink would be Sex onthe Beach.
Oh, wow, yeah, absolutely Okay.
That's a drink that she reallyenjoys and we've had it a number
of times, and my drink wouldprobably be a red uh, I think
(19:53):
it's called red breast, is thatright?
It's a.
It's irish whiskey, does thatsound?
Okay, yeah it's either red.
I want to call it redhead, butI know that's um what's in the
what's in the drink?
Speaker 3 (20:05):
irish whiskey.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
No, it's just an irish whiskey on the rocks I'll
drink it neat or on the rocks,it depends depends on who I'm
drinking it with.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
It's the brand.
Yeah, I think it's called RedBreath, gotcha A buddy of mine.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
He had some at his house and we were sampling his
many bottles of Irish whiskey,and that was one of them, so it
was delicious.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
I do that sampling once in a while too.
I have a friend that we changewhere we're at, either at my
place or at his place, and we'lltry to get different ones and
test them and see.
And there's some bottles thatare still on the shelf that
aren't the greatest, there'sother empty bottles that wind up
in the recycling bin.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
It just kind of depends.
So, chuck, what kind of whiskeyIs that smooth whiskey, or is
that one that kind of goes no?
Speaker 1 (20:52):
So it depends.
I mean, I don't know An Irishwhiskey, I like a smooth Irish
whiskey, smooth Irish whiskey.
You know, if I'm not drinkingSlane it's, you know, like a
Jameson's Irish or whatever it'sgot a little bite to it though.
It's got a little bite to it,you know, but it just it feels
good.
It's not like, doesn't tastelike turpentine going down your
throat.
I mean it's not a bourbon, youknow.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Right right.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
It's a whiskey, so it's got to.
You got to kind of get a tastefor it.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
I always thought bourbon to me kind of tasted
like what an ashtray smells liketo me.
I don't know why.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
It.
Just I cannot get into know whyI would tend to shy away from
that.
I do usually tend a little bitmore toward bourbon as opposed
to just whiskey.
I mean, both are fine and I'vefound both with either, but I
don't know.
If I was at that bar my wife, Iwould get her an Amaretto Sour,
and for myself I would probablyget an Old Fashioned, and if
(21:52):
they were able to, I would get asmoked Old Fashioned.
I know, chuck, you and I havetalked about this a few times.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
My son just bought me a kit to smoke Old Fashions.
Oh good, good good and you haveone, luke right.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
I had one, and it's currently inoperative but.
I'm looking to purchase.
I've seen a few different ones,so I want to try to maybe try
out a few of those and see whatI can find.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
And is that just a hood you put on?
Yes, different ones.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
There's this place.
Actually, a lot of times it'sjust a hood that goes over the
glass and you have a torch ofsome sort.
You put whatever flavor woodyou have in the little holder
and you torch it and it kind ofseals the glass and it smokes in
there.
But there is a restaurant up inSioux City that my wife has
gone a few times when we go upthere for events and they
(22:39):
actually bring the smoked OldFashioned to you out in a cake
tray which, if you picture, acake tray like with the big
glass, with the glass thing overthe top.
They put it in the middle, soit's more a presentation than I
probably would have in my garage, Sure, but it's there and it
comes out and the smoke is allcurdled inside and she kind of
walks it out like a waiterholding it up in the air, and
(23:01):
then pulls the top off and thesmoke goes and everybody around
you smells like they're at abarbecue or something, which is
great.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
But it's good.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
That might be something I would try.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
I think you'd like it John.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
It'd be good.
We've talked about where ourvenues are when we record and
one of those or a couple of themmight be out in the garage.
I have a little establishmentin my garage where I'll
sometimes sit down and solve theworld's problems and talk with
friends and see what's going on,where I'll sometimes sit down
and solve the world's problemsand talk with friends and see
what's going on, and you know, Ithink that it's one of those
things that we can always figureout where we're going to go.
I think one of the otherquestions that I had and again,
(23:37):
this is just kind of you guys,all the listeners that are there
, just learning about who we areand kind of what we are about
but one of them was what's yourfavorite season of the?
Speaker 1 (23:49):
year.
Oh, I'll jump all over this.
So one of the things I reallylike to do is drive my Jeep.
I have a Jeep YJ around andit's a it's a 92 YJ.
I love it when the top is off,and so I take the top off in
April, try to, and I try not toput it back on until November.
This year it was like thesecond week in November I think
(24:11):
I got to put back on.
And so, all of that being said,my favorite time of the year is
, you know, summer.
For sure the hotter the better.
I don't mind the heat, you know, uh, I just like, I like being
around that thing.
My wife and I go on differenttrips, you know, hit some trails
.
So, yeah, summer for sure forme.
John.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Boy, you know I have always lived in this same area
and we're a place where we getall four of the seasons.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Although lately, you know as, time goes spring seems
to be getting shorter.
