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Hey guys, just want to drop you a line and let you know what’s what in my life.
Not going anywhere, just taking a little break.
Thanks and hope you stick around,
Corey
Today, I added a donate button to my latest podcast Talk Duo. I wanted to put a post up and explain why I did this.
First, I want to thank everyone for the kind words and support for the shows that I do. Those really help make me happy and make me want to make every episode so much better than the one before.
The reason that I put a donation button on my podcast is because I felt comfortable enough to be able to do it. As most of you know, this is my third podcast. (The other two are Average Joe Show and Tech Gang Show.) I figured that putting a donate button on the site won’t look like I’m in this for the money. If I was, it would have been done a long time ago.
Everything that is being done with these shows comes out of my pocket and the through the help of others. Without them, the shoes wouldn’t exist.
With these donations we could help pay the co-hosts for their time and help get better equipment so we can produce better quality shows, get quicker turn around times on the releases and maybe start to do live video casts.
If you have any questions, please let me know. I’ll answer any questions that you have.
Thanks,
Corey Charette
Just wanted to post a quick note about how episode zero of our Talk Duo podcast (http://www.talkduo.com) went last night.
I shouldn’t have freaked Theresa (my co-host) out as much as I have yesterday. This was her first experience with a podcast and she was really nervous about it. Even though we would have conversations on Skype, for some reason, she thought that this was different.
So, after about 10 minutes of talking, I officially introduced the show. The funny thing is that I thought that this would be an easy podcast to do, but I was still having troubling starting the show. Even though I do two other podcasts (http://www.averagejoeshow.com and http://www.techgangshow.com) it’s still hard to get the first words out on the first episode.
Theresa did a heck of a job. She was very comfortable behind the microphone. We had planned 10 news stories to talk about and jotted down personal stories to cover too. I figured that this would be enough to cover a 45 to 60 minute episode.
The conversations flew right out of our mouths. I was impressed how it went. When I finally wrapped up the show it was 80 minutes later and we only covered 6 of the 10 news stories we “brought to the table” and went on tangents and covered everything else imaginable.
I emailed Theresa a copy of the audio and she agreed with me that it sounded great!
I can’t wait until this weekend to upload it for all of you enjoy. We already have friends of ours waiting for the episode to listen to.
Well, I can finally announce that we officially have picked a name for my third venture into the podcast realm.
The name of this podcast is “Talk Duo” and will be located at http://www.talkduo.com. (I know you’re going to click on the link, but at the time of this posting it will only take you here.)
The format of this show will be similar to morning talk shows on the radio. We won’t be doing things like a ‘zoo crew’ morning show. Our show will be more of a talk oriented show and will cover not only news stories that we find worth talking about, but also a look at ourselves. This show, unlike The Average Joe Show, will have a more personal side to me and my co-host.
Of course, since this show is called “Talk Duo” there must be someone else doing the show with me. Her name is Theresa Aber, and I hate her!
You read that right – I hate her! For sometime now, I’ve wanted to do a radio morning show style podcast, but had put that on the ‘back burner’ until the time was right. Theresa was the one who basically came to me with the idea and I said it would be a great podcast. So that’s where my hatred for her comes from. LOL.
Theresa and I were co-workers in Florida. We would have some very unusual conversations about everything that was in the paper, to what we saw on TV to just strange things we saw going on around us. Our strange chemistry together will hopefully translate into a podcast show.
We will be recording episode 0 on Wednesday April 1st. (No, this isn’t an April Fool’s Joke, honest.) Our, first official episode is scheduled for April 8th. I plan on releasing this show every Wednesday night. Don’t look for episode 0 on the first, but I will try to post it before episode 1 comes out.
I hope that you can be patient and come and listen to the show when we get it up and running.
As most of you might (or might not) know I already have two podcasts under my belt, The Average Joe Show, and the Tech Gang Show. I’ve had a few plans for some more podcasts, but have left them on the backburner for a while.
