Episode 106: Clothes

0:09 Welcome back to another episode of A Record of My Father. Today we're going to be talking about clothes and how if you give somebody a forehead kiss, that's really the sign that they're old as hell. But I think in the last three years, I've really stopped dressing terribly. I don't know. I think I had an experience when the Ecuadorian guy known as Carlos came and stayed with us for about two weeks and it really I looked at him and I was like, why do I dress so poorly? That is a wickedly cool story. Oh, it's a great story. How how Carlos came about coming to us and and I know it has nothing to do with clothes, but I think that that's something that you want to before we do that, we have to look that me once again, I'm wearing my white T-shirt. It's not AV neck this time.

0:52 This is a nicer one. This is a true classic. It gives you flexible and makes you makes you look skinnier and fatter at the same time or something like that. You used to do the deep VS when I well about five years ago. It was 5-6 years ago and they were multi colored too. See, I did all that and and the reason I wore AT shirt, the reason I wear AT shirt, I wear AT Shirt every night to bed. Everybody needs to know how Phil dresses before he goes to bed. But it feels comfortable, new and clean when I put a white T-shirt next to my body. Not a color. I have colored T-shirts that I wear during the day, which is weird. I'll wear a yellow 1 during the day, but I can't wear a yellow one to bed. That's stupid. And it's the same size, the same everything I have to put on a white one, it's A and, and I think it's a psycho thing, but it's cooler, it's nicer, it's the same same cotton. So it's, you know, even made by the same company, but it but for me to wear a T-shirt that's this. And I used to have AV neck and you're absolutely correct because when I was in business, I used to have an open collared shirt.

1:55 In the beginning, I had a tie. When I had a tie, I would have a full neck like this. I would have a full neck T-shirt and when I first started in business in the 80s and when I would go on any type of event where I would go to an event where I would wear a coat and tie, I would not wear AV neck. I would wear that because AV neck would show through my shirt and look stupid and and and and and it's weird. But but when you're actually selling your company, your product, your purpose, yourself, whatever, you, you pay attention to really minute details. I would, I mean, my wardrobe was always like, you know, my wardrobe that I took and I traveled then was always like the best of the best.

2:37 And then and and it was funny. We were talking a few minutes ago about like, well, what's happened? You know, you, you during COVID, It, it just it all went to shit. You know, I got when I when I retired. Each time I retire, I usually drop further down into the Berry, barely wearing clothes that are just make you look like a hobo. No offense to hobos, but with each time you come back and, and, and I think I, I mean, I think that there's something to be said that if you're dressed well, you feel well. 100%, that's what I noticed is that I started dressing, wear clothes that actually fitted me 'cause I think skateboarding gave me a lasting impression on my outfits. From the time that I was, I don't even know, 10 years old, nine years old until I was about 20, I think that I dressed like a skateboarder.

3:29 And then when I kind of stopped skateboarding, like I kind of have to find a new identity. I kind of have to find an identity in which I wear shoes that actually feel good, that actually are made to walk in as opposed to skate in. And I think that at the same time, you don't really want to leave that that identity, that cultural identity that you affiliated yourself with for so, so long, right. It's kind of painful, but at the same time. Yeah, exactly. And that's kind of what I did when I got rid of that when I was about 20, as I started dressing nicer. And then I looked at other people that didn't dress so nice and I was like, well, maybe you put a little bit of effort in and these were people that come from the same socio economic background and things like that. And like it isn't doesn't. So you weren't judging homeless people? No, as much as I'd like to judge them, I didn't really I you. Don't go down the street.

4:12 Hey, you got to RIP in your pants. Well, I normally just take the cup of change that they have and bring it with me for tolls and such. But, you know, I, I just tend to ignore them and just steal their money. Well, I think Reagan was right when he talked about trickle down economics. You know, I think that it's all going to get down there one day. Yeah. It's going to trickle into your cup and I'm going to steal it. Oh. Exactly, 100%. It's a circle. It's a circle. But yeah, what were you going to say? Oh, I was just going to like when I look at my, the way I dress when I first, my very first, like I when I I work construction, you know, you were whatever. I mean, I had a uniform at one place where we wore a red shirt and a blue pants and my I have my have a name tag. Got a custom name tag and it was called Rodger Ramjet Space Cadet.

4:58 Oh yeah, I remember. Those and that I mean I had that forever and there there was a lot of amphetamines involved in that in that business. It was thank you Reed foundations. You were wonderful to me. You taught me so many lessons. Probably not I no, no, I he he's, he's probably dead or and he's only like 6 years old. Well. What happens when they dies? They normally do Reed and Sons, and then the Sons take it. Over. I don't think that he got divorced not long after that. She was, I think she was kind of chasing guys on the site. So it, it seemed like it, I don't know if it was true, you know, you don't know what happened. She was a, she was a real ball Buster. He was a fair, really hard, hardest working guy probably ever met.

5:48 You know, never seen anybody. You know, you, you get up, you're there at six O clock in the morning. He's already there popped all ready to roll. You know, he's 25, I'm 19. He's he's carrying panels with you. Panel for panel panels were 90 lbs and you're running across an 8. Inch he was 25 and he owned the company yes wow, he. Borrowed the money to pay for the panels. They're all aluminum panels. He came to the Northern Virginia area and because at that time interest rates were, I think they're like 19%. So people needed a set. They need and, and it took three weeks to do block walls to build a house. It was Montclair mostly. Most of the work we did was in Montclair and we also did Burke Center. We did a lot of a lot of houses in Burke Center. We poured the walls, but we could do the walls in four days. And it doesn't sound like much, but it goes from, you know, every amount of time that you save when you're paying nearly 20% on your money is just phenomenal. Because, you know, if you hold it, if you borrow a dollar at the end of 12 months, it's $1.20. OK, Savings accounts were 1112%.

7:01 So I mean, think about that. That just doesn't make, it's just weird, you know? I mean, you're, you're like just crazy, you know? But, but I mean, that was the outfit. Then where was I going? We got off on the sideline. Clothes. You know what, I've been getting into jeans recently. I've been getting back into jeans because I went up to waist sizes over the past couple of years and I was like, maybe I should buy myself some jeans that actually fit. And I did that and I when I was in Seoul, I bought a pair of polo jeans. Not going to lie, I've always wanted to wear or own a pair of polo jeans since I was. 14 Do you have a butt? 14 or 15 I do.