I'm getting there.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
I'm getting there fall and spring both to me seem
to be a little bit shorter anduh, around here my favorite
season is actually fall, becauseit seems to be the weather is
the nicest during the fall.
It's cooler, sure.
It's not as cold as winter.
(25:14):
That the one season that I wishwe didn't get to as as much is
the winter, with the negativelike we have today, yes, like we
have today.
But uh, I like the fall, I likethe sports that happen in the
fall.
I like watching football, Ilike volleyball.
(25:38):
I like those kinds of sportstoo, and just enjoy that weather
in the fall.
I just wish it would last alittle bit longer.
Spring I like too, but spring Ilove soccer, so I like watching
soccer in the spring too, butspring it just seems to be.
(25:59):
The weather around here iswindy, it's cold, one day it's
hot, one day it's rainy.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
It's yeah which is good.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
I mean, it's good for the, for the farmers, yeah john
and I see eye to eye in thisone.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Fall is my favorite season by far, really.
Uh, not just because of thesports I'm a huge football fan,
but, uh, I also like to get outin the woods see the color.
The colors are big for me andand, uh, we've actually, uh, my
wife and I have tried.
Um, I grew up in michigan, sothere's a lot of color in
michigan.
I mean, here we're in the middleof cornfields, a lot right but,
(26:34):
uh, lots of colors up there,and a few years ago we were
driving through it was prettymuch right at the height of the
color season and we were just inawe and I hadn't seen it for a
while.
So we've actually purchased afew autumn blaze maple trees to
get some orange in our yard andsome things just at fall time to
do that, to build a bridgebetween the green that we have
(26:56):
all summer and then the brownthat we have now, which is
complete brown.
Everything, the grass,everything.
It's brown and drab.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
It is gorgeous, the colors I used to work at a
middle school over in omaha andand um, I had a perfect view out
my window of all the colorsthat would change in the in the
fall, and you could see itchange day to day.
Yeah, yeah, and that's one ofmy favorite things great I don't
(27:25):
mind winter so much.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
I just don't like if we're gonna have cold, I want to
have snow yeah, I mean I agreewith you cs lewis says um, you
know, in his uh lying the witchin wardrobe, he talks about how
it's always winter but neverchristmas.
For me it's always winter butnever snow is like miserable,
yeah it is.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
It's kind of I don't want to say depressing, but it
is kind of depressing becauseit's just, you're just freezing.
I mean it's cold, cold, cold.
Yep, and this morning was wascrazy.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
This morning it was it was pretty darn cold, but uh,
I, uh, I am not a big winterfan.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Yeah, I'm not a big, like I said, with snow.
I could.
I could hack it more if there'ssnow.
Yeah, you know, because I alsolike to go ice fishing, so
you've got to have some cold tobe able to do that.
But the snow helps me a littlebit At least.
It's like okay, well, I gotsomething here Plus that's good
for the grass and the tree andeverything else.
Right now we're still in adrought, but now they're calling
it a snow drought.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
So we go from one coming to the close of this
first episode.
Yeah, I think we're there.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
And one of the things that I know we had talked about
was that I always like to I'mkind of big on quotes and I like
to throw quotes out once in awhile from some of them might be
that we don't know who said thequote initially, but some of
them we do know.
And this one was from an author, hg Wells, which I'm sure you
guys are both aware of, and itbasically was just a kind of an
(28:55):
uplifting one that I've alwaysused.
It was you know, if you felldown yesterday, stand up today.
Oh that's good, as we're all ineducation that there's days
where it wasn't the greatest day, or I didn't do my best today
or some things kind of got in myway.
(29:15):
But you come back to school thenext day and you're ready to go
because there's a lot of peoplethat are counting on you, a lot
of kids that are waiting foryou, and it's one of those deals
Deion Sanders even mentionedthat not too long ago.
He might have a bad minute or abad hour or even a bad, you know
, a couple hours, but he neverhas a bad day.
I think that's a good thing tokind of live by, to just keep it
(29:37):
positive and to go forward.
And even though it's negative,two outside right now, you know
we're smiling, we're here.
Chuck's got a big game tonight.
Yes, we do Big game.
Chuck's got a big game tonight.
Yes, we do Big game, bignational championship game, oh
yeah.
And you know, I've got mine ontoday because my flag is still
outside, because we, in terms ofthe University of Michigan, are
still national champions untiltonight, yep.
(29:58):
So my flag is out, it will bedown tomorrow.
I will not be flying the nextflag of whoever the next one is.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
But you know I'll be willing to say that we are no
longer the national championsbecause somebody else won and
which is great.
You know which is good.
So yeah, I think I tipped myhand a little bit on the quote
that I really like.
It's that one from ted lasso.
Um, you know, be curious, notjudgmental.
