SoberNotMature - Episode 121 (Filling Your Holes With John From Sober Speak)

00:02.37
Bill
All right everyone, welcome once again to another episode of sober, not mature. And I'm not even gonna say it this time, cause I know nobody pays attention to my posts on Instagram, but we do have a guest. yeah ah We have a a gentleman by the name of John and he's from a website and Instagram page and also a podcast called sober speak. And we'll let him introduce himself real quickly here and then we'll kind of get into what we're gonna talk about tonight. But John, go ahead and just introduce yourself real quick.

00:30.78
John M
Sure, my name is John M. I live in the f Frisco, Texas area, which is right outside of Dallas. um I have a website and a podcast as mentioned there called Sober Speak, and I am ah tickled pink to be here. By the way, who is Fuck Knuckle? Is that...

00:52.10
Mike
And that's me, I'm Mike.

00:53.69
John M
look yeah Okay, just making sure.

00:57.57
Bill
Yeah, and it's it's funny, not everyone notices that right away and sometimes I spend what, Mike, halfway through the episode and someone's like, yeah,

01:03.19
Mike
Yeah, somebody will glance over and go, fuck Knuckle.

01:07.94
Bill
Mike, God, when did you start doing that? A few months in, I think?

01:09.65
Mike
I don't know, yeah, a year or so ago or something.

01:12.47
Bill
Oh, yeah.

01:12.76
Mike
It's been a while, right? I think I was fuckhead for a long time and then I changed it to fuck Knuckle.

01:18.09
Bill
Well, so quick, quick side. Well, when I do our transcripts, Mike, I don't even know if I ever told you this, but in in a Word document, you can say search for one, replace with the other. So just so it's got our names on there, um every time I do the transcripts, I do a Word document, I search for the word fuck knuckle and replace it all with the word Mike. So, so when it, when it says Bill, Mike, Bill, Mike, then, you know, just, just so, you know, I, I figure it's going to pick it up hopefully in a, in a Google search better than fuck knuckle. So that's the, maybe, yeah, well, yeah.

01:45.11
Mike
maybe

01:47.57
John M
So is that a nickname that came from anything in particular or is?

01:47.84
Bill
we

01:51.34
Mike
Maybe No, no, I'm just you know, I I'm trying to run an honest program and I am a fuck knuckle so there you go

01:58.45
John M
There you go.

02:01.10
Bill
So.

02:01.33
John M
I got to tell you, it is cool to be doing a podcast with people who podcast, you know, just in other words.

02:06.27
Mike
Right?

02:07.93
John M
I mean, you guys kind of know the the routine. I know what you're, you know, in essence, what you're doing in the background. And, you know, it's cool because there's a lot of work that goes into these things. I'm sure you guys know that.

02:20.01
Bill
Yeah, and it's ah it's one of those things that when when we started and there was bare bones we had no idea what we're doing we know a little bit more now. um We tried out and had troubles with different software and stuff like that but we've gotten to the point where we do um as little as possible to make sure we can get out the best quality product.

02:37.31
John M
Okay.

02:37.42
Bill
ah And it's still it doesn't take it doesn't take me that long to put an episode together without having to like I said, when yeah we don't we don't polish it up, we don't edit out things. There's an um, there's a whatever, there's a glitch, it doesn't doesn't fucking matter, we keep it in there. um you know So it just, it's, I don't know, it's a little bit easier that way, but yeah, i we've been and we've been on another podcast, probably a handful, right Mike?

02:57.93
Mike
Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, about half a dozen.

02:58.49
Bill
we Yeah, and it's ah it's fun. you know And we've had we've had plenty of guests on. We don't have guests on all the time. But um with you in particular and the way this came about, just so everyone knows, um this is actually good. Well, Mike and I are affiliated with the Sober Curator. We've talked about that plenty of times. If you don't follow them.

03:15.32
John M
Yes. So and you might if I asked her, like, what is your relationship with the Soviet curator? i I know that Elise kind of got us in contact with each other.

03:22.89
Bill
you

03:23.88
John M
How does that work?

03:25.55
Bill
um Well, the the way that we got started with them was on was on a whim. And it just actually came up in a memory over the last couple of days. Elise, the sober curator is a sober website. It's all about you know sobriety stuff. People who have been you know sober, not necessarily brand new, but they get they get traffic from everyone. um But it's all about living a sober life and a sober lifestyle. They've got everything from horoscopes to fashion the podcast to to what you're gonna be featured on, which is called their sober spotlight. People doing good things out there in the recovery community. and Elise had posted something literally a year ago and was featuring all these different podcasts that were male led podcasts and we were not on that list. So I posted on Instagram and basically said, what the fuck? We're not only male led, we've got two males leading this ship. um you know Whose leg do we have to hump to get on this list? And I tagged her and on Instagram and that's how that's how our relationship started with with her.

04:22.44
Bill
Um, and it was, it was fun. Elise is a good, she's, she's a good shit. Uh, you know, we adore her and as a, we became what's called sober curators and all it is, it's a volunteer thing. We submit articles, we submit content, podcasts, um, that sort of thing.

04:35.50
John M
Mmm.

04:36.69
Bill
and That's how we got involved in it, but at least it's always out there you know looking for things and looking for people and however you came across it. um you know There's a thing on their website, which again, you know what I was getting to is it's called the sober spotlight, which is what they're gonna do with this episode. So they're going to take, Lisa's going to take this episode, obviously you have whatever you talk about. Obviously i'm I'm guessing it's going to be a little bit of your story, what you do for the community now, your podcast, your website. And then that gives, you know, content for the Sober Curator to get that out to people in the recovery community. So um they do, they do a lot of good work over there and there's a lot of good people and um we've had, we've had fun with it so far.

05:16.20
John M
That's great. And I'm sure you've been over this many times. By the way, I have listened to several episodes. I'm I'm hoping to come your next Gary, if at all possible, but nonetheless um I um ah am curious about you guys and, you know, so we're not mature.

05:23.98
Mike
Ehehehehe.

05:31.22
John M
How did how did this start for you guys?

05:34.35
Bill
um by accident right mike

05:36.83
Mike
Yeah, absolutely.

05:36.85
Bill
ah

05:37.55
Mike
Um, Bill started listening to a bunch of sober podcasts and he basically said, well, hell we could do that.

05:38.54
Bill
yeah

05:44.30
Mike
And, uh, so we did, it's a short answer, but it's the true answer. Um, you know, we just, um, we had, uh, well, bill had, uh, uh, a hole, I will say for lack of a better term in his, uh, in his recovery, not really, but he just wanted to add something more to it.

05:59.98
Bill
Um, by accident, right Mike?

06:03.16
Mike
And it was the chance for us to get together every week and talk. um Which we didn't do as much as as we had and so we started doing this thing and um Yeah, you know two years later. We're still knocking them out once a week That's all bill

06:17.11
John M
Yeah, and so you know I understand what it's like to like build a website and all that sort of you guys have a great website, by the way. And um I mean, who who keeps up all that? Do you do it together or do you hire out or how does that work?

06:30.30
Bill
No, every well, everything everything we do and I mean, ah Mike bike always says that. I mean, it is me like with the hands-on type of work, but everything everything that we do with with very few exceptions, you know we we collaborate together, or we make decisions on all this stuff.

06:37.29
Mike
ah

06:47.48
Mike
Right.

06:47.77
Bill
In the the website, we actually put together, the two of us did, he was up in in Wisconsin and we were like, yeah, let's do this sort of thing. And it's a, I don't mind plugging them because they've been wonderful to us. It's ah it's a company and a website provider called PodPage. So, PODPage.

07:04.86
John M
Mmhmm.

07:05.01
Bill
And they're they strictly design and have this, it's basically an out of the box website package for podcasters. So, I mean, I had to do, we had to choose the colors, we added the pictures, all the background pictures on the pages.

07:18.09
Mike
Right.

07:19.13
Bill
Mike and I sat down while you were there, Mike, I think, and it picked out all those pictures.

07:21.35
Mike
Yeah, yeah.

07:23.48
Bill
And then, They've got all these different things linked to your store. They get episode things. They get the media player. Everything else is is basically plug and play with that. And there's nothing to maintain. The only thing I really have to have to maintain, if i if I call it that, is making sure our episode loads every week, which it usually does it automatically. Sometimes I have to click a button to refresh. um But other than that, I don't have to do anything with it. you know it's It's nothing to for us to do it. and Instagram and and Facebook caused us, you know, far more work than that, than that webpage.

07:56.14
Bill
The webpage itself is self-sufficient.

07:58.35
John M
How about that?

07:59.34
Bill
Yeah.

07:59.43
John M
And fuck knuckle. You live in Wisconsin. Is that right?

08:03.27
Mike
No, I'm in Cleveland Now bill bills in Wisconsin or bill was in Wisconsin now he's traveling the world Yeah,

08:05.09
John M
Oh, were you in Wisconsin?

08:05.27
Bill
Right.

08:06.73
John M
Is that what he just said though? It won't God.

08:13.26
Bill
Yeah, so I, I lived in Wisconsin for probably longer than I'd like to admit I think combined probably 35 years, something like that.

08:20.80
John M
Oh, wow.

08:21.91
Bill
And, no, Mike was up visiting he was the first time he came up and visited then he was up there a second or third time I think you've been up in that area three times, including the Harley thing that we went to.

08:24.55
John M
Oh, I'm sitting.

08:31.09
Mike
right

08:31.48
Bill
um but um Basically that the short story with that I went down to Indiana when our when our mom was was ill and I was down there for a couple years and then yeah I started traveling around and um doing Airbnb stuff. I happen to be in Wisconsin this week I'm in Oshkosh, but ah just just for the week so I can hang with my kids for Father's Day and and stuff like that, but um Yeah, I lived in I lived in Waukesha for a number of years yeah

08:50.85
John M
yeah I used to live in Waukesha, that's the reason I ask.

08:57.19
John M
Yeah, I know a lot of people in recovery up there. and And Mike, you, so you live in Cleveland, I just have to ask you this question, have you ever been to the, I think it's called the Newberg Group, is that what it's called?

09:10.00
Mike
Yes I have.

09:11.73
John M
Oh man, I went there once, Mike, and it was,

09:13.07
Mike
No.

09:15.84
John M
Oh, I just, I mean, I loved it. It was just, well, you know, an experience. i I don't think I could go like, you know, every week.

09:22.19
Mike
no

09:22.32
John M
you It's a little too intense for me, but, uh, I, you know, explain to people what it's like.

09:25.73
Mike
It's ah right. Yeah, it's it's the epitome of Cleveland a a right. Yeah, it's like two and a half hours long It's it's an insane meeting. I've been there a couple of times.

09:33.68
Bill
Ha ha ha ha!

09:34.29
Mike
um I haven't been in a long time It's over on the east side and I don't go over there much of my passports expired Now don't know that one

09:42.69
John M
And did you know mill Loring by any chance?

09:47.46
Bill
Nope.

09:47.57
John M
OK, he was he was a circuit speaker for a long, long time. And once I was up there and he was part of the Newberg Group and I ended up going over to his house for a meeting that he had there, it was just kind of like a one off meeting they have. And but anyway, but he yeah he was ah he was a circuit speaker in AA for a long time.

10:02.05
Mike
All right.

10:06.70
John M
um

10:07.59
Bill
Nice. Yeah, and i mean I got sober out in Cleveland. I was out there. Well, I was born out in that area and then back and forth a couple of different times. But I got sober out there and spent three years and a few months and moved back to Wisconsin.

10:16.59
Mike
Mm

10:19.44
Bill
And Mike's been around the Cleveland area for a number of years, obviously all of his sober years. But yeah, why was we were just in Cleveland last weekend for Founders Day.

