Whispers of Spring: Navigating Life's Highs, Lows, and Everything in Between

As a hint of spring fills the air, Joyce and Mary Beth find themselves recounting tales that capture the essence of the season. Conversation dances between the ups and downs of dog ownership, including the more tender moments , sharing their experiences with the love and loss that come with caring for aging pets—heartfelt stories that resonate with anyone who's ever had a furry family member.

No episode is complete without a dash of inspiration, which we find in the resilience of Jeremy Renner. His story of motivation and survival following a near-fatal accident reflects the enduring human spirit, a theme further explored as they recount their own stories of boundary-setting and finding internal strength. From the practicalities of car maintenance to the poetic musings of springtime identity, Joyce & Mary Beth thread humor and candor throughout their reflections, proving that life's journey is as eclectic as the music on our current playlists.

And speaking of journeys, we dive feet-first into DNA discoveries, marveling at the surprises our genes reveal, and the impact this knowledge has on our sense of self. There is even  a chuckle over being compared to a certain Pokemon by beloved family members. Join them as they navigate the twists and turns of international banking, the contemplative choice between gas and electric cars, and the joy of embracing our unique heritage—even when it includes a penchant for eating like Snorlax.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:00):
Two microphones make all gas.
Two microphones make all gas.
Hi, this is Joyce and this isMarybeth.

(00:30):
Welcome to the Modern YogaPodcast.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Nice to see you, Marybeth.
That didn't sound thatenergetic that was a little.
Do you want me to do it again?
Welcome to the Modern YogaPodcast.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
It was no podcasting voice.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
It was a sweaty balls moment.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
I feel like I haven't seen you or talked to you
really in a long time, althoughyou did sub the other day and
got to talk to you for a moment.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Those are fleeting moments, though.
We don't get much.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Face time Member face time.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Used to be face time.
Instead of quote face time.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Face little time.
Yeah, in person time, we're noteven in person now.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah, now we're actually almost face timing.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
We're next to each other on the screen.
How have you been Good?
How do you like this?

Speaker 1 (01:24):
I'm not surly and have no complaints right now.
Why?
Because it's 60 in Clevelandthe last two days and sunny that
was my next question.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
How are you enjoying this February spring weather?

Speaker 1 (01:35):
I actually went for two walks yesterday.
Did you just hear my phonespeak?
Yeah, yeah, that was my momtexting me, and when I pressed
it, my phone read it.
She too just said she saw abirdie heading to the wreath.
So thanks, giving time, I put apine wreath Heinen's always has

(01:59):
these beautiful greenerywreaths and I hang it between
our back doors.
My mom and I live next door toeach other and a side by side it
stays beautiful and if I don'tremove it by spring which
technically it's not spring yet.
But I understand why nature isconfused here birds start either
picking at it for their nestsor, several years, they make a

(02:23):
nest in it, which is beautifuland wonderful to watch but also
involves all kinds of stressbecause, listen, all the birdies
don't always make it, all theeggs don't make it, and it's a
very emotional thing.
So that's probably why I toldyou before we started recording
that I see some crazy birdsoutside my upstairs window and
my mom saw them downstairsheading for the wreath.

(02:45):
So you're going to have thatwreath for a while, then Right,
so then we don't move it.
But any hue, speaking of thatspring weather that has the
birds confused.
Since Book Club was last nightand it involves a local author
who referenced a nature centerin Sharon Center, ohio, we

(03:07):
thought it would be fun too,since the weather permitted,
take a little walk or hike there.
So a handful of us did thatHonestly.
The rest of them probably wouldhave done it even if the
weather didn't permit, but I ama fair weather walker.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Oh, I'm not.
I walk all the freaking time.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
I walk in the mountains, for some reason, even
if it's cold, but at home, ifit's below 60, I'm like, no, I'm
not going to do it, even ifyou're a dog sitting.
No, if I'm dog sitting, ofcourse I walk.
Yeah, that's what it takes, isa doggie.
And then I got home later ran acouple errands.
Got home it was like not yetthree o'clock maybe and I'm like

(03:45):
I'm going for another walkbecause who knows how long we'll
be able to walk.
Look at Chloe.
Hi Chloe, we've got our headbetween the blinds there, under
the blinds, looking out.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
The windows open a little bit.
Yesterday was it yesterday orWednesday when James came home.
It's Friday today for theinternational podcast audience.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
But it won't be Friday when you hear this, so
you'll be very confused.
Who knows?

Speaker 2 (04:10):
We haven't put a podcast out in a while.
We might just turn this oneright around, but I had some
windows open.
He's like, joyce, it's notspring, I'm like it's going to
be 60.
So obviously at night we closethem, but it just felt so good
yesterday to have.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
We had all the windows open here too, and even
overnight sleeping, because thenit's like cold air, warm
blanket.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
I do that all the time.
That's my jam, but I for somereason woke up in the middle of
the night last night and was why, I don't know but panicked
about giving my dogs a bath.
It was like you need to giveyour dogs a bath.
The universe was like you needto give your dogs a bath, like
ASAP.
It was three o'clock in themorning and I was like I got to

(04:55):
do this, so the reason I'mtelling you is.
I don't know.
You probably can't tell, butshe's extra fluffy because she's
still drying.
So Mary Beth can see Chloebehind me and she's yeah, so she
was standing a moment ago.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
Yeah, her tail is fluffier and I can see her back.
Do they still try and runaround after a bath to?

Speaker 2 (05:16):
try and get dry.
No, I think neither one of themlove it.
What's funny is Colt reallylikes to be pampered, he likes
the warm water, he likes beingtouched, but he doesn't
necessarily like the idea, thewhole grand idea, of a bath.
He doesn't.
And they're not patient.
But he was pretty good.

(05:37):
She was a little.
She loves to swim.
She'll swim in a puddle, sheloves to go in anything that's
wet except the bathtub.
But I got it done prettyquickly and she just has so much
fur.
I don't care how much you brushthem when you give them a bath,
it just all loosens up.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
So she's going to be walking around like a little
cloud of black fur for a whileFluffy, and it is a good time to
mention it is skunk matingseason.
Oh, did not know that.
And have you ever had a dogsprayed directly by a skunk?

Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
So I tell people do what you can, which what they
say you can do is to be a littlenoisy when you If you're a
person who lets your dog out inthe yard- or even if you're
taking them out for a walk, sortof like with stingrays at the
beach, I think, or jellyfish orwhatever.
You're supposed to do theman-of-war shuffle.
I think you're supposed to justtry and warn them with noise

(06:40):
and movement, and then they willgo away rather than surprise
them.
So skunks will be around.
But as you know that scent forone thing, if a dog gets it in
the face, oh the poor thing.
The eyes are running andeverything.
But that scent can linger inyour home for so many months.

(07:00):
It'll be months later andyou'll just feel like you can
feel it wafting in the air.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
I had my first German shepherd, shepard Samson, the
night before I was going toFlorida for a family girls trip.
He got sprayed.
I was like really dude.
So I had some skunk stuff.
I didn't do the tomato paste,whatever thing.

(07:27):
I think we've advanced fromthere.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
Back in the day it was like tomato juice, vinegar,
mascarpone.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
But I don't care how good, what kind of product you
have, how good it is.
You can't get rid of thatcompletely.
So here I am, getting on aplane in the morning.
I know that my hands-.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Smelling like a skunk .

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, it's great who was dog-sittin' for you.
I think a friend of our family,like a kid who I mentioned
before.
He grew up the street from us.
He was like my adopted brother.
His name was Mike Johnson.
We always call him Mike Johnson.
It's never Mike, Right, Mike?

Speaker 1 (08:01):
Johnson.
Mike Johnson probablyappreciated that particular
dog-sitting opportunity.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
Yeah well, I think he was just stopping by to let him
out and take care of him.
But I don't think either ofthese.
My dogs know I don't know thatI've dealt with a skunk spray in
a while, but they definitelyknow when they're outside
because they'll want to go outand then they'll sprint outside.

(08:28):
And then you can smell theskunk Because it probably gets
startled and sprays immediatelyanyhow, whether it gets to the
dog or not, and then I'm like no, get back in.
Don't mess with the skunk, butChloe has.
It was interesting for me towatch her behind me she I've had

(08:51):
some days where I'm like is hertime now?
And it sucks, because it justsucks.
And she had a hard time gettingup the steps one night, which
she does.
I help her up the steps, butone night, we didn't realize it,
she was stuck on the steps andshe was kind of splayed out.