I think that's just a good,especially in you know our day
and age and what I do.
Now it's easier to to come inand you know when you're dealing
with students or people ingeneral and kind of have that
man, that person's in a schoolor whether it's in a church or
(30:36):
at the convenience store or atMenards or wherever you know.
You'd never know what kind ofday people are having.
They could, just, you know,have a significant loss.
(30:57):
It could be doing something youknow really great, or whatever.
But you know, be curious.
You know, be curious, don't,don't be so judgmental.
Um, I think it's a a good thingto live by.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Huge.
I got one that I have had forseveral years.
It's trust the weight, embracethe uncertainty, enjoy the
beauty of becoming.
When nothing is certain,anything is possible, and that's
Mandy Hale is who it'sattributed to and I.
(31:31):
Just.
Over time, we all get to apoint where maybe things aren't
quite as certain as we'd likefor them to be, and so getting
to the point where you can standback up and move forward and
(31:53):
trust that weight.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Right.
Was that the doorbell that justwent off?
Speaker 1 (31:57):
I don't know.
I think we maybe just tippedour hand where we're recording.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Oh, we might have.
Yeah, yeah, that's right, allright.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
All right guys.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Have a wonderful day today and evening, Whenever
you're listening to this.
We appreciate your help andlistenership.
Do we want them to?
Speaker 1 (32:20):
So here's, I think, ways you can help build the show
.
I mean, this is literally theground floor, Just obviously
like subscribe to the podcast Ifyou have questions.
We do have an emailhalfcenturypodcast at gmailcom,
so we got that set up Right now.
(32:41):
That's the way we're set up toreceive questions and reviews or
tips.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Now you said that they could like the podcast.
Right Like, they could like itor subscribe.
Is there a way that they canlove it?
Speaker 1 (32:51):
oh man, I don't know, maybe there's a love button
there might be.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
If there's not, we should make one.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
I mean really, you know yeah, gotta well, this is
half century hangout.
We appreciate you hanging outwith us have a great day, folks.
All right, we're live , Gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
how are we today?
Speaker 3 (00:04):
Hey, pretty good, Luke Doing well, Yep doing great
.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You know, it's kind of one of those days where
there's a lot of things going on.
Today, I mean, we're not goingto necessarily give what day it
is, but, boy, I think by ourconversation you're going to be
able to tell what day it is thatwe recorded this.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
It is a very busy day , isn't it?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yep, a lot going on, a lot going on.
What we have talked about andyou heard it in our intro is
we're just three guys that wantto talk.
I mean, we talk about differentthings.
We talk about a lot of thingsthat are happening not just in
our lives but just everywhere.
Right, the things that you hearabout one day at a time, and
we'll pick some topics and we'llmove and we'll see where it
(00:47):
takes us.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, not quite sure where we're going with this, but
I think it'll be a good timefor us to.
I love the part of our introwhere we're actually, you know,
wanting to learn and admit whatwe're wrong sometimes.
So you know, I know there's alot of areas in my life where I
think I've been wrong before andmaybe still am.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
And I think that's probably the biggest thing that
we could lead into our firstpart of the conversation that we
had talked about was to kind ofdefine each of us, so you all
can get to know us a little bit.
Just kind of define where ourNorth Star was.
What guides our life, whatguides us day by day?
What do we think is important?
What do we think is things thatwe work toward?
(01:25):
What do we do?
So, john, why don't we startwith you?
Start with me, sure.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Let's start with you, north Star.
What's my North Star?
I think that the thing thatguides me the most is probably
family and helping others.
I became an educator because Ireally wanted to help others,
(01:54):
started out my life as a bankerI don't know if that was helping
others, but helping others buythings, buy houses, help them
get to live on their own and allthat kind of stuff but then
moved into education, which iskind of a family tradition in my
house.
My dad, grandma, mom, sister,wife, everybody in my family
(02:21):
seems to have something to dowith education.
So helping others and familybig part of my life, and also my
faith is a big part of my lifetoo.
So those are some North Stars.
It's hard to define just one, itis the biggest one probably is
(02:43):
the, uh, the helping others.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Yeah, tell us a story like where you think you helped
someone you know and it waslike it not only made an impact
on them, but it made an impacton you, wow.
That's a uh kind of a tough oneto think about.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Um, so I guess from education, many, many kids in
education over the years thatI've been in education, one that
(03:20):
really stands out is a kid thatwas really having a struggle
coming to school, having astruggle being in school, having
a struggle just being aroundpeople, and really took that
person, that young man, under mywing and helped him to
(03:46):
understand kind of how to workwith people, how to be himself
around people, and that peopleweren't necessarily—it's hard in
schools hard in high school—buthow people weren't necessarily
(04:07):
looking at him and judging himit might have been him thinking
some of those things right.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
So he's like had a perspective.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yeah, he had a different perspective and just
taking that perspective and andshowing him how it might.
