Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Toronto Mike'd #81

Episode Date: June 25, 2014

Mike chats with his wife about their newborn son, Elvis's beer, the World Cup, and lessons learned.

Welcome to the 81st episode of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything, often with a distinctly Toronto flavour. I'm Mike from torontomic.com and joining me this week is my wife, Monica. Hello. Welcome back to the podcast, babe. Thank you very much. We have a lot to talk about because you have, well, I would say in your arms, but you're actually carrying. I'm wearing him. You're wearing our newborn son, Jarvis.

Yes. And we'll talk about that in a moment. I would like to start by talking about a couple of technical issues I had lately. So two episodes ago, which is episode 79, we had Barb DiGiulio in here. And I couldn't get the headphone jack thing from the mixing board to fit into the port. It just was a MacBook malfunction. So I couldn't play the Toronto Mike theme song. That sucks. And you love that song. I do love it. And you're being sarcastic because you really hate it though.

No, I don't hate it. I just said it didn't suit you. it's too cool for me exactly well i agree but the song itself is it's a good song but not for you good because ill vibe might be listening and he's he spent a little vibe i like the song good and then last week freddie p was sitting in your seat there and uh this is the most bizarre this has has never happened before. But I recorded GarageBand on the Mac and it was set to record via the built-in microphone that the MacBook has. So it didn't, we were all talking into the mics and we could hear us in the headphones, but the recording was actually just, it was recording via that external mic. So we sounded like we were recording in a bathroom.

Did you listen to that episode? No. How long has it been since you've heard an episode of this podcast? I used to listen to it every week when I was going to work. I would listen to it during my commute. And now that I don't have a commute, I don't have an opportunity to listen to it. So it's been a few months. So now I could start

complaining about you and I wouldn't have to face any repercussions. Well, I'll have to start listening, I guess. So, I have no idea if that theme song worked there. I mean, I thought it worked two weeks ago and it didn't work. And I thought it worked last week and it didn't work.

So, here we go. And maybe we'll be sounding like we're in the bathtub. Maybe we are. Unlike Freddie P and I, which is less likely to be in the bathtub together, it's possible you and I are in the bathtub. Possible. With Jervis. Yeah.

So I recently did the ride to conquer cancer, which was like a big milestone for me. I know, that's awesome. me i wanted to know that's awesome and i wanted to like do it for my 40th birthday like have a huge target and then you know complete it in honor of my 40th birthday my buddy mark carrey who you know uh thought that was a great idea and he's turning 40 next month so he he decided, you know, he needed a big target too. So where I biked 237 kilometers, which was a massive thing for me to do with my feeble body. Mark Carey has decided he will run 100 miles.

100 miles sounds crazy. Well, it's four marathons, more than four marathons. I'm wondering how far, what the route is. It's a long route. It's in Akron, Ohio, first of all. Oh. It's not like I can tell you where it is in Ontario. It's Akron.

That's interesting. 100 miles. Obviously, he can't run 100 miles straight, I don't think. So how many people do this? I don't have any details like this. We'd have to get him on. It sounds crazy. I just think it's uncool that Mark Carey took my little 237 kilometers.

Well, he is turning 40, isn't he? So that's his... Yeah, yeah. Except to me, a 100-mile run is 10 times harder than a 240-kilometer bike ride. But he's a runner. He's an avid runner. And you were, I wouldn't say you were an avid cyclist. But I did cycle five days a week last year, but just like 10K each trip.

Yeah. And you just started last year, well, consistently last year. So I think that's the difference. Well, thank you, Mark Carey, for making my 40th birthday target seem rather small very quickly. It was still pretty good. Thanks, babe. I did talk briefly about it with Barb to Julio, but just very briefly. So I just want to thank one more time everyone who sponsored the ride,

because we did raise over $5,000 for the Princess Margaret Cancer Center. And it was an amazing event that's well-organized, very well-organized. Even everything from just even the signs that tell you the route to take, I just thought it was super well-organized with great pit stops with, you know, if you needed help with your bike or medical attention

or just needed an Advil or, you know, oranges or whatever, Gatorade, whatever you know, if you needed help with your bike or medical attention or just needed an Advil or, you know, oranges or whatever, Gatorade, whatever you needed, it was there every 30 kilometers or so. There was some kind of a stop. And I just thought it was the night there when we camped at Mohawk College was amazing. Like just the food and drink and the entertainment and just the atmosphere and ambiance and that you had like camping for 5,000 people. Wicked ass event. If anybody wants to participate, it's amazing. And I'd be happy to answer all your questions if you had. The ambiance must have been amazing because there were cancer survivors that were doing their ride too, right?