(09:13):
I might have mentioned thisbefore, but I mean, she wasn't
in pain because the steps aren'tthat steep.
It's not like she was hangingfrom a cliff.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
She was just waiting there.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, the next day Ashley was like Joyce, that's
not Chloe.
And then I was like, oh, I mean, you're so close to it, it's so
hard to make those decisionsand so she can't.
I know she doesn't hear well andshe's not seeing well, but the
other day I was making chicken.

(09:47):
I just throw some in the airfryer for them because that
seems to be something thatshe'll if I put her medicine in
there, she'll just eat it.
And honestly, I got this hugebag of fajita chicken for like
$15 or something from Costco,which is probably more.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
I knew the word Costco was coming.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
Well, it's probably less expensive and better for
the dogs and like canned dogfood.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
We have so many conversations in life that end
up involving Costco.
It's just for all of us.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
So anyhow, I mean anytime Colt hears anything
going on regarding the potentialof him getting food, he's right
there and she's not.
She never really was.
But I put it in her bowl and hewas eating away, and so I
picked her bowl up and took itand put it under her nose,
hoping she'd smell the chickenand want to, like you know, come
and eat.
And she didn't even react.

(10:44):
I'm like, okay, she can't see,she can't hear, she can't smell
now.
But then a few minutes latershe got up and devoured it.
That's the other thing.
She's been eating a lot andChloe doesn't necessarily eat a
lot.
She's never been food motivated, and then there's times, you
know where, she'll just look atyou like I need 500 treats.
So anyhow, then was it lastweek.

(11:07):
I was stressing out andthinking like gosh, we're going
to make a decision really soon,and I dropped her leash because
she was smelling something andColt has arthritis.
So if he, if he's moving, yougot to keep him moving.
And I'm not worried about herrunning off, because one, she's
13 and a half and I know hervery well, we could catch her.

(11:30):
But two, she all she cares aboutis being ahead of Colt, even if
it's by an inch.
So anytime I do that she justwill run.
You know, when she realizes orwhen she's done smelling, she
runs right back to me and Inever do it like super far away
right.
So all of a sudden she goesrunning like a cheetah and I'm
like wait, wait, what Like acheetah Joyce?

Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yes, she was sprinting.
Is that an exaggeration at all?
It's a little bit of anexaggeration.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
But like she jumped up on the bed that night without
struggling like just a pure ora you know right up with no,
usually these days she has tolike kind of climb up and then
she'll social, have these greatdays, and then she has some
knots of great days.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
So, like old people, good days and bad days.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
Yeah, and like we walk every day and she gets the
same medication every day, it'skind of like you want to control
it to a degree, so there's someconsistency in how she slows
down and I guess that's just notnature.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
And so hard with a pet because you can't I mean,
you can chart Right, you can puton a calendar her good days and
bad days, but she can't reallycommunicate like we could like.
This medication makes me feelthis way, this kind of weather.
I wake up feeling better orworse.
So right, it's a lot.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah Well, and what's funny these days is I hurt my
back the other day and I'mhobbling around so I have like
an arthritic dog, a congestiveheart failure dog, and me just
kind of a hobbit stuffling downthe street.
We're not doing any park walksright now because I can't.

(13:10):
I just can't?

Speaker 1 (13:11):
You need to be on.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
Well, I have to help both of them get into the car.
I'm on the way back, for sure,and he's heavy, like I just have
to lift his back end up, butlike just the whole bending down
and lifting up isn't the bestthing for me to do right now.
And same thing with her.
Like she can get a front pausein the end, but I always have to
help her.
And yeah, I can't.

(13:34):
I think I.
I think I pulled my QL muscleand I thought for a minute it
was like a slip disc, but I'mpretty sure it's just muscular
and waterfalls.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, quadratus Morum .

Speaker 2 (13:50):
Morum, waterfalls and like inverted soup does and
supported bridge, feel soincredible right now, like it
makes such a huge difference.
The heat and the studio feelsreally good and I'm just I'm in
a little bit of pain but I'mjust really freaking frustrated
because I hate being like thisand I mean everybody does, but

(14:14):
like it's just I forget.
You know like I'll get up andforget that it hurts to get up.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
It's so many different parts of your daily.
Yes, just things you don'tthink about, not the things you
would think in fact.

Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yes, just stupid little movement Right and like I
have to when I get in my car,like I have to face away from
the car so that it's just mybutt dropping and then I swing
my legs in.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
Do you have a ring camera or something that we can
watch this on Cause?
That's probably hilarious?

Speaker 2 (14:45):
No, but I can text you when I'm taking the dogs for
a walk so you can watch thethree of us hobble down the road
.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
Hobble, hobble, hobble, toby Keith is gone.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah, I didn't even know.
Well, I'm not a huge countrymusic fan, but I didn't even
really know he was sick, did you?

Speaker 1 (15:02):
I did, I did, I love.
There was a period of time whenI was really into Toby Keith.
He's a prolific songwriter anda big fun fella.
Like a lot of artists, I likemore of his earlier stuff than
what happened later, but Ireally, really liked him.

(15:26):
There's some of his songs thatjust are very important to me.
And I did know he was sick andhe had been back out again this
last couple of months and helooked really bad.
It was really sad andfrightening and I kept thinking.
I have known other peopletreated for cancer who looked

(15:46):
like death and then rebounded.
So I'm hoping that's what it is.
But I do think he was justtrying to get back out there and
say I know I'm going, I'm goingto do these last few things
again, to say I got back to meand then and of course I'm all
into the drama.
So back in the day after 9 11,he had a very popular song

(16:09):
called Angry American and sortof started the typical American
we have.
We have feuds right, Republicanand Democrat, different camps.
So they were sort of a feudwith the chicks, who were then
called the Dixie chicks.
So Natalie Mainz of course gotfamous and got canceled for

(16:35):
saying she was embarrassed thatPresident Bush was from the
state of Texas.
And then Toby Keith, after 9 11, got the, he got trouble for he
got trouble, he got in trouble.
He didn't get canceled, but thefight was that she called his
song ignorant because it waslike there's a boot, we're going

(16:56):
to put a boot in your ass.
It's the American way inretaliation.
And there was a little bit of afeud there.
He, at a concert, put NatalieMainz's image next to Saddam
Hussein, which was really shitty, and Natalie Mainz responded by
wearing a T-shirt at I don'tknow if it was a Grammys or
Country Music Awards, that saidFUTK, which you know, F-U Toby

(17:23):
Keith.
And then at some point TobyKeith had a band member whose
child died of cancer, and so hecame out and said how stupid is
this fricking feud that we'redoing Like this is not what it's
important in life, right?
So I'm not saying they made upor anything, but back to my

(17:48):
drama.
I'm looking through Instagramand whatever, and the chicks
don't do a lot on social media,but all these other artists,
Country and otherwise, arecoming out to say you know, when
somebody dies, they say ohsorry, Toby Keith, we'll miss
you.
We did this together, great guy.
The chicks have said nothing,which is disappointing to me,

(18:09):
because my great insight is thatNatalie Mainz and Toby Keith
are just a lot alike.
They both absolutely stood upfor what they believed in at
whatever costs to their career.
And I've used Natalie Mainz asan example of how we because I
love her music too, I love hervoice, I love the musicality of

(18:31):
those two other girls, and Ihave I've seen Toby Keith and
the Dixie Chicks both multipletimes in concert.
Sorry, the chicks.
Natalie Mainz is my example ofhow we you have Alina and Ashley
.
We tell our little girls to takeno crap from anybody, to stand
up for yourself.

(18:51):
You can be whatever you want,and then when they do that, we
cancel them, right, Like youtell your little girls to be
strong and be what they are.
But think of all the strongestwomen.
They're called difficult,they're, for God's sake, they're

(19:12):
even attacking poor, innocent,sweet Taylor Swift, who runs the
world right now, Right.
But anyway, I am very sad aboutToby Keith.
He did a song years ago withWillie Nelson called Whiskey for
my Men, Beer for my Horses, andI was walking with the ladies
yesterday and I thought you knowwhat I bet.

