The Insomnia Project helps you relax and drift off to sleep

Marco Timpano:  Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax, and listen as we have a calm, mundane, even conversation to help you relax and drift off to sleep. I'm your host, Marco Timpano, and I'm drawing hearts. You're drawing hearts?

Amanda Barker: r: That's a hard thing for my Bostonian tongue to wrap its mouth around.

Marco Timpano:  I detected a little accent there.

Amanda Barker:  I'm drawing hearts. But I. I think I almost said I'm drawing hats.

Marco Timpano:  It sounded like that. Now, are you drawing or are you doodling hearts?

Amanda Barker:  What's, uh, the difference?

Marco Timpano:  Well, drawing would be like drawing a beautiful heart.

Amanda Barker:  I never draw. I only doodle.

Marco Timpano:  You only doodle? There you go.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah, I learned to doodle. Learn to doodle. I'm sure there's a class on learning to doodle, but I started doing that back in my radio days.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, okay.

Amanda Barker:  Um, because there were three of us on the mic, and it was a good place to put my energy when I wasn't speaking.

Marco Timpano:  Sure.

Amanda Barker:  Because I realized, um, for various reasons at that point in my life, that I wanted to talk a lot and that it was probably only appropriate for me to talk a third of the time that I wanted to. But where to put all my other thoughts and energy and impulse to speak with Will? I put them in my doodles. By the way, it's Amanda, and I'm giving you full permission to relax, drift off, and go on the ride with us.

Marco Timpano:  Fantastic. And, Amanda, you're wrapped in a blanket right now.

Amanda Barker:  I wanted to be cozy tonight. I wanted a cool drink and a soft blanket around my body. I have succeeded in getting both.

Marco Timpano:  What's your cool drink?

Amanda Barker:  It is a Maison Perrier.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, Maison Perrier.

Amanda Barker:  Knowing that name change happen. But anyways, it's a Perrier sparkling water in a can. It feels, uh, very bougie.

Marco Timpano:  Sure.

Amanda Barker:  And very. Do you remember when Perrier became a thing in the 80s?

Marco Timpano:  I mean, I remember Perrier. I don't remember it becoming a thing in the 80s, but I do remember it.

Amanda Barker:  I remember that there were yuppies. Remember yuppies on some sitcom? And they're like, can we get you anything to drink? And the two. I don't remember what sitcom it was. And the two yuppies said together in unison, perrier. A twist of lemon.

Marco Timpano:  Ooh.

Amanda Barker:  And that was the joke that yuppies drink Perrier and look at me, I'm a yuppie.

Marco Timpano:  If you remember the name of that television show, feel free to, uh, send us a message with it.


You know, it's funny, Amanda, I've been updating all our episodes

You know, it's funny, Amanda, I've been sort of updating all our episodes on the YouTube channel.

Amanda Barker:  Not sort of. You have been.

Marco Timpano:  I have been. And so I'm going through each episode and. And I'm adding a. A sort of tag off the top and, you know, don't forget to subscribe at the bottom type thing. What I realized is we have two episodes called you've Got Mail. So I changed one, and I was like, I can't believe in our 400 episodes, we have two episodes called you've Got Mail.

Amanda Barker:  And neither is about that movie.

Marco Timpano:  No, neither.

Amanda Barker:  I bet.

Marco Timpano:  And I bet people who. There's a generation, um, of people who don't even know that was a movie or a thing. Or a thing.

Amanda Barker:  Because that was messenger.

Marco Timpano:  Aol.

Amanda Barker:  Aol Messenger.

Marco Timpano:  It had even a pling or something to it.

Amanda Barker:  Uh, yeah, it did. And it went, you've got mail. That was like the automated voice.

Marco Timpano:  And that meant you've got an email, folks. That's how long ago they were doing that to inform you.

Amanda Barker:  M mean, was it for an email or was it for the little. Remember, there was a couple years. There were like, messenger was a big thing. Was it just on. It was before Facebook.

Marco Timpano:  I thought it was, you've got an email, and they'd be like, you got mail. I think you're right, because email stands for electronic mail.

Amanda Barker:  Yes, it does. Uh, and I think you're right. That was the AOL thing, when everybody had AOL mail because all the companies tried to hop on the email craze, if you can believe it. You young Gen Y and Gen Z and millennials.

Marco Timpano:  And there was a time, folks, and this is for people who are younger who might not realize this, where the general episode.

Amanda Barker:  I see what's happening. We're just gonna talk about how old we are, and I'm here for it.

Marco Timpano:  As children say, uh, there was a time where the general population didn't know that the at symbol was called the at symbol or that hashtag was the hashtag symbol.

Amanda Barker:  But that. But hang on. Because you're getting a lot of angry people.

Marco Timpano:  Okay.

Amanda Barker:  That symbol is not called a hashtag.

Marco Timpano:  No, it's called a, um, something else. It's called a number sign.

Amanda Barker:  I don't know. Crooked number sign.

Marco Timpano:  No, it's called something. It's not called a hashtag.

Amanda Barker:  That's not the name of that. That just became a thing when I think Instagram started.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, yeah, number sign. What is it officially called? I'll look it up.

Amanda Barker:  It does have an official name, and that name is not hashtag. I know, because I saw I think a buzzfeed or an article on it. Remember when buzzfeed articles were all the rage? I mean, but, um, no. There was a device that was around the MySpace years and it predated Facebook. This I remember. Um, it was before anybody really had Facebook and it was a Messenger type of device that would be the same as, like, what Facebook messenger has become. Maybe Facebook bought it and it had its own little noises. I wasn't on it very long, but I was on it, I believe, in the summer of, uh, 2005 or maybe 2006.

Marco Timpano:  Okay.

Amanda Barker:  I do remember various sketches, a sketch that I had to learn that was based on it.

Marco Timpano:  So that symbol, Amanda. Um, and I was gonna say it, I'm kicking myself that I didn't say it is called the hash symbol.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, it's just called hash symbol. Oh. So a hashtag, I guess that makes sense because you're tagging people, but a hashtag means you're tagging a, you know, event or concept or whatever.

Marco Timpano:  Right, right.

Amanda Barker:  You, uh, know people have them for their weddings. We didn't do that.


What are some things that were popular that don't exist anymore

Marco Timpano:  What are some things that were popular that don't exist anymore? Like, for example, you know, back in the day, everyone had a rotary phone.

Amanda Barker:  I know. And that was the whole thing. And this is what's funny, is because you and I did improv way back in the day. As we say, we would mime. Like if we were doing a scene and we had to call somebody, we would mime either doing the press touch tone dial from a dial pad on a phone. Remember those?

Marco Timpano:  Love them.

Amanda Barker:  Or of course, the old rotary loopdy loop pulling the, pulling the thingy to the number. The old school ones. But we also used to do in all of our object work in mime, um, pretending to roll down windows.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, yes, I still do that.

Amanda Barker:  And what cars have roll down windows, other than like vintage old cars.

Marco Timpano:  Roll down windows are the best. Windows, Really?

Amanda Barker:  I mean, I don't think so.

Marco Timpano:  Um, I remember they're a lot of work. I remember doing, uh, some, some improv where I would put a VHS tape into a VCR or a beta machine and press it down for it to go down.

Amanda Barker:  Remember you'd, you'd make the mixtape and you just listen to the radio and wait for the beginning of like the song. You really want to catch it at the beginning of the song to hit record. But you kind of didn't want the radio announcing. There's a name for the way the radio announcers used to talk into the intro of the song. But not so far in that they

Marco Timpano:  would cover the COVID First line, vocals.

Amanda Barker:  Um, yeah.

Marco Timpano:  Uh, I was talking to you recently. We heard a song and I was like, you know, I had that on a mixtape and it followed another song and hearing that song made me remember the other song. It's really funny.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah. Tape. Cassette tapes, right?

Marco Timpano:  Remember when you, if you had the double cassette tapes where, like you had a stereo system which had two, so you could record off one onto the other.

Amanda Barker:  That was like, that's how you pirated your tapes.

Marco Timpano:  That was like magic. I remember getting one and being so thrilled about it.

Amanda Barker:  And CD burners. That was a big things. Burn a CD with all your favorite songs that you would illegally get from Napster. That came later, of course.

Marco Timpano:  Floppy disks.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, my God. Floppy disks. I think I still have some.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, I'm sure.

Amanda Barker:  What, I mean, it's all antiquated stuff, right?

Marco Timpano:  It's true. It's true.

Amanda Barker:  Can you, can you get any of that info off of them? I don't think so anymore. I hear you thought you were saving it forever on the floppy disk.

Marco Timpano:  Well, if you have an old school computer, you could put the floppy disk in and I'm sure it would read.

Amanda Barker:  It wants that. Nobody has that. Uh, I'm sure there's a floppy disk computer. Really?

Marco Timpano:  I'm sure there's a, a connected device you could put into your computer and it could access various formats.

Amanda Barker:  So funny technology, the technology that you're just used to.


Do you remember sending your first email

Do you remember sending your first email?

Marco Timpano:  I don't remember sending my first email, but I remember, I remember someone asking me if I had an email address. And at that point I didn't know what it was.

Amanda Barker:  I remember there was a system in 1993, my, uh, first year of university, called the VAX system. And it was all those old like, DOS computers with the black with the orange writing. And that connected you to anyone else who was on the VAX system at that time. So it was like early messenger, but you had to be on the university computers. And then you could message whoever was on the system and chat with them.

Marco Timpano:  Wow. And would you know that person?

Amanda Barker:  Uh, sometimes you did, sometimes you didn't. But you'd be like, oh, Rob's on the VAC system. I'm gonna send him a message. And they'd be like, I'm chatting with him right now. Can you believe it? I remember that. And then my second year was when email happened. My second year university was when email happened. And I do remember sending my first email. Eudora Mail.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, my goodness.

Amanda Barker:  What my university had. And I actually sent it to, funnily enough, my friend Rob's friends, Katherine, uh, and Sonya. I sent them emails because I was like, hi, I'm Rob's friend and I'm sitting next to him in the computer lab and he said, I could send you an email because he had their queen's emails.

Marco Timpano:  I see.

Amanda Barker:  I wonder what happened to them.

Marco Timpano:  So if you want to reach Amanda, you can email her at amandabarkeryadora.tagtag.com. uh, whatever.

Amanda Barker:  Eudora. I know. It was long. It was a long email.

Marco Timpano:  My goodness.

Amanda Barker:  Address. Yeah. I remember my final year university just finding theaters on the Internet that was new. And then emailing them and just reaching out and being like, I'd like to work for you. Didn't really work out, but I thought that was a good way to be an actor for a theater. Just randomly email. Go to the like button and email a theater. It's crazy when I think about it now.

Marco Timpano:  I love it.

Amanda Barker:  I know.

Marco Timpano:  I remember a friend of ours sponsored a program at a theater. So you get. Your company can sponsor different things.

Amanda Barker:  I know what you're gonna say. This was my show.

Marco Timpano:  I know. So Amanda was in a show and our friend, graciously, I wasn't the producer,

Amanda Barker:  but I was in it.

Marco Timpano:  Sponsored a part of the program. And so it had her company name. And what had happened was she had sent the logo and the company name and part of her. What do you call it? Signature.

Amanda Barker:  Her email signature had a little Buddha

Marco Timpano:  or Gandhi quote, teach a man to fish and he'll fish forever.

Amanda Barker:  It was be the change.

Marco Timpano:  No, it was fish. It was.

Amanda Barker:  It wasn't fish.

Marco Timpano:  No, it was fish.

Amanda Barker:  It was be the change you want to be.

Marco Timpano:  Or something like that.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah.

Marco Timpano:  And somehow her signature ended up in the, in the program with her company.

Amanda Barker:  And she said, here it is. So they just printed the whole thing, including her email sign off quotation.

Marco Timpano:  And I said, why would she put that. And I asked her and she's like, that wasn't supposed to be in there. And it was a funny, funny moment.

Amanda Barker:  Sure. It was a really profresh looking program. I mean, that's kind of how you and I met. You wanted me to sponsor one of your programs. I did one of your shows.

Marco Timpano:  You can have all those, uh, apps to meet people, but the best way to meet a person is ask them to sponsor your show and then marry them.

Amanda Barker:  And then marry them many years, many years later. Because that would have been like 2004, 2005. I think that you asked me to do that.

Marco Timpano:  So I learned. So I'm taking 2003, actually, I'm taking swimming lessons.

Amanda Barker:  You are? Yeah.

Marco Timpano:  And I learned something about swimming that I didn't know previous to swimming.

Amanda Barker:  Tell me, by the way, great segue.

Marco Timpano:  Was it?

Amanda Barker:  No, I like, uh, you just went.

Marco Timpano:  So it's just. It just came to me. And that is if you want to swim, the more relaxed you are in the water, the easier it is to swim.

Amanda Barker:  A hundred percent. And that's why you need to take swimming class, because otherwise you're not relaxed in the water. And floppy freak out. People don't do so great.

Marco Timpano:  No, they don't.


What's the difference between a cuttlefish and a squid

And that was me. And now I'm the most relaxed in the swimming pool.

Amanda Barker:  I love it.

Marco Timpano:  And all my classmates, a lot of them are not relaxed. And I want to tell them, relax, But I also don't want to step on the teacher's toes, uh, and tell people to relax when I see them tensing.

Amanda Barker:  Well, everyone has to learn when they're ready, at their own time and at their own pace.

Marco Timpano:  And I'll say this. When I get splashed water in the face, I forget to relax. Amanda.

Amanda Barker:  And then what do you do?

Marco Timpano:  Tense up and sink.

Amanda Barker:  I know when you get excited when we snorkel and you see something that you really want to see, that's when you get really splashy. And of course, that's the counterintuitive part, because then whatever it is, you've. Whatever, you know, um, cool fish under the water, life you've seen, they're probably gonna flit away or shrink down or whatever that particular fish would do.

Marco Timpano:  You know, we saw calamati one time when we were swimming.

Amanda Barker:  I always associate calamari with the version that you eat, so it's funny.

Marco Timpano:  Squid. We saw squid fried rings floating around. We saw a school of squid.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah, but wasn't it cuttlefish?

Marco Timpano:  No, they were squid.

Amanda Barker:  What's the difference between a, uh, cuttlefish and a squid?

Marco Timpano:  It's a really good question. So squid, when you look at squid, it has a more torpedo body.

Amanda Barker:  Okay.

Marco Timpano:  So it's kind of longer and slender towards the tip of its. Let's say its head.

Amanda Barker:  Okay.

Marco Timpano:  Whereas a cuttlefish is more flat, squat, and a bit more chunky.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, yeah.

Marco Timpano:  And the cuttlefish has a bigger cuttlefish bone in it versus the squid. It's the backbone. And the cuttlefish bone. If you have a parakeet, uh, or canaries, you can buy them at the pet store. And canaries and, and. And parakeets and birds. Like that. Like to. Like to nibble on the, um.

Amanda Barker:  Cuttlefish bone?

Marco Timpano:  Yeah, cuttlefish bone. It's a white. Pure white.

Amanda Barker:  Really?

Marco Timpano:  Yeah, pure white bone that's kind of soft. You can. You can make an indentation with your finger in it.

Amanda Barker:  That is a random fact that parakeets eat cuttlefish bones. How did you know that? Because you had birds.

Marco Timpano:  Canaries. And. Yeah, they love them.

Amanda Barker:  I can't believe you guys had canaries.

Marco Timpano:  Canaries are wonderful animals. They have a beautiful song.

Amanda Barker:  You don't seem like bird people to me.

Marco Timpano:  Well, we were.

Amanda Barker:  And you guys never talk about them. That's why when you're like, oh, yeah, we had birds, it's like I was part of this family for a long time, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, you owned birds. I didn't know this.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah, we had canary.

Amanda Barker:  Just a, uh, canary or two.

Marco Timpano:  We had, I think two canaries. Like, we had one canary and then

Amanda Barker:  another whose idea was like, let's. Let's be bird people. Let's get canaries. Was it your mother's?

Marco Timpano:  I want to say it was mine. I mean, I was a kid, Amanda. Like, this is hard. This is going way, way back. But before, uh, cell phones and email. An email. We had a canary.

Amanda Barker:  You rotary dialed the canary pet store and said, give me. Give me some. Do you have some in stock? I'd like to come get them. I just think it's interesting because you guys don't talk about your birds very much.

Marco Timpano:  I think we had two. One was named Tootsie, and the other one, I can't remember its name.

Amanda Barker:  Uh, they left an impression. How long did you have these birds?

Marco Timpano:  I don't know. Like, let's say five years and seven years. I've never.

Amanda Barker:  I've never seen pictures of these birds. And you had a dog when you had these birds?

Marco Timpano:  No, I mean, the second one. We had a dog. Yeah, but not the first.

Amanda Barker:  Would the dog go crazy for the bird?

Marco Timpano:  No, I think the dog was fine with the bird. We remember I was more into fish, and so I had a lot of aquariums when I was little.


Growing up, all you wanted was a puppy or a kitten

I liked aquariums.

Amanda Barker:  That's nice. Your parents let you have them. Yeah, I wanted, um, pets, and we never allowed any of them until I was 13.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, okay.

Amanda Barker:  But all, like, growing up, that's all I wanted was a puppy or a kitten. And then finally, when we moved to Canada, um, my parents had sort of dangled the promise of being pet owners if we moved to Canada, I think to entice us to move. And so we took that to heart and. And they went away and I think left us with babysitters, but I don't know, they came back and we were like, well, you said. And then suddenly we had three cats.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, my goodness. Three?

Amanda Barker:  Yeah, we kind of got them all at once. Two were from my brother's first grade teacher, of course. Or, sorry, second grade teacher, I think, because I think he did first grade in the U.S. so my brother's second grade teacher, she had a barn. And so the barn cat had kittens.

Marco Timpano:  Sure.

Amanda Barker:  So we got two of those. And then at the exact same week, my sister's friend's family, their cat had kittens, so we got one of those. I mean, I don't know, I think they were all like. They weren't just born that week.

Marco Timpano:  Okay.

Amanda Barker:  They were old enough that we could take them. But anyway, yeah. So then suddenly she got one from her. I had nothing to do with any of this. And then my 7 year old brother, somehow with my sister, I think my sister went to get him at the school. I think she. She could drive. So she drove to the school and was like, we're coming for the kittens.

Marco Timpano:  Why wouldn't they just get one? Why did they get two?

Amanda Barker:  I don't know.

Marco Timpano:  Because that seems odd.

Amanda Barker:  I think is there's three of us. So the idea was we decided amongst ourselves.

Marco Timpano:  But your parents weren't there to make this decision.

Amanda Barker:  No, we were like Party of Five. But we were Party of three. We're like, well, there's three of us. We each get our own kitten. So.

Marco Timpano:  And when Amanda references Party of Five, that was a television show back in the day for anyone who's like, what does that even mean?

Amanda Barker:  And Party of Five was the first show I ever binged watched.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, wow.

Amanda Barker:  Because, um, this is all full circle. Um, back in the VHS days, I had a friend, Marcie Boyer. I don't know where she is now, but she, um, she was a teacher in Korea, different school, but we had mutual friends and we met, we all became friends. So anyway, she had friends from where she was from, which is Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, of course. And like you do. And her friend in Portage La Prairie recorded Party of Five for her. So she had at that point three, I think, full seasons of Party of Five. I think her friend recorded all the reruns in the summer.

