Flying Back to Boston, Driving Home to Kentucky

Hello ladies and gentlemen, it is I, TFG1Mike,

and for those of you who are wondering what the

hell does TFG1 stand for, Transformers Generation

1. Or, for some ThisWeekendGeek .net fan, the

fucking great one, because that's where that

came from. What you are about to hear is something

very personal, something a... new series here

on GeekCast Radio Network that we have never

done before, we've... There have been other podcasting

networks that I listened to where they might

do a segment on their mainstay show and then

that segment might turn into its own podcast.

We're kind of taking that same approach, but

I'm doing something very personal to me. I'm

doing this for myself. If people like it, great.

If people don't like it, honestly, tough shit.

What I'm gonna be doing is something with my

mom, Kathy Blanchard. We will be doing, I don't

know if it's going to be weekly, if it's going

to be monthly, whatever. We're going to be recording

a bunch of episodes and we're going to put it

on a specific feed that will be site exclusive

to geekcastradio .com. You will still be able

to add this to your iTunes if you want to, but

because this is going to be a personal thing

for me, I don't want to put the show on iTunes

and get negative reviews because what I'm about

to do is something very personal. It is exploring

my mother's and my life. I got this idea over

the weekend. We are going to be going through

photo albums and we're going to be telling stories.

We're going to start with her. The timeline is

from 1954 when my mom was born to 2012 or 2013

or whatever, whatever. It's going to basically

be a chronological events timeline of our lives

and we're going to share that with you. We're

gonna be doing this through the site, through

its own separate feed burner link from the other

shows. This one episode here will be featured

on GeekCast Radio with a little spin -off, as

I said. I don't know, it's just, I felt like

doing something personal. A lot of you don't

know my background as far as my life. I've brought

up certain stories and certain events like the

life altering, scarring, you know. discovery

that my father sold all my he -man toys when

i was six years old because he said i was too

old at the you know i've told those stories before

but here is that this is going to be something

very special it's going to be something that

i'm doing for myself uh... because i feel like

i need to talk about it i want to make a you

know what i guess you could say a journal a diary

whatever the hell you want to call an audio diary

i don't know so in this episode here as i've

dragged this intro out too long You're going

to hear the story of my mom first moving to Kentucky

from Massachusetts, moving back to Massachusetts,

and now moving back to Kentucky for, hopefully,

permanently. So without any further ado, let's

listen to the fabulous adventures of TFJU and

Mike and his mom. Ladies and gentlemen, this

is TF2 and Mike. I am the co -creator of the

Geekcast Radio Network and here on Geekcast Radio

I am gonna be possibly starting a family series

It's more so to give you fine listeners the insight

into my life and my family's life It may be interesting.

It may be boring. I don't know. I am Mike Blanchard

I was born February 2nd, 1980 in Stoughton, Massachusetts

And this one is... That's what I said, February

9th, 1980. Well, I was supposed to be born on

February 2nd. I was late. With me is my mom,

Kathleen Blanchard. Say hello. Hi there. Yes,

and we are going to tell you the journey of originally

how I got mom down here in the first place. And

then... It spans from there. This starts in 2006

and ends here in 2012. Well, it doesn't end,

but it continues. Life begins. Again. In 2006,

you were dating someone. We're not going to say

who, but you were in a relationship. Yes. And

it wasn't going so well. He was a functioning

alcoholic. Good guy. Yeah, he was a good guy,

but as we all know alcohol is a disease and it

changes people and everything else And at the

time I was working for a local nonprofit child

care facility as Technically an apartment manager

live -in -resident whatever you want to call

it And I said hey, you know my mom's in a rough

spot. I wanted to move down here Etc etc etc,

so we got you a job at that place and I went

from there was for huh yes the first drive down

oh my god yeah yeah cuz we yeah the first drive

down in 2006 is what happened is I flew up to

Rhode Island was it Rhode Island did I fly in

a TF green the first time first time I flew into

TF Green Airport in Providence Rhode Island came

and picked me up we spent two days in where was

it that wasn't them fox run that was the the

townhouses and that wasn't all is a marshall

avala yeah what town was in and all okay uh...

so we spent a night -and -a -half there i think

uh... stuff started to deteriorate with uh...

this gentleman she was in a relationship with

and uh... we decided to pack up in Come on down.