(19:33):
When they recorded that song,Toby Keith is almost 30 years
younger than Willie Nelson.
I bet they were thinking, youknow, Toby was thinking how fun
will this be someday whenWillie's gone?
Well, guess what?
Willie Nelson is still here at90.
Toby Keith is gone at 62.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
Wow, that's really sad At least and there's never
an at least.
But I guess there has to besome kind of peace that you find
in knowing that he knew he wasdying and he could like.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
And he had always talked about being a person of
faith.
There's a song that was in theClint Eastwood movie the Mule,
called Don't Let the Old man In.
That Toby wrote and performedrecently, so it became popular
again recently, but it'sactually not very new.
And he got that because he wasasking Clint Eastwood my gosh,

(20:37):
how are you, how are you stillin the game, you know, in your
80s and whatever.
And Clint Eastwood said, yeah,I just try and don't let the old
man in.
So Toby wrote a song about itwhich is tender and sweet and
sad, especially as we ate Right.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
Well, there's a guy on TikTok I follow.
He's under the the TikTokhandle of Breaker one nine,
breaker one nine, something likemy pharmacist, phil, or Phil
the pharmacist, or anyhow.

(21:16):
He just he's really interesting, he's funny, he fills my
pharmacist, that's where it goesby.
He, he said he was, and hetalks about these like hacks or
they're not really hacks, it'sscience, but he's like spending
a lot of money on under eyecream, try this and and so like.

(21:40):
This is something I tried.
I just got the stuff the otherday.

Speaker 1 (21:44):
It's a nasal spray and because it's supposed to
shrink tissues right and likepreparation age for the Miss
America pageant.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
Yeah Well, he said that that's the same thing,
that's in preparation age.
But the what else?
It's a Arnica.
Arnica which is kind of likecomes in things like China gel,
ish Like it's primosal sorenessand he's like just take a dab of
each, rub it together, put themon your under eyes and then

(22:19):
wait for it to dry.
And then there's this otherserum which, like this, all of
this cost me $12.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
And I did it versus like $95 under eye cream.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
Yeah, I did it the first time yesterday and I
cannot even like it.
It's making a difference, solike it's crazy.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
Wow so what a nasal spray.
I'm going to have to look thisguy up.

Speaker 2 (22:40):
I have, I've, I'll send you the, I'll send you the
link, but um and you said alittle dab.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
Are you old enough to remember what commercial?
No, a little dab will do ya.
Podcast audience a little dabwill do ya.
I do believe that was realcream.
Oh, the man was on really hairlike my dad, real cream a little
dab will do ya.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
I remember that saying.
I don't remember the actualtune.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
That may not even be the same.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
Thank you for pulling it all together.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
But anyway, that's what I'm, that's what I'm here
for.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
Talking about age and he's like hey, listen, nobody.
Nobody is worried about gettingolder, no one wants to feel old
.
Who said something like that?

Speaker 1 (23:30):
And.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
I think that's what it is Like.
It's not the number, the number, it's the like, the ability to,
to do all the things, or justlive, not all the things you
know, but just like do thethings that you like to do Most
of the things the things yeahWithout dependent pain without

(23:52):
yeah, Um but.

Speaker 1 (23:56):
Well, I'm going to have to follow him.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yeah, speaking of pain, this is.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
I don't know when this will come out, but this
weekend is Superbowl, whichbrings all of that fun
advertising Speaking of brocream, if that even still exists
and I saw yesterday, um, jeremyRenner is going to be in a
commercial and maybe it's outalready with his daughter, for I
want to say it's for silk, soymilk, that that he likes.

(24:21):
But I read a great articleAbout him yesterday, so he's, of
course, the one that I thinkliterally died but was brought
back, but certainly almostdidn't survive a year ago.
Um, last month, when his giant,like industrial sized snow
plow- rolled over.

Speaker 2 (24:41):
I remember that the actor.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
Jeremy Renner and um, it was actually such a great
interview because he talkedabout you know, it was his
nephew that was with him and hishead was split open like a
melon, his eye socket has beenrecreated, all of his organs
were smashed, his leg wasbackwards Like, and he was
talking about his motivation tolive, to survive and recover so

(25:08):
that his nephew and also hisdaughter he had a young daughter
weren't left traumatized by the, the vaccine that day, but
instead by but um, I snapped andshared a quote from it, because
this is the other thing he said.
By the way, no one ever told meI was going to get better.

(25:31):
Not one doctor early on saidyou're going to pull through,
you're going to be able to seeagain, you're going to be able
to walk again and you're goingto be able to breathe right and
you're going to be able to talk.
No one gave me anything.
Wow I feel like if they didn'ttell me, it must have been
pretty bleak.
So two things how sad thatnobody gave him that hope and

(25:57):
that he had to find these otherthings to motivate himself.
But also maybe it was prettygood that nobody said much to
him.
He said that he felt like theywere talking to his family all
the time, but nobody was dealingwith him.
So it maybe let him create hisown possibilities.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
But that's such a weird thing, right, because some
people need to hear like you'regoing to be okay.
And it could be the same person, right?
There's probably times in yourlife where you're super
motivated to do something, toprove everyone else wrong, and
then there were times in yourlife where you needed to hear
like, hey, you're going to beokay and I'm going to be right
here with you.
You know like, you're going tomake it through this.

(26:39):
And there were times in yourlife when if somebody would say
like you're going to, you'regoing to make it through this,
you'd be like F, you know I'mnot.
You know like there's just somany ways to that.
You can sort of process that.
And it's pretty amazing that hemade the recovery that he did.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
Yeah, he's really like.
I mean he's he'll be the firstone to tell you a year is not a
lot when you're talking aboutthose kinds of massive injuries
massive I mean he was rolledover by a I don't know how many
ton thing and ripped apart andhe's up and talking and walking
and living he was an actionmovie actor, so he's hoping to

(27:18):
get back to doing some of that,but it's unbelievable the amount
of recovery that that he'sachieved and he wasn't really
that much on my radar, but I'veloved watching this because
there's really no reason heshould.
He should be on two feet forsure.

Speaker 2 (27:36):
So back to your thoughts on telling you know
women that they should be strongand creative and expressive and
not take any shit and thingslike that.
I want to tell you about arecent experience I had.

Speaker 1 (27:54):
I hope you didn't take any shit, joyce, well, yeah
, well, thank you.

Speaker 2 (28:01):
We're going on this retreat to Costa Rica and we
signed a contract with the placethat we're going because we
have to pay for it, right, andso there's like certain days
it's like we have to have thismuch money down and then we make

(28:23):
payments throughout, and I hada payment due like the following
week, and so the day I tookAlina to see Disney on Ice, I
stopped at the bank which wasvery close to where I was
picking Alina up from daycare at9am and the Disney and I

(28:50):
started at 1030.
So the bank opened at 9 and Iwas like this shouldn't take
long.
I did it at another branch ofthis bank back in November and
it took I don't know 10 minutes.
But not every teller can dothis right.
It's an international wiretransfer.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
So that sounds exotic .
It does, doesn't it?

Speaker 2 (29:13):
There was one other person like in the line or
getting helped by a teller inthe bank, but the lobby was
pretty clear.
One bank guy had other guyscustomers, clearly in his office
.
I told a teller I needed to dothe international wire transfer
and I was told to have a seatbecause, like they had to get

(29:35):
the person to do it.
So I sat down and waitedprobably 15 to 20 minutes and
then the lady who came to helpme said oh, sorry to make you
wait, hold on one more minute.
And she went into the officewith the guy with the male

(29:58):
clients to say hi, and ended upchatting with them for a while
and then she came out and saidoh my gosh, I'm so sorry.
So now I've been sitting aroundfor like 25 minutes, better
part of a half an hour.
So we go in her office andshe's like, oh, what's this for?