Marco Timpano:  Okay.

Amanda Barker:  And then the new season. And so she had two seasons back to back, and then recorded the next season as it went. Every week she would like, hit the record button at whatever time. Thursday at five. O' clock or what? What? Or, uh, nine o' clock or whenever it was on. And so we pass this around because English television wasn't easy to get when I was there. Now of course it is, but back then it wasn't easy. Right. So it was this hot property that she had these, you know, pirated off the TV videos of Party of Five. And so we all passed it around and what was it was the first thing any of us had ever binge watched. Because that just wasn't even a. Binge watching wasn't a term.

Marco Timpano:  Sure.

Amanda Barker:  You know who I first ever heard the term binge? And I maintain it's who made the term binge. Orange is the new black. In the pilot of Orange is the New Black, she said, please don't watch Mad Men without me. You promised me we'd get together and just binge it together.

Marco Timpano:  I don't know if that's the.

Amanda Barker:  Okay.


Neve Campbell got her big break on Party of Five

Well, that's the first time I ever heard okay. The expression binging on a TV show. Because primarily it was used for food intake. Right. Or drinking.

Marco Timpano:  So on Party of Five, Neve Campbell sort of got her big break. But prior to Party of Five, she was on a Canadian television show called Catwalk.

Amanda Barker:  That's right.

Marco Timpano:  Which I was an extra on for a party scene.

Amanda Barker:  That's right.

Marco Timpano:  Where I was at a club dancing.

Amanda Barker:  Mhm. And let's not forget Lacey Chabert was a young girl on Party of Five.

Marco Timpano:  I don't know who that is.

Amanda Barker:  Well, if you watched Hallmark Christmas movies, you would, because that's what she has made her career doing.

Marco Timpano:  Isn't she the one?

Amanda Barker:  She's also in Mean Girls.

Marco Timpano:  Didn't one of them have a, like a ghost show? She was like a. She could see ghost.

Amanda Barker:  Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, that's right.

Amanda Barker:  So from Party of Five. And then she had a ghost show. And now I don't know what she's doing.

Marco Timpano:  And Scott Wolf, who played Bailey, who's on a show with our friend called Doc.

Amanda Barker:  That's right, he's now on Doc.

Marco Timpano:  Dale Boyer. Not related to that other, uh, Marcy Boyer.

Amanda Barker:  Although maybe they are. And they don't know each other. So.

Marco Timpano:  So there. And then the other guy was on Lost.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah. What was the other guy? Fox.

Marco Timpano:  Scott Fox.

Amanda Barker:  Is that his name?

Marco Timpano:  Scott Fox?

Amanda Barker:  Yeah.

Marco Timpano:  No, Scott Wolf and Scott Fox.

Amanda Barker:  Matthew Fox.

Marco Timpano:  Matthew Fox. There you go.

Amanda Barker:  He was the oldest one.

Marco Timpano:  And then. And then that was it. Right? That was the five of them.

Amanda Barker:  It went the. The actual party of five was Scott Fox and then Nev Campbell and then. And Then, um, Scott Wolf. Sorry, Matthew. Yeah. Scott Wolf was Neve Campbell's boyfriend on the show.

Marco Timpano:  No, they was. They were brother and sister. Oh, it's Party of Five.

Amanda Barker:  Okay. Jennifer Love Hewitt was Scott Wolf's girlfriend.

Marco Timpano:  But we're not making five. Amanda. So there was Scott Fox.

Amanda Barker:  Yes.

Marco Timpano:  Neve Campbell.

Amanda Barker:  Yes.

Marco Timpano:  Scott Wolf.

Amanda Barker:  Okay, it was Matthew.

Marco Timpano:  Matthew Fox. Wait, no, I'm confused. Matthew Fox.

Amanda Barker:  Yes.

Marco Timpano:  Nev Campbell.

Amanda Barker:  Yes.

Marco Timpano:  Scott Wolf.

Amanda Barker:  Okay, the ghost girl, Lacey Chabert.

Marco Timpano:  Lacey Chabert.

Amanda Barker:  And there was a baby.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, there was a baby.

Amanda Barker:  So that's the party of five. Okay, um, but Lacey, uh, but the ghost girl, AKA Jennifer Love Hewitt, was not a family member. She was the girlfriend. Okay, Just for the record.

Marco Timpano:  And what happened to the baby? What's the baby's name?

Amanda Barker:  I can't remember. Oh my gosh. The baby of party of five.

Marco Timpano:  The baby who's now 40.

Amanda Barker:  I gotta look up. Who was the baby on Party of Five? This is important. Stand by.


Amanda recalls binge watching Party of Five when she was younger

Marco Timpano:  All right. While Amanda does that. So Party of Five was this show. I barely watched it, but clearly I know a little bit about it. And Amanda was a big fan because she watched all the seasons and Amanda's looking that up. I'm trying to think of the first show that I binge watched. And, uh, I remember setting the VCR to tape stuff. Uh, mainly videos, if you can. If you can believe it. I videotape. I tape videos and then watch music videos, which we called videos back in the day. What's the answer? Amanda.

Amanda Barker:  Okay, the character name was Owen.

Marco Timpano:  Okay.

Amanda Barker:  Um, I'm trying to remember all the character names. Bailey was Scott Wolf. That much I remember.

Marco Timpano:  I guess Matthew Fox was called Scott because.

Amanda Barker:  No, he was Charlie. Okay, that I remember.

Marco Timpano:  Um, Neve Campbell was called Scott because clearly we've got Scott on the brain.

Amanda Barker:  I gotta look up all the other. The Salinger kids. But a bunch of kids played that baby.

Marco Timpano:  I see. Okay.

Amanda Barker:  Alexander and Zachary Anhurt. Brandon and Taylor. Porter. Andrew and Steven Cavarno. And finally, Jacob Smith. Just all on his own.

Marco Timpano:  Good for Jacob Smith.

Amanda Barker:  I don't know who any of these people are. Did they go on to anything?

Marco Timpano:  And they often use twins when you have young children so that you can swap them in and out because kids can only be on set for so long.

Amanda Barker:  Mhm.

Marco Timpano:  And that's why there's a lot of doubles. And that's why, um, the Olsen twins became famous because they were on. Not Party of Five, the other one. Everybody in the house or whatever. Full house. And they played the same character, but they would Swap them in or did they play twins?

Amanda Barker:  Uh, no, they. They played the same character.

Marco Timpano:  So they played the same character and they would swap them in and out.

Amanda Barker:  Okay. Matthew was Charlie. Scott was Bailey. I think we nev. Was Julia. Lacey was Claudia.

Marco Timpano:  She's now in Hallmark films.

Amanda Barker:  And then Jacob Smith was the baby. Owen.

Marco Timpano:  Okay.

Amanda Barker:  I mean, he. Yeah, he was a baby for, um, for most of it. And then Jennifer Love Hewitt was Bailey's girlfriend, Sarah.

Marco Timpano:  There you go.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah.

Marco Timpano:  So that's all you need to know about Party of Five. Really. And, uh, did you watch every season, Amanda?

Amanda Barker:  I think I did. In the end. Yeah. I mean, I watched those three pivotal seasons, and I remember we all laughed, like, whenever one of us was watching it. There were so many dramatic things that happened on it. Right. There was always some sort of drama that, um, while we were. While somebody was party fiving, binge watching, we'd be like, wow, things are really heavy right now because it was so much heaviness. And we weren't used to binge watching something.

Marco Timpano:  Did you watch Lost?

Amanda Barker:  I never did. Did you? No.

Marco Timpano:  Did you watch Catwalk?

Amanda Barker:  I never did.

Marco Timpano:  Did you watch the Ghost show with Jennifer Lovehuman?

Amanda Barker:  My mother did.

Marco Timpano:  Okay. Did you watch any of the Hallmark films with the other one?

Amanda Barker:  I have with Lacey Chabert. And she is good in Mean Girls too.

Marco Timpano:  Fantastic. Well, there you go. Thank you for, uh, walking down memory lane.


What's the first thing you and I binge watched

Amanda Barker:  So you don't remember the first thing you binge watched? What's the first thing we binge watched? I. Sopranos. No, because you watched that in real time.

Marco Timpano:  I binge watched, like, a couple of seasons and then I watched in real time. I can't think.

Amanda Barker:  What's the first thing you and I binge watched? I wonder.

Marco Timpano:  I don't know.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, I know what it was. The Shield.

Marco Timpano:  The Shield. That's right. We did watch. We did binge watch the Shield.

Amanda Barker:  Cruise ship. Somebody you read? We rented I think the Shield.

Marco Timpano:  I think so.

Amanda Barker:  And watched it on our computer as one in our little cabin. And so we. Yeah, we binge watch the Shield. So there you go. That's our. Our special, uh, love show.

Marco Timpano:  Well, listen, feel free to binge our podcast on whatever app you listen, and if you, uh, feel up to it, give us a five star review and let your friends know. Until next time, we hope this episode took you down memory lane, but also. Also made you fall asleep.

Amanda Barker:  I don't know what you just said.

Marco Timpano:  I don't know. My mouth was all garbled.

Amanda Barker:  Good night.

Marco Timpano:  Until next time, we hope you listen and sleep.

​

Marco Timpano:  Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax, and listen as we have a calm conversation about the mundane. The point of this podcast is not to read to you, not to, uh, you know, do asmr, scratch my head, or whatever it is. It's for you to listen, drift off, and sleep. I'm your host, Marco Timpano.

Amanda Barker:  Scratch my head. Oh, my gosh. People like that. 35 minutes of you just scratching your head.

Marco Timpano:  I know that would. That would not be.

Amanda Barker:  That would freak me out.

Marco Timpano:  That would not work for me. We don't do that.

Amanda Barker:  I don't think it would work for anyone. So it's. It's everyone's gift that Mark was choosing not to do that. I'm Amanda Barker. Um, and as always, I'm here to allow you to have full permission. You have m. My personal full permission. And maybe Mr. Head Scratch, I'm not sure, but you have my. You really only need mine. You have my personal full permission to just follow along. Let us be your conversational guides. You can absolutely close your eyes. Now's a good time. Or you can let your eyes just do that, like, glaze over thing that you do. You know what I mean?

Marco Timpano:  Yeah.

Amanda Barker:  Is, uh, there a time of day for that? I don't even know where. You just kind of glaze over, and you're, like, somehow aware that the world's moving around you, but you're like, I just want to sit in this moment for a few more moments. That's what we aim to do. We aim to give you that eyes glazed over moment for 26 minutes.

Marco Timpano:  And if you're listening on Spotify, like last week I mentioned it, please tap on the three dots over the show page and leave us a five star review.

Amanda Barker:  It'll take two seconds.

Marco Timpano:  And it genuinely helps so much, so much.

Amanda Barker:  And we're really trying to get more. More robust content to you. That's how we can do it. And it's free. Takes two seconds.

Marco Timpano:  Speaking of robust content.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, my goodness.

Marco Timpano:  I reached out to our listeners to see what topic they would like us to cover.

Amanda Barker:  He never. So everyone's aware. I don't have any heads up. I usually come. I'm in my pajamas. I have the day off. I just cleaned my kitchen and made you a delicious lunch, which I just.

Marco Timpano:  I knocked my coffee just now and

Amanda Barker:  then I made you a delicious coffee. I make delicious things, um, on days off, which I have. It's nice to have a day off. I have a hip hop class I gotta do later.

Marco Timpano:  I forgot to go to my swim class yesterday.

Amanda Barker:  I know. We had. We told everyone about these classes and we were all like, look at us. And then we were on the Vespa last night going to see a movie in 4D. We can talk about that. Um, and I was like, wait, don't. Don't you have a swim class? Oops.

Marco Timpano:  And we missed. And I missed it anyways, so. But I did reach out to our listeners on, uh, Instagram, and I got some great responses of what people want us to talk about. Tell me emojis and their meanings.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, okay.

Marco Timpano:  Soft things.

Amanda Barker:  Okay.

Marco Timpano:  I said that was hard. That was my response. Oh, that's hard.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, did they get it?

Marco Timpano:  I don't think so. Okay, uh, better names for everyday objects.

Amanda Barker:  Such a dad joke. I'm still there with you. Um, better names for everyday objects. Okay. Yeah, that's an interesting one.

Marco Timpano:  Plants and gardening. Okay, so I thought we'd start with emojis.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, my goodness.

Marco Timpano:  Okay, so there's the heart emojis. And one of the things they asked was, what does each heart color mean?

Amanda Barker:  Okay. I need to say something, though, to you. Yeah.

Marco Timpano:  Ah.

Amanda Barker:  Since we're on a journey stream of consciousness and we're inviting people to just glide down the stream with us. I have heard. Oh, from the Internet.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, no.

Amanda Barker:  From the Internet. That your last 10 emojis aptly describe your personality. Oh, my goodness. So if you go into your little emoji situation on your text, I guess you go into your messages and then you have the last 10 emojis, that tells us who you are.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, I'm doing that now. I don't even know.

Amanda Barker:  I mean, heart is probably in there. Heart and thumbs up. I mean, we're all just giving each other the thumb. We're all just supporting each other and Harding. Each other. All right, at the end of the

Marco Timpano:  day, here are my last 10.

Amanda Barker:  Okay.

Marco Timpano:  The emoji face. Who's vomiting?

Amanda Barker:  Okay, so that's the first one. Also, um, for those, um, emoji aficionados who are in our listener verse. And I know there are. We, um, don't know the real names, and we're not going to use them. I'm just going to describe to say.

Marco Timpano:  So that's one. Next.

Amanda Barker:  Vomit face. Okay, great.

Marco Timpano:  Honey pot.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, I didn't even know that was one.

Marco Timpano:  There's a little pot of honey.

Amanda Barker:  What is that for?

Marco Timpano:  Ah, I call Arnie sometimes honey. I say, honey, I'm proud of you, honey, or whatever. And I just.

Amanda Barker:  I was like, your boss text texts you, and you. You reply with a honey pot.

Marco Timpano:  And funny thing is, she doesn't like honey, so I. I purposely use honey.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, that's true. Doesn't like honey. Yeah.

Marco Timpano:  Sushi. Like two. The two little things of sushi.

Amanda Barker:  This is way off the grid of vom.

Marco Timpano:  You said this is what describes me.

Amanda Barker:  So you are honey, sushi, and vomit.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah, so don't eat too much of the two. And then, um, the emoji face. That's freezing cold and blue.

Amanda Barker:  Okay, I guess you're cold.

Marco Timpano:  A snake. A serpent.

Amanda Barker:  Okay, I don't have. I don't think any. Maybe the vomit, but I don't think any of these are going to be mine.

Marco Timpano:  The arrow pointing up.

Amanda Barker:  Okay.

Marco Timpano:  Apple.

Amanda Barker:  What?

Marco Timpano:  Yeah, a receipt. Emoji receipt.

Amanda Barker:  I didn't know that was a thing.

Marco Timpano:  The red heart.

Amanda Barker:  Okay, fine. Uh, I mean, bearing the lead. I thought that would be everyone's first one.

Marco Timpano:  That's my ninth one. And then ten. Appropriate enough. Crescent moon.

Amanda Barker:  Okay, so some moon, a lot of food. Both the dark side of the moon and the dark side of food, apparently. Some sushi, Some honey.

Marco Timpano:  A serpent.

Amanda Barker:  I don't know what the serpent was.

Marco Timpano:  I can't remember what the serpent was.

Amanda Barker:  What would possess you to be like, hey, can you go get. Was it at April Fool's Joke?

Marco Timpano:  No. Maybe it was. I can't remember. It was something serpent related.

Amanda Barker:  Uh, so what does that say about your person? Personality?

Marco Timpano:  I don't know.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, okay. All right. I don't know if we're getting any closer to understanding ourselves in this important, uh, venture, but here Goes nothing.

Marco Timpano:  All right, let's see what Amanda. Remember what she said? She said the first ten tells you something about the person.

Amanda Barker:  Wait, where does it. Okay, here we go. All right, verse 10. Well, heart.

Marco Timpano:  What color heart?

Amanda Barker:  Red.

Marco Timpano:  Okay. Because there's different. There's different color hearts.

Amanda Barker:  Classic, classic red heart. Did. Hey, when you did your emojis, do you go down or you go across?

Marco Timpano:  I went across.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, across.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah, Those are the last 10. Is the across?

Amanda Barker:  It is, yeah. Oh, uh, okay, well then heart. Either way. Heart.

Marco Timpano:  Okay.

Amanda Barker:  But a cross is your last ten. Are you sure? Okay, positive. All right. Um. Ah, Sandy beach.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, that's a nice one.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah, With a little umbrella. Um, a face that. I don't even know what I would have used this for, but it's not quite sick, but it's like disgusted face.

Marco Timpano:  Okay, sure.

Amanda Barker:  Does that check out for me?

Marco Timpano:  I think so.

Amanda Barker:  Big old laughing so hard I'm sideways crying face.

Marco Timpano:  Okay, okay.

Amanda Barker:  It's probably a better. I like that we're using the longest titles for things that are supposed to shorten words. Anyway, um, I tend to use this one a lot. Wide eyes face.

Marco Timpano:  Okay. Wide eyes face. Yes, I know the one.

Amanda Barker:  It has blushed cheeks too.

Marco Timpano:  Okay. It could be like, wow, I'm surprised. Or wow, that overwhelms me.

Amanda Barker:  Cow face.

Marco Timpano:  Sure. Like that.

Amanda Barker:  All right. Good old violin with a bow.

Marco Timpano:  Of course. Everyone needs that one. Uh, is that like I'm crying for you, sarcastic?

Amanda Barker:  Or is it violin with a bow?

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. Or is it. You have a violin lesson, don't forget.

Amanda Barker:  I think it's. You have a violin lesson.

Marco Timpano:  Okay.

Amanda Barker:  All roads, all emoji roads lead back to our niece. Apparently we're very, um. We don't have a lot going on.

Marco Timpano:  We speak to her in emojis.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah. Uh, and then the next one I don't ever remember using, but it's a nice little smile with some blushed cheeks.

Marco Timpano:  Wow.

Amanda Barker:  Okay, how many is that? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. All right, now we get. I thought this would be number two. This is the kissy face with the heart.

Marco Timpano:  Okay, great.

Amanda Barker:  I got a big old thumbs down. Oh, uh, I got the vomit face.

Marco Timpano:  Okay, so there you go.

Amanda Barker:  Well, but I feel like there's much better ones right after it.

Marco Timpano:  Well, that's as far as you get.

Amanda Barker:  Well, I'm gonna.

Marco Timpano:  Because I have better ones after too. I have like the. A lobster. I have.

Amanda Barker:  I have Urique Poveri.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, that's a very specific one. My goodness.

Amanda Barker:  I have a soccer ball.

Marco Timpano:  Mhm.

Amanda Barker:  I have a bear. Uh, and I have the 100 with two lines under it. I use that one a lot. Like 100%. You're right.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, wow.

Amanda Barker:  Uh, also, a bikini is here. And fire.

