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Nov. 23, 2024
SoberNotMature - Episode 144 (The Best Drinkers In The World)
This week, get ready to be down with the sickness. Mike wasn't feeling 100%, but we know that our feelings don't matter.
Mike started out with his reading and it was about how we build and sustain this new life. We need a foundation and it needs to be solid before we can help others build a new life. It was a good talk.
Our friend Gary celebrated 7 years sober this week, so congrats to him!
We got into a number of topics this week, including drinking differently than others (or better), The Promises, humility, pride, the bottom and acts of charity.
And a shameless plug for a book that Bill wrote. "Modern Day Hobo: A Guide To Living The Airbnb Life." Check out our website and go to the Sponsors Page for more information.
Yep. I think that's it.
Enjoy the episode.
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Transcript
00:00:01.38
Bill
All right, everyone. Welcome once again to another episode of Sober, Not Mature. And this is Bill, and my friend Mike over there is, what'd you say you're fighting something, eh?
00:00:16.84
Bill
ah Yeah, well, it's, again, is what it is, this time of year maybe, or I don't know.
00:00:21.53
Mike
i Yeah, whatever, man. Uh, you know, the grandkids, she said half the school's down with something and she's been sick all week. So yeah, my turn.
00:00:34.24
Bill
Yeah, well, I've been ah actually I've been lucky so far it's been trying to think a good friend of mine got COVID recently and I know I mean, you know, it's just weird.
00:00:43.16
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:00:44.41
Bill
I mean, it's ah not that it's it's never going to go away. You know, I mean, it's always it's always there.
00:00:47.19
Mike
Right.
00:00:48.62
Bill
But um I don't know.
00:00:49.40
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:00:49.97
Bill
I mean, yeah, she got a She got a big bow out of it, but I don't know if this time of year usually, hint it'll happen, but I end up with some sort of mild cold, and thankfully, I'm not even gonna knock on wood.
00:00:55.91
Mike
Right.
00:01:01.57
Bill
I'm just, you know what? I'm that i'm that good that i I just don't get it that often, so.
00:01:04.76
Mike
Right. Yeah. Or, you know, they or you're so bad that the diseases don't want to enter you.
00:01:12.60
Bill
Yeah, you know, here's what, well, and here's what's funny.
00:01:13.15
Mike
ah We ain't going in there.
00:01:16.20
Bill
So I i really don't, I mean, when when I was drinking and, you know, why don't we sway into an alcohol conversation for a second here?
00:01:22.18
Mike
All right.
00:01:23.54
Bill
But when I was drinking, I mean, obviously, um when I was sick, I don't know that I knew I was sick because, you know, I always i always felt off or that was just like my normal thing.
00:01:29.60
Mike
Uh-huh. Right. Felt like crap anyway, yeah.
00:01:35.60
Bill
yeah and when when Dawn and I were together, you know sometimes I would just, I don't know, either I wanted to, whatever my orever my head was at, either I wanted to you know be by myself or do whatever, or you know I just probably depressed or whatever the case was, whatever shit was going on in my head.
00:01:51.81
Bill
you know I think I had these like made up sicknesses or something like that. i i You know what I mean? I just don't, but I mean, since I've been sober, the the Keating Center shit, everyone gets that, what do they call it?
00:01:56.80
Mike
Right.
00:02:02.07
Bill
the keating
00:02:02.46
Mike
The Keating Crud.
00:02:05.31
Bill
yeah Well, and again, when you're when you're living literally with, you know, at that time it was what, 50 fucking guys and you're stacked up like cordwood in these in these dorms and, um you know, in group rooms and shut in and all that stuff.
00:02:12.22
Mike
Right. Mm hmm.
00:02:19.06
Mike
Right.
00:02:19.28
Bill
It's it's impossible not to...
00:02:19.79
Mike
And, you know, we don't come in all that healthy to begin with. So see I mean, you know, the last year I was out there, it was vodka and grapefruit cheese.
00:02:23.57
Bill
ah Right. Yeah, and that's a good point. Yeah, probably immune systems down and in everything like that. So unhealthy.
00:02:34.50
Mike
So I was loaded with vitamin C.
00:02:38.42
Bill
right.
00:02:39.05
Mike
Right. You know, my delusional ass. Oh yeah. I'm being healthy, man. I'm drinking pure alcohol and fucking lots of fruit juice.
00:02:50.73
Bill
Yeah, well, you know, I think they balance each other out, right? That's at least that's what we, that's what we try to tell each other. But yeah, I mean, I, I know for a fucking fact, I mean, I wasn't, I've said it before. I mean, I came home from lunch.
00:03:01.02
Bill
I might eat half a sandwich, but I drink, you know, three, four beers or something like that.
00:03:02.94
Mike
Right.
00:03:04.14
Bill
And that was the last, I don't know, six, seven months before I got sober. um at a minimum, and I know, I mean, I'd eat dinner, you know, but um I wasn't eating that well, you know, so, you know, I think that once again, I was 160 pounds or something like that when I went into detox.
00:03:08.11
Mike
right
00:03:20.16
Mike
Mm-hm.
00:03:21.09
Bill
I was just, I mean, I'm thin enough, you know, not as much as I used to be, but, um you know, still probably 25 pounds lighter than I am now, so.
00:03:25.35
Mike
Right.
00:03:29.96
Mike
Uh-huh.
00:03:31.05
Bill
And just, ah yeah, not not healthy, even one little bit, so. But anyhow, so what what I told Mike was, I'm like, ah good news is I talk a lot.
00:03:36.78
Mike
Mm-hm.
00:03:39.44
Bill
So he he should be able to just be there and just do what he just did.
00:03:42.68
Mike
Mm-hm.
00:03:42.96
Bill
m I still gotta ask you questions though.
00:03:44.43
Mike
There's gonna be a lot of that tonight.
00:03:48.36
Bill
so
00:03:48.65
Mike
Yeah. All right.
00:03:49.23
Bill
buty
00:03:49.57
Mike
I probably answer them.
00:03:52.41
Bill
But i've got I've got a couple of things that actually, um this is becoming a common occurrence. I got two news stories this week. They have, just so everyone knows, they have nothing to do with politics. One is alcohol related.
00:04:02.24
Mike
All right.
00:04:02.84
Bill
One is holiday related. So timely and towards our podcast.
00:04:07.86
Mike
Okay.
00:04:08.67
Bill
being alcohol related, but obviously we have to know that did my normal, my normal shit. But yeah, I mean, I've been obviously up in two rivers this entire week and it's nice.
00:04:13.68
Mike
Oh yeah.
00:04:17.40
Bill
This place is, I'll tell you about it a little bit, but um let me just say it's fucking nice.
00:04:19.69
Mike
see
00:04:22.30
Bill
It's just nice, but I'll i'll get into that more.
00:04:23.77
Mike
Right.
00:04:24.37
Bill
So, but um so did you happen to, in your, in your weekend state, did you, did you scrape together a reading or are you okay?
00:04:25.11
Mike
All right.
00:04:31.75
Mike
My delirium. Yeah. Yeah. I got one.
00:04:34.70
Bill
Just point a finger at something and start, start mumbling, right?
00:04:37.76
Mike
Yeah. Right. Right. Um, yeah, this was actually, uh, earlier in the week. Uh, yeah, a few days ago and I thought it was pretty good. It was from a keep it simple. And so here we go.
00:04:52.28
Mike
ah but but Oh yeah, ah November 19th. What we don't live, we cannot teach others from day by day. So this is meditation book on meditation book crime. All right, here we go. ah Remember, we don't carry the message to others until we get to step 12. We must first learn to live in a sober way. Sobriety takes time.
00:05:20.06
Mike
We have to stop using alcohol and other drugs, but that is only the start. Just as it takes time to build a house, it takes time to build a new way of life. We talk with friends and sponsors about the steps. We try using them in our lives. Then we talk about how the steps work for us. We talk about where we get stuck with the steps.
00:05:45.77
Mike
All of this takes time. We aren't in a hurry. We have a lifetime ahead of us. Remember, the better we live our program, the better we help others. Prayer for the day, higher power, you'll let me know when I'm to carry the message. Until then, be with me as I build a new way of life, a sober way of life, a spiritual way of life.
00:06:11.24
Mike
Action for the day. I'll take time to think over where I'm at with my program. I'll talk about it with a friend.
00:06:20.98
Bill
Well, you know what? You're in goddamn luck, man. ah you got You got a friend here tonight.
00:06:22.90
Mike
Hey.
00:06:24.68
Bill
Hey, friend.
00:06:25.68
Mike
Right, hi. Guess we could do that part of the action.
00:06:28.21
Bill
so
00:06:31.33
Bill
one One way or the other, maybe we're not going to talk about our program, but you know we had to talk about our program.
00:06:35.84
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:06:37.12
Bill
Anyhow, so um so that question was, where am I at with my program? I was just writing that down as I as you ended it, but um so I wouldn't even know.
00:06:49.81
Bill
ah Somebody asked me that. So Bill, nice to meet you.
00:06:52.35
Mike
Hey.
00:06:53.61
Bill
Happy, happy Friday. So, you know, two figures pointed at me.
00:06:55.18
Mike
Right.
00:06:57.35
Bill
So where are you at with your program?
00:06:58.72
Mike
ha i Right.
00:06:59.45
Bill
um i I don't know. I mean, what I don't know what what I would say. So I'm going to revert to you first.
00:07:06.09
Mike
I'm right here.
00:07:09.41
Mike
That's where I'm at in my program. I'm right here in the fucking middle of it. um Yeah. Right. Middle of the bed. All that happy crap. I don't know. Where am I at in my program? I'm where I'm at in my program. ah You know, I have ah the obsession has been lifted. I have no desire to drink or use.
00:07:30.41
Mike
Um, I think about it. We talk about that plenty, but, um, you know, it's a passing fancy and, um, I know better today. Um, I, I have peace and I have serenity and I'm comfortable. And so apparently I'm right in the middle of my fucking program.
00:07:47.76
Bill
You know, and that's, a seriously, I mean, that that question would kind of catch me off guard, but that's it. I mean, you know, i I guess that's the greatest answer. i I'm here, I am what I am, you know?
00:07:56.94
Mike
Yeah. Right.
00:07:57.92
Bill
I've got i' got some time on, that's all that I am.
00:07:58.42
Mike
I'm Popeye.
00:08:02.08
Bill
But I mean, i've got I've got some time under my belt and I don't just have time under my belt.
00:08:06.27
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:08:06.50
Bill
um You know, I can, I suppose if somebody, you know, like like people say, you know, if you wanna get an idea of a person, you know, take a look at their friends, take a look at, you know, their their surroundings, you know?
00:08:13.41
Mike
Mm hmm. Right.
00:08:17.99
Bill
um Neither of us, whatever the word quote unquote perfect is, has ah has nobody has a perfect life. I don't care what the fuck they say.
00:08:23.66
Mike
No, right.
00:08:25.11
Bill
um you know But if you if you take a look around to, again, the friends and the family and the relationships I have and um you know those sort of things, I mean, hey, you know i mean that's that's a good judge of where my program's at.
00:08:30.47
Mike
Uh huh.
00:08:38.28
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:08:38.68
Bill
um Am I flying off the handle of people? Am I trying to do something nice for somebody?
00:08:40.95
Mike
Right.
00:08:42.36
Bill
Am I trying to make my little corner of the world a better place?
00:08:46.84
Mike
Yeah.
00:08:46.91
Bill
you know And you know what, it was kind of funny, you just kind of thought about, because last weekend or Sunday, you know, got together with ah at my ex-wife's house and but that was really nice.
00:08:54.78
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:08:56.42
Bill
I mean, it just did, yeah, and it was just, it was great.
00:08:56.81
Mike
Yeah. Saw the pictures.
00:09:00.15
Bill
You know, the Packer game was on, we had some food and Dawn made up, ah she took a whole turkey and cut it all up and put it in the slow cooker and made green bean casserole and stuffing and potatoes.
00:09:01.76
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:09:09.05
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:09:09.43
Bill
And um i I brought soda. and dinner rolls which which i told her you know because the price was still i got an admirer and they they were like $2.99 and i when i gave them to her i said when you look at the price i said they're cheap but i said feel them because they're in the bag she's like they're she's like they're really soft and i'm like i know yeah and here yeah probably not but uh yeah it's the only time i was yeah well maybe that's how you have said it to my buns before my buns are nice and soft feel them
00:09:13.61
Mike
Right. Ah.
00:09:24.66
Mike
yeah
00:09:27.78
Mike
Here feel ease. I'm sure it's not the first time you've said that to her. yeah
00:09:39.63
Mike
Uh, give him a squeeze, baby.
00:09:41.59
Bill
but But the funny part, that's the first thing. She's like, they're so soft. And I said, I know, I said, clearly they're fresh.
00:09:46.97
Mike
Yeah.
00:09:47.98
Bill
I mean, they're three bucks, but whatever.
00:09:49.94
Mike
Right.
00:09:50.04
Bill
um But I mean, the the fact that I get, and I said that before, you know that when I posted the pictures, not just being with family, the fact that when you really look deep into that, um the relationship that i that I've been able to, and it's, you know I mean, with with her huge part of her um help and and grace, you know I've been able to rebuild a relationship with her and have a relationship with,
00:09:54.23
Mike
Hmm.
00:10:10.06
Mike
Right.
00:10:11.33
Bill
with everyone and it's just um I don't know I suppose worst case scenario if anyone really wanted to I'm like talk to my ex-wives and people probably look at me like are you serious yeah hear are their phone numbers fucking call them yeah you
00:10:12.42
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:10:19.86
Mike
Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's where I met my program motherfucker. Talk to my ex wives.
00:10:27.97
Bill
Yeah, we we can, all three of us can sit in a room and you can sit with us and you can ask them any fucking thing you want. They know all the bad, they know all the good.
00:10:34.62
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:10:35.68
Bill
um And I'll sit there and I will not i will not have a bead of sweat running down my face or, you know, what are you gonna say, you know?
00:10:40.71
Mike
Great. Yeah, that's a pretty goddamn good test right there.
00:10:42.97
Bill
But dumb yeah.