(30:21):
She was trying to be friendlybut it was so not authentic.
She was like how long have youbeen doing yoga?
I was like I don't know about15 years.
And she goes oh, how fun.
I don't really know what thishas to do with like my business

(30:43):
or my retreat, other than likeit's a yoga thing.
But like what do you?
And she's like, oh, a friend ofmine.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
You'll pat it on the head like, oh, how fun little
yoga girl, yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
And then a friend of mine teaches at that place in
the mall.
I'm like I don't even know whatyou're talking about and I
asked what her name was.
You know, because the yogacommunity is not ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (31:03):
It's a huge.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
See how Chloe keeps.
She's not comfortable she keepswalking around back there.
So anyhow didn't know who thisperson was, but I was just
trying to like I was alreadygetting irritated but also
trying to like find some commonground without really pushing it
.
But I will say, when she didget me and she was like, oh, I'm

(31:27):
so sorry for making you wait,like I didn't, I just looked her
right in the eye and followedher.
I didn't say it's okay orwhatever.
I was very quiet.
So I knew that, like not sayingit was already uncomfortable,
put it that way.
So you know, I said I did thefirst transfer at another brand
so it might just pop up.
You know, I don't know like allthe information because there's

(31:48):
lots of numbers.
And so I showed her all theinformation that she needed and
she she typed it out andwhatever.
And then she printed out a page, like I got the first time, and
said you know, here it is anddoes that look good?
Like very casually, and I waslike, yeah, and it was the right

(32:09):
amount, it was the right.
Just, she took all the info Igave her and put it, plugged it
in, right, and she did say thatmost of it popped up, and so
that was the Friday before MLKday.
So when it was done she saidthis might process today because

(32:29):
international wire transferoffer office, whatever closes at
430.
And I go, but it probably won'tget there until Tuesday, right
At minimum, and she goes.
She kind of looked at me and Iwas like, because it's a holiday
on Monday and she goes.
Oh, that's right, yeah,probably, but sometimes it takes
a little bit longer with withinternational things and I'm

(32:49):
like, yeah, that's cool, andthen she goes.
I hope Monday is a money makingday for you.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
I yeah, as in shake your money maker on MLK day it
was, and I go.

Speaker 2 (33:04):
I was putting my coat on and I just turned.
I'm like, what, what she goes.
Well, a lot of people have theday off, maybe they'll come and
do yoga.
I'm like, okay, thanks.
And I left and I went on withmy day.
And so the next week comesaround.
Tuesdays are ridiculously busyfor me, mondays and Tuesdays

(33:26):
actually.
And then so it's reallyWednesday that I get to spend
some time at my computer and thetransfer hadn't gone through
yet.
But on Thursday, like nothingwas coming up, and so I called
the branch and, of course,didn't get her, and somebody was
like put me on hold, and Ithink I it was.

(33:47):
This phone call took like 17minutes.
Put me on hold, came back andsaid you must have given us the
wrong information.
The transfer didn't go through.

Speaker 1 (33:59):
Oh, first of all, you must have given the wrong
information and, second of all,were you going to tell me at any
point, right?

Speaker 2 (34:06):
And I said, well, what was the problem?
And this woman on the phone waslike I don't know.
And I looked, I was looking atthe printout that the lady gave
me and I'm like can I, can Italk to this person?
Her name and email address wason there.
I got put on hold again.
I was told no, she's busy, soright.
So I emailed and was like youknow what's?

(34:29):
What was the problem?
Don't make me come down there.
And she was like, oh, I'm sorry, the number one of the transfer
numbers was wrong.
Okay, which one?
Cause there's like five numbers.
And she never got back to me.
She's oh, they.
And they told me on the phone,like you're going to have to
come back in.
Well, this was Thursday.
I don't go to any studio onThursday.

(34:51):
I didn't want to go back up toStrongsville, so I went to the
branch that I had originallygone to, in broad view heights,
didn't get the same person, butand I didn't, I didn't complain
about the other experience, butI did say that I tried to do
this and it didn't go through.
And so this guy, just in thecourse of doing this transaction

(35:17):
, explained everything to me.
He was like listen, the way,our transfer closes at 430.
So this will get out of theoffice or whatever it is.
This will get out more thanlikely today.
And then he he showed him theprintouts that I had and he goes
oh, there was one zero missing.
So instead of four zeros, andhe goes and he laid things out

(35:40):
next to each other.
He goes this is the stuff thatcomes up that auto populates and
this is what I have to put in.
He's like please double checkwhat I have to put in, because
that's where the error would bemade, if there's any error.
And I said, oh, okay, and so,sure enough, like he, what he
put in was correct.
And then it was just that onezero that was off.

(36:00):
I couldn't find any other, anyother issues.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
And then, so in all likelihood it was her input
error.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
Right, which is like easy error to make.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
Right.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
Well, I also told her like now, my payment is late
and I could well, that's thatwas my next question, like,
aren't they expecting a paymentfrom you?
Yes, and I could.
This could be canceled becauseof the contract that I signed
and she had offered to write aletter.

Speaker 1 (36:28):
I'm sure that would have been quick.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
Right and I'm sure that would have helped, right.
So so then, like I signed thething and you know, he's like,
you know, with my experiencewith this and he's like, and I
haven't done a lot of them, ifsomething's wrong I will know
right after 430.
And he's like I'm gonna kickback, he goes, but you know, if

(36:52):
something is wrong in theinformation and it still goes
through, your money might gosomewhere else.
Like you can't internationalwire transfers Excellent, right
so he's you know.
so, like before I signed,whatever, and so so, anyhow, I
was in there for a while and Ileft and got it done and then he
called the next.
It was gone the next morning,Like it.

(37:14):
So Friday morning it was takenfrom, which is unusual, that's
quick.
No, that's how it worked thefirst time, and then
international, even what wastaken from my account.
Oh, take it I think it got tothem at least in a day or two, I
mean that was so.
It was taken on Friday, so itprobably got there Monday or
Tuesday.
And you know I had to email ourcontact and say like here's

(37:37):
what's going on, you know, andthey were very nice about it.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
But I swear I'm good for it.
It's a bank problem Like youfeel like such an idiot.

Speaker 2 (37:48):
So then I'm still irritated with how I was treated
, not just when I was at thebank, but like how I was handled
on the phone and like I've beenwith this bank since we opened
and filter I mean, we're a smallbusiness but we filter
Chunkamani through the bank andthen I was like so what do I do?

(38:08):
Like I had to do somethingright, because if I don't do
something then nothing ever getsdone.
You know, what I mean.
So it's very uncomfortable.
But I sat down and said youknow, here's my experience with

(38:28):
you and I find it reallyunacceptable.
I felt like I was overlookedbecause I was a woman.
And to be overlooked becauseI'm a woman by a woman makes it
that much worse.

Speaker 1 (38:42):
Did you have the conversation with the woman or
with the man?

Speaker 2 (38:46):
No, I sent this to the woman.
I didn't call her because shedidn't take my call.
She wasn't going to take mycall anyhow, you know, and I
just I was very professionalabout it, but like, and it just
reminded me and this sounds sosilly, but this is like how
things have to change Like itreminded me of when I stopped

(39:07):
watching the Browns andthroughout all my Brown stuff
because of them hiring somebodywho was being sued by 24 women
for being grossly mistreated.
So, like it's these, there'sthose opportunities to stand up
for something, and it's never Ishouldn't say it's never, but

(39:29):
it's not always like with agroup or it's going to make an
immediate change, but like it'sthat stuff that like, if you
don't take the little steps, youknow, maybe this person will
treat somebody differently nexttime.
You know, maybe I don't know,but like, and then I'm like now
they're probably calling me aKaren at the at the bank.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
You know has there been any reply.
Any response?
Nope, and you and you sent itjust to her.

Speaker 2 (39:58):
You didn't copy in or ask about no, but I did get an
email, either that same day or afew days later, just an
automatic.
Like Huntington would love youropinion.
You know you take a survey onyour experience and so I did,
and I was again just veryfactual.
I just think it would have beendifferent if James was.

(40:21):
If it were James.

