The blog of In My Footsteps Podcast host and author Christopher Setterlund. It contains a buffet of topics. The wackiness of daily life with Initial Impressions 2.0. There is a link to the weekly In My Footsteps Podcast. Poetry collections, life topics, some history, and more. There is something for everyone here much like with the podcast.
Celebrating 40 years of Double Dare. Some of the worst after-school specials ever. A collection of weird and wild 1980s PC games.
Episode 262 ends the month of September with all shades of GenX nostalgia and pop culture.
On your mark, get set, go! The show sprints from the start with a look back forty years at the debut of Nickelodeon's sloppy fun game show Double Dare. Every 80s kid who watched the show either wanted to be on it or wanted to find ways to replicate it in our own lives. Slime, physical challenges, flags, and loads of memories are here.
ABC's After School Specials were a big part of the lives of 70s and 80s kids. It's where we learned about how to deal with bullying, drugs, peer pressure, and more. On this week's show, we will go to the bottom of the barrel to find some of the worst episodes from the beloved series. This includes a future A-list actor diving out of a window.
Not every video game can change the industry. For every Oregon Trail that defined the 1980s, there were also plenty of weird and just plain terrible PC games. This week we look at the Top 5 weird PC games from the 1980s, including one based on a C-level one-hit wonder band.
This week, we also have a brand-new This Week in History and Time Capsule looking back at the debut of the Ford Model T.
To support me and the show, become a member on Patreon.
I remember where I was on Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001. It is hard to believe that we are looking at it as being 25 years ago. I lived through it, and those memories have remained clear and present ever since.
Manhattan is more than 250 miles from where I lived on Cape Cod. There are times when it feels like the other side of the world. On 9/11, it felt like everything I was seeing was happening right outside my door.
I was 23 years old, living with my family in a small house on a small road that ended in a cul-de-sac. It was a mundane morning. I had the day off from work and was sitting in the living room at our big, boxy dial-up internet-connected computer.
The morning consisted of writing an unremarkable email to my friend Barry. Back then I didn’t have a cell phone, so the best way to stay in touch with people was either through a landline phone or via email. I remember I was going to tell him I was going to visit Nickerson State Park in Brewster on my day off.
Despite never finishing that email, I still remember its contents. It was so blissfully ordinary. It was my last memory of the time before. I wish I had kept writing that email and sent it instead of turning off the computer. However, everything happened in a flash.
I remember my mother's frantic screams when she heard the first radio reports in her car. She was in the driveway. I don’t remember if she had just gotten home, or was getting ready to leave. Her screams for us to put on the television inside, I can hear today as I close my eyes.
From those early morning moments, I remained seated on the couch watching. I watched as the towers fell. It felt like watching a big-budget Hollywood film that was playing, but this was real. Everything from the television itself, to the layout of the living room, to the feeling of being hungry yet being frozen where I sat; it’s all still with me today.
I remembered the memories of visiting the Twin Towers when I was in 7th Grade. They all came flooding back as smoke and ash filled the view of Lower Manhattan on 9/11. That had been 10 years earlier, 35 years ago now, on a field trip from Mattacheese Middle School. Ironically, a lot of that trip is burned into my memory as well, but in a far more positive light.
It was my first real trip to New York City. My classmates and I saw the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, and I even bought a bogus ‘gold’ chain off of a street vendor. One of the places we visited was the World Trade Center complex.
Looking up from the ground, the Twin Towers appeared to pierce the sky. I believe time was running short during that field trip, and so we were not able to go all the way up the 110 stories to the observation deck. We got to go inside to the lobby of one of the towers. I was able to go up to the first concourse level and look down. Maybe it was 20-30 feet up; I don’t remember that, but I can see the bustling energy of the people coming in and out still clear as day.
I remember the surreal feeling on 9/11 watching the towers fall, contrasted with the memories of being there years earlier. It was a struggle, knowing they were now only a memory. Things like that don’t happen, at least not on such a scale. It was like I was floating, or falling down an elevator shaft. I remember having that feeling for the next few days.
Being so far away was no comfort. Everything was on the table after watching the towers fall. Sure, in all honesty, I didn’t feel as though a plane was going to come crashing into any place near me, but that was of no comfort. On 9/11, especially in those early hours, you truly had no idea of what might happen next.
