Season's Greetings

0:01 Welcome back to another episode of a record of my father coming to you. Now I'm not blurry anymore, which is nice. I think that it's a it's a better that you can see the microphone that I'm talking to. How are you doing? How are you doing over there? Who? Are you talking to me? Yeah, I think so. Oh. OK Oh, I'm doing good. I'm doing great. We were we were talking about what, what, what, what kind of topics we cover. We said, yeah, what about Christmas cards? And then we immediately got in a fight over that. And then when we talk about Christmas ornaments and it's like, what are you going to do with Christmas ornaments over time and little things like that, I think it is, it is the holidays. So we should talk about, you know, the the happiness and the holidays. And I kind. Of like the. I kind of like the idea of starting with something like that and just, you know, meandering through life because that's kind of what we do.

0:50 We have so many Christmas ornaments too. If I remember all those ones that I made when I was when I was a kid from preschool on, I remember there was that, what was that guy the the snowman made out of like socks or something with the right you made. All that stuff that we had a key. We still have it too. No, I set it on fire. Oh, you did? I was thinking about it. I think that'd be pretty cool. But. And when you come back, yeah, that's what we I guess we could set up the tree when I'm back because I'm back on the what is it the 15th? Yeah. Yeah, so. Yeah, we'll do that. We could do that. We we got rid of the big one, We now have just a small one. You just wait. You got rid of the big one, the one that was falling. Apart one that was falling apart. We gave that away. Nah.

1:30 Yeah, but it really. Wasn't falling apart, it was still a three-part. It was just a pain to bring downstairs and set up and it and it was you know an 8 foot tree or 7 foot or whatever, six. I you know, it was a tall tree. It held a million ornaments. We would, I would bring everything down. She would put it all on. She would get tired of it by like the 26th and and be like, let's take it down. I always had a dream of just leaving it up all year and so we never had to bring it down. I thought that that was always my. Well, that would be fine. Exactly. But it took a corner of the room that we have, like certain things that were in that corner that got covered. But nothing's been there in years, right? I don't think that. No, we have, we have a the like a fan, the fan. What's that thing that you get behind? Put your clothes on.

2:18 Oh, the. I know what you're talking about. What is that called? I forget. It's like a screen, right? Is that is that? A screen the. Yeah, the Chinese screen, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. About really a screen though, It's like a. Well, yeah, you can. You can get dressed behind it. That's what people do. You get dressed. Behind a lot of things. No, no. But when him and her and I got married, she was in a one bedroom and in the bedroom that sort of like cordoned off an area where you would go there to get dressed. So if you had any type of like whatever, you know, you you it, it just sort of, it gives you this modicum of I wake up in the morning and I, you know, and I come out of the shower and I don't want some weird dude that I'm getting married to staring at me or vice versa, you know? You know you get you.

3:08 It's a certain amount of modesty, I guess. Is that different? You know how? Dare you? How dare you be modest? You being modest when is this but. Yeah, I know that's that's really messed up. No. Have you thrown any of the ornaments away or do we still have? No, I think, I think that we're we're getting to that point and it's funny we. Talk about ornaments, yeah. There's certain things that happen around this time that, you know, probably there's there's always something like everybody has to do. They sometimes do Christmas letters or they do Christmas cards, or they do pic or they do cards with pictures, or they buy just cards or they send electronic cards or they send out notices and say we're not sending anything, we're just going to donate a, you know, $100 to the Red Cross or whatever the case.

3:54 So there's like all these different ways, you know, and I've and in being in business in 345 successive companies, this was one of the things that I helped decide. So you know, how do we, how do we reach out to our customers at the holiday time and say blah, blah, blah. And it's like now I'm at home. So it's how do you reach out to your customers, which are your friends and family and all them. I I do that and I have a lot of the people that I work with. I used to send cards to too, you know, over the years because we kind of follow each other from place to place, but it's and it's somewhat important for me. And it was never, I mean she really didn't care, you know, she's like why are you, you know, you you cut down a tree to mail something to someone that says you care for them once a year and you you care enough to put their name on the envelope and then you don't even have care that much. You actually have them all pre printed, so you don't care except to sign your name and send it. My thing is, like, well, as you talk to these people once a year and then it's always like, oh, we're going to get together at some point.

