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Wednesday, August 13, 2025

In My Footsteps Podcast Episode 207: Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp; Worst Oscar Nominated Movies; A 70s Recycling Educational Film(8-13-2025)



Perhaps the weirdest show to ever be on television. Some of the worst films to be nominated for an Academy Award. A 70s short film about recycling.

Episode 207 is the perfect cool dose of Gen-X nostalgia for the hot August summer days.

It kicks off with an educational short film looking back at the early days of the recycling movement. Recycling In Action covers a lot of the basics, complete with classic eerie 1970s music, and loads of vintage 70s fashion.

Talking chimps who are also secret agents? It is not a fever dream; it is Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp. This television show only lasted a few months in the early 1970s, but made an impact on me and others of my generation. We will dive deep into the madness of this real show.

Not all Oscar-nominated movies are good. This week's Top 5 will prove that. We will look at some of the worst films to get Academy Award nominations

There is, of course, a brand new This Week In History and Time Capsule centered around the infamous 1994 Major League Baseball players' strike.

You can support my work by becoming a member on Patreon. Or you can Buy Me A Coffee!

Helpful Links from this Episode


Listen to Episode 206 here

Monday, August 11, 2025

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #81: Squirrel Thief, Current Slang, 5-Second Rule, etc.





1. On Sundays, I like to go out, if the weather is good, and listen to a favorite podcast. I have a few spots I tend to visit that are quieter, shady, and relaxing. The podcast I listen to is usually about 2 hours. Keep that in mind. I went to a recreation area and parked in a nice shady spot and had my windows down. It was perfect weather. The local bike trail goes through this recreation area, so there was a string of riders and runners going by. Also, there was this one guy. When I first got there, he was standing by the bathrooms. He had a backpack and a sweatshirt on and looked a bit scrubby. Within minutes of my parking, he walked over and sat at a picnic table right in my line of sight. He was eating chips and just staring mostly at people going by, but also down at the ground. I’d say within an hour of me sitting there, he had put his head down on the table and seemed to have fallen asleep. How do I know he was asleep? Well, because he left his bag of chips on the ground, and a hungry squirrel was able to come right up to him and start ransacking the bag. Sure, if the guy moved the squirrel would scamper off, but it would inevitably come back and go for the chips. I honestly thought it was going to try to get into the guy’s backpack, or bite his ankle, which would have been even funnier. In all I stayed in that parking lot for over an hour and a half, and when I left that guy was still face down on the picnic table. Even starting my car didn’t wake him.


2. Monday Runday is a fun tradition. I meet my friend Mike, and typically his wife and kids, at a local track. We run, we walk, we chat, it’s always a good time. Sometimes we’ll see other people walking their dogs, or playing baseball on one of the fields. This week we had a first. From out of the woods, well the woods that divide the track from the pickleball courts, came a group of men. There were probably 6 of them, all over 60, and all at least 50-75 pounds overweight. Were they there to walk the track? No. They stood around a plastic merry-go-round for probably 20 minutes and then retreated back into the woods. I mean, come on. At least ride the merry-go-round if you’re going to hang out on a playground.


3. I am now at the age where I have to go on the internet to find out what certain slang terms mean. I’m from Gen-X, so we have our own slang that I’m sure my parents didn’t understand, but to me, that all seems normal. The term I had to look up was ‘rizz.’ What the hell does that mean? Well, apparently it’s the middle of the word charisma. Okay, that makes sense. I’m trying hard not to say how dumb that is. Much like in sports, they now say ‘chip’ for championship. Shouldn’t it be ‘ship?’ Oh well, I’ll keep saying wicked, awesome, chill, and whatever. You young folks can have your rizz, chip, cap, and sus. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going outside to yell at clouds.
Me in the not-too-distant future.



4. When you have friends who want to see your mom when they are on Cape Cod, it just goes to show that you have a good mother and good friends. In the last few weeks, I’ve had 2 people ask to see my mom, 1 of whom I wasn’t even there for. I know for a fact that a handful of other friends would visit my mom if they lived closer. It’s the same for me. I can name off a bunch of friends whose mothers were positive presences in my life as a kid up to now. It’s a good feeling all around.