Speaker 1 (40:23):
Well, I mean it's, it's classy of you to address it
with her, not not say, you know, send it over her head or
something, right, and eventhough that's right, right, even
though that's a different kindof business, you know, I know

(40:44):
you appreciate getting feedback,even when it's uncomfortable,
from your clients, right, right,even if they're pissed and even
if you disagree, and even ifyou stand up for yourself or
your business or your employeeor contractor, so that's good, I
mean those.
That was a positive step totake.
It's not like you went andtried to ruin her day at all,

(41:08):
other than to just let her know.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
Right and I didn't mention her name in the survey.
I just talked generally andgranted, like this was probably
two weeks later and my emotionswere Palmer, my stress level
wasn't as high.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:25):
Right.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
I you know we blame COVID and and I guess not so
much COVID but the way the waybusinesses and employment and
supply and everything changedpartly because of COVID has
really changed things out there.
I I had to get a tire last weekand I think I told you like I
used to drive up and they'd belike dirty twerties here with

(41:50):
red snapper and Greg used to um,this guy at the service
department used to hook me upwith the best loner and
everything, because we bought alot of cars over the years from
from the same place.
This time there were likelethargic, disinterested young

(42:12):
a-holes behind the desk, um, twofemales and only one male in
this service department on theday when I went, but it took all
three of them cooperating notvery nicely with each other,
like why is the computer sayingthis?
And then somebody rolls herchair over to look at it and

(42:32):
like I'm standing right here.
You know, can you?
Has anybody ever spoken to youpeople about customer service or
courtesy, politeness, anything?
Um, and I I hear just inconversation with people
everything from restaurants to Imean, it's just a different
world and Well, everything is aprocess, which I understand,

(42:56):
especially having two locationsin a business and hoping to have
a third.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
Like you, have to have repeatable processes, but I
think that's gotten to a levelthat's kind of crazy in a lot
and this is exactly like they're.
They were doing a process, theyweren't helping a person.
They were, they were processinga tire right.
And the computer wasn't working, and you know, or wasn't

(43:25):
working correctly or somebodydidn't know how to use something
.
So, like, what kind of talent?
Like there's, no, there's lesspersonal recognition, mm.
Hmm, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (43:36):
Yeah, the delivery of the.
So what happened is my.
At this time a year in Ohioit's 14 degrees one day and
three days later it might be 60.
So your air pressure, your tirepressure light may come on and
it may mean nothing, right?
So, like any good person with a10 year old car, I just hit the
reset button and ignore for awhile longer.
Well, it came on again.

(43:58):
So I my car is old enough thatit doesn't tell you which tire
so I, you know, a year ago had abad flat in on the West
Virginia churnpike and that'sthe tire that was replaced and
the rim had been bent andeverything.
So I'm like I'm gonna go withthat one, put a little air in it
, reset the tire light.

(44:21):
Next day it comes on again.
So I'm like, okay, there's aproblem with this tire and upon
inspection, I could see a bubblein it, visible bubble.
It was that tire?
Yeah, it was that tire, so,yeah, so there's that too.
I mean, who knows about the jobof putting the tire back on
last year, the new tire?
But anyway, I drove straight tothe dealership Because, you

(44:45):
know, I didn't, I didn't go onthe highway, I felt pretty safe
and they, they do have a policyof you don't need an appointment
for some of those kind ofthings.
So I rolled my rolled redsnapper in there and I told them
what happened and, without,without raising her eyes to mine
, she said Well, I'm justletting you know.
It's like three hours before wecan even look at it.
Okay, so do you need you know?

(45:10):
We can get you an Uber orwhatever.
And okay, so that that's how ithappened.
I got an Uber.
It just was just really againlike nobody and I'm fabulous, I
am fabulous to work with inthese situations.
Like there was one of thosecarts where a person can't put

(45:30):
weight on one leg, so they havelike a knee cart, yeah, and I'm
like, oh, who's is that Mine?
Okay, like I wish I was readyto make some conversation and
hope you're doing well, but you,okay, yeah, and you know.
Then.
Then the three of them kind offought over, and I also said so

(45:51):
last year when this was replaced.
Now it occurs to me I drove agreater amount than you're
supposed to on a spare to gethome.
I'm thinking.
Nobody's ever mentioned to me,but I probably need to replace
this spare as well, don't I?
And they're like, well, yeah,okay, so can you go ahead and

(46:12):
quote that for me as well?
Also, they never have my mytires in stocks, which is I
anticipated, so there was anextra day or two.
I don't know, it's just thereis a.
I hate to acknowledge it, butthere is a.
You know we're having a, sowe're having a film or a screen

(46:34):
between our social interactions.

Speaker 2 (46:36):
Now, in a lot of cases, Well, you see, this with
healthcare, I think they'reprobably the biggest offenders,
like you know.
If somebody comes in andthey're feeling this way, then
this, this, this and this.
And somebody told me some oneof our clients was telling me
about a visit to the doctor andit was about x.

(46:56):
I don't even remember.
I think she told me and thenshe was like, while I was there,
I asked about why and thedoctor looked at her and said no
, this is this appointment'sabout x.
If you want to talk about whyyou have to make another
appointment.
Because, yeah, because I thinkdoctors are on what a seven
minute appointment schedule nowand they're they're incentivized

(47:17):
by the process.

Speaker 1 (47:18):
Like you said, the process, this form, this
computer form today has allowedfor this to be filled in.

Speaker 2 (47:25):
Right.
And guess what, if something'smissing, it's your fault.
You go to the doctor, the cardealership, the whatever,
because they're the ones who areexperts at the car.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
But you're the one who was like, hey, hey, I should
probably get another sparebecause if this happens again on
my weird I have a low profilecar, you do we talk about this
with special tires, so thiscould happen again.
And now I've got an old, crappyspare.
And then there's some.
I haven't.
You know my trunk is a mess.

(47:58):
Of course there's some piece.
I don't know if it belongs aspart of my setup and needs to go
back in, or did they leave africking crowbar like extra,
because they've done that beforetoo?
I've got a lot of equipmentthat they've just left in or on
the car, so I don't know.

Speaker 2 (48:15):
We sound like we do sound like old long yeah, yeah,
my oil changed a couple of weeksago and I still go to the
dealer.
Actually, it's my first oilchange outside of the warranty
but, like many Coopers are sospecific that, like I have to
get an, I'm sure this isn'tunusual anymore, but I have to
get an oil change once a year ohit's just a princess.

(48:37):
No once a year or every 15,000miles and so, and it's like $150
.
So it's not, like you know,it's some $500 oil change or
anything.
So you know, I called and madean appointment and it takes they
give them selves 90 minutes andit literally didn't even take
that long.
So I got lucky.
But I was walking aroundoutside looking at the new minis

(48:57):
and thinking about, like well,I always love to look at new
minis, you know, and.
But I was looking at theantennas and I always wondered
in my little compartment in thein the back, what this one like
stick thing was.
I'm like, oh, I don't have myfull antenna, you could screw it

(49:20):
in.
They probably screwed it off tolike wash the car.
Why they would do it, but I've.
But my gosh, right like right,but it's whatever it's.
It was just kind of funny,speaking of cars, while I was
there I started consideringmaybe not started making a

(49:45):
change from the Mini Cooper, fora couple of reasons.
One I'm getting to a point inmileage where I'm going to need
some pretty expensivemaintenance done, which is, I
expect, like this is my fourthone.
They're not cheap to maintain.
The other, I don't think anycar is really.

(50:08):
But the other problem is isthat it's you know the
dealerships in Willoughby andand maybe there's a garage or a
repair shop that can do MiniCooper maintenance, but like
it's just not convenient and soI always put it off until like
I'm afraid that the car is goingto explode.

(50:30):
You know what I mean, that thatit's ever especially as it's
ever driven badly, but likethere's enough technology in
there where it's like the lightswill go off or there'll be a
you know a message saying it'stime to get your wheels changed,
Like that's what made me crazy,because those are relentless.

Speaker 1 (50:51):
Now Jeff has a newer.
Yes vehicle two, and it's likeI will not be ignored.

Speaker 2 (50:56):
Dan Right, yeah, and so it's just that it's like, and
then I thought about thispopped into my head probably in
the middle of the night, likelast night, I the middle of the
night, I was like I have to givemy dogs a bath.
So I gave them a bath as soonas I woke up this morning.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
I don't know why that popped in my head, but anyhow,
I just remember this funny thethings that do pop up and then
you need to address them firstthing.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
Yeah, there was a yoga teacher that I really liked
and I remember one day she justshe had like long, really
pretty hair and one day it wasnot long anymore it was probably
the length of my hair right nowand she was talking about how
she just had this moment whereshe realized how much she
identified with her hair and shejust wanted to not have that

(51:43):
like she should want to bedefined by her hair and as silly
as that sounds like.
So she chopped it and I waslike that's me in my car, like
I've been driving Mini Cooper'sfor 14 years and like what, what
would it make me feel like ifsomeone was like, if I had to
say I drove something else, youknow, and like it's so silly,

(52:05):
but it like it's, it's making myheart pound a little bit right
now.