Well, here's the thing. Because I went, I'm not bragging here, but I went fast. So I'm in the like top X percent. This sounds terrible. But the cancer survivors were biking much slower. So on route, I wasn't around any. Like they were way further back because I was so far ahead. So you didn't get to see any yellow flags?

Just at the starting lines. So like when we were all at Ontario Place when we started. So we all started one big group and yeah they have special flags and you definitely see them in it that starting line i was thinking of mike kick uh i started this for my buddy mike kick and he was one of the first guys to pledge in fact he pledged 150 bucks early and that's a lot of money for them i know that there was a lot of money issues going on there and he still found 150 bucks to pledge this ride. I never thought, you know, I never thought he'd be gone before the ride. So he passed away in April.

So I was thinking about him and I'm seeing the survivors and I'm thinking like, I wish I could see my buddy Mike Kick out there with one of those flags. And the whole idea is if we raise enough funds and we have smart people working at Princess Margaret Cancer Center, more people will be able to hoist those flags. Eventually.

Soon, I hope. Because cancer sucks. Yeah. So there's that. And then Elvis was going to be in today. And you're filling in for him because you're awesome. And Elvis was at our house on Saturday because he came to a birthday party I had. And I just was going to confront him. I know he doesn't listen to anything but his episodes. So I'll confront him about this next time he's in. But he brought a case of beer, Mill Street beer that we gave him for his at his birthday party

last summer did you know that are you sure it's the same is it the same case i'm gonna confront him about it but i'm 99.9 sure it's the exact same box maybe he thinks we like mill street and so he bought no he's the way he is you know where he replies that he's coming to our wedding with a picture of a cock. Oh, yeah, that's right. That was him. He literally draws a penis on his RSVP. And his card upstairs, you saw the card he gave me, right? It's the most feminine card.

It's pink with stilettos. Yeah. So this is like in his M.O. That is the same box of Mill Street beer. That's clever. Pretty clever. Well, you. So I'm pretty clever. Well, you know what I have to do now? We're going to be exchanging that thing until...

We'll keep it going. Yeah. And then whoever dies first, the other guy will have to bring that same case and have a sip at the burial site. Great idea. Thank you. So did you have fun at that party?

I did. The weather was perfect and we finally got to enjoy our beautiful backyard. Right, because we live in the land of midges. Yeah. So this is near the lake in like southwest Toronto, near the lake. It's our first summer here. And all spring, there were these clouds of midges. They're like little bugs bugs so you're in the

backyard and it's a beautiful backyard and you're out there but you know every time you open your mouth you eat a couple of bugs yeah but like miraculously they disappeared a couple of weeks ago like they're gone now i think it was even a couple days before the party. I don't know. Because I bike every day, I take pretty good note of midges. I think, yeah, but it was definitely like early to mid-June before they were gone. So now we have our backyard back. Yes. Because now you'll come out there. Yeah.

Any funny observations from the party? I know Elvis will have a bunch, but do you have any? No funny observations. Were you even from the party? I know Elvis will have a bunch, but do you have any? No funny observation. Were you even at this party? I was. I was out around and hosting. I did notice nobody ate. It was a barbecue and we had hot dogs and burgers and very little was eaten.

You mean because there was so much food, like you had pulled pork sliders and there was so much food available for the whole party that when it came time to take the orders for the actual barbecue, I had, most people were pretty full. So people might have one burger or one hot dog, but. Or nothing. Or nothing. Yeah. So basically we overbought meat

is what you're saying. Yeah. So if anybody needs some food, they should come over because we have an abundance of food right now. And you have to stay in the backyard and enjoy it.

And we've been, we had a big cake and only like a third of it got eaten. Is that about right? Yes. Maybe a quarter. Okay. We had so much cake.