7:41 Shockingly, I do. Oh my God, I don't have mine because I have none. You, you have a Cliff. I have a Cliff. You have a Cliff that's a. Cliff, that was that was one of the reasons I had a foreman that told me, Ram, you can't be no foreman. You ain't got no ass. And I'm like, and I'm like, what? And I'm just like, look at him like what? What the hell does that have to do with anything? You ain't got no place to hang your tool belt. That's a good point, good point. But I I just right? I love that. I like you can't be no forbid. You ain't got no ass. It's great. I love the accent too. The accent really it was. It's really close. It's great on that. It's pretty close anyway.

8:23 I mean, I think that. You don't wear jeans though anymore, do you? No, I would just. Not really, you wore jeans for a long time when I I. Went to school and I wore some jeans, but I mostly wore like a hacky type thing. I remember maybe I mean corduroys and and jeans are what I wore all the time. School, regular flannel shirts, stuff like that. Usually your Kmart flannel shirts. Nothing because it was pre economically enhanced I will say. And then I went to, when I went to work in the 80s at my very first professional job, we were required to wear a tie every day, you know, and we never saw anybody that mattered. We never met customers.

9:04 We were behind. We were on a phone all day. And we were, you know, and all we had was we had a tie. And you wear your shirt and wear your slacks and wear dress shoes every single day and you're digging around in the stacks copying documents. Then I started a business and when I started a business, we had a press go. You got to look professional. So and then one day I threw the tie off and I said, this is stupid. So I wouldn't wear the tie anymore. And then slowly but surely the tie became AT shirt, you know, and then I and then, and then the pants became shorts and then the shoes became sandals. And so then we, you know, through the years, our policies were, you know, we want your major body parts. Covered. Well, that's not just there either.

9:45 The tie is gone, it seems like. It seems like the tie is gone even at funerals. I don't even see people wear ties at funerals anymore, even weddings. I don't think I wore a tie at Michaela's wedding. I don't think I did. I, I do because I did, I don't know and I think it's required for me, but that's. Just that might be the last time I wore a tie. That's three years ago. So it's like you think about that and you think about the hat too. When JFK became president. When JFK became president, he got rid of the whole societal norm that men needed to wear hats because he just never wore a hat. And people were like, wow, I guess we don't need to own. He has hair too. That too he. Had a big head of hair and it's like, you know, he was, he was a hot looking dude with a big head of hair and bald people.

10:29 And and think about it. Most people wearing hats weren't 25, they were 45. That's fair. You know, we all had a receipt. I mean, look at my hairline. My gosh, it's, you know. I was born with the the luck that I got your hairline, but also granddad's, which is also terrible. He's worse man. He's got a bigger forehead than me. I can't wait. To now he's got a much bigger forehead, but we shouldn't talk about that. Well, I'm going to. That got me good. That got me really good. Oh my God. But the whole thing is that what did I Well, we just found a hat collection up in the attic. Because my parents, like many other parents, want me to throw my memories away, want me to forget that I was ever a child. Because having memory is a sign of weakness. And that's why I kind of went back and I threw away everything that I ever know and liked and remembered when I was. Loved only the things that you loved that we took away from you specifically because we believe that that that builds a strength of character.

11:27 It builds. Character, it really does. But at the same time, I'm looking at about, oh wow, I have like 10 hats out here now. So I'm very thankful for that, you know? I I used to collect hats. I had everything from my Roger. My Roger Ramjet hat was the little, it was a welder's hat, you know, the little cotton one that goes here, across here. And it had goggles and I had goggles and that's what I wore to work. And people would look at me like, and I'd be like, yeah, what's up? Just just well, because when people, when you're crazy, people just like, but but I was incredibly good at what it did. And that's, that's what I've always been focused on. You know, you can be, you can be a little weird, but if you're really good at what you do, it's like people sort of let that go. And then I think, and, and we got to my first job, we got to my, the first business where we went and I and I slowly broke down the dress code and then the partners where they're like, yeah, what's you know, where what's comfortable. And then we got to a point where we couldn't say where what's comfortable because people were wearing things that, you know, we had women wearing see through tops and they weren't wearing bras and, and, and it didn't encourage shitty men to say things that they shouldn't be saying. But then it's like it and it was the 90s. So there wasn't any me too movement at that time, but we were like aware of that.

12:47 But there's also guys. We had a guy that wore leotards, leotards and he was a how do we say this in a nice way? He had a very big banana and he didn't wear underwear. And he comes in, he wears those biker leotard pants that are skin tight and you could see the outline of his junk in it. And he's in the and he's walking over to people. And if you're sitting down at my height and someone's standing here, you turn and your face is like staring at turning junk. And and and and HR said that they had problems. And I'm like, well, certainly no one's complaining. The goddamn thing's huge. You know what I find ridiculous is the the idea that people ride their bike to work.

13:32 I hate it. Because you know what they do that for? They do it to prove that they're better than you. They do that to prove that they're better than you and that you are worse than them. And for some reason, taking a shower at your job makes you an exceptional human being. And I don't think that's true. I don't see this. The shitty ones did, but in the beginning we did have a shower, but later we didn't have a shower and people wouldn't take a shower. They would ride their bikes. But remember, we were downtown DC, so they were riding from like Dupont Circle on a bike. So they're going 10 blocks. It's not, you know, you ain't getting. You could literally they could coast from their house to our office. They might have to pedal on the way home, but it was nothing.

14:12 We 80% of our 87% of our workforce used public transportation. Yeah, yeah, everybody. I mean, most of the people or some people that no, we people that run, we're on a metro line. We're right on a metro line, no? No, I'm talking about the people that run like a marathon before they get to work. You know, you ever see? Yeah, Yeah. We had that. We had that came in. Miles before. We fired a guy because of that, because he was, he, he lived in DuPont. And he was trying to say that, you know, he couldn't make it by 9:00 because traffic was bad. And he was, he was riding a bicycle. And I remember when, because we had to go before a labor court because he was challenging us not paying him anything because we're like, you got fired. No, I didn't get fired.