5. Hanging on a branch pretty much above the mailbox at work is a giant hornet’s nest. It is pretty intimidating to stand under it to take a photo since you can see all of the hornets on it and flying around it. Luckily, it’s just high enough up that the insects don’t seem to care about people below. I will be honest, though; my first thought was to throw rocks at it and then jump in my car and drive off. If I were 14, I would have but growing older made me think of the consequences. I didn’t want someone walking by having a nice afternoon when they suddenly get ambushed by hundreds of angry hornets. Plus I guess these particular hornets are pollinators and eat other insects so we’ll keep them around. Of course, now that I say that the damn nest will fall into my car when I drive under it with my roof open.
Yeah that looks safe


6. Some days are better than others. And then some days are all-timers. It’s not every day that I get to spend time with one of my oldest and dearest friends. Hasan and I go back 35 years and my life is immeasurably better for having grown up with him. Now, as guys in our late 40s, it is so much fun to reminisce about those days. It’s even better to tell stories of growing up to his 9-year-old son. We played mini golf and went for ice cream. It was a perfect summer afternoon with perfect weather. I wish we lived closer so that these times would happen more often, but I cherish them when they do.


7. Speaking of the mini-golf game. I hadn’t played in many years so it was fun to get to do it. Luckily, Hasan had 3 free game passes, we literally scored a free game. I arrived at the place first and was getting out of my car. I took my keys and went to go put them in my back pocket. It was then that I felt something. I thought the pocket was inside-out. Nope, I had done laundry that morning and a sock was stuck to the Velcro of the pocket. I was so glad that there was nobody around to see me with a sock stuck to my shorts. I quickly threw it back into my car and laughed because it just fits with my life, and obviously made for a good blog post.


8. The mini-golf game itself was a blast. I grabbed a scorecard and a pencil, but never used it. Once I realized that I wasn’t going to set the course on fire with my play, I switched it up. To seem like his dad’s fun friend, I started hitting the ball like Happy Gilmore to make Hasan’s son laugh. The funny thing was I actually played better like that. If you don’t know the Happy Gilmore putting form just Google it. The majority of the game was spent reminiscing about the old days as we took 5-6 strokes for most of the holes. To be fair, Hasan’s son did make several great shots. This included a no-look putt, which once he made it became his go-to for all of his shots.
My putting form



9. You forget just how crazy summer traffic on Cape Cod can be until you drive Route 28 (the main road) for more than a few hundred feet. Going from mini-golf to ice cream was less than 3 miles and typically would take 7-8 minutes but it took at least 15. It was worth it since I haven’t gone out for ice cream in a long time as well. The highlight of this part of the day was teaching Hasan’s son about the ‘5 Second Rule.’ He spilled a cup of M&M’s at the table and I grabbed a few off the seat and ate them. He was laughing, and I said to Hasan that I would forever be known as the guy who ate M&M’s off of the ground. It was that and trying to toss M&M’s into a practice hole for mini-golf. Fun all around.


10. All it took for me to be over summer on Cape Cod was driving on Route 28 in Hyannis one day, and driving on Route 28 in Harwich the next day. The number of bad drivers and brainless pedestrians was staggering. Stop signs mean ‘stop’, not roll through, or stop with half of your vehicle in the intersection. Also, crossing the street is fine, but there are reasons why crosswalks exist. When a bunch of beach ‘bros’ just decide to cross wherever they feel without looking, they deserve to become a hood ornament. Oh, and to prove I wasn’t a hypocrite, I did use a crosswalk when I stopped to go into a store. But yeah, Labor Day can’t come soon enough.


11. The most notable example of bad drivers was when I was on a relatively clear back road. Up ahead, I see a car literally stop in the middle of the road and begin to perform a terrible three-point turn. This was as vehicles were approaching. I mean, seriously? You are that stupid and selfish that rather than finding a road to turn down to do a turn around you put others at risk to feed your sense of entitlement? Then the idiot waved to us like he appreciated us ‘allowing’ him to be a total sack of garbage. Like I said, Labor Day can’t come soon enough.
The countdown is on.



Wednesday, August 6, 2025

In My Footsteps Podcast Episode 206: King of the Hill, Driver's Education In School, Best 80s Movie Soundtracks, the Life of Jerry Garcia(8-6-2025)

 


It's going to be a fun episode, I tell you what!

Episode 206 is loaded with Gen-X nostalgia to help you cope with the dog days of summer.

It kicks off with an in-depth look at one of the most underrated yet renowned animated shows. King of the Hill graced the airways for 13 seasons with a mix of humor and heart. Now it is making its return after 15 years to Hulu. We will look at what made the show so beloved and why it is deserving of its reboot.