And we put it in the fridge and we've been eating it like pigs. It's dangerous to have sweets in the house because we just eat until it's all gone. It is true that yesterday we literally had like a big Tupperware of cake and two forks. For lunch and dinner. We just attacked it. I'm actually, yeah, I can't bike enough to keep up with this calorie consumption. It'll be gone soon. I'll be 200 pounds by the time I do turn 40.

The big event going on right now is the World Cup. Is it? Yeah. So you're home on mat leave. Yes. And I work from home. So you're home on mat leave. Yes.

And I work from home. So, you know, especially those noon games, they're on the TV upstairs. And it's exciting to me. I'm not a soccer guy, but I get excited about the World Cup because it's a big event. And it's pretty exciting. Like I like to watch. I enjoyed, for example, the late breaking goal by Portugal to tie the USA the other day. I don't remember that one.

And Uruguay, a controversial win because of the biting incident, but they did score late to beat Italy and oust Italy from the tournament. I saw that one. And I mean, all my co-hosts are of Italian descent, like Elvis is of Italian descent and Rosie is of Italian descent. And I got a lot of Italian friends, like Ilduce and Muzzin. I know he's Italian, and

they're a little sad today. That's okay. You have to learn how to lose gracefully. They got good food. They have good food. They should be okay with this. So, I was just making an observation about how you watch the World Cup. You stare at, you seem to be watching it,

like you'll stare at the TV in that direction of the TV, but then a big play will develop. Let's say the late Portugal goal that tied against the US the other day. And I'll react to what I just saw on the screen, which is, oh, my God, like they scored. And you'll have missed it. Like you'll have missed the goal. Because while I'm watching, I get into a daze and I start thinking about other things.

But you're staring at the TV. I'm staring, but it's hard to concentrate and pay attention to the game when I don't really understand it. I mean, I understand they have to kick the ball into the net. But other than that, I don't understand soccer.

There's nothing to understand. I mean, there's offsides. I know, but it takes forever for a goal. It's not like basketball or hockey. But it's got to be the easiest game to understand because don't use your hands and don't like tackle people or bite people. But other

than a goal, there's nothing interesting to keep my attention. That's the problem. But there's scoring chance. I hear this argument from lots of people like Freddie P, for example, and they say soccer's boring. I don't believe it to be boring. I've watched a lot of World Cup, and it's been actually, for the

most part, it's been pretty exciting. I thought that Italian match was pretty, I thought it's been pretty exciting because there's lots of scoring opportunities, like when England, the guy Wayne Rooney, when he did that header off the crossbar, there's been a lot of exciting stuff.

I don't know if I, yeah, there's like you can watch for a long time and not see a good scoring opportunity, but it depends on what game you kind of get. But some games have been pretty damn exciting. If you say so. I just think it's interesting. I haven't noticed.

I find it fascinating that, and it's not just soccer, by the way. It's a bit more soccer maybe, but baseball is another one. You'll be staring. Baseball is the maybe but baseball's another one you'll be staring baseball's the same thing okay because you'll be watching the jays game with me and i don't know there might be a play at the plate or something and i'll be like check this out i think he's safe uh all right i think they got the call wrong or whatever and then because now they have the video

replay and i think they'll overturn turn this or. And you'll have not seen it, even though you're staring at the TV as it happens live. I stare in that direction just in case I happen to catch something exciting. But I like to think about other things. All right. Fair enough. But it's bizarre. Let's talk about what's new and exciting in your life. His name is Jarvis, and you're wearing him right now. He's very new and exciting.

Well, he's just starting to get exciting. He's just starting to get exciting. Okay, so let's talk about this. So this is your first child. Yes. And he's what, like two and a half months now? He's about two and a half. He's 11 weeks today.

Is he mine? I think so. How sure are you that that's my child? People tell me he has the same mouth as you. Is that so that's the paternity test? Yeah. Okay. I'll go with that. That's good enough for me. Hey, he's, you know, he sleeps in my bedroom, so I'll take him as mine. So Jarvis is your first born child. So this is your first experience as a mother. You've been, I should point out, you have been writing periodically about this experience at torontomommy.com.