I remember my sister Kate, pregnant with my niece Emma (now 24), frantically calling my then-brother-in-law Peter. He was out on a job landscaping, and she told him what was happening and also wanted to make sure he was alright. She told him in so many words that the world as we knew it was coming to an end. It was hard to imagine such a bold and audacious thought being true, but it was.
I remember my niece Kaleigh, all of 2 ½ years old(now 27), staring at us with a mix of concern and curiosity at what was on the television that was causing all of our fear and angst. How do you explain what was happening to a child? I was in my 20s and couldn’t figure out how to explain it to anyone who might ask. My mother eventually brought Kaleigh into her bedroom and even put Barney on for her to watch, a show my mom really didn’t like. I often wonder if she has any memory from that day. Maybe it is more of an underlying feeling that she can’t explain?
Hours wore on, and I sat on that couch. The towers fell, the Pentagon was hit, and a mystery fourth plane had gone down in rural Pennsylvania. Even when all air travel was suspended, it felt as though some new threat was going to begin. I remember feeling physically on edge but mentally tired watching things unfold.
I am an empath; it’s always been a blessing and a curse. On 9/11, my heart and soul ached for the thousands of people in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania affected directly by the attacks. Then I’d think of the families and friends of those lost in the attacks. It was a scale of sadness and loss I’d never imagined.
It was a push and pull between wanting to close my eyes and forcing them to watch. There were a few moments where I wanted to retreat into my bedroom, or take off in my car to try to escape it. There was no escaping it. This was real. This was serious. This was a line of demarcation between one timeline and another.
I remember fearing that if I stopped watching, something else would happen. It was as if I was waiting for a cut scene, like it was a docudrama where they would say, 'that's what the end of days would look like.' Then life would go back to normal, but it didn't. It really never has.
That day on Cape Cod was perfect weather-wise. It was sunny, low humidity, temperatures in the mid-70s. I had planned to visit Nickerson State Park. It would have been a simple day. My Fuji FinePix digital camera, some sort of fast food for lunch which I’d have eaten in the car, and maybe a magazine to read while I sat in the quiet companionship of nature.
Staring out of the living room window at that beautiful late summer day in front of me and contrasting it with the scene of utter horror on the television left me feeling both detached and attached to the situation at the same time. I hoped I would have another day like the one I was meant to have on 9/11 before the towers fell.
By late afternoon it appeared as though the attacks were over. It was an attempt to try to figure out the scope of the damage and also who did it and why. I had skipped lunch but didn’t feel hungry. I still felt the need to venture out to make certain that my world close by was still standing.
The most surreal thing for me was driving around the town of Dennis. Everything in my little corner of the world looked the same, yet I knew everything was different. All of the houses were standing, all of the businesses were open, and there were some cars on the road. It was quieter than expected. Now things do slow down on Cape Cod when Labor Day passes, but I knew that people were glued to their televisions like I had been all day.
I remember feeling so small and insignificant. There was an overwhelming sense of pride, respect, and love for the firefighters and police who were walking into the battle zone when everyone else was running away. I wondered what it took to have that much courage. Perhaps when the situation arises, you just turn off the fear in your brain in the name of duty?
I stepped out for maybe a half-hour in the afternoon. I believe I went to a Subway to get dinner. I don’t remember any conversations I might have had with the people working there, although I am sure we spoke of the tragedy that was unfolding as we stood there.
Once back home, it was a return to sitting frozen still on the couch. I don’t think I left that spot for fourteen hours in total. I was just watching. I was trying to process something that couldn’t be processed. Part of me foolishly still hoped that there would be a disclaimer on the screen that said it was all a hoax. It would be like War of the Worlds on the radio; even as night fell, I clung to that belief.
I remember the next morning being back to business as usual. I returned to work cooking at The Marshside restaurant. It was a slower day since the busy season had ended. Still, I tried to occupy myself with as many tasks as I could.
At some point I found myself standing on the deck with Maui. He was the head chef, and I had known him for 8 years at that point. I remember still having that feeling of falling as we spoke. I don’t know how else to explain it. It was like my body’s empathy for the enormous loss.
The deep blue sky was untouched by the gentle exhaust of aircraft as all air travel was still suspended. I also remember the silence. It felt like there was an overwhelming and deafening silence that surrounded those days. It was as if all of us were quietly trying to wrap our heads around what this all meant.