We might need to change thatperspective a little bit and uh,
it worked out really well.
We got him school, got himworking, uh graduated, just uh,
a success story.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, you see him much now.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
You know it was one of my stops, many stops in
education, and it was.
It was a ways away from here,so I don't see them a whole lot.
If I do, I certainly will sayhello.
But yeah, I've seen a lot ofkids over the years that say
thank you and sometimes I don'teven remember their names.
I hate to say that you don'teven remember what you've done
(05:03):
with kids or for kids because,yeah, well, you know you just do
it naturally.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah, with as many kids as you've probably impacted
, you know hard trying toremember one name now is.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
It's probably hard, it's always difficult.
But not you know, in education,I think that obviously you
you're in contact with a lot ofpeople, whether they're adults,
whether they're kids, I mean,there's always going to be
somebody.
And over the years, you know,we are the half-century crew
here, so we've seen and met alot of people over the years.
So it's one of those thingsthat we can.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
By the way, that doesn't mean I've been in
education for a half-centuryCorrect, I have not either, only
a quarter-century.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I think, tagging off of what John said, I think that
one of the things that I'vealways looked at is that as I've
gotten older, it's kind of likeyou know you go out in the
middle of the night, out in thebackyard with your wife and you
want to look at the stars, youknow, and you see the Big Dipper
, you see whatever you see.
But then if you go out, youknow, a week later on a nice
clear night, they're not in thesame place.
Those North Stars kind ofchange where their position is.
(06:08):
So when I've always looked atthis kind of question when we
were thinking about this earlier, mine's kind of changed.
And as I got older, one of thebiggest things that I've looked
at is in our world, I thinkthere's a lot of people that
really have a lot of anxietyabout a lot of things, and one
of the things that I've learnedis really I just need to do the
best that I can to controlthings, that I actually have
(06:29):
some control over, all thoseextraneous things that are
always in our kids' faces and inour faces from social media and
from the news and everythingelse.
So many of those things wedon't actually have any control
or responsibility for.
So I really try to live by theidea that I do the best that I
can to control the things that Ican and to do my best to make
(06:51):
sure that I'm also listening toothers and making sure that my
focus is not tunnel vision.
I really try to.
In our intro I know we put thatin there that we want to make
sure that we can talk withpeople and have discussions
without it being adversarial.
It doesn't have to be.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
And that's a rare thing, right?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yeah, I mean it is, but you hear it so many times
where it's this fight to thedeath over something that you
think or that I think.
And just because we both thinkof something differently doesn't
mean that you're wrong and I'mright or vice versa.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
It doesn't mean anything.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
As we're sitting here , with you with an Ohio State
shirt on, and me with a Michiganhat.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
I mean we can still be friends.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Well, you got something on, I got something.
Come on, john, let's not startthe first show with that.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
But I think that that's, you know, really trying
to be, if you want to say, agood human being, to really just
be that person that can listen,that can learn.
You know, I mean, I think asI've gotten older, my dad used
to tell me all the time aboutcommon sense, but I think it
took me a while to really figureout how to actually learn
(08:06):
something.
You know, there was hands-on.
There was always that, like I'ma better learner when it's
hands-on but I think that thatlistening part and really
thinking about it is the way todo it and the way to learn and
to grow.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
You know, we have two ears and one mouth, for a
reason.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
We do, john, we have two ways to hear and listen.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
And really hearing and listening are a little bit
different.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
I think we can hear a lot of things, right, you bet.
And a lot of times, while we'rehearing people talk, we're
actually thinking in our mindhow we can maybe come up with a
different way of saying howwe're right and it's it's.
It's hard to actually listenand still, you know, say, okay,
(08:51):
I may not agree with youcompletely, but we're still
friends and we're listeningwithout judgment Yep, yep yeah.
Yeah, Ted Lasso has a great,great quote.
It's a great show, but he has agreat we're going Ted Lasso
episode.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yes, he has a great show, but he has a great quote.
We're going Ted Lasso in thefirst episode.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yes, Wow, he has a great quote that says don't be
judgmental but be curious.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
I just love that so anyways.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
He says it's from Walt Whitman.
I don't know.
I've searched and it'sdifferent people that it's
attributed to.
Well, I'm sure it's Apple.
It's in Ted Lasso.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
That to.
Well, I'm sure it's Apple, it'sin Ted Lasso, that's for sure.
That's their rendition of it.
I think, when I think of a NorthStar, back when I was I don't
know 16, 17 years old, I wasreading the Bible and Psalm 37,
23 came up in that particularreading for that day, and it
says the steps of a good man areordered by the Lord and he
(09:46):
delights in his way.
Though he fall, he will not beutterly cast down, for the Lord
upholds him with his hand.