14:56 You didn't have business. And I'm like, yeah, but we have. You didn't do any work, you know. But anyway, the I remember The funny thing is like we're sitting there and I'm asking them. So. So you get up and you come in and you're late like once a week goes. Yeah, is it? And you bring your you bring your breakfast in every day. Well, well, yeah, I got to eat breakfast And and you you get in like 920 and then you eat breakfast. And then sometimes you shower. He goes, yeah, well, you know, if I rode my bike in from DuPont, it's 20 blocks or 15 blocks. And I'd be like, yeah, and I'm doing this in the judge is like, what the hell? And and, and work starts at 9.

15:44 And I said, well, did you ever try like coming in earlier? Did you ever try like waking up earlier and, you know, getting there earlier? And, and he looks at me with a straight face and says, you know, I tried that and it didn't work. So he won the case, right? The judge almost spit and it was just funny. But we figured, you know, we're, we're business, you know, we're horrible. And they are, you know, in labor and, and, you know, we, we tried to do the right thing with most people. And you know, this guy was just God and, and to throw the racial dispersion out, he was a white guy, you know, So it, it, it, he's the only one we ever took to court. The only person we ever took to court for being a lazy fuck was a white.

16:28 Guy, it always is the whites, but it's so. Funny that you would like you, you want to throw the you know, hey, it's a bad driver. It's. Yeah, it's a white guy. I see what you're saying. That's what I'm saying. That that was what was so funny. But anyway. You know what? Something that's changed my life, probably when I was 16. I no longer wear ankle socks. I only wear tube socks. Crew socks, as they say. I only wear crew socks. Well, I'm a crew sock guy through and through. I I actually just started adopting that because I I'm a person who wears the little low cut things that hide and leave the. Shoe eats them. The shoe eats them no matter what.

17:08 Well, not if you spend. Like if you buy, if you buy the $15 a piece ones, they their shoes don't eat them. The well, they don't eat them for a year or so. The but I started buying those Bombas. You know the Bomba socks. Those look comfortable. And like an ankle and I put those on and they're white and they're like, I got the blue tops, the red tops, the green tops and all that kind of which I don't care. And I got to say that they are really, really, really comfortable. And never in my life have I ever felt like I didn't look totally stupid wearing white socks. You look at those, it's like I don't care.

17:51 And you were, you were the one that taught me that. Because I looked at you for years wearing white socks, going that is the goofiest thing in the world and you would never match them. That was even more funny. No, I still don't match them to this day. They all they look vaguely similar, so it's like who's really? Well, they're white. Yeah, exactly. As long as well, there's The funny thing is I'll I'll wear a Puma one with a a Dickies one sometime yes, I. Have that. I have that pair. I wear that pair. I have a Dickies in a Puma pair. I act. It's funny that you say that because I was just, I was, I was mating my socks. Can I say that? Steal all my socks. That's why I came back after wondering where all my socks went and all of them were in your house. I was like, what the hell?

18:34 What They were in my sock basket. I was like, do I? Do I have to? Because I bought like $40 worth of socks before I left the last time. The time before last. They fit pretty well. And I was wondering where they went. And then I found them. I found them all. In my sock. Basket in my ankle socks too. Actually on the ankle socks, I forgot about that. I love that, but I mean, when I think about we were, we were up to the, the business were progressed to and then after we had the HR people saying that women couldn't wear certain things, it we, we, we were always said the policy just people will, people will dress appropriately. We don't need to to dictate how they dress. And it, and it's been like, you know, our business policy is always sort of cascaded from that, like, and then when people overstepped it, then you'd have to step in and say you can't do that in the hopes that they wouldn't come back. You have no dress policy.

19:25 You can't tell me that. It's like, do you really want us to have a dress policy just because you need to show your Weiner to everybody? I mean, really. Yeah, that's a little. You know, I mean, well, that's kind of the thing, you know, or the the people that come in and it's like she walks up to you and you're going and you're just oh, oh. Being distracted at work is not a good thing. Yeah, And it's I And The thing is, is I don't want to be like, oh, you're such a pig. And it's like, well, yeah, but I, I, I don't know where I'm at on that. I'm kind of on a funny line that that it's is it that to wear something that's not so sheer?

20:05 Well, that was the thing, too. It's like, well, underwire bras in the past. What is it, 10 years? That's 21. To cause breast cancer, it's. Correct, but that's all the all the women with the with the pointy boots, right? Yeah, yeah, The underwire ones, yeah. And that's shown to cause breast cancer in a lot of people, which is interesting. But at the same time, I used to have stomped. Yeah. But you've never been fat though, so. Not really. Not really. I've been chunky, but not yeah, but I was like 12. So it's like what? Do you? Yeah, you were. Yeah. Yeah. So you hadn't really. I was 12 years old. I don't know. Can is a 12 year old fat? Like I don't know. No, they're they're they're.

20:47 You can't. I don't know what is the what is the fat until you were 20 years old. I think you you can be fat if they're 5 foot 6 and they weigh 210. OK, fair. OK. I think they're, if they're, if their weight is supposed to be 140 and it's 150 or 160, they're chubby, OK, Or they're what's that thing you say, Jolly or you know, all the other things. Yeah, well, that was the whole thing with the. I forgot what it was. It was like the Cambodian 8 year old, he was smoking cigarettes from the time that he was like 5 and then he was 8 now. And then she's like, well, he gets mad when I take his cigarettes away. And I think there's another video that was like, Oh yeah. Like with doughnuts though.

21:33 And there's like a £250 like 10 year old and he's like, but he gets mad when I dig his doughnuts away. And I'm like, you can't really, you can't really parent based on what they, well, that was if it's cigarettes or doughnuts either. I saw the lady that was making the breakfast for the guy that weighed 800 lbs and he couldn't get out of his bed and she would cook 2 1/2 lbs of bacon. She would do 2 loaves of breads of toast. She would took three dozen eggs and and then a box a box or two of cereal. And it was so expensive. And you were and he. Was like looking and you were going like and people were like, well, why? Well, he's hungry and you're like, but, but you know, if you didn't like, look, all that he can't get out of bed, he's going to lose. Weight, exactly, but he's hungry. You know, and what it is is they have a, it's almost like a Pavlov dog thing when you see people this. I've kind of seen it in and, and, and my own family where people react to, to a stimulus that's been thrown at them. Like if you scream at somebody enough and, and then like if I was screaming you all the time when you're growing up and all of a sudden when I scream, you might, you might come running to see what was wrong.