00:10:47.06
Bill
and so Talk to my ex-wives, wait, what? ah ah But no, I mean, i had ah I had a wonderful time, but I mean, that that is, that's, you know, like you just said, that's that's where I'm at with my program, you know?
00:10:58.56
Mike
Oh.
00:10:58.98
Bill
um I don't know, like you said, I think you said too, we could always, we've always said, you know, hey, I could do more, I could do this, but you know, the the biggest thing that we always go back to, and this is the the but, if we're asked, we're gonna do it, right?
00:11:03.95
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:11:12.31
Mike
Mm-hmm. Absolutely.
00:11:13.21
Bill
whatever Whatever it is. Well, to to most extent, I mean, we're not just gonna do anything, but.
00:11:15.31
Mike
Yeah.
00:11:17.97
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:11:21.46
Bill
Yeah, 20 bucks is 20 bucks though, you know?
00:11:23.36
Mike
That's right.
00:11:24.97
Bill
That's the one thing I should try to search back at our transcripts, see how many times that came up, 20 bucks.
00:11:29.31
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:11:30.82
Bill
That's been said a couple of times. All right, so the obvious thing I wrote down in the beginning, and it was a couple of times throughout, but carrying the message, I'll get back to that in a second. um Learning to live a sober way, because he was talking about we can't carry the message, I think, or carry to other people until we learn to live in a sober way, which, um
00:11:46.40
Mike
Right. Yeah. Right. I mean, yeah, you know, it's the last fucking step is what we share the message.
00:11:54.46
Bill
no right
00:11:55.25
Mike
Right. Well, better work goes on before that. I mean, I mean, for me, the main God, sorry, gist of the message was, you know, just shit takes time. It doesn't, you know, we've spent our lives looking for that instant gratification.
00:12:10.01
Mike
And that is not what this is. You want a new, different way of living. um Guess what?
00:12:17.57
Bill
Isn't that right?
00:12:17.70
Mike
It's going to fucking take time.
00:12:20.29
Bill
Right, and you know what, I i wrote that down too. those Those two words, takes time, you know, and that that goes back to, you know, whatever it was, six, seven years sober, sitting in that fucking group room at the Keating Center.
00:12:24.82
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:12:30.79
Bill
And you had me tell my, you're like, yeah, this guy told you about, you know, tell him about your daughter.
00:12:33.26
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:12:35.44
Bill
I tell the story and you're like, how long did it take? And I'm like, too fucking long. And you're like, no. And I'm like, fuck me, I know, but yeah.
00:12:43.36
Mike
Yeah, took as long as it took.
00:12:46.31
Bill
Yeah. And that's, ah that's the thing, you know, time, time takes time and patience is a virtue or maybe it's not and whatever patience is patience and time is time.
00:12:50.06
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:12:54.15
Bill
But, um, the other thing that it, that it talked about in there, which, you know, obviously we use the word foundation a lot, but it did, it talked about building a new way of life and it talked about it being like a house, you know?
00:12:54.63
Mike
Right.
00:13:01.39
Mike
z
00:13:05.79
Mike
Right.
00:13:07.20
Bill
And you know, even if even if you have a house that that doesn't, there's plenty of houses out there without basements, but you still need a foundation.
00:13:07.57
Mike
Yeah.
00:13:13.74
Bill
You can't just, I mean, I suppose you could, you just throw that structure on top of the ground and see what happens.
00:13:14.34
Mike
Right. Hmm.
00:13:19.51
Bill
but
00:13:19.95
Mike
Yeah. Well, it's, it's, you know, yeah, it's going to sink and it's going to bend and it's going to fucking fall apart.
00:13:20.34
Bill
um
00:13:25.83
Mike
Right. You can't build it on sand. You have to write who I'm going to go biblical here. You got to build it on rock.
00:13:34.24
Bill
Right. Yeah. And it's, ah I've always liked that. And that's a, once again, I mean, that's a, it's a visual analogy, you know, for me, um you know, building something like that and the whole, you know, the the whole idea and concept of a foundation.
00:13:42.52
Mike
Right.
00:13:47.82
Bill
It is, I mean, you can't, you can't have the rest of the house and certainly not a solid home unless you, you know, build a foundation.
00:13:52.62
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:13:54.01
Bill
And then again, imagine that one piece and one step at a time.
00:13:55.45
Mike
Yeah.
00:13:57.76
Mike
Yeah. And it's gotta be on something solid. Otherwise it doesn't matter how well you build it up top. It's not gonna, yeah, it's not gonna stand.
00:14:06.09
Bill
Right. Yeah. And, you know, I mean, again, we we talk about it all the time, but, you know, fortunate, I was going to say lucky, but I think just fortunate is the better way to put it that, you know, the people that we had to, you know, guide us and and teach us and and all those sort of things.
00:14:14.29
Mike
Yeah. Mm hmm.
00:14:20.86
Bill
And, you know, I mean, shit, it's that there's nothing that says that either one of us couldn't have gotten sober someplace else or in some sort of way. But
00:14:27.96
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:14:28.50
Bill
um I mean, i'm I'm glad I didn't have to you know try because this this in itself, once again, it was it was work and it took time and um obviously worth it.
00:14:31.67
Mike
Right.
00:14:34.84
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:14:37.34
Bill
But you know yeah, I mean, when when I went back to Wisconsin or when 14 and a half years later, you know you and I are off doing our own things and different places and different people and circumstances and um the reason that you know obviously doing the work all the time, but without that foundation, but know I mean, we're we're fucked.
00:14:53.92
Mike
Right.
00:14:54.87
Bill
you know
00:14:54.86
Mike
Yep, absolutely. Yeah. I, you know, I mean, yes, I know this is your first rodeo, but yeah, it wasn't mine. I did try some different ways and there was no fucking solid foundation to it and it didn't work several times.
00:15:08.28
Bill
Right. Right. Well, and you know, i i've I've talked about my my dad, you know, my dad was, I mean, when he died, he had 29 years sober in this program.
00:15:18.32
Bill
He was a member of Alcoholics Anonymous and had a, you know, I think probably, I know now and, you know, I figured it out kind of, you know, a few, yeah two, three years maybe and into my sobriety that he probably wasn't living, you know, as they say, his best life.
00:15:18.63
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:15:30.55
Mike
Mm-hmm. Right.
00:15:34.04
Bill
I think he could have done more to be happier, not as angry at times and and that sort of things.
00:15:36.29
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:15:38.08
Bill
but or those sort of things, but you know he, like Stella Maris, he said it he used that as a as a revolving door, as a spin dry.
00:15:48.24
Mike
Right.
00:15:48.80
Bill
And the last time he went in there, that's when Jack threw him up against the wall and you know said that he's gonna die and he's gonna leave his kids and all those sort of things.
00:15:53.04
Mike
who
00:15:58.24
Bill
And you know for whatever reason, you know I mean, He went back that night, and went back the next night, and you know Jack put him to work and all that sort of thing. So um you know finally, after years you you know of of in and out and in and out, you know he he started building that foundation and you know graduated, as we say, with 29 years at this thing.
00:16:05.45
Mike
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Right.
00:16:17.11
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:16:17.66
Bill
so But um yeah.
00:16:18.60
Mike
Yeah, right. Started doing the work finally.
00:16:22.60
Bill
Right?
00:16:22.72
Mike
Yeah, I guess fucking Bohol with his giant fucking hands threw him against the wall.
00:16:28.27
Bill
Yeah, and i I run across it every once in a while, and I think I have it. I'm pretty sure I have it, and I think I saved it in ah in an email or you know some sort of document. and I know I have it. I'll have to look it up again and and pull it out at some point, because shit, when's the Jack Mulholl thing?
00:16:42.94
Bill
It's in November that he he passed away. that's That old thing's gotta be coming up, and that's when my dad, actually when my dad wrote it.
00:16:45.80
Mike
Right.
00:16:49.45
Bill
Oh, that's what I did. I looked it up, because Mulholl's, What do you call it? Obituary is still up. And that's where i I pulled it up the one time. And I think I saved it. But I don't know.
00:17:00.32
Bill
I think his, yeah, his, or we probably, gosh, shit, might even passed already. Shit, we're almost at the fucking end of November.
00:17:06.13
Mike
Right. Yeah.
00:17:08.73
Bill
But um yeah.
00:17:08.70
Mike
I don't know the date off the top of my head, but yeah, right. It's, it was November. Yeah.
00:17:14.68
Bill
But either way, I mean, the the whole point is, yeah, it's just, a weve we've seen people who, you know, have done the work and then, you know, obviously a lot of a ton of people that have and, um you know, that we saw the results and thankfully, you know, learned learned what, if nothing else, I mean, from not only from what people did, but, you know, no bad examples, we learned from people's mistakes also, right?
00:17:26.15
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:17:33.02
Mike
Absolutely. Right. Yeah. I mean, we saw a lot of people that didn't do the work.
00:17:37.70
Bill
Right, right.
00:17:38.59
Mike
Yep.
00:17:40.29
Bill
Yeah, the the typical story, you know, again, it's, I always hate to, I don't hate to say it. I guess I do maybe the, the no bad examples part, but.
00:17:48.01
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:17:48.56
Bill
Yeah, when when people when people die and when people fall and when people fail you know with this thing, it's um you gotta pay attention to that just as much as you pay attention to the to the other ones.
00:17:52.95
Mike
Right.
00:17:59.14
Bill
you know' Not necessarily looking for, I don't know, I don't wanna do that exact thing.
00:17:59.58
Mike
Absolutely.
00:18:02.97
Bill
We know what not to do, don't stop.
00:18:03.48
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:18:05.49
Bill
you know But um yeah, they're cautionary tales or you know tales of true tragedy, as they say.
00:18:05.48
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:18:10.38
Mike
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:18:13.05
Bill
so But no, I mean, that was a good one. I actually remember reading that one too. So that was just, you said, what, a couple of days ago, right? The 19th?
00:18:19.82
Mike
Yeah. The nighties here.
00:18:21.32
Bill
Okay, yeah. Like I said, keep it simple.
00:18:23.20
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:18:24.07
Bill
i Obviously one of the ones I read and you know I usually, whatever I posted today, I had posted um a year ago, because it came up on our Facebook memories too. So yeah, once again, one of those things that you know the same things tend to stick with me year over year, it seems.
00:18:38.24
Bill
but um So anything else for the reading? Anything else you took from that? or
00:18:43.97
Mike
I don't know My head hurts Yeah, yeah try it from this side of the skull
00:18:49.46
Bill
Yeah, yeah so it's been killing me for 14 and a half years. Hello.
00:18:55.57
Bill
Right. But you know speaking of people who have done the work, as I made a note here, everyone, if you've listened for a minute, knows who our friend Gary is.
00:19:04.85
Mike
Oh yeah.
00:19:05.02
Bill
um he's yeah He's been on here a couple of times as a guest and ah actually emailed Mike and I the other day. And it was, oh, speaking of that, it was the 19th, wasn't it?
00:19:11.76
Mike
He did.
00:19:14.59
Bill
That is his anniversary, I believe, if I remember from the, from the email but um either way he just celebrated seven years of sobriety so ah congratulations to our friend Gary and you know what's funny is I literally it was ah in over the last couple of weeks and I meant to you know shoot him an email or text him and see how he was doing because um he's been quiet you know usually he'll check in you know every
00:19:22.97
Mike
Yup.
00:19:35.81
Mike
Mhmm.
00:19:37.57
Bill
I don't know, every month, couple of months or something like that with with whatever. But you know i' I'm guessing he's busy or we but't know whatever, Gary, maybe you just don't fucking care unless you got something something that you want us to patch on the back for.
00:19:43.24
Mike
Sure.
00:19:48.74
Bill
I don't fucking know.
00:19:49.83
Mike
Right. he Right.
00:19:51.58
Bill
This'll get him going now if he happens to listen to this. yeah Poke Gary, poke, poke. But no, seriously, congratulations. And he said, he said, he said some nice things in general, just about a sobriety.
00:20:03.05
Bill
And obviously, I don't know, said for us, you know, keep doing what we're doing. It's nice to have people around, blah, blah, blah. But I don't know, you know, it goes, it goes both ways.
00:20:07.97
Mike
Right.
00:20:10.49
Bill
You know, it, it always does.
00:20:11.78
Mike
si
00:20:12.41
Bill
It's, it, you know, it's, it's on this side of the table. Thanks.
00:20:15.87
Mike
Right. Mm hmm.
00:20:17.88
Bill
Thanks for filling up a you know a couple hours or three hours of of time on our podcast.
00:20:22.92
Mike
Yes, we do appreciate that.
00:20:25.23
Bill
Yeah, exactly. Tonight would have been a good night for it to you know obviously let you let you have sleep over there.
00:20:30.66
Mike
ah Right. Well, hey, um so speaking of congratulations, ah we have a special guest tonight. We have an author on the show.
00:20:41.46
Bill
You know what, in the thing of it is that I, you know I don't like talking about myself, so.
00:20:43.60
Mike
No, if I know it's the last thing you want to do.
00:20:48.15
Bill
I'm just kidding but but you know the the thing with is I I was going to mention it but um not really make a huge deal out of it because I i mean it's still be plenty of I'll i'll be able to flood things over the over time anyhow but um two things I well three things I want to say first of all thank you for for bringing it up actually I think I got four or five things I got to say but um the thing of it is so well in
00:20:55.58
Mike
is
00:21:03.88
Mike
That's kind of cool. Is that all?
00:21:10.21
Bill
Well, first of all, two things have to do with you. Thank you, my friend, Mike, for for bringing it up, I appreciate it.
00:21:15.54
Mike
yeah What is this thing?
00:21:15.67
Bill
um And it is, it's said the the background of it is that after I was doing this and when I first started doing it, I found one article that was helpful on how to do this thing, you know this whole air Airbnb stuff, you know traveling traveling and living through Airbnbs.
00:21:28.93
Mike
Oh.
00:21:33.83
Bill
you know
00:21:34.12
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:21:35.02
Bill
And the whole idea that you can do it full time and I don't have the.
00:21:38.71
Mike
Right.
