HRT, Perimenopause & the NJ Hall of Fame: What We’re Balancing

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We'd like to thank our Season 4 presenting sponsor, Teacher's Insurance Plan,

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the auto insurance provider that was founded exclusively for educators.

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Check out their website linked in this episode. Teacher's Insurance Plan,

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auto insurance that brings exclusive educator savings and exceptional customer support.

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Vitality hey long time no see friend uh back in our basements we are officially recording,

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hello and welcome to the balancing act podcast i am jamie wonko here with joseph

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vitality joe aka joe joe joe yeah what's going on joe who's been diagnosed with excessive oldness,

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i hurt my foot walking down my stairs ladies and gentlemen there's no shame

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i didn't like trip or fall or like stumble, I just stepped and was like,

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oh, that doesn't feel right.

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And then here I am hobbling around.

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And what about, um, there's a lot of us in, in boots at work, like walking boots.

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We're like a boot. We're like a boot brigade. And I don't know.

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I know that boots are all the rage. It's just, I do,

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as someone who has had like several foot injuries the last few years,

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uh i do feel the boot is i know it's like the new and modern why why put a cast on it yeah,

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you know why why bother but i do think that having an issue on your foot and

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then continually walking on it isn't always the best,

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way to go which is why i did enjoy the scooter but so my question for you with your foot is,

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You know, will you throw the shoes that you are blaming out?

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You know, because I know you have a particular pair. Here's the thing.

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They're a very good pair of dress shoes.

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But I don't wear dress shoes very often. Like I wear like Air Forces and sneakers

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and running shoes because I am constantly walking around on my feet.

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I only really wear dress shoes when I have a.

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As opposed to all of you who walk around on your hands. Yes. Okay.

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But like, you know, I wear like athletic shoes and sneakers.

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And how about your orthotics? You take them in, you take them out, you switchies?

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They're not prescribed orthotics. They're just like an insole that I've used for years from running.

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They're like a running insole that I use that I purchase. Oh.

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You need real orthotics.

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I had those years ago, and they worked for me for a little while,

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but then once I got my heel spur removal at Achilles reconstruction, I've been good.

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This is just a one-off. It's just like a stupid walk down the stairs.

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Well, everybody, let's follow Joe's famous last orthotics non-orthotic loving

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words i'm a big believer in orthotics again not

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a uh it's not that i'm not a believer no i i have i have like running insoles

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that i use that i like my foot was like measured on a um,

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like a compression plate like when i got fitted for my uh,

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for my running shoes. And that's what I wear in my athletic shoes and stuff

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like that. So it's not like a traditional. Right. But you don't take them out

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and put them into all of the different shoes that you wear.

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I only wear them in like my athletic shoes or my running shoes.

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I don't wear them in dress shoes because dress shoes are like my feet don't fit in them.

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Like, this is a great conversation to start out.

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It really is because it's so relevant to teachers who, I know I was joking with

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Joe, but we spend the majority of our careers walking around on,

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very unforgiving floors. Yes. And you know what?

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Just let teachers wear the sneakers that they want to wear or the shoes that

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they want to wear. Who gives a crap about which, I mean, as long as they're

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not- It's a bold statement and I agree.

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Yeah. I mean, like if you're an administrator that's listening to this, amazing. Thank you.

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And again, as always, our opinions are our own. But like, if they want to wear

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running shoes, wear running shoes. Like, if that's what's comfortable,

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especially like I'm doing stations and I'm walking around the room and I'm doing

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all the things and I'm hopping over wires and like, you know.

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Yes, I absolutely agree. Let them. Let them. In the words of Mel Robbins, let them.

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Let them. Also, you can still look professional and presentable with,

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you know, a smart looking shoe. It does not have to be, you know,

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a heel or, you know, something extra.

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What someone might think of as fancy. Yeah. Are you seeing that?

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Mr. Vitale, are you seeing the screen grabbing or no? No, I'm not.

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I'm seeing like a grabby screen. Okay. Oh. Just making sure.

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You just look so pleasant that it's trying to reach out and touch you.

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I still know. It's a little poltergeisty, but yes.

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Oh, goodness. Don't get sucked into the screen. Well, I hope that you feel better.

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That movie used to scare the bejesus out of me. like when the tree like came through the,

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The room and like I had trees outside when I was little. It used to scare me like to death.

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Yeah. Oh, yeah. Right. That was her name, Carolyn. I think so.

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Yeah. You have a better memory with that stuff than I do.

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Depends on what it is, but I'm not really a scary movie enthusiast.

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Me neither. I never really have been.

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Yes. I know you're like me. You like to rewatch all the old things over and

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over and over and over again.

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Well, I did recently, you know, what's new with me? Oh, yeah. Hey.

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By the way What is new with you these days I was invited To a book club As I

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have been a very big fan of book clubs Forever.

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And there was a very, very bad storm here recently. So I wasn't sure I was going

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to be able to make it from, you know, just having so many different things going on with, you know,

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so I'm the type of person that I can't, it's like, how many days in a row can you do things?

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And like, I can't every single day.

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I can't, I can't like know that it's going to be every single day.

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I have a really hard time, especially with my weekend. So we were supposed to

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have a car wash this weekend. Car wash did not happen because of the Nor'easter.

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But then, of course, I wasn't going to travel like a half hour away to the book

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club because of the Nor'easter, right? So I missed the book club.

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I have been invited back again.

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Glory be. Thank goodness. Even though I didn't show up. But I did read the book.

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Okay. And they're making it into a movie. Or it's made into a movie.

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The movie comes out in a couple of weeks.

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And it is so super creepy. Very. Very. And I will see the movie.

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And it's The Other Mommy, right? The Other Mommy. So the book is called Incidents

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in the House. But Incidents Around the House, all I know is there's something in the house.

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And it's an incident. to get in the child that's living in the house wants to

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it keeps continually asking permission to go into your heart.

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Yeah i know it's really gross that trailer that trailer was on during the odyssey

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when i went and saw it my daughter and i looked at each other we were like no,

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way no thank you but i will see it i won't see it in the theater but i will

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see it when it comes out it's also jessica chastain but you know the thing is

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is like you know good old-fashioned reading And,

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it's so interesting to see like what the take is on it. So creatively, I'd love to see.

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And if you haven't read the book, I do recommend it. I thought it was a great

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pick, you know, great choice for a book club. However, the mom...

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The other mommy, the original mommy, right? The mommy of the book.

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I don't know. She was very suspicious to me in so many different ways. I didn't enjoy her.

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So I, and I do love Jessica Chastain. So I would love to see how she spins and

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how she is the mom in the story.

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I would be very interested in that. So the next book is, you know,

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coming up and it is another super creeper.

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And so I'm giving myself a couple of days to, you know, process the super creepiness

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of the one I just read before I embark on the next one.

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But I'll let you know how that goes. Good. Yes. That's exciting.

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It is exciting. What's new with you? Me, besides my foot ailments.

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You know, I have to be honest. I've been, like, reflecting a lot, honestly, on...

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I have a dog hair on my microphone. I've been reflecting a lot recently on like

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our first couple episodes and I'm really like kind of geeking out over the fact

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that like we're doing some pretty cool stuff.

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And what's new with us is like all the things that we are doing.

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And we've had some pretty cool connections over the last couple couple weeks,

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which we're going to get into.

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And just, you know, that's really what's what's new.