4:54 We're going to do something and then you never do. And then it's just kind of this hospitality that's not real. It's not a real hospitality thing. It's. It's an invitation, yeah. That you can, you can capitalize on in any year you wish. That's what I think. Well, to me, it's always that idea that it's kind of like you're going to do something nice for somebody. Like, you offer it, but in your mind, you would hope that they were nice enough to understand that you really don't want to do it right. So then, like, they don't take you up on your offer, right? But when they do accept your offer, sometimes you're like, how motherfucker? Like, why do they, why do they accept my offer? To be nice to them? I don't know. You.

5:35 You. You know, but over over time you know when in life you you look around and you start to realize that those are how you build long term relationships. I mean, those are the people that that. Long term relationships, they mean nothing. Yeah. No, I understand that. Well, I don't know. If they mean nothing. A lot of them do. I mean, if you're sending Christmas cards to 300. People. Yeah, yeah. I I think a fair amount of them are are are just sort of like keeping a some communication link open between relatives that are. I mean I have most of my relatives are distant. I'm not real close to any, a few of them, just a few. I mean my not my immediate family and my wife's immediate family and then a little bit of the extended family.

6:15 But beyond that, it's just, you know, if you're out of state, you're out of mind pretty much, you know and some people in state out of mind. You know, it's like you don't, you know, the best you get is, you know a like on Facebook, you know. So it's a very it's it's you know, I think. It's the way it. Is I. Was just going to say that I would read the the paragraphs that people write about what they did in a year and I was just like oh please no, wait, I don't know what that is. Well, your. Mother feels the same way. It's just this braggado show thing of what I've done and da da, da, da, da da. And then there's other people that are laid down 37 ailments that they they had. I broke my toe then. My ankle got tripped, then my wife fired me and then I got fired from my job and now I'm in the gutter and I'm hammered.

7:02 Knocking fires in Hawaii? That's not good, That's. The That's the worst. Yeah, that's not good. But yeah, and it always seemed like a piece of narcissism written down. Let's just. Well, you're talking to the biggest narcissist you've ever met, so that's true. And that's why we're always going to have different opinions, I think, on that, Yes. Well, that's fine. You have a Christmas card, I'm OK with. Are you sending one out this You're? Wrong and I'm right. 'Cause I remember you sent one out. Was it last year or two years ago? And I was it was just the worst photo of us. I'm like, this is supposed to make us look good. It's it's kind of you're doing the opposite when it makes us look bad. I didn't care. I think see, I think the thing. Is is that you guys were you don't want to look bad and me, I kind of almost think that's funny. Yeah, that I guess that is, you know. Yeah, yeah.

7:47 I mean, it's like, you know, everybody else is sending out that great Christmas picture. And here's the Browns. You know Phil's got his mouth open with with crap in his teeth. Zach's over there looking off in the distance going like, wow, why am I here? And and the wife's, of course, is she's Hiccuppy. You know, there was some guy that pulled out that the photo from them and they're like, wow, they look like shit, God. I know. But I made that guy's weak. He's like, you know, this makes me feel better because the picture we sent out, you know, I didn't think it was that great. But now you know, when I see the Browns, it's just so. So what I did is I I made a lot of people feel good that year. And that that's pretty funny, isn't? That kind of different. That's pretty funny. I like that. I mean, kind of.

8:27 What's a? Shitty photo you got that's. In the giving spirit, yeah, it definitely is. Yeah, that's that's fun. Yeah, think about it. I mean it, You know, this is a this is a time of year when when people that are alone are really alone. Yeah. When it's more acknowledged, yeah. When you see all these people, yeah, not surrounded by their family. Sadness comes out of the woodwork, you know? Oh yeah, like you know it. Either happiness or sadness, depending upon what you are. It gets accentuated around this time. I mean, my mother was always like, what do? You mean by sad? A time of year? Well, that's when her mother died, and that's when her grandfather died and I. Think there was. Yeah, there was a couple, two or three people that dropped dead right in like the twenty 20th to the 27th, you know, So it's like, hey, if you're going to die, can you try not to die around Christmas 'cause that's when everybody dies In the Brown family, you do it.