And the drive down was very, very interesting.

Totally different than this trip. Right. First

trip was, I think, better in a lot of aspects.

We ended up having chocolate chip cookies, homemade.

at one of the hotels, they brought them out to

the lobby, and boy, that was a treat. That was

one of the Holiday Inn Expresses up in Columbus,

Ohio. So that was like the tail end of the trip.

And it was a treat. It was, yeah. The first hotel

we stayed at, we got there real late because

we got a late start. And I think we got up at

like... three, two, three in the morning and

just left and started driving. Yeah, I just couldn't

sleep. I was like, do you want to go? Yeah, sure,

let's go. My health was a lot better then, but

the drive down, we drove down in my Lincoln.

I forget, I can't even remember what year it

was, but boy, I'll tell you, that trunk. Now

I know why the mafia used those big cars because

you could fit a lot of bodies in their trunk

if you had to. But anyways, it was a good trip.

We got here safe. Both of us exhausted. The last

part of the trip again on the way here was absolutely

miserable rain. It is so hard for me to drive

in the rain on the highways with the mist and

the stupid people that just want to do 85 in

hydroplane. Right now, moving back to that first

trip, you spent four years here in Kentucky from

2006 to 2010. And by that time, stuff with this

company was just going south. It was, you know,

we're not going to get into big details because

it's a, you know, it's a It's a child care facility

that, you know, it's a state, not state run,

it's a non -profit child care facility that caters

to all types of at -risk children and all that

stuff. We're not going to give them the name

out or anything like that, but... It's a good

program. It's a good program. It helps a lot

of kids. Right. It really does. Right, and through

this four -year journey over time, you know...

There was just stuff that had happened etc. Etc.

Etc. They did they let you go? What happened

was they were in the midst of changing the programs

and they were going to do away I was a living

resident I lived at an apartment building that

had 18 Apartments one was an office one was my

apartment. So there was 16 apartments for the

kids and I was there 24 7 versus having case

managers or other staff, you know, called out

all hours of the night. I was there. That was

my job. I also did accounting for this company

through spreadsheets. When the kids needed apartments,

I would call up and get the utilities turned

on, get their phones set up, and that sort of

thing. That's what I did for the company. Because

the company deals with at -risk children, you

know, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 -year -olds that are

just coming into quote -unquote adulthood or

learning to become young adults... That have

come out of bad situations. Right. You know,

there might be people that have come from bad

foster homes, bad... Abuse, drugs... Right, right,

exactly. Everything. You know, there were kids

that came from boot camps and everything else,

so, you know... them getting a kind of a taste

of freedom some took it a little too far and

You know there would might be an occasional fight

at four in the morning That not necessarily you

would have to break up, but you would have to

at least look into it and see Right and call

the right staff, so you so you did that from

2006 to 2010 well good the company changed they

had a program where they worked with the Kentucky

Derby. That changed. Money changed. It cost the

economy. A lot of the grants and the money that

came to help fund this company went south. So

they did away with the building I lived in. So

that meant I had to make a decision, move to

another apartment. I had thought about moving

back north just to go visit. When I got north,

I ended up getting hit head on in a car crash.

So from 2010 until last week, or last Monday.

I had been living in Harlem, Massachusetts, not

wanting to, but being rehabilitated through all

the things that went wrong with the accident.

But my health now, being in Kentucky, being around

my son Michael, has been nothing but a joy. uh...