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Like, it's kind of weird that I don't have so many extra things going on with

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the kids being away at school and a little bit more time to,

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like, focus my energy on growing this little creative space that we have. So that's really fun.

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But just, you know, it's been really interesting to reflect the guests that

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we've had on, the people that we've talked to, the feedback that we've gotten,

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you know, the people that, you know, our close friends that are messaging us

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that listen to the show that are like, oh, my God, that guest was this.

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And, you know, we really enjoyed hearing about that.

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That's really fun to see that we're making an impact like that.

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If you haven't watched us recently or ever on the YouTube, I...

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Think it's really like, who is that? Yeah.

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Like the opening of Teacher's Insurance Plan and like the ad for Teacher's Insurance.

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It's really, really cool. And it looks so great.

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And you can kind of go back. Oh, side note.

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The graphic in YouTube still is like our old original, I think, Jamie.

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Jamie Gross made that. Yeah, Jamie Gross made that. And it's like still our old graphic.

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But I know. But I was like, huh.

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But also, wow. I was like, wow, this looks amazing. Yeah. Like it's like for realsies.

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It's fun because that's what I spent part of my my summertime like resetting and doing that.

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I wanted to have a setup for success for the start of the school year because

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I also know how busy it is. So like I talk to our sponsors and be like,

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hey, get me those pieces that you want. Let me start putting those ads together

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in advance. So then this way we could really hit the ground running.

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Um and it it's fun that's a labor of love but it's one that like you know i

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kind of enjoy i like to see like a when you're done like the finished product

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and what it looks like and figuring out where to cut things and where to edit

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and how to fade everything out and,

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you know it's it's not i really thought it looked great so if you haven't seen it recently i think

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definitely check it out and give it a look um and also i still crack up because

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it'll say it says like how many views different things have gotten

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yeah at like different episodes and i'm like what you know i'm used to like four

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but this is like a really like a lot yeah it's been really fun and and what's

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cool now is like apple podcast has a video stream because everybody's kind of

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moving to that that's right um so you'll see us right

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they do spotify last year did very well for us so these are all like it's new

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spaces for us that we're kind of dabbling into and you know a little bit of

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behind the scenes for the show like that's that's

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it's fun it's exciting it's cool to see like what's happening and every once

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in a while you and i text each other pictures or comments or hey we talk to

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this person and we just like look at each other like,

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It's like it's like that. It's that it's that Paul Rudd clip that I love so

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much when it's like, hey, hey, look at us. Who would have thought? Not me.

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And that resonates with me so much. Yeah. Because of what we're putting together.

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And again, I think at the end of the episode, we're going to give you a little

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preview of what you're going to hear in the next few weeks, which I think is

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even even bigger and awesome. So, yeah, it's very exciting.

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So I did want to say I do want to talk about something that's very new with me.

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And it is such a common conversation for women of my age. And you and I have

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talked about this a little bit. And, you know, and of course,

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because you work with so many ladies. Right. So it's just like a thing that has come up.

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And we're definitely looking for someone that might be able to come on to do a whole episode with us.

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But for those of you that are like perimenopausal or menopausal and you are

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exploring or thinking about HRT or hormone replacement therapy,

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it is something that I started in August.

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And it is a yes for me, like double thumbs up, double yeah. I mean,

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it's it's amazing. And I feel so much better and I can't.

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Really even believe it, honestly. You know, you kind of don't realize that you're

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like that really sort of sluggish or tired until you're not.

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And anyway, so for anybody who has any connections, please let us know because

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we are definitely looking for someone to come on to talk to us because it is

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such a big deal and it's such a hot topic right now. Yes.

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And if you don't like hearing me talk, that'll probably be an episode where

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I won't say much and i'll just be promise.

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But you know i mean because you're a boy no and and i think what do you have

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to suffer through true it is important to be,

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a supportive spouse where and you and i talked about this a few weeks ago when

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we were driving back and you were telling me about your experience and i was like hey

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as as men as spouses as husbands like we need to be like hey why don't you just

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try not worrying about it like mental health doesn't work that way right um,

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or why don't you just try not being emotional like we we shouldn't be giving

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that advice because that doesn't know and also,

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sometimes you just like no one wants your advice we just want to complain yes

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we're complainers not quitters we're complainers not quitters come on but i

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mean and i don't just mean with spouses,

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Because I think it really can come through in, like, so many different areas.

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Yes. Because this was specifically something that, you know,

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I remember growing up and it was called the change.

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And, you know, you couldn't even call it by its actual name.

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You know, so it's like going through the change. So I find, and because of the

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time period that it lasts in such a long, I mean, it'd be 10 years,

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you know, or more, you know, depending on, you know, different people's timeline.

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So, yeah, so that is something big and new and different. And I've been talking about it quite a bit.

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And yes, for spouses, friends, and everybody in between, of course,

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you know, to try to be as supportive.

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But, you know, sometimes it can be hard. And now I just feel like I'm going

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to, you know, keep going with it.

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And I'll definitely update everybody. So on today's episode,

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we are going to give a very descriptive re-

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Hashing yes revisiting of um an event that we attended last week yes and we,

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were very excited to participate and we are also going to post um,

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i'll be posting various clips on our social media of people that we met and

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um but do you want to explain like how the invitation came through yeah so um.

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If you watched our first couple episodes or you listened to them you probably

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We saw that we recorded at the New Jersey Hall of Fame and Allie,

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who's like the education director there, who's worked with us.

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And again, shout out to Nick Ferroni, who was a guest, you know,

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a few times, but also kind of helped us get our foot in the door and meet Allie and talk to her.

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You know, we've recorded there last season and now we record it out in their

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great hall, which we will be doing at some point again this season.

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And she was like, hey, we have the New Jersey Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

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And why don't you guys like come as like you could we'll give you tickets to

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the induction but you know you also could come and be on the red carpet and

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interview people and jamie and i have become like,

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yes just say yes yes yeah yeah we're sure yeah we'll do it so we're doing it

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we'll be there and we were there um,

00:16:10.894 --> 00:16:15.959
and there's a there's a bunch of things that like now reflecting on it um we'd

00:16:15.959 --> 00:16:19.579
probably wait so let's go let's kind of like we're gonna you know really break

00:16:19.579 --> 00:16:21.714
this down. So we get the invitation.

00:16:22.504 --> 00:16:27.578
And, you know, then we start getting more emails like media can this and media

00:16:27.578 --> 00:16:32.868
cannot and don't and you should and what time to arrive and who you can talk

00:16:32.868 --> 00:16:37.434
to and who, you know. So, for example, we get an email.

00:16:38.088 --> 00:16:42.415
Of course, we did not get to meet Danny DeVito, full disclosure, sad. That was a bummer.

00:16:42.682 --> 00:16:46.322
It was a bummer. But, you know, I mean, he is larger than life. Ha ha.

00:16:46.589 --> 00:16:50.879
And he so he was not like on the general red carpet. Right.

00:16:51.209 --> 00:16:54.558
And then CISA, New Jersey's very own CISA, right?

00:16:54.558 --> 00:16:59.748
Because all of these inductees, if they have are obviously they don't have to

00:16:59.748 --> 00:17:03.608
be born in New Jersey, but they have to live in New Jersey and they have a connection to New Jersey.