9:21 You do it after after Christmas maybe? Do it after. Do it in our January. No one gives a crap about January. There's no holidays, You know? You can go ahead and die then. Then everybody gets up and then they get off a Friday to go to your funeral. You know, that's kind of cool. When's the right time to dine? Maybe that that'll be a good. Title for the Well, it was going to be a little bit about Christmas, you know? And I was looking at some of the Christmas photos and it's like. I got an idea. Christmas question mark, right time to dine, question mark. I think that's oh God, that's a great. When is the When is the right time to die? I've got I was doing it. I was doing a hike today. Whenever you're and I brought. That up. And I brought that up. No, no, I brought that up. With a bunch of people. Yeah.

10:01 And I was just like, OK, so you're you're as you get older you start to like realize that, you know I have less years left than I've spent by like a long shot, you know. And and realistically at what point do you as a person say it's time and do you, do you, do you like if you have dementia like that kind of runs in my family. So I'm going to be a pudding head. So from that perspective that makes me say that you will have to change me or Valerie will have to change me. You will have to, you will have to become in charge of me, right. You will be like I will now have to think for my father who's never even let me think at all or finish a sentence in his lifetime.

10:53 So. So when you think that through and be like Oh my God and see I you know the reason I I'm so on this because my mother died that way and it was it was just it was ugly. It was horrible to watch to watch somebody go through the you know I think it was like 5 years of dementia before she died. It was just. What's the I thought she had Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's. Yeah. Alzheimer's. Dementia. They're kind of. You know, they're almost synonymous. Slowly your slowly your mind goes away and you know you see it and there's there's some comical stuff in the beginning and you can make fun of it and laugh about it. I mean, we did. That and we kind of happens. You're gonna have to laugh at it and or else you're not gonna sadness be able to Pierce through the other side.

11:38 Right. I was talking about that, 'cause I said every, every, every Sunday morning, My brother, who's no longer with us and I and you and and my mother, we pick her up at the Oak Oakton Center like the they they had, they had an Alzheimer's center there. We. Pick her up. It's 7:30 in the morning on a Sunday. Valerie was still asleep. The wife was happy because I took the little scrawling brat with me. Right. That would be you. At that time I would throw. You three or something. No, you weren't even one. I'd stick you in the back of the Ford Explorer and I'd hop in. I'd drive off, and then I'd meet Seth there, right? We'd pick up my can he meet me at the home? Because it was.

12:22 It was halfway between our houses. She was over in Oakton. And because that's why it was called Oakton Brilliant. Anyway, naming was not there. Forte Sunrise. The Oakton Sunrise. Anyway, I would then we'd pick her up and then drive down 66 and go to Haynes Point and we get a six pack of Bush tall boys at 711 on the way before we even hit 66. Then we drive in to the golf course. We parked there. We'd be there like 815, and we popped the first round of beers and my mother would like, we look at her and we go, what do you say? And she goes head for the mountains, which is the, you know, when you hear the Bush, head for the mountains, that's the that's the whole moniker. But we would do this Sunday, every Sunday morning. And the Bush, Bush, tall boys, one morning you were screaming and you know you were awake and you're in the back seat, 'cause she sat in the back seat with you sets that in the front seat with me.

13:24 Yeah. And you were screaming. And she was going quiet, be quiet, quiet. And then you went quiet. And then I looked back, and she had her hand over your mouth and your nose, and she was holding them, making you be quiet. Oh my God. I don't think she realized that she was killing you, but I did. So I thought, like, well, this is not going to be good for Valerie. She's really going to be upset if I brought her. Home a dead baby. And then I don't know how to explain that. And so that's like, what's the problem? And I'm like, I I pulled over on 66, like within 3 seconds I nailed the brakes, 'cause I'm freaked out, 'cause if she, I don't know how long you can go without oxygen at at six months, OK, But it wasn't very long. Anyway, I jumped out, jumped in the back car, and then I, you know, said no, you can't do that. Yeah, but he's quiet.