22:49 You know, that's the way it was in my house. You know, it's like you, you, you would, you would go to see what was wrong. What can I do to to solve this? Because as soon as you solved it, then it would go away and everything would be fine for 30 seconds. Oh, the lighter. Yeah, I. Remember the lighter? But that was the way it was. It was, you know, everybody would wake up and try to try to make it good, make it work. And food is the same way. And you see it with food. You see it with all these things with the little kids. Well, little Johnny's hungry. He's like, no, he's not. He's 250. He's 3 foot 7. Shut up. Well, I think I got to. Because you don't want to see him cry and go freaking out. And it's like, you know, I've seen you do that. My parents have seen me do that. Every single person you've ever seen.

23:29 What, freak out or something? Known or met, they've all been shitty little brats. They screamed on the floor, they beat on the floor. They've yelled and screamed and said you didn't buy me this or you didn't buy me that or you didn't give me this or you didn't give me that. Every single, I mean, I, I think it would be hard except for maybe the children, Ethiopia, that maybe they scream for water. I don't know, you know. Yeah. But at the same time, I have to ask, should I get LASIK? I think I should. I think I should do it. What does that have to do with? Clothes. I'm kind of scared though, because I think about the clothing that's changed specifically for you in the last 20 years, and that's reading glasses. Glasses are definitely an attribute to which you did not have before.

24:15 And you have, Yeah. Well, I went through multiple different phases when it comes to glasses, but a couple more things on the on the on the clothes. I did the I slowly went back to dress casual, business casual because we sold the company for and for two or three years I was into that. Then I moved into working at another company and I was always like dressed up, but I wanted to be, have a moniker because I would go to these shows and you know, there's 9000 people in the hall or 3000 and you couldn't see them. So I, I decided that I was going to start wearing Hawaiian shirts, no ties, none of that stuff. And I would wear a Hawaiian shirt, you know, like, what is it? John? Who, who is that guy?

24:57 Johnny Bahama. Yeah, Tommy Bom. Those, those shirts, I would wear the most colorful shirts and I would wear these and everybody would see me. Everybody would know me. And then they remember that I was there. Oh, you know, and televise is here, Phil. Oh, and so and so's here. There's Phil. Because they, they would recognize it and they would recognize their shirts. And it became a moniker. And I wore that for 10 years, you know, but I would wear suits and ties to corporate events and all that kind of stuff like that. I still do. What was the one? Of the time you went to a funeral and you wore a tie, did you wear a tie at the last funeral you went to? Yes or not. Let me see, Let me see whose funeral I went to last. Let me think, what's the last one I went to? I guess Sergeant Major Canley, right, That was yeah. I wore one there.

25:44 Did I wear one? Yes, you did. I did. Absolutely. Your grandfather's did we wear one there? I wasn't there. We went and we were dressed nice, but we didn't wear coats and ties, no. Well, that wasn't really a a, a church kind of burial thing. I think when you're at a church, yeah, you have to wear a tie. I don't. Know no, no, people don't do that anymore. I mean, I went to when I went to. What about weddings? Weddings. Not really. I know we wore a tie last year when Seth and Allison got married. Did I? Yeah. I don't think I did. You had a coat and tie and you. Wait, hold on. This could actually tell me because I have a photo of that wedding. Hold on.

26:24 Oh, you do. Give me a second. Here. Let me look at that. Let me look at that. Let me look here. Real. Where was that? Indiana. That was in Michigan City IN. Michigan City. Michigan City IN. It was a funny place. That's weird. Where's the photo of this? This is the Derby. Oh, there it is. OK. I did not wear tie. I did not wear a tie. I didn't wear a tie. You wore a tie? I did not. Yeah. I don't have a tie on you. You know what's funny? I start looking at the crowd. I don't have a tie. Yeah, and it's like, no, you didn't. Oh my. Nope, no tie. John didn't wear a tie. John didn't wear a tie either.

27:06 Yeah. Oh my gosh, John, you didn't wear a tie. You're being, you're being marked right now. Lenny didn't wear a tie. A lot of people, I don't know if Mitch wore a tie or not. He wore a tie, I think. Wait, wait, let me. Go back. Edwin didn't wear a tie. Was that last year? Wow. Wow, that was. Mitch wore a tie. John McGee did not wear a tie. Oh my God, we're going to go through and call. Leslie didn't wear a tie. Mary Ann didn't wear a tie. Look at that. I did not wear a tie to the Kentucky Derby. You didn't, did I? I did with my white stuff. No, no he did not. It was hot. Yeah, most of these, most of these that I look at no, no ties, but but you know that we've we've gotten, I mean, I wear a tie with that white jacket because it sets it off.

27:51 It's the color. And that that's, I mean, that's the reason that you wear something. Wait, if you got a white strip down the front and this when we went to the you hold it, you wore a tie when we went to your premiere. Did I? Oh, I did. Cuz that was tuxedo. Yeah, yeah. Tuxedo, you kind of have to. I mean, I see people that kind of drop them and I see people that don't wear ties at all. But I think that that just sort of that's like the cherry on the top. I mean I don't like it, but it makes it look good. I think it's ridiculous. I don't know. To me, I think it's ridiculous. It constricts my neck. I don't like it. I don't know. The whole tuxedo thing is dumb, I mean. When we were compromising our when you think this is dumb. You gotta go pee. It's just, it's, it's a pain in the ass, no. Exactly.

28:33 I completely agree. Yeah, Yeah. I think that that's that's absolutely very silly. But I have. I got into, when I retired, I went through the last company, did all the flowery shirts and I kept kind of wearing the flowery shorts here and there 'cause I'd meet people and then I stopped that and then I just became full on slob. And I had, you know, full on slob through COVID and I used to it was same thing with shaving. I remember watching you wear the same pair of sweatpants for two weeks and I was like, you gotta this is bad. No, I just bought 3 pair and I was only wearing one of them for six months. Straight. But I was, I would wear sweatpants and I would wear AT shirt and that would be it. And, and the cool thing about white T-shirts is they, you know, with Kanye, they were like, or Ye, they were a cool thing and everybody was cool wearing a white T-shirt. So I'm cool because I'm wearing a white T-shirt. But it's like, it's not because I'm trying to be cool. It's because I'm just lazy and it's the same thing with shaving.