00:17:03.608 --> 00:17:07.288
Right. So and some of them, of course, we met various people that were there

00:17:07.288 --> 00:17:11.189
accepting on the behalf of someone who had already passed. Yes.

00:17:11.421 --> 00:17:15.990
OK, so they have business people in these categories. They have.

00:17:17.702 --> 00:17:25.794
Singers, musicians, actors, athletes, politicians, and educators.

00:17:26.038 --> 00:17:28.232
Yes. Yes. Which is awesome.

00:17:28.645 --> 00:17:33.060
It is. And so, you know, obviously, we've been at the New Jersey Hall of Fame

00:17:33.060 --> 00:17:35.471
a bunch doing some cool stuff with them.

00:17:35.767 --> 00:17:38.590
And, of course, you know, they're very, very supportive of teachers.

00:17:38.590 --> 00:17:43.420
They often have really great deals for class trips or even, you know,

00:17:43.420 --> 00:17:45.508
it's free to enter as a teacher.

00:17:45.804 --> 00:17:50.050
And shout out to teacher's insurance plan because they sponsor that right if

00:17:50.050 --> 00:17:53.780
you're an educator you can go to the new jersey hall of fame with the american

00:17:53.780 --> 00:17:58.230
dream all for free uh all you need to do is show your id yes and so there's

00:17:58.230 --> 00:18:00.154
lots of really cool experiences um,

00:18:00.730 --> 00:18:04.250
that you can do like um i'm sure you've seen on some of our socials like the

00:18:04.250 --> 00:18:08.990
karaoke the trip to space the simulated ride to space um the,

00:18:09.450 --> 00:18:13.760
studio that they have um for uh podcasting and other interviews and stuff like

00:18:13.890 --> 00:18:17.324
that so there's a lot to do there yeah now.

00:18:18.700 --> 00:18:24.840
Let's leave work yeah so so we have our full day of work we have our full day

00:18:24.840 --> 00:18:27.470
of work and you know shout out to uh,

00:18:28.307 --> 00:18:31.600
my uh co-host here miss wonko because when i said like we're gonna leave at

00:18:31.600 --> 00:18:35.790
the end of the day like my girl was changed she like went immediately in the

00:18:35.790 --> 00:18:41.110
bathroom and she's like car 10 oh there was like a whole like superman ripped the shirt off.

00:18:42.310 --> 00:18:46.094
I got my fancy thing on and I'm good to go. And I was changed and I was just kind of hanging.

00:18:47.130 --> 00:18:50.050
We hopped in the car and we drove up to- Well, you have off at the end of the

00:18:50.050 --> 00:18:54.150
day and I don't. So we have a different schedule, right? So you had like more

00:18:54.150 --> 00:18:57.120
time for like easing in where in my mind it was like, all right,

00:18:57.120 --> 00:19:02.034
I'm going to get changed. We're going to get in the car and then I'll try to, you know-

00:19:03.552 --> 00:19:08.847
Chill a little bit okay exactly so we get in the car and we are heading north,

00:19:09.392 --> 00:19:15.632
okay yeah heading up north on the turnpike and we're you know checking emails and it's like,

00:19:16.379 --> 00:19:21.219
sizza uh sizza and um of course joe is stapler i'm like don't say stapler it

00:19:21.219 --> 00:19:24.979
was a joke i know who she is i just don't know what she sings tell us in the

00:19:24.979 --> 00:19:27.719
comments if you think that joe would say stapler,

00:19:28.380 --> 00:19:32.240
i was like hey is she on stage with her hype man stapler?

00:19:33.139 --> 00:19:39.409
Scissor stapler? See, you laughed. I was driving up, we called my son just to

00:19:39.409 --> 00:19:40.635
be like, hey, what's going on?

00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:43.589
And he was like, oh my God, Miss Wanko's on the phone. So I,

00:19:43.589 --> 00:19:44.721
of course, am second fiddle.

00:19:46.242 --> 00:19:51.939
Yes, hard hands, of course. And he, we said like, and Jane was like,

00:19:51.939 --> 00:19:53.459
oh yeah, he's going to say stapler.

00:19:54.059 --> 00:19:56.459
My son was like, well, how about we don't do that?

00:19:57.299 --> 00:20:01.309
He was as serious Yes, as serious could they. Well, we weren't allowed to talk

00:20:01.309 --> 00:20:04.939
to her, but my joke with Allie was like, hey, we just got that email.

00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:09.688
Like, you know, please don't ask CZA any questions. She'll give media afterwards.

00:20:10.139 --> 00:20:12.159
And I was like, what if you don't know what she looks like?

00:20:17.079 --> 00:20:19.620
I mean, I knew who she was. I just didn't know what she looked like.

00:20:19.770 --> 00:20:24.199
And, you know, the New Jersey Hall of Fame is inside the American Dream Mall.

00:20:24.199 --> 00:20:31.109
So it is placed physically like really any other store in a mall would be,

00:20:31.109 --> 00:20:33.849
except that they have these amazing screens outside.

00:20:33.849 --> 00:20:37.650
And then, of course, that really cool car, video footage, TB,

00:20:38.359 --> 00:20:41.360
question mark, question mark. We don't know. Remember that lost footage?

00:20:42.085 --> 00:20:49.574
I'm determined we're going to find it. And then we walk just our path to get there.

00:20:50.397 --> 00:20:54.217
And it is nearly unrecognizable.

00:20:54.495 --> 00:21:00.156
Yes. There's somebody playing the violin and there is, I mean,

00:21:00.156 --> 00:21:03.527
like cameras going and lights and big circle lights and,

00:21:05.216 --> 00:21:11.976
a red carpet, a full red carpet, a red velvet rope and a step and repeat.

00:21:11.976 --> 00:21:16.820
Now, I only know what a step and repeat is from all my years of loving The Real Housewives.

00:21:17.110 --> 00:21:22.027
Okay. Because nobody loves to step and repeat more than like a fake celebrity.

00:21:26.506 --> 00:21:26.805
True.

00:21:28.807 --> 00:21:32.418
So we're looking at each other like what?

00:21:33.074 --> 00:21:38.328
Yeah. So we're kind of and what we didn't do, which we learned,

00:21:38.984 --> 00:21:40.911
is we really didn't do a lot of homework.

00:21:41.224 --> 00:21:45.556
Now, luckily, the New Jersey Hall of Fame had liaisons there,

00:21:45.556 --> 00:21:49.266
like student ambassadors, if you will, that were like assigned to each person.

00:21:49.266 --> 00:21:53.432
And when they walked behind us, we were like, hey, who is the person that you're walking around?

00:21:53.862 --> 00:21:56.166
And there were two lovely young ladies that were next to us.

00:21:56.166 --> 00:21:59.376
It's going to come to me later. I can't remember what outlet they were from.

00:21:59.376 --> 00:22:02.486
I think New Jersey Monthly. Yes. They were from New Jersey Monthly.

00:22:03.346 --> 00:22:06.057
And again, their names are escaping me because we've met a lot of people.

00:22:07.647 --> 00:22:10.536
And they were very nice. They were delightful. They were very nice.

00:22:10.536 --> 00:22:14.939
And it was their first time at one of those, I think it was the second time they were at one.

00:22:15.281 --> 00:22:18.300
So we were just kind of like coattailing off of them.

00:22:19.646 --> 00:22:24.221
And so we get to, we're looking around and we get our badges.