Yes, unfortunately, I haven't written in a while. But you have some entries building in your head that you just have to find time to type. Yeah. Cool. Do you have some tips and tricks? Fun fact, I did a survey of Toronto Mike listeners and 38% of them are expectant or new mothers. What? 38%? I made that up completely. Why am I doing studies at Toronto Mike listeners? Come on. No, that's ridiculous.

But there are probably some out there or somebody who knows some. Regardless, it's my show and you're my wife and that's my child. So I would like to hear some stuff you've learned. What have you learned in your two and a half months of motherhood? I learned just to do whatever works for you and the baby. You have to stay happy and awake and alive. A lot of people told me to sleep whenever the baby slept, but sometimes eating would be more important.

Food is very important to me, and I found that to be the most difficult part as a new mother. I say before the baby arrives, make sure you have plenty of food in the freezer or have a plan for someone to make you food especially during the first month because I would I would forget to eat or rather spent the 15-20 minutes sleeping or resting instead of preparing food so my food my eating habits were a mess. I have two, I don't know if you know this,

I have two other children from a previous marriage. Yes, I see them once in a while. And they wore disposable diapers, like Huggies or Pampers. Like these were just diapers you put on and then they crapped and pissed in them and then you took them off and threw them out. Jarvis doesn't wear those. Jarvis wears these reusable cloth diapers.

And every two days there's a load of laundry done and they come back into circulation. Yes. I find it very easy. You take out this liner, this cloth liner. You pull it out. You put it on top of the diaper. You roll it up and put it in this bag, and then it gets cleaned every two days. I'm surprised at how much I'm digging these reusable diapers because I wasn't sure what to expect. Me too.

I'm surprised at how easy it is. I thought it would require a lot of work, but the most effort required is stuffing the diapers. We got pocket diapers. So that takes 10 minutes every two days to stuff these diapers. But other than that, it's pretty simple. Now, of course, right now, this baby is not eating any solids. So his diet consists of two things, right? Like it's breast milk. Right. And when he's still hungry and you're out of milk, the supplemented, what's that called? That baby formula. Okay, formula. So he's only having formula in breast milk right now.

So his craps are like, I don't know, elegant? Elegant. His craps are very manageable. Like they're just, you know. Liquidy. Liquidy yellow. They're, you know, I won't go into too much detail. But I'm asking, I guess what I'm asking is,

are we going to realize this isn't as fun when this kid starts eating solids in a couple of months? I have no idea, but I wouldn't be surprised if we decide to go with disposables. Oh, really? Although I did prepare for that. I bought some liners to make it easier to clean those diapers up. So we'll see.

Because basically at some point when he's eating like regular, like, I don't know, cereal and some mashed vegetables and stuff like that. At some point, he's going to make like real craps. I know. So you're basically, you like real craps and you're i know so you're basically you take the cloth diaper and you over the toilet you dump it in the toilet and then you do what we've been doing now so that so that's the extra step right now we don't have we don't put anything in the toilet everything stays in the diaper and then it gets washed and it's no problem but once he has like solid real craps that's the extra step right and i see i

watched that youtube video you showed me with the training video. Yeah. That video made it look simple, but they didn't show us the baby. I mean, the baby's going to be kicking and moving around by that age. How do you handle that? Well, you know what? We'll have to have you back on in a couple of months and see if you've gone to Huggies or Pampers. So what else are we doing different? That's it. You own some industrial pump, I've noticed. So I've seen that.

I don't see the case. All I'm doing now is differences in this baby and what I knew before. So you have a pump and it's like a million dollars. And you've got these two suctions that attach to your breasts and they suck milk out of your breasts. Right. Okay. One thing I want to say is that you invented this, and I thought this was rather clever, you invented this tank top thing with holes in the front

so you could have your hands free while you pump. I didn't invent. There are some hands-free pumping bras out there, but I didn't want to spend $50 on it. So I just made my own by cutting holes in a camisole that I had. So you didn't invent this. You just made it yourself. Right.

I was giving you too much credit. So I thought, so you do that periodically. That's different. And then the disposable diapers, and we don't have disposable diapers. And otherwise, you know, two months old, they don't need much else. No.