29:31 It's like I used to shave every day and now I shave once every three days. I shaved recently, you can see old white. Face right now, a razor. That feels like it has been an abandoned mental institution for a year and it felt like I was cutting my face with a rusty pipe. I need to get new blades. I don't know why it's so rough. It's so odd. I think there's rust on it. Because you use it 700 times. Maybe, I don't know, that might be it, I mean. They do go do get dull. Yeah. No, no, it is. It's like my face. Yeah, well, I think through the years that I have done, I've gone back, I went back to casual, I went back to ultra casual. So I would go to the store and your mother would just like, and she got sloppy too.

30:21 I mean, it was just sort of a whole thing that around carb COVID, it was just around basically like, well, fuck it, you know? Yeah, it's kind of, well, everybody thought they were going to die. So it's like, why would I die dressed up? That doesn't make any sense because. It's, it's, it's, it's I'm going to be comfortable. It became a me type of thing. It became very, very when I think about COVID, I think it, I think about it being very selfish. Everybody was very much focused on their personal situation. That's the way the human race is. Yeah, but even more so because it's a microcosm, because you're stuck at home and it's just you, you know? So why would I care about you? You're on the other side of the world.

31:01 Who cares? I'm over here. You're, you know, it's that kind of thing. We don't interact. I don't touch people. I just see shit online from social media that tells me to not wear a mask, Wear a mask, Not, you know, whatever. That's when I stopped reading the news was about a year before then I was like, I'm not doing it anymore. I'm just not doing it. It is crazy. It's exhausting. And then nothing's true anymore either. But your. Mother, your mother took me to Nordstrom's in 2021, maybe 2022, and I was there and I really wasn't thinking. I was buying clothes. And she was like, oh, you want to look? And I'm like, OK. And I met this lady and lady's like, oh, I got an outfit for you. And I'm like, OK, and she brought it over. I go try it on, Fits perfect.

31:50 And I actually like looked in the mirror and I was like, my God, you don't look like absolute shit. You know which I always look like absolute shit. And then she goes and she goes, what about this shirt? What about these pants? What about this shirt? What about these pants? What about this shirt? She redressed me in an hour and a half maybe, and then she said you need shoes. So she takes me over and I buy and that's when I bought those leather shoes and every single. Person. Ever seen those shoes are like, whoa. I mean, they just they're, they're a brown, light brown, medium brown leather tennis shoe. They're Giovanni's or something like that. They're they're just, and they're really comfortable and, and it just, and that then all of a sudden it's like I noticed that people treated me differently than when I wouldn't wearing sweats.

32:43 Oh, it's it's still night and day comparatively. Like I've gone into places hungover, wearing sweatpants, no shoes on, barefoot on the floor, ripped T-shirt with a. Little vomit on the front, I love that. Sort of body fluid on the front of it and they don't really like that. But when you wear a nice pair of shorts and A and a nice crop T-shirt or something like that, you look a lot better. You look a lot better and people respect you too. But not only that, you respect yourself, respect yourself a lot more. Well, that's a nightmare. But if you really want to stand out, the best thing you can do is go to a place where everybody's well dressed and you're not. Exactly. But you got to have confidence because like, and, and I've never seen more confidence than when your uncle visited us and we were having breakfast at the Ritz Carlton and we sat there and we're all like kind of kind of nice dressed a little bit. I think we have collared shirts and everything because you go down and it's like a, it's kind of a sushi place. And we, I was at Intelligize and they had their sales meeting there.

33:48 And then we tacked on a few days and I brought the family and I meant it's Amelia Island, Ritz Carlton's beautiful, it's on the beach, It's everything. We go there, we're eating breakfast. 2019 and he comes and and I think did you say somebody or maybe I, I, I, I don't know if I insulted him or not I said, oh wow, you need to move close to the table. Why? Well, because you're dripping the food on your belly. And did I say that or you said that somebody? That was not me, I think that was you. Yeah. And then he goes, oh, I got a stain and I and I just kind of looked and he just kind of looked at me and goes, well, I can fix that. And he stands up and he and he's wearing AT shirt and he takes it off and he's and he's a very, very large man. And he does this in the Ritz Carlton and he takes his shirt off and he's topless and his boobs are probably about a 38 double D.

34:52 He does the flip and he puts it on inside out and he. Goes. And he looks at me and he goes, took care of that, didn't I? And I was just like, Oh my God, that that to me is the most confidence I've ever seen. I'm but most amazed by that. And I mean, I don't think anybody in the restaurant wasn't looking at him. It was just, it was amazing surprise though. I mean, like I well, it was the restaurant portion too, and I think it was about 125 person room if I remember correctly. Yeah, yeah. It was like a day room or something. And it was silver on the table, huge and everything. They had the silver tea service, all sorts of happy horseshit that made you think like, wow, this. Is really we should go back there? Do you want to go back there?

35:37 I like that place. I would do that. I would. Go back there. But this time we would all wear tea. Well, I like Florida. I don't know what it is, but I don't know. There's something about Florida that I really like. Do. You have Nazi blood. No, not really. But I think the attributes I like where crocodiles live. I I roll downhill. That's a a good vein kind of in my life. Is that where crocodiles grow up, where they they're nurtured and where they grow up to become dinosaurs? Are you OK with mosquitoes? I really. Oh, no, I really hate mosquitoes. That's the problem. They're they're they're like that's. I mean, Virginia, they're, they're terrible as. Well, not even close. Really. Not even close. Not next in Florida, Yeah.

36:18 We got malaria or something? Yeah, but it's it's also a longer mosquito season. I've never been to Miami. I don't think I ever need to go. I'm not really. We camped out in the Everglades and I just remember that that there's a commercial that you see where they have a like a aquarium and the person sticks their arm in and they don't have off and you just see like all these mosquitoes all over it. They pull it out. It's just like they have a fat 10,000 and an aquarium. You stick your arm in there and they all oh, food and they go get it, but then they spray off on and they stick it and no one lands on it and the Everglades and you go and you do that. They just plenty with light on you like so quick. And we camped outside. That was a that was a really fun and interesting story.

36:59 And I in the middle of summer August war folding pants, socks. I had a shirt, flannel shirt all the way down to my all the way down to here. I had a T-shirt underneath it. I was in a sleeping bag and I rolled it up over the top of my head. I still I got bit on my forehead from mosquitoes and all night long was and I was like 16 years old. And that's when he took me to the bar place called the Morgue. And they're like he bought. We had I had Roman Cokes and I got a hammer on Roman Cokes. That was. You know what's so messed up is when I was 14, that was the first alcoholic mixture I got blackout drunk on was Roman Cokes 'cause I don't know where you know what it was. I was watching Trailer Park Boys and it was Julian because I I think it completed a season night. When you wanted to do that.