Marco Timpano:  Also, I have, like, kisses. Beach. The beach one. A thumbs up. A check mark.

Amanda Barker:  All right.

Marco Timpano:  The poop emoji.

Amanda Barker:  I don't feel any closer to understanding myself. Or you.

Marco Timpano:  Well, there you go.

Amanda Barker:  So I don't know if this really. I don't know if the Internet was right.

Marco Timpano:  What are your favorite ones that you haven't listed? Are there any that you're like. I do like this one when I get it or when it's sent to me.

Amanda Barker:  One that's a little further down, but I like it. Is the fingers crossed? I hope so. I think that's nice because that's just a hopeful little emoji. Like, let's hope. This bikini is pretty fun.

Marco Timpano:  I like the Spanish dancer. The flamingo dancer.

Amanda Barker:  Okay. I find those ones hard to see. Well, yeah, I'm always like, what is this? There's people. I don't know what this is supposed to be. I don't know what this one is.

Marco Timpano:  I use the plane landing a lot, too.

Amanda Barker:  This one is a picture that became an emoji. How did that happen? Of our nephew showing me what he drew.

Marco Timpano:  Let me see.

Amanda Barker:  That's the craziest thing. Look, uh. Hit. Hit this. I thought it was a fish. Hit that thing that looks like a whale. Do you see it?

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's our nephew. Nephew drawing something that's really cute. That's been cut out.

Amanda Barker:  I don't know how that became. How did I make that an emoji?

Marco Timpano:  I don't know. You mentioned Ricci Poveri, which is an Italian pop band from the 80s. Um.

Amanda Barker:  They're rich and they're poor.

Marco Timpano:  That's what it means. Yeah.

Amanda Barker:  So let me just know. They're just rich and they're poor. That's their thing.

Marco Timpano:  Let me get to the hearts.

Amanda Barker:  Okay, let's talk about hearts.

Marco Timpano:  Okay. Red heart.

Amanda Barker:  Love.

Marco Timpano:  I'm assuming true love, romance, passion.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, no, I send that to my boss. Far too much.

Marco Timpano:  Orange heart.

Amanda Barker:  I'm. Kiss me. I'm Irish.

Marco Timpano:  Orange.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah. Orange is Irish, isn't it?

Marco Timpano:  Oh, yeah, it can be Irish. Friendship, care, warmth, casual love.

Amanda Barker:  I like a good casual love.

Marco Timpano:  Yellow heart.

Amanda Barker:  Okay, um, send them. Send them home. Send our troops home. I don't know, something like that.

Marco Timpano:  Happiness, loyalty, platonic friendship. Okay, so maybe send your boss the yellow heart.

Amanda Barker:  That's weird. Okay.

Marco Timpano:  Green heart. Uh, money, growth, jealousy, nature, health, slash wellness.

Amanda Barker:  Who is Putting a green heart and going, I know she knows it means I'm jealous. What does that mean?

Marco Timpano:  I don't know. It's an interesting one. I know somebody who might have sent that one. Blue heart,

Amanda Barker:  A, uh, health, like a medical situation.

Marco Timpano:  Trust, loyalty, peace, stability.

Amanda Barker:  Okay, didn't see that coming.

Marco Timpano:  Purple heart. This is the one. A lot of people on the Internet seem not to know what it means,

Amanda Barker:  but I thought a purple Heart was. You got the Purple heart. It's like bravery.

Marco Timpano:  No, these are emoji hearts, not historical heart colors.

Amanda Barker:  I mean, I know. I'm aware you don't get an emoji heart when you win the purple heart, but I just thought it would transcend into that.

Marco Timpano:  Okay, admiration royalty. So if you text the prince, like.

Amanda Barker:  Like I do.

Marco Timpano:  Compassion. And what's it. It says here, used for bts, I purple you. I don't know what that means behind

Amanda Barker:  the scenes, but also BTs, the band.

Marco Timpano:  That's what I was trying to think.

Amanda Barker:  I purple you.

Marco Timpano:  I purple you. It must be something.

Amanda Barker:  I think that's the band, maybe.

Marco Timpano:  Okay. Black heart.

Amanda Barker:  Uh, can't be.

Marco Timpano:  Good grief, mourning, dark humor, deep love.

Amanda Barker:  Okay, dark humor. I can get behind a dark humor.

Marco Timpano:  White heart or white heart, depending on.

Amanda Barker:  Gotta be, like, purity, etc.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. Ah, you got it. Pure love, sympathy, spiritual love.

Amanda Barker:  I mean, I feel like there's some major blurred lines in the heart emoji land.

Marco Timpano:  The least used heart is the brown heart. What's that one?

Amanda Barker:  I gotta run to the bathroom.

Marco Timpano:  No. Warmth, comfort, earthly love. Appropriate because yesterday was Earth Day.

Amanda Barker:  Should I just. What one do you want me to send you?

Marco Timpano:  Sparkling slash pink heart.

Amanda Barker:  You like a brown heart?

Marco Timpano:  Uh, I like any color heart. Sparkling, uh, slash pink heart.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, the one that has, like, sparkles on it.

Marco Timpano:  Yellow sparkles on it.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, that one. Like, you're a star.

Marco Timpano:  Uh, excitement, special affection. You're cute.

Amanda Barker:  Okay, I should use that one more. I think that that feels more friendly.

Marco Timpano:  Broken heart.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, no, I mean, broken heart.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. Sadness, heartbreak, lost love.

Amanda Barker:  Imagine. It was like true love.

Marco Timpano:  Two hearts, a big heart, and a small heart.

Amanda Barker:  Two of hearts by Stacy.

Marco Timpano:  Stacy Q. Yeah, that's actually what it's for.

Amanda Barker:  Is it really? For that Facts of Life episode that featured Stacey Q.

Marco Timpano:  Shared love, close bond.

Amanda Barker:  Gotcha.

Marco Timpano:  Heart with an arrow through it.

Amanda Barker:  Um. Bullseye.

Marco Timpano:  Falling in love. Cupid. Heart on fire.

Amanda Barker:  Passion.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah, Intense passion. Lust. And last but not least, mending heart. It's a heart with, I think, a band aid on it.

Amanda Barker:  No, it's, uh, like you're. You gotta mend that Heart. Boo.

Marco Timpano:  Healing, recovery, sympathy.

Amanda Barker:  Okay. Yeah.

Marco Timpano:  Yes. You weren't too far off there.

Amanda Barker:  That's good. If someone, like, you know, they lose a pet or something, you know, anything that's like, you send a nice heartfelt text but that it doesn't fully merit, like, the call.

Marco Timpano:  What emoji isn't there that you would like?

Amanda Barker:  Like, that doesn't exist?

Marco Timpano:  Yeah.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah, that's a good question. I feel like there's a few in the world that I'm like, why isn't

Marco Timpano:  there, like, a ve. Sandwich would be a nice emoji?

Amanda Barker:  Okay. Didn't see that coming. Yeah. In the food world, I think I've looked for emojis and I haven't found the thing.

Marco Timpano:  I got sneeze emoji.

Amanda Barker:  Um, I want, like, an eye roll.

Marco Timpano:  Okay.

Amanda Barker:  I know people use, like, the hand, face, palm.

Marco Timpano:  Right. But that's not an eye roll.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah.

Marco Timpano:  I would like more flower ones. I feel we're limited with rose and tulip and that's it.

Amanda Barker:  That's fair.

Marco Timpano:  I need some more flower and tree ones.

Amanda Barker:  More trees? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Or just like. You know, it's funny, we used to get. Do you remember when we worked with Bridget?

Marco Timpano:  Yes, of course.

Amanda Barker:  She would always have to send these. You know, we'd always have to send her a text saying, hey, we're logging in. It's back when we did a lot of zoom. And so we just had to send her a text letting her know she

Marco Timpano:  was sort of our go to our.

Amanda Barker:  Our kind of off site point person so that she knew that all was well if nobody else was on the zoom that we were on and things

Marco Timpano:  were rolling fine and she was awesome. So shout out to Bridget.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah, she's great. She lives in Alberta now, last I checked. Anyway. Um, so it was just this constant of sending the same text, you know, like, hey, just checking in. Hey, we're on. Everything's good. So I got in this habit of picking emojis just to make the text a bit more colorful.

Marco Timpano:  Sure.

Amanda Barker:  And to give myself a little challenge, I want to actually go see if I can find those old messages.

Marco Timpano:  While you're looking, I'm going to mention more that should be available.

Amanda Barker:  Okay.

Marco Timpano:  More shark emojis. I feel like there's just the one. And I'd like a Jaws version. I'd like a different type of shark emoji that would make me happy. More podcasting emojis that would be helpful for just when I post things.

Amanda Barker:  I. Okay, here's all the emojis I used for Bridget, over the years, and this is all a few years ago, but, um, a kick line of people dancing.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, that's nice.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah, I seem to like the hang loose.

Marco Timpano:  The surfers or the fingers up.

Amanda Barker:  Ah, the thumb and the pinky kind of doing Shaka Hang loose. Kind of like. I guess I was hanging loose that day. Little old thumbs up. Um, this one is a bottle of champagne.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, celebration.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah. Oh, that's because the character's last name was Champagne. That's why. Um, a Canadian flag.

Marco Timpano:  I find that one's in my wheelhouse a lot too.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah, I haven't used that one, but I do use the flags, actually.

Marco Timpano:  I'll do like sending love from and then Canadian flag to my friends overseas.

Amanda Barker:  Clinking, um, of champagne glasses. Also playing that character. Um, I don't even understand. This was like a building for like Wall Street.

Marco Timpano:  Okay.

Amanda Barker:  A. Ah, sun. I think a sun is a nice one.

Marco Timpano:  An aperol spritz would be a nice one to have.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, I have eyes looking sideways. I did that one for her. Wow. I got really creative over the years. Little hug emoji. Another sun snowman. A turkey. I guess I was going, you know, a star.

Marco Timpano:  More star emojis. Mhm.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah, I think I could use some. A few more moon. I know there's a lot of moon and yet not the moons. I want.

Marco Timpano:  Like, what moon do you want? Do you want like the moon that has the corn cob pipe sticking out of its mouth?

Amanda Barker:  I don't know. There's that moon face in a sleep.

Marco Timpano:  What do you call it when you wear a cap? Um, a sleep cap that they used to wear in olden times.

Amanda Barker:  If I type the word moon, what comes up?

Marco Timpano:  What's the name of the sleep cap?

Amanda Barker:  Oh, I guess there's a few moon ones. Sleep cap. Um, Nightcap.

Marco Timpano:  Nightcap. Okay.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah. You get three moons.

Marco Timpano:  I guess nobody wears a nightcap to bed anymore.

Amanda Barker:  You want a nightcap emoji? No, like I'm going to sleep. Bye. Bye. Shut eye.

Marco Timpano:  I want a moon with a corn cob pipe. And on its moon head he has a nightcap.

Amanda Barker:  Why specifically a corn cob pipe?

Marco Timpano:  Because that's the crusty.

Amanda Barker:  The snowman.

Marco Timpano:  That's the classic moon. It's a crescent moon. Is it with a smiley face?

Amanda Barker:  With a corn cob pipe?

Marco Timpano:  Corn cob pipe and a nightcap.

Amanda Barker:  Nobody smokes a good corn cob pipe anymore. I don't think.

Marco Timpano:  I don't even know where you go to find one.

Amanda Barker:  Like the corn cob pipes. Like, do you have to make One out of a corn cob, I think.

Marco Timpano:  A corn cob, if I'm not mistaken. Once again, this is just me conjecturing. But it's easy to carve out. So if you have a corn, you can carve it out.

Amanda Barker:  So what are you going to do with the cobs? The cobs? You eat the corn. The cobs take a long time to decompose, right?

Marco Timpano:  Sure.

Amanda Barker:  So you're like, okay, here's a thing. Make a pipe out of it. People weren't, listen, I'm all for it. You know me, depression era ingenuity. Okay, let's get right back there.

Marco Timpano:  So are you saying that for our anniversary I can give you a corn cob pipe that I make and you'll be happy with it?

Amanda Barker:  I'm so glad that you drew those, um, brilliant mind lines into that. That's exactly what I was trying to communicate. I want nothing else for my anniversary but a pipe. Because you know how I love pipes.

Marco Timpano:  I'll throw in a nightcap for you as well, to wear to bed.

Amanda Barker:  We should just have a night where we, like, pretend we don't have electricity. I love that. I would be all over. I would be like my little oil lamp and my book. I'm a simple creature. Sure, at the end of the day,

Marco Timpano:  I wouldn't love that, but clearly our

Amanda Barker:  anniversary is coming up. And, uh, we might go to Longpoint.

Marco Timpano:  We might go to Longpoint, Ontario.

Amanda Barker:  Just decided that an hour ago.

Marco Timpano:  I'm looking up, uh, I'm gonna look up rentals to go up there.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, are you?

Marco Timpano:  I'm going to.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah. You're gonna take the helm on that?

Marco Timpano:  I'm gonna helm that up.

Amanda Barker:  You want to surprise me? Yeah. Uh, do you?

Marco Timpano:  Well, no, no. I'm looking at rentals for transportation.

Amanda Barker:  Do you want me to. Okay, you look at transportation because there's a specific thing. We're actually along point four. So we might, you know, take a drive out there. We might take a drive out there. I mean, I love a good drive. And, uh, we're gonna go look at something that we might buy. Not a house, not anything that grand.

Marco Timpano:  We'll let you know if it happens.

Amanda Barker:  Um, really, a toy. A toy at the end of the day, um, not a toy, but something we don't need, but something we might want.

Marco Timpano:  Fun thing.

Amanda Barker:  And we don't do that a lot. We don't buy things we want. We buy things we need.

Marco Timpano:  True.

Amanda Barker:  We're very pragmatic people, and I take great grounding and comfort in being pragmatic as we all know, hence the frugal podcast that is still percolating.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, a lot of response on that, Amanda.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, really?

Marco Timpano:  People want you to do it, but they don't want you to leave this podcast.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, I won't. I won't. Can't stop. Won't stop at this one.

Marco Timpano:  Well, you heard it from the eye roll emoji herself. Um, I wanted to mention just to touch on plant plants and gardening.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, yeah, sure.

Marco Timpano:  I planted a bunch of dahlias.

Amanda Barker:  He did. He did the dahlias, guys. And every year we're like, should we do dahlias? And we never do. And this year we did.

Marco Timpano:  And they're Arabian night colors. That was the name of the package.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, no.

Marco Timpano:  What?

Amanda Barker:  Well, it's just gonna make me sing that song.

Marco Timpano:  Well, listen, let's. Let's hope they come out okay. They're beautiful colors.

Amanda Barker:  So they're black dahlias?

Marco Timpano:  No, they're not black. They're like a somber sand color.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, nice. Sand dahlia.

Marco Timpano:  A burgundy kind of of color.

Amanda Barker:  A little more traditional in the dahlia world.

Marco Timpano:  I don't know. A little bit more pastelli brownie.

Amanda Barker:  Listen, I love a good dahlia on any given day. So I will take the dahlia in any form, in any color.

Marco Timpano:  What I realized is at the end of the season, I'll have to dig the bulbs up because they won't survive the winters here.

Amanda Barker:  That's no way. Yes, I'm gonna say no way.

Marco Timpano:  I read. I read that.

Amanda Barker:  Okay. But here's what I'm gonna offer.

Marco Timpano:  Pushback.

Amanda Barker:  Here's my dahlia. Pushback. Controversial. Hot take. I'm gonna say this. If you. If. If one had to dig up dahlias, then these city streets in this here city of ours would not be lined with dahlias. There's no way. No way. All these houses and apartment buildings are digging up their dahlias every year. It's not happening.

Marco Timpano:  So you're thinking they can survive the winter?

Amanda Barker:  I think they can survive the winter.

Marco Timpano:  All right, Any. Anybody who lives in Toronto who has dalas and doesn't or similar climate, so whatever the.

Amanda Barker:  Like New England or. I would. I would offer even like Washington state. No, that's south bc.

Marco Timpano:  No, you have to be on our parallel.

Amanda Barker:  Okay. New England.

Marco Timpano:  Okay.

Amanda Barker:  New York, Upstate New York, New Albany, sure.

Marco Timpano:  Places like that. If you're listening from the northeast part of the US or the equivalent thereof in Canada, let us know if you dig up your dahlia. So I can proceed with digging them up or not?

Amanda Barker:  Mhm.

Marco Timpano:  I'm more inclined to dig them up, but I know. See, the peonies we don't have to do.

Amanda Barker:  Then I. Here's my thing. Then. Then I have dirty bulbs that I have to sit with all winter. A, they're taking space.

Marco Timpano:  B, I forget them, and then I don't plant them either.

Amanda Barker:  Dirty bulbs. Like, I don't. And see, that's. That's work. Like, I just. Here's. Here's the quote of the day. Put it on a T shirt. Life is too short to dig up dahlias.

Marco Timpano:  Wow. It is for someone who claims to be frugal.

Amanda Barker:  Life is too short to dig up dahlias.

Marco Timpano:  Okay. All right. I don't know if gardeners would agree with you, but that's Amanda's quote.

Amanda Barker:  I. That's my quote.

Marco Timpano:  Okay, fair enough.

Amanda Barker:  I'm sticking to my.

Marco Timpano:  What emoji would you put with that quote? Oh, if you were to text that.

Amanda Barker:  I don't. Let me. Give me a minute here.

Marco Timpano:  All right, Amanda's gonna. Look, I'm gonna put that as our. As one of our social media posts. I've been posting a lot on social media because I'm trying to really develop a social media habit. So if you follow us on Instagram, just please know I'm trying to really gain more listeners and really connect with folks. So feel free to, like, heart respond. I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Amanda Barker:  I would do a shovel.

Marco Timpano:  A shovel. That's a good one.

Amanda Barker:  A flower.

Marco Timpano:  A flower. Which flower?

Amanda Barker:  Uh, anything. Probably it's going to be a daisy.

Marco Timpano:  Okay. Daisy.

Amanda Barker:  Because that's the most dahlia looking of the flowers probably in the emoji world. So shovel. Daisy. And then three X's.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, my goodness. Okay, three. Like a jug with three X's or three X's? Like, no, like, rest in peace X's.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah, like. Like, don't do it.

Marco Timpano:  Uh. Oh, don't do it. X's.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, no, never mind. A stop sign.

Marco Timpano:  Okay, so shovel Daisy. Stop sign. Okay, I need to write that down. So I use it for the social media. I love that. Well, Amanda, as always, I had a great time on the podcast with you.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, I'm so glad.

Marco Timpano:  Thank you for the delicious coffee.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, you're very welcome.

Marco Timpano:  Which Amanda told me before we started recording that the cream that's in the coffee is from creamers that you took from somewhere we were at.

Amanda Barker:  We drove north with your mom last weekend. She wanted to go for a drive. We had some things we had to check out, and we thought, okay, let's go and get her. It's an extra Hour to kind of go get her and drop her off an extra hour back, but it was worth it. And, um, went for a nice drive and we took her out to one of those. Really? Like, just the place, like, it reminds me of my childhood. It's called Hot Stacks. It's in Innisfil, um, Ontario. And it's just like that old school breakfast pancake house. Like a step above a diner, perhaps.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah, they focus on, ah, breakfast y things.