10:25.03
Mike
hmm.

10:27.90
Bill
So yeah cleveland's Cleveland's good.

10:28.59
John M
Oh, yes, yes.

10:31.42
Bill
Cleveland AA, we say it all the time. there' There's nothing like it, nothing like it at all.

10:34.58
Mike
Alright.

10:35.61
John M
Yeah, one of a kind.

10:35.61
Bill
you know

10:38.11
Bill
Exactly. So, um, but yeah, kind of back to everything there. So, you know, obviously John's coming on to to tell a little bit about, um, you know, what he does and all those sort of things. And, um, like I said, the the sober curator, it's going to be on there too. And I'll have links to the sober curator website. Um, I'll have links to John's website. I already have that episode description. Um, so you want to make sure visit John's website, visit the sober curator. Um, but you know, most importantly, obviously, uh, you know, we'll, we'll quiet down here and let John speak, but, um, Mike, tell him how we do things around here.

11:07.42
Mike
he Well, basically, John, you've been to Cleveland, AA. You know what it's like. We know how to get fucked up. We know how to fuck up our lives and fuck up the lives of everybody around us.

11:18.44
John M
Mmhmm.

11:18.43
Mike
What we're interested in is the solution. You know, so do a little qualifying, tell us where you're from, where you've been, all that good stuff. But we definitely don't need to hear a drunk log because we know how to do that already. We want to know how to get sober and stay sober.

11:33.61
John M
I understand.

11:33.81
Bill
Right.

11:34.53
John M
So, well, I don't know. I guess you're experienced strength and hope. I don't know if I could tell anybody how to stay sober, but I know what you mean. You know, I always say that we, but in terms of Alcoholics Anonymous, we are like ah angels with one wing. The only way we can fly to is is to embrace each other. And by the grace of God, and I truly mean that, I have been sober one day at a time now. including weekends ah since ah May 29th of 1989.

12:09.53
Bill
Nice.

12:09.57
John M
um and God's been good to me. And I often wonder, wonder many, many times, why, why, why? um God reached out and picked me up by the scruff of the neck And he has kept me sober. I don't think I'm like the the best at um You know, I don't think I'm like a role model I've made every mistake that you can possibly make in alcoholics anonymous, but ah but God's grace I am still here and so what why you know, I yeah

12:45.12
John M
There was a guy when I was drunk one night before I got sober um and I called him up. ah And this was the Dallas intergroup. And I called up the Dallas intergroup and the gentleman picked up the phone. All I can remember from the conversation, we probably talked for a half hour. I was three sheets to the wind. And ah for some reason I knew to call Alcoholics Anonymous. I'm still not exactly sure how. And this was back in the days, you know, where you had to pick up the phone, actually dial it and all that kind of stuff.

13:18.05
John M
And so he has the phone and the one thing I remember that gentleman saying to me is the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking and um

13:32.01
Bill
Right.

13:34.23
John M
I'm glad that he did not say the only requirement for membership is that you come in and make a Searching and Fearless moral inventory of yourself, and then you may go out and make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so and injure you or others.

13:43.62
Mike
Bye.

13:46.76
Bill
yeah

13:48.72
John M
you know So he was easy on me. That's the only thing. Now, unfortunately, it's not like I got in the next day and I finally got into Alcoholics Anonymous in 1986. ah But it took me until 1989 to get sober. I kept coming in and out, in and out, picking up desired chips. The last time I got a desired chip, I just, excuse me, let the um ah one of the last times I got a desired chip, I just threw all of those desired chips in. we call I think y'all call them the white chips or something up there. um But I took those chips and I threw them all in the trash and then I went

14:25.54
John M
ah Back to another meeting like i don't know several weeks later and i didn't even pick up a desire chip cuz i thought i was one of those that was constitutionally incapable of being honest us with myself like you hear a lot of people talk about.

14:39.02
Mike
Hm.

14:41.19
John M
um But um the only thing that I did, the only thing that I did right, I guess I should say, is that I kept getting back up on that horse and riding it. And I see a lot of people give up and I get that. I get the ah I get why they do that. But, you know, every single time what would happen to me, Mike and Bill, is I would just there was something in the back of my little P brain that kept saying, When I was out there, especially those three years from 86 to 89, I kept saying to myself, just one more night of fun, John.

15:16.63
Mike
Hehehehehehe.

15:17.18
Bill
a

15:18.46
John M
Just one more night of fun. Just let me rip it up, you know, and and then I'll start over tomorrow.

15:22.01
Mike
Mhm.

15:26.54
John M
And as you know, uh, it, well, uh, in my case, it was never that clean of a break, right? It was always like, well, you know, Hey, she's really pretty or, you know, Hey, I just want to get up on that table one more time and dance like a fool and, you know, do my impersonation. I used to have these impersonations that I did, uh, you know, like things like, uh, the worm, you've probably seen that. And then I had a. An impersonation of an orgasm that I would do is like, you know, a lot of milk in your mouth.

15:59.46
John M
I'll spare you all the details of that. But I would just think I always want to go out and do these kind of things one more time.

16:02.19
Mike
Uh-huh.

16:06.44
John M
And then I'll start over. But it was never that clean of a break. It always took me being it always took a lot of work ah to get back into alcoholics anonymous. And I would come in beat up again and think, why, why, why did I do this again? So um in this this last time that I came, like I said, my sobriety days, May 29th, 1989, I asked the sponsor to be ah that's 35 years ago now.

16:38.11
John M
And that gentleman who I asked to be my sponsor is still my sponsor today.

16:44.13
Bill
Nice.

16:44.28
Mike
cool so right

16:45.38
John M
And I keep telling him it's a temporary sponsorship thing. I'm going to I'm going to see if he, you know, can i cut it for me. In fact, I just talked to him a little while ago, right before I got on this call about oh some, uh, some big problem. I was having, believe me, it's a big problem. It's not a big problem, but I just needed to kind of get some stuff off my chest. I don't like to have any secrets out there and I just like things to be out there. And I can honestly tell you that if God were to punch the clock on me tonight, uh, I would have had, you know, nothing that I needed to get off my chest. Um,

17:21.40
Bill
Right.

17:22.33
John M
So anyway, he he he took me aside and he says, hey, you know, you've been doing this thing for a few years now. Have you ever worked the steps? And I was like.

17:31.29
Mike
so

17:32.49
John M
I was like, you know, I hit my head like, wow, I could have had a VA like, ah you know, and I had not, I had not done the steps and up until that point. And he, he says, okay, we're going to start the steps. And he went through it and he took it. He took me through it just like ah it is laid out in the big book of alcohol and synonymous. I know a lot of people have a lot of different ways they can do that. And by God's grace in my life, I have not had to have a drink since that time. So, um, and, you know, and I, I don't want to just kind of go on here talking unless you guys want me, I could talk about the first step, second step, third step, whatever you want me to talk about, but do you have any questions thus far?

18:13.17
Bill
No, I mean, no no questions at all. And I mean, the the main thing too is that, I mean, my opinion so far is, I mean, I think you've given a really good idea of background of what you went through. And, you know, the the thing with this too is that a lot of people that listen to us, we get a mix. We get people that are that are straight up AA people. This is not an AA podcast, never has been, although we we went through AA and we still practice those principles. and all our affairs but some people you know don't use a program some do some use part of the program you know so go through the steps I don't think necessarily you need to do that but um I think that this would be a great opportunity to tell you know talk about talk about your podcast talk about your website you know what you do now um now you've gotten to that point we know you worked with your sponsor that they he you know he introduced you to the steps that's cool

18:42.54
John M
I get it.

18:55.23
John M
Sure.

19:03.09
Bill
I've got obviously a number of years, 34 years, 35 years if I'm doing the math right.

19:08.67
Mike
Right.

19:08.79
Bill
um you know so And then you know yeah tell us what you're, what are you doing now to give back to the community with your website and your podcast?

19:16.20
Mike
Yeah, before you get to that, so so basically you're saying you're in and out and in and out, and then you started working the steps and you stayed sober. Is that what you're trying to say?

19:25.45
John M
That is right.

19:26.32
Mike
Okay. Just making it sure. Yeah.

19:28.30
John M
that

19:28.32
Mike
Kind of worked that way for me too.

19:32.19
John M
Yeah, so let me so I'll talk about the podcast like in 2000 at the end of 2017, my wife, who I call the lovely Mrs M, ah we went to a Christmas party. It wasn't it was a recovery Christmas party, a Christmas party for ah the group that I attend here, local and Frisco, Texas. And ah there was a guy there. He was in the back of the room and his name was Alex. And Alex ah was a guy from he was from Iran. and whenever he got called on a meeting he was always very kind of shy ah he never really spoke up but he would always pass the whole nine yards and so I just started talking to Alex and I said hey Alex ah you know you're kind of quiet in the rooms you know can you tell me a little bit about your story he went on to this amazing

20:20.86
John M
He, back in the, the the I think the 70s, he was in Iran and it was during the the hostage crisis.

20:30.71
Mike
Mmhmm.

20:31.17
John M
And he was there and his dad was there and they they experienced that and his dad somehow some way smuggled the family out of Iran during that time. He made up some stuff and he got them over to Germany. And then when he got to Germany, he came over to the United States and he said he would read the Persian version of the big book. and And we had a lot of conversation about that. And he told me all this stuff about how in Iran they didn't really have alcoholics anonymous because alcohol is quote illegal, but they have narcotics anonymous because of all the opium and all that kind of stuff.

21:04.31
Mike
Sure.

21:08.60
John M
And so do we, and and he had a lot more going on with the story about how he got here and he had a family. And I was like, Oh my God, Alex, this is, this is just incredible. And I went home that night and I started of thinking about How do we get, you know, Alex is not the only guy that sits in the back of the room and doesn't really have a lot to say. And how do we get somebody like Alex? How do we get like his, I mean, I knew all these people in my group who had incredible stories. And I thought, how do we get a story like that out there for others to see, for others to hear? And so I asked my wife, I says, hey, would you mind just like putting ah a website up if I kind of try to figure out how to do a podcast?

21:50.39
John M
Like you guys, it's interesting that you talked to recently or you talked ah at the beginning of this bill about all the ums. I used to listen to every one of my episodes and I would go through for for probably about the first 50 episodes and I would go through and I'd take out all the ums and I would take out, I just, I was trying to make it perfect, right? But eventually I figured nobody gives a rat's ass, right?

22:14.77
Bill
Right.

22:15.62
Mike
Nope

22:17.97
John M
I'm just going to, let like you guys do, I'm just going to kind of roll with it. And and I quit doing that. i'll I'll do some editing. You know, it's it's ah it's usually not a ton, though, and it's usually when I'm like taking out noise that was made on the episode or something like that. But anyway, so I started a podcast and now we have. and Oh, I was just working. In fact, this is what I usually do on Friday night, which we're recording right now. I just got through recording and scheduling for publish my 350th episode.

22:54.89
Bill
Nice.

22:56.03
John M
Yeah. And by God's grace, we have 2.5 million downloads. um So somewhere along the line, I guess we kind of hit ah a chord with somebody somewhere. And it's it's it's a nice little community and it's been a real big part of my sobriety.

23:15.44
Bill
So when when did you start the podcast? I missed the date.

23:18.45
John M
Yeah, no, that's OK. So the first I think the first episode I ever put out, like, oh, my gosh, it was so horrible. But I first.

23:24.31
Mike
Yeah, are still.

23:25.91
Bill
Yeah.