37:57 Yeah, 'cause he was drinking them every time. I'm like, well, that's the only alcoholic drink I know one and then I don't like beer cuz I'm not really that old yet. And you drink that and you drink one. You're like, this is amazing. And I still remember the way it tasted in the resort that it was at Desert Valet, Nevada and. You were drinking there. We went once cuz we thought they didn't card. We walk in, I'm 14 years old, and we walk up and they're like, are you 18? And I was like, yes. And they're like, all right, cool. And then all of our snowboard counselors were there who were like 25. Yeah. And it was funny as hell. And then we hung out with them. That was awesome. Wow. Yeah, I don't know. That was great. That's funny. That was the first. Time that I got blackout drunk. Wow. Yeah, yeah. 14 I was 15 so.

38:40 I got you I. Know. I think I was 14. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When I went, when I went there. That was, yeah. You were young. Good times. I just took exposure to the world. OK, so now we're back to me dressing better. Yeah. When you got, when you started, when you came back from the time at which my mom took you to the mall, that was excellent. Have you done anything since then? I don't think so. Right. I have I've changed out things that I don't like and I don't keep things very long. I mean, I bought a bunch of custom shirts. Some of them worked out. Most of them I get got rid of. I, I, when I visited you 4-5 years ago, we went and I bought, I bought a bunch of Gucci shit and that.

39:23 Oh yeah, I remember when you got the. Because I lost weight. I lost a bunch of weight and I was like, ah, and I mean the natural thing when you look when you like. I was down to like 198 or something. I'm now 15. You broke 200. Yeah, we went only 9. Way. But I got, I bought, I didn't. Even know that. And this is what all stupid fat people do, is we lose 20 lbs and then we think that we're going to lose more. So we buy clothes that are tight thinking that they're going to be, you know, that they're going to get loose. Unfortunately, we don't realize that our pig through mouth is going to continue to eat more and all those clothes are going to be useless in about a week. You know, so I had shirts where, you know, you know, when you see the buttons pull apart, you know they're pulling apart and the titties are hanging out, all that kind of stuff.

40:08 And you're like, Oh my God. And we? Went to Tudor's Biscuit World with Sean recently. I did, and then I was wearing these shorts and then I also drank, I think about 1/2 gallon of whiskey with his brother the day before we went to tutors. And I sit down in the car after we get out and then my button literally snaps off and flies off. And I was like, Oh my God. And that's what I you. Did a Homer Simpson? I literally did and he's and he looks over like you're 1 fat bastard. So oh, it's God, I was. So who's who's the fat bastard the fat bastard's from? That's yeah, the I can. See him Mike.

40:48 Myers, oh, Mike Myers. Austin. Powers. Austin Powers. Yeah. Oh good. Oh, I love that guy, Jake. 'S you owe me a silence. Especially when he gets the little, you have that little Turkey gullet like I have. I I I don't like any of those movies. Not a fan. Tell you can tell that that I'm getting fatter when I get the Turkey gullet because if I lose a little bit of weight, my my, my, my Turkey nut goes away well. Why do you think you gained 20 lbs back? Who knew you were at 1:00? 100 Why were you? At 198, I didn't even know you ever broke 200. That's great. We did. We did a lot of wasn't. Jenny Craig wasn't. It might have been it, but this is like maybe 15. Years. Oh, that was 15 years ago, OK.

41:30 Yeah, that's not. I thought you were talking like 2 years ago. I would like to say two years ago the best I've done in the past two years of 2010 I did. 2000 I did 210 lbs. That's pretty good. I've gotten that. I think I got to two O 9 or something and I'm not doing amphetamines that I'm not doing with Govi. And we got to do a lot of math. That's what I've heard is a. Well, I mean. That's a lot of math. But I mean, we used to do speed. I did a lot of speedies just after high school. Yeah, that's just math. Yeah, but you smoke that. We just took it in pill form. We. Parachute it, yeah, we took black beauties. We took parachuting it makes. A crossed crystal. You know what? Parachuting it makes it last way longer. I. Don't even know what that means. That's when you swallow it in pill form. OK, it lasts. 3 * 4 times as long imperatively, Yeah, well, but.

42:18 When I used to, when I used to work. That's hence. My name's Roger Ramjet. Space cadet was. Yeah, we. Covered this in the the cartoon episode. Yeah. We did. I thought the stories were we were supposed to cover and so you wouldn't tell them again. I thought that's what this. I keep telling them again again because I'm always. You gotta stop telling. You gotta stop doing that. See, you know. What would be really cool is we could do a podcast on dementia and I could just tell the same. Story that's kind of what this already is. I'm not going to lie. That's kind of what this Hardy is is turning out to well. No, when you think about clothes, it's like clothes going forward. My closet now is probably 1/3 full, half half, let's say half full. I have a lot of things and, and I mean, I have three suits. I have a, a, a dead people suit, a wedding suit and A and I have two sports jackets.

43:10 I have 5 or 6 pair of slacks, but I can wear slacks like I I all. But one of the things you pointed out is I stopped wearing jeans in the last three years. Why did you stop wearing jeans? Because they don't they're they're restrictive on my stomach more than anything. And that that it, it bothers me because I have like ulcers and holes and I have a hern, I mean, just all sorts of shit. And so when I wear like a more of a if I wear sweats, I feel wonderful, but if I don't but I look like a pig. So then instead of looking like a pig, I can wear like nicer dress. Slacks with a belt is actually a lot better and a lot looser on my stomach than jeans are.

43:53 Also, the only reason I need to wear jeans is if I'm working in the yard and I'm not working in the yard that much. You used to wear them in the yard every day for 10 years. Probably Well, see, the cool thing about jeans is you just drop down to your knees and you start digging a hole and it doesn't matter. It doesn't bother me if you wear anything else. I mean, now I have the thing I did is I got you'll love this. I got knee pads. That's so funny. That's really, really fun. I. Strap on knee pads. You know, we can we, you can make lots of jokes about. That you ever see the it's got. The knee pads. Oh yeah. With the what is it? It's like a wagon. But you you ever see those chairs? You sit knees down 1st. There's so many, there's you see the?