Getting your driver's license is a rite of passage for teenagers. How we got to that point depends on when you grew up. Most likely, it included some form of driver's education. We'll go back in the day for some of the history of driver's ed, along with a few embarrassing stories from my own journey to becoming a licensed driver.

The 1980s were the decade when movie soundtracks became every bit as important as the movies themselves. Sometimes more important. On this week's Top 5 we look at some of the best 1980s movie soundtracks. Did you have any of them in your vinyl collection?

There is, of course, a brand new This Week In History and Time Capsule centered around the death of iconic Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia.

You can support my work by becoming a member on Patreon. Or you can Buy Me A Coffee!

Helpful Links from this Episode

Listen to Episode 205 here

Monday, August 4, 2025

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #80: Dream-Life Hangover, Phantom Oil Change, Supermarket Happiness, etc.





1. Anytime I get a taste of my dream job as a content creator, or filmmaker, or author, it’s a good thing. This past weekend, getting to see my old classmate’s one-man show inspired me. Speaking to him after I made sure to tell him that I use him as an inspiration for continuing my journey. It leaves me motivated to work on whatever my next project is. However, as soon as I walk into my day job after experiencing that motivation, I feel empty. I feel like I have failed. When I have my ‘days off’ to work on my other passions, I think, ‘this is the time I’ll get that big break.’ When it doesn’t happen and I have to go back to my typical work day, I feel like someone let the air out of my balloon. It’s almost like a dream-life hangover. Maybe one day it won’t be a dream anymore.
From after the show.



2. Several years ago, I bought software to convert VHS tapes to digital. I have more than 65 hours of old tapes I recorded during high school, and I am trying to get them all digitized before the VHS tapes eventually break. I have Elgato Video Capture. It has always worked fine. I hadn’t used it in a year or so when I plugged the cables in. For some reason, the software wasn’t on my laptop anymore. No worries, I downloaded the necessary software and drivers to do the job. Or so I thought. It turned out there were certain functions I needed to turn off on my laptop to get the software to work. However, once those were turned off, my laptop said it was dangerous and I needed to turn those functions back on. It was like an ice cream headache. In the end, I needed to delete the drivers for Elgato. Easier said than done. I spent a few hours researching just how in the hell to get them off my laptop. I was reading that if all else failed, I’d need to contact Elgato and get a new CD-ROM of the software. Not bad right? Well unfortunately, my laptop doesn’t have a CD drive, so yay. It was like a comedy skit where I just wanted to vacuum my car, but somehow managed to set it on fire instead.



3. Okay, I have reached the ‘I’m ready for fall’ portion of the summer. When it’s nearly 100 degrees and humid, that’s enough for me. Several years ago, when I was young(er) and crazy, I looked forward to running in all sorts of bad weather. Too hot? Let’s go. Too cold? I have layers. Hurricane or Tropical Storm? Sunglasses block the blowing sand. Blizzard? I can hide in a house under construction. That last one is 100% real. Anyway, this week’s heat and humidity took me out of my desire to do any run or walk. I chose to hide inside in the air conditioning. Hey, at least I am doing some sort of work, like this blog entry. Wake me when Labor Day is here. Sorry, not sorry.


4. There is an age-old line about New England that goes something like this: If you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes. That is how it went this week. I just mentioned it being close to 100 degrees early in the week. Only a few days later, we had rain with highs in the mid-60s. Honestly, if I had to choose between the two, I’m taking the rainy 65-degree day over the sunny, humid 97-degree day. I will say that my idea of perfect weather is partly cloudy, low humidity, and temperatures in the low 70s, but that’s just me.
The weather is always changing in New England.


5. After 2 months and 4 pretty bad injuries, I was finally able to start going back to the gym. I managed to injure my lower back twice, sprain my ankle, and nearly break both hands. The only thing I was able to really do over the past 2 months was go for walks and eat my feelings of being depressed. My first workout was good but man, did I feel my regression. I was so tired and sore almost immediately. Now my joke is how long is it going to be before I injure something else? I’ll take sore muscles. That’s way better than some sort of foolish calamity that leaves me unable to work out for another 2 months.


6. I am now at the age where waking up at 8am is considered sleeping too late. If you had told me 10 years ago that I’d be used to waking up by 7am on most days, including days off, I’d have said something must have gone wrong. I’m not going to start setting an alarm on days off, though. Years ago, the idea of waking up at 5am to hit the gym before work was a definite no-go. Now I am starting to think that within a few years I’ll be naturally getting up at that time. I still won’t want to go to the gym, though, I’ll just surf the net before sunrise.