23:26.11
John M
Yeah, it was like, oh, man, I didn't know what I was doing. And I had the wrong kind of microphone. I had everything. But and then I grabbed a guy out of my meeting. His name was his name was Mike. And he was visiting from Mumbai at the time. And I just said, hey, I'm starting to see what you want coming over to the house real quick. And as I called him Mumbai Mike on the podcast. But anyway, um but that was back at the end of two thousand and seventeen but i really didn't start until two thousand eighteen and then somebody suggested i remember this like over the first few minutes you should put out one a week and i was like do you have any idea what it's like to put out even one episode

24:02.91
John M
But you know, as you guys know, you just get a little bit more efficient with it. And eventually, I started to put out one a week and it's been several years now many years and like I haven't missed a release on one episode in a long time. I'll put it that way.

24:20.77
Mike
All right.

24:21.61
Bill
Yeah. Yeah, that's one of the things we've we prided ourselves on because it seems like every every podcast takes a break, takes a hiatus, takes a vacation, takes ah takes a time out, takes a retool, whatever they call it. um And you know like Easter the first year, I think we were doing this, I heard everyone, all these podcasts and I'm like i'm like posting on Instagram, like everyone's on a break, listen to just us.

24:43.62
Mike
Right.

24:44.43
Bill
you know because we And we've never, since we started, it's kind of like we when we started reading the 24-hour book, when we started doing the you know our morning routine, neither one neither one of us, Mike or I, ah have missed a day since.

24:56.27
John M
Yeah.

24:56.28
Bill
And that's 14-plus years.

24:56.65
Mike
Right.

24:58.95
Bill
you know And we pretty much, I guess, handle this podcast the same way, right, Mike? I mean, with the same...

25:04.12
Mike
Yeah, absolutely. Well, um since we've been doing it, i've been I've gone on vacation to Mexico twice and I've recorded from Mexico.

25:12.28
Bill
Right.

25:12.36
John M
Yeah. Yeah.

25:13.31
Bill
Yeah, and i've I've been in different parts of the country. We've had, you know, which is not a big deal. It's just I always got an internet for work anyhow, but um we've we've switched to, we've recorded now on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Once we had to record on a Sunday.

25:27.96
Mike
Mm-hmm

25:28.28
Bill
we still have not had to record on a Monday or Tuesday but um we usually release every every Saturday um so this episode will be live you know on ah tomorrow you know I mean I do it I do it the same day ah which is that that's the other thing all these things I read after the after the fact after the fact I read that it's like you should have four episodes in the can so you you know kind of catch people they can binge and you hold on to them right away we didn't do that

25:33.81
John M
Mmm.

25:42.59
Mike
Right

25:51.12
Bill
then they're like, you know, on top of that, you don't, you know, record a number of episodes and you're always a few ahead and you've got episodes kind of saved. and So if you do miss a week, you're you're never missing a week. Well, we didn't do that, you know, and all these different things like, oh, fuck it. And now it's just like ah whatever, whatever happens, we record, put it together. It takes an hour, maybe 15 minutes, hour and a half at the most to put everything together. It's not hard. You know, it just, all you gotta to do is wait for things to load up. Everything else are, episode descriptions and shit like that.

26:21.81
Bill
Mike like comes up with the title, looks up the picture. That's just plugging that stuff in for me. It's just, it's easy.

26:27.33
Mike
Mm hmm.

26:27.61
Bill
It's, it becomes a, just a routine.

26:29.92
John M
Are you thinking of a title for this one so far, Mike?

26:29.90
Bill
It's all it is.

26:32.77
Mike
Not yet.

26:32.85
John M
OK, gotcha.

26:34.07
Mike
I do it after we're done.

26:34.31
Bill
yeah

26:35.23
Mike
After we're done, and I think back and go, okay, that was a good line.

26:36.38
John M
and

26:39.11
Mike
We'll use that.

26:40.46
Bill
Yeah. Yeah.

26:41.83
John M
I do the same thing. you know Coming up with those titles, like usually after I'm done with it, i go I'll ask the guests, hey, I'm thinking about titling it this way. We had a lady come on. Her name was Amy. ah and ah during the middle of the podcast, during the middle of recording the episode, she said, ah you know, prostitutes don't get sober on Saturday. And I got sober on a Saturday. And I was like, Amy, do you mind if I use that? I don't want to use that if you're not good with it.

27:10.52
Mike
Yeah, that's good It's so pro Saturday, that's great Yeah

27:12.76
John M
You know, she goes, No, I love it. And so, you know, it was called Amy, Amy S ah prostitutes don't get sober on Saturday.

27:22.92
Bill
That's perfect. Yeah. And that's usually, um, I mean, last week's episode was get, get the goats consent because we talked about, you know, doing filthy things with goats. It it had nothing to do with anything, but.

27:33.52
John M
I heard that.

27:33.97
Bill
you know

27:34.45
John M
Oh, and by the way, who was did I heard you guys like banging on, not banging, you're you're ah a dissing on him, move some guy from Texas. What did he do again?

27:42.60
Mike
Hehehe.

27:42.84
John M
it Something to do with exit, something to do with Instagram. I i didn't understand that.

27:46.01
Bill
Well, that was, it was the attorney, there was an attorney that was in in Texas, his ad, he was called a hammer, you know, and there there's one there's one in Chicago, with these these stupid personal injury attorneys talk about, you know, do you got a, if you got a problem, you do the, we'll hammer these results, we'll hammer this, but this guy is true Texas and he sounded like, he sounded like a damn cartoon character is what he sounded like.

27:57.66
John M
Yeah, the hammer.

28:08.33
Bill
And it would play on, I listened to TuneIn every morning, so I listened to this morning show out of Milwaukee, I've listened to it for years, And wherever I'm at, I'll get local ads. So I'm getting this, I'm getting this fucking idiot every goddamn morning, talking about hammering, hammering the insurance companies.

28:21.96
John M
Right.

28:24.54
Bill
It's just, it's it's ridiculous, but it's everywhere. You know, it's it, there's the dude.

28:27.35
John M
Yeah, no, no, no, this was ah this was a guy who like unfollowed you or something like that. and he ah He said he had a to he had a hat on. You know, I'm talking about.

28:37.59
Mike
Yeah, it was, it was something you had some beef with some dude and you called him a goat fucker.

28:41.88
Bill
Oh yeah, yeah, all that for last week, yeah.

28:42.00
Mike
And I said, and I said, don't put, I said, don't, I said, don't put down goat fuckers, man. You know, it's ain't nothing wrong with that.

28:48.15
Bill
Yes, that's how that's how was I thought you meant when I was down in Texas, because I i was down in Texas for three weeks.

28:49.99
Mike
As long as the goat can sense.

28:51.75
John M
yes That's right.

28:58.25
Bill
But no, yes, with that episode, that's what it was. The guy unfollowed us because we we posted a Pride post you know about um but Pride Month.

29:04.98
John M
Oh, I mean, did he actually say that? Did he did he say um this is why I'm unfollowing you guys?

29:09.90
Bill
Well, it was it was on that post. And he said, um unfollow in the comments on that particular post.

29:15.61
John M
Oh.

29:15.74
Bill
And I just I just commented. I'm like, you know, if that's the reason you're unfollow, that's good.

29:18.23
John M
Yeah.

29:19.28
Bill
That's a good thing that you don't go.

29:20.15
Mike
Please, we don't want you.

29:21.11
Bill
And oh, no, no, not at all.

29:21.79
John M
Right. Yeah.

29:23.89
Bill
Not at all.

29:24.13
John M
yeah

29:24.60
Bill
So, but, um, but yeah, sorry, didn't mean to, didn't mean to sidetrack your, your podcast. So 350 episodes and, uh, you obviously, uh, strippers don't get sober on Saturdays. We know that that's good prostitutes.

29:36.67
Mike
Prostitutes, there's a difference.

29:37.92
John M
protitu yeah ah see Yeah.

29:38.27
Bill
I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm sorry.

29:39.19
Mike
Well, usually sometime, okay, occasionally there's a difference.

29:40.01
Bill
I was thinking we

29:43.47
John M
Yeah, they may dovetail together as sometimes.

29:43.71
Bill
yeah

29:44.22
Mike
fix

29:46.58
Bill
Yeah, we had we had the stripper episode that was with our but our friend Daphne, accidental stripper, because she said she wasn't a stripper, so Mike made the episode titled the accidental stripper or something like that. It was funny, it was funny. So with the with the website, and you know i've I've popped on there a couple of times, but I'll be honest, I have not spent a lot of time taking a look at your website.

30:08.13
John M
Yeah.

30:08.21
Bill
um So tell us a little bit more about that. what is your What's on your website, what can people get involved in, and what's what's it all about?

30:14.84
John M
Yeah, oh so we have very so mainly we put that web website up for so people would have similar to you access to the um to the episodes of the podcast and some people listen to there. But as you guys know, I'm sure very I thought it was going to be the way that people listen to the podcast. But it turns out that that's not you know really much of the case at all.

30:34.92
Bill
Right.

30:39.01
John M
In other words, they'll listen to it on Apple podcast or, you know,

30:42.02
Bill
Spot of my.

30:42.73
Mike
ah Spotify whatever.

30:42.90
John M
ah What is Spotify?

30:43.97
Mike
Yeah, I heart great all that stuff.

30:44.63
Bill
Yep.

30:45.94
John M
Right.

30:46.57
Mike
Yep

30:47.93
John M
And so we put that up there. And then um I kind of have some some resources on the Web site as well, like, you know, thing. Hey, Alan on the other resources that we use, that you know, there's conferences coming up and I put that up there. And we have a lot of ah blog material as well. And the blog material is You know quite honestly it's ah what we have kind of figured out how to do is ah there are low competition ah high search volume keywords ah that people are looking for answers on and we and we and we publish articles on it just to see if people can use that.

31:19.16
Bill
Right.

31:26.84
John M
and um And that's pretty much it. You know, I'm not a big like real promo guy. I mean, I know I have the website out there, but mainly I just kind of come on these things and I'm thinking in essence, you know, hey, you know, like you guys, let's share experience, strength, hope here and and see if we can help somebody out here and there, you know, while we're having a little bit of fun.

31:48.70
Bill
Right. Well, and that's a, that's a thing too. When we, when we first, well, I won't even say when we first started, right, Mike, through, through this whole thing, we've got, we, both of us have had these grandiose ideas that probably mean more than you.

32:00.28
Mike
Yeah, definitely.

32:00.46
Bill
I get these, I get these fucking wild hairs up my ass and I'm like, boy, we should do this. and i And I do it for like 15 minutes, and then I stop. But um we've got a blog section on our website. I've written some more. I love to write. I just don't have i don't have the time. or i don't i I don't have the time.

32:14.87
John M
Mmhmm.

32:16.27
Bill
I was going to say, I don't take the time. But no, I just don't have the time to sit down and do it all the time. I guess people could listen on there. We've had a few people you know that don't want to get on any of the media players or you know obviously streaming platforms or anything like that that that will use the website. But I've looked at the results. It's it's very few. but we try to you know our store link to our stores on there. There's certain things that will try to push people that way if we're doing a promotion on something. um Whatever it is we'll say you know go to our website and click through here so I try to try to drive some traffic through it but the thing of it is now is I mean we've done almost it's probably not it's not you know SEO optimized like it should be

32:58.40
Bill
I understand the keywords and all those different things about how to do it.

33:01.08
John M
Yeah.

33:02.16
Bill
I just, I don't want to spend the money or the time on the programs to do it, but I know I understand the concepts of it.

33:05.10
John M
Right.