44:34 Chairs that are good for your spine. It's kind of like that, the wagon. And you sit like that on the wagon. Yeah, I'm going to get that for you for your birthday here, and then I can tell you around while you're sitting on it. That'd be great. Yeah. What do you think about that? So why don't we putting a koi pond or a water feature in the backyard? I was thinking. That I don't know. I think we need to change your clothes though. We still have a lot of clothes here that you have to get rid of. Well, I just bought a bunch of new clothes. Here, I'm going to pick up the. You can pick up the camera. Yeah, pick up. I'm gonna say lair. There we go. Yeah, that's that's the stuff. Oh, I forgot my squirrel costume, man. Yeah, you forgot your. Shoes too. I left my squirrel costume, damn it. Yeah. So how many costumes do you have?

45:14 Your squirrel costume, What other else costumes you have? Do you have the chicken 1, The doughnut? The doughnut? What else did you? Were you a Penguin? No, I don't have Penguins. No, yeah, those didn't only three full. You were a pirate. You were a you were a Viking. You. Were I love. The Viking one, your mother made the big fur thing across and you had the helmet that was amazing and then you had painted a beard on you and. Your that was a great costume. Well, I think everybody should have an alias. This year. I'm actually going as a Papa John's celebrity driver because I found my Papa John's hat and I also found my Papa John's T-shirt I like to wear. So that's going to be me. I'm going to be. Are you going to have to do like 600 dabs to kick into my frame of mind? God I used to get so ripped at work Oh my God I don't even know how I like was able to sustain that level of high all day. I think that's so funny.

46:05 Well, it's also, if you think about it, I smoked regularly every day for about four years. And at that time, like I'm surprised. Well, I had really bad bronchitis every single year, like every single year. And then when I I. Smoke a lot. I can't figure out why I can't breathe. Well, I would. Smoke through the bronchitis, which I wouldn't recommend to anybody because then I would smoke and I would cough until I threw up. And now thinking about that now I'm like, man, that's, that's kind of silly. It's kind of a silly thing to do, kind of a dumb thing to do if you think about it, but I had. Asthma, but not like that. I had asthma in my teens and I still smoke cigarettes and I smoke cigarettes for 30 years. What does asthma even feel like? Because I don't think I have it. It's when you have a constriction in your throat when you can't get.

46:52 When you can't get the air. You could slowly feel it, slowly feel it. You can slowly feel it closing. And it is the most frightening thing the first couple times you have it because you feel like somebody's. When I did the scuba diving thing and I ran out of air in the middle of a tunnel, that's what it feels like. It feels like somebody is taking your air gauge and they cut it down by 1/4 by 1/3, by 50% and you get down to about. And the only way to make it happy is to calm down and to sit down and to not move and to just totally relax. I mean, I just it, I remember being at home after I came and is a bunch of asbestos at work, I think.

47:34 And it might, might have been part of the problem. They were dumping permalite into the block and it was the whole air was like a white dust. And I remember I got that in my lungs and I was just like that. That's how I was breathing, you know, and I'm at home and, and when you can't get enough oxygen, you get your, your heart rates being faster, you become scared. And when you're scared, you, you want to run and do something, you want to hit something. Anybody talks to you, you want to, you know, you, you, you freak out, but you have, but what you're supposed to do is do exactly the opposite. And I know that you need the Vansaril or what the hell is it? There's a bunch of different drugs that you take. I ended up getting Vansaril and another not propofol. That's a good one.

48:22 Have that too. That's pretty good and but that would release the passages and so almost like within 10 seconds, but but that living through that one, I had a. Mysterious illness 2 years ago. The first three times when you can't breathe and someone's cutting the oxygen off and you can't do anything about it, you feel like that you're, you're losing it. You're just, you know, this is it. And when someone is taking the oxygen away and not right away, that's kind of the kill. You know, someone just cut it off. You're like, I'm dead now. But when they cut it off to like, you're down to 2/3 and then you're down to like breathing through a straw. Let's I imagine peanut allergy kind of feels right. I don't know.

49:06 Yeah, I'm I'm sure it's the same thing. Peanut allergy not. The same I don't, I don't have peanut allergies. I can't say that. Remember that when everybody had peanut allergies and now nobody does. What happened to that? That was kind of weird. Well, we're not that. We're not in school anymore, so we don't see everybody sitting at the no peanut table. So we don't really. Know I remember they were like oh so and so can die of a peanut and I'm like that's. Crazy. Yeah, I when I thought about that, I was just like, I it for me, it's like, it's unbelievable, you know? I guess it's true. Well, I mean, everything's unbelievable, but it's true. See that happen, right? Yeah. I mean, that's. That's the whole thing. It's like we've all got these things that. Peanut allergies increase Yes, peanut has significantly increased, particularly in the past past few decades. In the United States, the number of children with peanut allergies have more than tripled between 297 and 2008. The.

49:59 Problem when I was in school though. The prevalence of peanutologists has tripled the US over the last 20 years, and studies show similar increases. Several factors are contributed to this rise. But that's only the twenty O 8. That's yeah, yeah. I want to see 2025. Well, this is the thing when you do a Google search now and they do the, they do, they do the artificial intelligence. The AI in the top, I kind of like that though, I'm not going to lie. I do too. It's a really good summary. Yeah, no, it's always an excellent summary. Well I answers my question, why was there? Spike. So that's interesting 2000 today today we'll cover why now outdated recommendations to delay peanut 92,008 the rate of Highwood. I'm looking, you know, let's get to like the teens.

50:43 What happened? Is it more peanut? I introduced peanut early for peanut allergy prevention. Landmark study, five years sleep study, 3% of the children new guides now baby to peanuts as early as four to six months. OK, Well, they don't see, they don't give you stats to see if it's lower or higher, but it says it was a spike. Oh, OK. 2017 study reported the peanut allergy in children had increased 21% since 2010 and that nearly two, 2.5% of you as children may have allergy. Why are they on the rise?