december fourth twenty twelve i made the flights

to boston logan airport which no one should ever

fly into that or out of that airport at all so

the morning of the fourth morning december fourth

uh... you know i was up at three a m because

the flight was at seven thirty my thinking was

was that you know i needed to get to the airport

as soon as possible because they usually tell

you show up an hour and a half two hours before

the flight that way in case you know customs

with this post 9 -eleven world and terrorism

and everything else i got there like i don't

know three thirty in the morning so i had like

a four -hour wait until the flight uh... which

is fine i don't care i didn't mind it i actually

beat the tsa cops to their job uh... i actually

almost what is now stupid i am sometimes ladies

and gentlemen i almost walked into the the blocked

gates of where the security section is because

i wasn't them leaving only breeze right through

and go through the line you know everything we

find so now i had to wait a bit uh... you know

i got some people breaking they have in there

and uh... started showing up and i was like i

don't know the third or fourth person line where

is normally you show up to an airport there's

like align around the friggin block to get your

security uh... so you know there was that So,

I haven't, the last time I flew anywhere was

five years ago in 2007. My grandmother, my mom's

mom passed away and I flew up to Massachusetts

for the funeral. That was the last time I've

flown anywhere. I've been flying since, oh god,

I was three, four, five, somewhere around there.

So flying to me is not that, it's not that big

of a deal. I don't, it's not an issue. You know,

when I was younger I would charm the... stewardesses

and everything else when stewardesses were actually

female, now they usually have two females and

a male as the stewardship on planes. Not that

there's anything wrong with that, but you know,

so... It was very different flying then. Yeah,

flying then was so different. It was actually

fun. Yeah, flying back in the 80s was fun. uh...

back when they actually offered a meal and they

offered you a non -stop flight to different places

exactly non -stop flights now are non -existent

unless you have a gazillion dollars or your own

jet yeah richard branson type so you know for

the morning i'm in the loval standard for field

airport in lowland international airport and

like i said usually known security stuff When

I flew five years ago, it was just a you know

metal detector you go through you make sure your

changes You know changing metal stuffs out of

your pockets. Oh, no now They want you to take

your shoes off they want you to take all this

and all that off and Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know

so I go through this thing the next thing I know

For those of you out there in Geekdom who have

seen the movie The Fifth Element with Bruce Willis,

there's a scene in that where the police do a

police control at his apartment and you're supposed

to put your hands on the yellow circles and just

stand there. Well, the security at the Louisville...

The security of the Louisville International

Airport has this giant vertical cylinder. It's

almost like an upright MRI machine, folks. You

go in there, you stand, you put your hands above

your head, et cetera, et cetera. It's a two -second

process, but it's one of those things where it

scans you, so there's this giant black thing

that rotates in front of you. Yeah, yeah, and

so yeah, that was interesting. The flight up

to Massachusetts wasn't that bad. No, I went

to Buffalo. I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen,

that's part of the other story. But no, I went

to Baltimore, Washington International, the Baltimore

airport. You know that was it was a quick layover

actually and how the gate was like right night

the gate I needed to go to to get to Boston was

like right next doors Some of those airports

would be like oh you get off at gate 9 and your

your connection gate is like gate C 17 Yeah,

yeah exactly so I got up there we got to Logan

I hate Logan Airport as a kid I used to like

it but I hate Logan Airport after the big dig

yeah after the big dig in Boston which essentially

failed because that construction came down after

a while but um no you know it says you know exit

here for you know domestic arrivals etc etc etc

so I was trying to get out to the curb so you

could pick me up and it you know and then there

was a sign that says oh international arrivals

I'm like internet what the I don't know, so we

went to that, waited a while, waited a while,

called you, your phone didn't ring through to

you. My cell phone. Yeah, your cell phone wasn't

working properly, which we'll be fixing soon,

hopefully. And everything else, and you know,

you showed up in a, what is it, a Mercury? A

1999 Mercury Sable. Yep. And I'm like, this is

the rent -a -car? We were supposed to rent a

four -wheel drive because I didn't know between

Massachusetts and Kentucky if it was going to

snow. So I wanted to rent a four -wheel drive.

And the guy had told me it would be something

similar along the lines of a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Because we also have a dog. And we'll tell you

about the dog story back. when I got her. But

anyways, we needed the room because I needed

a lot of stuff to come down with me. Not furniture,

just packages and different... Boxes and clothes

and just general stuff. We weren't going to take

any furniture with us because we actually found

her an apartment that comes furnished, so...

There was no need to you know hire movers and

you know have them get lost on it was supposed

to be Simple yeah, I was packed weeks and weeks

and weeks ago as many things as they could I

even was going to mail packages well It cost

an arm and a leg nowadays to mail so we tried

to put as much as we could in the car What happened

was The enterprise car rental came to pick me

up, which is a very nice courtesy of theirs.