I remember the names coming out over the next few days. I remember the photos, the interviews, the magazines, the newspapers; I still have them, so I will always remember. There is a box in my mother’s basement that is filled with these things I gathered over the coming weeks.
It became even more real when attending a candlelight vigil a week or so later. It was held in the parking lot of the Patriot Square shopping center in Dennis. I don’t remember how many people were there; it was probably a few hundred. We all needed to be around each other to collectively process and grieve, even though most of us didn’t know each other.
I remember there being a few people there who had come from Ground Zero and had helped in the massive recovery effort. Their words painted the picture of the scale of the devastation. I shook their hands, thanked them for their efforts, and said they were heroes for what they had done. Shaking their hands made me feel a direct connection to New York and Ground Zero.
I remember each anniversary of the day that changed our world. Over the years, many harrowing accounts of survival came out. There were stories of people having near misses. There were more magazines, books, and even movies about the events of 9/11. Amazingly, there were fleeting moments in some of the movies where I felt myself asking if it was all real.
In the 25 years since 9/11, I have never been to Manhattan. I have never been to One World Trade Center, which was opened in 2014 and stands an appropriate 1,776 feet tall. I have never been to the 9/11 Memorial, although many Cape Cod police and fire departments display pieces of debris from the Twin Towers.
As I write this, with the memories of that day filling my head, it’s hard to believe that it has been 25 years now. It's hard to believe some people have grown up not knowing about 9/11. If you're under 25, this event probably hits you like World War II did for my generation.
Please take a moment to remember. Even if you knew nobody involved, or have never even been to New York, just stop and remember for a moment.
Remember 9/11. Remember those who died in the attacks. Remember those who bravely fought on the hijacked planes. Remember those who ran toward the disaster knowing they might not make it out. Remember the families who lost fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, spouses, and children.
We are all part of one family, the human family; above all else, always remember that. Peace and love.
Happy Labor Day! When this episode premieres, I will be on location producing my first feature film,The Cabin. Thank you to everyone who donated to the fundraiser and helped to get this project made!
Being on location means that in place of a new podcast episode, you get Mixtape #5
All of the Blink and You'll Miss It retro segments are here in chronological order.
They contain foods, toys, television shows, miscellaneous products, and more that were here and gone in a relative flash. If you weren't around when they came out, you might have no memory of them ever existing.
You will laugh. You will shake your head. Maybe you'll go scouring your basement to see if you have any of the items mentioned, as they might fetch a few bucks on eBay.
Enjoy some memories in mixtape form on the podcast. Happy Labor Day weekend, and thank you again for all of the support for the podcast and my other creative ventures!
To support me and the show, become a member on Patreon.
1. I was so grateful and a bit overwhelmed to see the budget goals for my feature film debut, The Cabin, get met through GoFundMe. I wanted to say ‘we’ did it, but in all honesty it was my family, friends, and total strangers that came through. In the end, I kicked in a little to get us over the hump, but the vast majority was from others. In a fun twist, one of the locations we’re going to shoot at is now going to be ours free of charge. Yes, that means our budget has dropped, which is a good problem. I said if, after everything, there is a little money left, I will just absorb it back into my bank account. However, with the budget set comes the actual action. I am thankful but also feel a bit of good pressure to help to make a film worthy of all of those who have shown their support. In the back of my mind, I had a fear that the fundraiser would be a bust and I’d have to cough up thousands of dollars to make my dream come true. I would have done it, but I am so much happier that I don’t. There will be so much more to come in terms of updates about The Cabin. For now, all I can say is thank you to those who donated to the fundraiser. Your support means the world to me.
2. In life, you need to try to learn to not get too high on good days and not too low on bad ones. I say that because after a string of amazing days, capped off by reaching the budget goal on The Cabin, I had a cold slap of reality in the face. Nothing will dull your good vibes quicker than a text from your bank saying there was an attempted fraudulent purchase on your debit card. I went from a peaceful, easy feeling to sitting in the sad cafe, sorry that was a couple of Eagles puns. Luckily, I am so regimented and boring with what I spend money on that my bank instantly caught it. Some ass hat tried to charge $350 for some crap but got foiled. So I didn’t lose any money but had to immediately cancel my debit card. Next is the process of getting a new one sent, which could take until the middle of next week. I am working on getting a digital card and finally starting to use Apple Pay through my phone. The only issue with that is that I am forced to have a passcode on my phone to protect that debit card. That’s right, I have had my phone without a passcode for years. It is never far from me, so I never felt the need. On one hand, I am so pissed that some scumbag tried to get my money. Get a job, you waste of human life. On the other hand, I am so grateful that my bank foiled this attempt. In some ways, and this might be the middle-aged man talking, but I miss the days of everything being cash and digital banking not being everywhere.