00:21:40.53
Bill
um If there's whatever the step of my income is i'm I'm about one step two steps away from being able to do it full time um I don't make enough money yet to be able to do it full time and just so everyone's clear and I just posted something today it's.
00:21:47.75
Mike
Right. Mm hmm.
00:21:54.97
Bill
Like anytime, it's something about anytime I post something, it looks like I have a lot of money. I don't, I'm just irresponsible, which I thought was kind of fucking funny, but um i don't have a I don't have a permanent residence right now.
00:21:59.24
Mike
Right.
00:22:05.50
Bill
I don't have a house. I don't have an apartment. um I've got a sister that allows me to live with her when I'm not traveling. I have a friend like Mike that invites me out every once in a while, so I get to stay there.
00:22:14.24
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:22:15.60
Bill
um You know, all it costs me is you know Chinese food or dinner at the casino.
00:22:18.42
Mike
Right.
00:22:19.64
Bill
or or something like that, um which is fine.
00:22:21.44
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:22:22.56
Bill
you know i I appreciate it. but um So i can't I can't really afford to do it full time. My goal is to do it, but that doesn't matter. But what I found is that there wasn't a lot of resources to to really know how to do it, even use even get using Airbnb.
00:22:38.01
Bill
you know It's trial and error, and I didn't know what to look for.
00:22:38.61
Mike
Right.
00:22:40.94
Bill
And now it's just fucking easy. I go down there, so I'm like, you know what? um I'm just gonna write it down. And when I started was, when I had that um tooth issue back in August, it was before I went to North Carolina, so beginning of August, um the day I was off of work when I was waiting to get the the call back from the doctor's office to get my prescription in and this and that, um I just sat down and i I had a note for a couple of months to do it, but I sat down and wrote it um or started writing.
00:22:47.75
Mike
Mhm.
00:23:07.30
Bill
And I probably, I think I wrote 15 pages that first day
00:23:10.81
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:23:11.15
Bill
um And it's just, it's it's like what you and I do for sobriety. I do it every, all the time.
00:23:16.17
Mike
Sure.
00:23:16.39
Bill
So I just took my thoughts and put it down on paper. And then um I don't, I think I finished it probably two months ago, but then I, anytime I write something of that level um or bigger things like that, even an article, I'll let sit a couple of days.
00:23:29.71
Mike
Right.
00:23:29.79
Bill
um I'd let it sit, then I'd read it, then I'd put it through Grammarly to check all the punctuation and grammar and whatever.
00:23:33.85
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:23:35.27
Bill
um I reread it probably, five times to make sure it flowed and you know I would catch spelling errors. It could still be fucking spelling errors and therefore what i for all I know, there's only so much you can catch.
00:23:43.13
Mike
she
00:23:45.64
Bill
you know um And then I just started working on when I was out in Cleveland, I think is when I when i worked on the cover.
00:23:46.44
Mike
Right.
00:23:51.04
Bill
But the other thing I wanna say to you is the title is because of you, the hobo.
00:23:56.61
Mike
Yeah, I yeah.
00:23:59.43
Bill
you know And that the what i first started when I first started thinking about it, um because I always, i was when I talk about this fact that I, because you called me you know a bum and a hobo, I'm like, well, I'm i'm homeless.
00:24:00.95
Mike
I caught that.
00:24:10.28
Bill
And I said, I'm homeless and i'm homeless intentionally.
00:24:13.13
Mike
Right.
00:24:13.25
Bill
So I was gonna title it something like that, like intentionally homeless or homeless on purpose.
00:24:17.06
Mike
Right.
00:24:17.69
Bill
And then you know how much, how fucking people are. I'm like, yeah, you know what?
00:24:19.76
Mike
Right. Exactly.
00:24:21.48
Bill
I don't need to, um i I don't think, who knows? I don't want to offend people.
00:24:24.35
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:24:25.28
Bill
So then I'm like, well, fuck it.
00:24:25.97
Mike
Sure.
00:24:27.04
Bill
I'm like, Mike calls me a hobo. So I start searching titles.
00:24:29.30
Mike
Yeah. Well, I mean, and that's kind of why I use that word too. Cause it's, you know, it's a very nice way of saying that a bomb, but it's a right, but it's an intentional thing.
00:24:35.97
Bill
Right.
00:24:38.23
Mike
And I mean, right. Words mean things and I tend to choose my words. Um, so that's why I called you a hobo.
00:24:46.98
Bill
Right. Yeah, and it was funny because I was looking at all these different things that I've seen i since I actually put it together and stuff there. There are some books out there that you know delve into this stuff, you know, from, you know, three years, four years ago, but, um but it is what it is.
00:24:57.21
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:25:01.37
Bill
And I'm i'm already thinking about, and you know, kind of start putting together ideas for um I'm gonna do another one that does, I'm gonna kind of hone in either, I don't know if on every place, but like the favorite places I've been, and then actually, you know, do pictures and, you know, put the Airbnb's I stayed in, the places that I really liked, you know, um because the same thing, you know, you could read reviews and whatever, and i I focus on those things, but then it's like, what the fuck else is in the area?
00:25:12.93
Mike
Mm-hmm. Right.
00:25:28.11
Bill
um And granted, I mean, I go to areas for a specific reason, you know, hiking and that sort of thing, but,
00:25:31.32
Mike
Sure. Mm-hmm.
00:25:33.82
Bill
you know whatever If somebody wants to go to an area and see some beautiful shit, you don't have to walk in the woods. You could just go look at shit.
00:25:39.18
Mike
Right.
00:25:39.28
Bill
um you know and That's kind of what you know what I've been doing.
00:25:42.29
Mike
yeah
00:25:44.09
Bill
For the i didn't want ah sort life of me, I didn't want to do it through the other books I published through Amazon. I didn't want to fuck around with Amazon because if you do it through Amazon, they want rights to everything and just have it stuck there.
00:25:56.02
Bill
So what I did was I found a different website, a publisher distribution thing it's all self published I did all the work on it.
00:26:02.13
Mike
Sure.
00:26:03.04
Bill
They just put it out to all these different places, Amazon being one. um But still, I'm Amazon is one of the main ones and it's Amazon does the nicest job so far visually as far as how it looks.
00:26:14.73
Bill
So I'm still fucking running people through Amazon, but for now, cause it just looks better than Google books right now, you know, which is where technically it's kind of published through the like an offshoot of, but I don't know.
00:26:22.18
Mike
Right.
00:26:24.63
Mike
h
00:26:26.69
Bill
It it's 40 some pages. It's not, it's not a hard read. I don't know if it'll get any, any traction or anything like that, but it was, it was fun. It was fun to write and it was, hopefully it'll be helpful to to people and
00:26:35.44
Mike
Right.
00:26:38.95
Bill
um You know, just like everything else, man, there's I couldn't figure out how to fucking do it now that I, you know, I'm passing along.
00:26:44.36
Mike
What?
00:26:46.52
Bill
Wait, wait. um Carrying the message. I was looking back at my...
00:26:50.86
Mike
Ah.
00:26:54.93
Bill
Bring it all around.
00:26:56.53
Mike
That's right.
00:26:57.55
Bill
But so on the on the positive side, what this could do for us, because what I did was I put i put a landing page for the book on our sponsor page.
00:27:05.42
Mike
Okay.
00:27:06.22
Bill
And um the link, if you click through the link to my posts, it goes directly to our sponsor page.
00:27:11.08
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:27:12.28
Bill
And people can still scroll down. um Obviously if, you know, there's more, I didn't take away everyone else that's on the sponsor page, but I put that first and then the Keating Center second.
00:27:20.90
Mike
Sure.
00:27:22.43
Bill
So the whole point is that people click on that, they're still on our website.
00:27:22.42
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:27:26.09
Bill
And if they click through the Amazon, it goes to a different page, but our website's still up.
00:27:26.24
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:27:30.28
Bill
My point there was I'm like, okay, I don't want to build another website. We're already paying for this fucking thing.
00:27:35.17
Mike
Yeah.
00:27:35.28
Bill
Um, you know, and I can do it. I don't need anything real fancy, but I want, um, uh, hoping that it'll drive some traffic to our, our website too.
00:27:38.54
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:27:43.69
Mike
Right.
00:27:43.86
Bill
You know?
00:27:44.49
Mike
Yeah. And so, all right.
00:27:45.35
Bill
So.
00:27:46.28
Mike
So we're up lay it out there, man. Hore yourself all the way. Spread those legs wide open. Links, where can I find it? Give the title, the full title again.
00:27:57.37
Bill
All right, so it is modern day hobo, a guide to living the Airbnb life, easiest place to go.
00:28:02.37
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:28:04.14
Bill
It is on Amazon. It is on Apple books now, which is what live on Apple books. It's on Google play also, but the easiest thing literally go to sober not mature dot.com our website.
00:28:16.11
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:28:16.66
Bill
Click on the sponsor page. It'll be right there. You can to see a brief write up about what the book's about. Just the beginning like the preface of the book. Click in. It goes right to Amazon. Okay. um I have it priced right now just right off the bat.
00:28:29.61
Bill
I wanted to price it at $1.99 but Amazon wouldn't let me. It's too low apparently because then apparently guess they don't make any money.
00:28:33.98
Mike
Uh-huh.
00:28:36.80
Bill
Um, so I had to do it at $2.99 for an introductory price. it It'll be more than that. Ultimately, I had a price higher than that, but, um, so it's three bucks, you know, and it's an, it's an ebook Kathy had just literally, when we started, it's a paperback.
00:28:45.61
Mike
Yeah.
00:28:50.53
Bill
I didn't want it to be a paperback. We were going the paper bag.
00:28:56.45
Bill
um But i didn't I didn't design it to be a paperback, so I don't know how the layout's gonna be. It's probably gonna look, it's gonna look off, you know, because it's meant to be an e-book and not not that. But anyhow, um it's like it's a Kindle, it's an e-book, it's all those sort of things, because I figured that anyone who might want to do this sort of thing is probably gonna be more mobile and on a digital type of book then ah than a paperback, but who knows?
00:29:15.76
Mike
Oh, right.
00:29:19.13
Bill
Kathy's one that likes likes paperbacks. so
00:29:21.12
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:29:21.61
Bill
Both of them are available for now I don't know if I'll keep the paperback up there because it's just more of a pain in the ass but anyhow so yeah it's if nothing else visit again visit our website sober not mature.com go to our sponsor page you'll see sponsors click on that they'll be right there in your face and Yeah, check it out.
00:29:39.37
Bill
Anyone who wants to take a look at it and I'd appreciate any any feedback. You know, if anyone else out there hates it, you know, just don't don't give me a fucking bad rating. Just fucking message me, you know, email us and tell me you hate it um because it's you know, if it's that's your thing, don't don't waste the three bucks.
00:29:50.85
Mike
Right.
00:29:53.39
Mike
Right.
00:29:56.38
Bill
So.
00:29:56.53
Mike
Yeah. Yeah. There you go. And if you're looking to go out there and do some Airbnb and stuff, it's probably going to be a very, but I won't say probably, it is going to be a very good resource for you.
00:30:08.85
Bill
Yeah, and it it it is. i I've gone through everything about how to set things up and you know book things. And um I've had really, really good luck with Airbnb. I've had some weird ones. There's nothing to do with Airbnb as a resource.
00:30:20.20
Bill
They've helped me out when I got fucked and that that story's in there you know about the... the one that went bad. But um like this place that I'm in right now, this it's a it's an older home.
00:30:31.18
Bill
My understanding is this was the host, I don't know, she's probably in her late 20s, early 30s, something like that. And her mom, her and it says right in there, she took it over when her mom passed away and this was her mom's house, I think.
00:30:41.24
Mike
Uh huh.
00:30:43.42
Bill
um Small house upstairs, kind of one of those ones where you walk up and you gotta ah yeah to kind of duck when you go up. But once you get up there, real nice bedroom upstairs.
00:30:52.26
Mike
Right.
00:30:52.34
Bill
Main bedroom down here, another off bedroom that goes towards the back. There is a garage, obviously, I haven't been in there. That must be theirs. um Nice kitchen.
00:30:59.58
Mike
Hmm.
00:30:59.69
Bill
It's it's it's just cozy. It's cozy and it's comfortable. It's got nice furniture. It's got real fucking toilet paper.
00:31:07.30
Mike
Ooh.
00:31:07.50
Bill
um Yeah, no one ply, last two places I was at, man, a fucking one ply toilet paper. I'm like, Jesus Christ, man.
00:31:11.98
Mike
Right.
00:31:13.39
Bill
um She's just done a nice job. It's basic, but it's it's nice. She's got little books laying around. It's just, it's comfortable, you know?
00:31:18.60
Mike
Cool.
00:31:19.30
Bill
So a place like this is a place that I would literally feature in the book and just and she's been wonderful She upgraded the internet for me, you know, because it was it was really slow internet um And I told her I'm like, you know, I needed at least 100 megabits and she tested it.
00:31:25.30
Mike
Hmm.
00:31:32.55
Bill
She didn't even know She's like it's 12.
00:31:33.86
Mike
Right.
00:31:35.51
Bill
I'm like, are you I literally messaged back? I'm like, are you sure you're looking at the download not the upload?
00:31:41.08
Mike
ah Right.
00:31:41.22
Bill
She's like no, I looked at that again. She's like ah that's that either way I would change it but she said thank you for for asking me to look, and she's like, I had no clue. Nobody said anything.
00:31:50.24
Mike
Sure.
00:31:50.90
Bill
So she got brand new internet, and it's, you know, three, four, 500 megs is frontier internet here. It's fucking perfect. But, you know, so she upgraded it, same as a guy did up north, um which I'm not saying I've never asked anyone to do it.
00:31:55.91
Mike
Nice.
00:32:00.09
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:32:01.94
Bill
I just say I can't that ah two people have said they would upgrade their internet. You know, so it's going to be good for her going forward.
00:32:06.61
Mike
Right.
00:32:07.77
Bill
But anyhow, it's,
00:32:08.28
Mike
Sure.
00:32:09.55
Bill
But yeah, the book, the book is there. Um, let me know what you think. And it was one way or the other. It's kind of like this podcast. I, I hope it helps somebody, but, um, you know, I did it.