And so I guess my North Star isknowing that there will always
be like whatever steps I take, Iknow they're being directed by
the Lord.
You know they're being directedby God and under his providence
.
Things are may not always beperfect, but they'll always be
(10:08):
right at some point.
It may not be comfortable, butthey'll be right.
And I think the guy that kind ofreally helped me process some
of those things and was a guynamed Rick Click, who was a high
school teacher when I wasgrowing up.
Wait, what was his name?
Yes, you heard it, rick Click.
(10:28):
Yeah, and maybe he'll listen tothis at some point.
He'll probably see it out theresomewhere.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Well, if you are, Rick, welcome.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yes, absolutely.
But he made a huge impact on meand kind of helped me develop
with that North Star for life isgoing to be.
And here we are, almost 40years later.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
And I think it's funny that you say that, because
I know that was one of thethings that I was thinking about
as we were talking about topics, and things to talk about were
people that have had a hugeinfluence in our lives, and in a
meeting that we had a coupleweeks ago we were talking about
that and I remembered one of myteachers whose name his name was
(11:11):
Mr Wire and he was a verysoft-spoken but very direct
teacher and he also had the bestpenmanship I'd ever seen for
anybody up to that point,probably since then and he
taught a class that was calledModern Communications Media and
I was taking the class and I waskind of my high school
(11:33):
educational career probablywasn't a whole lot of things to
write home about as far asacademics goes, but I remember
writing a paper about somethingand he gave it back, handed it
back a few days later and in redink across the top it was Mr
Peterson, the hole that you aredigging for yourself is
beginning to resemble the GrandCanyon, and I remember it hit me
(11:56):
and I was like you know, Icould probably do so much better
at this if I really put my mindto it to do it, and I think his
quote there kind of stuck withme Like it made me realize that,
hey, somebody realized what mypotential could be.
Called you out on it and Iwasn't even thinking myself of
making myself or driving myselfor being motivated enough to
make myself better, but justthat quote from him, I think,
(12:19):
did a huge thing for me, to helpme be motivated, and I think
those are the kinds of thingsthat we, as leaders, as we
aspire to be leaders, I thinkthat that's something that we
need to do is find that somehow,with the people that are
surrounded around us, to helpthem.
Whatever it is, like John said,about helping people and about
(12:40):
doing something, it's findingwhatever that is for somebody,
being able not only first tohighlight it but then to get
that person to understand it,which some people have a wall up
, let's not lie.
I mean, some people have a wallup and they don't want to hear
it, but I think it's importantfor us to be able to do it.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Understand it and then act on it.
That's the hard part, isgetting them to actually do what
they need to do Walking the wayof the Lord, doing your work in
the way that you need to doyour work.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
And I think it's important to even just saying
that and thinking about it asI'm talking is that we still
have to circle around to thatand say we can try to guide
somebody that way and we can dowhat we can, but again, whatever
their perspective is, theymight have something that we
don't know about that's drivingthem in a different direction.
(13:36):
So we need to be aware of that.
We need to be able to say hey,you know what?
I'm not going to force thisperson or push them.
I'm going to continue to try toguide them if they want it or
if it's my spot to be able to doit.
But I think we always need tobe cognizant that there's
something, possibly, maybewhatever that they have going on
in their mind or from theirexperience that's holding them
(13:58):
back.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
And that's the listening part that you talked
about earlier.
You got to listen withoutjudgment so that you can get to
that trust.
That trust and anybody can be aleader.
Anybody in any part and anybodycan be a leader.
Anybody in any part of theorganization can be a leader.
Any part of the school can be aleader and give that influence
(14:24):
by listening without judgment,helping that person understand
where they are and helping thatperson get to where they need to
be.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Yeah, you know being in the I mean all three of us
have been in the people businessfor a long time.
I've not been in education,obviously near as long as you
guys have from a publiceducation perspective, but you
know people a lot, you knowmanage people quite a bit over
the years and I think that'sexactly.
I think we, you know you'renailing it, john, you know
(14:56):
listening and and then you knowacting on, you know that to try
to build that trust with, withpeople.
So, yeah, that was some.
That's a good.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
I think we should probably get a little elephant
out of the room here.
I didn't know if it was goingto be broached today, but we
probably should, and just kindof let everybody know that all
three of us work together.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Yep, we do.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
We work in the same high school building.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
We all have different roles in that building school
and that means folks we workwith ninth graders who are 14,
15 through 12th graders who are18, 19.
And that's a fun age to workwith.
It really is.
And it can be a challenging ageto work with as well if you
have any teenagers at home.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
So those things that you'll hear us talk from, that's
some of our perspective.