33:09.30
Bill
But yeah, I mean, the thing of it is, is that that's the one thing that I agree with or we agreed with to begin with when we first started doing this is that one way or the other, you got to have, if you're going to have a podcast or you're going to be a creator of some sort, you got to have a place for people to land for something at some point, even if it's not real active. If you don't have it, I think, I don't want to even say maybe it is credibility, right, Mike? I don't know. It's just you got to have a place for people to go.

33:33.59
Mike
Yeah, pretty much.

33:35.28
Bill
You know?

33:35.71
Mike
But yeah, right. You know, make us kind of look leg legitimate.

33:40.36
Bill
Right, yeah. it's it Sometimes, like like Mike says all the time, you know, just at least we look like we know what we're doing sometimes with the website is kind of what it comes across.

33:45.67
Mike
Mm hmm. Exactly.

33:48.11
Bill
is Right.

33:48.13
Mike
Act as if we learn that somewhere.

33:49.31
John M
yeah

33:52.56
Bill
Right.

33:52.77
John M
Oh, I did mean I forgot to tell you that we do have step workbooks on the site, you know, for those who are interested in the same. By the way, i I am not a there are those who are in alcoholics anonymous to think this is the only way you can get sober. I'm not in that camp, right?

34:08.76
Mike
Mm hmm. Neither are we.

34:11.16
Bill
Right.

34:11.60
John M
um I think it's a great way to get sober and I think the numbers prove out that it has been a great way, but it's not an end all deal.

34:14.18
Mike
Mm hmm.

34:17.06
Mike
Right.

34:18.18
John M
Even in the big book it says we know, we realize we know only a little.

34:22.92
Mike
Right.

34:23.12
John M
More will be disclosed to you and to our fellows.

34:26.38
Mike
Mm hmm.

34:26.48
John M
so uh you know everyone's got to follow their own conscience and and and i and i get that it's not for some people maybe it's you know too much god or it's you know or they're they're just there's a lot of people who are introverts too they just can't handle the group thing right and and and i get that uh i just know that i'm i just feel blessed really blessed that i found something

34:35.22
Mike
Hmm.

34:43.21
Mike
Right.

34:52.71
John M
For me, the only thing that I yeah like I told you guys earlier that I haven't done. The one thing that I haven't and or the only thing that I've done right, I'll put it that way, is I've been consistent about going to meetings ever since I got sober. And it's not because, you know, I've heard people say the only reason I come to meetings is to help somebody else. Well, I'm not going to help somebody else. I mean, now when I get there, sometimes I go, hey, you know, I think I could help is because I just need a little respite for my own brain. and For whatever reason, that's the thing that helps me.

35:28.81
Bill
Right, yeah, and I mean but actually both bike and I um have. We go to very few meetings. I mean we were very, very active to begin with.

35:37.37
Mike
Sure.

35:37.65
Bill
Mike goes, yeah I mean tell your story Mike. You go to one meeting week.

35:39.65
Mike
Oh yeah. I mean, that's well, it's just what you said, right?

35:41.94
Bill
yeah

35:42.86
Mike
I go to my home group once a week. That's the one I'm consistent with. And I go there. I'm the co-treasurer and I go there to help run the meeting and to be of service. Um, I, you know, I, I don't need to hear another drunk a log, which is, you know, it happens all the time. Um, you know, but I'm there, I'm there to, you know, again, I want the hand of aid to be there. And for that I'm responsible. So I show up every week and my hand is out.

36:07.25
John M
Yeah.

36:07.94
Bill
Yeah, and when I was back in Cleveland, and if I'm going to go to a meeting, it's ah it's not like I'll only go to a meeting in Cleveland, but um I would say what, 90% of the time when when I'm back in Cleveland, unless we've got other things that are planned where we we are unable to do it, um we always go to a meeting.

36:22.58
Mike
Right.

36:23.91
Bill
We'll hit a Friday night meeting because like this time we got to see, there was a guy that the sponsor, both Mike and I, when I was still out there and he's you know and technically on paper he's still both of our you know he's a sponsor to both of us he told us years ago he's like the only way I'm not going to be your sponsor is if you tell me not to be um but we sat there and but saw him a couple of minutes before the meeting when he walked in and then um what we sat there for an hour or so with him afterward right you know

36:34.28
Mike
Right. it

36:40.83
John M
me.

36:47.98
Mike
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

36:49.41
Bill
and it was It was wonderful. We hadn't seen him in a year, literally. and um the The lead was good. you know We ended up seeing the guy that was ah that led at Founders Day the next day. I didn't say hi to him, but I saw him there. and then um It was a decent lead.

37:01.20
Mike
Mm hmm.

37:02.93
Bill
and Like I said, you know we got to see some people that we hadn't seen in a while, and it is. it's I love Cleveland AA. Nothing wrong with meetings. I've been in meetings in different areas. but Um, this has become, uh, we always used to go consistently to our home group was on a Friday night and this, this has become our, our Friday night meeting. That was, and Mike said that before, you know, and I did, I had this and it was, it's the easiest way to put it, avoid a hole or whatever it was.

37:24.27
Mike
Right.

37:28.33
Bill
I, I felt like I was missing something and this literally has not only filled, but, um, overfilled in a great way. Um, you know, that. Wherever that void was, this has done that because you know we get our meeting, we get our conversation, we get to hang out and be friends like we are, our brothers.

37:40.32
John M
Right.

37:45.20
Bill
But on top of that, I mean, for some reason, um every every once in a while, we say some of this shit, it makes sense to somebody and it helps.

37:52.02
John M
It feels that a sense of community for me that.

37:52.03
Bill
you know

37:52.29
Mike
who

37:55.42
Bill
Yeah.

37:55.61
Mike
Yeah, <unk> we're here to fill holes.

37:58.02
John M
Yeah.

37:58.50
Bill
ah I smell an episode title.

38:00.69
Mike
you yeah

38:04.23
John M
ah

38:05.74
Bill
But so so what else, John? I mean, we're we're getting towards the usually the the middle of the episode where we're going to take a break. What else do you want to tell everyone about you and what you're doing and you know kind of to to wrap up ah wrap up your time with us?

38:17.28
John M
Yeah, so I really don't like I said, I'm not a big you know, I'm i'm not into the the promo thing I just want to share and if somebody benefits from it and it can like ah give somebody the input if it can give somebody the Launching pad that they need in order to try to get sober whether that be through AA or any other means that you try um I can just tell you that for me um I have I listen, I don't want you you guys know this is not like it's all butterflies and ponies and stuff like that.

38:54.44
John M
Not anymore.

38:54.80
Mike
strawberries and orgasms hmm

38:56.84
John M
Yeah, strawberries and orgasms. It is not all that. ah but But I do feel grateful that i have this that I have this life, that I have been afforded in sobriety and living a a completely different way of life than I

39:01.18
Bill
Haha.

39:19.31
John M
you know I was just going down the tutu, and I was becoming like a lot of the people that I had seen around me, and it was not going in the right direction. And like I said earlier, by God's grace, he picked me up by the scruff of the neck, and and um'm I'm grateful that I've been sober. And then I'll say this too, to kind of ah wrap up our time. um There's this ah saying that I've heard recently, and that is,

39:48.28
John M
that how How does this quote go? Oh yeah, mark the place that it is that you've found God and go there often. Now for me, that place has been Alcoholics Anonymous and I go there often. And you know, if somebody could change that around and say mark the place where you found serenity or mark the place where you found yourself or mark the place where you found whatever it is and go there often. But that's why I go back and that's why I try my best to keep giving a day at a time.

40:25.70
John M
um And um anyway, I'm i' glad you guys let me come on and share a little bit of my nonsense today.

40:31.33
Mike
and Cool.

40:34.15
Bill
Yeah, I mean we we appreciate it and make sure everyone the john's website link is in the in the episode notes also the sober curators going to be episode notes visit the sober curator also I don't know that this episode may take a week or so or even a couple to get up there but make sure you visit this there and yeah reach out to john listen to his podcast also and ah john I mean

40:55.09
Mike
like Sober speak podcast.

40:57.65
John M
Yeah, sober speak two words or yeah, two words and you can find it on any of the you player.

41:02.79
Mike
Yeah, look in Google, because I just did.

41:06.79
Bill
Yeah, exactly.

41:06.83
Mike
It's there.

41:07.87
Bill
if all ah yeah If all else fails, Google it, right?

41:11.88
John M
And you guys know what I'm about to go do. I'm about to like this has been the highlight of my even I think I'm about to go watch the Dallas Mavericks lose to the bosses Celtics in in four. But at least we made it to the finals and I'm happy about that.

41:24.60
Bill
Well, cool.

41:26.28
John M
so

41:27.72
Bill
Well, John, stick around just for a minute while we wrap up and Mike, it is your turn.

41:31.84
Mike
All right. Well, thanks John for coming on and we're going to be right back with more nonsense after this word from our sponsor.

00:02.37
Bill
All right, everyone, welcome back. And as we were wrapping up with John, he asked if we were gonna come back on here and talk about him, so.

00:11.87
Mike
Yeah, how about that John dude?

00:15.29
Bill
and i after After all that, no, we're not gonna talk about you at all, but no, seriously, we wanna thank John for for coming on here.

00:22.05
Mike
isn

00:22.76
Bill
It was a lot of fun, and he's um I think he would be the um almost the the the textbook definition of humble, right? I mean, you see?

00:31.51
Mike
yeah Yeah, absolutely.

00:32.41
Bill
know

00:32.72
Mike
Yeah, he's out there doing good stuff and he's like, yeah, I'm just doing my thing.

00:36.59
Bill
Yeah, just like, yeah I don't want to promote it and stuff. And I'm like, tell, what do you want to talk about? What do you want to tell people about?

00:41.38
Mike
a

00:42.68
Bill
Yeah, yeah me. Cause cause I'm a whore and he's not. I'm like, no, throw your shit out there.

00:46.18
Mike
Right.

00:48.17
Bill
Show your tits. I mean, come on.

00:49.60
Mike
Right.

00:49.61
Bill
What's wrong with you?

00:50.19
Mike
Clearly he didn't get so- he- maybe he got sober on a Saturday. Maybe that's the problem.

00:54.89
Bill
Exactly, exactly. But no, seriously, but but we've got links to his website in in the episode notes and visit our episode. You can, you know, our our website, you can click in through there if, cause I know some of the like Apple and stuff like that. I don't know if it has the links, but if you don't have a link to it, go on our website, sober, not mature.com. Hit the episode, the transcriptions within a couple of days, we'll show the link, but either way it's sober speak.

01:17.74
Mike
Mm hmm.

01:18.31
Bill
Mike said, Google has it.

01:19.36
Mike
Sober speak. Great.

01:20.42
Bill
over speak, find John. He's a good dude and ah support him if nothing else, even though he's not trying to whore himself out, at least support the man. He's humble.

01:29.74
Mike
That's right. We'll be his pimp.

01:31.76
Bill
Yeah. Yeah. we're out We're out there out there trying to make money for the man. So, or at least make some connections if nothing else. So, but um yeah, so back to back to our fucking garbage.

01:36.62
Mike
Uh huh.

01:41.16
Bill
I don't think we're not going to do a reading tonight, right? No sense in

01:43.34
Mike
Not that that yeah now, it's fine. I mean, I've got the book here, but I didn't pick anything out. So that's fine with me.

01:49.95
Bill
Yeah, and I was i I have no issue with it, but I just I figured that, you know, maybe obviously leave it up to you. But so a couple of real quick things that I believe we probably want to do a Founders Day recap, I would think. But um first of all, though, it's coming up on Father's Day weekend.

02:01.05
Mike
but I would think.

02:04.95
Bill
I know we have a lot of a lot of dads and a lot of, you know, dads that are just getting maybe kids back into their lives and that sort of thing.