You like to carry him in that thing you're wearing. I wish people could see it. It's pretty cool. I heard on the Humble and Fred podcast because Howard mentioned that you were wearing that. And Fred made some offhand remark about how mothers today are afraid their kids will be stolen. But Fred clearly

doesn't get the carrier. I know. Like, I don't know. I don't think he understood. This is basically because it's easier to, he wants to be held. Right. And it's easier for your back to carry him with a holder. Oh yeah. And my hands are free to do other things. Your hands are free and this is better for your back. Right. So to me, it's a fantastic... I wore it yesterday. To me, it's fantastic. Yeah. And it soothes the baby.

He usually falls asleep while I'm wearing him. Cool. Any other tips for new mothers or expectant mothers? There's a lot of things I learned, but I can't really give that as advice because every mother of course that's of course because I I got a lot of advice before Jarvis came along and used none of it true everyone's got advice I guess you're right and then uh so no tips come to torontomommy.com

is that what you're saying yeah it'll be updated uh soon i hope eventually um i guess just enjoy the baby because i already know he's two and a half months and he's changed quite a bit already and people have told me to cherish every moment because it does go fast and i'm finding that to be very true and he smiles now he smiles now i can't wait for his giggle to come and that's really the big difference like the baby's just a blob of flesh until he smiles. Like, yeah, like a crapping feeding baby.

Once you can make a baby smile. Now you've got personality. Yeah. Now we've got a person. That's really when it, that's when, that's when dads get interested. Make the kids smile and then we'll sing to him.

He'll smile. And we're like, okay, this is happening. Yeah. Cool. Speaking of Jarvis, he was featured in a Father's Day campaign for Roots.

He looked very handsome in it. So just what happened was Roots Canada, I guess, contacted me and they asked if they could do this Father's Day feature where they send over a professional photographer and they snap some pictures of Jarvis and I and do a little interview with me, not with Jarvis. And then this is actually like, I know people who got like an email in their inbox on Father's Day from Roots if they were

like subscribed to the email newsletter. They got this email with me holding Jarvis and it's like, we're like models like pushing like roots product can you believe that you two are models I know it's ridiculous but it is kind of neat that we had a professional photographer take shots of Jarvis and that reminds me we have to find out what Marley did with those shots we got to get them I know I want to see those so if Amanda's listening I'm going to write you an email and find out where the heck the pics are from Marley. That was a very fun photo shoot. Babe, you were born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta.

Right. I just thought you should know. Which reminds me, I came across a documentary called Who Cares? about prostitution in Edmonton. Apparently, it's a big concern there but i had no idea do you think that's because of the um aboriginal uh populace i don't know what the reason is i have to watch the documentary still but i i came across it i'm gonna well we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna tune in uh edmonton okay so you were born and raised in edmonton so i guess you i don't know you've been here seven years or something um eight 11 years 11 years okay

do you know the name martin streak only from you other than from me no i don't i do not what radio stations did you listen to when you came to Toronto? When I came, I listened to 103.5. That's like down the street, by the way. That's like in Etobicoke, Dundas, Kipling. Bingo Bob works there. And then I listened to 93.5. Is that flow? I think so. I'm not too sure. So you didn't listen to 102.5. Is that flow? I think so.

Okay. I'm not too sure. Okay. So you didn't listen to 102.1. No. So you don't know who Martin Streak is.

No. You never tuned in to the Thursday 30. No, I did not. Or any of the live airs. No, I did not. From 410 Sherbourne Street. So Martin Streak

killed himself almost exactly five years ago. And I've been chatting with some people who worked with him and knew him. And I'm putting together this. I guess this is episode 81 we're on right now. So actually, I'm thinking episode 82 will be the Martin Streak episode. And I'm still... David Marsden promised to do a phoner with me.

And then I tried to ask him what number to call and when. And I haven't heard back. And I've sent two follow-ups. So I'm trying to get Marsden in there. Otherwise, I'm pretty much done. And I think this will be very interesting to anybody who remembers Martin Streak and, you know, followed his career at 102.1. So I'm just letting people know that next week, I'm thinking maybe the date was Canada Day is Tuesday, right? So maybe Wednesday, I will have this ready to be released.