He came and picked me up in a brand new Honda

CRV. Oh my god, what a vehicle. I was thinking,

this trip's gonna be nice. Plenty of room, everything

will go smooth. We get back to the rental agency.

The guy says, all I need is your license and

a major credit card. I take out my credit card

and my license. He said, that's not a major credit

card. Well, it's a debit credit card. I guess

me being stupid, no, it's not a major credit

card. And I should have known at my age, but.

Guess I've never had any trouble in the last

two and a half years that I've been in Massachusetts

Yeah, I use that card. I don't use debit part

of it I use MasterCard part the credit card only

Nobody's ever refused me. I put Michael's plane

ticket on that they didn't refuse me Who'd have

thought the guy said they couldn't take it because

they wanted something like an american express

or discover that actually had a credit line on

it that you would bill and pay later so yeah

so i i have a brother an older brother he was

in right now he's in georgia with his wife and

his two dogs and Called him I sat there and I

cried and I cried and I cried It's the guy picked

me up at 10 o 'clock Michael's flight landed

at 11. I was supposed to be at the airport to

get Michael It was not a good morning. It was

like I was devastated so I called my brother

in Georgia and said Richard can you put Put the

credit put the rent a car on your credit card.

The guy says no can't do that. He has to be the

driver Okay So the whole thing it ended up guy

gave me a drive back to the house The the landlord

that I was living with her. She lost her license

in July She went to retry to get her license.

It was for health reasons. She lost her license

She tried to get it in October. She failed. She

wanted to put the car up for sale So Michael

and I are now the proud parents of a 1999 Mercury

Sable little station wagon 250 bucks And I I

would highly recommend That if you do use enterprise,

I don't know if I can You can say whatever you

want to say. The guy, he was a young kid. He

would not call corporate. He would not call his

boss. He just kept sitting there like a mime.

I'm sorry ma 'am, these are the rules. I'm sorry

ma 'am, these are the rules. And I kept telling

him, I said, rules are meant to be broken. Well,

after my crying jag, I started with the cussing.

And I just said, you got to F and do something.

I don't care what you do. I really don't care

what you do, but you need to F and do something.

And I just sat there. I wouldn't leave that office.

But we kind of juggled the story around, because

I've already taken you. He did give me a ride

back to the house. I got the car, went and got

gas, filled it up, not knowing if this car was

going to even make it to the airport. It was

a car that I used to take her around town just

to do errands. It needed a little bit of work,

like tires. But having slim funds and trying

to plan the money for the trip and the hotels

and the gas and tolls, we did well getting here.

I think we have 45 cents, but we're here and

we're safe. And that's all I care about. We'll

deal with it. Monday. Yeah. So, we start on this

trip. The car did an amazing job the entire time.

Nothing broke down. The tires were fine. You

know, knock on wood. Everything was doing great.

We stopped in... was it... Where was it? It was

Carlisle, Pennsylvania? Where the hell did we

stop the first night? I don't even remember.

Wait one minute. Yes, I think it was Carlisle,

Pennsylvania. It was, but I thought that was

the second trip. That was the second, the first

night. Where was the... The first night was American?

American Finance Lodging. I don't remember what

it's called. She's got it right there, so...

what's it where is it it's uh... american something

lodging it's it's one of those it's one of those

kind of you know they did i gave you the receipt

is a yellow copy where's this market idea uh...

yet america's best value in suites uh... uh...

yeah Niantic Connecticut, so we stopped in Connecticut

first and we you know so we stopped at a motel

in Connecticut It was a really really nice motel.

I don't know it was what 11 o 'clock at night

something like that Getting like you from the

airport trying to pack the car my landlord had

a Real problem with her bank account right in

the middle of packing she tries to ask me to

help her with it in it It was a nightmare We

didn't get actually on the road till probably

I would say six o 'clock. Yeah, because there

was there was two things when I came up every

time I go home to Massachusetts there's always

at the time there's always two things I want

to do. At the time five years ago when I went

up Dunkin Donuts had white hot chocolate. I am

a sucker for anything white chocolate I love

white chocolate. It's just one of those rare,

rare delicacies that you can't get it here in

Kentucky unless you go out to like Gatlingburg,

Tennessee or something like that. And so on the

trip, we go to Dunkin' Donuts. Oh, we're sorry.