14:18 I mean, she did a crime. That's when she meant it. She's right. She dot. She did, she did. It was that. But well, The funny thing is is brought her in the front seat, Seth in the back seat, and then you stopped crying. Then Seth did the same thing. That. That's probably right. He's probably sitting over there going like, quiet. I'll, I'll do what she did. You're like, OK, I can't do that. That wouldn't be good. No, it wouldn't be good. Yeah. Yeah. But I I just, I I was talking to them about that like so who do you leave that to? And then the problem is is it like OK, I'm I'm, I'm what I am. I have dementia. I have Alzheimer's at what point? I mean I don't want to be around.

14:59 I don't want you to experience what I experienced. I've heard people say when, in particular that the test of humanity is watching your parents die, that's. Supposed to be a humbling experience, right? Yeah. And I don't know. God it. It is. It is because if you, if you think about it, I changed you when you were this big, whatever it is to about this big, and now you will be doing that to me. What do you mean by test of humanity? What do you what do you mean? What is your definition? I don't really know because that's what the he said it, he said. It's like it it it it, it gives you when your parents die.

15:42 That gives you a sense of that life is not infinite anymore seems. A little arbitrary, I don't know to make somebody suffer well. It does. Because if you're buying, parents die and like, they're seven and mine died in their 70s and I think my fat dad was late 60s. Anyway, when they die, it's like, well, that's that's the low bar on how long I'm gonna live, right? Yeah, you measure your life by that. Cause it's hereditary. Yeah. You know, I mean, if I die tomorrow, you'd be like, you'd be thinking like, well, I got till I'm 64, unless I'm really stupid and he was pretty stupid and he abused himself bad. So if I don't, you know, if I don't drink 900 quarts of bourbon between now and the end of the week and I don't shoot heroin and I don't do all this other bad stuff, I'll be fine. Exactly.

16:24 Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You know, I think. That's how people mention their lives a lot of the time. Because they I think it was eating the goat balls. That's probably the worst, but that's. Probably enhanced your life. Yeah, that and the puffer. Fish the puffer fish. Yeah, I kissed a lot of puffer fish. You're not supposed to do that. What are they? What are the puffer fish tasted? I did. You eat it? It's just sushi. They cut it up and they put it in and it's raw fish and to me fish. Tastes different. Though it all tastes the same that. Doesn't make it. You smoke a cigar, It doesn't matter. Well, that's like so it doesn't matter. Give me 6 bourbons and you know what it might as well be. So you're saying salmon tastes the same as cod? Is that what you're saying?

17:10 No, that's. Different. You have a light fish and a dark fish, right? Or a Or a heavier fish. Well, whitefish. Yeah, whatever. Not Whitefish. I mean, to be honest, to be perfectly honest, I don't remember. Yeah, I don't remember. I just remember we got sushi, we sat at a place, we ate it and we said we wanted that and they put it on there somewhere. And it was in a line of things. And I didn't know Japanese and they didn't know English. So you. Didn't know Japanese. Stuff. No, I don't. I mean, I know Japanese people, but I don't. And I guess I don't really know them. I kind of. I mean acquaintances. But other than that, yeah. But hey, wow. Wow, very, very cool. Time. This is.

17:51 This was the We're going to talk about Christmas ornaments, right? Why didn't you go down to Haines Point specifically? We went there because Seth, well, it's kind of strange. Seth mentioned that, that it's a neat place to go to, to just sit out. And we would just sit out on the park bench there, 'cause there's park benches all the way around. And at that time there was a statue of, I can't remember, it was like, what's the the king of the underwater like, Nemo? Yeah, I think it's reaching for the sky. And they called it something or other. It's really, really, really cool. And he has a Poseidon 3 Pronger thing and had the the thing and tried it and it was like statue was like 25 feet high. It was big.