00:22:25.057 --> 00:22:30.635
Yes. Okay. Our badges were really cool. Yeah. They said media. And they said media.

00:22:31.024 --> 00:22:33.485
Okay. Do I have my badge in my bag? You said you were going to wear it.

00:22:33.485 --> 00:22:36.568
Go ahead. Okay. You said you were going to wear it to work on Friday,

00:22:36.713 --> 00:22:39.685
but I don't believe you did. But, you know, cute. I did not,

00:22:39.685 --> 00:22:42.373
but I have my media badge. Oh, my God. Yes. There it is. Yes.

00:22:42.885 --> 00:22:47.105
So this is the 18th annual induction ceremony of the New Jersey Hall of Fame

00:22:47.105 --> 00:22:50.745
media. So we, of course, put our badges on because now it's like we are legit

00:22:50.745 --> 00:22:52.561
and we need to get to our spot.

00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:54.928
Yes. Our spot.

00:22:55.613 --> 00:22:59.868
Was marked on the floor. Yes. That's our little area to stay in.

00:23:00.071 --> 00:23:04.547
Yeah. So everyone that was there that were media, like us.

00:23:05.650 --> 00:23:12.166
That's right. Had to stand on, near, or behind, or next, like right in front

00:23:12.166 --> 00:23:14.270
of this very tiny space that they had.

00:23:14.636 --> 00:23:19.216
So to our right was New Jersey Monthly Magazine. To our left was Jersey Land.

00:23:19.791 --> 00:23:24.139
Yes. And close to us was another program called On NJ. Yes.

00:23:24.916 --> 00:23:28.746
And so everyone was, you know, situating themselves and who has a backpack,

00:23:28.746 --> 00:23:34.596
but then who has a camera, and then who has a tripod, and we were both like, whoa.

00:23:34.596 --> 00:23:39.504
So we did have to take a minute to sort of soak up the situation,

00:23:39.661 --> 00:23:45.306
take it in, and then also get past, like, what in the heck are we doing here?

00:23:45.306 --> 00:23:48.386
Yeah. There was a lot of, like, hey, what are we doing here? Right.

00:23:50.389 --> 00:23:53.966
Which was really, like, cool, but at the same time very intimidating.

00:23:53.966 --> 00:23:56.731
It was intimidating. I know there's things we do differently next time.

00:23:57.636 --> 00:24:01.406
And to me, there will be a next time. Yeah, next year, the 19th.

00:24:01.406 --> 00:24:04.216
Come on. So, like, next year, we're there. Yeah.

00:24:05.178 --> 00:24:08.606
It's just learning like how to navigate in that space because we're not used

00:24:08.606 --> 00:24:12.086
to that kind of interview style right we're used to like we're used to this

00:24:12.086 --> 00:24:15.569
we got you for a half an hour and our half an hour is over but this was very like,

00:24:16.149 --> 00:24:20.366
like you know people yelling like well hey jane like people like yelling and

00:24:20.366 --> 00:24:22.176
getting people to come over can you come over hey

00:24:22.616 --> 00:24:25.096
come on can you talk to me for a second can we get just one more can we just

00:24:25.096 --> 00:24:29.486
and we're like we're that's not that's not us so what was really cool we can

00:24:29.486 --> 00:24:34.086
be anything yes we had some people and we did i mean And once we got our footing,

00:24:35.376 --> 00:24:36.484
we got right in there.

00:24:36.786 --> 00:24:39.616
We met some really cool people. We had some great talks.

00:24:40.356 --> 00:24:42.956
Maybe on some of them, we mishit the record button.

00:24:44.816 --> 00:24:50.259
So we don't have all of them. It's a lot. It's okay. We saw Miss New Jersey. We saw Teen...

00:24:51.535 --> 00:24:55.047
New Jersey. Miss Teen New Jersey, yes. Miss Teen New Jersey. Uh-huh.

00:24:55.482 --> 00:24:59.251
Christy Todd Whitman. Yes, which was awesome. That was really cool to interview

00:24:59.251 --> 00:25:02.541
a former governor for a little bit. Our first female governor in New Jersey.

00:25:02.936 --> 00:25:04.939
The first female governor of New Jersey. Yep.

00:25:06.301 --> 00:25:09.191
And, you know, and of course, like, if you've ever watched any red carpet,

00:25:09.191 --> 00:25:13.561
like I have for years on E! Entertainment Television, it is always,

00:25:13.561 --> 00:25:18.641
like, where you see, like, their PR people and, like, their handlers on the

00:25:18.641 --> 00:25:20.630
red carpet, like, behind them even.

00:25:20.833 --> 00:25:25.321
So there were some that had, like, the New Jersey Hall of Fame that were liaisoning.

00:25:26.371 --> 00:25:29.531
How do you... What's the word for that? Liaisoning? Liaisoning.

00:25:30.091 --> 00:25:34.251
Oh, my God. Liaisoning. And then there were, like, Christy Todd Whitman who

00:25:34.251 --> 00:25:37.911
had someone with her, right? And that person had, like, a very large bag and,

00:25:37.911 --> 00:25:40.861
oh, do you need water? And, of course, everyone has to be so hydrated and,

00:25:40.861 --> 00:25:42.747
like, all the stuff. So...

00:25:43.675 --> 00:25:48.598
We did get in there to get a few interviews. Yes. Which was super exciting.

00:25:49.769 --> 00:25:54.792
Right? Yeah. So we were able to talk to a bunch of different people and just

00:25:54.792 --> 00:25:58.592
ask them, like, what's, you know, what would you tell 16? Yeah.

00:25:58.592 --> 00:26:00.442
What do you balance it? What would you tell 16 year old you?

00:26:00.522 --> 00:26:03.330
You know, because we talk to our students a lot because I'd love to have that,

00:26:03.777 --> 00:26:04.862
those little sound bites.

00:26:06.621 --> 00:26:10.110
And just talking to people about, like, what their area of expertise was.

00:26:10.682 --> 00:26:15.660
We had a wonderful conversation with a gentleman from the Johnson family,

00:26:16.702 --> 00:26:20.222
from Johnson & Johnson, who was delightful. We had a little camera issue.

00:26:20.382 --> 00:26:22.122
Seemed as if his father was the original Johnson.

00:26:22.482 --> 00:26:24.733
Yes. Very well could have been.

00:26:26.016 --> 00:26:29.112
But he was very nice. Had some nice things to say to us. Actually,

00:26:29.112 --> 00:26:32.092
I think he asked us more questions than we asked him. He's like,

00:26:32.092 --> 00:26:35.600
oh, you guys are full-time teachers and you do this too? Like, wow, that's awesome.

00:26:36.382 --> 00:26:39.402
And, Jane, you actually did a good job of this. Like you introduced yourself

00:26:39.402 --> 00:26:41.832
like, hey, we are two full time classroom teachers.

00:26:41.832 --> 00:26:45.442
We raced out of work. We came here and wanted to be here to ask some questions

00:26:45.862 --> 00:26:49.532
and, you know, go back to our our show as well of our students and talk.

00:26:49.532 --> 00:26:53.372
You know, it was really great the way you kind of jumped into it and were able

00:26:53.372 --> 00:26:58.569
to manage the situation very well. I think I was I was very impressed by how you did that.

00:26:58.772 --> 00:27:02.197
Thank you so much. You're welcome. I did enjoy when he said,

00:27:02.574 --> 00:27:05.582
did you know about Johnson and Johnson baby products?