Unbeknownst to me, a third podcast fell into my lap yesterday. A friend of mine from Tampa was IMing me yesterday and we were doing the usual chit chat and she said “This is stuff that you hear on the radio”. So I asked said, “Let’s do a podcast. All you need is a headset.” Her response was, “How much?”
I figured that maybe she would lose interest in it today, but when we got back online together she was still chatting away about it.
So, it looks like another podcast is in the works for lil old me. The funny thing is this type of podcast was one of the ones I planned on working on next. So maybe this is fate.
I did explain to her that it’s not just getting online and talking. There is some prep work that needs to be done on her side, and that my side is even harder – prepping, website, editing, uploading! She was too excited (like I was with my first show) doing a daily show, web cam, phone calls, etc. etc. I told her that we have to go baby steps, but I know where she wants to take it, and I hope that one day we’ll get it to that point.
So, here’s where we stand with this podcast.
Right now, we are in the early stages, but when more information is available I’ll let you know.
I can’t wait!
The bathroom at work always seems to show the strangeness of people. Well, at my job I always seem to run into one of them in there.
Below is a cross-section of whom I’ve seen while going to “do my business” in the local potty.
The H2 No Guy
We all know this guy. He’s the one that’s allergic to soap and water and doesn’t wash his hands before he leaves. This is the guy I pray that I never have to meet and shake his hand. EWWW!
The Doctor
This one is a regular in the bathroom. He’s the one that, after he washes hands, takes the paper towel to open the bathroom door. Then, scoots out while throwing the towel out and not making any physical contact with the door. What the heck it up with this guy? If he’s going to go and sit inside a bubble afterwards? Does he slip on rubber gloves at his desk so he doesn’t have to touch his keyboard? I bet that he has a packet of phone santizing wipes the he uses on his phone before putting it up to his ear.
The überclean Freak
This is a very rare breed of guy. This man is actually afraid of his own penis. Before he heads to the urinals he grabs a paper towel with him. I don’t know what he does with the paper towel, but I do know that he throws it in the toilet. Does he use it as a level of protection between his hand and his unit, or is it a wiping device? And don’t throw it in the toilet! It doesn’t flush you idiot! Don’t make other people have to clean up your mess. I don’t know why you would use it as wipe! Have you ever heard of “the shake?”
The Personal Office Guy
Just because you work in a 4×4 cubicle with no door doesn’t allow you to make the bathroom your own personal office. There are guys that will take their planners, cellphones and PDAs with them into the stalls. I sure as heck wouldn’t want to be making professional phone calls with the sounds of “water” trickling in the background. People aren’t stupid. If they think it sounds like pee – then it must be pee!
These are the typical group of guys that visit our local bathroom at work.
If you know of anymore, please let me know. The bathroom really is an interesting place to watch people’s behavior.
Some time ago, when I worked in Tampa, one of my co-workers (and friends) suggested that we try something else different for lunch. She went online and found this Italian-American buffet place and the address of it made it sound like it was right behind the building, so it would be quick to get to. Now, before I continue with this story, when I say “quick” I really mean “forever”.
She found the place on one of Yahoo!’s map related websites that gives you information about places around you. The reviews of it were very high, so what could go wrong?
It was about 12:30 and we headed out the back door of the building. The address was on the street behind us and the number was 104. Since our building was 100, we had to be nearly on top of it. Now, if you’ve ever been to downtown Tampa there will be something obvious about all the buildings – THEY DON’T LIKE TO PUT NUMBERS ON THEM! Okay, that wasn’t a problem. We headed up one way and found lots of little businesses – copy places, museum, banks, etc. etc. but no restaurant. We jumped across the street, figuring it was there and headed back towards the building – still nothing. Made me wonder where the heck this place was. We must’ve passed it somewhere. So, we crossed the street again and began our second lap. There wasn’t any restaurant in the area. I suggested that she get her phone out and call them to ask where they were. There were two problems with this. First off, she didn’t have the number, but we could call information for it. Secondly, she didn’t have the phone, so the first problem didn’t even matter. There was a hotel there, so, if anyone would know, they would inside. She asked them where it was and they had no idea. Now I wanted to know where the hell this place was! So, we did what any normal person would do – we began our third lap around the street!