As you heard in the opening,we've all grown up differently
different areas of the country,different faiths, different
religions, a lot of differentthings but in our years together
we've learned to be friends andwe have a lot of engaging talks
(16:08):
, and that's kind of where thiswas born was to be able to share
some of those experiences withpeople and to get people
thinking on a differentperspective, on different things
, and to open people's minds upa little to some stuff that
maybe they hadn't thought aboutbefore.
That's kind of what I wasthinking, I mean if you guys
agree, and I think that we kindof all did, and I think it's
important for us to do thatbecause now, in this modern age
(16:30):
right, there could be peoplelistening to this from wherever.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
The other side of the world for all I know who knows?
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Which is cool but scary all at the same time.
But you know what it's neat tobe able to have your voice heard
and to hopefully you know, ifwe open up somebody's eyes, we
open up somebody's eyes.
It's all good.
Hopefully we do.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Wow, where'd all those people come from?
I don't know.
They're out outside the door, Ithink.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I hope they're not really outside, because it's
pretty cold out, but I know, aswe are, as we had looked through
some things I mean, we weretalking about some other stuff
where, where we had and, andjust just as we've started this
up and again, today is just kindof a get to know us and
hopefully to get to you too, toknow you as well, and if people
commented on things, so we couldkind of see where we were at.
But one of our initial nameswas Bourbon and Banter, wasn't
(17:25):
it?
Wasn't that one of our namesthat we had talked about?
Speaker 1 (17:27):
I think we ran that around.
That was one of them.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
We didn't want to center our whole basis of
listeners around bourbon Right,but that does flow once in a
while.
Occasionally, absolutelyOccasionally it does, and that's
good, but it's something where,again, we wanted it to be a
place where people could comeand talk and just be open about
things and talk about things.
And so one of the questionsthat we had talked about was a
(17:53):
hypothetical situation.
But we're all married guys andwe enjoy spending time with our
wives, and we just came up witha little hypothetical where you
walked into a nice bar with yourwife and it'd be weird if this
actually happened here, since Idon't live anywhere close to
where I grew up but you happento see a friend from high school
(18:15):
and he comes over and offersyou and your wife a drink that
he'd pay for.
So, john, what do you think ifhe said that?
What would you order and whatwould you order for your wife?
Speaker 3 (18:41):
for your wife well, because I know my wife really
well, I would order her a sweetdrink, and something she really
likes is moscato.
So they didn't have a Moscato,we'd figure something else out.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
So it's probably wine .
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Moscato is what she would do.
Okay, Not necessarily alwayswine, but Moscato is a good
start.
For myself.
I would order a Blue Moon.
I'm kind of a craft beer typeof person.
Uh, with the orange joy, Iwould have the orange yes okay,
(19:17):
and usually I ate the orangebefore I drink the oh yeah, good
, so that's, that's okay what Iwould order from uh a friend if
they have offered me, okay, andmy wife a drink.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Yeah, chuck, what about you?
Well, I would.
My wife's drink would be Sex onthe Beach.
Oh, wow, yeah, absolutely Okay.
That's a drink that she reallyenjoys and we've had it a number
of times, and my drink wouldprobably be a red uh, I think
(19:53):
it's called red breast, is thatright?
It's a.
It's irish whiskey, does thatsound?
Okay, yeah it's either red.
I want to call it redhead, butI know that's um what's in the
what's in the drink?
Speaker 3 (20:05):
irish whiskey.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
No, it's just an irish whiskey on the rocks I'll
drink it neat or on the rocks,it depends depends on who I'm
drinking it with.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
It's the brand.
Yeah, I think it's called RedBreath, gotcha A buddy of mine.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
He had some at his house and we were sampling his
many bottles of Irish whiskey,and that was one of them, so it
was delicious.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
I do that sampling once in a while too.
I have a friend that we changewhere we're at, either at my
place or at his place, and we'lltry to get different ones and
test them and see.
And there's some bottles thatare still on the shelf that
aren't the greatest, there'sother empty bottles that wind up
in the recycling bin.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
It just kind of depends.
So, chuck, what kind of whiskeyIs that smooth whiskey, or is
that one that kind of goes no?
Speaker 1 (20:52):
So it depends.
I mean, I don't know An Irishwhiskey, I like a smooth Irish
whiskey, smooth Irish whiskey.
You know, if I'm not drinkingSlane it's, you know, like a
Jameson's Irish or whatever it'sgot a little bite to it though.
It's got a little bite to it,you know, but it just it feels
good.
It's not like, doesn't tastelike turpentine going down your
throat.
I mean it's not a bourbon, youknow.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Right right.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
It's a whiskey, so it's got to.
You got to kind of get a tastefor it.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
I always thought bourbon to me kind of tasted
like what an ashtray smells liketo me.
I don't know why.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
It.
Just I cannot get into know whyI would tend to shy away from
that.
I do usually tend a little bitmore toward bourbon as opposed
to just whiskey.