00:27:05.582 --> 00:27:09.322
Yeah. Um, you know, and I was like, oh my God, like how young do you think I

00:27:09.322 --> 00:27:14.842
am? Sorry. Because obviously, you know, it's like things we grew up using and

00:27:14.842 --> 00:27:18.422
I can like smell like the pink, like baby lotion. Yes.

00:27:19.302 --> 00:27:22.752
That is a smell. Right? Or like the baby shampoo. Baby shampoo is dope.

00:27:22.752 --> 00:27:24.062
God, the baby shampoo. No more tears. No more tears.

00:27:25.042 --> 00:27:29.092
Yeah. No more tears. He was very nice. And then, um...

00:27:29.951 --> 00:27:36.214
The person who, I guess he's like the CEO or CF, somebody of Hackensack Meridian Health.

00:27:36.534 --> 00:27:42.855
Yes. Which was also, so some of it was just like so observational of like just looking and watching,

00:27:43.407 --> 00:27:49.754
people who by trade, you know, are like they went to school or are trained or

00:27:49.754 --> 00:27:51.974
like this is what they do for realsies, right?

00:27:51.974 --> 00:27:54.521
Not just us that are like, hey, we're here and we're, you know,

00:27:54.713 --> 00:27:56.413
fake it till you make it kind of a thing, right?

00:27:56.698 --> 00:28:01.564
But they um you know definitely it was okay we're gonna do this okay we're gonna

00:28:01.564 --> 00:28:06.015
look here okay we're but yes like you said homework and like having photographs of the people,

00:28:06.654 --> 00:28:11.144
yeah that was really no honestly like we had them but then there were some people

00:28:11.144 --> 00:28:15.034
that were not being inducted and they were just there to like support someone

00:28:15.034 --> 00:28:18.034
that was being inducted or they were inducted in.

00:28:19.250 --> 00:28:24.234
2018 and i think there was one gentleman i don't know who he was um who was

00:28:24.234 --> 00:28:27.054
who had said that i heard him say it to one of the other interviews and I was

00:28:27.054 --> 00:28:29.043
like oh and then I was trying to look up who it was and,

00:28:29.594 --> 00:28:33.064
stuff like that shout out google lens uh that was very helpful I was taking

00:28:33.064 --> 00:28:35.794
pictures of people and going on google lens and it was like this is who this

00:28:35.794 --> 00:28:37.495
person is and I was like thanks google

00:28:37.873 --> 00:28:42.884
and Lawrence Taylor was there yes he was you know and it was like who and of

00:28:42.884 --> 00:28:47.234
course you know he was being generous and I could hear like his handler say

00:28:47.234 --> 00:28:50.354
like he's already done more interviews than

00:28:50.754 --> 00:28:56.082
he wanted to so obviously he was really going out of his way and like for For me, I'm thinking...

00:28:56.797 --> 00:29:00.509
OK, like the girls next to us, like this is their real job. Not that this is

00:29:00.509 --> 00:29:04.439
not a real job for us, but it's not like we were going to have to go back to

00:29:04.439 --> 00:29:07.095
a boss and say, we didn't land Larry Taylor.

00:29:07.338 --> 00:29:09.858
Larry Taylor. Do you love that? My mom always calls him Larry Taylor.

00:29:10.229 --> 00:29:13.319
Lawrence Taylor. We didn't land. I can't like think of him without thinking

00:29:13.319 --> 00:29:17.979
of my mom being like Larry Taylor with, you know, like getting Lawrence Taylor

00:29:18.223 --> 00:29:22.571
against these two girls who have to really go back to their magazine and say,

00:29:23.116 --> 00:29:25.429
yeah, we, you know, we did or we didn't interview.

00:29:25.429 --> 00:29:28.979
So like, of course, that was me as like a mom, like, oh, look at all these two.

00:29:28.979 --> 00:29:32.062
It's their real job. But I thought it was fantastic.

00:29:32.678 --> 00:29:36.603
Have you ever thought, I work in education. Why is finding a job so weirdly hard?

00:29:36.875 --> 00:29:40.389
Yeah. Scrolling through random job boards where half the listings don't even

00:29:40.389 --> 00:29:42.222
make sense is not the vibe.

00:29:42.402 --> 00:29:45.600
That's why njschooljobs.com actually makes sense.

00:29:45.966 --> 00:29:49.329
It's a job board built specifically for New Jersey schools, public,

00:29:49.329 --> 00:29:52.929
private, charter, and parochial. Teachers, administrators, counselors,

00:29:52.929 --> 00:29:56.509
support staff, coaching opportunities. If your job involves a bell schedule,

00:29:56.509 --> 00:29:59.172
this site's for you. It's free for job seekers.

00:29:59.451 --> 00:30:03.069
You can upload your resume, set job alerts, and apply without jumping through

00:30:03.069 --> 00:30:07.119
hoops. Schools across New Jersey actively use njschooljobs.com,

00:30:07.119 --> 00:30:08.838
so these are real, current openings.

00:30:09.110 --> 00:30:11.833
Head to njschooljobs.com.

00:30:13.976 --> 00:30:20.964
And then the red carpet was over. So the red carpet was over and we kind of didn't know what to do.

00:30:21.624 --> 00:30:24.504
We knew we had a little bit of time before the induction ceremony.

00:30:24.504 --> 00:30:29.127
So as we were kind of heading around, I saw Allie once again, who. She is so great.

00:30:29.788 --> 00:30:33.174
She is. It was the education director. And she's like, oh, do you guys want

00:30:33.174 --> 00:30:35.094
to come in and do whatever? Because I was all about like, yeah,

00:30:35.094 --> 00:30:37.021
let's go in there. Let's just say thank you to Allie.

00:30:37.503 --> 00:30:40.744
And then, of course, we saw Isaac and the other guys who helped recording.

00:30:40.744 --> 00:30:43.164
And Isaac is just a delight. And he's so cute.

00:30:43.284 --> 00:30:46.611
He's like, you got to have the lobster mac and cheese.

00:30:47.174 --> 00:30:50.664
So we were like, yeah, we're going to totally fake it and walk around and hit

00:30:50.664 --> 00:30:53.244
the open bar and go get food because they had like a little reception.

00:30:53.244 --> 00:30:54.413
So we're like, sure, let's do that.

00:30:54.785 --> 00:31:01.684
But we went inside and we saw Jersey Joe, who if you are on the TikTok or if

00:31:01.684 --> 00:31:05.404
your kids are, they know who Jersey Joe is because we posted a short video where

00:31:05.404 --> 00:31:06.563
we interviewed Jersey Joe.

00:31:06.789 --> 00:31:10.104
And I cannot tell you how many students have said they're they're in the hallway

00:31:10.104 --> 00:31:13.224
and they're behind me and they're just like Jersey Joe. They just yell out Jersey

00:31:13.224 --> 00:31:17.044
Joe because I'm on Jersey Joe. That's what I identified myself as.

00:31:17.644 --> 00:31:21.674
Yeah. And you told him that. Yeah. He liked it. Absolutely. But even before

00:31:21.674 --> 00:31:25.864
we recorded and all we were doing was just introducing ourselves because he

00:31:25.864 --> 00:31:28.524
went to the high school that's across the parking lot from us,

00:31:28.524 --> 00:31:31.953
but he also, which I forgot, went to the middle school that we teach at. Yes.