18:40 Why do you? Get rid of it. That's. Nice. I I just they moved it somewhere else. I don't know. You know maybe it was because it was against it was enhancing. He was a bad fish person. I don't freaking know somebody. Yeah, you don't want bad fish guys. Bad fish guys around, Yeah. Oh, but that's what So you went down there for the statue Is everything. I I mean, I like that, but also it was very, very, it was very defined you you you get out on 66, you go. All the way on. 66 to the end, you you come down. 14th. No, no, you, you, you go to 66 to 395, hop off at 395 at the little swoopy swoop and you swoop down and around and you're there. And it was just like, it was a neat place and he just mentioned it and you know, he didn't go into the city as much as I did.

19:27 But. And I was like, I knew exactly where it was. I was like, yeah, that's cool. Let's go there. And and The thing is, is you drive for a little bit with her and that was good. And then you walk for a little bit with her and then you and then you sit with a little bit and then you drive back and it's like, yeah, it was like there was measured amounts of time. Yeah, you would you you had to keep her engaged. Otherwise it just you go, you go all you know. Yeah, 'cause if you're in the home and you're doing that, that's one needs to not a new place, right? And it's not very enjoyable. Yeah, well, there's a whole lot of people there and you know, they chase you when they're naked and, you know, there's things like that.

20:09 Yeah. You know, there's a lot of. I understand that completely. I could definitely see how you do. You're getting here many. Times have you been chased by a naked 80 year old woman. No, I have AI have friends that have a people going through dementia right now. So, yeah, I've heard the story. Maybe I don't understand it. I've heard of it though. I guess understanding of it. Right. So I you know what I will never understand. That's funny. I will never understand until it happens to me. So I can imagine what it is like to understand, right. But I will never you. You you look at it and you're saying, OK, but we we got into the conversation, it's like, what do you want? What do you want to do? It's like, take care of me. For how long? At what point do you want to be thrown into a little home where some third party is changing your underwear? Yeah.

20:58 Washing you and being your this person you've never met that's making 15 bucks an hour is now your keeper? Yeah. Exactly. That's and you're in. You're in a little, you're in a 12 by 12 room with a little single bed and and you have your little dresser and that's it. And that's like 6 grand a month. It's not cheap. It's crazy. What is the? What is the place called? It's a place called. What the The center. Because this isn't. That a base, that one was that was Sunrise. Sunrise. That's what I'm thinking about, right? There we go. That was sunrise and it was the sunrise Alzheimer's center or something like that and. Specifically for Alzheimer's. Yeah, this was. So you, you, you. Ran the gambit quadrants.

21:41 Or whatever. This is where you really, really find out how much longer women lived in men, because all the guys just dropped like flies in there. Oh, yeah, yeah, they're all, yeah, they're all dead in the early, like in the early 70s. The women, yeah, it was like 5 to 1, you know, and to women. Well, this time I wonder if that had anything to do with the the post traumatic stress disorder that was World War 2, right? Because these people probably had that age. Yeah. Oh, they're all War 2. They're all. They're all better kind of stuff. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. A little different. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. That's why I think you know longevity has. Miraculous when it was a different, a different thing that women were at home and now they're, you know, they're much more.

22:28 They have to do everything now. Yeah, they used to just have the kids. Now they have to have the kids and make the money and and make sure the house. And you know, job switching. Yeah, well, that's see. But that's what my mom did. So you know, she did everything. She. Did she? Definitely did, but what you? Going to do with Christmas. Well we we were trying to come to a thing is like so do you do you write out a contract that says what you're going to do, how you're going to do it. Do you you know And then it's like if you impose this on your family then all of a sudden you you know you're the one that your last vision of me is yeah my dad was walking away and I hit one in the back of the head with a ball peeing hammer and he.

23:08 But he said it was OK and it's like well yeah that's why I've. Always liked the Cavorkian thing, Yeah, yeah. And he always did it with in an ethical way. And I thought that that was see. I think that's. I think that's a lot better. I I think that's a lot better because. I I just don't have that in the US. Yeah, well, we we kind of do an Oregon, I think it's an Oregon. They also where was it? I I think it was in Washington state. Yeah, that's. Right. I think it maybe it might be both actually. Where together? Sweden. Sweden. Yeah, Sweden has actually Your own private gas chamber. Yeah, yeah, That's.