02:10.53
Mike
Mm hmm.

02:11.36
Bill
So um Happy Father's Day to everyone out there if, you know, for for the dads and if you if you still have a ah dad around, um you know, do something nice for your dad, you know, kick him.

02:21.40
Mike
Right. Yeah. Congratulations on leaving it in.

02:25.35
Bill
Yeah, thanks. so Thanks. Thanks, dad.

02:27.68
Mike
yeah

02:28.79
Bill
Yeah, that was it. I'll have to find that meme. It's probably going to come up as a memory. But yeah, basically, I shoot that the meme says something along the lines of, you know, basically, your kids should just thank you for, you know, for keeping it in that day. Same deal, you know, so

02:41.67
Mike
That's right.

02:43.02
Bill
Yeah, I don't I don't need a gift. I mean, I gave you your gift a long time ago. So I am I am the gift, right?

02:46.99
Mike
Mm hmm. That's right.

02:49.75
Bill
yeah But yeah, so I got a couple other things.

02:50.83
Mike
this this business

02:54.19
Bill
I think notes on here and stuff like that. But yeah, definitely happy Father's Day to everyone. Oh, I know what I wrote down. um I saw that you posted it. and I saw that you signed up for it. I know it's a little ways away a couple of months.

03:04.98
Mike
Yeah.

03:05.20
Bill
But you're back. You're back doing the radio gig this this year. So let's let's at least get that flow that out there to everyone right away.

03:09.21
Mike
All right. Yes. I will be back on the mighty airwaves of W JCU, uh, August 30th. It is a Friday. So clearly we're going to have to record the day before that week. Um, and yeah, you know, just spinning my awful, horrible music that I love so bad. And, uh, yeah, you know, um, I've talked about it before real quickly. WJCU had a, uh, it's a college radio station here in Cleveland. Um, they are worldwide WJCU.org.

03:44.05
Mike
If you want to listen there, they've got a their own app. You can listen to that um Wherever you get your apps at and yeah, you know JC you as a Big place in my heart early sobriety very early sobriety raw first week sobriety Um, I was laying there at the Keating Center, flipping around the radio on a Friday night and heard music, heard my music, um, the stuff that I love. And, uh, that was on WJCU. So I support the station going down for two hours and spinning my awful heavy metal and punk rock music.

04:19.35
Bill
Thank you very much. Yeah and you know seriously that's ah it's I think one of the best parts of that that story I mean not just the fact that you did you do it and you enjoy yourself that's one thing the fact that it's giving back to that community that's another thing which is hugely important um but it it really is it's it's a part of your sobriety story you know because what did you figure a few weeks two weeks three weeks is you know when you were listening to that I mean if that right yeah

04:35.28
Mike
yeah

04:38.62
Mike
There it is.

04:44.16
Mike
Um, dad. Yeah. I think maybe the second week I was at the Keating center. Yeah. So, you know, three weeks sober, man, you know, just, um, going whole fuck man. I just want to, you know, I want to listen to something. I want to pretend for a minute that that all of this isn't happening.

05:02.69
Bill
Right.

05:05.49
Bill
Yeah.

05:05.52
Mike
and And there it was, yeah. you know it was ah It was either the New York Dolls and then the Dead Boys or the Dead Boys and the New York Dolls. It was a radio show that's not on there anymore. Music to Break Things By, my buddies Adam and Andy. ah Adam and Max now. And um yeah, you know and the show before it is the Metal on Metal radio show hosted by the legendary Bill Peters. It is the longest running heavy metal radio show in the world. He started in 1982.

05:35.24
Bill
Nice.

05:36.00
Mike
yep

05:36.61
Bill
Yeah, I mean, and the thing of it is that the whole point of you sitting in there in the Keating Center, and like you said, that this isn't happening.

05:40.72
Mike
Yep.

05:43.20
Bill
And I you i well and i know that it's all these little, they just not all these little things, but a couple of these little things here and there when we were at the Keating Center, listening to New Yuzuk, I'm sure made you feel whatever the version of normal that you wanted to feel made you feel that way.

05:57.16
Mike
Right.

05:58.18
Bill
I remember taking, you know something as simple as taking a walk up to the gas station, taking a bike ride, but we used to bike right down to the library.

06:02.28
Mike
Right there. Mm hmm.

06:04.98
Bill
you know, having that little bit of normal seed, not that the Keating Center was terrible, but um it was just.

06:08.75
Mike
right It was just a lot of big fucking changes right at once, right?

06:11.75
Bill
and Yeah. And it's just like, you know, we, we needed, you know, I'm sure not only wanted, but needed that time to just sit back and be like, man, I just, I just want to fucking chill for a minute.

06:18.37
Mike
Mm-hmm Right,

06:22.57
Bill
You know, so.

06:23.84
Mike
I don't want to think about Bill Wilson and dr. Bob and fucking Marty and all these assholes around me and right Yeah, you know

06:26.81
Bill
yeah

06:34.27
Bill
Right.

06:35.92
Mike
rubber chicken and rubber dogs and rubber donuts and yes.

06:42.99
Bill
But yeah, I mean obviously we'll we'll talk about it a little bit more as obviously is it well more obviously as it gets closer But um I just saw I saw the face up or off the face on postbook.

06:48.90
Mike
Yeah.

06:53.17
Bill
Holy fuck The post on Facebook which by the way, can we bitch him about Facebook for a minute can I sidestep this so what?

06:53.33
Mike
Right. Yeah. That too.

07:01.35
Mike
Sure. Yes, absolutely.

07:04.06
Bill
it Fucking meta, okay

07:07.25
Mike
right

07:07.94
Bill
Fuckin' Zuckerberg and Meta and all these motherfuckers out there between them. So what was it six months ago when every goddamn thing I was posting was getting flagged on Instagram? And, you know, so finally I'm like, okay, I've got i've got to ease up a little bit and I'm careful with what I post. There was never a problem and everything that we post on Instagram crosses over to Facebook every once in a while.

07:25.91
Mike
Right. Right.

07:30.97
Bill
I do see where it says we were unable to post it on Facebook, but usually it's like a video or a reel. It's podcast stuff, you know, that I'm like, yeahh for whatever reason, it didn't translate.

07:38.71
Mike
Right.

07:40.86
Bill
Sometimes on Facebook, it'll say, this is not going to be available in all countries because it has music attached or whatever it is.

07:47.14
Mike
yeah

07:47.40
Bill
But then in the weird thing is I'm not getting the notifications if you are I looked all around that I don't see them.

07:52.75
Mike
Right.

07:52.91
Bill
ah But even regardless,

07:53.63
Mike
Well, because I'm the I'm the primary administrator on the Facebook page because I started it.

07:58.65
Bill
Oh shit. Okay. Cause I'm like, I'm like, how the fuck am I not even seeing these things? So that makes sense.

08:02.25
Mike
Right.

08:02.97
Bill
Okay.

08:03.19
Mike
ah yeah right I opened up Facebook on my phone and it's the it pops up. I can't even get into Facebook straight away. um I get the notification pops up. and you know what i think because it's it's it's ah We've had four of them in the past eight, nine days, something like that. um yeah Today was the fourth one. and Yeah, it's yeah i I think it's got something to do with the hashtags. I know because it's it's saying it's spam It's it's saying like we're uh, we're fucking um taking people to a website that's different than what's shown I I don't know, but I think it's the hashtags.

08:30.84
Bill
Right.

08:44.56
Mike
It's it's Tap, um, whatever, you know setting it off Yeah

08:48.84
Bill
Right. Well, because the other thing too, is that because we have links to our, our website on there. So we're not mature in the store website. So it's trying to take that I wonder if they're, I wonder if it's even that, but so here, here's what I'm going to try.

08:57.19
Mike
Mmhmm.

09:01.94
Bill
So have you ever, have you gotten them on anything with a podcast or anything with the readings? Have you ever, they pop up or is it just memes?

09:11.00
Mike
It's yeah. Well, no, it's because it doesn't have anything to do with the podcast. So it wouldn't be the readings or anything. It's yeah, it's, it's the posts that crossover from Instagram. Cause I've, you know, every great once in a while I'll post something on the Facebook page. I never go to Instagram.

09:26.89
Bill
right right

09:28.54
Mike
Um, yeah. Um, I, I mean, basically it's, um, exist It says spam, and then it says examples of things we don't allow. people Taking people to a website that is significantly different from what was shown or sent them, taking people to a landing page that impersonates another website, disguising where a link is taking someone using repeated redirects or cloaking.

09:48.83
Bill
Right. Right.

09:53.72
Bill
Jesus Christ.

09:54.44
Mike
So it's the hashtags.

09:55.97
Bill
Okay.

09:55.99
Mike
I know it is, yeah.

09:58.25
Bill
Okay.

09:58.54
Mike
it's It's the hashtags that on your the memes and shit that you post Yeah, it's for some reason it's popping.

10:02.96
Bill
Right, okay.

10:06.24
Mike
It's making Zuckerberg His panties in a wad they're crawling up his ass Mm

10:11.94
Bill
so So what I'm gonna do for a little while, try to let this cool down either, um i won't I won't put like weird hashtags in there, um I'll make sure, because i and I know the one was human sacrifice, so I had that, I get that.

10:20.67
Mike
-hmm Okay

10:25.04
Bill
You know, but um the the one that I posted, the last one that popped up was just, um you know, the the one, it's like the flex that we have is that um we don't have to be fake, you know, fake shit or whatever. It's just kind of like, okay, we're real.

10:37.33
Mike
Mm-hmm

10:37.35
Bill
And I'm like, this is cool. Cause this is, that's kind of a good indication of who we are as a podcast, right?

10:41.99
Mike
Right, right Yeah,

10:42.04
Bill
That's why I'm like, this is who we are. But then probably that the fact that we are, I mean, we're not, I don't know, we're not the meme, these fuckers. I mean, these motherfuckers.

10:51.25
Mike
I had you right Now

10:53.28
Bill
So I may, and what I was wondering though, it's like when I post the podcast clips or when I do a reading from God grant me.

10:58.70
Mike
I don't think it's any of those Right

11:00.25
Bill
Okay, perfect. Okay, so then at least I know it's not my general hashtags in my general postings. It's the catchy hashtag that you're gonna try to use.

11:09.54
Mike
Probably right. Yeah. Yeah, I would imagine you're right yeah.

11:10.99
Bill
Okay.

11:12.11
Mike
Yeah, it's you know human sacrifice. It's misrepresenting that fucking a man.

11:16.03
Bill
ah

11:17.06
Mike
I don't know Okay

11:18.21
Bill
Right. and Okay. So I don't know. I'll just either I'll watch myself or I'll stop. I'll stop cross posting the memes cause I could do it. It's a button. It's not a big deal, but yeah. Fucking Facebook and just let me, Jesus Christ. If they, if they aren't fucking with us on one side, they're fucking with us on the other. And it's just, uh, just crazy.

11:32.57
Mike
Right Right, well, I mean, you know, yeah Facebook my famous

11:34.67
Bill
So your, but your microphone just cracked a little more.

11:38.38
Mike
I think the first time I went to Facebook jail, I've been there a few times folks, um, was I posted the Spicoli clip from fast times where he hits his head with the shoe and says, that's my skull. I'm so wasted.

11:50.78
Bill
Right.

11:51.01
Mike
Um, I posted that clip off of YouTube onto Facebook and behind Spicoli is a Playboy centerfold hanging on the wall. And there's a booby showing and they fucking took me off of Facebook for like a week.

12:06.88
Bill
Yeah, and that was that was i I kind of I kind of instigated that I forget what I posted that that was a comment on my post.