3. One interesting scenario when it comes to the filming of The Cabin has to do with actually getting there. Do I drive my car, or do I rent one? On one hand, driving my own car saves hundreds of dollars over renting one. On the other hand, I just had some exhaust work done on my car, and although I trust driving it locally, and probably up to an hour from home, I don’t know if I trust driving it eight hours each way. I know my car needs some more work done on it to get it to closer to 100%, or at least as close as a car nearing 170K miles can get. I don’t want to have that work done until the new year, so it does make sense to spend the money to drive 1,000+ miles in total over the course of a week. I was hopeful that my AAA membership would give me some great discounts on renting a car. Nope. I guess I thought renting cars was cheaper than it is. Renting a vehicle for what would be six days costs the same as the hotel room I’ll be getting out there. That includes whatever discounts AAA would give me, which isn’t much. The funny part is that of all of the vehicles I’ve been looking at to rent, the cheapest are SUVs. It’s funny because, thanks to gas prices being as high as they have been in years, any savings I’d get on renting an SUV would immediately go out the window when I had to pay close to $5 a gallon for gas on a vehicle that gets half as many miles per gallon as my car. Update: Yes, I ended up renting a car.
4. So I had to cancel my debit card and ask for a new one to be sent to me. Fine. Not much I can do but wait, right? Wrong. An interesting little side quest in this latest fraud saga was learning about digital debit cards and also learning how to use Apple Pay. The debit card took seconds to get, so that was good. Next was setting up Apple Pay to include that card. I have had iPhones since 2011 and have never used the Wallet app for digital payments or storing cards, passports, etc. I figured approaching fifty was the right time to learn. It turns out it is way easier than I could have imagined. The literal next day after canceling my old debit card, I was able to use the new card to get gas via Apple Pay. Sure, swiping my card or using the chip reader didn’t take long, but Apple Pay cuts that time down even more. In less time than it takes to sneeze, I had my card accepted and was pumping the very overpriced but very needed gas into my car. One funny little twist to the Apple Pay story is that it has forced me to start using a passcode to open my phone. What’s that? You can’t believe I never used a passcode? My phone in the past 15 years has rarely been out of my sight, so it never seemed necessary. I grew up in a time when the majority of people still left their doors unlocked, so I guess I’m old-fashioned. Anyway, in order to have Apple Pay working, you have no choice but to use a passcode to protect your money, which makes total sense. I’m just getting used to the major inconvenience of typing six numbers in two seconds to open my phone. In the end, though, if it keeps my money safe, I can deal with it.
5. I think I have earned my reputation as the ‘fun uncle’ in my 27 years of being one. I tend to let my nieces and nephews do whatever they feel like, unless it’s super dangerous. Five of my six nieces and nephews are grown up to a point where they have their own friends and lives, and my time has been reduced a lot. It’s just what happens in life. So when I get the chance to spend some time with my youngest niece, Sylvie, you can bet I am taking advantage of the chance to be fun and foolish. The latest such chance was this week. My mom had gotten Sylvie some glitter makeup, and once she saw what it looked like, I knew it was only a matter of time until I was wearing it. Sure enough, she laughed while coating my face in glitter. This was accompanied by a 2nd place medal she had won at summer camp. Not wanting her to feel bad, I kept the medal and the glitter on even after she left. I went to the store after I left my mom’s, and even though I took the medal off, I did go inside complete with a glitter face. Seeing how much my face shined at my mom’s, I can only imagine what people thought seeing me in the store. Oh well, the price you pay for being the fun uncle is walking into public places with glittery makeup on your face. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
No, I wasn't this glittery, but there is always next time.