00:32:14.76
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:32:18.63
Bill
I did do it for other people, but, um, I enjoyed the fuck out of doing it. All it did is cost me time. It cost me nothing else, but, but time and it's time doing something that that I enjoy doing.
00:32:25.45
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:32:28.87
Mike
Right.
00:32:29.00
Bill
So, so yeah.
00:32:30.79
Mike
Cool. Nice.
00:32:31.70
Bill
So again, Thank you, my friend. Thank you for the title. um You will get your royalty check.
00:32:34.89
Mike
hey
00:32:35.85
Bill
You get, I'll give you, well, you're already in for, what did you say?
00:32:38.17
Mike
Sure.
00:32:40.57
Bill
10% of the profits in the podcast and and everything else.
00:32:42.71
Mike
sure
00:32:43.13
Bill
And I think, you um have you gotten your royalty check yet for, no, no.
00:32:44.87
Mike
Uh, no, no, no, I'm still waiting.
00:32:50.52
Bill
Oh, that's right. We had to, we had to make a profit before.
00:32:52.62
Mike
Ah, it's a, it's a profit deal that takes the pressure off.
00:32:53.56
Bill
or
00:32:57.95
Bill
Yeah. 10% of the profits, but you know, we're worst case scenario, all three of us, me, you and Kathy, we benefit a little bit, a little bit from the losses that we were able to put on paper last year in our taxes, I think.
00:33:08.85
Mike
Yup. Yeah. yeah
00:33:10.78
Bill
So, um, yeah, I don't know how that, I never asked you how it panned out for you, but I'm hoping it, uh,
00:33:14.33
Mike
job Yeah, it was something. I don't know. I, I gave it to them and they did something with it. So there you go.
00:33:20.86
Bill
Yeah, yeah it's it's a catch 22 with these small business type of things. And that's all that this is. But um you know all of this shit, you know it's just small business shit.
00:33:26.98
Mike
Uh-huh.
00:33:30.65
Bill
you You're at this this point where it's like, OK, how much does it cost me extra to do my tax return?
00:33:36.06
Mike
Hmm.
00:33:36.35
Bill
And then how much do I get back? And when the cost of how what it is to do your your tax return is more than what you get back, that's when it's a problem. you know but But I don't think we're we're at that point.
00:33:45.51
Mike
Exactly.
00:33:48.90
Bill
so
00:33:49.28
Mike
Not yet. Nope. Yeah. now yeah
00:33:51.62
Bill
All right, but no, seriously, thank you. Thank you for bringing it up. And, uh, you know, it's, yeah, take a look, it'll, I'll still be posting shit on the, nothing's going to change. The book is there. The book is what it is.
00:34:00.69
Mike
It is right.
00:34:02.04
Bill
But, uh, yeah, anyhow, it was fun.
00:34:03.65
Mike
That's cool, man.
00:34:03.90
Bill
So.
00:34:04.25
Mike
It's, you know, it's an accomplishment. We're proud of you kid.
00:34:06.66
Bill
Yeah. Well, thank you. I appreciate it. I really, really do. Thank you. All right. So, um, Oh God, you know, the one thing I wanted to bring up too. So, um, Richie.
00:34:17.29
Mike
Oh yeah, yeah.
00:34:17.43
Bill
Our buddy Richie. Yeah. So, um, and I haven't been on Facebook since this morning, so hopefully no, no weird updates or anything like that as far as, as far as I know.
00:34:23.55
Mike
Right.
00:34:25.41
Bill
But, um, so yeah, buddy of ours, and we went through the Keating Center with his name is Richie.
00:34:27.59
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:34:29.67
Bill
Um, he got sober in the summer that we did.
00:34:30.33
Mike
Yup.
00:34:32.12
Bill
Um, and he's, he's 10 years younger than us, right?
00:34:35.67
Mike
Yeah, yeah.
00:34:35.91
Bill
I think. Yeah. um Once again, man, one of those fucking hardcore dudes, you know ah one of these hardcore dudes that that we knew and ended up getting clean and sober where yeah at the at the time.
00:34:39.89
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:34:47.11
Mike
Yep.
00:34:48.97
Bill
And he's been sober ever since. So he's got the same amount of time as us with the matter of a couple of months or a few months, whatever it is.
00:34:51.64
Mike
Yep.
00:34:55.37
Mike
Right.
00:34:55.69
Bill
um Got married. you know His girl's been been sober. they got ah They got a kid together. He's got, what, 16 years old now? you know, Trent is, I think.
00:35:02.72
Mike
so Yeah.
00:35:04.54
Bill
And um so but back and forth, blah, blah, blah. So about a week ago, well, actually almost two weeks ago now, his wife, Kelly posted something that, that he had this issue, this incident while he was out hunting, huge hunter, fishing, outdoorsman, all that sort of shit.
00:35:07.41
Mike
Hmm.
00:35:16.89
Mike
Right. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yes, he is.
00:35:19.68
Bill
That's been, that's his fucking deal. um Some sort of issue and then ended up at the hospital and all said and done, it was a, wasn't it a torn aorta?
00:35:24.69
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:35:29.51
Mike
Yeah.
00:35:30.30
Bill
Yeah, okay.
00:35:30.96
Mike
Yeah.
00:35:32.42
Bill
So yeah, fucking fucking tear in his fucking aorta.
00:35:36.31
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:35:38.12
Bill
And he's been, he's still in the hospital and it's been 10 days, two weeks you know now, um doing okay.
00:35:40.01
Mike
Yeah. Oh.
00:35:44.42
Bill
you know They did a couple of procedures and this and that, stints in there and whatever. um i Still don't know. I mean, you know, I she didn't really go into was this hereditary what happened?
00:35:55.47
Bill
Did he fall?
00:35:55.42
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:35:56.19
Bill
I didn't catch anything like that, but um Young fucking dude, you know some mid 40s, you know, roughly maybe late 40s at the most um But yeah, I mean fucking terrible, you know, so but um yeah, I don't know.
00:35:58.55
Mike
Right.
00:36:01.65
Mike
Yeah. Mm hmm. Right.
00:36:08.35
Mike
Yeah.
00:36:11.01
Bill
I mean it again these normal shit happens to to everyone or these these things happen to normal people, I guess is a better way to put it.
00:36:17.10
Mike
Right.
00:36:17.95
Bill
But um you know i for once, I don't think, who knows?
00:36:18.17
Mike
Right.
00:36:22.58
Bill
Maybe this is something that's caused by the you know the evilness of our ways in the past. i mean I don't know, but it is what it is.
00:36:27.14
Mike
Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. But so, you know, he's doing okay. And, uh, right. We're thinking about you, Richie.
00:36:36.41
Bill
Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, yeah get better, get well. And I haven't seen it. Do you remember even the last time you saw you saw him? or
00:36:43.68
Mike
It's been, yeah, you know, years and years. Yeah.
00:36:48.78
Bill
Yeah, I don't think, um unless I'm wrong, I don't think I've seen him since I left Ohio, so 11 years ago.
00:36:55.39
Mike
Right.
00:36:56.98
Bill
but know
00:36:56.97
Mike
Yeah. Right.
00:36:58.48
Bill
but um
00:36:58.55
Mike
And it's probably, you know, I probably saw him at some function somewhere. Um, but yeah, again, probably poof eight, nine years. Yeah. Subscene him in person.
00:37:08.75
Bill
Well, yeah, maybe maybe a founder's day we saw him. I know his wife goes, I know Kelly goes, but I don't know, it's it's been a while.
00:37:12.04
Mike
Right. Yeah. there It's been a while.
00:37:16.32
Bill
I remember one when when, I do remember, because I was, when I was secretary in the Thursday night meeting at the Keating Center, um whoever I had cheering that time asked him to lead.
00:37:22.75
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:37:26.11
Bill
I didn't know he was leading that night.
00:37:27.53
Mike
Ah.
00:37:28.06
Bill
And, you know, he comes walking down, I'm like, what the fuck are you doing here? You know, gave him a big old hug. I hadn't seen him at that point, probably a year, because they moved out to God knows fucking where.
00:37:35.16
Mike
Right. Right.
00:37:52.90
Mike
yeah
00:37:54.21
Bill
Um, it sounds like, again, it sounds like he's stable and, uh, um, yeah, just again, one of those guys out there doing all the right things. And, um, again, the shit happens, uh, everyone, not everyone, but it happens to normal people too.
00:38:01.15
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:38:06.12
Bill
But, uh, yeah, just one of our, one of our really, really good friends is, you know, kind of kind of set aside for a moment, you know, trying to catch his breath in a fucking hospital bed.
00:38:06.29
Mike
Yeah.
00:38:13.03
Mike
who
00:38:18.16
Bill
So yeah, but, uh, once again, we wish him well, right?
00:38:21.58
Mike
We do.
00:38:23.16
Bill
All right, well, um you know what? why Why don't we just, what do you think? Let's just take a break now. I was going to say pop into something else, but I get, whatever. It's about that time. You think?
00:38:31.75
Mike
that. Yeah, sure. You know, I'm autopiling it, man. All right.
00:38:35.43
Bill
I know.
00:38:38.35
Mike
All right. We'll be back with more sober, not mature right after these words from our sponsors.
00:38:54.14
Bill
all right everyone welcome back god damn i got something like something in my throat i was about to go you're passing along to me you motherfucker all these miles away but um
00:39:01.22
Mike
yeah Yeah, that's right.
00:39:06.21
Bill
Yeah, I don't know, that's kind of, yeah, we we were about six four minutes early on our break or six minutes or 10 minutes, but I'm like, you know, it's just, it's funny, usually with, ah we just get rambling about shit and it's about the same time every week, but I don't know, everything seems to seems to flow one way or the other.
00:39:10.40
Mike
Ooh.
00:39:16.86
Mike
Mm-hm.
00:39:22.25
Bill
So one one real what real quick thing about this place, and it was, again, you know, kind of an older house or whatever, but the windows are are newer, you know?
00:39:23.02
Mike
It does.
00:39:28.30
Mike
Mm-hm.
00:39:30.37
Bill
um And the only reason that brings us up is because something happened. So I come out in the morning and I've got my desk set up in the living room, kind of next to the TV and stuff. And um there's these, the front windows, and I took pictures, but I don't know if you saw, but it's like a bay window, but cut in three different window panes with wood in between, like an old style thing.
00:39:48.20
Mike
Huh?
00:39:49.38
Bill
And there's blinds um that are, that are on there and, you know, kind of like the full blind, not like, you know, regular open blinds, but like full, almost like cloth ones.
00:39:53.78
Mike
Mmhmm.
00:39:58.45
Bill
So I come out one morning and you know I made my coffee, whatever, obviously that's in the kitchen. I get my coffee, I come walking out here and there's two lights on the wall that are, it's actually kind of nice watching TV.
00:40:08.99
Bill
It's again, this this cozy comfort type of thing. Just kind of a nice ambiance, I guess, if you want to say it. But I turned on one of the lights and as I'm walking in a living room, it's like halfway through and it was um like raining lightly that morning and kind of warmer like in fifties or something like that, low fifties.
00:40:25.02
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:40:26.00
Bill
And I smelled spring. You know, like outside weather and I just, I'm like, what in the kid, I'm, you know, I've been up for like 15, 20 minutes and not quite, you know, register.
00:40:30.85
Mike
Yeah, right.
00:40:38.47
Bill
I'm like, what the fuck? So I turned a light on it. I look in the blind is like sticking out and I look in the window is open.
00:40:42.69
Mike
Okay.
00:40:44.56
Bill
Okay. So they're the type of windows that, that you can, there's two slats on or a little locks on either side to pull them out and clean them. Right. So they, they pull forward, um, kind of on a hinge.
00:40:53.48
Mike
okay Right.
00:40:57.13
Bill
So they're new ish windows like that. And first thing, I mean, you know, I just got one light and I'm like, fuck, it's still dark out. It's like, you know, quarter after five in the morning. And I'm like right away, I put the flashlight on my phone and I'm like, shit, you know, like did somebody tried to break in.
00:41:11.85
Mike
Right.
00:41:11.97
Bill
um But the screens on, you know, so I'm like, okay, so the screen's fine. And then I looked and I saw, I saw the slats and blah, blah, blah. So what happened is, is the, the windows don't completely, and I'm sure that the, ah the window panes would probably swell a little bit.
00:41:26.57
Bill
So the the two windows don't meet up to latch, you know, where the window latch is.
00:41:31.23
Mike
Right.
00:41:31.82
Bill
And then the slats, I'm sure whoever cleaned the windows last didn't put the slats on. So it was windy and it blew the window in. So I just made sure the slats are in and closed it up, whatever.
00:41:41.98
Bill
But it freaked me out because so I'm like, literally, I'm like, I'm a fucking A man.
00:41:43.94
Mike
yeah.
00:41:47.86
Bill
Somebody's trying to break in. But um again, not not a huge deal as it turns out. But yeah, I mean, once again, I smelled, I smelled springtime and I couldn't for the life of me fucking figure it out.
00:41:51.92
Mike
Hmm.
00:41:59.75
Bill
But this neighborhood, I mean, again, very quiet, nice, probably the quiet neighborhood I've been in in a long time, but But anyhow, yeah, that was kind of a kind of a weird thing to wake up to. But um all right, so one question I don't remember if I wanna, it doesn't matter.
00:42:15.52
Bill
um Do you ever think at any point while you were drinking that you drank differently from others? Okay, there's a second there's a second question in here, but did you consciously feel that you were drinking differently than others?
00:42:22.28
Mike
yeah
00:42:29.42
Mike
I preferred to think of it as better than others.
00:42:35.50
Bill
Okay, so hang on. So one to know like I'll get to the second question in a minute.
00:42:39.21
Mike
hi
00:42:39.31
Bill
So maybe I should have, so let let me let me substitute or place the word problematically in here.
00:42:45.21
Mike
yeah
00:42:45.29
Bill
Did you ever did you ever think it was, I like the fact that you said better. and's ah That's a great way, I mean, it's like, okay, let's just end the episode on that.
00:42:52.52
Mike
it's
00:42:53.63
Bill
We're 42 minutes in, we're good.