We're having hot chocolate mint now. We don't

do white. We can put the syrup in there for you

and it'll kind of taste like what you remember.

So that was kind of a disappointment. The other

thing I wanted to do was there's a place in Marshfield,

Massachusetts called Anthony's Pizza and Subs

You don't get you think Philly cheesesteak is

Philly cheesesteak in Philadelphia this thing

goes way above that right the the Anthony's Pizza

and Subs is It was on, it's not 128, is it? It's

139. 139, that's what it is. In Marshall, Mass.

It's on Route 139 in Marshall, Mass. My mom used

to live in the apartment building behind the

place, so that's how I found out about it back

when you were living up there at Fox Run. They

have the best steak and cheese sub I have ever

had in my entire life. You go to Subway nowadays,

you look at their steak and cheese and there's

peppers in it, there's this in it. No, this is

just straight steak, you know, shredded steak

meat, whatever, etc., etc., etc. Best steak and

cheese sub I've ever had in my entire life. They

also have really great french fries, so we went

there. We then start on the road. We ended up

in Connecticut at like I don't know 10. No, it

was yeah Yeah, 10 11 o 'clock at night. So we

slept over there the thing is that motel Americans

best sweets or whatever else we go in and Snow

white my mom's dog is certified a certified therapy

dog. So I told this to the little If this offends

people, I'm sorry, but it's the truth. I told

this little Indian lady that was behind the counter.

I said, we have a therapy dog. She said, well,

yeah, she was a young girl. She said that she

would waive the fee for us. She said the only

problem was that the hotel's key card system

was down. She did tell me this up front. I said,

that's fine. So she opened the door for us at

the room. And we spent the night. It was a nice

little motel thing. And it wasn't like a rat

hole or anything like that. was good. One level,

not big high -rise, not the Econolod is I can't

do the stairs and the elevators and drag everything

in. Right. This was you drive up the doors there.

That's it. Yep. So we spent the night there.

That was good. The next morning we get on the

road. We drive for however long we drove. We

get to Carlisle, Pennsylvania. To the roadway

in by choice hotels for those of you who've seen

the commercials. Oh stay at choice You know not

you know stay ten nights get a night free etc.

Etc. Etc. So yeah, yeah, triple a what a joke

not triple a is not a joke, but the hotel that

was supposed to be certified by triple A is a

joke. And it was along the same lines as the

first hotel. Right. Just one flat, nobody above

you, just drive up, you're right there, you'll

bring your stuff in, that's that. Right, exactly.

We are, for those of you who have never seen

me on my YouTube channel, I'm... Overweight,

I'm six one. I'm four hundred four fifty. I don't

look it, but that's that's what I am You know

as far as the weight goes so I'm a larger kind

of guy and you know Being a larger kind of guy.

I need a big towel well these movies for a couple

of yeah a couple of towels these these motels

normally you know cater to People who aren't

are you know who aren't my size? And... First

of all, there was no towels. Right. We went in

the room... There was two hand towels. There

was two hand towels in the room. How is that

even possible? That makes no fucking sense whatsoever.

When you... yeah. When you get a hotel room,

there's towels. There's just usually... Yeah.

So before we, you know... Like I said, we're

kind of jumping all over the place. So when I

first go into this hotel... And I explained to

the managers, an older gentleman I think, again,

not of American descent. Very hard to understand.

Yeah, these people hardly, barely spoke any English.

I went up to the desk. I didn't look around.

I didn't whatever. I said, hey, how much are

your rooms? Do you have something available?