Amanda Barker:  Hot Stacks, of course, being pancakes, breakfast, family restaurant. You know the one. Because, I mean, you might not know that specific one, but you got one in your town.

Marco Timpano:  It's the kind of place that does ample like, they don't skimp.

Amanda Barker:  Whatever you order, the pancakes come and you're like, I'm never gonna be able to finish that. The omelette comes and you're like, this is an omelette that can feed a small nation.

Marco Timpano:  Three eggs is not a problem.

Amanda Barker:  It just comes to their Benny's or 3E Benny's. Ah, like three egg Benny's, folks.

Marco Timpano:  Come on. So great. And their prices are reasonable. Look at us doing a commercial for Hot Stacks in Innisfil. But we really enjoyed it.

Amanda Barker:  We haven't been there in a long time, so.

Marco Timpano:  So you decided to take some of their creamers.

Amanda Barker:  I did. Listen, uh, we had a lovely, generous meal and. And Dan hurting for creamers, I just grabbed a handful. It's always nice to have an extra creamer.

Marco Timpano:  We were also heading up north. We had coffee. We had coffee, but we didn't have cream. So.

Amanda Barker:  Amanda, listen, I might be frugal, but I refute. The thing I refute saying I'm cheap. Is taking creamers frugal or cheap? I say it's frugal.

Marco Timpano:  Uh, I don't want to call it theft, but really, no, it's not theft.

Amanda Barker:  I'm gonna drink them. Um. M. I even got a coffee to go. American styles at that place. I was like, do you mind getting me a to Go cup? I'm like, listen, they do that in America. They give you. At the end of your meal, you're like, can I get my last free refill to go? I mean, that's service, right?

Marco Timpano:  You know, I think that comment just surprised people on both sides of the border are Canadians are gonna be like, they do that. And Americans are like, oh, Canadians don't do that.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah, but now I'm bringing it to Canada, folks. Just, I'm bringing it to Canada the way I brought. Um, when people, um, say, uh, oh, excuse me. And we we used to all say, no problem. And somehow, 15 years ago, I was like, I'm bringing it to Canada. I'm gonna start saying, you're fine. Which is the weirdest thing to say. I always thought it was weird when people said it to me, but then I started saying it because I was spending so much time in the States, and here it is. Now it's in Canada. Well, not really. People don't really say that here.

Marco Timpano:  So from Amanda and her you're fine.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, you're fine. You're fine.

Marco Timpano:  Amanda and her eye rolling emoji.

Amanda Barker:  That's me.

Marco Timpano:  To me and my vomiting emoji. We wish you all the best, and, uh, we hope you were able to listen and sleep.

​

Marco Timpano:  Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax and listen as we have a mundane, ordinary conversation that's meant to help you drift off. I'm your host, Marco Timpano.

Amanda Barker:  I'm Amanda Barker. And you know, he says that every episode. And I will say this, some version of this, say it differently, probably every time. But listen, you have our permission to simply let go, close your eyes, or hold on. You can hold on to each and every bit of this conversation. Sometimes that's more helpful. Sometimes people say let go and that's not helpful. I know for me, sometimes it isn't. So hold on. Hold on to every bit and just go on the journey with us and allow yourself on this little train of conversation for as long as you are. And when your brain and or body is ready to drop off, that's fine too. We'll be here.

Marco Timpano:  There you go. Speaking of trains, I love taking the train.

Amanda Barker:  Oh my gosh, it's been a minute since we've been on the train.

Marco Timpano:  It has. It has been a minute. It's been, uh, a little bit of a minute. But I love the train.

Amanda Barker:  I love the train. I. I find that I Dream and think on the train. And I read just, um, this past weekend, I saw a sign that said, your best creative thoughts happen on a train. Well. Or in movement.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, interesting.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah. So whether it's a bus, a train, but when you're a passenger. And I think there's something to be said about that, because sometimes people use this podcast just to allow themselves to drift. You know what this podcast, to me is the equivalent of, you know, when your eyes go slightly unfocused and you're just sitting and there's stuff happening and the world's going around you, but you just have that moment of just sitting there, allowing yourself to just zone and unfocus, even for that 10 seconds.

Marco Timpano:  Sure.

Amanda Barker:  That's what this podcast is for me.

Marco Timpano:  Remember we once got paid in train tickets.

Amanda Barker:  We used to get paid a lot in train tickets. Um, we worked for a company that had a nice train hookup, a train hookup. And in lieu of cash, they'd give us. They'd give us first class train tickets. But they were, you know, it only. They would only go to, like, four places. We saw a lot of Quebec City.

Marco Timpano:  Quebec City, awesome.

Amanda Barker:  Which, listen, I can never get enough of Quebec City. What a great city that is.

Marco Timpano:  If you haven't been to Quebec City, put it on your list of places to go to.

Amanda Barker:  It is the closest you'll get to Europe in North America, I guarantee it. Uh, I'm trying to think of anywhere else. Maybe St. Augustine, Florida.

Marco Timpano:  Yes.

Amanda Barker:  Would be a second, but. A second. Yeah, because I'm trying to think if there's anywhere else that has those cobblestone streets, old fort, old brick from the 16, 1700s. And those are the only two cities I can think of. And Quebec just frankly has more of it and has more of that European vibe. So definitely Quebec's. Let's make a list.

Marco Timpano:  Quebec City, Montreal has that. But St. Augustine is lovely. We love it too.

Amanda Barker:  Let's rank it in real time.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, like old, old European cities.

Amanda Barker:  Of European cities that are in North America. Okay, so Quebec City, number one.

Marco Timpano:  Yes.

Amanda Barker:  We're going backwards here. St. Augustine. I would say number two.

Marco Timpano:  Savannah, Georgia. Oh, you know those little piazzas that they have, like, and you just walk from piazza.

Amanda Barker:  They're not called piazzas, Savannah.

Marco Timpano:  What are they called?

Amanda Barker:  Squares.

Marco Timpano:  Squares. Okay, sure.

Amanda Barker:  But they do have squares. And it's a city made of squares, so you're not wrong. Like, and every square has a little fountain. Uh, so you're really not wrong about that. Although, would you say that's European or would you Just say it's Southern. That's a hard one.

Marco Timpano:  Some of them feel European. I wouldn't say all of them do.

Amanda Barker:  In this list that we're making in real time here, would number three be Montreal or would it be Savannah?

Marco Timpano:  I would say Montreal over Savannah and then Savannah 4.

Amanda Barker:  Let's put Savannah 4, because we do love a good Savannah. Um, I'm trying to think where else would Santa Fe. No, that's more like. I mean, it has its own vibe. Like, new Mexican vibes are really cool. But I wouldn't say it would be European necessarily.

Marco Timpano:  Are we saying North America? Because if we're saying North America, then Mexico City has to rank somewhere. If we're just saying Canada, the U.S.

Amanda Barker:  then we're saying North America.

Marco Timpano:  Okay. So Mexico City has to rank has

Amanda Barker:  got to be at least number five. Yeah, yeah, that's true.

Marco Timpano:  If not three or four. Yeah. But we'll say five for now.

Amanda Barker:  Is it more European or is it more Mexican? That's hard. Yeah. Because there is some Spanish colonial. So you could argue that there's some Spanishy stuff, obviously. Great city, by the way. Mexico City, like Koyukon, that district has some European Spanish.

Marco Timpano:  You're a big fan of Mexico City. I love that about you.

Amanda Barker:  I love. Why? Because you're not.

Marco Timpano:  No, I don't dislike Mexico City at all, but I know that it's a city that really resonates with you.

Amanda Barker:  It's a great city.

Marco Timpano:  There are certain cities that resonate with each of us that might not necessarily resonate with the other.

Amanda Barker:  Well, Mexico City is a city that has cafe culture. So I think by lieu, if in our ranking that we're making up as we go here, if cafe culture is one of the deciding factors and Mexico City is definitely up there. And I would say that's true for Savannah. I would say that's true for Montreal, Quebec city, and, uh, St. Augustine too. So I'm just trying to think if there's any other ones.

Marco Timpano:  I want to say parts of Boston, like the North End, cobblestone streets, but

Amanda Barker:  it has took away from the British, I'll have you know, Estonian myself.

Marco Timpano:  But it has moments that can feel a little European.

Amanda Barker:  Well, because they're old. It's old. Yeah. There's old streets. Everything is a one way, which is so fun. Um, it's great for walking. It's a good walking city. And that's the thing. It's. It's older. Right. But I wouldn't. I wouldn't go so far to say Boston has European flair, because Boston is so rooted in its own self.

Marco Timpano:  Sure. All right, so we'll scratch Boston in every way.

Amanda Barker:  Um, so that might be it. Let us know if you're still awake. If there's any other. Oh, you've got another one.

Marco Timpano:  I've got one last one.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, here we go.

Marco Timpano:  And while sleeper. While it's fabricated, it is still very fabricated, very European.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, I have another one.

Marco Timpano:  Las Vegas. Wait, what parts of Las Vegas?

Amanda Barker:  Not what I thought you'd say.

Marco Timpano:  The Bellagio, the Venice, the Venetian. Paris. Uh, Hotel Paris.

Amanda Barker:  Paris.

Marco Timpano:  Paris Paris. Whatever it's called.

Amanda Barker:  I don't know what it's called.

Marco Timpano:  We call it Paris Paris for some reason. But those.

Amanda Barker:  I thought that's what it was called.

Marco Timpano:  I think it's just called Paris 1800 or something like that.

Amanda Barker:  I'm not sure.

Marco Timpano:  I hate that we keep saying Paris because every pea is popping. I have to fix that.

Amanda Barker:  Ah, that's gonna be fun for you

Marco Timpano:  in post, um, as we try not

Amanda Barker:  to pop our piece.

Marco Timpano:  So while fabricated to look like Europe, uh, it does have a European sort of panache to it.

Amanda Barker:  Well, here's another one. I'm gonna say Saint Pierre Miquelon.

Marco Timpano:  Sure.

Amanda Barker:  Because it is Europe. It is Europe in North America.

Marco Timpano:  You're not wrong.

Amanda Barker:  And if you don't know St. Pierre Miquelon, um, well, now there's a TV show called St. Pierre in Canada. I gotta say it is. Do not think that they use it to film, but their portrayal of St Pierre Miquelone is not even close to what I think. So St Pierre Miquelon is extremely European. It is part of Europe. It's considered part of France.

Marco Timpano:  And I'll say this. If you want more information about St. Pierre Miquelon, we have an episode that's right on St. Pierre Miquelon. I'll put in the show notes so you can go right, uh, to it.

Amanda Barker:  That actually opens up a whole new section for our little list here, and that's the Caribbean, because there's a lot of Caribbean nations that are very European.

Marco Timpano:  You're right. You're right.

Amanda Barker:  Like, let's go through a few of them. Let me just think. Um, okay. Well, Saint Martin, the French side of Saint Martin, is extremely European. It's like being in, you know, the Cote d'. Azur. Like, it's like. Like Cannes or Nice. Um, you know, very. I mean, it's considered part of France. So now we're crossing over. I don't know. Um, I would say Charlotte, Amelie, the downtown of St. Thomas, is actually quite European. You know, throwing some cruise Ships into the mix.

Marco Timpano:  But what's that city everybody loves in? Is it Charlotte? I. I don't remember seeing Charlotte. Uh, North Carolina, like, scene.

Amanda Barker:  Charleston.

Marco Timpano:  Charleston.

Amanda Barker:  I mean, people of Charlotte. No disrespect to Charlotte, but that's not the one I know you mean. Yeah, you're talking about Charleston, which is, like, Savannah's rich cousin.

Marco Timpano:  Okay, Because I have. I haven't been there. That's why I'm asking you.

Amanda Barker:  Charleston is like Savannah's richer, maybe slightly more snobby cousin. Okay, That's. I don't know. I might get flack from both cities for saying that, but that's my impression. But I don't know how much time I've spent, if any. I don't know if I've been to Charleston. So maybe I'm very wrong. Tell me if I'm wrong.

Marco Timpano:  I couldn't tell you, but I hear it's everyone who goes to.

Amanda Barker:  I've been to Charlotte.

Marco Timpano:  Everybody who's been to Charleston says how much they love Charleston, how European it feels.

Amanda Barker:  My parents love Charleston. How European it feels.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah, I think so.

Amanda Barker:  Okay, what about New Orleans? Yeah. Well, then you got to get New Orleans into the.

Marco Timpano:  I think New Orleans, Frank.

Amanda Barker:  New Orleans. European. Yes.

Marco Timpano:  It has a French feel to it.

Amanda Barker:  Sure. Okay, I'll buy it. I'll buy it for a dollar.

Marco Timpano:  Okay.

Amanda Barker:  Um, yeah, I'm just trying to think of other. Like that wrought iron San Juan, Puerto Rico. I mean, but again, European, I don't know, but it's cobblestone streets, balconies with women, you know, fluffing out their rugs.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah, sure.

Amanda Barker:  And then if you. If you say Puerto Rico, then you got to say Cuba.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah.

Amanda Barker:  And cube. But Cuba's its own thing. But, yeah, these are colonial Spanish cities, and that's it, you know, and they are their own thing. They're not European.

Marco Timpano:  No.

Amanda Barker:  But they're really cool. And for cafe culture and cobblestone streets, both would win, I would say, in terms of that. Well, listen, it's not a definitive ranking. BuzzFeed is not hiring us anytime soon.

Marco Timpano:  Though they should.

Amanda Barker:  Though they should. Um, but there you go. An impromptu list of European. Ish cities. Of which, of all of these, I would still say Quebec City lives at the top. If you're like, I want to go to Europe, but I can't, or whatever, I want to drive to the place. And you're in North America, which some of you are. Some of you aren't. Anyway, Quebec City is the one.

Marco Timpano:  I agree.

Amanda Barker:  And it's great. And we used to go there on the train.

Marco Timpano:  It's true.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah. Train travel, man. I miss train travel. You know, I do work in Ottawa, as we've talked about, and maybe the next Ottawa trip is a train trip, not a drive.

Marco Timpano:  I think that's a good idea.

Amanda Barker:  I would love it. I would love taking the train to Ottawa. I would. I would be as excited for the trip itself, for the journey, not just the destination.

Marco Timpano:  And, you know, there's.

Amanda Barker:  Which is life, isn't it?

Marco Timpano:  You're right. You're right. And there's less train songs out there.

Amanda Barker:  I don't know the band Train. No, well, that too, but like, songs for a video. When I first moved to Toronto, one of my, like, first auditions, that first year when I couldn't get any auditions was for a train video.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, wow.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah. And I was the owl lady. Well, of course, I, um. I got a. A veil check.

Marco Timpano:  Who did they go with for the hour?

Amanda Barker:  I don't know, because I don't know what song it was.

Marco Timpano:  Okay.

Amanda Barker:  And I also don't really follow Train, but I think I have googled train video. Owl lady. And I'll come up short.

Marco Timpano:  So, um, if you know who played the owl lady in the train video,

Amanda Barker:  it's a deep dive.

Marco Timpano:  You're my truck, you're my owl.

Amanda Barker:  What was it called?

Marco Timpano:  Drops of Jupiter, I believe.

Amanda Barker:  Wow. Good memory. Who knew you were such a train fan?

Marco Timpano:  It just came to me. If I had to think about it, I would never know, but I'm really impressed. Yeah, well, what I was going to say is there's not a lot of train songs. There used to be, uh, like, uh, a.

Amanda Barker:  Like, She'll Be Coming around the mountain.

Marco Timpano:  No, like, I'm talking of, like. So we play a game called Ticket to Ride.

Amanda Barker:  That's true.

Marco Timpano:  Which is a great train game, if you like board games. Ticket to Ride is a really lovely game, and kids love it, too.

Amanda Barker:  And it's relaxing.

Marco Timpano:  It's relaxing. Really relaxing. You're building a train.

Amanda Barker:  I like a relaxing board game. I like a competitive, fiery board game, but I really like a relaxing board game.

Marco Timpano:  And Ticket to Ride. You're building a train across the track. In our case, we're doing it across America. North America, actually, because it goes to Calgary and places like that.

Amanda Barker:  We have the European one, too.

Marco Timpano:  We have the European one. We do have the European one.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah.

Amanda Barker:  But, uh, it's like Europe of the 30s or something.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. So, um. Yeah, so, uh, the train. So we listen to a train. We, uh, listen to a train playlist. And there's like Ticket to Ride, the song by the Beatles. There's, like, Last Train to Clarksville. There's all these train songs we have on the.

Amanda Barker:  No, it's writing. I worry about this being triggering, Marco, because when you mention a song, people inevitably start thinking of the song.

Marco Timpano:  That's true.

Amanda Barker:  So I don't want to catch them on.

Marco Timpano:  Um, that, uh, fair enough. Okay. Anyways, that's our train talk.

Amanda Barker:  I thought you meant She'll Be Coming around the Mountain.

Marco Timpano:  Well, that's a classic.

Amanda Barker:  Or someone's in the kitchen with Delilah.

Marco Timpano:  Dinah.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, Dinah. Hey there, Delilah. I'm just gonna keep mentioning song titles. Is the Kitchen with Dinah have anything to do with trains?

Marco Timpano:  I'd have to sing it.

Amanda Barker:  Or is it just at a time when people were enjoying train travel in its heyday?

Marco Timpano:  Well, Diana has to blow her horn, so I don't think it's a train because you don't blow a horn on a train at the time.

Amanda Barker:  Don't you, though?

Marco Timpano:  No, you. You. You pull a whistle, don't you? On a tree.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, uh, yeah, probably. You know who could tell us?

Marco Timpano:  Who?

Amanda Barker:  Our nephew.

Marco Timpano:  So into cars and stuff.

Amanda Barker:  Any of our nephews could probably tell us this, but we have one nephew in particular that I think would really school us on all of this because he's super into mechanics. We won't say which one, but, um. Yeah, anyhow, um, what was I going to tell you? How many times a day do you think you say that? What was I gonna tell.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, many or many.

Amanda Barker:  Or the old what was I gonna say? That's the story of my life. The old what was I gonna say

Marco Timpano:  Many times a day.

Amanda Barker:  But I was gonna tell you something. Or we were gonna talk about something. I said, hey, let's talk about this.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, an idea that you have.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, yeah. Well, I don't know if people are still awake for it. In fact, I hope they're not.

Marco Timpano:  But if you are.

Amanda Barker:  But one of the things. There are a few things that comfort me as I go to sleep. And of course, we don't have the benefit of this podcast, because listening to ourselves is sort of the one. We're probably the only two people that can't be its audience, but we also need it. So I often will walk myself through imagined properties. Um, walk myself through things like that.

Marco Timpano:  Imagine places to swim, places to.

Amanda Barker:  Or just places to visit is another one that relaxes me. But a topic that I find endlessly relaxing is frugality. Ways to be frugal. Money saving tips. Make do and mend situations.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, I like that. Make do and mend.

Amanda Barker:  That was, uh, that's not mine. That's from, um, I have a postcard from the 1940s during wartime. And it was something that was, uh, put out by, I think, the British government for, for the women of Britain. Make do and mend. In other words, don't buy new.