00:42:54.63
Mike
I drink better than the people around me.
00:42:55.45
Bill
yeah
00:42:59.69
Bill
Right?
00:42:59.96
Mike
That's right. Yeah. Fucking ain't right I did. ah
00:43:04.19
Bill
But did you did you ever think of it and look at it or have the the sense or anything like that that it was problematic or did it never cross your mind?
00:43:12.88
Mike
I mean, yeah, I knew. I knew. Of course. You know, um ah but again, I, you know, delusional. I, in my mind, said I drank better than others. Yes.
00:43:24.07
Mike
Yes.
00:43:24.51
Bill
That's fucking awesome. It's awesome. i didn't I didn't expect that.
00:43:27.41
Mike
Yeah, of course i I knew it was a problem and I knew it was wrong and I knew bla blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:43:27.88
Bill
I just really didn't.
00:43:32.57
Mike
But yeah, but I twisted it in my fucking head to say, no, I'm i'm better. I drink more. I drink more often. I drink, yeah, I'm i'm far better than everyone else.
00:43:44.61
Bill
So that kind of answers the second question, because I said at any point before you got sober, did you start to connect the dots that all the problems you were having were because of drinking?
00:43:46.59
Mike
Mm-hmm. Mm.
00:43:53.02
Mike
Well, no, no, of course not. have Fucking other problems I were having where everyone else's fault.
00:43:58.41
Bill
Okay, I'm drinking better than everyone and every, okay, I i understand, I get where you're coming from.
00:44:00.91
Mike
Yup. Yeah. Yeah. ye And all my problems are caused by someone else.
00:44:06.71
Bill
All right. And you know what, um I don't even, ah again, I have no idea. you know i'd I'd love to be able to give context to where I come up with these these questions every once in a while, because I i don't know you know, seriously don't know. but um i and I've said it on here before, the only thing that I ever said to myself was at some point I knew that I'd have to just kind of, I don't know, calm down, you know change my evil ways, that sort of thing.
00:44:34.15
Mike
Uh-huh. Right.
00:44:37.46
Bill
you know the
00:44:37.44
Mike
Control my drinking.
00:44:39.41
Bill
you know is I didn't use the word control because that that was that was thrown in my face.
00:44:41.68
Mike
Well, I know.
00:44:43.71
Bill
we I told the DUI or my drunk class story, oh, everyone, Bill's going to try to control his drinking.
00:44:46.20
Mike
Right.
00:44:51.27
Mike
instance
00:44:51.42
Bill
I'm like, yeah, you you fucking whore. Yeah, I got you. Yeah, fuck you, bitch. um but So no, i would I would never have used that word. but you know how people you know just yeah tv shows um movies people are always like oh yeah you know my 20s i was doing this and then you know all my friends started to you know kind of settle down you know and that's that's kind of the thought i had that you know at some point i'm gonna have to like settle down you know i'm out there ripping it up a little bit too much
00:45:07.52
Mike
Uh-huh. Mm-hmm. Sure.
00:45:16.47
Bill
And that would have, i pride I'm trying to think if, I don't even, if Dawn and I were still together probably, you know, so it wasn't in my, you know, my darkest of last, of the last four years, cause those were fucking, you know, really dark.
00:45:21.48
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:45:30.46
Bill
um But I never looked at, I never looked at the problems I had because of, you know, would have pointed out, like you said, as everyone else's, and that's, that's so, I only laugh because, you know, that's ridiculous.
00:45:37.64
Mike
Right.
00:45:41.34
Mike
It's true.
00:45:43.08
Bill
it's fucking ridiculous for me for me to even think that it was my fault you know i i don't have any money well how much did you spend on booze this week that's irrelevant
00:45:43.64
Mike
Oh, of course. Yeah. Right. Of course.
00:45:53.95
Mike
That's got nothing to do with anything.
00:45:56.09
Bill
And again, that question would have never and never came up because I would have never shared with anyone that I was spending, you know, I mean, again, towards the towards the end, in a minimum, the last six months.
00:46:05.80
Mike
Right.
00:46:07.83
Bill
um I mean, I could get a 30 pack of whatever type of beer it was, some Miller product. I forget which one of the Miller products it was now. Maybe 15 bucks and then, you know, get a bottle of, you know, a big bottle of fucking whiskey, you know, for another 15.
00:46:17.60
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:46:21.01
Mike
Right. Oh, uh huh.
00:46:23.09
Bill
And that was, you know, that was like four days worth of booze, you know. So that's do the fucking math. That's $15 a day, which, you know, doesn't seem like a lot, I suppose, you know, yeah because you Starbucks people out there, you probably spend that the day on your fucking coffee.
00:46:33.35
Mike
z
00:46:38.37
Mike
Sure.
00:46:38.60
Bill
you know but i hope you can afford it because i couldn't you know and at that time i couldn't afford to spend um you know fifteen dollars a day on fucking booze and let alone if i'm like oh get treat myself to whatever this is or that is kind of like fucking knows man you know but just doing the math that's a lot of fucking money you know
00:46:41.20
Mike
Uh huh. Right.
00:46:50.84
Mike
Mm hmm. Right.
00:46:56.87
Bill
um but but no I never I never thought about oh I can't pay my rent because I'm buying too much booze it's I just I just need to make more money at work I've got a shitty job and nobody pays me enough that's
00:47:03.48
Mike
he
00:47:07.73
Mike
Right. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, exactly. Those motherfuckers don't know what I'm worth. It's their fault.
00:47:15.46
Bill
yeah what I'm worth ah oh that's that's rich here here here's me and my worth
00:47:18.09
Mike
yeah yeah yeah yeah
00:47:22.16
Mike
Isn't it? he Delusional.
00:47:31.00
Mike
That's right.
00:47:31.44
Bill
ah But yeah okay, so though those are gills are a couple of the greatest answers. Fuck no, it's everyone else's fault and I drank better than everyone.
00:47:39.11
Mike
That's right.
00:47:39.39
Bill
Okay, um folks write that down. that that's Those are words, words to fucking live by. if fake yeah Thank you, Mike.
00:47:44.81
Mike
Tattoo them on your forehead. so
00:47:48.41
Bill
Oh, so this is it. So I'm i'm watching, and you you've heard of this the show, Yellowstone, right? um and I'm sure you haven't watched it, but the the one that, um
00:47:55.31
Mike
Yeah. No.
00:47:59.72
Bill
produces that show his name is Taylor Sheridan and I didn't realize this but I started watching this other show called the mayor of Kingstown which is with Jeremy Renner um really fucking good it went in two seasons or three something like that but I um that's a Taylor Sheridan show which I didn't realize but really fucking good and then now there's another one on that I'm watching called lioness it's a yeah
00:48:01.44
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:48:08.79
Mike
Uh huh.
00:48:26.37
Mike
Uh-huh.
00:48:26.97
Bill
it's like a black ops, type of a movie, you know, a spy type of whatever.
00:48:29.11
Mike
Right.
00:48:30.73
Bill
That's a Taylor Sheridan one, you know?
00:48:31.67
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:48:32.82
Bill
But anyhow, so um Nicole Kidman is in the the lioness one.
00:48:35.23
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:48:36.96
Bill
So it's just, this is a complete side note, but it just made me laugh when I thought about it. First of all, she's had some work done over the years.
00:48:42.33
Mike
No.
00:48:43.22
Bill
I think she looked better 20, 30 years ago, just, I mean, she still looks decent.
00:48:45.91
Mike
Mm-hmm.
00:48:47.92
Bill
Don't get me wrong, you know, but I thought about what you said about when we were talking about Keith Urban. So I wrote this down, you know, when you're like, cause you said talk about promises, you know, one of our, one of our guys gets to fuck Nicole Kidman.
00:49:00.96
Mike
Right.
00:49:02.16
Bill
So, um, what I was thinking is, so when we walked into the rooms, could you imagine to always say that, oh, if we would got what we wanted at the time, you know, it was sold ourselves short.
00:49:08.00
Mike
for perfect
00:49:14.65
Bill
Could you imagine using that as an opening line? Just some new guy comes in, he's fucking shaking and all fucking nervous and just come up and you tap him on the shoulder and say, Hey dude, one of our guys fucks Nicole Kidman.
00:49:25.36
Bill
Okay, stick around wait till the, till the miracle happens.
00:49:27.82
Mike
Stick around. That's right. he I may have to, you know what?
00:49:32.70
Bill
Yeah, that's.
00:49:34.28
Mike
That's a good way to do it. I think I'm going to use that on Sunday.
00:49:39.07
Bill
It's, it literally crossed my head. I'm like, I, you know, what speaking of provinces, that might be a great way to start off a, start off a meeting up with newcomers. Hey, just so you know, and then just start listing off all the other people that are fucking hot chicks out there or guys, you know, if you're talking to women, there's a lot of good looking dudes out there that are, that are sober and, you know, and, uh, you know, probably daily or women that are nailing sober guys, whatever.
00:49:49.73
Mike
he Right. Right.
00:49:59.57
Bill
So.
00:49:59.69
Mike
Right?
00:50:01.27
Bill
But um anyhow, that just ah that had nothing to do with anything, but it but it fucking made me laugh. All right, so this is a recent one. This might be from today. ah God grant me there was a reading about humility and Just a very very simple question um What does humility mean to you? We may have talked about this before but if if not, it's I think a great refresher So what does humility mean to you my friend Mike or how do you define humility or both?
00:50:32.57
Mike
Hmm. God. All Right.
00:50:36.24
Bill
I Know it's a it's a thinking one. Sorry. and I didn't know you're gonna have a cold tonight. So I
00:50:41.70
Mike
um
00:50:44.57
Mike
that
00:50:47.19
Mike
Humility. Humility is, um yeah, it's it's not being full of ego. It's not that fucking, that delusional shit. You know, it's everybody else's fault and I'm better than everyone else.
00:51:00.83
Mike
Um, kind of flip that around. I'm, you know, um, humility is, I'm, it's, it's all my fault. And, um, I'm just as good and just as bad as everyone else now. Um, yeah, it's, it's knowing your place, you know? Um, I mean, a lot of times, you know, you hear,
00:51:21.76
Mike
People talk about humiliated as opposed to humility. um Very different, you know. I'm not humiliated, I am, um I try to be humble.
00:51:34.26
Mike
Uh, you know, again, I thought I was fucking better than everyone else when I was in the bottom of a bottle or a bag.
00:51:42.81
Bill
yeah
00:51:43.72
Mike
Um, that's right.
00:51:43.87
Bill
Drinking better than everyone.
00:51:45.57
Mike
You know, using better than everyone else, um, elegantly wasted.
00:51:48.20
Bill
Right.
00:51:51.72
Mike
Um, yeah, no, it's, it's, it's, it's knowing your place and knowing you're not better than or worse than anyone else is the simple answer.
00:52:01.49
Bill
Right. Yeah, and it's, ah I don't know. It was the reason I, again, I know the reason I wrote this one down is because I write it when I first was thinking about it. I couldn't like put the words together. I know what it it's like, you know what it feels like to to have, you know, to be humble and have some humility, but, um, but yeah, it's, it's just realizing that, you know, you're, you're just right there with everyone else. You know, like you said, to begin with, you know, right in the middle of the bed, where am I at in my program?
00:52:27.24
Mike
Right.
00:52:27.44
Bill
um you know Maybe that's why we couldn't really just jump out and and say where we were at. That just occurred to me. um Maybe that's a little bit of humility.
00:52:35.12
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:52:35.29
Bill
We just do what we do. you know um I don't know how to explain where I'm at my program unless I really take a look at it myself.
00:52:36.88
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:52:42.25
Bill
I don't know. i don't I don't even know that the good things that I have sometimes. Not that I don't appreciate them and I'm not grateful, I am, but um i just i I just, I don't know, I'm i'm comfortable you know in in what I'm doing and who I am and in my own skin and everything else.
00:52:47.38
Mike
Hmm. Right.
00:52:59.70
Bill
And um the good things around me, i um I appreciate and I know I've earned. I don't necessarily feel like I, I don't know deserve, we've talked about that word so many times.
00:53:09.52
Mike
Right.
00:53:10.29
Bill
I don't i don't feel like I deserve them in a bad way. you know I've done the work to get the positive results, the byproduct I get, or all these good things in my life.
00:53:18.39
Mike
Right.
00:53:20.99
Bill
And maybe that's humility, realizing that you know I have all this shit in my life. um i I didn't do it on my own. I didn't you know acquire these things.
00:53:27.88
Mike
Right.
00:53:30.06
Bill
I did a lot of work, but it's ah you know it's because of a lot of people, and people taught me that.
00:53:32.35
Mike
Right.
00:53:34.56
Bill
And realizing that I need to say thank you, and I need i need to you know keep my hand out and help somebody else. and
00:53:41.52
Mike
right
00:53:41.93
Bill
I can't be selfish, and I can't be self-centered, and I can't feel like I ah do things better than everyone else. you know And um you know I'm a better drinker than everyone else.
00:53:48.20
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:53:53.73
Bill
I'm going to giggle about that one for a while. that's ah That was classic. Classic mic.
00:53:56.80
Mike
That was good.
00:53:57.95
Bill
That was a classic mic.
00:53:58.07
Mike
he
00:53:58.72
Bill
But um but it's ah it is it's a tough it's a tough one to really define. you know
00:54:03.70
Mike
Yeah, it is. It is which I think is kind of the point of it, you know, you don't, you don't, you can't really put it into words because it's just sort of a thing.
00:54:10.49
Bill
Right.
00:54:15.80
Mike
And, um, and that is kind of the definition of humility. It's yeah, I can't express it. I'm yeah, I'm grateful and I'm comfortable and it's all good stuff, but yeah, you know, I, I don't deserve it.
00:54:29.83
Mike
Like you said, I don't, I certainly don't expect it, but I am grateful that I have it. I think that's kind of humility.
00:54:37.24
Bill
Right. Yeah. It's a, again, it's a, it's a tough, it's a tough one, but, um, I mean, we both, like I said, we both know what the fuck it is, but, uh,
00:54:47.14
Mike
It was sure as hell know what it isn't.