Now, we were looking for this restaurant…. in Florida…. in the summer, where the temps are in the 80s and the humidity was in the 90s, and we were wearing dress shoes. So, the comfort level was non existant and the deordorant was starting to wear thin.
About half way through this lap we decided to head back to work and call them up to see where they are. I was almost certain that we walked by the place and didn’t even notice it. By this time, my stomach was making some strange noises that the only thing I could think about was lunch! NOW WHERE THE F*** IS THIS DAMN PLACE? THEY BETTER HAS SOME GREAT FOOD THERE!
We got back in the office – nearly an hour after we left for lunch, with moisture in places I dare not discuss. My friend has to log back into her computer and try to find the website to get the number. Great, let’s add more time until we get to eat! She pulled up the page, grabbed the phone and dialed the number.
“The number you have dialed has been disconnected. If you need assistance please dial the operator.”
WHAT? You have to be kidding me, we were looking for a place the doesn’t exist!!!
So, now the big question is where should we go to eat? We were both disgusted with the outcome of the first choice so we decided to walk around downtown and see if anything catches out fancy. We wanted something different and not go to any of the “old standbys.” After another 10 minutes of walking nothing jumped out to us then I remembered a place called “The Office” that sound some great hamburgers. She thought it was a great idea so we headed over there. There was only one problem with this suggestion – they had gone out of business.
Looks like we were even – she picked a non-existant place and I picked one that was out of business.
So we headed back to work and kept our eye out for something interesting. Heck, by this time, we would have been happy with a day-old donut from Krispy Kreme. So, as we got close to our building we decided to go to the one place we didn’t want to go to in the first place – the hotel restaurant located RIGHT ACROSS FROM THE BUILDING!
So, we spent over AN HOUR of walking aimlessly through downtown Tampa just to go to a place that’s less than 2 minutes from our building!
Since work was paying for this – when we sat down and started looking at our menus I said, “I’m having dessert dammit! Not wasting that much time to go and eat lunch and not having desert!”
So after over an hour of trying to get to lunch, a $30+ bill, and some medicocre food – I was content.
The lesson of this story was that she was not allowed to pick a place to go to eat at!
For my son’s Valentine’s Day party at school we went to the store and picked up a box of Fun Dip.
If you were a child of Fun Dip of the 80’s you should remember this stuff. What Fun Dip was was an edible stick (similar to the candy cigarettes of years past) that you stuck in your mouth to get wet and dipped into a flavored power mix that was usually cherry or grape. After you were done with the powder you could eat the stick. So, this was like two snacks in one.
Well, I remember when I attempted a DIY of Fun Dip. I loved tasting the flavored powder and didn’t feel like I they gave me enough to enjoy. So, instead of opening a second packet and enjoying that one I tried to be resourceful and stretch out the lifespan of the first one.
I searched through the cabinets and tried to find something similar to Fun Dip. I did find a packet of cherry flavored Kool-Aid mix. I figured that would work. It’s powder and it has a cherry flavor. What could go wrong?
The thing about being a child is that if two things look alike they must taste alike. Unfortunately, kids don’t understand that Kool-Aid needs to have sugar added to it to be tolerable. I ripped open the packet and saw the red powder inside begging to me to put the Fun Dip stick in there. The moment that powder hit my tastebuds my mouth imploded. On a scale of 1 to 10 of tartness this has to be a 50! They call it cherry flavor, but I didn’t taste any cherry. I ran over to the sink and drank two large glasses of water trying to dilute the tartness in my mouth. That didn’t work. I kept spitting in the sink too. I think that my saliva was pink for the next couple of days from this experiment.
Lesson learned. If I wanted more Fun Dip then I should’ve opened up a SECOND ONE!