Marco Timpano:  Right?

Amanda Barker:  Because those, a lot of the resources, obviously were going to fund the war effort. So make do and mend and mend

Marco Timpano:  and fix and fix.

Amanda Barker:  And it's like you got to rip in that shirt. Make do and mend. Don't just toss it out, mend it up. Things like that. Well, it's. It's kind of a lovely. And I, for me, I find the tenets of frugality very grounding, very comforting. And they, for me, serve as like a landing point. So I find the topic endlessly, like I said, comforting and relaxing, I dare say. Um, which might be interesting because not everybody thinks of that. Anything money related. But for me, it's not so much that it's just being frugal.

Marco Timpano:  Sure.

Amanda Barker:  Using up what's in my fridge is somewhere my brain can endlessly go. Because I love the creativity of being given just a few things. And how many different delicious things can I make? Or maybe not delicious, but how many things could I do with one package of gnocchi or box, uh, of spinach or whatever.

Marco Timpano:  A banana. Like, you made me an awesome smoothie today with my old banana.

Amanda Barker:  And those bananas were freezer bananas. Everyone's got them. Uh, and yes, they go into banana bread and muffins and things, but I do like to. I try to freeze them before they get too brown, but I know we're going away or we just won't have time to get to them all, so I'll throw them in the freezer. So they're still pretty good when I throw them in the freezer. And then they go into smoothies. And, uh, it's nice because they make the smoothie very obviously they thick. A banana will thicken a smoothie, as everyone knows, but it also makes it kind of icy, which I enjoy. Was your smoothie good?

Marco Timpano:  This is so great. It was so great. You know, you talked about make, do and mend. I remember when I was young, in my grandmother's sewing kit was a light bulb that she would place into a sock to mend a sock. Oh, so you could place the light bulb into the. The sock. It would like, inflate it or like the sock would surround the light bulb and you would mend it that way.

Amanda Barker:  So whether it's darning socks or using bananas in creative ways and so many other things, I've been thinking that maybe a spinoff podcast to this podcast would be one about frugality. So I'd love to hear what our listeners think of that, how they respond to that, because it's something I've been sort of rolling around in my brain late at night as I try to drift off, and I think there might be something there. So if that's the. The case, let us know.

Marco Timpano:  Um, would you like to hear Amanda host a frugal podcast with me, possibly as her sidekick?

Amanda Barker:  Oh, yeah. Because I'm kind of the sidekick here, let's be honest.

Marco Timpano:  Well, I wouldn't say that.

Amanda Barker:  I mean, close to it. Um, if you're still awake, and I hope you're not, I really hope you're not, but if you are, let us know. Okay. What else do we want to talk about? Frugality?

Marco Timpano:  Yes.

Amanda Barker:  We want to talk about frugal travel.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, yeah, frugal travel.

Amanda Barker:  We did a little frugal travel this weekend.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, did we ever. We. We went to Halifax.

Amanda Barker:  We did. Just for a few days, visiting family. That is there on my side. And, um, listen, you might remember a few episodes back the. The journey that is the neck pillow. Let me tell you, those neck pillows. I sleeps. I slept soundly on that plane with that really supportive big neck pillow. And then, of course, that was all my clothes wrapped around my neck in a. In a lovely, delicious, comforting, structured pillow.

Marco Timpano:  Of course, whenever we're going down and we don't. And we can only. Like, the ticket we have is just a backpack ticket. I don't know what you call it.

Amanda Barker:  Personal item. Personal item only. And you can upgrade. But as we all know, with these budget airfares, of which we took one, and they were great. They're great.

Marco Timpano:  They're great.

Amanda Barker:  You know what you're getting with them. You know, at least their planes are clean.

Marco Timpano:  True.

Amanda Barker:  For the most part, I would say. Anyhow. Um, but, you know, it's a $60 carry on fee each way, so I'm not doing that. And I purposely bought a backpack. You know, I love my backpacks. See, backpack episode.

Marco Timpano:  If you want, there's a backpack. Great backpack episode.

Amanda Barker:  Um, and I'm very meticulous with how I pack it and what I pack. And there were a lot of things that were on their last use. Like my deodorant was to be disposed of in Halifax, for example.

Marco Timpano:  Sure.

Amanda Barker:  Various makeup items, perfume, all of that. Like, little Things. But. And sample. They're all sample size. But even still, this has three more uses and off it goes. That kind of thing.

Marco Timpano:  That said, every time we go on and we have just a personal item on us, we always have a rather large and awkward gift to bring to our nephews. So that often happens.

Amanda Barker:  Yes.

Marco Timpano:  One time I had to bring a shark suitcase. So it was a suitcase in the shape of a shark with multiple cars inside the shark.

Amanda Barker:  It's a shark garage. It's a shark garage with a handle that doubles as. I mean, really what you're carrying is other sharks and cars. Yeah. As the Lord intended, it was a cars and sharks together at last.

Marco Timpano:  Picture a briefcase that is in the shape of a shark that I had to bring. And so I did what I did. I put my jacket over it and walked on the plane with it.

Amanda Barker:  I had my jacket.

Marco Timpano:  I just had my jacket.

Amanda Barker:  Uh, another thing we did both last time and this time with shark suitcase, and this time, of course, we had T Rex highway.

Marco Timpano:  So it was a T. Rex.

Amanda Barker:  Speaking to the interests of a particular

Marco Timpano:  member of our family, it was a T. Rex. That a car could travel at a great velocity into its mouth.

Amanda Barker:  Yes.

Marco Timpano:  Loop. To loop on its back.

Amanda Barker:  Yes.

Marco Timpano:  And then travel through the T. Rex. Through the T. Rex. Come out the other end to the tail.

Amanda Barker:  I'll just leave that there.

Marco Timpano:  We'll leave that there. And so that we had to.

Amanda Barker:  There's even more to that T. Rex, but that's essentially what it is. So here's another thing I do, and this one's a bit of a stretch, but stay with me if you are T. Rex. Tip or don't go to sleep. I keep bags from airport marketplaces. So if I get a magazine and some chocolate at the Hudson's. Uh, Hudson's is one of the companies that does like airport convenience stores, whatever. Kiosks. I don't know what they're called. I'm going to call them airport convenience stores. Yeah, it's a little bit of, you know, I need cashews. I want a Diet Coke, whatever it is.

Marco Timpano:  And I want a book.

Amanda Barker:  I want a book. Here's their selection. Hudson's is a, um, big one. That's a company. And, um. But there's a few. Well, I keep those. Or duty free, if you use duty free or have used. I keep those bags specifically for when we travel and we have something like a shark garage or a T. Rex highway. And I put it in one of those bags. And if anyone questions that, I say, oh, I just bought this Here, I don't think any airport employee, especially in the small airports like Halifax, I think they know what's there. And I think they probably know the T. Rex highway is not part of the offerings of Hudson's next to the Elizabeth Gilbert book and the bag of roasted cashews. But it might be.

Marco Timpano:  Or is it, or should it be?

Amanda Barker:  One never knows. Uh, and it's a bit of a stretch. That's why I said it's a bit of a stretch, you know, but they also don't know where else. They don't know where I've been.

Marco Timpano:  They don't know where you've been.

Amanda Barker:  I could have come from that great airport in Orlando that had it, of course, or whatever.

Marco Timpano:  Sure.

Amanda Barker:  Now, obviously that would be considered. Stop. But I try to sell it as something I just bought is what I'm trying to communicate. And then usually I leave that airport bag at the place because I don't want to bring it back home. And then I get another one for next time or if I really have room and want to bring it back for the next time that I visit somebody with a gift, and that gift does not fit into said neck pillow. It's really only the younger members of our family that we do this for because, uh, anybody else, if I were bringing them a gift, I would just make sure it was small. Oh, I do have another airport tip.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, please.

Amanda Barker:  Another frugal travel tip.

Marco Timpano:  We. I love this. I don't know if our listeners do, but I certainly love this.

Amanda Barker:  So, listen, folks, we all know we don't travel with liquids over a certain amount. What is it? 100 milliliters?

Marco Timpano:  100 milliliters.

Amanda Barker:  There you go.

Marco Timpano:  And I'm very. I'm very good about staying with. Within the.

Amanda Barker:  And everyone knows about what that is. And if you don't, you know, look it up, look it up. And there are some airports that have a bit of wiggle room, but most don't. And you try to keep it under. And we dump the water out of our water bottles. We're all doing this. I will say, of all the airports, there are two that really hold you to the liquid thing. Like, because I think technically you're supposed to put them in that, like, plastic baggie that they give you. There's two that I know of that really are sticklers for that. One is Heathrow. Yes, I know. Heathrow in London. The other is Burlington, Vermont.

Marco Timpano:  Of course.

Amanda Barker:  They're really meticulous.

Marco Timpano:  Two of the largest airports in the world.

Amanda Barker:  Well, one is. Anyhow, I think Burlington. Honestly, I think they just have a lot of time on their hands and good for them. They're keeping us safe.

Marco Timpano:  Listen, Vermont is one of my favorite places. And Burlington, I love it. I love. I love Vermont and I love everybody in Burlington.

Amanda Barker:  Is it European? No, it doesn't have to be. It's Vermont.

Marco Timpano:  It's Vermont.

Amanda Barker:  Although Stowe, Stow, Vermont would be a European. That should make our European list.

Marco Timpano:  Sure. Let's put Stowe on there because that's

Amanda Barker:  a little Austria right there.

Marco Timpano:  If you haven't been to Stowe, make. Take a trip to Stowe, even if you don't ski. Because I don't ski. It's beautiful.

Amanda Barker:  And the Von Trapp Lodge was wonderful. Yes, those Von traps. And I think we talked about that. Another episode. You'll have to go back and find that one. But, um, uh, it was around Christmas time. That. That is a great lodge. And. And of course, the Von Trapps were Austrian, as we know from certain musicals. So, um, I would say Stowe, Vermont makes it into the European cities in North America list.

Marco Timpano:  What is the tip? You had one more tip.

Amanda Barker:  I know I do. And the tip, uh, is that sometimes when you're traveling, some well meaning, lovely person gives you that big jar of honey or that big jar of jam, homemade sour cherries and liquid. This time around, it's a liquidy cheese spread that we were given that we love and appreciate from, um, a person extremely dear to us.

Marco Timpano:  I could dive into a vat of that. It's so wonderful.

Amanda Barker:  It's from Holland, but it's Dutch. But it's a special thing that they get in Halifax at the farmer's market. It's called smirkasse. It's a cheese spread.

Marco Timpano:  If you see it, get it.

Amanda Barker:  So we are so lucky because we were bestowed by not one, but two different types of jars of this lovely cheese spread. However, 200ml each, as discussed, we are neck pillow. And sometimes in the, uh. Although I. Well, I couldn't have even made that in the Hudson's bag because we, you know, security is security. They don't care where you bought it. And also, you haven't really gone through, like, at that point, you're coming from home as far as they're concerned. So for the most part. So what do you do?

Marco Timpano:  Because there's a concern, right, Amanda? Because it's not a liquid per se,

Amanda Barker:  but it's not Burlington, Vermont. They could easily go, this is too much liquid and it's liquidy and we're chucking it.

Marco Timpano:  It's kind of Gel, like, and gel is considered a liquid, right?

Amanda Barker:  And probably that was like $50 in cheese spread.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, my goodness.

Amanda Barker:  So you don't want to. There's that thing where you're like, thank you. And then you're like, do I tell them I probably can't take this? Do I? So I was like, I have an idea. And this is from a little bit of trial and error by accident. I discovered this in my water bottle one time. One time we went through. And I love ice. And I put a ton of ice in my water bottle, and I was drinking it happily, my nice, cool water on the way to the airport in the hot cab. And I was happy to have it, but then the ice wouldn't come out of the water bottle. And I went, well, we'll just have to see. And the ice went through. No problem.

Marco Timpano:  Ice is a solid.

Amanda Barker:  So then I thought, why don't we freeze the cheese spread and see how. Where that takes us? So I froze this liquid cheese spread in these jars, these glass jars, and it went through no problem.

Marco Timpano:  It was a solid.

Amanda Barker:  So if somebody gives you that jam and. Sorry, I know honey isn't. We don't always want to freeze honey. But the jam, the liquid, whatever it is, freeze it. And then right before you're about to go to the airport, throw it in your bag. And you didn't hear it here. But I haven't had a problem with it yet. And it'll probably go through, friends. It'll probably go through.

Marco Timpano:  I will say this. Don't quote us on that, because we're not experts in.

Amanda Barker:  Although I do. True story. Play the head of the FAA in the series Designated Survivor.

Marco Timpano:  Now, while she plays the head of the faa, she is not the head of the faa.

Amanda Barker:  So much to the chagrin of. Of the FAA itself, who contacted me. That might be for another podcast. That's true. This. I'm in the second. Second season of a series that, uh, has long wrapped, but it's still on Netflix, I think, called Designated Survivor. And I just had to learn a lot of acronyms and sound official.

Marco Timpano:  Well, there you go. So use what Amanda says with caution. Uh, and I will also say, be very cautious with what you freeze because it could crack the glass or it could expand beyond, um, what the. What the container is. So use your own discretion with regards to that. And speaking of discretion, Amanda, we've come to the end of this episode. I want to thank you for being here on the podcast. Let us know if you think Amanda should host a frugal podcast.

Amanda Barker:  Sounds Good.

Marco Timpano:  Until next time. We hope you were able to listen and sleep.

​Marco Timpano:  Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax, and listen as we have a calm conversation. It's meant for you to just listen and shift your thinking. And who knows, maybe it'll even drift you off to sleep. I'm, um, your host, Marco Timpano.

Amanda Barker:  I'm Amanda Barker. I want to give everybody the permission to just glide along with us, uh, and go for the journey. Close your eyes or not, whatever you need to do, but that's yours for the taking. I am sipping a delightful hot beverage right now, uh, made from coffee, milk, and sugar packets that I'm gonna be honest, I took from work. Listen, I took those sugar packets, guys.

Marco Timpano:  I'm that woman, and we have sugar, though. It's interesting that you took sugar packets. No.

Amanda Barker:  I don't know what possessed me. There were so many. I'm working in a different space right now, and they just have this abundance of sugar packets. Like, I don't think they're ever. And they're clearly from different coffee orders, so there are some from different coffee chains. And so I thought, well, these probably need to be used. I don't know. I just. I'm not a klepto. I consider myself frugal, not cheap. But maybe some days I'm cheap, and I think that's a. Probably a cheapie.

Marco Timpano:  Listen, when you have an abundance and you're like, there's too many here, I'm helping.

Amanda Barker:  It's a service I'm providing by using those, uh, sugar packets.

Marco Timpano:  Speaking of helping, Amanda, if you're listening on Spotify right now, if you could give us a review, like, even just the stars, it would be very helpful. I'm trying to increase our awareness out there, and one of the things to do is to have people rate us on Spotify because we have great ratings on Apple podcasts and other ones, but our Spotify is low, and here's the

Amanda Barker:  incentive to do it. Honestly and truly. If you give us. And it doesn't cost you anything, it takes two seconds. Give us those five stars. We will be able to create more content for you. Both free content, uh, and Patreon content, but definitely more of the free. Um, we're trying to get to a place where we can create that more content, and that is the best way to help us do that.

Marco Timpano:  And I've been posting a lot on social media, which is not my strength. Amanda, I'm so proud of you.

Amanda Barker:  This is not my strength either.

Marco Timpano:  I don't love social media. Like, I'm not. I'm not great at it, but Who.

Amanda Barker:  Who's the person that. You know what? There are people that love social media, but they will never admit to it. Even the. Even influencers, probably.

Marco Timpano:  So I'm creating campaigns and carousels. I never knew this even existed. Amanda, I'm, like, learning as I go.

Amanda Barker:  I'm so proud of you. You are a lifelong learner. You are ever curious. I hope that never changes.

Marco Timpano:  And I've started my swimming lessons. And it's really funny, Amanda, because I'm kind of the best of the worst in the class. So we're all non swimmers and we're all not great. And so, you know, we're all adults standing there in a pool. And half the pool is really young kids swimming really well. Like, I'm talking about three, four year olds. And half the pool is adults who are flailing and splashing. But each week we get better and I feel more confident.

Amanda Barker:  So how do you take a bite of that elephant? One bite at a time, or how do you say it?

Marco Timpano:  How do you eat an elephant?

Amanda Barker:  How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time? Never love that because nobody's eating elephants, I hope. And, uh, nobody probably wants to, but it is a good point. How do you tackle that big thing? You just do it one step at a time. That's every day. Every day is a new day, and I am the best of the worst in my hip hop class.

Marco Timpano:  Are you?

Amanda Barker:  Well, because I have so much dance training that is embedded in my DNA, even though it's laying dormant for 20 years plus maybe 30 years, um, I pick up choreography pretty quickly. I can move my body pretty well. Um, um, but I'm not a hip hop person. So there's moves and ways of moving your body that I'm not used to. So my hip hop looks very much like a Bob Fosse routine.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, I see. Okay.

Amanda Barker:  Which I'm told is not hip hop,

Marco Timpano:  so it's the way he wanted it to be represented.

Amanda Barker:  His moves, possibly. Listen, I love Bob Fosse. He's my favorite choreographer. That style of choreography. When I dabbled in choreography a few times, that was always what I gravitated toward. I just love. It's a ballet, jazz based in the 60s. Um, my. My favorite version of it. And I actually don't know if this is Fosse choreography, but it's my favorite version of Fosse choreography. That's a funny thing to say is, um, I have to look it up. But is Audrey, um, Hepburn's, um, beatnik dance in the movie Funny Face? Deep Dive?

Marco Timpano:  Sure.

Amanda Barker:  I mean, not if you're Bill, but, uh, our friend Bill. Our cinephile friend Bill that we love so deeply and loved. Okay. No, not. And we love to shout out Riviera rats, bgm, bad gay movies, bitchy gay men. Am I allowed to say that on this side?

Marco Timpano:  No, you did.

Amanda Barker:  Okay, well, now, am I or, uh, do we have to have a warning?

Marco Timpano:  No, I think we're okay with that, because that's it.

Amanda Barker:  Anyhow.

Marco Timpano:  That's a term of endearment, is how I'm gonna see it.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah, for sure.

Marco Timpano:  Amanda's ask, because if you use an expletive on a podcast, you have to label it as explicit, but I think that's fine.

Amanda Barker:  What's funny is I've been in the podcasting world on some level. I would argue probably the periphery of the podcasting world for a long time.

Marco Timpano:  Um, what's the periphery? Like?

Amanda Barker:  I go down to a studio, I drink a coffee, I just talk to you, and then I go about my day.

Marco Timpano:  Okay.

Amanda Barker:  That's what being the periphery is like. The water's warm. Come on in. Um, being actually in the podcasting world is what my husband is and does. Ah. But I am diving deeper into the waters of podcasting, which is a funny thing to say because I've been in or around it on some level for a while now.

Marco Timpano:  Sure.

Amanda Barker:  I mean, actually, to be honest, 11 years now. So anytime you're ready. Listen, I was always a late bloomer.

Marco Timpano:  Nothing wrong with that if you're a late bloomer and you're listening. Hey, you've got a friend in Amanda.