00:54:49.32
Bill
right.
00:54:50.14
Mike
Yup.
00:54:50.47
Bill
Oh, you know, you know, what's kind of funny is that I just crossed off one. Cause I had surprisingly had two more things and these were both from a different book from a day at a time. Um, and I wrote that done this one down a while ago, what exactly is true humility?
00:54:59.00
Mike
Yeah.
00:55:02.58
Bill
What does it mean? So that one, we we just answer that. So I crossed that one up, but right below it.
00:55:05.76
Mike
ah
00:55:07.97
Bill
and from a day at a time, it says, we sometimes hear humility defined as the state of being teachable.
00:55:15.07
Mike
ah yeah
00:55:16.63
Bill
That's kind of that's kind of fun, right? That's just the answer to part of our question.
00:55:18.28
Mike
That is. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. That's again, don't expect it and don't know everything. And, you know, right. It goes back to we're not the best.
00:55:27.69
Bill
Right. Right, i just I think it's funny that, and that was that was a few, I don't know when that, again, i it was, I don't know, four or five things up on my list of of things I have typed out, but it was just kind of funny that I had three things on here about humility.
00:55:42.24
Bill
Must be a trend in my head, right?
00:55:43.92
Mike
Right.
00:55:44.14
Bill
Or in the readings, obviously.
00:55:45.84
Mike
right
00:55:46.12
Bill
But there's ah another one in that same in that kind of in the same realm. It says, and this was from a day at a time, ah pride deviously keeps me from a thorough,
00:55:57.35
Bill
from thoroughly and can I'm sorry, let me, God, you can tell I do these with voice text. Let me try to read this first then figure out what I'm supposed to do. So I was talking about the 10 step.
00:56:08.14
Bill
Pride can deviously keep me from thoroughly ah continuing to work through a proper 10 step.
00:56:14.52
Mike
Oh,
00:56:16.96
Bill
You agree with that?
00:56:18.07
Mike
oh sure.
00:56:18.34
Bill
Pride deviously, okay.
00:56:19.07
Mike
Right. Yeah. Well, yeah yeah. Pride. Absolutely. Again, the best. Right. I'm not going to do it. Hey, I'm all right. Hey, everything's fucking great.
00:56:30.46
Mike
You know, right. A 10 step. Yeah.
00:56:32.91
Bill
Right.
00:56:32.88
Mike
Do it. Doing an inventory, whatever, or four step. Again, it's going to keep you from doing it properly. If you, if you have too much pride, you can't, you know, if you can't identify the problem, how the hell are you going to fix it?
00:56:45.84
Bill
Right.
00:56:46.55
Mike
And if you're too proud, you sure as hell can't identify the problems you have. ah Again, back to, you know, it's everybody else's fault and I'm the best at what I do.
00:56:56.98
Bill
Right. Yeah. and it And it is it's, well, and, and I've talked about, i've I've talked about my job plenty of times. Can we do a little side note on it this kind of goes along with, um this made me think of it so I think this is kind of on, I want to really, well I guess I'm going to sort of bitch about work but I'm going to I'm going to explain why it kind of help it kind of ties into this which made me think of it so.
00:57:17.89
Bill
um you know I've mentioned before that i I look at my job as kind of as I look at at this whole sobriety thing that if I if i continue to do the work, that the good things come.
00:57:29.54
Bill
right and And if I'm not slacking off, I'm ah doing the next right thing and all sorts of things.
00:57:30.07
Mike
Right?
00:57:36.09
Bill
And I've done that all the way through. Now granted, i I do remain teachable and I don't mind you know my manager saying, you know be more assertive or do this or say these words and say those words.
00:57:47.06
Bill
And I get all that. you know And i take I take all of his suggestions. And it's been it's been a slow couple of months. And we just had our ah weekly meeting. And the again, the the main person that kind of the, ah she's a VP of something. I still, i but to life for life, we don't know her title, but she's really cool. But she's the one that hands out the all the new business and stuff like that. And she's like, you know just so everyone knows, we're starting to get in flux. I know we had a lull in new business.
00:58:12.28
Bill
And I knew that because i saw I saw the way my route used to be and what it was now. And um I was getting dumped on with all, like I said, the second placements and things like that. And I mean, flooded with them, um lower collectability, all these different things.
00:58:22.42
Mike
right
00:58:24.87
Bill
Those are fucking facts. That's not excuses or anything like that. It just is.
00:58:29.11
Mike
Yeah.
00:58:29.48
Bill
And literally I would get like 15 new accounts and 10 of them would be these lower end. So, you know, three quarters of my, of my business, you know, on a particular day or a couple of days, blah, blah, blah. And, um, this month, I mean, I'm, I'm, again, I'm struggling to get to the point where I was last month, you know, I've got a few days left, but I hopefully would hit that, but I'm down, you know, and I started to look at this shit and I'm like, um, I,
00:58:52.65
Bill
I'm trying to, I don't wanna blame, I don't wanna just say it's a new business, it's this, it's this type of business, but all these different things.
00:58:58.73
Mike
Mm hmm.
00:59:00.99
Bill
What I've been trying to do is say, okay, I've gotta make sure that I'm doing all these things, you know? And I am, and the only thing that's changed though is that is that business, you know?
00:59:05.98
Mike
Right.
00:59:10.83
Bill
So, um I don't know, I mean, i haven't I haven't been confronted by it to bring it up and I'm almost, I don't wanna say hesitant to bring it up because I think that as a company, they they probably look at that as like, Bowie making excuses type of thing, which I'm not that guy, you know?
00:59:26.61
Mike
right
00:59:26.85
Bill
So I'm just kind of doing i'm doing kind of doing what I do. The only thing though, and this is the part that I thought was kind of odd, I noticed this over the last month or so, and I didn't bring it up until now, because it just it started ah to hit me a again.
00:59:37.67
Bill
So I had a a couple of really good, like this past week, I have really good week, you know not this physical week, but the last seven to nine days or something like that. as I've been doing, I'll just say poorly or worse than what I was doing when I first came in, you know, I'm coming out of the gate. I whatever I was like, you know, the golden child type of thing me and this other guy started with we we're doing really well and blah, blah, blah. And I kept that up for a while then these things just again, circumstances. And the most funny is that I started to notice it from
01:00:09.57
Bill
my manager, you know, um he, less conversation, doesn't, doesn't, you know, doesn't congratulate on things, doesn't make any comments anymore. Like simple things, you you sent something, he's got to make a, make a note on something. You'd be, you get an account and you get a payment and he used to say, Oh, you know, i'm I'm done doing that. Hey, nice job. So he would say he's done doing it, but then not even say nice job anymore on stuff, you know, little things. And know I'm like, is it starting to like, am I just like reading into this stuff?
01:00:36.49
Bill
But then it's like that all the time. But then I start to get big payments. and He's like, oh, you're doing great. Nice job. This is I'm like, OK, I get it. You know, it's this it's so far it's i I I've been around that I started thinking about this.
01:00:44.23
Mike
Uh huh.
01:00:49.13
Bill
I've been around this business. and i I hate to say this with the exception of a handful of years for like 35 years.
01:00:55.30
Mike
Right.
01:00:55.69
Bill
You know, I was in my early 20s when I started the collection business and I know better.
01:00:57.65
Mike
Mm hmm.
01:00:59.60
Bill
That's what this business is all about. So. As a trainer and as a manager and a supervisor, I never did that. The people that were struggling, I tried to do the opposite. you know um I really would.
01:01:08.42
Mike
Right.
01:01:09.46
Bill
I'd look i'd look at, because it's usually if there was three categories, are you there all the time? Are you making the right phone call? Or enough phone calls? And is your is your conversation right? If those three things, and that's my manager is doing that, um but he's focusing too much on, oh, you're not doing all the right words, but we keep doing all this stuff, and nothing's changing.
01:01:27.25
Bill
So then what else that we look at the business. We always knew when new business was down, I did as a manager and people just suffer from it.
01:01:32.18
Mike
Right. Sure.
01:01:34.77
Bill
There's only so much you can do with ah with the lower amount of business.
01:01:36.25
Mike
Mm hmm.
01:01:38.13
Bill
So I don't know, it's just very high school-ish, you know? And it's just, I started looking, I'm like, I thought, I don't know, you you kind of think and you go into things, it's a fucking law firm and it's this and that, but it's not, it's no fucking different.
01:01:40.43
Mike
Okay.
01:01:50.03
Bill
You know just that you know we're all we're all just you know cogs in this in this machinery You know and I don't mind I but I would if you can be that way I don't need to be I don't need to have my balls played with or coddled or stroked or anything like that I don't need any of that shit, but just
01:01:56.15
Mike
Right. Hmm. Hmm.
01:02:09.32
Bill
to begin with, jed then just leave me the fuck alone.
01:02:11.53
Mike
Right.
01:02:11.62
Bill
you know Don't do anything. It's like all of a sudden you're doing good. You're like, oh, come here, all you're good. But then when you're not doing it, then you don't talk to people.
01:02:16.45
Mike
Mm hmm. Right.
01:02:18.99
Bill
It is, it's like a fucking high school thing.
01:02:20.79
Mike
Yeah.
01:02:21.81
Bill
So I don't know. I mean, it's just one of those things that I, who knows, maybe things will change. If not, I mean, I'm not out there saving the fucking world with this.
01:02:27.94
Mike
Yeah.
01:02:31.13
Bill
It's it's a fucking job.
01:02:31.53
Mike
Mm hmm.
01:02:32.25
Bill
It's done what what I needed to do. And if it continue continues to do that, I'll, and I can just slide under the radar. There's nothing magical about it. It's just, it's it's like punching a God. It is, it's punching a clock every day and and just doing the thing, but um I don't know.
01:02:43.18
Mike
Nope.
01:02:46.57
Bill
It just, like I said, i I don't complain about shit like that too much. And I don't need to be, I don't need to be coddled. I don't need to be congratulated.
01:02:53.12
Mike
Uh huh.
01:02:54.57
Bill
I don't need any of that, but you know you can tell when people are different. It's like, you know he's got he's got his favorites. And the other thing that I know for a fact is that, cause I started to look at, cause he was making comments like a month ago, he's like,
01:03:06.36
Bill
You've got one of the largest inventories in the office and blah blah blah and this person is doing that you're like, I did the math, you know I've got like a million dollars in inventory which is not bad for the type of business we're working a set extravagant, um but I get 300 plus accounts you know, do the math it's an average balance of like $3,000, which
01:03:13.21
Mike
who Right.
01:03:25.30
Bill
At the level two that I'm at, that average balance should be more like four to five, you know maybe five to six. you know Because our our top range is like, I don't know, eight to 9,000.
01:03:36.43
Bill
We might see a $9,000 or $9,000 accounts every once in a while. We shouldn't see anything lower than two you know ever.
01:03:44.39
Mike
Mm hmm.
01:03:44.52
Bill
And my average balance is at three. you know And they hand out the business. So it's like, OK, these person, these people over here are doing a little bit better. So I would give these, and I'm like, fuck.
01:03:54.37
Mike
Yeah.
01:03:55.25
Bill
So I know the game is my point.
01:03:57.56
Mike
Sure.
01:03:57.65
Bill
you know But I don't know.
01:03:58.40
Mike
Right.
01:04:00.35
Bill
It is what it is. I just don't i don't i don't like i don't like people who were people who are fake or or whatever.
01:04:06.53
Mike
Right.
01:04:06.80
Bill
that's kind of That's kind of what it is. you know
01:04:08.40
Mike
Yeah, right. It is. Yeah. And that's, uh, that's that whole, uh, you know, trying to control other people, man, people, places, and things that's they're going to do what they do.
01:04:15.78
Bill
right
01:04:17.38
Mike
Fine. Do what you do. And I don't let it affect me one way or another. Try not to anyway, put my head down, do my job, do what I have to do in my life.
01:04:23.61
Bill
right yeah and like
01:04:27.63
Mike
And I don't care what you do over there. Right.
01:04:30.53
Bill
Right.
01:04:30.62
Mike
Like you said, man, you know, I don't need my balls stroked. Just fucking do it. you Yeah. Leave me the fuck alone. Let me do it. I got to do it. Yeah. Either way, if I'm doing well, leave me alone.
01:04:42.31
Mike
If I'm doing shitty, leave me alone.
01:04:44.65
Bill
Right.
01:04:45.91
Mike
Yep.
01:04:46.01
Bill
Yeah, that's the the only thing that, like I said, I gotta, and I'm i'm hoping that things pick up because, you know, again, this ah this past month and these last two months have been, you know, inconsiderably, you know, about 25% lower than than where I was.
01:05:00.37
Bill
And, you know, I start, again, I'm not going to go broke or anything like that, but I need to get back to
01:05:00.69
Mike
Mm-hmm.
01:05:05.01
Bill
the income where I was at a couple of months ago and that that's where I want to be and need to be you know, so that's the only thing that I care about all this other stuff, you know, I I Ignore all of his little emails his little fucking poking emails that everyone like oh we got increase this we got increase this this can't happen blah blahh blah blah I'm just like fuck me.
01:05:08.52
Mike
Yeah.
01:05:15.54
Mike
since
01:05:21.49
Bill
I'm gonna do my work, you know, so but yeah, it's my money.
01:05:21.51
Mike
Yep.
01:05:24.57
Bill
My money's the only thing I'm concerned about so
01:05:25.65
Mike
Uh-huh. Pay me my money.
01:05:28.75
Bill
yeah pay me my money bitch alright so speaking of things being coddled let's talk about our bottoms hello no seriously what I what I wrote down because we've talked about the um you know people bottoming out rock bottom and blah blah blah and this and that so um I just thought it might be something to kind of touch on again, you know, going into, I don't know, whether it's going into the holidays or or whatever it is. And I just, I know I start thinking about these things, but you know, our stories versus other people's experiences, you know, a low bottom versus a a high bottom type of thing.
01:06:05.81
Mike
Mm hmm.
01:06:06.36
Bill
um in ah In a general sense, based on what what you know and what you feel, um does it does it even matter? I mean, if you're your story is far different than mine, but we ended up at the same place, we've known people who have been better or worse.