12:14.15
Mike
Yeah, I wasn't even opposed. That's right. It was a fucking comment on something you put up. I just posted the clip.

12:18.57
Bill
Yeah.

12:19.85
Mike
That's my skull.

12:19.93
Bill
Yeah.

12:20.53
Mike
I'm so wasted.

12:21.96
Bill
And I think that's what I think I got. That's like the first pair of vans I got, which was, yeah, a couple years ago.

12:26.02
Mike
Yeah, that was probably it. Yeah, there you go.

12:28.88
Bill
Yeah, it was.

12:28.89
Mike
I don't know something that stupid, but yes, there there was a booby in the background and they've shut my ass down because of it.

12:35.82
Bill
Right. Yeah. So I don't know, but, um, yeah, just when I, I dunno, as we were talking about that, I don't remember what reminded me of it, but yeah, fuck, fuck Facebook. That's all. I mean, all of it.

12:44.67
Mike
Right.

12:44.78
Bill
I hate, I hate the fact that we need any of that shit, but you know, unfortunately we do.

12:48.71
Mike
Mm hmm.

12:49.01
Bill
So, but, um, okay. So, um, radio gig we got and then now still founders day last weekend.

12:53.68
Mike
Yeah. Yeah.

12:55.95
Bill
Um, so i don't know i mean where where do we want to start i mean ah it was it was fun i mean as always it was a beautiful fucking day it was just a really really day what was it in upper upper 70s or was it no yeah

13:02.63
Mike
Yes, it was. Upper 70s. Yeah, it might have hit 80.

13:09.73
Bill
Yeah, it was just because we've had, God, we've had some years there. We had this really, really hot year. We've had fucking thunderstorms. We've had, you know, stadium clearing lightning, you know, but, uh, this was, this was perfect.

13:16.26
Mike
Nope. Yes, we have.

13:22.50
Bill
And I mean, we just, we just kind of, first of all, um, I was kind of amazed and we saw a lot of people that we knew this year, which last year we, we saw Marty and Michelle.

13:30.62
Mike
Right. Right.

13:33.45
Bill
And then like fucking no one else. And this year we just saw a bunch of people and then repeatedly all the people from the retreat, we saw like repeatedly throughout the day.

13:35.12
Mike
Right. Yeah.

13:40.76
Mike
Mm hmm.

13:42.28
Bill
So, um, I don't know.

13:42.61
Mike
Right.

13:43.72
Bill
I mean, it was just, it was a nice time, right?

13:45.97
Mike
Yeah. Well, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It was, you know, it was founder's day, man. It was 10,000. It was, it was packed. There were more people there than it had been for a while. Um, yeah, the stadium was packed, like packed, packed, packed. And, um, man, it was a good time, man.

13:57.62
Bill
Right.

13:59.91
Mike
It always is. Went outside with Dr. Bob's house. Didn't go in, you know, got some new pictures on the rock and, um, yeah, good times.

14:08.97
Bill
Yeah, and I haven't had, I just haven't had the time to take those. And I'm gonna take a a few of those, like the main ones that I, and I posted them on this Instagram and stuff like that.

14:17.76
Mike
Right.

14:17.80
Bill
And um those are the the main ones that I posted, I think are the ones I'm gonna turn into black and white, then I'll get new Canva posts and do all that stuff with them.

14:21.38
Mike
Mm hmm.

14:26.02
Bill
But um and it was it was a lot of fun. And and then the lead, shouldn't lead the this um this year was, he was,

14:30.46
Mike
Yeah.

14:34.16
Bill
I mean, a good story had a lot of humor to it.

14:36.55
Mike
Right.

14:37.83
Bill
And I mean, so much shit that all of us, he had people laughing.

14:37.88
Mike
Yup.

14:41.20
Bill
He had people just like, I mean, just going, wow.

14:41.58
Mike
Mm hmm.

14:43.55
Bill
And it was just, it was a great lead. Fucking awesome.

14:45.59
Mike
Yeah, it was. Yeah. Finally. There was a fucking really good lead for the main speaker on the big Saturday night meeting. Yes, it was nice. We actually stayed for the whole fucking thing, which we never do.

14:56.22
Bill
it And i was I was trying to think the last time that we stayed for the whole thing might've been, um I don't know, eight years ago, seven years ago, something like that.

15:04.16
Mike
Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah.

15:06.59
Bill
And we figured out that we've gone 12 out of the 15 years, except for, you know again, pandemic years and one we missed, um you know that we had stuff to do.

15:10.63
Mike
Right. right

15:14.39
Bill
But yeah, out of 15, or I'm sorry, 12 years of of doing that, I think we probably stayed the entire time for maybe three of them.

15:19.99
Mike
Mm-hmm. Right, right.

15:23.03
Bill
you know if that and oh this guy was he was just a fucking treat what did he have 32 years I think yeah yeah he wasn't the yadir hey or oh yeah

15:28.66
Mike
i ask Yeah, something like that, right? Yeah, yeah Jeff from Fargo, North Dakota.

15:36.91
Mike
Nah, I don't believe he was a native. i'm i'm trying I'm trying to think.

15:40.06
Bill
yeah

15:40.71
Mike
I think he was from somewhere else, but yes, he's lived in Fargo for a long time. Yeah, he definitely didn't have the accent.

15:47.84
Bill
Right. So um I want to I want to go back to founder's day in a second. But I ah just remembered when um the the lead that we listened to it, who do you know, you stood up and commented based on what the guy said.

15:58.54
Mike
Mm-hmm Ah Yeah, yeah, yeah, he um Yeah, he was you know telling his story whatever blah blah blah blah blah and he had he had had a period of of sobriety dry whatever and um he He was talking about after he had been dry for like a couple years um he took that drink of vodka and

16:00.11
Bill
And he's he said something was something along the lines of what he took a first drink and then something happened. Do you remember that?

16:27.53
Mike
He felt it and I was, I was listening to him and I was expecting him to say, you know, yeah, I felt that that he's in comfort at the big book talks about, and he didn't, he said, and he felt everything good that was in him leave. And I went, whoa, fuck.

16:43.93
Bill
but

16:44.67
Mike
Yeah, that's good, man. That is definitely good. Yeah, so, um you know, it was just, it was very um I'm poignant or whatever but it was it was I've never heard it I've never heard that in a meeting before you know I took that drink and I instantly felt it and it wasn't yeah that he's in comfort that we expect it was he felt Everything good that was in him leave and I went fuck man.

16:58.95
Bill
Right.

17:10.88
Bill
yeah Right.

17:12.11
Mike
All right. Thank you cuz you know Cause you know, I'll be 14 plus years, whatever, man. One fucking day at a time. Today's the only day that counts. And yeah, we've talked about it endlessly on here. Of course we have the thoughts, of course. And um yeah, I needed to hear that fucking, I don't want to take that drink and feel everything good that I've worked for and everything good that has built up inside of me all this time. Leave. I don't want that.

17:38.80
Bill
Right? Yep. So two days in a row, I mean, we we get a good a good lead at it Founders Day, obviously, but then here in that lead, how, I mean, in as you were just talking about that, day I didn't think about it when you commented on it, but I thought the same thing. I'm like, fucking A, that's, he completely caught me off guard and flipped it in the other direction because yeah, we always talk about that.

17:57.84
Mike
Mm-hmm

17:59.46
Bill
It's like, you know, I want to feel good. We're going to feel good for what, you know, 20 minutes and then what, you know?

18:03.46
Mike
Right. Mm-hmm Right, um, well a week ago I

18:04.47
Bill
But no, he's just like, no, it's all gone. You know, it all just goes away. but When's the last time that you heard somebody say something in a lead that you were just like, fuck me, yeah you know? Oh, okay. good but

18:18.12
Mike
Yeah, right. but But prior to that, I know what you meant.

18:21.36
Bill
Right.

18:21.47
Mike
Um, yeah, it's probably been six, eight, nine months that I went, Oh, fuck. You know, I mean, I'll hear stuff in leads and go, Oh yeah. You know, and agree, not my head and relate and all that good stuff. But yeah, one of those aha moments, it's been a while.

18:37.79
Bill
Yeah, it just it doesn't it doesn't happen that often, you know, because I, and I think it's like, um it just made me think of when I when I do my my readings in the morning, some of this stuff, it just, I'm ingesting all of it. I know the stuff stick.

18:49.23
Mike
Mm hmm.

18:49.82
Bill
I know it does.

18:50.92
Mike
Right.

18:51.07
Bill
But it's not it's not forefront. And it's not like, holy cow type of things. But um every once in a while, I'll read something.

18:56.69
Mike
Right.

18:57.17
Bill
And that's when you know, I put it on here, and I put it on my list and all those different things.

19:00.21
Mike
right

19:01.32
Bill
you know because it's a it's a thinking moment but i can't i'll be honest with you i can't but i don't go i don't go to a meeting every week like you do um but it's been i can't remember the last time that i've heard somebody say something at a podium that i've just been holy shit you know um once again you hear the same stuff and people's got great stories and all that sort of stuff but yeah like you said one of those aha moments and i'm like it's it was great he was good dude too you know good dude so

19:07.58
Mike
Right. Right. Sure. sure

19:22.77
Mike
Mm hmm.

19:25.07
Bill
but um but yeah i mean just a founder's day in general i mean it was just i i can't say it anymore great day great weather we had a good time our sister was there obviously chris was there um you know we're just hanging out we saw a bunch of people um heidi you know you know strawberries and orgasms we saw we saw heidi there we're standing on the hill had and at doctor's bob's house just right after we got our picture i'm like i look at him like i come like so like like but i'm like

19:34.34
Mike
Yep. Right. Mm hmm. Yes, we were.

19:51.87
Bill
Heidi just screamed or screamed her fucking day. All these people are around. She's just like, this she was there with the kids. I mean, it was fucking wonderful.

19:57.83
Mike
Yeah, she's walking down Ardmore.

20:00.70
Bill
Yeah, it was just it was just really, really good. But so the end of the night, Chris couldn't find your car.

20:07.75
Mike
Yeah, she forgot where she parked.

20:08.93
Bill
but

20:11.14
Mike
Yeah, she parked on the other side of the campus where we have never parked. um

20:18.22
Bill
ah It was

20:18.83
Mike
Yeah, cause she came later, she came on her own and yeah, but so we had to track down her Jeep. Thankfully it's a, it doesn't blend in all that well. So it was a, we, we found it. It took us what, I don't know, 15 minutes or so.

20:32.10
Bill
Right. Well, the only, the only saving grace was because she, you know, it was like after the meeting, we're piling out, whatever. And then, um, I heard you guys talking. I'm like, well, what's going on? You're like, yeah, she doesn't know where she parked. I'm like, really?

20:42.19
Mike
she

20:43.25
Bill
And, uh, and she's like, yeah, well, I could see the parking garage. So we always, and literally always park in this, in this one parking garage.

20:50.63
Mike
Right.

20:50.70
Bill
so we're we're thinking that once so we walk over to this parking lot we're looking for other parking lots and then she she gets this memory of like it was by this whatever engineering building that's the only way in the world that we would have found in that car that night you know so we we googled it then we all hopped in my car drove drove over there and yeah like you said we're driving around this road you're like there it is

21:00.02
Mike
to Yeah, right.

21:09.70
Mike
Right.

21:10.40
Bill
yeah uh but uh yeah it was it was fun it was it was a lot of fun that yeah we had lunch with lunch with the cousins uh the next day and uh that was that was nice so um yeah it was just a good it was just a just an all-around good weekend and then uh yeah when i got back i had uh finally i was thinking about it on my way back and i'm like you know what fucking i'm gonna go up to wisconsin for a few days

21:15.50
Mike
and is

21:18.42
Mike
right Mm-hm. Absolutely.