00:31:32.156 --> 00:31:35.664
Yeah. And knows like some of the teachers that we know. And we had a brief little

00:31:35.664 --> 00:31:40.782
conversation with him and I have told everybody that would listen what a...

00:31:41.444 --> 00:31:46.780
Kind and thoughtful and generous person he was just to take a little bit of

00:31:46.780 --> 00:31:51.300
time and talk to us about what we do and and have a little video conversation

00:31:51.300 --> 00:31:52.694
that we put on our social media.

00:31:53.901 --> 00:31:58.400
Um he was just a very to be a gym teacher so he graduated from montclair university

00:31:58.400 --> 00:32:03.700
in new jersey to uh you know with aspirations to be a gym teacher but he is

00:32:03.700 --> 00:32:08.330
a tiktok star so yeah for now he's you know repping a lot of different

00:32:08.750 --> 00:32:12.950
yeah and does cool stuff i mean it's cool stuff and he's he's just a very he

00:32:12.950 --> 00:32:15.090
was a very very genuine kind yes.

00:32:15.910 --> 00:32:19.190
Nice person like the to me honestly like we met a bunch of cool people like

00:32:19.190 --> 00:32:22.910
that was almost that was a highlight for me because of the kind of person that

00:32:22.910 --> 00:32:27.930
he was just he was so nice and willing to have a conversation with two old people

00:32:27.930 --> 00:32:30.553
who are also on tiktok who don't have the following that he does,

00:32:31.139 --> 00:32:34.250
but just we're willing to have a conversation talk for a little bit talk for,

00:32:34.744 --> 00:32:37.860
you know a good five minutes and then go about your day and and kind of hang

00:32:37.860 --> 00:32:41.970
out so and then he was going to do karaoke so i hope he did yeah i'm sure you

00:32:41.970 --> 00:32:46.800
know i hope he went in there and sang and danced uh i'm sure he didn't do as

00:32:46.800 --> 00:32:49.070
well as our whitney houston impression which was,

00:32:49.826 --> 00:32:55.270
of course excellent it was um but no then we went out and we walked around well wait before we left,

00:32:55.890 --> 00:33:00.850
before we left the main hall or the great hall we met a group of students that

00:33:00.850 --> 00:33:05.969
had been invited from various universities and colleges around the state.

00:33:06.248 --> 00:33:14.610
And we got to interview a girl named Sophia from Rutgers. And she's part of Rutgers Radio.

00:33:14.930 --> 00:33:18.657
And she was fantastic. And she did such a great job.

00:33:18.941 --> 00:33:24.956
And in a few weeks where we've been invited to the New Jersey County Teacher of the Year.

00:33:26.616 --> 00:33:31.974
What is it called? It's like a, like a, like a, I don't, I can't remember what

00:33:31.974 --> 00:33:34.819
they call it, but it's like a cohort. It's a cohort where they,

00:33:35.087 --> 00:33:38.053
like whichever one's from 2026 or the 2026 cohort.

00:33:38.338 --> 00:33:43.654
And they all like kind of talk to each other or, and communicate and stuff like that.

00:33:44.714 --> 00:33:48.764
So we've been asked to attend and we are, and I would like to use the interview

00:33:48.764 --> 00:33:50.637
with Sophia as an example,

00:33:51.131 --> 00:33:57.354
because when we approach like that group of kids and they had just been,

00:33:57.354 --> 00:34:00.152
you know, they're college age and I know they're grownups, but to me, they're kids.

00:34:00.420 --> 00:34:06.329
And they walked out of the studio that we had used for our like 100th episode last year. Right.

00:34:06.384 --> 00:34:11.454
When they when they came out of that studio, who would like to be interviewed?

00:34:11.454 --> 00:34:14.471
There was like six of them. Every single one of them put their hand up.

00:34:15.509 --> 00:34:18.853
I mean, and talk about like coming from a place of yes, like you want to be there.

00:34:19.016 --> 00:34:24.652
You belong to be there. And you show and prove that you should be.

00:34:24.850 --> 00:34:28.845
Right. And they did that. And it was very impressive. So we had that interview.

00:34:28.845 --> 00:34:30.167
I thought that was fantastic.

00:34:30.643 --> 00:34:32.843
And then we figured we're going to kick it.

00:34:33.424 --> 00:34:36.085
Yeah. And we're going to go try that lobster mac and cheese.

00:34:36.085 --> 00:34:38.915
Shout out, Isaac, that he said like, hey, go try it.

00:34:40.204 --> 00:34:42.236
And remember, we're still in the mall.

00:34:43.975 --> 00:34:49.405
Right. So what's so cool about the way that they sort of moved the space,

00:34:49.405 --> 00:34:55.802
which is always so amazing to me in event planning, is they just had these black drapes up.

00:34:56.278 --> 00:35:00.521
And you forgot you were just in the hallway of the mall.

00:35:00.904 --> 00:35:04.105
Yes. Really. I mean, because that's where we were. But there were these black

00:35:04.105 --> 00:35:09.634
drapes and then signs and the lady playing the violin and bars.

00:35:11.235 --> 00:35:15.395
Like a little cocktail hour. It was the place. areas set up from a wedding.

00:35:15.395 --> 00:35:19.645
Perfect cocktail app. Yeah. High top tables, no chairs, which I love because

00:35:19.645 --> 00:35:21.221
it just keeps people moving.

00:35:22.495 --> 00:35:28.155
Some of the lower tables had chairs, but we went over and, you know, got in line and...

00:35:29.946 --> 00:35:33.951
What did you have, Mr. Vitale? I mean, if we're going to, if they have like,

00:35:34.119 --> 00:35:37.045
you know, bourbon flowing, I might as well have something on the rocks and get

00:35:37.045 --> 00:35:38.282
you a couple of Proseccos.

00:35:38.787 --> 00:35:42.322
I had a Prosecco. It was very delicious. And also, you know,

00:35:42.606 --> 00:35:45.475
it's kind of like I remember like my wedding day, like you're like you're a

00:35:45.475 --> 00:35:48.735
little bit nervous and then you're like, ooh, and then you talk a little bit.

00:35:48.735 --> 00:35:52.295
And it's like one of those, like the first time that you have something to drink

00:35:52.295 --> 00:35:56.355
after, you know, a couple of hours and the nervousness and all this stuff.

00:35:56.355 --> 00:36:00.985
And it's like, oh, this just tastes like the sweetest, nicest thing I've ever had, you know.

00:36:01.304 --> 00:36:05.465
So we parked ourselves at a table because, of course, like Joe had the tripod

00:36:05.465 --> 00:36:07.183
and we had our backpacks and stuff like that.

00:36:07.485 --> 00:36:10.452
And, you know, kind of made ourselves a little space.

00:36:10.829 --> 00:36:14.834
And then we enjoyed some of the delicious food that they had.

00:36:14.968 --> 00:36:16.878
Yes. The lobster mac and cheese.

00:36:17.377 --> 00:36:21.125
At the same time, we also took that as an opportunity to network,

00:36:21.125 --> 00:36:25.325
too, and to talk to people that we might want to have on our show.

00:36:25.325 --> 00:36:28.805
We talked to, you know, some other people that were there from social media,

00:36:28.805 --> 00:36:33.155
some other teacher personalities that we just kind of had a little conversation with.