That'll be exciting for those. Not for you, but for other people but for other people. Some people will dig it and some people won't care like you. The biggest lesson I learned, so I've been doing all this audio stuff, but what I haven't been doing, which is in hindsight is stupid, but I kind of know why it's just stupid because it's really hurting me with this experience here. stupid because it's really hurting me with this experience here. So I record these podcasts, and then I convert them to MP3s, and then I put them on the web server i uh don't keep the source file that's not it's not a bad thing i mean source files are huge imagine they are massive that's what she said i know um

imagine you kept all those wave files for the 80 episodes or whatever. Ah, thank you. You're making me feel better. So I didn't save my source files. I understand why you wouldn't save it. But now what I'm doing is I'm going back to my interview of Alan Cross and I'm extracting a part of it. So I'm taking that part from the MP3, not the source. And then I'm saving it down as another digital file.

What I'm doing now is I'm degrading the quality of the audio to a point where it's bothering me. I should just get over this, right? I haven't heard it, so I don't know. It's still better than Freddie P and I in the bathtub. Okay, then it's sufficient. Anyway, I'm actually, for my 40th birthday, I'm putting out like a 10 things I've learned list.

And one of them is definitely going to be keep your source files. Even though you think that makes your top 10. Yeah. Keep your source files, people. So that Martin Streak tributes next week. Quick observation. So my grandmother died recently and I'm the executor of her will. So I had a dozen phone calls to make. So you got to call everybody. You got to cancel the health card. You got to cancel this. You got to cancel the whatever that check is. Old people get old age security pension stuff.

You got to call these numbers. You got to call the bank. You got to call, you know, there are other calls that are eluding me now to cancel things and i making all these calls and i realized that system sucks like why can't there be some for the government stuff all the government stuff like from a health card to sin to the payments they get everything there should be one that when dies, there should be one number you call to report the death.

And then that gets like trickles down to all those different parts. They shouldn't make you call like 10 different government offices. That's true. But are all those cards and offices relevant to everyone that dies? Well, that's not our problem. Like we report the death and then it gets reported to all the different offices. And if it's not relevant, then nothing happens. But if it is relevant, then something happens. Like it seems like the onus being on the loved one to call so many different places when someone dies. I think we could do better job. We could one number. That's all.

Okay. That should be the same for births then. Yeah. I didn't even know you have to call people for, oh, well, yeah, it should be the same for births. Yeah. Okay. Good idea. So there's that. And then one final thing I wanted to chat with you about because you're from Edmonton, home of the Edmonton Eskimos. This is about the Washington Redskins NFL team. And it's become a big deal lately. It's almost like people realize what it meant. It seems to me,

and I can even plead ignorance because for the longest time, I don't think I really thought about what Redskins meant. I kind of thought of it sort of like how you have a team called the Seminoles or you have a team, you know, you have these different or the Blackhawks. Like I didn't think of it. And then I'm going to read a quote from a Native American. And it says, he says, a redskin is the scalped head of a Native American sold like a pelt for cash. And if you like take a second to kind of take that in and what a Redskin is, you would never ever celebrate, you would never ever use it as a nickname for a football team. It's not, especially since it's actually the, you know, in the United States Capitol, the Washington Redskins. You would never name a team Redskins if you knew that was the origin.

Right. So I don't know why they named it in the first place, but over time it evolved so that the definition isn't even thought of anymore. It's just a name. Right. So in the 30s, we can excuse it based on the fact that we did a lot of insensitive stuff in the 30s. But in 2014, now that we recognize this is insensitive and really it's a slur against Native Americans, maybe we should change the damn name. So have they decided that they're changing the name? No, the owner says no way. Oh.

Yeah, the owner is saying no way. And I'm saying the owner is out of touch. Does Jarvis want to say anything Jarvis is asleep so that's a no no he has nothing to share at the moment babe I appreciate you stepping in for Elvis who has such an important job. He had to go talk to people in Europe. Oh. I know, which is what I do that every day. Was that last minute?

I believe it was last minute, but he's very important. And that brings us to the end of our 81st show. You can follow me on Twitter at Toronto Mike and Monica at Miss Monica Rina. See you all next week. I want to take a streetcar downtown Read Andrew Miller and wander around