Amanda Barker:  I took a great podcasting course at George Brown College, which I highly recommend. Fundamentals of Podcasting 101.

Marco Timpano:  I think it's called Podcast Fundamentals.

Amanda Barker:  Okay.

Marco Timpano:  And it's online. Yeah.

Amanda Barker:  Type in George Brown Podcasting Fundamentals. You'll find it. I think the next course is May. Yeah, this summer. Um, anyway, it's a lovely time, and so I took that with amazing, lovely podcasters and a fantastic teacher. And, um, I really, uh. I don't know. I'm starting to embrace podcasting.

Marco Timpano:  Well, we did get reaction for Should Amanda start a podcast?

Amanda Barker:  Yes. So you might have been asleep by then. I hope you were. Um, but I asked, um, further to my, um, my sugar packet situation. Listen, I'm frugal. I've said it many times, and I love talking about frugality. I find it grounding and comforting. I really do. Whether it's frugal recipes, make do and mend schemes, anything like that, um, really jives for me. And that has led a little bit into, like, money management. Um, I'm still dancing. I'm still on the periphery of that. But, um, I, uh. Anyway, we were thinking about maybe doing a frugal podcast and our web series, so let us know.

Marco Timpano:  So I posted it, and the reaction was, yes, Amanda should do a podcast, but not leave this one.

Amanda Barker:  I won't leave this one.

Marco Timpano:  That was their first time.

Amanda Barker:  I'll never leave you.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, there you go.

Amanda Barker:  Speaking of things around the. What are things? You're on the periphery of things that are in your life all the time, and yet. And you have probably a really good understanding. I have another one that came up last week.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, I don't know. Amanda.

Amanda Barker:  Uh, well, while you're thinking of that last night, one, um, of our, uh, niece or nephews. I don't know if I should. Well, everyone knows our niece. It was our nieces. Um, she has a music festival, um, at, um, the schools, um, that she trains, uh, at. Anyhow, so we went to her music festival last night. It was a lovely time. And the adjudicator for her, uh, you know, they go up, they play a thing, they get graded. Um, they can. You can be the. You can win music festival, which is a thing I forgot about. Anyway. Um, he was a lovely percussionist, and it made me remember that I grew up, um, because my dad made cymbals, and I. I grew up around percussionists and drummers all my life. So it's something I know a lot about. And yet I'm on the periphery. I don't drum. I'm not a percussionist. Although I think in some version of my identity, I am. Just because I was around it. I was in the percussion family for the first 25 years of my life, really. So, um, it's something I have weird knowledge about, and yet I'm not in. Do you have something like that?

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. It would be hair. So my mother was a hairdresser and a hairstylist, um, I guess you'd call her. And so I grew up in her studio, in her hair studio. And as a result, I have a intimate knowledge of hair. And. Not that I could cut your hair. I could, but I don't know how great it would be, but I could. I can spot a really great hairstyle. I notice people's hair when they've done something different. Uh, and I'm always like, did you do something with your hair? Like, you're the only one who noticed this reaction. Ah. I often hear, and I can tell a good haircut from a bad, bad haircut. And a couple times I said to Amanda M. That's not a good haircut. And you're like, it looks great. I'm like, because it's styled right now, but just wait a week. And sure as all glory a week later, it looked not so nice.

Amanda Barker:  I'm dying to know whose hair this was. I have no memory of this. What makes a good haircut?

Marco Timpano:  I think it needs to reflect the style of the person's face. Like the shape of the face. It needs to look, uh, like I know the cuts need to be right. Like there's sometimes you, you can, you can see if the cuts are not right for the hair. Uh, texture.

Amanda Barker:  Mhm.

Marco Timpano:  And the hair. And the hair. The way the hair flows.

Amanda Barker:  Hm.

Marco Timpano:  And so like forcing hair. I guess this is the best way I can describe it. Once again, I'm using terms that, that make sense to me, but I've never studied this world. Right.

Amanda Barker:  That's the, that's the periphery conversation that we didn't know we were going to have today.

Marco Timpano:  Cutting against the flow of the hair.

Amanda Barker:  Like against the grain, as they say. Yeah, like, you know, Chef terminology.

Marco Timpano:  That's why. So some people want to get a hairstyle that cannot be done on their hair.

Amanda Barker:  I see.

Marco Timpano:  So it's like, oh, I want to look like. I don't know who looks like.

Amanda Barker:  Remember, we remember the Rachel.

Marco Timpano:  Sure. So if you have really the Rachel from Friends.

Amanda Barker:  Jennifer Aniston's first haircut on Friends.

Marco Timpano:  Now we're going way back to the 90s, so.

Amanda Barker:  And they're right there with us.

Marco Timpano:  And listen, I like the Rachel. I think it's a hairstyle that sometimes

Amanda Barker:  I end up with the Rachel guys. Sometimes it's like I have thin hair. I've done nothing exciting with it for my entire life, except for one year, which was 1998. I went all out. Uh, I got it super cut, shaved, dyed red. I mean, I went crazy because I knew the rest of my life I'd have boring hair. And the prophecy was true. So I've had boring hair before that and ever since, but so I have this shoulder length brown hair. That's what it is. I've learned I can't go super long with it. It just doesn't work out wonderfully for my hair. Um, so I often get it cut and usually whoever's doing it says, yeah, you could use some layers to give it some body. And I usually go, whatever, I don't care, because that's how attached I am to my hair. And Sometimes the layering person goes really layering. And sometimes I get the Rachel folks. Sometimes I get the Rachel.

Marco Timpano:  Right, and your face can sustain a Rachel, but not a pixie cut. Like, I wouldn't say I had a,

Amanda Barker:  when I was a kid. I had a pixie cut when I was, um, six.

Marco Timpano:  And that's probably the last time you should have gotten one. So that's fine.

Amanda Barker:  You're right, because I got another one, uh, when I was 10 and I should not have gotten that one. No, no. 10 year old wants the world's shortest hair.

Marco Timpano:  So some people want a hairstyle that they like, but it doesn't work with their hair. Their hair can't. So if you have like very, very curly hair or wavy hair, you can't necessarily do the Rachel because your hair's not going to sustain that shape.

Amanda Barker:  Hang on. I think I could, I think I could. Look, my mom has short hair. I pretty much have her face.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah.

Amanda Barker:  You don't think I could rock a pixie?

Marco Timpano:  No.

Amanda Barker:  Okay. All right, so.

Marco Timpano:  So that's fair.

Amanda Barker:  I don't want one.

Marco Timpano:  So maybe when you, when you get to your mother's age, it'll be different.

Amanda Barker:  Oh my goodness. So the question is, what hair did she have at my age? And I think it was this hair.

Marco Timpano:  There you go. So. So there you go. So I know about hair. I could French braid anyone's hair. Because growing up, I saw my mother french braid a lot of bridesmaids.

Amanda Barker:  Why don't you French braid my hair sometimes?

Marco Timpano:  I've done it once or twice. And you're like, what? And you're like, uh, when you fall asleep on my lap, I'll braid it. And you'll wake up and you'll be like, what happened here? And then you'll be like, oh, it's a pretty decent French braid.

Amanda Barker:  That's a pretty lovely image.

Marco Timpano:  I can French braid out of a romantasy novel. I guess. Uh, I could French braid baby breaths flowers into your hair if you want, because I've seen my mother do that.

Amanda Barker:  Does your mom ever do the threading the pearls into the hair? That was a thing?

Marco Timpano:  No, I never, I never saw it.

Amanda Barker:  I had that once for my grade 8 dinner dance. Pearls threaded into my hair.

Marco Timpano:  Like, do they sew them in to your hair?

Amanda Barker:  I think they just string them. They just take a few strands, put a pearl through it and then fasten it there.

Marco Timpano:  I think I would be able to frost your tips, uh, so to speak.

Amanda Barker:  Should I have frosted tips?

Marco Timpano:  Um, you could in the summer. Like, it wouldn't be. It wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

Amanda Barker:  But frosted tips. Tips and the Jennifer and the Rachel do it all.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. Like, I know I would know how to put the cap on you take your hair out and then sort of bleach that. Bleach the hair that's out of the cap and then.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, my goodness.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah, I would know how to do that. I've seen that so many times.

Amanda Barker:  You can French braid. You can French braid baby's breath into people's hair. If that trend comes back, I should

Marco Timpano:  put that on my resume.

Amanda Barker:  You should. Hey, you don't know. Um, you can do frosted tips. Yeah. So you could do the cap where you pull the cap out and then give me like streaks.

Marco Timpano:  Yes, yes. I could perm. I could perm anyone's hair. I've seen. I, I know those, those. I don't know if they still use some, but those little plastic, um.

Amanda Barker:  The rollers.

Marco Timpano:  The rollers. Yeah, the perm rollers and how that solution and the solution and the paper and have them in. And I've seen that so much that. That certain, certain smells from a hair salon actually relax me. Even though they're really repellent smells because I remember them through my entire life.

Amanda Barker:  That's so fascinating. You know what relaxes me and it has no right to, is being in a casino. Oh, I find it extremely relaxing. I don't. The good thing is I don't ever go to a casino. I don't ever. Uh, the. Really, the most time I've ever spent in one is to perform. And maybe that's why I find it relaxing because I think it's the most low stakes performance you can do. Because people usually are just there, you know, because they got it for free. It's just the entertainment of the night. And they usually want a truncated version of whatever show you're doing. So it's. Nothing's really more than 45 minutes anyway, so. And then. And then you get to eat off the buffet and it's just a chill night. So maybe that's why they chill me out. I don't know. But I've always felt like maybe I worked in a casino in a past life or something because there's something really grounding about it.

Marco Timpano:  You know what sound relaxes me?

Amanda Barker:  What?

Marco Timpano:  The sound of saws cutting wood. Especially skill saws cutting wood in the morning. Or even a chainsaw cutting wood.

Amanda Barker:  Why is that?

Marco Timpano:  Growing up as a kid, those were Sunday morning sounds in my house of my dad doing something. He was all he always had a skill saw. He was always cutting through wood. There was always that sound, that ripping sound of wood being cut. And so for me, it's a very relaxing Sunday morning sound. Even though to the average person, if you heard that at 7 in the morning, it would not be a relaxing sound.

Amanda Barker:  You know what mine is that's like that, um, the sound through the vents of tap shoes. Oh, that's very specific. But I am the daughter of a dance teacher, and she, for. Until I was like, uh, nine, she taught out of our. We did a studio in our basement. Our basement was the dance studio. And so I would go to bed, and I was two floors above, but I would hear through the vents, uh, in my room, the heating vents, the sounds of my mom talking to her students. It would never be just discussion, but it would be when my mom was commanding the class and teaching them a routine that I would hear because she was loud enough that the class could hear them over their tap shoes. And sometimes the music. So I would hear the music start over. I would hear the same, you know, 16 bars, 32 bars of the same song over and over as they learn these routines. And usually tap was how they ended the night. So she would start with ballet and end with tap because they would get louder and sweatier or whatever. And so, um, I. The tap meant that she was almost done.

Marco Timpano:  Wow.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah. Isn't that funny?

Marco Timpano:  Let us know what your unusual sound that relaxes you is. I'd love to hear. I'm sure people have sounds that were like. They're like, oh, the sound of a, you know, of snow hitting the floor or something.

Amanda Barker:  Like, you know, the sound of a swimming pool. A swim meet could be really relaxing if you grew up at swim meets, for example. I know that's true for at least one person I know. And also, let us know, um, what is something that you have lived on the periphery of so that you know about that thing, even if you're not part officially of that thing? Um, for me, drums and percussion, and then for Marco, obviously, hair and hair styling. So interesting.

Marco Timpano:  It is fascinating.

Amanda Barker:  Becomes. What did your parents do? I think, uh, not always. Not always, but sometimes. Or maybe what, you had a brother or sister that was super into a thing, so you got to know about that thing. I'm trying to think of things my siblings were into.

Marco Timpano:  I know. Like, a friend of ours, he. One of his first jobs was in a bakery. And so, you know, just the texture of kneading dough in the morning with no one around is a relaxing thing. For them.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah.

Marco Timpano:  And uh, that is relaxing. And I think that's true with a lot of first jobs where you had a job that wasn't like. Usually your first job's not the greatest job, but you're doing a repetitive action or motion or something that can. Can be very relaxing.

Amanda Barker:  What was your very first job?

Marco Timpano:  My very first job?

Amanda Barker:  It's hard to know your very first. I mean, I guess babysitting mine was

Marco Timpano:  like working in my dad's m. Factory, but that was just like.

Amanda Barker:  And then mine was working in my

Marco Timpano:  dad's factory and I think it was more like, uh, I don't say pity job, but I was young and I would go into work with them. I don't even know if I got paid. And I would do.

Amanda Barker:  What did you do at your dad. Let's talk about our dad's factories. What did you do at your dad's factory?

Marco Timpano:  So this is the earliest memory I have of going with my dad to work in the summer.

Amanda Barker:  Mhm.

Marco Timpano:  Probably just to get out of my mom's hair. And he. Sure he would.

Amanda Barker:  How old were you? I'm going to go ahead and say not legally factory age.

Marco Timpano:  Oh no, for sure not. Maybe 13, 14.

Amanda Barker:  Okay. Yeah.

Marco Timpano:  Once again, I don't think I was paid. I was more there to be babysat by the person who was in charge of the shipping department. A guy whose name was Phil. Or is Phil. I don't know.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, it wasn't your dad you had to do with Phil?

Marco Timpano:  My dad. Sometimes my dad would let me hang out with him, but my dad ran the factory, so he'd run from here and there. And who was Phil?

Amanda Barker:  I've never heard about Phil.

Marco Timpano:  Phil was this guy, really nice guy. And he had a little office that sort of had windows all around and faced the factory floor. And so he would shut up. Ship items like metal collars.

Amanda Barker:  Uh-huh.

Marco Timpano:  So we would get a box of metal collars and my job was to take the.

Amanda Barker:  What's a metal collar?

Marco Timpano:  A metal collar.

Amanda Barker:  I'm sorry, I have to ask because all I'm picturing is like a priest collar, but made of metal, which I'm sure is not what it is.

Marco Timpano:  That would be awesome. No. So my dad worked in a sheet steel, um, sheet manufacturing company.

Amanda Barker:  Mhm.

Marco Timpano:  And so a metal collar is a metal circular thing that you could put around piping.

Amanda Barker:  Mhm.

Marco Timpano:  In this case, I. I think it was the exhaust from a heating like a wood burning stove or heating exchange events. Event of some sort. Yeah. And we had vents too. Like it was all those kind of things. And thank you for asking, because I would have. Just because I'm so used to it. So I would take the, um, tape. The big roll of tape and tape the boxes.

Amanda Barker:  All right.

Marco Timpano:  With that, with that. Ah, with that tape.

Amanda Barker:  Like the thing with the handle.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. I can't think of the name right now.

Amanda Barker:  I can't even think of the tape dispenser.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah, tape dispenser, but not the tape dispenser. It's called, um.

Amanda Barker:  Well, because I worked in my dad's shipping of my dad's metal factory. He wasn't doing metal collars, he was doing cymbals because he worked in cymbal manufacturing cymbals for drums and, um, so musical instruments. But it was still metal based.

Marco Timpano:  Sure.

Amanda Barker:  And, uh, and I also worked in the shipping department. I didn't ever put together, A, that both our dads worked in metal factories, and B, that we. We both ended up in the shipping departments helping out. But the shipping job, it wasn't my first job at that factory. Um, but I would say it was my first official job. And I worked there every single summer. And it was tedious.

Marco Timpano:  I think the first job that I remember where I was actually paid an employee kind of thing with an employee number and all that was a usher at a movie theater.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, that's a fun job.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. So that's what I was, the usher at a movie theater.

Amanda Barker:  And this is where our paths diverged. Because you grew up in a city,

Marco Timpano:  let's call it a suburb, a suburb

Amanda Barker:  of a major city. And a pretty major suburb at that. Like a suburb that is now its own city in its own right.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. Uh, so I was a usher at the Promenade. I don't know if the theater's still there.

Amanda Barker:  Amazing.

Marco Timpano:  In the big movies that were out when I was an usher. Tell me La Bamba.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, wow. Okay.

Marco Timpano:  There was a movie with Kevin Costner called no Way Out.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah. Okay. Robocop.

Marco Timpano:  Uh.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, my goodness.

Marco Timpano:  Those are the ones I remember.

Amanda Barker:  La Bamba. That was a. That was the summer blockbuster.

Marco Timpano:  That was the summer block.

Amanda Barker:  Everybody liked La Bambamba.

Marco Timpano:  I had to take your ticket and tell you which theater to go to.

Amanda Barker:  Back to Bill Antonio, our cinephile friend. Um, then we watched it recently and it just.

Marco Timpano:  Amazing.

Amanda Barker:  M. Yeah, it just kind of ends. It just kind of ends.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah, it does.

Amanda Barker:  You're like, wait, what? This is how La Bamba ends?

Marco Timpano:  Sometimes that's how. How it ends.

Amanda Barker:  It just. Sometimes that's how it ends. And sometimes that's how this We've got

Marco Timpano:  just a couple more minutes, but I want to thank all our listeners and thank you for reaching out, for sending messages. Uh, we had someone message us about that spread that you talked about. Uh.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, yeah, let's. Let's just talk about that to make sure everyone's got their. So one of our listeners in Halif Facts, um, wanted to find this elusive Dutch cheese spread. So it's called Smearkass. S M M E E R K A A S. It's obviously a Dutch word. Smirkass. And, um, there's a few versions of it, but you can get it at the Seaport Farmers Market in Halifax, which, if you live in Halifax, is. I've always. I don't. I'll tell you something. Halifax is the city that I've been on the periphery of my entire life.

Marco Timpano:  The City of lights.

Amanda Barker:  I don't think that's what it's called. I've never lived there, um, however, since I was. I mean, it was sort of. It's the big city of the Maritimes, even though it was quite far from where I grew up in the Maritimes of Canada. Um, and then my sister moved there when I was 20. I think. 19. No, 19. When I was 19, my sister moved there. So ever since then, I. And I lived a few hours away. So I've always been visiting it, staying there, auditioning there, with no luck, actually. Um, and just I tried for a little bit, thinking maybe I would live there. It didn't happen. But, um, now my brother lives there. I have two fabulous family there, you know.

Marco Timpano:  Right.

Amanda Barker:  We try not to name our. We try not to name other people's kids, just as a general rule. But, um, we've got some delightful, delightful family there.

Marco Timpano:  We certainly do.

Amanda Barker:  That I love very much.

Marco Timpano:  Well, folks, thank me too. Folks, thank you for listening once again. If you are listening on Spotify and you're able to give us even just 5 stars, just click that button. It's very helpful. We appreciate it.

Amanda Barker:  And if not YouTube, subscribe to our YouTube. So we are now on YouTube.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. And we have. We. I just saw we had two new subscribers.

Amanda Barker:  So that is actually another way that you can help us create this for free and then we can get out. Because we're really trying to get out timely podcast episodes to you so that, you know, you can rely on it.

Marco Timpano:  There you go. Until next time. We hope you were able to listen to this episode and sleep.