00:36:34.315 --> 00:36:36.965
We talked with some potential sponsors and just kind of like,

00:36:36.965 --> 00:36:41.395
hey, there's an opportunity for you to be a part of a show that's doing some

00:36:41.395 --> 00:36:44.556
amazing things in New Jersey. You're from New Jersey. We're from New Jersey.

00:36:44.875 --> 00:36:48.045
We should be talking to each other. So we have a couple of those things coming up.

00:36:48.855 --> 00:36:54.645
Um and we also met uh which was i think a really cool moment the uh vice president

00:36:54.645 --> 00:36:59.585
of the njea as well as the treasurer of the njea who jamie has been tagging um,

00:37:00.675 --> 00:37:05.395
in some of our posts and she was like oh my god i follow you guys like it was

00:37:05.695 --> 00:37:09.055
so and then we just we laughed and we were talking and we talked about you know

00:37:09.055 --> 00:37:11.645
the dancing videos and all the fun stuff and they were like we need to be on

00:37:11.645 --> 00:37:14.955
your show and i was like damn right you need to be on our show sure let's do it

00:37:15.368 --> 00:37:20.355
So it's those types of things When they happen to us It becomes a little surreal

00:37:20.355 --> 00:37:22.502
moment To be like And I said this like,

00:37:23.308 --> 00:37:27.841
Hey, we are a show that started in a kitchen with one microphone where we were

00:37:27.841 --> 00:37:30.268
like, let's see what happens with this or figure it out.

00:37:30.727 --> 00:37:34.251
And knowing in the back of our heads, I always think about this when we had

00:37:34.251 --> 00:37:36.961
a meeting with Chris Nezzi.

00:37:36.991 --> 00:37:40.641
A long time ago, we were thinking of starting a podcast. He's like,

00:37:40.641 --> 00:37:44.362
podcasts, they have like, once they get to seven episodes, a lot of them fizzle out.

00:37:45.530 --> 00:37:48.828
We're way past seven episodes, aren't we? So I think about that.

00:37:48.828 --> 00:37:52.558
Just keep going. Yeah. I think about that often because we could have easily just said, meh.

00:37:52.718 --> 00:37:55.098
Right. But we just said, let's just keep plugging along.

00:37:55.938 --> 00:38:00.378
Let's be consistent. Let's keep putting together new episodes,

00:38:00.378 --> 00:38:02.305
talking to possible guests. And here we are.

00:38:02.618 --> 00:38:05.018
Yeah. Which is really, really exciting.

00:38:05.938 --> 00:38:09.003
I do want to say about the NJA vice president.

00:38:10.246 --> 00:38:13.549
Yeah. Is the other lady the secretary or the treasurer? Either way. Treasurer.

00:38:13.955 --> 00:38:16.824
Pedal and dare, right? Pedal and dare. Pedal and dare. Okay.

00:38:17.218 --> 00:38:20.318
But we were hugging, which like, yes.

00:38:20.698 --> 00:38:25.518
Yes. I love it. And then they said, can we take a picture with you?

00:38:26.038 --> 00:38:31.190
Yeah. We were like, oh my God, wow. Yes, of course. And I really want that photo.

00:38:32.247 --> 00:38:35.738
Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'll text it. I think I have her. I have her number on the business

00:38:35.738 --> 00:38:38.138
card. We had like, you know, business card, business card, business card.

00:38:38.558 --> 00:38:43.008
And we also saw the teacher lunch ladies, teacher lunch. Yeah.

00:38:43.008 --> 00:38:44.583
And we talked to them a little bit.

00:38:45.658 --> 00:38:48.688
And that was, you know, oh, what are you guys doing here? And how did you get here?

00:38:48.688 --> 00:38:51.498
And, you know, are you nominees? Are you media? Are you, you know,

00:38:51.498 --> 00:38:56.458
and they just like had been given the invitation, which was so nice to meet them.

00:38:56.458 --> 00:39:00.678
You know, because you see people online and you think you start to like develop

00:39:00.678 --> 00:39:03.448
a little bit of like a feeling of like that you know them. And especially when

00:39:03.448 --> 00:39:06.779
you are like us and you tell certain stories about your own experiences.

00:39:07.023 --> 00:39:11.398
So that was really that was fun and funny as well. And you saw a famous hockey player.

00:39:11.838 --> 00:39:16.230
Yeah. So, you know, it was one of those things where I saw if,

00:39:16.404 --> 00:39:19.738
again, from New Jersey, I'm a fan of the New Jersey Devils, the hockey team.

00:39:20.218 --> 00:39:24.838
And if you were a fan of them in the 1990s, like I was, there was a guy named Ken Danico who was...

00:39:26.093 --> 00:39:31.150
You know um all-time defenseman i think his number's been retired by the organization

00:39:31.562 --> 00:39:36.383
um just and now he's a hockey announcer he does doubles games he's like one

00:39:36.383 --> 00:39:37.425
of those guys that's like,

00:39:37.907 --> 00:39:42.057
entrenched around the organization and he walked by and i just i couldn't resist

00:39:42.330 --> 00:39:45.656
because honest and i meant this too like i said that was a hey one of my one of my

00:39:46.068 --> 00:39:49.983
favorite memories is like being a high school kid and driving up and watching

00:39:49.983 --> 00:39:54.133
you guys play like back in the 90s at the old, you know, Continental Airlines arena.

00:39:54.133 --> 00:39:56.863
And he's like, ah, the good old days. I'm like, yeah, it is.

00:39:57.538 --> 00:40:01.323
It was, you know, back in the day when you used to go up and a game was $10

00:40:01.468 --> 00:40:05.218
and we used to race up there, uh, Pete Nork station wagon.

00:40:05.618 --> 00:40:07.873
And then he used to cut through all the back roads so we didn't have to pay

00:40:07.873 --> 00:40:10.378
tolls on the way back. It was awesome.

00:40:10.675 --> 00:40:14.253
Um, yeah. So I thought that overall it was, you know, it was a,

00:40:14.603 --> 00:40:18.285
it was a really great experience. It was a fun night out.

00:40:18.546 --> 00:40:22.865
And, you know, whatever comes from that, you know, the event,

00:40:23.080 --> 00:40:24.683
we definitely learned a whole lot.

00:40:24.683 --> 00:40:28.923
And, you know, and I'm so glad that we said yes. We also learned because we

00:40:28.923 --> 00:40:32.113
had tickets to the actual induction, which was starting at seven o'clock.

00:40:32.113 --> 00:40:34.162
So we had went all morning, got up there.

00:40:34.643 --> 00:40:37.302
And we also looked at each other and we're like, we have to go home.

00:40:37.534 --> 00:40:41.174
Like I was, we were home. I was home a little bit after eight o'clock.

00:40:41.662 --> 00:40:42.944
I was asleep before nine.

00:40:43.479 --> 00:40:46.953
The amount of energy from teaching all day from going up and then being in on

00:40:46.953 --> 00:40:50.723
the red carpet and being aggressive not not aggressive like you know but like

00:40:50.926 --> 00:40:54.722
talking to people and having high energy and then meeting people at the little reception like.