6. Sadly, I am now at the age where I can end up with some sort of pain or injury and have no memory of what caused it. This week it is my right shoulder. It has been painful to fully extend overhead. Tracing steps backward, I threw a pair of 10# slam balls with a client at work one day this week, but that wasn’t the cause. I also demonstrated a kettlebell windmill exercise with another client (this involves keeping your arm fully extended overhead while simultaneously hinging your body sideways away from that arm). That also wasn’t the cause. All I can think of is that I slept on that shoulder awkwardly, woke up with some pain, but didn’t pay attention and kept going about my day. I wish I had a better injury story. I wish I had tackled some guy that stole a woman’s purse, or hurt it dragging a stranded dolphin back into the ocean. Nope. I slept wrong. Yay, soon it will be that I threw out my back coughing or something dumb like that. Oh wait, it was only a few years ago that I threw my back out leaning forward to look at sliced meats in a deli, so yeah, we’re already there.
7. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: If you can’t figure out how to use self-checkout at the supermarket, go to a register with an actual person. This ends up being an older person most of the time. Lo and behold, it was again this week. A guy who had to be in his mid-70s had invariably messed up scanning his items at self-checkout. The store seemed to be short-staffed, so as the light was blinking, there wasn’t anyone immediately coming over to help. Then it happened at the next register, which was shockingly being operated by another old person. Rather than walking over to the service desk, which was about ten steps away, or, I don’t know, being patient for a few moments, these old bags started waving their arms like they were signaling a passing plane while stuck on a deserted island. God forbid an old person show sympathy for the short-staffed store. After a few seconds of waving like idiots, the old man started whistling like he was calling his dog at the park. Seriously, it was incredibly annoying and embarrassing. I was scanning my items with no issue since I had a good grasp on technology. All the while, this pair of old bags were doing a talent show routine. I wanted to tell them they should go to a regular register, but I’m sure they’d have just blamed the machine instead of their own incompetence. After an employee came over and sorted things out, one of the old people immediately caused the register to go off again. Naturally, they blamed the machine. I’d say they should do home delivery, but they’d probably give the wrong address and never get their stuff.
8. Three weeks ago I first shot a video of the current demolition of the Bass River Bridge on Cape Cod. They are slowly removing the westbound lane. That lane will be totally rebuilt wider. Once finished, work will begin on the eastbound lane. All the while, the bridge will still be in operation, which feels a bit shaky. I have heard the bridge is safe to stay in use even while being torn down. As of this week, half of the side barriers of the westbound lane have been removed. I stopped at the neighboring river park during a run so I could get some video of it. Since it’s still the heat of summer, the traffic gets pretty crazy on the bridge. I was able to run across the bridge faster than most vehicles could cross. I am not sure how long it will take to finish removing the barriers, but I am curious as to what the next step in the demolition process will be. The bridge functions fine without the barriers. However, once they start removing the pavement, then what? Regardless of the progress, it appears as though it will be about five years until the entirely new Bass River Bridge opens. Here is a video I shot this week so you can see how far they’ve gotten.
9. Filming unofficially began for The Cabin this week. I recorded three audio-only scenes with my buddy Steve, who plays the main character’s best friend. The setup was simple. Steve sat in front of the microphone with a soundproof box around it. It’s the same setup I use for my podcast. I was in charge of recording on my laptop and read the other lines in each scene. The awkward part came when intentionally placing spaces in between dialogue. After each character spoke, we would pause for a second or two. The reason for this is so that in post-production it will be easier for the editor to remove my voice and put in the actual actor playing the main character. It ended up being a pretty easy read-through and took maybe a half-hour total. I will be interested in hearing the finished product, as I was tempted to edit Steve’s dialogue to make it sound like he was on a phone. I’ll leave that stuff to whoever the editor will be. There are still two scenes to film before going off on location. Both of those are on video. I will end up standing behind the camera to run lines and also just rein in my excitement over this dream project starting to take shape.
10. Naturally, as I draw closer to heading out to Pennsylvania for The Cabin and get my hotel reservation set, I begin scoping out the area to see what there is to do and see. Now, with the town being small, there aren’t tons of attractions, but there are tons of places to eat. I am staying in one town, and we will be doing a lot of shooting in the next town over. There are lots of great-looking restaurants there as well. It’s a strange combination, as I technically am going on vacation, but in reality will be working more hours than I do in a typical work week on Cape Cod. I won’t have loads of time to explore, so I am guessing most of the adventures I have away from the movie shoot will consist of eating. I have already resigned myself to the fact that I will be in need of a serious cleanse upon my return. I mean, there is a Chinese food buffet a five-minute walk from my hotel, so why fight it? My hope is that the 12+ hour shooting days will help me keep burning calories, but I’m not getting my hopes up. The main souvenir I bring back from the filming may be an extra chin.
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