​
Marco Timpano:   Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax and listen as we have a calm conversation about unordinary, um, things or ordinary things I should say that you can listen to and that you don't feel like you have to listen to the end of. You can go wherever this takes you. It's just a distraction from anything that's going on. I'm your host, Marco Timpano.

Amanda Barker:  I'm Amanda Barker, and I am giving you permission. Gently shut your eyes or let your gaze become unfocused and just dream off. You don't have to attach to any piece of this, but you can just follow along and enjoy the journey with us. We don't know where it's going either, so we're just. We're here for the ride in this life, aren't we, Marco?

Marco Timpano:  We certainly are. And, um, I'm here for this coffee I just made. How is it for you? So good.

Amanda Barker:  This is the second coffee Marcos made me today. So it's a two coffee day. Not something we always do here. But our work today is mostly from home. And so I said, you know what I would like? I would like a second coffee.

Marco Timpano:  And I was like, I want one too.

Amanda Barker:  I can't always do a second coffee, but today's a day where I feel like I can. And it's really good. You made a really good coffee, Amanda.

Marco Timpano:  Do you enjoy a coffee by yourself or sharing a coffee? Not sharing it, but like having a coffee with someone you love or enjoy being around.

Amanda Barker:  I am a social imbiber of caffeine or alcohol for that matter. I don't do it on my own.

Marco Timpano:  Okay.

Amanda Barker:  I just don't. Left to my own devices. It's gonna be water. Uh, it might be a nice chai as a treat or just a nice tea of some version.

Marco Timpano:  I love a nice chai.

Amanda Barker:  I know. And we have some.

Marco Timpano:  I know.

Amanda Barker:  We have the chai syrup.

Marco Timpano:  I didn't realize I was gonna open it yesterday, but I was like, it's perfect. Should I open it? Seeing as we're.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, yeah. But it keeps. I think.

Marco Timpano:  It keeps.

Amanda Barker:  It keeps. Well, that's something to look forward to this afternoon. A nice try.

Marco Timpano:  We are going this weekend to m see our little nephew in Halifax.

Amanda Barker:  I can't wait. I can't wait.

Marco Timpano:  I can't wait.

Amanda Barker:  Actually, I just need to correct that. We're going to see. It's a special occasion for our little nephew. But that's not all. We're going to see our bigger nephew,

Marco Timpano:  which I can't wait to just give a big squeeze to.

Amanda Barker:  I miss him so much. I haven't seen him. Of our nephews and niece, he's the

Marco Timpano:  one I haven't seen the most.

Amanda Barker:  Like it's been a year, maybe more, and really miss him.

Marco Timpano:  And he's doing chin ups, which I can't do, so I want to see him do chin ups.

Amanda Barker:  Just, he's so sweet and I just miss him so much. So we're gonna get to see him. So that is a what a gift. And bonus. We get to see their parents as well.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah, whatever. No, uh, it's one of our nephew's birthdays too, so celebrating birthdays with your nieces, your nephews, your kids is always a fun thing in my opinion.

Amanda Barker:  We're really looking forward to it. And, uh, we've got a plane journey, so you know what that means. I'm packing the backpack and I'm going to be doing it today two days in advance.

Marco Timpano:  Smart.

Amanda Barker:  And I'm going to be very meticulous

Marco Timpano:  and judicious because we, we are not packing a proper carry on wheelie.

Amanda Barker:  And if you want to go back a few episodes, if you heard our neck roll episode, we're packing the neck rolls, folks. And I'm packing the. Because it's still cold, mostly in this country of ours. So I'm wearing my big puffy jacket that comes with a bag, little bag attached to it. Um, and the whole jacket goes into that bag and that becomes a pillow on the plane as well. As well as my toque, also known as a beanie or cap. But we're in Toronto. We're going to call it a toque. I always call it a toque by its rightful name.

Marco Timpano:  Yes.

Amanda Barker:  And, um, if I have a scarf or anything to put into the toque that can become a pillow. It's a three pillow flight, but a no luggage flight.

Marco Timpano:  Right. And Amanda, ah, are you bringing your yellow backpack which our listeners might know from the backpack episode, which is a favorite episode.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah. And I am packing that backpack. And Marco, I even found a little portable deodorant or I've used small m. It's really? It's like the size of my thumb. It's a really tiny one.

Marco Timpano:  Really?

Amanda Barker:  Yeah. You're really excited about that. Maybe too excited for this podcast. I know, but I.

Marco Timpano:  Where'd you find that you.

Amanda Barker:  I had one, and I used it a long time ago, but we got it in a travel kit, like on a plane or something. And I don't know what plane. I don't know, like a layover or something. Anyway, and you must have taken it out and you don't realize. I don't think you knew what it was.

Marco Timpano:  Probably not.

Amanda Barker:  It's really tiny, but like I said, it's the size of my thumb. And.

Marco Timpano:  Amanda, what's this? Um, Swiss army toothbrush. I saw that you had that folds in on itself. I was like, where did this come from?

Amanda Barker:  That's from Ottawa. Remember in Ottawa? I needed you to go to the convenience store or. No, I went to the. No, I went to the. So I bought. They had a travel kit, and it was like, I don't know, 10, $15. And I was like, you know what? It's got toothbrush, toothpaste, and it's a toothbrush that folds onto itself. So that is probably what I'm bringing

Marco Timpano:  because we need a toothpaste or something.

Amanda Barker:  I think I forgot my toothbrush. I think that's why I don't remember what I. We needed some aspect of that, but I bought the whole case just to have. So now I have that. But I mean, I am being really ruthless. It might be a one lipstick trip. I'm packing my makeup toiletry bag. I'm using the tiniest one. It's all tiny stuff. All stuff that can be jettisoned there. We're even getting pajamas sent to us. It's a bit bougie, but we're getting. It's our, uh, like, splurge. And you know me. I am not a fast fashion girly, as the tiktokers say. That is not me. However, I don't want to spend the time finding secondhand clothes.

Marco Timpano:  Now, listen, so you've sent pajamas to

Amanda Barker:  Halloween for both of us, and they're matching.

Marco Timpano:  I love it.

Amanda Barker:  They were $15 each.

Marco Timpano:  Are they the long ones, like the Christmas ones?

Amanda Barker:  Yeah, they're like. They're. They. They're not specifically Christmas, but I think that's why they're cheap, because they were intended for that. And they're very warm.

Marco Timpano:  Does it say something like I dream of you at night on it?

Amanda Barker:  No, there's no writing on it. They're red and black plaid Pants with a, uh, looks very velour black long sleeve top. Now, I just need to say, because they are likely listening, that our very sweet sister, um, in law and my brother would gladly lend us any of their sweats, clothes, things to sleep in. Um, but. And we'll probably borrow them. But, uh, for this trip, it's just for 30 bucks, we could get pajamas for those four days, you know, versus, um. Did you just turn my mic up?

Marco Timpano:  I did turn it on.

Amanda Barker:  Okay, so now I'm a little louder for everybody.

Marco Timpano:  That's okay, because I'm going to make the top end louder. So they won't necessarily know.

Amanda Barker:  Nobody will know. But if they do know, then they know. Then they know. Um, but, um, yeah, I just know that we're gonna want. Halifax is many things. Warm is not a word I'd ever associate with it. Not even in the summer. So, um, I just want some hardcore pajamas to live in for four days and then they can be donated. Or if they want to store them for our next trip, they can store them. I know it takes up too much.

Marco Timpano:  I know. It does take up room. Maybe we bring them back.

Amanda Barker:  Maybe we bring them back. We'll have room in our little neck pillows. Um, because we're bringing a couple things for the.

Marco Timpano:  That's right. That's right. So maybe we'll have some room. I wanted to mention, Amanda, that today's show is going to be about one of my favorite topics, thanks to our listener, Susan, who wants to know what our pen preferences are.

Amanda Barker:  You love a pen. Look, when it comes to love a writing, I'm. Um, this is for you.

Marco Timpano:  So here's the thing, folks, and I'll.

Amanda Barker:  I'll chime in a little, but honestly, this is Marco's terroir as it is. Oh, do you like that?

Marco Timpano:  I love that.

Amanda Barker:  I don't think I pronounced it.

Marco Timpano:  I know that for wine, but I didn't think that for terroir. Yeah. So here's what I'm gonna say. Don't buy me pens. Do not ever buy me pens. Because I'm very particular when it comes to pens, and people like to buy me fancy pens. And I don't like a fancy pen because they're often really big and bulky.

Amanda Barker:  Like, um. Should I name the brands?

Marco Timpano:  Yeah, sure.

Amanda Barker:  Like a Mont Blanc.

Marco Timpano:  Well, no one's bought me a Montblanc because they can run thousands of dollars, but that style.

Amanda Barker:  Do you want them?

Marco Timpano:  Um, never.

Amanda Barker:  You're hard to buy.

Marco Timpano:  Never. Never, ever. Get ready. Never. It's too heavy for my delicate hand.

Amanda Barker:  Okay.

Marco Timpano:  It's like I'm holding a brick.

Amanda Barker:  He is delicate, folks.

Marco Timpano:  I don't want to write with a brick. I want to write with a pen.

Amanda Barker:  And I would be fine with a brick.

Marco Timpano:  So I like a. Much like Susan, I like a pen where the ink dries quick, because otherwise, uh, there's smudge happening. My hands get blue.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah, you get the old finger smudge. How many cards have I given lovingly to people I love throughout the years? Friends, family, Where I write a long dissertation about the nature of our relationship and what they mean to me. And it's just Smudgetown.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. And Amanda's the card giver of the century. I've never, never met anyone who spends more time writing and getting perfect cards for people.

Amanda Barker:  Um, listen, I love cards. I love flowers. When I die, in lieu of donations, please send flowers.

Marco Timpano:  Okay. There you go. So.

Amanda Barker:  And I mean that. I just. I love flowers. I just think flowers exist to make the world smell better, look brighter, and feed the bees. Three things I love. What better gift than flowers?

Marco Timpano:  So, for me, send pens, but just only send my favorite pens. So I like a Pentel pencil, and I have them right up there. And if you can see, I've never.

Amanda Barker:  This is how. See, we still. After how many episodes, I'm still learning about you. I've never even heard the brand Pentel.

Marco Timpano:  Pentel.

Amanda Barker:  And it is apparently your favorite pen.

Marco Timpano:  R50.

Amanda Barker:  Pentel R50. I would never have known that was even there.

Marco Timpano:  So hard to find. They only make them in Japan now. It was a pen that was made.

Amanda Barker:  Why is that?

Marco Timpano:  Because.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, those green pens. Yeah. I would call it Marco's Green Pen.

Marco Timpano:  So I used to get them in France. I sound so bougie right now, but,

Amanda Barker:  no, I love it. Listen, this is one of the things I love about you. I don't know anybody else on this planet, but there are people. I just don't know them who feel the way you feel.

Marco Timpano:  So the first time I had this pen was in France when I was backpacking with Loretto, a good friend of mine. And I got this pen that is so specific.

Amanda Barker:  So specific that you remember a pen from a backpacking trip when you were, like, in your 20s.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. We're talking decades and decades ago. Um.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, my goodness.

Marco Timpano:  So I bought this pen just casually in a store in France, and I wrote postcards with it, and it was so accurate and so precise that I could write a lot on the postcard. It didn't smudge, but it's inky, which I love. Blue, which is My favorite color to write in. I don't love a black pen.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah.

Marco Timpano:  Though I do like the black pens from your work because the ink.

Amanda Barker:  I have learned this about you. Why don't you like black? Like, he has a real preference for blue ink, folks. Like, I learned that that's a marriage learning thing when we started. I'm like, just write with this. And he'd be like, no, no. I'm like, why? I don't like writing in black ink.

Marco Timpano:  It's the devil's ink. Uh, no. No, it's not.

Amanda Barker:  I have learned that stories that I think are lovely and charming might not feel lovely and charming on your end of the conversation. So I hope this isn't one of those.

Marco Timpano:  No. But here's the thing. So for me, I don't like black ink unless it's a true black. So the black has to be an inky pen like the ones from your work. But a lot of inks, like a Bic pen, black, it doesn't come out truly black. It comes out mottled or gray black. And I just don't love it.

Amanda Barker:  We should address the ones from my work because people don't know what that pen is. Do you have one here?

Marco Timpano:  I don't.

Amanda Barker:  I have some in my bag, I think. So I'll describe them, but I don't know the make and model, because that's not my world. But they're silver with black. They have the name of my work, um, in black. And I don't know who ordered them or what happened, but one day they were there, and everybody was like, oh, these pens. They're the best pens. And I work with a lot of directors and producers, and those are people that have to do a lot of writing.

Marco Timpano:  Sure.

Amanda Barker:  And yes, some of them are typing the whole time. I'm more that person. But a lot of them aren't. A lot of them are old school. They want to make notes on headshots or whatever. Because I work with actors, remember? They want a good pen. So we've started giving out those pens, and we always say, you know, go ahead and take one, because obviously it's branded with my work. So it's like a little bit of good faith advertising. And people do love them. And they are great pens.

Marco Timpano:  They're great pens. So that's one where I like the black ink, but I'll always choose blue over black. It's just a preference of mine. I think it looks more elegant. There's something about it that feels right when I use it.

Amanda Barker:  Interesting.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. And so for me.

Amanda Barker:  When did you develop that preference? Has that always been a thing, like in high school?

Marco Timpano:  I also have a feeling that black ink has a different smell to it. And I think it might be sort of psychosomatic where I associate the smell or there's something about it. I think. I think I primarily used blue in school when, you know, we didn't. When I went to school, we didn't have computers. We didn't have typewriters, per se. And as kids, you used pens or pencils. And so I always prefer a pen over a pencil. That is true.

Amanda Barker:  Okay.

Marco Timpano:  And, uh, so blue was just my thing. I don't know. I don't know.

Amanda Barker:  You know what I love about this conversation? I just need to take a quick beat here. Oh, that was me touching the mic. I'm sorry.

Marco Timpano:  That's okay.

Amanda Barker:  Um, I love. So I think of myself as a pretty intuitive and, dare I say, sensitive person, for sure. And sometimes I bristle at the word sensitive because people will say, well, my child's sensitive. And I'll be like, well, all kids are, um. But I know what they mean by that. And I've even at one point heard it described as indigo children. That was a term happening in, like, the early aughts. But all people really mean is, you know, my child brings their home problems home with them, or my child knows how to read a room or is so empathetic that they. They live, you know, whatever. It's these types of emotional things. And I would always say, think, yeah, I'm definitely part of that group, no question. But it just goes to show that all of us are, quote, unquote, sensitive in different ways, of course. And so, yes, I might, uh, uh, you know, the lunchroom in my junior high, you know, whatever. I don't want to trigger anybody with, you know, I was sensitive to people and reading a room and all those things. And I'd like to think I still am. But I will say I have never in my life thought about the smell of ink. That is a sensitivity, a specificity that just blew right past my brain. And sometimes, you know, there's things like in my mom's house. My mom is like that, too. She will. There are certain things that she's very particular about that I just am not. I just don't have that brain that is sensitive to that thing.

Marco Timpano:  Sure.

Amanda Barker:  And so I think it just goes to show that all of us have our specificities. Sometimes they are within our personal relationships or aspects of. And I'm not saying you're not with Interpersonal relationships. You're highly sensitive. It's just in different ways. But it just goes to show that every human and child. But every human has their own specific things that they notice that they. That have meaning to them, that they think about. And ink is one of yours.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. And you know, ever since. Cause I used to like to draw. And there my mom has a coffee table that when I was a child, I would press really hard with my pens and pencils that the impression of me writing my name is on the coffee table because I would press so hard. Cause it was a wood.

Amanda Barker:  I'm sure your mother didn't love that in the moment, but I love that.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. And like, you know, I would do my R backwards or something and it would. It would. And I was always drawing fish because I was really into fish. I still am, but especially as a young child, I would always draw fish. So I think the pen was a tool for me. An artistic sort of thing, an outlet, if you will. And so I always loved writing. I loved drawing. And I can do calligraphy, as you know.

Amanda Barker:  Mhm.

Marco Timpano:  And so I'm good with letters. Like I can make letters look nice. I can make them look. I'm really good at copying someone's signature. Like I could do that too. Like, um. If I watch you do it.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah, these are. And so that's just it. Like these are such specific details and none of them belong to my set of skills.

Marco Timpano:  Sure.

Amanda Barker:  And that's kind of. I love that.

Marco Timpano:  So let me ask you this, Amanda, because I have a definite take on this. Do you prefer a pen that has a click or a cap? So you click it to have the pen click be used or you remove the cap.

Amanda Barker:  Okay. That's not something that I've ever cared about.

Marco Timpano:  Okay.

Amanda Barker:  The only aspect of either. If you put two in front of me and said all things are the same, then the first question in my head is what is more likely to leak in my bag? And I want the one that's less likely to leak in my bag, which for me would probably be a cap. Because if it leaks, the cap's gonna catch more than the old clicker that just retracts. So I think I would go cap, because that would be the only. As long as they both. Right. Well, as long as they get the job done, then it would just be what is better for travel and transport.

Marco Timpano:  Honestly, for me. Cap. Because the clicker or whatever you call that, I'm sure there's a special name for that. Sits and touches my hand in a way That I can feel it. Oh, um, yeah. So not. Not m. That I can't write with it.

Amanda Barker:  We're both caps.

Marco Timpano:  We're both cats.

Amanda Barker:  But for different reasons.

Marco Timpano:  But for different reasons.

Amanda Barker:  Interesting.

Marco Timpano:  Do you remember pocket protectors? And did you ever have one?

Amanda Barker:  I do remember them. I never had one, I don't think. But I do remember them being synonymous in the 80s with, like an 80s nerd on it. So if you were playing a nerd, you do the glasses with the tape. Like, if you're a nerd for Halloween, whatever that means, you do the slicked parted hair in the middle. You'd probably do the glasses with the tape. And then you do the pocket protector for sure. With pens. And you'd button up and you'd wear maybe a bow tie or suspenders. I'm just really describing Urkel from that Urkel show that I don't remember.

Marco Timpano:  Or a Big Bang Theory guy.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, were they like that?

Marco Timpano:  They were kind of. I think. What's his name?

Amanda Barker:  It was a little on the nose by the time that came out, but

Marco Timpano:  what's the tall guy's name? Do you remember?

Amanda Barker:  No.

Marco Timpano:  The tall guy. Anyways, the.

Amanda Barker:  I don't. I'm going to be honest with you. I've never sat and watched an entire episode of Big Bang Theory.

Marco Timpano:  Sheldon.

Amanda Barker:  Okay. Yeah, I should remember that because he has a whole. There's a whole spin off young Sheldon.

Marco Timpano:  Right? So it's Sheldon played by a brilliant actor. Tall guy.

Amanda Barker:  Tall guy.

Marco Timpano:  Tall guy.

Amanda Barker:  Very, very, very much Jimmy Stewart vibes on him.

Marco Timpano:  Um, yes.

Amanda Barker:  And I think he played Jimmy Stewart, didn't he?

Marco Timpano:  If he hasn't, he should.