7. My car is up over 150K miles, so keeping up on the basic maintenance is very important. My goal is for it to get to at least 250K. This week, it was time for an oil change. I usually go to Jiffy Lube since it’s quick and convenient. I mean, they do try to upsell you on a lot of stuff, but that’s kind of par for the course. This time was interesting. Everything seemed to be going well until one of the crew told me they couldn’t get my oil filter off. They said they tried a few ways, but it was rounded and nothing could get it off. What? Is that a thing? They told me I’d need to go to the dealership and they could change it. The irony is that the last few times I’ve gotten my oil changed, it’s been at the same Jiffy Lube. Getting the oil filter off has never been a problem. So what changed this time? I have no idea, but they ended up changing the oil and doing a few other things and not charging me. That was nice. Unfortunately, this means I have to do another trip for routine maintenance, and a dealership at that. You can smell the attempted upselling from a mile away.


8. I don’t know why, but one of my favorite things is shopping in supermarkets that I don’t typically go to. I mean locations that are out of my normal routine. It’s like I go to a Shaw’s or Stop & Shop, and all of them are varying shades of the same color. Still, somehow it’s new and exciting. It’s even more so when I go on road trips. You get me off of Cape Cod and have me stop at a Big Y, Hannaford, Publix, Giant Food, Aldi, or Wegmans? Oh man, it’s like I’ve won the lottery. I have gone to those places on vacations and maybe (definitely) have kept plastic bags with the logos. I even have an insulated Big Y bag that I bought. It is currently holding extra copies of my books.



9. After having a shaved head for about 14 years, it is still weird to me that I have a full head of hair. In fact, my hair is currently probably as long as it’s been, maybe ever. I can spike it up pretty high when it’s wet. The funniest thing is that if it’s not spiked perfectly, I get the hair at the front of my head, right where my hairline and forehead meet, falling forward. It literally looks like I have bangs like my sisters did in high school. I do plan on getting it trimmed down at my next haircut though. Not because of the bangs but the hair will tickle my forehead, which makes me think I have a bug on me, especially at night. Oh well, I know loads of guys around my age that would kill for the ‘problem’ of having too much hair so I should be grateful.


10. We’re now about 3 weeks out from my vacation, and I’ve got to tell you I’m not feeling any sort of road trip. I haven’t booked any hotels yet, and I’m kind of glad. I am looking forward to the time off, but I can’t tell if I am burned out or not. I work full-time and then work almost full-time on my content, such as this blog. It can feel like I am on a treadmill with working. Maybe as I get closer to the actual vacation, I will get excited and make plans to go, at least do one overnight stay, but who knows? Originally, I had plans for three overnights up in Maine and New Hampshire but honestly, as we get closer to the dates, just the thought of driving over four hours has made me lose interest. It is definitely a fake problem to have. Oh no, I have a paid vacation but don’t know what I want to do with the time. I don’t expect any tears shed for my predicament.

Thursday, July 31, 2025

1999: My Life In Poetry Form(Part 3) - Throwback Thursday

 


This is a weekly recurring series featuring 5 poems all written within the same calendar year. They capture a sense of what my life and my mind were like at a certain age. It will also show the evolution of my life, mind, and writing style. We return to 1999. I was still in college but was rapidly approaching the Quarter-Life Crisis turning 21 years old.

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Chips, Beer, and Boredom


Bored with life, nothing’s happening. Time is a mile-long journey per second, or so it seems. The silence of sound is deafening, but could it be any louder? It’s weird how the deadest of silence feels more intense than massive noise.

Bored with progress, everything is stalled. Need to kick start today, or get ahead on tomorrow. Bubbling under the lazy man’s face is the soul filled with lightning, flashing, and waiting for something to race. But in this dull and slow-paced world, it lay dormant; perhaps it will never reveal itself. A loud crash, not shaking me from this path I’m on. A compass with a predetermined destination can’t juggle fate, can’t change expectations.