It's my mom and I. We need two beds. uh... we

also have a service animal service dog he's like

oh well we have pet fee for any pet doesn't matter

what it is it's fifteen dollars yeah first thing

on the receipt is the fifteen dollars right exactly

and i'm and i and i'm thinking that it's a service

animal it's not she's not snow white the dog

is not she's a she's a therapy dog not a service

animal Right well, but she's a certified therapy

dog I have letters documentation from my vet

right they could have called the vet I mean I

had everything I have never been charged for

her in all the motels I've ever stayed in with

her yeah, yeah, so that was and the guy oh Let

me back up a bit, and I know like I said I'm

jumping all over the place here before I even

got that part of the story out I was back when

i was saying you know my mom and i need a room,

two beds, ground floor etc etc etc he's like

oh well and i pulled out my ID and everything

else so we could you know check it whatever else

he was like oh well give me a phone number it'll

be in place of your ID and i'm thinking what

motel and what company in the right fucking mind

doesn't check your ID and want your phone number

because he didn't explain it to me right away

What he was saying was if we had stayed at other

choice hotels like like clarion or Quality in

or comfort in it would come up in their system,

and they would need ID because they would have

her information He didn't explain this to me

at first so We got all out of the way I go up

to the car because he needs to see her ID because

it was going on her credit card And I explained

to her I explained to him that you know she she

has a hard time walking so much because she has

rheumatoid arthritis and everything else and

and you know it's hard for to do you know even

just one little step up a little bit sometimes

so it was one of those things where I went out

and I I said I said uh well this is gonna be

a story we're gonna be laughing about in a few

years just because of that first initial thing

of dealing with that guy And then the whole thing

with the towels and everything else, the room

was really, really nice. You know, very, very,

very cool. We then left that... We woke up to

rain. Yeah, we woke up to rain on December 6th.

Mommy was not a happy camper. Yeah, no. all day

december six twenty twelve it rained it was like

a giant rain cloud was on half of the country

that we were driving through we went from pennsylvania

up into ohio uh... you know we got to columbus

and everything else and by that time west virginia

it went pennsylvania west virginia ohio uh...

you know and we're doing this trip we get to

the point where on i seventy one self God, no,

like six, seven p .m. It's rush hour traffic.

Well, I had seen a sign, Louisville, 200 miles.

I'm like, yes, that's only like an hour and a

half, two hours. Depending on how fast you go,

yeah. Well, you couldn't go fast because of the

hydroplane and then the trucks and the mist and

the this. But I tell you. That I -71 is a killer.

If I don't ever have to drive on that road again,

I will never in my entire life go there again,

especially at night, let alone in the daytime.

Yeah. Yeah. So, we finally get to Louisville.

You know, Mom's staying with me for a couple

days until Monday until her apartment complex

opens up and it's just been, it's been one hell

of an adventure, I'll say that. Laughs. I tell

you that when I asked for the towels I had called

the front desk and The guy said I don't don't

mind to me asking you But I don't want to insult

you, but why do you need six towels? I said because

we're big people I Said I'm not quite as big

as Michael, but I'm not you know. I'm not a size

six Said the other thing is I use two towels

when I take a shower. I put my hair up in one

and I dry off with the other What if you you

know, that's the way it is. I don't know what

he thought we were gonna do with six towels I

really don't know we ended up with four I will

be calling roadway in on Monday To have a little

talk with them. I never got the discount They

overcharged me and when we looked at my bank

account today, they overcharged us Another $15

yeah, so Because what the guy said all with the

dog is extra cleaning the sex to this there's

no extra Nothing, you would clean up more after

a child than you would this dog Yeah, yes snow

white is a very very very clean dog Yeah, sure

she sheds, but it's not it's not so bad to the

point where it's like no hair Yeah, there was

absolutely no hair what? she doesn't get on yeah

yeah i mean there was nothing like when we left

the room from roadway in in uh... carlisle pennsylvania

uh... you know it was we cleaned up after ourselves

sure there was trash the trash cans but you know

you can expect us to you know that you know i

mean that's a little yeah it's a hotel as well

as you know it's not like we're rock stars that

you know you would have dashed guitars against

the walls and stuff like that uh... but overall

it's uh... it's it's been a fun interesting journey

uh... getting mom back down here we've already

got our set up a book with an apartment that

should be going to and it's a new lease on life

really Is it ever? My health is going to be where

I was living. It was an upstairs apartment. I

had to do stairs. I fell down those stairs probably

three times in four years. In two years. Not

good. Didn't break anything, but my pride and

a bunch of fat on my butt broke up a lot of cellulite,

I guess. Just those stairs even Michael. He was

petrified. It was a it's one of these big old

-fashioned Actually, it's where the yeah where

the Kennedys used to go in the summertime Years

and years ago. They would all built as beach

houses. Yeah, if you look up Hall, Massachusetts,

it's Beautiful. The beach is absolutely it is

so pretty there but I like it here. I'll look

for a beach here. Yeah, Kentucky has no beaches.