01:06:18.55
Mike
Right. Mm hmm. Sure.
01:06:22.16
Bill
So what does does a rock bottom or where somebody bottoms out, does it matter at all?
01:06:29.61
Mike
I mean, ah you know, the best line, this is not mine. um You know, your bottom is when you stop drinking or stop digging.
01:06:33.44
Bill
Right.
01:06:37.87
Mike
You know, that's your bottom, right?
01:06:38.02
Bill
Right.
01:06:39.15
Mike
When you stop fucking digging a hole. all It doesn't matter, right? You get to a point where you don't want to you've gotten as low as you want to be or, you know, don't want to be or whatever.
01:06:50.84
Mike
Yeah. Your bottom is when you stop digging and that's it. And then you start climbing back out. Doesn't matter where it is, you know, um, yeah, it doesn't fucking matter.
01:07:04.02
Mike
It's when you stop and you turn around and you start going in a different direction.
01:07:04.24
Bill
Right.
01:07:09.04
Mike
And it doesn't matter what that point is. It's what matters is you turning around and going in a different direction.
01:07:17.43
Bill
Right.
01:07:17.39
Mike
Yeah. Yeah.
01:07:18.88
Bill
Yeah. Or I mean, you know, the the way that, you know, the people get in there. I mean, you know, we know plenty of people that arrived at the Keating Center, you know, from jail. We know people that that walked in on their own because they they literally had enough.
01:07:26.73
Mike
Oh yeah. yeah see Right.
01:07:30.96
Bill
They had that that actual moment of clarity and said, I'm done. And they walked into the Keating keating Center or walked into just sobriety in general.
01:07:38.95
Mike
Mm-hmm.
01:07:39.36
Bill
You know, then other people had to fall on their face a couple of times literally other Other other people had to be taken to the Keating Center.
01:07:42.59
Mike
Yeah. Hi.
01:07:46.33
Mike
Mm-hmm.
01:07:47.69
Bill
Hello It dropped off at the front door by their mommy and their sister um you know, but whatever whatever got us there, you know, but um it just it you know, I listened to i've I've been trying to
01:07:48.15
Mike
Mm-hmm. Right. Yup.
01:08:00.85
Bill
because I haven't, you know, I've been driving as much as as I have, but I still been trying to know listen to different podcasts and and stuff like that because I just, I do, I enjoy sober podcasts, but you know, there's so many different stories and so many different levels and some people are just, you know, not daily drinkers and and that sort of thing.
01:08:02.03
Mike
Mm-hmm.
01:08:17.54
Bill
And one of the things that, I know I've heard on podcasts and I'm sure I've seen post that on Instagram is basically when you know for anyone out there if you if you somehow ah stumbled onto to this lovely podcast hello um you know and even if you're if you're new or you're not sure why the fuck you're here let alone listening to our podcast um you know sometimes it's just that
01:08:29.80
Mike
Hi.
01:08:39.02
Bill
If you are uncomfortable, if you have the sense to realize that you are either uncomfortable or unhappy with the way that either you act or feel or your life circumstances because of alcohol, you don't need anything else.
01:08:53.34
Bill
you know that's that's a good enough That's a good enough reason. You don't have to be arrested. You don't have to have a DUI.
01:08:58.85
Mike
no
01:08:58.97
Bill
You don't have to be falling in the face a couple of times. You don't have to be taken to the Keating Center by your mommy and your sister.
01:09:03.88
Mike
Right.
01:09:04.34
Bill
you know it doesn't That doesn't have to happen. you know And the one thing that I think is really cool about this, again, all these all these fucking people on the social media is a fucking pain in the ass half the time, you know, probably three quarters of the time it is, but um there's a lot of people out there that are setting really good examples, um you know, of just people that are like, you know what, I just, i I don't know, I just didn't, alcohol wasn't doing it for me anymore.
01:09:19.62
Mike
from Right.
01:09:30.32
Mike
Yeah.
01:09:30.38
Bill
So I i just quit and now I'm living um whether i you know I'm living alcohol free, I'm living whatever way I want to live. i'm just i Alcohol is no longer a part of my life.
01:09:37.40
Mike
Mm-hmm.
01:09:40.23
Mike
Right.
01:09:40.66
Bill
And I'm like, wow.
01:09:42.66
Mike
Yeah.
01:09:43.60
Bill
I mean, I never had that sense. I never chose to get into this thing. um you know I chose to stay.
01:09:51.00
Mike
Yeah.
01:09:52.94
Bill
But to begin with, I sure as fuck didn't choose to be here. you know
01:09:55.80
Mike
Yeah. Right. I mean, yeah and again, Um, I, I knew I wanted to stop digging. Uh, I, it wasn't even about the booze anymore. It was again, uh, talked about it plenty of times. I just, I, you know, the gym bedding, man, I just didn't want to fucking hurt anybody anymore.
01:10:13.55
Bill
Right.
01:10:13.60
Mike
And that's, that's really it, you know, um, and yeah and clearly the, the alcohol had to stop and the drugs had to stop because, you know, I wasn't going to stop hurting people if I continued to do that, but that wasn't, wasn't even the fucking case anymore. I mean, the you know, I wasn't getting high. I wasn't getting drunk. I was just fucking but staying well, uh, you know, quote unquote, there's my air quotes for the episode. Um,
01:10:43.10
Mike
Yeah. Just, you know, not being sick and, um, right.
01:10:45.39
Bill
Right.
01:10:47.80
Mike
But it was, you know, I didn't want to fucking keep hurting people the way I was hurting people. And, um, yeah, clearly the, the boost in the dope had to go. Um, but a lot of fucking other things had to change too.
01:11:00.07
Mike
Again, turn around and go in a different direction. Stop digging.
01:11:04.64
Bill
Right, yeah, and that's that is, i I know you brought it up, and I know you said it about the digging thing, and whenever we heard that, that was the and was one of the biggest, easiest, and most simplistic ways to to put it, but I love that.
01:11:18.28
Mike
Mm hmm.
01:11:19.81
Bill
you know It is, yeah but what are yeah, what are you done?
01:11:20.60
Mike
Yeah, that's your bottom.
01:11:23.59
Bill
What are you done taking a fucking hole for yourself?
01:11:23.95
Mike
Right. Yep.
01:11:27.57
Bill
I still got a couple more feet to go. I think I'll hand me a bigger shovel.
01:11:29.27
Mike
Yeah. but You know, because I'm a really good digger.
01:11:32.45
Bill
yeah
01:11:37.58
Bill
Right, hey I dig better than anyone out there.
01:11:40.34
Mike
but I know.
01:11:43.19
Bill
It's everyone else's problem that I had to keep digging this hole, you motherfuckers.
01:11:47.93
Mike
Stop handing me a shovel.
01:11:51.93
Bill
All right, so um let's get a little bit more lighthearted here. You want a couple of news stories, Mike?
01:11:57.39
Mike
Sure.
01:11:59.34
Bill
It's come to that time in Silver Not Mature for today's news.
01:12:03.89
Mike
did it did it did did did did it did it did
01:12:05.99
Bill
and And again, I promised i promise that it has nothing to do with politics and it does not.
01:12:11.43
Mike
good
01:12:11.84
Bill
Okay, so this first one, this is the alcohol related one, okay?
01:12:17.35
Mike
hey
01:12:17.55
Bill
And just to make it more fun, I'm gonna read this as if it were you, okay?
01:12:23.69
Mike
for Yeah, sure ah ha That's right
01:12:27.45
Bill
All right, so ah can I use your full name? Because you use it openly anyhow. Can i could I say your full name? I thought so. Okay, because especially when they're talking about serial killers or within news stories, you gotta use the full name anyhow. Okay, so J. Michael Harris, popular.
01:12:44.60
Bill
podcast co-host of the Popular Sword, not mature podcast, award-winning podcast. yeah ah Was arrested, hang on one second here. Okay, yeah, was arrested after the Jake Paul and Mike Tyson fight last Friday night.
01:13:04.82
Bill
um After the fight on Saturday morning, Jay Michael was booked at the Arlington City Jail on one count of assault on a peace officer, one kind of public intoxication, one count of evading, and one count of resisting arrest.
01:13:21.25
Mike
Shots bar, right?
01:13:22.80
Bill
I know.
01:13:24.07
Mike
for
01:13:24.39
Bill
when i read this i'm like i'm putting mike's fucking name in this one uh mr harris allegedly got into a fight at the bar of the live exclamation point must be something by the los hotel roughly half a mile from atm stadium per the report police said that arlington or an arlington police officer arrived at the hotel
01:13:27.03
Mike
he
01:13:35.11
Mike
Mm-hmm.
01:13:44.32
Bill
ah told about the fight, blah, blah, blah. Officers are allegedly k continued approaching and yelling at others involved. So this was obviously you. Officer intervened explaining that if the individual continued to fight, he'd be arrested.
01:13:57.29
Mike
Hmm.
01:13:57.67
Bill
Another altercation started not long after that.
01:13:59.97
Mike
Of course, I wasn't done.
01:14:05.23
Bill
Jay Michael hit the officer on her arm ah she ah as she attempted to place him in handcuffs.
01:14:08.10
Mike
Oh, that's her fault.
01:14:13.33
Bill
He got free and started, listen to this, he got free and started walking away.
01:14:16.43
Mike
Hmm.
01:14:19.55
Bill
um Harris also, or a devil to me, hang on one second here. ah Hang on, what's, how fucked.
01:14:26.40
Mike
What else did I do?
01:14:28.14
Bill
I think he had, i i think that I think that was it.
01:14:28.81
Mike
I don't remember.
01:14:32.44
Bill
God, I thought it was a longer story.
01:14:33.59
Mike
Mm.
01:14:34.10
Bill
So this was actually, it was an ex-cowboy, Pac-Man Jones. Have you heard that?
01:14:41.09
Mike
Sure, yeah.
01:14:41.82
Bill
Okay, that's who it was. And I heard i heard about it.
01:14:43.89
Mike
Oh.
01:14:46.53
Bill
it was It was him that did it. So it was a football player that did it.
01:14:48.23
Mike
Uh huh.
01:14:49.60
Bill
But I'm i reading all this stuff. i'm like I'm like, fuck man, this sounds like one of us, man. you know and And I'm like, God, would anything of these, and let me, yeah
01:14:53.21
Mike
Mm hmm.
01:14:58.52
Bill
Let me read what this says. God, where did the did the list of things, oh yeah. So just here's his laundry list. um One kind of assault on a peace officer, one kind of public intoxication, one kind of evading, and one kind of resisting arrest.
01:15:14.94
Mike
Just one count each Jesus, man.
01:15:15.34
Bill
I mean, I know.
01:15:16.70
Mike
He wasn't trying hard enough.
01:15:17.79
Bill
He apparently wasn't, but I'm like, I don't need all that. is bet Well, I suppose when I when i got my DUI, it was ah its do y I hit a post, I had it open to toxicant.
01:15:27.75
Bill
Yeah, I guess I did. I that i had license plates on that you know were registered to a different car. So um yeah, I guess I had a few things in there also, but I didn't beat anyone up that night or try to.
01:15:37.78
Bill
so
01:15:37.99
Mike
Right.
01:15:39.09
Bill
But yeah, again, I don't know what this what this dude's been up to. I don't even know how long he's been out of the league. But I just thought it'd be when I heard the when I heard the story, I'm like, I got to read about this motherfucker, see what he was up to. And I just thought it'd be fun.
01:15:50.97
Bill
So, yeah, kids, if you're going to if you're going to drink, just drink. Don't go out and go out and get just.
01:15:57.21
Mike
Try to beat up a cop, a female cop.
01:15:58.96
Bill
Yeah, yeah, exactly. that's Yeah, it's probably, that is not not good choices. Okay, so this next article, which city, this is the holiday one, okay, speaking of Thanksgiving coming up, which city is the most clogged up after Thanksgiving, okay?
01:16:12.11
Mike
All right.
01:16:18.65
Bill
So when the article, again, I had to write it down, heard this this morning.
01:16:21.96
Mike
Right. Right. Yeah. This is, yeah, it's a standard one, right? You know, plumbers, they say, yeah, the day after Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving days, like, you know, fucking golden for plumbers.
01:16:31.96
Bill
Yeah. So it says when it starts off, when it comes to eating large quantities of food, uh, what was once a pure or feeling of pure elation can have dire consequences mere hours later comes the aftermath of Thanksgiving dinner, blah, blah, blah.
01:16:43.63
Bill
It says while black Friday is mostly known for holiday sales deals and mass commerce. It's also known as a busy business day for plumbing contractors. Thank you, Mike, for bringing that up dubbed as Brown Friday.
01:16:51.00
Mike
see
01:16:55.05
Mike
Friday, yep.
01:16:58.24
Bill
I had this article, and they read it this morning um on on the radio show that I listened to, but I don't know that I've ever heard this before, but but yeah, I mean, they're talking about obviously yeah leaky faucets, clogged toilets, blah, blah, blah.
01:17:03.73
Mike
Right.
01:17:11.03
Bill
um So basically what they're what they came down to is there's there's a list of the, oh, I didn't come up to this, the top 10 cities that are most clogged up after Thanksgiving, okay?
01:17:22.32
Mike
a
01:17:24.43
Bill
And they brought it up because Milwaukee made the list and it's a Milwaukee morning show and I'll just, I'll set that spoiler alert out.
01:17:27.27
Mike
Sure.
01:17:31.01
Bill
Milwaukee was number nine. Okay.
01:17:32.52
Mike
Ah, and okay.
01:17:33.80
Bill
So, um, let's go with number 10 was Phoenix. Number nine is Milwaukee. Where are you from in California?
01:17:43.79
Mike
I mean, uh, what the high school in Sacramento, but the excremento, I like to call it.
01:17:46.79
Bill
Okay, number six.
01:17:50.63
Bill
ah Yeah, well, that's said that kind of lines up. Where did Jody and James live?
01:17:57.68
Mike
Boston?
01:17:58.95
Bill
That's number seven.
01:18:00.23
Mike
Mm-hmm.
01:18:02.17
Bill
Let's see, south of Kathy, Kiley lives north of this city.