00:40:55.836 --> 00:41:00.523
Our nervous systems were shot we were done i was like if we even sit in a chair

00:41:00.523 --> 00:41:05.873
to watch this induction ceremony we're gonna fall asleep so we just we we went

00:41:05.873 --> 00:41:09.823
home um and i i had messaged ali and said thanks for the invite but,

00:41:11.167 --> 00:41:13.643
But we wound up bailing because it was a lot for us,

00:41:14.663 --> 00:41:17.088
which is good for us to know. It's great.

00:41:18.232 --> 00:41:21.475
It was great. It was great. Had we stayed, it was great. If I,

00:41:21.475 --> 00:41:28.094
if I was going to stay and do that, I would have like probably not made it to work the next day.

00:41:28.344 --> 00:41:30.503
Oh no. You know, that would have been a lot.

00:41:30.887 --> 00:41:34.615
Yeah. So we went to work the next day and I think we made the very responsible

00:41:34.615 --> 00:41:38.725
choice and, um, you know, and, and so many other jobs it's, you know,

00:41:38.725 --> 00:41:41.715
in my mind, it's like things you can sort of dial in in a different way than

00:41:41.715 --> 00:41:44.035
what we, um, you know, than what we can do.

00:41:44.035 --> 00:41:48.685
You always have to show up. So, you know, and be like on. There's no hiding

00:41:48.685 --> 00:41:50.435
in the classroom. So, yes.

00:41:50.775 --> 00:41:56.015
So before we finish up our episode, I think it's very important that we mention

00:41:56.015 --> 00:42:00.595
to our guests what's going to our guests, our listeners, what's going to be

00:42:00.595 --> 00:42:04.496
happening on our show for the next two weeks.

00:42:05.256 --> 00:42:09.360
Because I'm like super excited about this. I know you are.

00:42:10.729 --> 00:42:15.292
And we, you know, as you guys know, when we recapped and if you follow us on

00:42:15.292 --> 00:42:19.321
social media, we attended a creator event in Washington, D.C.

00:42:20.102 --> 00:42:24.202
We talked about our show. We met a whole bunch of really cool people and got

00:42:24.202 --> 00:42:29.262
in touch with, got connected with a bunch of, you know, interesting people and

00:42:29.262 --> 00:42:31.104
press secretaries of different senators.

00:42:31.383 --> 00:42:37.172
So next week, we have an interview with Senator Andy Kim from New Jersey,

00:42:37.962 --> 00:42:41.803
and he's going to be talking to us about some of the initiatives and things that he's working on.

00:42:42.522 --> 00:42:47.702
And then the week after, we are going to be with Senator Cory Booker from New Jersey as well.

00:42:48.032 --> 00:42:54.902
So when I say to you, like Jamie and I kind of look at each other and go, who are we? Yes.

00:42:55.962 --> 00:42:58.802
Here we are interviewing legislators that are going to help,

00:42:59.774 --> 00:43:04.362
you know, impact our classrooms, impact our families and do things that are

00:43:04.362 --> 00:43:08.782
going to, you know, benefit the many citizens of our great state of New Jersey,

00:43:08.782 --> 00:43:09.822
but also across the country.

00:43:09.822 --> 00:43:14.052
So just to have that opportunity is like, like, like I've said,

00:43:14.052 --> 00:43:16.858
if our show ends tomorrow, like we've done some really cool stuff.

00:43:17.061 --> 00:43:19.252
And that's going to be something that I'm really looking forward to.

00:43:19.252 --> 00:43:23.812
Everybody hearing those talks. We're stoked. We are stoked for the next few

00:43:23.812 --> 00:43:27.115
weeks. and really what is beyond that.

00:43:27.487 --> 00:43:30.250
You know, it's the surprises keep rolling in, which is awesome.

00:43:30.517 --> 00:43:32.662
Yeah, which is really cool. It is.

00:43:33.062 --> 00:43:35.602
So what are you balancing this week, Mr. Vitale?

00:43:36.382 --> 00:43:41.322
I am balancing my physical balance with my stupid foot so I don't fall over.

00:43:41.742 --> 00:43:45.182
No, I'm definitely balancing...

00:43:47.404 --> 00:43:50.346
I've been a little, I've been good with the kids being at school,

00:43:50.514 --> 00:43:52.749
but there's been a little bit of like, I miss them.

00:43:53.103 --> 00:43:57.141
Like, of course I miss them. But like, just little things like I like something

00:43:57.141 --> 00:44:00.058
happens funny in my day and I really want to tell my daughter like,

00:44:00.557 --> 00:44:03.371
and I don't want to like, you know, there's been some stuff that we've posted

00:44:03.371 --> 00:44:05.631
on social media. It's like, do you call? Do you not call? Should we call?

00:44:05.631 --> 00:44:07.064
Am I supposed to call? Do I text?

00:44:07.325 --> 00:44:11.031
Like, but sometimes I just want to talk to her and hear her voice and have her laugh.

00:44:11.451 --> 00:44:16.901
And that's, that's what I miss. So I'm balancing my emotions with how I'm feeling

00:44:16.901 --> 00:44:21.221
about that, but also giving them their space to grow and do awesome things on

00:44:21.221 --> 00:44:23.713
their own. So that's something I still struggle with.

00:44:24.200 --> 00:44:26.697
Yeah. But what about you, friend? What are you balancing?

00:44:27.649 --> 00:44:31.492
I'm balancing my hormones, Mr. Vitale. I am balancing my hormones. That's right.

00:44:31.822 --> 00:44:35.601
And that's why now, from now on, when I see you, I'm going to punch you in the

00:44:35.601 --> 00:44:39.775
arm, be like, buddy. And you know where that's coming from? My testosterone.

00:44:40.588 --> 00:44:43.636
I love that. I love that for you. Thank you so much.

00:44:43.955 --> 00:44:49.641
I do. I love that for you. I also, I love that for your husband because I'm

00:44:49.641 --> 00:44:51.861
sure he's taking a beating because he probably deserves it. I wouldn't punch

00:44:51.861 --> 00:44:53.531
him. I can't punch him. I would be. Yeah.

00:44:54.551 --> 00:44:59.168
So I get the punching because you're married to a giant Polish man who,

00:44:59.279 --> 00:45:02.495
like, you'd be like, is that a fly in here? Oh, my God. That's funny.

00:45:03.000 --> 00:45:06.741
Yeah. So whatever it is that you're balancing this week, we appreciate you taking

00:45:06.741 --> 00:45:10.802
time out of your very busy schedules to listen and spend some time with us.

00:45:11.080 --> 00:45:15.771
And we cannot wait to hear what you think about the next couple of weeks with

00:45:15.771 --> 00:45:19.033
the senators. So, Mr. Vitale, I appreciate you.

00:45:19.521 --> 00:45:21.551
I appreciate you too, friend. Thank you very much.

00:45:23.531 --> 00:45:25.982
I'm very happy for you and the journey that you're on. Thank you.

00:45:38.364 --> 00:45:42.788
Or a topic you think we should tackle, drop us a line at podthebalancingact

00:45:42.997 --> 00:45:45.412
at gmail.com. We appreciate you.

00:45:48.784 --> 00:45:52.122
Thanks to Teachers Insurance Plan for their sponsorship of the Balancing Act.

00:45:52.732 --> 00:45:57.196
They offer special rates and discounts on auto insurance that understands us as educators.

00:45:57.788 --> 00:46:03.401
And they have a special 12-month policy that keeps us protected from frequent rate hikes.

00:46:03.930 --> 00:46:06.373
We know we're also customers.