Bored with it all, the cry of the feeble-minded. There’s always a way, just need to look with the mind, not just the eyes. Sinking in before it’s too late, color the air blind to avoid the realization of self-destruction. Thought the slate was cleaned for me, looks like I’ll have to do it myself. Being bored is bad for your health.
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I Fell


Once I fell in love, glasses and pigtails, all her world I felt in a hug. She a part-time interest with the miles to prove so. Spend 24/7 for 365 to get that one glimpse to keep me alive. The minutes we had together were minutes heaven sent. Months in between, I spent missing her, I thought was time well spent. But then I grew up. The letters and pictures that further disconnected her image from my mind couldn’t fill the hole. Didn’t want to hold on to hope, to hang on like a fool to the feelings for the sake of them. So I let go, and I moved on, to find out what lay up ahead.

Once I fell in love, bright eyes masking sunshine, blonde hair, couldn’t help but stare. She would stay a prisoner in my mind, with images emblazoned by the masses, it seemed to be the right time. Wanted so badly to be that guy, just a kid myself, to be him was not right. Shining armor with a backpack besides, guess when it’s perfection you’re thinking, the flaws are what decide. But then I wised up. Dreams of a place I’d never see weighed too heavy to stop from being free. Couldn’t stand the backward thoughts she felt, wouldn’t wait until she came around. Took me a while, but I walked on, left that door locked to keep the memories as just that, left ‘em all behind.

Once I fell in lust, thrown together oil and water, mix to fix and force the sense. Day after week after month spent trying to show false feelings and give in to lying. Saved her soul by being a hero, pedestal the excuse to stay near her. Made myself believe what wasn’t true, she was an option to being alone, just a time killer, only a space filler. But then I sobered up. Rays of light broken drunken spells, swallowed on mortality, grew the balls to let it fall away. I thought it was painful, a 180 to convince what was once unreachable, but I lived on. Hold was let go, mistakes and words unspoken, finally freedom welcomed me.

Once I fell in love, a seemingly untouchable goddess. She a ladder to heaven, blind eyes to my bruised senses. This love beat me into submission, her shake and twist led to heartfelt admissions. Sat and waited, empty bottle with a half-full glass. Sense from nonsense, knowledge from ignorance. Then I gathered up the words key to open my cell. So I marched on, up to her and revealed my identity, true expression, the lasting impression. Like a million pounds lifted, my feather in the wind floating body carried away with her response. I lived a hundred lifetimes for what I have right now, the time I fell in love with someone who loved me too.
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Recyclable Tupperware


She’s breakin’ up with me on my deathbed. Says time’s come to think about herself. It couldn’t wait another minute. She’s my savior, I’m her plague, and her loving pain’s pushed me to the limit.

She can’t cash in on a will I haven’t signed.
She can’t deny that her love for me has declined.
She wants me to climb her thorny vines.
She wants me to taste her rose garden.
But she won’t tell me that I’m okay.

She’s breakin’ up with me on my deathbed. Says we’ve grown apart in the last few hours. It couldn’t wait another minute. She’s my queen, I’m her pawn, and her hands are so gentle as she tears my heart out.

She melts my resolve with her eyes.
She leaves me stranded in a dream.
She’s chasing me down a dead-end street.
I stop to look behind and she runs away.
But she’ll chase again when I decide to run.

She’s breakin’ up with me on my deathbed. Says time’s come to move on. It couldn’t wait another minute. She’s my china, I’m her Tupperware, and she turns on the generator after pulling the plug, but she won’t tell me she loves me.
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Three Chord Romance


Tonight it feels like forever’s not long enough.
Tonight feels like I’ll never let go.
I believe in the fantasies and the words we dare not say.
Tonight is all rolled into one, dreams for which we pray.
You were there through this fantastic journey I made, you remained,
when the silence of the night crept in you stayed.
I believe I found it in your smile, brightly lit, asking me to stay a while.
I’d like to keep it simple right now, don’t want you to get the wrong idea,
but I’m not sure if I want the right one to slip out yet.
I got caught in the middle of confessions, deepest revelations,
the rest was swept away with the brush of your hair.
For now I’m stuck with half a thought that doesn’t make any sense.
You knowing the truth, the secret being out, 
would take the magic from my daydreams.
So many times I whispered your name into the trees and hoped it’d carry to you on the hint of a summer’s breeze.
If in our bliss the moon should fall, we’ll pick it back up,
put on a pedestal of stones thrown and collected.
Then we’ll lie in the shadows, a future of flowering meadows,
and let time drift by with the clouds.
Even when you have to go, the pain I feel helps my spirit grow,
cause if the first time never ends, how can the next time ever begin?
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