I mean, both are fine and I'vefound both with either, but I
don't know.
If I was at that bar my wife, Iwould get her an Amaretto Sour,
and for myself I would probablyget an Old Fashioned, and if
(21:52):
they were able to, I would get asmoked Old Fashioned.
I know, chuck, you and I havetalked about this a few times.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
My son just bought me a kit to smoke Old Fashions.
Oh good, good good and you haveone, luke right.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
I had one, and it's currently inoperative but.
I'm looking to purchase.
I've seen a few different ones,so I want to try to maybe try
out a few of those and see whatI can find.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
And is that just a hood you put on?
Yes, different ones.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
There's this place.
Actually, a lot of times it'sjust a hood that goes over the
glass and you have a torch ofsome sort.
You put whatever flavor woodyou have in the little holder
and you torch it and it kind ofseals the glass and it smokes in
there.
But there is a restaurant up inSioux City that my wife has
gone a few times when we go upthere for events and they
(22:39):
actually bring the smoked OldFashioned to you out in a cake
tray which, if you picture, acake tray like with the big
glass, with the glass thing overthe top.
They put it in the middle, soit's more a presentation than I
probably would have in my garage, Sure, but it's there and it
comes out and the smoke is allcurdled inside and she kind of
walks it out like a waiterholding it up in the air, and
(23:01):
then pulls the top off and thesmoke goes and everybody around
you smells like they're at abarbecue or something, which is
great.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
But it's good.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
That might be something I would try.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
I think you'd like it John.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
It'd be good.
We've talked about where ourvenues are when we record and
one of those or a couple of themmight be out in the garage.
I have a little establishmentin my garage where I'll
sometimes sit down and solve theworld's problems and talk with
friends and see what's going on,where I'll sometimes sit down
and solve the world's problemsand talk with friends and see
what's going on, and you know, Ithink that it's one of those
things that we can always figureout where we're going to go.
I think one of the otherquestions that I had and again,
(23:37):
this is just kind of you guys,all the listeners that are there
, just learning about who we areand kind of what we are about
but one of them was what's yourfavorite season of the?
Speaker 1 (23:49):
year.
Oh, I'll jump all over this.
So one of the things I reallylike to do is drive my Jeep.
I have a Jeep YJ around andit's a it's a 92 YJ.
I love it when the top is off,and so I take the top off in
April, try to, and I try not toput it back on until November.
This year it was like thesecond week in November I think
(24:11):
I got to put back on.
And so, all of that being said,my favorite time of the year is
, you know, summer.
For sure the hotter the better.
I don't mind the heat, you know, uh, I just like, I like being
around that thing.
My wife and I go on differenttrips, you know, hit some trails
.
So, yeah, summer for sure forme.
John.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Boy, you know I have always lived in this same area
and we're a place where we getall four of the seasons.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Although lately, you know as, time goes spring seems
to be getting shorter.
I'm getting there.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
I'm getting there fall and spring both to me seem
to be a little bit shorter anduh, around here my favorite
season is actually fall, becauseit seems to be the weather is
the nicest during the fall.
It's cooler, sure.
It's not as cold as winter.
(25:14):
That the one season that I wishwe didn't get to as as much is
the winter, with the negativelike we have today, yes, like we
have today.
But uh, I like the fall, I likethe sports that happen in the
fall.
I like watching football, Ilike volleyball.
(25:38):
I like those kinds of sportstoo, and just enjoy that weather
in the fall.
I just wish it would last alittle bit longer.
Spring I like too, but spring Ilove soccer, so I like watching
soccer in the spring too, butspring it just seems to be.
(25:59):
The weather around here iswindy, it's cold, one day it's
hot, one day it's rainy.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
It's yeah which is good.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
I mean, it's good for the, for the farmers, yeah john
and I see eye to eye in thisone.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Fall is my favorite season by far, really.
Uh, not just because of thesports I'm a huge football fan,
but, uh, I also like to get outin the woods see the color.
The colors are big for me andand, uh, we've actually, uh, my
wife and I have tried.
Um, I grew up in michigan, sothere's a lot of color in
michigan.
I mean, here we're in the middleof cornfields, a lot right but,
(26:34):
uh, lots of colors up there,and a few years ago we were
driving through it was prettymuch right at the height of the
color season and we were just inawe and I hadn't seen it for a
while.
So we've actually purchased afew autumn blaze maple trees to
get some orange in our yard andsome things just at fall time to
do that, to build a bridgebetween the green that we have
(26:56):
all summer and then the brownthat we have now, which is
complete brown.
Everything, the grass,everything.
It's brown and drab.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
It is gorgeous, the colors I used to work at a
middle school over in omaha andand um, I had a perfect view out
my window of all the colorsthat would change in the in the
fall, and you could see itchange day to day.