I’m a cold blooded killer…..literally.
My family went on a short trip to Virginia leaving me home alone. That wasn’t a good decision on their part.
My 5-year old son has a fish bowl and a twenty-eight cent Wal-Mart special swimming around in it. These are the type of fish that have the lifespan of a Jessica Simpson single. My son named him Swimmy. I decided to clean the bowl out since it was getting a bit cloudy. Cleaned the bowl with no problems and put it back in his room. A few hours later I went in his room and noticed the fish was taking a nap – upside down. I didn’t want to believe that it was dead so I decided to poke at it a few times to see if it was trying to play a trick on me. Guess not.
So, what were my options?
1) Take the remains out of the tank and give it to one of the cats to put some toothmarks into and and leave it laying by the tank telling him that the cat must’ve grabbed it out and played with it like a toy.
2) Get another fish that looks like Swimmy and replace it without my son knowing.
3) Leave the fish in the tank until my son comes home and take him up to his room and show him the fish is dead and try to explain about death to him.
So, I did what any responsible parent would do in this situation – ran to the store to get a replacement fish!
It was 2 o’clock and I was expecting the family to be home by 7. That gave me 5 hours to go the store and buy Swimmy II.
I brought the fish bowl down to the kitchen and got the fish net out to scoop up the carcass. Needless to say, it was a heck of a lot easier getting the fish out this time than it was before – they don’t seem to put up much of a struggle when they are dead! I stuck it in a small plastic bag so I could take it to the store and compare it to the living ones.
Got in the car and headed to Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go to the one 5 minutes from the house because they don’t sell fish there, so I had to head 15 minutes away to get a fish! This Wal-Mart, like every other one, was busy so just getting a parking spot was an adventure on it’s own. When I got in the store I headed right over to the fish tanks. Pulling out my plastic bag of the fish I pressed it against the glass trying to find one that was about the same size and color. Actually, I did try to find one that had more color to it, figuring that my son’s faded because IT WAS DEAD! I spotted one. I flagged down one of the employees to get the fish for me. The small Asian woman came over and asked me which one I wanted. I pointed to the fish I found earlier. Needless to say, there were more than 50 fish in this tank and trying to get that one specific fish would be chore in itself. Everytime she would try to grab that one fish at least a half dozen more would be caught in the net. After her mumbling some words in a language I’ve never heard before she finally got the one I needed.
I took the fish home and placed it the bowl and put it back in my son’s room. I hope that he won’t notice that it’s a different fish. If he does then I’ll just tell him that he was gone for a few days and forgot what Swimmy looked like.
That’ll work, right?
So, I drove 30 minutes roundtrip to buy a 30 cent fish! The clock is ticking down, the only thing I can do it sit here and wait for him to come home.
Every time I stay up late, between the hours of 2 am and 6 am this commercial shows up:
This commercial reminds me of one of those gimmicky pitches that you see at the kiosks at the mall or a county fair. The guy who is pushing this product is very good at it, but he kind of looks scary to me. Couldn’t they find someone else who is more pleasant looking on TV?
No matter, how they push this product is still looks like a cheap product. I love how these commercials try to make it sound like YOU REALLY NEED this product in your life and how did you ever live without it? It cracks me up when they say that you spend “$20 a month on paper towels.” Really? What kind of slob are you if you use that many rolls of paper towels in a month. Would someone really rather pull out a ShamWow to clean up a mess or just grab a few paper towels? Honestly, the ShamWow needs to be washed out and hung to dry when you’re done using it. Paper towels – welcome to the trash can.
And you know when a product is really good (sarcasm here), they always double the order. So you know this is one of those great things out there! And the deal only lasts 20 MINUTES! Everytime I see the commercial you get those 20 minutes – EVERYTIME!
And the ‘testimonials’ they give are hilarious. Especially those two women who have to say “ShamWow” together. Like that really makes me want to get the product even LESS!
I really enjoying watching late night television because of these great commercials that you see.