Speaker 1 (52:08):
Yeah, I get it, I've I've always driven Volkswagen.
I had Subaru once, maybe 25, 30years ago, maybe one of my.
I was just a thrown in there,but since, like high school,
I've always driven Volkswagen's.

Speaker 2 (52:24):
And so then I well, I'll take me somewhere else.
But I started thinking about,like what is it about this car
that I love?
And I do love how fast it isand how quick it is and how like
drive like an idiot and likehow tight it turns, and we love
to drive, how fun it is, and Ijust and that's the other thing
like do I love to drive?
I don't know, because I hatedriving long distances.

(52:44):
I think I just this car so funthat it makes driving the same
freaking routes that we go inour life every day a little bit
more interesting.
But like am I?
Have I taken that too far andI'm thinking about too much?
And then I was like oh, let'sjust watch her spin.
Right.

Speaker 1 (53:05):
International podcast audience.
Let's watch her spin.

Speaker 2 (53:07):
I like things that I feel are unique and Like right
now.
I think if I made a change, Iwould want to go to a hybrid.
I don't think I'd want to go toan EV just because of.

Speaker 1 (53:23):
I just don't think they're still working some of
the kinks out on them.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
They're still working some of the kinks out but, like
some of these cars that get 50to 60 miles per gallon and they
have some sort of short EV range, are, like better for the
environment.
Maybe, I also read that, likethe, what it takes to actually
manufacture them is not greatfor the environment.

(53:47):
But maybe you're going to havethat anyhow, right, and I don't
know how cool that would be tobe able to plug your car in and
the engine just and there aresome of them like the Prius, as
far less maintenance Toyota's,like you don't have to do
anything to Toyota's I mean notliterally, but you know and so

(54:12):
that might be smart and fun in adifferent way, in a different
experience, and then if I hateit, I can always go back and get
another Mini.
Mini has an EV and as far asEVs go, it's an inexpensive EV
which is like 35 grand, but itonly gets like 90 miles.
It has a 90 mile range.
The other thing about EVs thatI learned is that and I kind of

(54:34):
knew this but I didn't thinkabout it so much like they're
fast, they're especially likezero to whatever.
It's where they're slow is onthe freeway.
Like you don't get that surgeto the pickup.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
yeah, I was just going to say yeah, and that
might make me a little nutty.

Speaker 2 (54:54):
But then it's like does that?
What am I?
Yes, I'm spiraling out ofcontrol.
So I mean, that's the wayeverything is going, and with
gas prices being so crazy, youknow I was thinking about it.
It's like so there's this onecar that I was looking at that

(55:15):
gets 55 miles a gallon and ithas a 70 mile EV range, and I'm
like, well, I could.
I mean that's anywhere I go ona daily basis.

Speaker 1 (55:26):
I'm not driving since Within 70 miles, yeah.

Speaker 2 (55:28):
Yeah so, and I'm filling up my tank at least once
a week, so that's at least $40a week, right?
So, like they say, it costsabout a quarter of the
electricity than it does in gas,and it's just like, well, this
is dumb, like-.

Speaker 1 (55:47):
I mean, yeah, it's certainly a worthy exploration
Cause like you say nothing hasto be forever if you decide you
want to go back to a mini-.
It's a freaking car Right.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
Yeah, so that's where it ended.
I never really did anythingwith that and, as far as I know,
I'm gonna have to have a engineflush this summer and you know,
whatever Engine flush thatsounds right, sexy, sexy, oh, my
engine Having nothing to dowith anything.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
So, apropos of nothing we're talking about,
since we've last spoken, there'sbeen so much going on musically
.
We talked about Toby Keith, butI wanna know if you saw the
Grammys.
I wanna know if you listened toBilly Joel's new music.
I wanna tell the world that I'mlistening to Bruce
Springsteen's memoir, which isread by him, and I'm Springsteen
neutral, never been like oh mygosh, gotta see him.

(56:44):
Fan.
But like a lot of his stuff, itis spectacular and I'm loving
it.
I'm probably only halfwaythrough it.
So good, do it, do it, do it.

Speaker 2 (56:55):
Yeah, I didn't see the Grammys.
I saw some clips of things onthe internet.

Speaker 1 (57:01):
What was the other question?
Oh, billy Joel.
Well, at the Grammys, billyJoel, new music after three
decades, or whatever.
And then also, have you watchedthe Netflix documentary the
Greatest Night in Pop about therecording of we Are the World
back in the day?
No, we watched that lastweekend.
So good, if you have any 80smusic love in you, my gosh, it

(57:26):
was so wonderful to see again.
And, of course, it left cynichusband Jeff Tuarty saying who
nowadays would be able to dothis?
All of these there's 35 orwhatever these awesome artists
in the room and it was reallyworth watching.
So, if you have Netflix, Ithink that's what it was on the
Greatest Night in Pop.

Speaker 2 (57:47):
Was that put together quickly?

Speaker 1 (57:50):
We Are the World thing was put together quickly.
Lionel Richie and MichaelJackson wrote this song thinking
they had time, so they wereplaying around with it.
And then who's the big?
Clive Davis, I think.
Was it Clive Davis or something?
No, but anyway, vincent Jones,we can look that up was like

(58:16):
thinking about this.
The absolute only way to getall of these top recording
artists together is that the Ithink the like American Music
Awards are like in two weeks, wegot to do it.
That night after the awards,we'll book a room overnight,

(58:37):
we'll book a recording studioovernight, and that's what they
did.
So then Lionel Richie was likeshit, I got to get now, we got
to get this done.
And you have Bruce Brangstein,billy Joel, cindy Lauper.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
Wham, george Michael and the other guy?

Speaker 1 (58:58):
Who am I thinking of?
Stevie Wonder, Diana.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
Ross.
Yeah, it was amazing.

Speaker 1 (59:02):
The personalities and who was doing solos.
It was just really really funto watch.

Speaker 2 (59:08):
I have to check that out.
Actually, you were sayingthere's been so much happening
with music.
I mean that kind of rolls rightinto the Super Bowl too, right,
mm-hmm, I kind of feel bad forher.
I mean, she's just like datingthis guy.
She wants to watch her playfootball.

Speaker 1 (59:25):
Yeah, and it continues to be so disheartening
, whatever side of anythingyou're on, that people just have
to go attack people online.
Well, why is there a side?
She's a singer, but people arespending so much time and energy
?

Speaker 2 (59:46):
Even Donald Trump is like I'm gonna take down Taylor
Swift.
I know.

Speaker 1 (59:51):
I just don't even hey Taylor Swift for president at
this point.
Right, she, you know again I'mgonna refer to my husband as a
cynic Never has much nice to sayabout somebody on first blush.
Right, he's always looking forthe.
But you know, even heacknowledges Taylor Swift has

(01:00:12):
never, I don't think,embarrassed herself or gone down
any really bad paths or takenanyone else.
There, I mean sure, there'ssome great songs written about
bad relationships.
We probably all wish we coulddo that, but she's been around a
long time now and she's onlylike what?

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
32 or something.

Speaker 1 (01:00:32):
She's still so.
Yeah, I mean right, like whowould want to be famous, right?
I mean, why do we have to liketake side.

Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
There's no side to take.
Like you like her music or youdon't, or you like some of it,
or you like or you're over thetop about it.
Whatever, who cares Likewhatever?
And?

Speaker 1 (01:00:49):
yeah, and I'm not really.
I don't really own much TaylorSwift music.
Like it's not my jam but mygosh, what a wonderful like for
young, younger girls and nowthey're moms together and like
it's a great thing.
Calm down, it's music.
You need to calm down.
You need to calm down.

(01:01:11):
It's one of her songs, I know,and also not a football fan, but
I think we've talked before.
That was a good documentary too, kelsey, about the brothers,
actually before Jason, reallybefore the whole modern
situation.
It was before, when theythought he was gonna retire,

(01:01:31):
before that last Super Bowl, Idon't know, three years ago or
whatever, not that last SuperBowl.
I'm very out of touch with yeah.
So I'm not a Taylor Swift fan,I'm not a football fan, but I've
enjoyed.
Maybe I'm just an old personenjoying documentaries is what
I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (01:01:48):
Maybe Are you gonna watch the Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
No, and in fact we don't go anywhere.
It's tax season and the SuperBowl starts late, so Jeff never
wants to.
Also, Jeff does not likewatching football in groups of
people with men.
He thinks they're ridiculous.
He thinks it's stupid to yellat the TV.
He does watch, he loves sports,but he just thinks human beings
are ridiculous watching theSuper Bowl.