23:49 Pretty good in it. They they you cut you you you cut it on. It's like the Abe I. Was about to say that The Simpsons reference, but it's it's very hot. Yeah, it's it's, yeah. It's what you get buried in, though, So it's all it's a it's a single unit. You get in it. You die and they throw the damn thing in the ground. You're done. I wonder what? That guy was like the mate designed, you know, like, that's such an odd job to design something. Well, if you think about it, it's like everybody you you've got a hugely aging population. So Oh yeah, we're all gonna face this. Oh, definitely. I mean, everybody will individually, yeah. And when you think about what's gonna happen coming forward, the healthcare industry, the amount of stuff that they do for us now is going to, with the population aging, is going to triple, quadruple. And you think that they're all right now, it's three months. It's three months to get an appointment with somebody to actually do something.

24:50 You get, you get one out, you get one out. 8 to 12 weeks is to actually go there. And then they see whether or not you need to. That's the consultation. And then you get the actual appointment 12 weeks later. And so you're like, OK, so you're waiting this long and it's like, well, what happens when there's, you know, you know, 50 or 100 million more people doing this across the country? All of a sudden, healthcare prices are going to go up, Everything's going to, it's going to continue to skyrocket. And then you guys are going to be like, well, I don't want to be a doctor. This is crazy. I don't want to take care of these people. You know, all of them die because we're all at that. You know, a huge 100 billion people. Yeah, 100 billion people.

25:32 By 2050, a 100 million, it's supposed to be a lot. It's supposed to be upwards of like 60 to 70 billion by 20. We only have like there's there's 12 billion people. With the birth rate now is the projections are crazy and that ample technology that we've been using. I can pull up the, I'll link it but. It's crazy. The what we're going to see. Well, I'm just thinking that that the majority of the population is old and they're moving into old age and we're doing more and more to lengthen their lives. So. So they will be more and more D you know, they won't be able to handle themselves.

26:13 So there's going to be a huge demand on all of the services like home aids, health aids, all that kind. Of stuff like that, without a doubt. And it's like and any anything there that can be automated will be automated. Anything there that you have, you got an idea and you can think about how to help old people. That's going to be and I'm thinking one of the ways is to whack old people and you know, and it's like if you can figure out a way to do that so that, but if I have dementia, how am I going to know that it's time to go? You're going to have to have somebody related to you that would be able to have the tenacity. Yeah, Well, I've. Told him. I've told you and I've told told your mom, but I feel like that. That's horrible.

26:55 I mean, it's necessary, I would think. Yeah, yeah. And it's my wishes. Yeah, no, exactly. But it's like. I'll be doing this and and you'll be like mom, shoot the Bunny. That's kind of what it is, I mean. Mom, Mom, shoot the Bunny. Mom on that. Shoot the Bunny. Thanks. We're going to wrap up here. Did I? Hurt you on that one. Yeah, well, we're also, I think we've got 2 minutes left here. Oh wow, God, I am talking a lot about that. No, when it went by quickly, but as always, extremely rewarding. Christmas and death. Yeah, that was fun.

27:36 It. Was a great uplifting. Episode for the holidays We love all our listeners and find us on social media and a record of my father. Be easy and have happy holidays. Do you have anything to say? Yeah, I was just going to say that we're thinking about doing some type of contest for this guy's head and we're trying to figure out what it is. So we're we'll, we will, we will post more information on that on the next episode. We'll probably bring. It up and show it. But it is interesting that we had all these talking points of all the things we're going to do and we started talking about Christmas. We had ornaments and all this and we talked about that for like 2 minutes and then we go right into killing people. So you're going to have to write Kevorkian as part of this. I I'll look for, you know, a picture of a coffin or something, because that could be our Chris. It's Christmas time and a picture of a Kaufman, we can call it.

28:28 This is the Christmas time episode and it's dead people. What do you think? I think I like that idea. All right. Happy holidays, everybody.