Yeah, yeah, and that's one ofmy favorite things great I don't
(27:25):
mind winter so much.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
I just don't like if we're gonna have cold, I want to
have snow yeah, I mean I agreewith you cs lewis says um, you
know, in his uh lying the witchin wardrobe, he talks about how
it's always winter but neverchristmas.
For me it's always winter butnever snow is like miserable,
yeah it is.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
It's kind of I don't want to say depressing, but it
is kind of depressing becauseit's just, you're just freezing.
I mean it's cold, cold, cold.
Yep, and this morning was wascrazy.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
This morning it was it was pretty darn cold, but uh,
I, uh, I am not a big winterfan.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Yeah, I'm not a big, like I said, with snow.
I could.
I could hack it more if there'ssnow.
Yeah, you know, because I alsolike to go ice fishing, so
you've got to have some cold tobe able to do that.
But the snow helps me a littlebit At least.
It's like okay, well, I gotsomething here Plus that's good
for the grass and the tree andeverything else.
Right now we're still in adrought, but now they're calling
it a snow drought.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
So we go from one coming to the close of this
first episode.
Yeah, I think we're there.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
And one of the things that I know we had talked about
was that I always like to I'mkind of big on quotes and I like
to throw quotes out once in awhile from some of them might be
that we don't know who said thequote initially, but some of
them we do know.
And this one was from an author, hg Wells, which I'm sure you
guys are both aware of, and itbasically was just a kind of an
(28:55):
uplifting one that I've alwaysused.
It was you know, if you felldown yesterday, stand up today.
Oh that's good, as we're all ineducation that there's days
where it wasn't the greatest day, or I didn't do my best today
or some things kind of got in myway.
(29:15):
But you come back to school thenext day and you're ready to go
because there's a lot of peoplethat are counting on you, a lot
of kids that are waiting foryou, and it's one of those deals
Deion Sanders even mentionedthat not too long ago.
He might have a bad minute or abad hour or even a bad, you know
, a couple hours, but he neverhas a bad day.
I think that's a good thing tokind of live by, to just keep it
(29:37):
positive and to go forward.
And even though it's negative,two outside right now, you know
we're smiling, we're here.
Chuck's got a big game tonight.
Yes, we do Big game.
Chuck's got a big game tonight.
Yes, we do Big game, bignational championship game, oh
yeah.
And you know, I've got mine ontoday because my flag is still
outside, because we, in terms ofthe University of Michigan, are
still national champions untiltonight, yep.
(29:58):
So my flag is out, it will bedown tomorrow.
I will not be flying the nextflag of whoever the next one is.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
But you know I'll be willing to say that we are no
longer the national championsbecause somebody else won and
which is great.
You know which is good.
So yeah, I think I tipped myhand a little bit on the quote
that I really like.
It's that one from ted lasso.
Um, you know, be curious, notjudgmental.
I think that's just a good,especially in you know our day
and age and what I do.
Now it's easier to to come inand you know when you're dealing
with students or people ingeneral and kind of have that
man, that person's in a schoolor whether it's in a church or
(30:36):
at the convenience store or atMenards or wherever you know.
You'd never know what kind ofday people are having.
They could, just, you know,have a significant loss.
(30:57):
It could be doing something youknow really great, or whatever.
But you know, be curious.
You know, be curious, don't,don't be so judgmental.
Um, I think it's a a good thingto live by.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Huge.
I got one that I have had forseveral years.
It's trust the weight, embracethe uncertainty, enjoy the
beauty of becoming.
When nothing is certain,anything is possible, and that's
Mandy Hale is who it'sattributed to and I.
(31:31):
Just.
Over time, we all get to apoint where maybe things aren't
quite as certain as we'd likefor them to be, and so getting
to the point where you can standback up and move forward and
(31:53):
trust that weight.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Right.
Was that the doorbell that justwent off?
Speaker 1 (31:57):
I don't know.
I think we maybe just tippedour hand where we're recording.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Oh, we might have.
Yeah, yeah, that's right, allright.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
All right guys.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Have a wonderful day today and evening, Whenever
you're listening to this.
We appreciate your help andlistenership.
Do we want them to?
Speaker 1 (32:20):
So here's, I think, ways you can help build the show
.
I mean, this is literally theground floor, Just obviously
like subscribe to the podcast Ifyou have questions.
We do have an emailhalfcenturypodcast at gmailcom,
so we got that set up Right now.
(32:41):
That's the way we're set up toreceive questions and reviews or
tips.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Now you said that they could like the podcast.
Right Like, they could like itor subscribe.
Is there a way that they canlove it?
Speaker 1 (32:51):
oh man, I don't know, maybe there's a love button
there might be.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
If there's not, we should make one.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
I mean really, you know yeah, gotta well, this is
half century hangout.
We appreciate you hanging outwith us have a great day, folks.
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