21:30.18
Mike
here

21:31.63
Bill
yeah So yeah, I've been up and been up in Oshkosh. Kimmy and Ollie came down last night and I'm going up to because Kimmy wasn't sure with the with the registration and stuff.

21:36.21
Mike
Cool.

21:41.86
Bill
She didn't know if like the family could be there because they it was canceled last weekend was supposed to be the registration. Um, so yeah, apparently, uh, it's cool. She said, yeah, that the lady told her that yes, a lot of times family comes along. So I think, uh, Kimmy's mom, so my ex Pam is going to be there and I'm going to head up there. And, um, I know it's going to be the registration. I don't, I don't know. I don't know. Like if they're going to practice or what they're going to do with the kids, but then, um,

22:04.65
Mike
Right we're talking about soccer we're not registering for you know anything bad You did you did but yes

22:10.43
Bill
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry. Yeah, yeah my yeah yeah my my grandson is, yeah, he's he's two in two years and a few months and um they're going to get him into you know team sports. I think I mentioned it on here a couple of months or ago, but yeah.

22:24.84
Mike
We need we need to go register bill needs to go register himself put a sign in his front yard if he had a front yard Mm

22:32.07
Bill
Right, right. No, it's just my grandson grandson playing soccer and all that stuff, so it'll be good. and then um yeah But then we're going to this, Kimmy sent me, because again, I'm i'm in Oshkosh and she used to work down here.

22:38.84
Mike
-hmm

22:45.69
Bill
She knew of a couple of places and um she's like, where do you want to go? I'm like, I don't care. I said, if nothing else, maybe a place would get a good burger. And I said, hey, I said, since we're by this you know by the river here, I said, let's try to find a restaurant you know by the river, why not? you know and there was this one place I remember it's like it's like dockside restaurant tavern whatever it's a it's literally it's a bar or restaurant you know but but it's supposed to have she's like I've heard it has really good food I looked at the menu it's got burgers and shit I'm like we're going to a bar

23:08.00
Mike
Mm-hmm. Yep.

23:16.49
Bill
And it's not, it's not just a bar, you know, it's a bar restaurant with outside seating, but it's, it's on the river and it's, it's walkable from here. It's like, I don't know, 15 minute walk. I think we're going to walk. Um, but you don't say, yeah, Derek's coming up. I don't know if Katie's coming up or not. Kimmy had asked me that last night, but one way or the other, have dinner with the kids and then, um, I'm heading out of here on Sunday morning.

23:34.24
Mike
Cool.

23:35.29
Bill
So it's all good.

23:37.06
Mike
Good.

23:37.10
Bill
Yeah. But God, one of the, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. The other thing with Founders Day, so each one of us, me and Mike and and our sister, Kathy, and i had I had cards, because we do, we you have business cards, and we each grabbed a stack of them.

23:49.31
Mike
Mm hmm.

23:51.76
Bill
I don't know how many we had. It was it was enough. I mean, it was quite a few.

23:55.42
Mike
Right.

23:55.55
Bill
And then you know we all had our sober, not mature, not mature shirts.

24:00.15
Mike
Right.

24:01.62
Bill
Kathy's gonna be laughing, because she says that all the time. Sober, not mature shirts. are sober, not mature shirts. And, um, last year or two, you know, people were saying that, Hey, that's a cool shirt. It's like, Hey, here's a card. It's a podcast. It's, it's at the web store.

24:14.35
Mike
Right.

24:16.05
Bill
And I, nobody's ordered anything. So we didn't get like, we didn't get some like big sale off of it.

24:19.07
Mike
Can't.

24:19.09
Mike
Yeah.

24:21.39
Bill
But, um, I'm noticing that, uh, especially the last few episodes, you know, we've been a little bit low on, uh, plays, um, last week's episode has more than normal, uh, more than what's been normal in the light, the last few episodes.

24:25.11
Mike
Mm-hmm.

24:32.60
Mike
Right.

24:34.63
Bill
So I'll have to take a look at the website stats, but I think if nothing else, we got to push from it. um But there was this guy that that we handed out a card to and then he saw us when we walked into the stadium and then handed me a card, okay?

24:43.23
Mike
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

24:50.84
Bill
So did you did you catch what that but that just was with that whole thing?

24:51.74
Mike
Well, it's something about kidney or something.

24:56.74
Bill
Yeah, exactly. So, so what it is, and and I do, I already, I have the the link is in the in the episode notes, it's a link to the website.

25:02.18
Mike
Okay.

25:05.45
Bill
So what it is, and I looked it all up, it's the, it's a link to the story of this, this little boy, and it's Children's Organ Transplant Association Association.

25:13.10
Mike
Okay.

25:16.78
Bill
So it's C O T A. And, uh, the young boy's name is Amari.

25:18.78
Mike
go

25:21.02
Bill
And, uh, it basically what happened was, I mean, he was, um, born in 2021, healthy, happy, started to have some issues. They took him in and he had started, not only had some, you know, some medical issues, but has stage five kidney failure and stage renal disease.

25:37.62
Mike
Mm hmm.

25:39.15
Bill
So basically they're trying to get, I mean, he's full-time care, he's in and out of hospitals, that sort of thing.

25:39.20
Mike
Mm hmm.

25:43.19
Bill
so um Basically what they're doing is they're obviously trying to raise money to get this little boy in organ transplant. So what I did was, and I told the guy we'd mentioned it and that I got an email from one of the other volunteers also this week, um you know, giving me a little bit more information and the link to the story and stuff like that so

25:50.86
Mike
Yeah.

26:03.46
Bill
I put that link in our episode description. um You know, it is what it is. This is all about, you know, just, we had somebody come up to us and ask us to, you know, obviously promote this and present this to people.

26:13.54
Mike
Mm hmm.

26:14.74
Bill
um It's a, I mean, ah a great cause. Obviously it's a little child that's going through this shit. um Don't get me wrong. I know there's hundreds of thousands of people out there, but somebody came up and asked us to do it.

26:23.21
Mike
Right.

26:26.10
Bill
And we've committed to doing that with, with anything, you know? so um Just not just for the sober shit, but you know trying to be good human beings, right?

26:34.38
Mike
Exactly.

26:35.83
Bill
So, um you know if um what Whatever anyone out there chooses to do if you if you feel the need and you want to click through read the story You have an opportunity to donate everything's in there.

26:43.29
Mike
Mm hmm.

26:45.56
Bill
It's an organization It's a it's a reputable organization, you know, it's kind of like a go fund me type of page But it's got the whole story in there.

26:51.89
Mike
Mm hmm.

26:53.76
Bill
So that link is in the episode description if you're listening on a platform that doesn't allow you to click links, please go to our website.

27:04.37
Mike
Mm hmm.

27:04.71
Bill
sober.mature.com go to this episode. In the description, you'll be able to click through the link, okay, through our website. um So um one way or the other, I don't know, you know, we're doing we're doing something good.

27:12.80
Mike
go

27:16.99
Bill
And we're telling everyone about it.

27:18.78
Mike
Right.

27:22.31
Bill
But, um, seriously, it just, I, I was kind of, uh, I don't know. I was kind of taken aback by that. We've never had anyone ask us, you know, to do something like that.

27:27.82
Mike
Hmm.

27:28.90
Bill
So, um, I just thought it was great to guys like, Hey, you know, I take your car. Would you mind taking this one and mentioning it? And I was like, fuck, that's kind of cool. You know, I appreciate it.

27:36.10
Mike
Yeah.

27:37.14
Bill
So to the gentleman who asked us to do it, we, we appreciate you. You know, obviously giving us the opportunity. We talk a lot of garbage on here, but every once in a while it's, it's nice to do something that's heartfelt. Right.

27:48.36
Mike
Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Right.

27:50.54
Bill
Yeah.

27:51.29
Mike
That's what happens. You know one drunk helping another it's what we do Yeah, we did yeah exactly Mm

27:53.87
Bill
Exactly, exactly. So, um, other than that, I mean, anything else with Founders Day? I mean, it just, I can't say it enough. I mean, we had a great time, I guess, is the, you know. So, um, in, in, I've had a, I've had a note on here about this for, God, a long, long time. And it, we got time, we got time.

28:11.36
Mike
-hmm

28:12.82
Bill
We obviously got a little bit of time on here. So, I had a note on here to tell stories about, did I ever tell you about driving, be driving my dad's car or cars?

28:21.72
Mike
Uh, with what now? Who? What?

28:24.57
Bill
me Yeah, me driving my dad's cars when I was little.

28:27.98
Mike
No.

28:29.13
Bill
Okay, so um not only has it been on my sheet for a long time, I'm like, let's ah let's do a Father's Day story.

28:36.16
Mike
Okay.

28:37.30
Bill
But um he was yeah he was he was in his alcoholic behavior at the time, but you know clearly you know he didn't it didn't get sober when I was like eight, nine, 10 years old.

28:41.90
Mike
Uh, right.

28:47.01
Bill
but well here's the thing my my dad for anyone who hasn't you know paid attention to earlier episodes um was sober when he died 29 years sober um was a member of alcoholics anonymous uh again practiced these principles all that sort of shit um but had a lot of years of doing a lot of uh he he was uh he qualified let's just put it that way he

29:01.68
Mike
Mm-hmm

29:09.70
Mike
Little self will run riot yeah Okay Mm

29:12.34
Bill
ah Yes, yes. So um my my mom, and god I won't even say your mom, because she wasn't your mom at the time, but even what the fuck, our mom and my dad, that sounds weird, but you know what it'd be.

29:20.80
Mike
-hmm. Yes. Great, right?

29:24.64
Bill
um They got divorced when I was eight, I think, and Kathy would have been 10.

29:29.68
Mike
Mm-hmm

29:31.45
Bill
So 77, I think, 76, 77 is when they got divorced.

29:34.81
Mike
ah Right m Your mom didn't want the bus

29:35.92
Bill
And at that at that time, I mean, yeah, my my dad got sober in 81. So you figure he had another four years in his run. um He was a fucking mess. I mean, there was no doubt about it. But um as a family, we used to go camping. And that's when my dad got the bus and we did it in a camper. We did all that stuff. So somehow in the divorce, you know by ah my dad got the got the bus. We still went camping. He ended up with a permanent camp. yeah You know what, i I actually, I just thought about that and I'm like, I, and knowing how, how vindicted the two of them were at that timeframe, I, I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to fight for it to fuck with him.

30:04.10
Mike
with you

30:09.88
Mike
ah

30:16.93
Bill
because now uncle, uncle John was her attorney also.

30:19.60
Mike
both Right.

30:19.65
Bill
So, you know, you get, you get the brother of the person going through the divorce.

30:23.65
Mike
and fifth

30:24.05
Bill
They were, they were doing whatever they could.

30:25.57
Mike
Uh-huh.

30:25.65
Bill
I'm sure back and forth to try to fuck each other. So anyhow, and my my dad had a killer attorney too. I know that much, but, um, so, so yeah, dad got the bus.

30:31.44
Mike
aha

30:34.43
Bill
We used to go camping with him. And the first time I remember him, Allowing me, you know, I'm sure he did the kids sitting on the lap, that sort of thing, steer, whatever.

30:42.38
Mike
sure

30:43.78
Bill
But if this campground that we were at, and at the time he had like a 1977 Monte Carlo, and you remember those, these big old fucking cars with a hood, there was about half a foot field hit football field long.

30:51.09
Mike
Nice yeah ah Yeah, my mom had a 74 or 5 so yep, I do.