(01:02:13):
So I am on my couch in one room, he's on his in the other.
I'm watching something else.
He usually will text me and sayit's time for the national
anthem, If I care to see that.
He'll text me and say it's timefor the halftime show If I care
to see that.
And other than that we willprobably make some wings at home

(01:02:36):
or something.
Hey, tonight I'm making Chinesefood at home because it is
lunar, AKA Chinese New Year.
This weekend I'm all over themap and I drink decaf, so I
don't know what to tell you.

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
This is me on decaf.
So Reba McIntyre is singing thenational anthem and, as you
probably know, usher is thehalftime show.

Speaker 1 (01:02:59):
Right, and even so, even the national anthem I've
seen on social media is a fightthese days because there's
people saying, stop messing withthe national anthem, it's a
March, this is what it is, andthen other people saying let
artists do what they're gonna do.
If you wanna hear apre-recorded national anthem,
then go listen to that.

Speaker 2 (01:03:20):
People can we all just get along.
What was the tangent that youjust you went off on before I
went back to the national anthemChinese New Year, oh, Chinese
New Year, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:03:31):
Have you ever gone for dim sum down to Li Wa in
Asia town in Cleveland?
No, because it's awesome.
The reason I'm saying that iswe sometimes we go out for
Chinese New Year.
We'd hope to go to Li Wa butit's so booked you can't get a
reservation and they do a wholeChinese New Year thing.
But anyway, on any day of theyear the dim sum situation is

(01:03:56):
awesome down there.

Speaker 2 (01:03:58):
I wanna say, if I've been yeah, we've been to Li Wa,
we haven't been well, so we openour own business, so we don't
get out much but we haven't beenanywhere in seven years now.
Well, almost eight, almost toeight.
Yeah, number one fo fa fo.

Speaker 1 (01:04:13):
Number one pa.

Speaker 2 (01:04:15):
Fa.
That's usually our go-to downthere.
But it just reminds me is Ibought for Christmas.
I got James, ashley, alina andmy mom.
Well, I gave it to my mom for abirthday ancestry.
Oh, that's funny.
Yeah, hit.
So James still hasn't sent hisin, but I have mine, mine's all

(01:04:36):
processed and stuff like that.
So in case you're wondering,I'll read you my DNA results.

Speaker 1 (01:04:44):
You're not as.

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
Asian, as James, I'm not.
I am.
89% Eastern Europe and Russia,specifically Southern Poland,
and Eastern Slovakia,specifically Eastern Slovakia,
which is not like.
None of this is surprising.
8% Baltic that's good, we don'twant to be surprised, right?

(01:05:07):
2% England and NorthwesternEurope and 1% Sweden and Denmark
, and then that's really cool.
They have like these traitsthat you can like.
Playing music is good for yourbrain.
Joyce, your DNA suggests youdon't play a musical instrument.

(01:05:28):
Everything from hair type,wisdom teeth, alcohol, asparagus
, odor, birth weight, like allthese traits that are like you
know.
Here's one eye color, joyce.
Your DNA suggests you havelight eyes.
I have light eyes.
Most of it's like, most of it'svery spot on.
And then you know there's somelike more medical things like

(01:05:50):
heart rate recovery and oxygenuse and tolerating dairy and you
know all these other things.
So it's been pretty interesting.
Ashley and Alina sent theirs in.
I don't know that Ashley hasher back yet, but Alina's came

(01:06:10):
back the other day and herethnicity is all over the place,
like I mean, she's black, whiteand Asian, so she's got lots of
different things.

Speaker 1 (01:06:23):
But yeah, I'm waiting for James.
What a beautiful, beautifulcombo.
That's like kind of Tiger Woods.
Isn't there some black, whiteand Asian there too?
And he's such an attractive,and his kids too, just beautiful
Japanese.
Yeah, there are people I meannot talking about generations
removed, but the immediategeneration there are people who
may Wonder you cannot be one ofthem, you cannot be separated

(01:06:52):
from looking like your mother oryour father.
I'm just gonna throw that outthere.

Speaker 2 (01:06:56):
Well, yeah, because.

Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
I look like both of them.

Speaker 2 (01:07:00):
You do there's yeah, I think there's no way they look
like each other.

Speaker 1 (01:07:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:07:04):
I.
A few months ago I went to ababy bop for lunch with my mom
and the young lady behind thecounter making the food just
stared at us.
She goes you look so much likeyour mom.
I'm like I know.
I see it every day when I lookin the mirror.
Yeah yeah, it was funny becausemy dad's side always said I look

(01:07:26):
like him.
And then my mom said I alwayssaid I look like her, but the
and I was like nobody can makeup the mind, it doesn't matter,
you know, they're my parents.

Speaker 1 (01:07:34):
And there's different things.
Like you probably havesomebody's feet and somebody's
face and somebody's stature, andit's different.

Speaker 2 (01:07:42):
but Years and years ago, when I was married the
first time, my dad's aunt waswho I had never met before.
You know my, my, probably likemost of our families, older
generations have more, had morekids.
So she was giving away, sellingNot really Less birth control.

(01:08:06):
I don't have anything else todo, giving away a kitchen table,
and like we needed one.
So, and we were, I don't know,young, and so I went and got it
over, I think in like MayfieldHeights or something, and I had
never met her before, at leastnot that I could remember.
As I've mentioned before, mydad was one of six boys and she

(01:08:27):
said which one of the boys youknow is your dad, and I was like
Andy, and she goes oh, youreally look like your uncle
Mickey.
Then Well, that's my dad.

Speaker 1 (01:08:39):
Ah-ha-ha.

Speaker 2 (01:08:40):
Well, no, it's my dad , Cause my grandma changed his
name.

Speaker 1 (01:08:43):
I think we talked about this.

Speaker 2 (01:08:44):
My grandma changed his name from Michael Andrew to
Andrew Michael and back andforth, probably more than once,
and he they called him Mickeycause they thought as well it
was Michael Andrew, until hewent to high school and he had
to show a birth certificate andhe found out when he went to
high school that his name wasAndrew Michael, so a lot of his
elders still called him Mickey.

(01:09:05):
Anybody who knew him beforehigh school called him Mickey,
and then people who didn't knowhim or before high school called
him Andy, which I think is justweird.

Speaker 1 (01:09:13):
That's funny.
Jeff's dad too, named Michael,was Mickey, and Jeff is Michael,
jeffrey.
And when I said you probablyhave somebody's feet, I meant
Barney Rubble.
That's whose feet you have, ohdo I.
Even Barney Rubble's feet.
Yes, no, I meant your mom ordad, but now that I think about

(01:09:34):
it, yes, because they're likecute little cartoon.
They're little, they're wide,they're like funky.
You know those, the Flintstones?
We got to see all their feet.
They didn't wear shoes right,they had to run the car somehow.
So you have Barney Rubble feet.

Speaker 2 (01:09:50):
But I think I mentioned this before too my
mom's parents, my mom's mom,specifically changed her name
too.
She was Sharon and they changeit to Judith.
Like within a very like shewasn't even a month old.
Like I'm almost positive, ormaybe not, I think, I think.

Speaker 1 (01:10:13):
Does that makes you wonder, like there's an image in
your head.
Imagine if your mom was namedSharon Right, what would be any
different?

Speaker 2 (01:10:22):
Nothing, nothing A lot of things, a lot of things,
sharon.

Speaker 1 (01:10:25):
Right, like what if my name was?
I mean, I don't know Sharon'sKichuniki, like it would feel.
So, like, could I be a Jennifer?

Speaker 2 (01:10:37):
You could, but you probably wouldn't say it like
Jennifer, Jennifer.
And then if your name wasJennifer, you'd be like what if
I was named Mary Beth?
Yeah, mary Beth, what?

Speaker 1 (01:10:48):
are you going to call me?

Speaker 2 (01:10:48):
Mary.

Speaker 1 (01:10:48):
Beth, yeah Right, I was thinking that the other day
I was never called MB until myuncle Jack coined MB, and then
it stuck.