Because I know they sell beach balls and I know

they sell beach towels in the summertime here.

Yeah. The closest thing you're going to get to

a beach in Kentucky is the Ohio River and no

one wants to swim in that shit. And I don't swim

in ponds. No lakes. No streams. Yeah. So, yeah,

the... The house up in Massachusetts, the ladies

house that she was staying at, it's one of those

old summer house cottage types of things. It's

a nice house on the outside. They're huge. Mom

found this place called Pizza Box, and it's one

of those New England style restaurants that has

big pizzas. all this other stuff and they had

uh... steak tip dinners with french fries and

all my god this this is the best state i've had

in twenty years i swear to god this was stuff

was so awesome they really state chunks yeah

i mean it was like you know yeah so yeah the

problem with the stairs was she brought the the

food halfway up and i went to Lean over to grab

the bag and all of a sudden vertigo kicked in

and I was like My head's gonna go tumbling down

these stairs and hit the fish tank at the bottom

of the stairs I know I just got so dizzy at one

point in doing this and it was just one of those

things where Those stairs freaked me the hell

out because it's one of those steep steep stairs,

and it's nothing you know it's There that yeah,

that's the other thing there wouldn't so me be

Yeah There's no wheeling on the left. When you

go up, I think it's ten stairs. Yeah, something

like that. Then you're on a platform. You take

a right and you do three more. Four more stairs.

So it wasn't like just walking down a set of

stairs. It was like the whole turn of the platform.

Which was really good! packing lines because

i think that we just went to the platform and

we slid everything right down the stairs, no

carrying because if you carry boxes down these

stairs you end up breaking your neck you know

and and the thing about you know the you know

you You know, you watch stuff on HGTV like, you

know, House Hunters and stuff like that and you

go in and you see people selling their homes

for $150 ,000, $250 ,000 and there's just garish

paint on the walls. This lady's house, she had

four bedrooms upstairs. Two, one was green, one

was white, one was pink. And then one was blood

red, like dark blood red. That was mom's bedroom.

That's with the TV and the cable and all that.

Right, right. I didn't want to be in that room,

but I was, me and my dog was in that room for

two years. Had two windows. The first thing I

did when I got up there, it was in August. Don't

even remember what store I went to I guess a

Best Buy went and got an air conditioner throw

it in the window I don't do a whole lot of maintenance

stuff put it in the window Shut the window put

two sticks in the top and that was how I secured

it for two years Yeah, and let me tell you that

air conditioner was the best air conditioner.

I've had it was a frigidaire Yeah so I'm back

home here in Kentucky getting back to work on

the GCRN stuff. We've got a lot of great content

coming up. I want people to email me and let

me know if you want to hear more from Kathy,

my mom and I. Because I thought of doing a series

where we sit here and we look through our photo

albums and mom will tell stories of when she

was a kid, tell stories of when I was younger.

There is some funny stuff. Our family is a bunch

of comedians. There's a lot of good stories.

Without trying to be a comedian, they were comedians.

I grew up with four brothers and a sister. My

four brothers used to do construction. They had

a choice. You go to school or you quit school,

you go to work with your father. Five o 'clock

in the morning to five o 'clock at night. Three

of my brothers chose to do that after a while.

And let me tell you the stories, the stuff they

used to do to each other is unbelievable. Just

you would die laughing. So I want people to email

me in throughout the month of December and maybe

we'll be recording more stuff. This will be featured

on the GeekCast Radio Podcast as special episodes.

And just let me know. So email me tfg1mike at

gmail .com. And we will go from there. So for

now, I am Mike with Kathy. And we will catch

you next time. Make sure you unleash the geek

in you. Grr, argh.