01:18:08.28
Mike
What? I don't know. Where?
01:18:10.48
Bill
Big city in Indiana.
01:18:11.62
Mike
Oh, ah yeah, in Indianapolis.
01:18:14.15
Bill
Number four.
01:18:15.13
Mike
Ah.
01:18:16.10
Bill
Okay, so um top three, Raleigh, North Carolina. Number three, Virginia Beach, Virginia. It's not just for lovers anymore.
01:18:28.08
Mike
Hey, it's for shitters too.
01:18:31.34
Bill
And I don't know, I just take a wild fucking guess who the number one of the most clogged up city is. and this this Again, this is from last year, I think, from 2023, but it doesn't even fucking matter.
01:18:40.94
Mike
Right.
01:18:43.14
Bill
um But the number one city in the country.
01:18:45.60
Mike
Um, I don't know.
01:18:48.46
Bill
there'd be no way for you to guess, but just pick one.
01:18:49.68
Mike
No, I,
01:18:50.89
Bill
it's an it's um ah Let's give you, I'll give you somewhere in the Northwest.
01:18:57.28
Mike
North what Seattle.
01:18:59.57
Bill
Close, Portland.
01:19:00.79
Mike
Ah, okay.
01:19:01.75
Bill
Yeah, so um again, I just, i don't I don't, so you've actually heard of this before, that it's a big day.
01:19:06.28
Mike
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mm hmm.
01:19:11.80
Bill
I just, I've never, i don't I don't think I've ever heard of it. If I have, it just somehow, um I don't know, went over my head.
01:19:20.19
Mike
Right.
01:19:21.31
Bill
But it just, it cracked me up. I heard, it was funny cause I, I heard the end of it. I think what I was doing, I was, I made my, I think I made my lunch and then walked out of the room and came back in and heard the tail end of the story. And I'm like, I gotta to hear what the fuck they're talking about because they're making me laugh. And then they finally said it at the end, like, okay. And the number one most clogged up city. And then I looked up the article. So when's the last time that you plugged up a toilet, Mike?
01:19:46.44
Mike
Boom. Um, died, you know, it's, it's been a while. It doesn't, uh, yeah, I don't know. It's been a while since I've had to use a plunger. Um, yeah.
01:20:01.13
Mike
I seriously, it's been years.
01:20:03.99
Bill
Yeah, and you know, for um for myself, um it's been, I can't even i can't even remember. Now, the place I worked in Milwaukee, thankfully, we had a plunger in there, because you go in there every once in a while.
01:20:13.95
Mike
Right.
01:20:17.46
Bill
There weren't that many people that worked there. You just go in and you could, you know, you're like, I'm not a fucker, man. You know, so one of the fucking idiots, you know, obviously plugged it up, you know, so I'm in there fucking plunging it out, plunging out a goddamn toilet.
01:20:25.52
Mike
right
01:20:28.81
Bill
um The last one, do you remember? I think it was a Thanksgiving a couple years ago. Everyone was there. I'm sure it was Thanksgiving. um I went into, you know again, take my contacts out, get ready for bed, blah, blah, blah.
01:20:41.31
Bill
And I went to the bathroom and you know flush the toilet. There was nothing in the toilet, okay?
01:20:45.24
Mike
Right.
01:20:46.14
Bill
But I flushed it and it just went up and then just fucking overflowed. you know And I'm like, oh my God. and um so i what because there's no plunger up there at least there wasn't at that time i don't remember if i don't know if there was now but so i'm not gonna kathy's door i'm like you have a fucking plunger she's like what happened and i'm like the fucking toilet overflowed she's like you you overflowed the toilet i said i fucking peed that's all i did and as it turned out my son was there so Derek if you're listening i know you'll remember this
01:21:06.62
Mike
Right.
01:21:10.44
Mike
ah a Right.
01:21:13.53
Bill
Yeah, he fucking, it but he didn't know it. I mean, it's, you know, he went to the bathroom and flushed for him, but yeah, it plugged up her toilet. And yeah, so I mean, we're sitting there fucking towels. And it thankfully wasn't, you know, like a shitty mess in there, but um yeah.
01:21:24.20
Mike
Right.
01:21:26.74
Bill
Plush the fucking thing out and this and that. On the way down here, I stopped at ah at a gas station. What's it, you know, going to the stall? Like, yeah, probably go in there and take care of a little business.
01:21:35.57
Mike
sir
01:21:35.82
Bill
And I walk in and I look and it's just, the toilet's fucking full. And I'm like, ugh, just fucking ugh.
01:21:38.91
Mike
Yeah. Uh-huh.
01:21:44.87
Bill
There's almost nothing worse than trying to walk in there. Thankfully, it wasn't some sort of goddamn emergency. So I'm like, fuck it. I mean, I can i can wait. you know I'm okay.
01:21:53.17
Mike
Right.
01:21:54.75
Bill
and um'm um yeah I'm not sitting down on that fucking mess, but no, seriously, I've just, I'd never heard of, I don't know that I've ever heard of Brown Friday before.
01:21:54.79
Mike
I can and I will.
01:21:59.18
Mike
Right.
01:22:04.54
Mike
Uh-huh.
01:22:04.96
Bill
I just, I don't know.
01:22:06.00
Mike
I have. Yes. Yep. Yep. Plumbers love the day after Thanksgiving. Yeah.
01:22:11.70
Bill
Which again, I understand that it's a thing. Plumbers take a ton of fucking money. I mean, ah you know, there's nothing wrong with any of the trades.
01:22:15.35
Mike
Right.
01:22:17.89
Bill
I mean, these these people make their, earn every goddamn penny of it.
01:22:20.08
Mike
Yeah.
01:22:21.46
Bill
I couldn't even imagine.
01:22:21.93
Mike
Mm hmm.
01:22:23.50
Bill
All right, so um let's get away from that shitty topic for a minute.
01:22:26.27
Mike
Please.
01:22:26.76
Bill
Ha ha. and just one one more quick one, seeing as ah it is kind of the the giving back time of year.
01:22:33.21
Mike
Mm hmm.
01:22:33.99
Bill
um This was from the 24-hour book, and I've gotten some nice little, I'll say, gems out in the 24-hour book lately, and which is fucking weird.
01:22:39.65
Mike
Nope.
01:22:40.72
Bill
i just Maybe I've just been paying more attention, or maybe I've grown, huh?
01:22:42.96
Mike
yeah
01:22:44.14
Bill
I don't know.
01:22:44.44
Mike
yeah
01:22:45.77
Bill
I hope so. um But it says, I hope that my day may be brightened by your performing some little act of charity. So what do you what do you consider to be an act of charity?
01:23:00.28
Mike
Helping someone one else, you know?
01:23:02.28
Bill
Okay.
01:23:02.92
Mike
Yeah. you know, but whatever it is. I mean, you know, yes, you can, you know, donate money to a cause and have someone else do something good or, or you could, yeah, just do a little something yourself, you know, um, looking out for your neighbor, doing, doing a little, holding the door for somebody did smiling, you know, all the little stuff like that.
01:23:26.47
Bill
Right.
01:23:27.19
Mike
You know, I mean, you know, we talk about me doing my radio gig every year. I mean, that's a form of charity. i I get to benefit from it because I get to go down there and have fun. But, um, you know, right, you know, just be part of making a little corner of the world's better place, man.
01:23:43.88
Mike
Yeah. That's, that's charity. Small things.
01:23:47.50
Bill
Right.
01:23:48.17
Mike
Yeah.
01:23:48.43
Bill
Yeah, and and that's that's the thing, you know, I mean, if um I think that basically what but we try to, but what we talk about all the time and what I think that we, well, we don't even, we don't try to do it.
01:24:00.21
Bill
We hopefully just, these things happen, but um yeah, just going around and, you know, in our in our daily life, if something, if the,
01:24:00.72
Mike
Mm. Just do it. Right.
01:24:08.64
Bill
whatever it is you know the the opportunity presents itself for us to to do something that might even a little bit make somebody's life a little bit easier oh i was in uh there's a mire down here when i i stopped at all my shopping before i came up and managed to walk in uh you know i i love mires there's one by cathy's and i get used to the store and they get decent pricing so i was happy
01:24:10.07
Mike
Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah. Mm hmm.
01:24:31.72
Bill
that they had within there. So I don't remember what aisle I was in or what I was looking for, but I was stopped for a minute looking at something. And out of like the corner of my eye, I see this lady kind of behind me and like on the other side of the aisle, a little bit to my right. And it looked like she was about ready to climb to get something. And then I said, I kind of turned back and I said, do you need help with it? And she's she's like, would you mind? And i said what I said, what do you need? It was it was Kleenex that she was getting.
01:25:01.27
Bill
she wanted a particular she's like this could sound so stupid but I've got one but I want the other one that matches and it's way in the back up there and I did I had to get on my tip on my tiptoes a little bit but I got it but I got it for she's like she's like thank you so much and I said it's it's ungodly the amount of times I'm asked but I said I don't I don't mind doing it I'm like it's the ah beauty of being tall
01:25:02.87
Mike
Sure.
01:25:07.21
Mike
Right, right.
01:25:22.54
Mike
Right.
01:25:23.05
Bill
but yeah But you know, I said, I said, you know, I said, I could have done one of two things.
01:25:26.15
Mike
Right.
01:25:27.20
Bill
I could have sat back and actually watched you watch you do it and then watch you fall, you know?
01:25:30.82
Mike
right
01:25:30.88
Bill
And and she laughed and she's like, and she probably, she was probably ah our age, a little bit younger. She wasn't like really old or anything like that.
01:25:36.17
Mike
Mm hmm. Right.
01:25:38.35
Bill
But she's like, yeah, she goes, the older I get, the more clumsy I get. I said, I get you. But but yeah I honestly said that I could have just sat back and watched you fall, you know?
01:25:42.71
Mike
Mm hmm.
01:25:47.87
Mike
Out.
01:25:48.62
Bill
And she just, she laughed. She's like, yeah, okay, yeah.
01:25:50.35
Mike
out
01:25:52.19
Bill
But I don't know, just it, what are those things? And again, the 24 hour book, it, maybe it's just that I get so, once again, we've been, like you said, you know, we've been reading that for 5,000, how many days?
01:26:03.86
Bill
300, you know, some days that we've been reading that book.
01:26:06.17
Mike
Right.
01:26:07.04
Bill
um Maybe I think that I don't know why, but ah for things, I'm posting things on it, you know, like on Instagram from the 24 hour book, and if they're actually like bits and pieces or that I put on here, they're jumping out at me for some reason.
01:26:21.50
Bill
and i mean i don't I don't know why why it's different now than it was two years ago, even when we were doing this.
01:26:22.81
Mike
Mm hmm.
01:26:27.35
Bill
And um again, whatever whatever the thing is, um my my head is really focused on what's coming out of that book.
01:26:27.45
Mike
Mm hmm.
01:26:33.23
Bill
And I think it's it's weird in a very cool way.
01:26:37.42
Mike
Yeah.
01:26:38.85
Bill
You know?
01:26:38.83
Mike
Yeah. Right. ah Again, looking for the gems, man. And I'm still doing that with all the books, you know, that's, yeah, it's just part of it.
01:26:44.34
Bill
Right?
01:26:46.15
Mike
You know, I mean, like you said, we've read these things how many times and it, yeah, so what, you know, continue to look for something that's going to make our lives better and make the lives of the people around us better.
01:26:59.05
Bill
Right? Yeah. i From what I've heard, I think that's what this whole thing is all about, right?
01:27:05.07
Mike
That's but's how I understand it. Doesn't mean it's right, but that's how I understand it.
01:27:08.80
Bill
All right, man. You know what? You you do it better than anyone else, so I'm going to go by what you say.
01:27:14.45
Mike
Right.
01:27:15.66
Bill
hey
01:27:17.24
Mike
I'm the best.
01:27:18.65
Bill
Right.
01:27:19.46
Mike
that Yeah, you know what?
01:27:19.52
Bill
and um and ah And on that note, what what do you say, Mike? Should we get the fuck out of here?
01:27:26.07
Mike
um um Yeah.
01:27:29.09
Bill
I know, I know. you bet You've been a trooper, so yeah, go ahead.
01:27:33.47
Mike
All right. Well, thank you everyone for listening to another episode of sober, not mature. I want to thank our guests, Bill and his book. Uh, what is it again, Bill?
01:27:46.37
Mike
yeah
01:27:46.62
Bill
ah It is a modern day hobo, a guide to living the Airbnb life. And you can get it by visiting our website, sober.mature.com. Go to our sponsor page. You'll see it right there. You can click through the Amazon. But while you're on sober.mature.com, take a look around.
01:28:04.60
Mike
Hey.
01:28:07.88
Mike
Right.
01:28:08.94
Bill
Right.
01:28:09.36
Mike
As always, be kind to each other, be good to each other, go out there and get some tissue for some lady. And now it's time from the bottom of my heart to the depths of my soul, from the beginning of time till the ends of the earth, always in eternally,
01:28:26.33
Mike
Fuck you now it is 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
01:28:43.73
Bill
I was kind of kicking back and I'm like reaching for my mouse trying to unmute myself.
01:28:50.15
Mike
yeah
01:28:52.06
Bill
All right, enjoy this next week for our gratitude episode where hopefully you'll be you'll be grateful that you're feeling better, right?
01:28:54.79
Mike
yeah
01:28:58.08
Mike
Right, and my toilet won't be clogged up.
01:29:00.84
Bill
yeah Exactly. And don't out but go out and fight any or try to beat up any female police officers this week.
01:29:02.55
Mike
he Oh man.
01:29:07.31
Bill
So check that off the to-do list. God damn it. Fucking can't do one. Can't have any fun anymore.
01:29:14.50
Mike
Oh no.
01:29:15.37
Bill
God damn it.
01:29:16.48
Mike
All right.
01:29:18.37
Bill
All right, man. I love you, brother.
01:29:19.72
Mike
I love you too.
01:29:21.25
Bill
We'll talk soon.
01:29:22.26
Mike
We shall.
01:29:23.41
Bill
Bye.
01:29:24.80
Mike
Bye.
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