Speaker 2 (01:10:57):
My uncle John used to call me Annabelle because my
middle name is Ann.

Speaker 1 (01:11:01):
I just thought, I love nicknames.

Speaker 2 (01:11:03):
I do.
Some people hate nicknames.
I love them.
I don't know why it didn't like, that didn't stick.
You know I could have been.
That's one special thing fromUncle John.
Nobody's called Annabelleanymore.

Speaker 1 (01:11:16):
No, isn't there a scary doll movie called
Annabelle?
I don't know.
There is Annabelle, yeah, scarydoll movie.
So we're really looking forNothing but serious stuff here
from us.

Speaker 2 (01:11:30):
We're really looking forward to this trip to Costa
Rica.

Speaker 1 (01:11:33):
So that's in May, correct you?

Speaker 2 (01:11:35):
know, May 8th to 14th and we still have room,
although we're running out, butwe still have room and we can
make almost everything work.

Speaker 1 (01:11:48):
So you could share beds with people.
Somebody asked me at Book Clubhow many people you have, or if
there's, and I said you know, Ihaven't had a conversation with
Joyce about it so I don't knowhow many are going.

Speaker 2 (01:11:58):
We have the whole retreat center.
Nobody else will be there whenwe're there, so I think we can
fit.
Oh, that's good.
We can have up to somethinglike 30 people.

Speaker 1 (01:12:07):
And how many do you have kind of signed up?

Speaker 2 (01:12:10):
I think we're around 20 right now.

Speaker 1 (01:12:12):
Wow, that's great.

Speaker 2 (01:12:13):
Yeah, it's going to be a good time and it's going to
be a great time.
I mean, everybody's lookingforward to going, obviously, and
we haven't gone since we werein Antigua in 2019.
And, yeah, it's going to be agood one.
I hope that whoever out thereis thinking about going decides

(01:12:34):
to go.
It's going to.

Speaker 1 (01:12:36):
Yeah, a lot of people have asked me about it at the
end of classes and stuff.
I won't be going because of thedates.
But I mean, who doesn't want togo to Costa Rica?

Speaker 2 (01:12:44):
Right when in this.

Speaker 1 (01:12:46):
With yoga people.

Speaker 2 (01:12:47):
Won't be our last, you know like we'll Sure.

Speaker 1 (01:12:50):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:12:51):
We'll do more retreats and now that we're back
on it and yeah, it should be areally good time We've done, you
know, a lot of prep, a lot ofplanning already and and it just
like things are just fallinginto place nicely, and I just
don't want to jinx that.

Speaker 1 (01:13:10):
Since it's been so long, it'll probably feel really
good and welcome to just relax,relax into it.

Speaker 2 (01:13:17):
Yeah.
Well, I mean for James and Iit's honestly a lot of work, but
it's yeah.
You know I'm not going tocomplain about having to run
some yeah when you're theretrying Stuff in Costa Rica To
kind of relax.

Speaker 1 (01:13:29):
Yeah, I am.
We may be the last people inAmerica that's probably
overstating it to have finally,just this week, cut the cord no
more cable TV.
No more real telephone.
It happened, I did it.
You had a landline still.

(01:13:50):
My mom did next door.
We did not, um, but we did it.
And now I'm, I'm, I'm notcomplaining, but I'm so, I'm so
confused because every now youhave all the streaming services
and like, the fast forward worksdifferent on all of them, and
the auto next episode worksdifferent on all of them.
But I'm, it's, it's, it'snothing to complain about, when

(01:14:12):
your cable bill was threehundred and fifty dollars.
Jesus, yeah, don't blame Jesus.
But, but it was, and the reasonwe kept it so long is I worked
for Cox cable for many years soI was just loyal and loved it
and it was comfortable and Iunderstood it.
And to the internet has neverlet us down.
Jeff works from home and somany people complain about their

(01:14:35):
other internet, so we do stillhave Cox internet.
We have under under eightydollars a month.
So the rest is is streaming,which is fine.
I'm starting to watch newthings.
I'm starting to miss old thingsthat I like.
Live TV is harder to find.
We have YouTube TV.
Yeah, it's just.
It's just a learning curve.
Yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (01:14:56):
I think I might have told you I don't.
I don't even really know how touse our TV every time I try to
watch something I have torelearn.
I mean, I know how to connectmy iPad and that's usually where
I'll run, but I don't.
I clearly do not watch a lot ofanything, and that's not new
for me, like that's just kind ofbeen all my life.
I've never had a show.
Look, I had to see, or you know.

(01:15:19):
I've enjoyed movies and stuffhere, here and there.
But like I and I've been, youknow we binge watch things
during the pandemic andeverything but like usually, if,
if I'm in front of the TV, Ialso have my laptop.
Or like I must have ADHD, Idon't know, but like well.

Speaker 1 (01:15:37):
I don't.
A binge.
A binge that I did recently isfool me once.
That wasn't long and it waspretty good.
And I, unlike you, have been myentire life what my dad called
a TV commando.
Oh, there's just been a lot ofTV in my life.
Tv commando, that's my like.
Only real escapism, like I canreally go it.

(01:16:02):
Even reading doesn't doescapism for me.
Like like TV, watching TV.

Speaker 2 (01:16:06):
I just had a.
I had a, I was just inspired.
Well, maybe I'll tell yousinging Commando Snorlax.

Speaker 1 (01:16:18):
Oh, commando Snorlax.
So Snorlax was one of the whatwere those things called, I
don't know.
Oh, you had never heard ofSnorlax, what it's the thing
that kids used to Pokemon.
Oh, when my nephews were youngand they did Pokemon my very

(01:16:38):
aptly, my very young, liketoddler aged nephew at the time
said you can be Snorlax.
And I was like, well that's, Idon't even need to know anything
about Snorlax to hear the wordsSnor and lax and know that it
is about me.
But we were talking about yetanother yoga teacher changing

(01:16:59):
their name to something I don'tknow.
Inspiration, all fancy Sanskrit, whatever, whatever all the
choices are.
And so if, if I'm going to havea yoga name, it will have to be
Snorlax.
We'll see if we can translatethat into Sanskrit.

Speaker 2 (01:17:17):
Snorlax is a huge dark blue, green mammalian
Pokemon with a cream coloredface, belly and feet.
And it's there you go.

Speaker 1 (01:17:28):
I'm a million and I'm huge.

Speaker 2 (01:17:29):
Mostly of its belly, and its limbs are comparatively
small.
Its head is large, with smallpointed ears and two pointed
teeth protruding from its lowerjaw.
Wow, snorlax is docile enoughto let children and small
Pokemon bounce on its largestomach.

(01:17:50):
Despite its apparent laziness,however, snorlax can exhibit
tremendous power when prompted.
Oh my gosh, I am Snorlax, I'mdocile.
He's known to appear without Ishouldn't say he, because they
don't, it could be a she butknown to appear without warning
and villages and steal theirfood supplies, such as rice

(01:18:14):
granaries, which has been longconsidered a disaster whenever
it happens.

Speaker 1 (01:18:19):
I guess I can appear and steal food.
I did it last night at bookclub there you go?

Speaker 2 (01:18:26):
Gigantamax Snorlax almost never moves, even when,
in battle, it only slightlylifts its body and attacks by
flailing with its arms and legs.

Speaker 1 (01:18:36):
I should have looked into this more deeply earlier,
because 100% Snorlax.

Speaker 2 (01:18:42):
It's the sleeping Pokemon.

Speaker 1 (01:18:45):
The sleeping Pokemon right.

Speaker 2 (01:18:46):
Over 800 pounds of food every day.
And as it began to, fall asleepand sleeps while it eats.
Oh my gosh, it sleeps while iteats Its stomach digestive
juices can dissolve any kind ofpoison.
Eating off the ground doesn'tbother it at all.
Five second rule Thank you, mynephew.
Hey, I don't clean my mushroom,so Zoom is now yelling at us,
because apparently I need toclear some space to put more

(01:19:08):
Zoom on my computer, so we'regoing to have to wrap this up.
We got cut off when you said Iate things off the ground and I
said I don't even clean mymushrooms, so we'll leave our
international podcast audiencewith that.

Speaker 1 (01:19:25):
All right, we're done .