51:30 Well, they've been on the rise since the 90s. So this is for a long time white paper on peanut allergy. The prevalence of peanut allergy 33.5 fold over the past two decades reached 2% in Europe and the United States. Not just US, it's it's Europe as well. 2% though in Europe. Why is the world becoming more allergic to food? You know, because. We're making up these weird chemicals. They're, you know, I mean, weird and stuff. Are we? Yeah, we are. High fructose corn syrup. Yeah. What are you? What about that? Yeah. But are we also there's there's a whole lot of other things that we don't pay attention to. Like what? Well, I mean, diet, we've got a whole lot more poor people that can't afford to eat apple. I mean, even when I was a kid, we always had some vegetable or some fruit or something.

52:23 Well, it's like every fruit today is about 1/4 as. Nutritious as the food was in 1930. Right. So it's like, so we should we, we can't only say that oh, it's because of this, it's the food is less nutritious. So maybe it's because we as parents have been purchasing things that are less nutritious because they're cheaper or because they're easier or you know, I mean, think about. This for a second. You have to eat probably 2/3 more food than you would otherwise to get the same nutritional value as what you would need to eat in 1930. But those calories still exist, right? And to get the same nutritious value, that's why you have such a high caloric surplus.

53:11 And I think that that is why we have so many fat people in the world. And also that, that for years and years and years, companies that make things, they want candy bars to be as addictive as cigarettes. They want, you want the bread that I make. I want to be as addictive as cigarettes. Because if you need to eat it all the time, I can. My profit will grow up dramatically. It has no difference to what the health is. As long as the FDA says that if you eat my bread, you won't die, I'm cool. But I think that there's I don't know if there ever was like corporate sense of responsibility for what they do. I see, I don't think they do.

53:53 I think that they're they're they're driven by a profit motive for their shareholders. And that if they don't do that, that I mean, case in point, United, everybody knows United Health, right? The guy CEO that got blown away by Luigi, our hero, that guy when he got, he raised the profits dramatically in the company by algorithms and by just, and not doing anything and not letting people. And so he made a lot more money for the company. It was the biggest company and made the most money. Well, he got murdered and then everybody, United Health said, hey, we should start approving everything. So they started approving a lot more procedures.

54:37 Do you know that they have a shareholder suit against them for approving too much? Oh wow. Think about that. I want the profit. I don't give a shit if little Hepzibar dies. I mean, I, I I just like. It's pretty crazy. Well no, I mean fiduciary duty requires you as the CEO to first and foremost is to the shareholders. But you could, you could really argue the point that if you have a happy population, that short term profitability is stupid. And, and I think that that we have to get back to that because there, there used to be companies that I thought, I mean, there are a lot of companies.

55:18 Southwest used to be that way when that old guy, the old chain smoking guy had invented it was, it was all about if we do, if we do, if we do a really good product and do really good service, we'll get well. And Costco's that way today. That's the last one I think ever. That's the one that everybody publicly talks about, but remember that there's 10 times as many small businesses that do the right. Steel chainsaws seems pretty good. I don't know. Yeah, yeah, they seem to be there. There's. There's there's a. So if there's all these companies out there, why haven't you solidified as a sponsor deal yet? That's my question. Because I'm the talent. I'm I'm not the. No, no, you've been appointed. I'm not business development, I'm not business development assistant producer. You're Business Development Assistant Producer and you now are the have.

56:05 You got me any new clothes lately? I don't think so. You are the acting CEO. Remember that Chimichanga I got you. Remember that. OK, you didn't get me a. Chimichanga, all gifts are forgotten. I've rangos, it's really good. Rango shout out Rangos shout out Rango rangos, we love you. What about? What about I took you? Where did I take you? Other side of the Earth in West Virginia. Antarctica, no tutors. We did go to tutors. We went to that would be a great. Sponsor, we could do that. Yeah, well, I would think that the the what about the pizza 1? I just saw your. Shirts. Yeah, yeah, the T-shirts I think came in, but he's been there. Every time he's been there. She's not there. So OK, I think, but he got his you. Have a bunch on your bed?

56:47 You have a bunch on your bed? What? Do you mean? You have T-shirts. Like piece of T-shirts with his picture. Oh, yeah. Those are for Sean and Seth. Yeah. Those are OK. Those are mine. OK cool. Yeah, I ordered those like 2 years ago. A year ago, Yeah. Wow. These last two years have felt like 10 years. Have you? Did you know? Have you noticed that? Yeah, these. Well, this one's really, really slow. And 25 actually feel like 20 years of my life like Oh my God, these. A lot of you're going through it, you're going through a it's a monumental change because you're deciding what you really want to do with your life. And then, you know, you're still, you know, you were into acting and now you're like, fuck that. I I don't want to be a dog, you know?

57:29 Being a dog sucks. I want to do this. I want to be the person who tells the dog what to do, you know? You know. Being, yeah, and actually having stuff that gets made is really great. But at the same time, yeah, there's still one act last. Two years I think you'd still do acting. I think so. I think that well. I am going to go. I haven't been accepted. We'll see if if I go to Stanford executive business. School. I hope so. I hope you get in. Yeah, me too. It's. About I know I could get in because I have really good grades and really smart. But you didn't go to a really good school though I did. I went to I went to a really good school too. I. Went to Nova, Nova Nova and ODI. Want to get some merchandise from them? Some Nighthawks merchandise.

58:15 We should get matching sweaters. That'd be sick. I love that we could all get 3 matching sweaters. Maybe for Christmas. That's not like I wanted Woodbridge campus because we all went. There and and she could be the. We have a legacy. Of Noah. She's an Andelay. I went to an Andelay. That's where I went too. You went to an Andelay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that because it was Annandale and they had a grease man guy that called it an Andelay. There was a guy that shot up the Woodbridge campus, and I remember when we were in class, my Art 100 teacher said, well, it couldn't be us, we're not Cavemen. And then I was like, wow. I was like, Oh my God. The good old days. That was after an active shooting. And I was like, I hitchhiked there for, my God, almost two years.

58:58 That's a That's a lot of hitchhiking. Wow. Yeah, a lot. Lot. Lot what? Time here by the way. Oh yeah, we're over. We're, we're right at an hour, man. So we, we're good. We're good. We should, we should wrap it up and talk about, I mean, we can talk about underwear on the next one. Sounds good to me. All right. As always, recordmyfather.com, check out the YouTube and everything like that in between. Check out the website. Tell your friends about us. Yeah. Food for thought to change your underwear daily. Daily. Whether you think you need it or not, that's a good idea. That's a good idea. Bye bye.