31:00.24
Bill
okay yeah you know the body style it's actually nice looking cars you know um but still you know big cars bench seats the whole bit so he used to let me in I had to have been maybe nine years old okay he would let me drive his Monte Carlo in

31:02.83
Mike
Oh, yeah Mm-hmm

31:13.22
Mike
Uh huh.

31:16.60
Bill
in the campground okay now however it was i remember um he had me sitting on something but like tiptoes to the gas and the brake but he he let me sit in the seat and drive he was in the car with me but we're in the campground down these dirt roads or whatever and then um he went ahead and he bought a 1978 Lincoln Continental Mark 5 which again

31:17.79
Mike
Okay.

31:24.10
Mike
Mm hmm. Right. Sweet.

31:39.57
Bill
Yes sweet dark blue tan interior is fucking beautiful. um That's the one where he had the CB radio where just it was just the microphone with all the all the buttons on it it came standard with a CB radio and an 8-track player 1970 1978 kids But this car was fucking amazing was beautiful like his dream car right and this was the first car that I can remember that I was in that had that and You had the six way power seat, forward backup, all this different stuff, plus tilt steering wheel and telescopic.

31:47.76
Mike
she Beautiful.

32:00.49
Mike
Right.

32:03.95
Mike
Mm-hmm. Right.

32:10.31
Mike
Mm-hmm.

32:10.83
Bill
okay So he let me drive that car now and I could actually fit.

32:13.89
Mike
Mm. Right.

32:15.89
Bill
I was, ne no shit, I was 10, okay? So little did I know, Kathy knew, she's a couple years older than me, but the first couple of times he let me drive, he was on the streets and he was drunk, I didn't know that, because I was too young, but Kathy knew, because she used to always say, do you want to drive it to her?

32:28.58
Mike
mean Right.

32:32.30
Bill
And she's like, no, no, no. um But so he let me drive because he was too drunk, but we were staying with him, you know, for the visitation, whatever. And then the one time, because we moved to Pittsburgh, mom moved to Pittsburgh for a job with General Electric, you know, so Pittsburgh to Cleveland is what, two hours, hour and a half?

32:48.07
Mike
Mm-hmm. Yeah, a couple hours.

32:49.58
Bill
okay and straight turnpike all the way you know but he was in again i know this now but i didn't know this then uh the one time driving us back on whatever at the end of the weekend on a sunday was he was way too drunk to drive he was seeing somebody at the time this lady diane she didn't have a driver's license um so i literally no shit i drove from cleveland to pittsburgh

32:52.29
Mike
Right.

33:05.33
Mike
Mm-hmm.

33:12.10
Bill
yeah him in the car, Kathy in the car and his woman in the car.

33:13.57
Mike
Heh heh heh heh.

33:16.26
Bill
Um, so yeah, I'm driving down the fucking turnpike. He's got a CB. Yeah. These truckers are going, how old is that kid?

33:24.50
Mike
Mm

33:24.81
Bill
And whatever. And you know, he's, yeah, he's, uh, I got cruise control like a whole bit. I drove his fucking Lincoln again, not by myself, but yeah, I drove a Lincoln from Cleveland to Pittsburgh when I was 10 years old.

33:31.08
Mike
-hmm. Yeah Nice No

33:37.54
Bill
Yeah, you know as I thought about it, the reason I put it on the sheet, I'm like, did I ever talk about this with you? And clearly I have not. Yeah, so, yeah.

33:47.54
Mike
Well, I mean, at least, you know, he was, you know, he was keeping it safe. She didn't have a driver's license. So let the 10 year old boy drive.

33:55.17
Bill
you know But okay, think about that now. I mean, I don't i don't have anyone in my life right now that's 10, but I remember one my when I got sober, ah well we well, we got sober, Derek was nine, you know?

34:03.72
Mike
Right.

34:07.23
Mike
Mm hmm. Right.

34:08.02
Bill
And, you know, so ah yeah basically a year after that, that kid driving around my car, um I mean, I'm just, anyone out there that has a 10-year-old, go ahead, let that 10-year-old sit in your car and then think about that, drive anywhere on the highway for two hours.

34:12.85
Mike
Hmm.

34:19.28
Mike
Right.

34:24.36
Bill
And I just, I still can't believe we, I remember pulling into a, we pulled into a rest area and there's like guard rails and the, so I had to turn and then go through, and it was at least two car lengths I could go through. But again, I'm, I'm fucking 10, you know, and I'm sitting there trying to navigate going through there.

34:35.12
Mike
Right. Yeah.

34:40.12
Bill
So I don't scratch his car and he's like, you're fine. You're fine. And to me, I think it's about, it's, I've got the space of about a car, you know, a width of a car to get through.

34:42.84
Mike
jesus

34:48.15
Bill
And I had plenty, but, um, yeah, I just remember it. I, it was like, we were like half hour away and I think that's the rest area we pulled into. Cause that's when he drove, obviously drove us the rest of the way, but, um, he got time to.

34:57.83
Mike
Right. We can't have you pulling to your mom's driveway.

34:59.43
Bill
so

35:03.36
Bill
yeah

35:03.75
Mike
All right, boy, time switch.

35:03.97
Bill
Right.

35:05.70
Mike
I sobered up a little bit and we can go the rest of the way now.

35:06.03
Bill
Okay.

35:09.49
Bill
Well, and here's, here's the fucked up thing. And, uh, you know, at that time and, okay, I'm sorry.

35:12.76
Mike
Here's the fucked up thing.

35:15.26
Bill
I'm sorry.

35:19.97
Bill
yeah Wait a second. I'm going to get to the fucked up part now.

35:22.05
Mike
OK, all right.

35:23.05
Bill
yeah Let me, let me take that back. What are the other fucked up?

35:28.47
Mike
yeah

35:30.21
Bill
yeah One of the other fucked up things about this whole thing with my dad was, um and again, this is the, I don't know why it would have made a difference because it was the, you know, again, the the late seventies, but um he would pick us up and she, mom knew he was drunk, but she she couldn't stop him from, you know, the visitation type of thing, but she knew he was drinking.

35:40.47
Mike
Mm-hmm. Right.

35:47.93
Mike
Mm-hmm.

35:51.57
Bill
You know, I mean, fuck, we didn't know that, you know, but

35:53.50
Mike
Right.

35:54.25
Bill
um And he was he was adamant. He's just like he was so pissed when they moved to You know to when we moved to Pittsburgh and you know what same thing going back to my story about you know Coming back and forth to Madison to see Derek and then how I used to get pissed You know having to drive up to Appleton.

35:57.93
Mike
Mm-hmm.

36:04.43
Mike
Aha.

36:09.00
Bill
I'm like fuck man. I was him you know I mean being all pissed off and stuff like that like he was but Yeah, I mean he's just he just fucking get drunk and I'm sure he drank on the way up I mean why wouldn't be you know

36:10.80
Mike
Right.

36:18.64
Mike
Sure. Well, yeah, right. We did.

36:21.84
Bill
yeah right Yeah, but it's still kind of funny. So wait, here's the fucked up part.

36:29.80
Bill
Yeah, the fact that a 10 year old drove a Lincoln from Cleveland, Ohio, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. That's not the fucked up part.

36:37.60
Mike
hey

36:40.48
Bill
Wait, here's the good part.

36:43.10
Mike
Yeah.

36:43.66
Bill
But I don't know. You know what? it's she it's It's one of those things where, and and I suppose, I mean, i somebody someplace, I'm sure, would probably think, that's so traumatic. It wasn't fucking traumatic. It was fucking fun.

36:59.42
Mike
Oh, God, yeah. Right.

37:04.55
Bill
I mean, you know, I didn't know he was drunk. He wasn't beating me and making me drive his car. You know, he's just like, he's like, here, son.

37:09.60
Mike
Yeah, yeah. your son, take this beautiful machine out onto the interstate.

37:17.14
Bill
yeah yeah we're gonna all be with you too so it's okay it's all right oh man yeah so it was uh i don't know it's again uh happy father's day everyone

37:19.70
Mike
Yeah, right. Good fucking times, man.

37:28.76
Bill
yeah

37:28.80
Mike
yeah

37:30.92
Bill
yeah here's Here's the thing, it's kind of like you know the beam that says, you know are you having a bad day that you shit yourself? Things are going okay.

37:38.09
Mike
Right.

37:38.46
Bill
Are you having a bad day that you let your 10-year-old drive your car today? um If you didn't, you're doing it okay as a sober person.

37:44.39
Mike
You're doing all right. Yeah.

37:46.30
Bill
You're doing okay today. But dumb I don't fucking know. I think and think that's all. I'm sure I got more shit on here, but I think we pushed we push a good no good a amount of minutes here. Unless what else?

37:56.24
Mike
Absolutely.

37:56.67
Bill
You got anything else?

37:57.42
Mike
that I got nothing, man.

37:58.16
Bill
Anything else?

37:59.65
Mike
I was like, I'm going to top that.

38:00.16
Bill
it's

38:02.57
Bill
yeah Yeah, it's just, it was fucking weird when I get, cause I get done, you know, working at three o'clock and we, you and I usually record an hour earlier. We just haven't had a guest in a while. Well, Gary, but Gary started early with us and, um, it was just weird.

38:10.69
Mike
Right. Yeah.

38:14.05
Bill
I was sitting around like, what the fuck do I do? I took a walk. I started getting some of the episode things set up and stuff.

38:17.61
Mike
Mm

38:19.46
Bill
I'm like, I don't know what the fuck to do with myself with this extra hour.

38:21.73
Mike
-hmm.

38:22.18
Bill
So that's weird, but it was, it was nice. So yeah, I mean, thank you. Thank you again to John. I mean, uh, we appreciate you being on here and, uh, hopefully, um, Elise, hopefully you can use some of this fucking garbage and, uh,

38:32.78
Mike
Good luck.

38:34.61
Bill
Yeah exactly good luck so yeah whatever and hey this episode once again was brought to you by Zegaster.

38:42.06
Mike
It was, because this shit's actually working.

38:44.59
Bill
Oh, it is fucking great. and We're paying for it now, too. So ah we're on we're we're committed. i have not and We probably should be committed.

38:53.15
Mike
Yeah,

38:53.32
Bill
But um we have committed ourselves to Zencaster with actual money. you know So um this is our thing. And I haven't contacted Riverside yet, but I'm going to. I'm going to send them a message and say, fucking, pay me.

39:05.07
Mike
right. Fuck you, pay me.

39:07.05
Bill
Fuck you, pay me.

39:09.01
Mike
Get your shot in the box, boy.

39:10.82
Bill
yeah right on that no what are you are you ready yet

39:14.44
Mike
I am ready. Well, thank you everyone for listening to another episode of sober, not mature. We want to thank John for coming on. Don't forget to check out his podcast sober speak. And, uh, yeah, man, you know, the usual crapola go out, do something nice for somebody this week. And don't tell anybody about it. You know what? It's been a week and a half this week and I'm fucking done.

39:38.71
Bill
All right, on that note, are you ready yet?

39:39.54
Mike
So guess what, kids? It's time. It's time for you to fuck off. Then keep fucking off. Keep fucking off till you get to a gate with a sign on it saying you cannot fuck off past here. Climb over that gate, dream the impossible dream and keep fucking off forever.

39:54.65
Bill
That's the let's get the fuck out of here ending.

39:57.33
Mike
That is...

39:58.59
Bill
All right, man. Well, I'm not going to add any banter. I'm just going to say, you know what, brother? I love you yeah and it will talk soon.

40:02.52
Mike
I love you too. We shall.

40:06.31
Bill
good Bye.

40:07.28
Mike
Bye.