Amanda Barker:  I think he did. Or he did a version of It's a Wonderful Life. I. I don't. I might be making this up, but I think he did. Now, this is the part where Bill, our, um, Criterion Collection movie aficionado cinephile,

Marco Timpano:  Riviera Rats is his latest podcast. An episode just dropped. I can't wait to listen to it. It's a great podcast. I'm excited because I'm saving it for the flight. It takes me through the flight, and I really enjoy listening to him talk about movies that specifically, if you're a cinephile, it's fantastic. If you're not, you learn from it. And then his other podcast, which is called Bad Gay Movies, Bitchy Gay Men, another favorite, that's more funny like a bgm. Yeah.

Amanda Barker:  So Bill will know their Oscar wrap up. I don't know if we did a shout out. I know we're a little Late on that, but. Oh, my gosh, that's funny.

Marco Timpano:  I listen. I look forward.

Amanda Barker:  The three of them to it are so funny.

Marco Timpano:  He did a version of the song for, um. What's that movie? A battle.

Amanda Barker:  Um, One battle. I don't want to sing it. We're too late into the pod. I hope people are asleep by now.

Marco Timpano:  He sings a version of a Diane Warren version of what? And I can't get it out of my head.

Amanda Barker:  I just need to explain very quickly. He talks about the. The legend that is songwriter Diane Warren and how she's been nominated, I think now 14 times for best song for Oscars and hasn't won. But he was saying how, you know, she gets sometimes now it's like she's like her own genre of songwriting. And wouldn't it be nice if she could write for some of these edgier movies, like, one battle after another? And then he does a version of what her version of that song would sound like. And we do sing it on the daily. I'm not gonna sing it here.

Marco Timpano:  No, you've got to listen to that episode of his podcast bgm. Um, do you remember the show the Fall Guy?

Amanda Barker:  This took a turn. I mean, I was still on Ink

Marco Timpano:  because we were talking about the tall guy, and then I thought of the fall guy.

Amanda Barker:  I. A little bit. Who was the guy?

Marco Timpano:  It was the guy who played the six Million Dollar Man. Lee Majors, I think is his name. He was married to Farrah Fawcett.

Amanda Barker:  Wow.

Marco Timpano:  This is for Bill.

Amanda Barker:  This is all just for Bill. And These are very 80s names.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. I never watched it because I wasn't a Lee Major fan. Like, I remember as a kid, very young.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah.

Marco Timpano:  Um, thinking.

Amanda Barker:  There's more than one major thinking.

Marco Timpano:  The $6 million man was so cool.

Amanda Barker:  Uh, what was that? He owned $6 million. That was a lot of money back then. Now, that's just your neighbor.

Marco Timpano:  He was a guy who had injuries, and so they had to replace parts of his body. And so the parts of his body were bion, when bionic was a word that people used. And so these bionic parts cost $6 million. So he could see through one eye very far. His arm was really, really strong. So he could just.

Amanda Barker:  I dare say if they remade that show today, I don't know what the dollar amount would be to make a person bionic with their body parts. But $6 million is just. You went to a good hospital.

Marco Timpano:  Hair transplant.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah. But not from, you know, turkey year. Wherever people go. Um, okay. All right. Well, we went on a real journey

Marco Timpano:  on that we went on a Jennifer Slept Here journey.

Amanda Barker:  I thought. I was wondering. We went down an Angelian rabbit hole, uh, earlier this week. If you're wondering what's going on at this house, there was a big Angelian discussion about the shows that Angelian was in.

Marco Timpano:  Amanda sent me a TikTok or a Instagram video of someone talking about Angelian. And I remember as a child, young, thinking she was so beautiful.

Amanda Barker:  She was, she was. She had platinum blonde, that platinum blonde hair.

Marco Timpano:  What's it called?

Amanda Barker:  A bob.

Marco Timpano:  A bob.

Amanda Barker:  Like. And she had the true bob. She had the, um.

Marco Timpano:  Dorothy Hamill.

Amanda Barker:  Dorothy Hamill.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah, but platinum blonde.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah. So make it sexy. Dorothy Hamill, but make it sexy.

Marco Timpano:  And she was on a show called It's a Living where she was a waitress.

Amanda Barker:  Marco. It's a living. That's.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, it's. What did I say?

Amanda Barker:  No, I was just. Yeah, I'm trying to. Yes, Andrew.

Marco Timpano:  Sorry.

Amanda Barker:  I was like. Yeah. Because it's like you gotta make a living in the 80s.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. And she.

Amanda Barker:  Remember 9 to 5, who would forget? There's a real like, let's look at women in their hourly jobs and make entertainment out of it.

Marco Timpano:  So from It's a Living, she did this show called Jennifer Slept Here, which lasted a season or two at, ah, the most.

Amanda Barker:  Best premise ever. Tell us the premise.

Marco Timpano:  Michael M. Sexy actress, becomes a ghost in her home. And the lawyer who sort of defended her estate now owns the home.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, I didn't know that.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. Because I had to look it up. And his teenage son, who's 14, needs help.

Amanda Barker:  Margo, I think this. You're getting really excited like you do when you talk about 80s shows. We started so calmly.

Marco Timpano:  You're right.

Amanda Barker:  With pens and ink. And we're really ramping it up. I think we're going the opposite direction today because Angelian, you can't end with Angelian. You gotta open with Angelina.

Marco Timpano:  You gotta open. Always open with Angelina.

Amanda Barker:  Anyhow, Jennifer slept there and she did sleep there. And she's a sexy ghost that helps people with their problems.

Marco Timpano:  Romance problems.

Amanda Barker:  Romance problems. But, uh, it's a teenage boy just trying to figure his life out and he's the only one that can see her. And so she's the fun character.

Marco Timpano:  I think it's problematic today by today's standards.

Amanda Barker:  Well, but why?

Marco Timpano:  Because he's a 14 year old boy.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, he's supposed to be 14. Well, it was the 80s, so he was really 25.

Marco Timpano:  And she's a Marilyn Monroe type character.

Amanda Barker:  Sure. Okay, so there's that. But beyond that, I think even if it was like a young girl and she was helping her out with her girl things, it's still a, uh, it's still hard to write when only two characters. Like, she can only talk to that character. So that gets a little tiresome because then it's all like, nobody can see you. And I tell your father this or, you know, like it. That's tricky.

Marco Timpano:  And yet there's a very popular show right now called Ghosts that has the same sort of premise where.

Amanda Barker:  That's true. But there's so many of them. It's not.

Marco Timpano:  There's so many of them.

Amanda Barker:  Not just Jennifer. No, no, they're all Jennifer. There's like all these Jennifers.

Marco Timpano:  And here's what we need to do. I'm thinking about this. We need to get Bill on, um, the podcast again.

Amanda Barker:  Okay.

Marco Timpano:  To talk about 80s television shows.

Amanda Barker:  If he agrees, that would be a nice journey. Some people would find that very relaxing.

Marco Timpano:  And I don't know if it should be me interviewing him.

Amanda Barker:  No, you know, it should be you,

Marco Timpano:  because if it's you, it'll be a three hour podcast that I.

Amanda Barker:  It also will be too lively because he makes me laugh more than almost any other person. There's like a couple people in my life that make me laugh very hard, and Bill is definitely one of them. He is one of the funniest people I've ever met. And with that in mind, I, uh, don't think it would be a relaxing podcast. We'd have to get. Maybe we get a head start on the holiday episode.

Marco Timpano:  Here's my thing, folks. You let us know who you want to hear interview Bill, myself, Marco Tympano, or me, Amanda Barker, and we will make it happen. If Bill agrees, I don't want to speak for him.

Amanda Barker:  I think it would be. And just in case anyone's like both of you, that's not a podcast anyone's going to fall asleep to. I'm just going to throw that out there.

Marco Timpano:  No, it's not. But.

Amanda Barker:  So, uh, did we. Did we wrap on our pens?

Marco Timpano:  We have to wrap now.

Amanda Barker:  So we took an Angelian detour, and no one saw it coming.

Marco Timpano:  No one saw that coming. Here's what I have to say about pens. Don't buy me pens. Thank you. If you are thinking of buying me a pen, I don't need a pen. But if you do only buy me, I already forget.

Amanda Barker:  Penal 51 50. Pentel never bought you these. Pentel 150.

Marco Timpano:  It's a ball point pen. It's Pentel and it Is I'm looking at it upside down.

Amanda Barker:  R50CO.

Marco Timpano:  R50CO. Blue. I'll use red just to highlight things. And I've got black for emergencies, but I buy them in bulk and oh, I didn't finish my story. So I was in France. I discovered this pen. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Bought four or five, came home, could never find this pen again. M m. So I, I really.

Amanda Barker:  What did Loretto, your traveling companion, say? Did he comment on the pen?

Marco Timpano:  He could care less.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah. So. Yeah.

Marco Timpano:  And so I really coveted these pens and used them only when I had to write really special things.

Amanda Barker:  I love this about you. You're very unique and I love it.

Marco Timpano:  So I couldn't find it. I couldn't find it. Cut to having to go to Paris for work. Stop over on the way. Yeah.

Amanda Barker:  Flex.

Marco Timpano:  Yeah. Years and years later.

Amanda Barker:  That's not our life now, folks. We do not go to Paris for work. Although that would be nice.

Marco Timpano:  It was so wonderful.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah.

Marco Timpano:  Found the pens, scooped up a bunch, was so happy.

Amanda Barker:  Your suitcase is just pet, sir. Why, why is your carry on just pens?

Marco Timpano:  Use them for years.

Amanda Barker:  Mhm.

Marco Timpano:  They dried up or I used them all sad for three years. Cut to I have to work in Japan so they fly me to Japan.

Amanda Barker:  Again, major flex. This is not our current life.

Marco Timpano:  No. And.

Amanda Barker:  And even back then I just need to say it sounds like we're big shot business people.

Marco Timpano:  So not.

Amanda Barker:  We would do it for a lunch. Seriously.

Marco Timpano:  I actually think I just broke even on that work.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah, I think you did. Yeah.

Marco Timpano:  But anyways I wanted. It was, it was a great experience

Amanda Barker:  and this is the life we were very happy with and chosen. So don't. There's no discontent there. But it just sounds so much. I don't know. Flexier bougier. Bougie is not even really the right word. People misuse that word but you know, it sounds really. Oh, I got flown to Japan for work.

Marco Timpano:  Meanwhile, for every Japan trip there is.

Amanda Barker:  Yeah.

Marco Timpano:  45 three hour drives to London, Ontario trips that we have to make for work.

Amanda Barker:  And even those are high end.

Marco Timpano:  Uh yeah.

Amanda Barker:  Compared to what we do on a day to day. So just know I'm excited. Listen, when a producer likes one of my pens, that's a good day for me at my work.

Marco Timpano:  So in Japan, in Tokyo, I find the pens because they're made in Japan.

Amanda Barker:  Right.

Marco Timpano:  Scoop them all up.

Amanda Barker:  Oh my God. You go to the factory. Was that like.

Marco Timpano:  No.

Amanda Barker:  The motherland for you. Like you were like beef.

Marco Timpano:  I would have thought of it. I would have gone to it. For sure.

Amanda Barker:  The factory. Uh, sir, we don't give tours. I don't. I just need. Can I just stand at the end of the aisle and I will buy several boxes.

Marco Timpano:  I did buy boxes. Brought them home, use them. Cut to years of not having it. Searching online. Searching online.

Amanda Barker:  Pen drought.

Marco Timpano:  Pen drought.

Amanda Barker:  Pen drought. And when was the Pen drought?

Marco Timpano:  202019 to, like, 2017 to 2022.

Amanda Barker:  Oh, wow. Pen drought.

Marco Timpano:  Then all of a sudden, like a oasis in a mirage, they end up online. And I order a bunch, and then I order them for friends. No one really cares as much as I do.

Amanda Barker:  What friends did you give these pens to, Jack?

Marco Timpano:  I think I gave it to a couple other friends who I thought would enjoy them. They could care less. I'm gonna give one to Bill when I see him.

Amanda Barker:  Okay.

Marco Timpano:  Because I feel like Bill will understand.

Amanda Barker:  I feel like our niece might be.

Marco Timpano:  Oh, yeah, our niece.

Amanda Barker:  Our n is like you, and she would appreciate a good pen.

Marco Timpano:  I'm gonna bring it to our niece and see what she says, and I'll get back to our listeners. Okay. This was a longer episode. Thank you for listening, Amanda. Any last pen.

Amanda Barker:  You just cut that off like they cut off the first season of Jennifer Slept Here, I guess.

Marco Timpano:  Do you have any pencil? Things you want to say before we sign off? That's my pen hitting the table.

Amanda Barker:  Um, as long as they don't. The thing with pencils is a whole other episode, because then you need a sharpener. Right. So if it writes and if it doesn't make a mess, I'm generally pretty happy if it looks a little posh or if it's a little bit brighter, like a silver or gold that's easier to find in my bag.

Marco Timpano:  Okay.

Amanda Barker:  So the. It all comes back to my backpack for me.

Marco Timpano:  Feel free to let us know your pen preference.

Amanda Barker:  Can I just say I have a little tab in my backpack that is just a little rubber, I think, or silicone tab in between the two front pockets. Um, but, like, inside, like, you have to unzip it, and then it. There's the pockets there, and I use that. I put the back of the pens and I hook them onto it, but I kept doing it, and one part kind of is out, so I need to resew it. So I might do that today.

Marco Timpano:  Okay, great. Well, there you go. Let us know what your pen preference is or your pencil preference and your pen color, and we'd love to know. So you can email us or. Or if you haven't followed us on Instagram, please follow us there and let us know until next time. We hope you were able to listen and sleep.

The Sausage Roll Technique | Gentle Conversations for Restful Sleep
Welcome to the Insomnia Project. I'm Amanda Barker and this is the podcast
Marco Timpano: Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax and listen. As always, we're going to have a calm conversation about the mundane to help you drift off to slee. Thank you for joining us. I'm your host, Marco Timpano.
Amanda Barker: I'm Amanda Barker. Hi. Hi.
Marco Timpano: Hi. How you doing?
Amanda Barker: To you. To everybody.
Marco Timpano: Sorry, I wasn't sure. It was like. It sounded like you were saying it to our kids.
Amanda Barker: Maybe too peppy. It may be too peppy. Is that what you're.
Marco Timpano: No, not at all. I don't think.
Amanda Barker: What did you just mouth to me? He just mouthed the word to me. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm showing you how the sausage is made, folks.
Marco Timpano: Babe, nobody wants to know how the sausage is made. That's why they buy sausage.
Amanda Barker: All the people want to know how the sausage is made because that's a very relaxing task for our listeners to hear about.
Marco Timpano: Okay, well, listen, the sausage is made in a little studio and Amanda brought me a coffee. We're actually recording in the morning. We usually record at night. And I'm so grateful to have this coffee. Thank you.
Amanda Barker: I know you are. He's not. So I'll tell you something while he takes a sip of his coffee. When we first started dating.
Marco Timpano: Oh, no. The sausage. This is really how the sausage was made.
Amanda Barker: Maybe that's what this episode is. when we first started dating, he. I didn't understand his life. I didn't understand a lot of My fellow actors lives. We all had a night job where we performed, which I loved and changed my life. We've talked about that a lot, at the time at the Second City. But, I had a day job as well in marketing. And none of these other actors, like, some had different gigs that they would do. But I wasn't sure how their lives worked. And I remember asking Marco, you know, what does your day look like? And he said, well, I like to get up by 10 o'. Clock. No, I like to get up by 11 o'. Clock.
Marco Timpano: I don't like this story because it makes me look really bad. You like to tell stories that m.
Amanda Barker: Make people look bad, make you look bad. It makes you look like somebody who's living a lovely life. I, don't think there's any shame in that. I like to get up by 11 o' clock in order to watch the View. And I, in my very closed mind at that age, my late 20s or, early 30s, I didn't understand that. I just didn't understand that there were people that would sleep, you know, or did not get up at 8am or 7am M. Or whatever. But what I've come to realize, about you is that you are a night person. At the end of the day, you are not a morning person. And then when we started to date, he said, don't talk to me before 10am Him.
Marco Timpano: How does this make me look good at all?
Amanda Barker: I think it makes you look like somebody who knew his boundaries.
Marco Timpano: I also had a night job. I worked until late.
Amanda Barker: Oh, that's true.
Marco Timpano: Yeah. So.
Amanda Barker: But you are ultimately a person of. Of the night.
Marco Timpano: Yes.
Amanda Barker: You are a lady of the night.
Marco Timpano: That you're gonna say a person of means.
Amanda Barker: yeah, that too. I mean. And I learned a lot, actually. I actually don't think it makes you look bad at all.
Marco Timpano: Well, there you go.
Amanda Barker: Versus me, who just thought I needed to work every second of every day. And I'm still learning. We're both still learning.
Marco Timpano: It's true.
Amanda Barker: How are you doing this morning?
Marco Timpano: I had my coffee. I think I'm fighting something.
Irene recently used our show to fall asleep
But, I wanted to make mention of today's episode. A couple things. so one, we want to say a special hello to Irene, who recently used our show, to fall asleep.
Amanda Barker: She did.
Marco Timpano: So that was great.
Amanda Barker: She did. I mean, but beyond that, Irene, we love you and thank you so much. And I hope you're already asleep. I hope you never hear this because you're just so having the most beautiful sleep.
Irene, when you got married, you said you loved doing laundry
Marco Timpano: Irene, so Diane asked me to, or not asked me, said that Irene, one episode we could do would be talking about folding things like towels and, Ah, sheets.
Amanda Barker: You love to fold.
Marco Timpano: I don't love to fold.
Amanda Barker: Oh, I thought you loved to fold.
Marco Timpano: No, I fold because it has to be done.
Amanda Barker: Well, more behind the sausage.
Marco Timpano: More behind the sausage.
Amanda Barker: So when you got, married, you said you love doing laundry, and I went, that is wonderful.
Marco Timpano: I do like doing laundry. I just don't like. I do all the laundry.
Amanda Barker: How does that make you look bad? Well, it doesn't.
Marco Timpano: It doesn't.
Amanda Barker: But anyways, all the laundry.
There are two ways to fold a towel, folks. One is lengthwise and another is widthwise
Marco Timpano: Okay, so let me talk about how I fold a towel. I actually have a towel in my hand right now.
Amanda Barker: He really does.
Marco Timpano: So there's two ways that I fold a towel, folks. One, my most recent way, the one that I'm using more, is I fold it in half lengthwise. Is that what you call that?
Amanda Barker: I like how you say length lengthwise.
Marco Timpano: Lengthwise. And then I fold it in half, not lengthwise. What would you call that?
Amanda Barker: Well, width wise.
Marco Timpano: And then I fold it in half widthwise to make it a perfect square.
Amanda Barker: Lengthwise, width wise, width wise.
Marco Timpano: But there's another method to my madness, and that is the sausage roll. And let me just.
Amanda Barker: We really are learning how it gets made.
Marco Timpano: Yeah, there's a lot of sausage talk today. So fold it in half width wise, lengthwise. Now hang, on a second. I'm sorry. Width wise, width wise. It's because I'm seated. it's harder.
Amanda Barker: This is width, width.
Marco Timpano: And then those keeping. Roll it with. With, roll with, with roll. And lengthwise, you're rolling it into a sausage like you would see at a spa. You know how they have towels rolled at a spa and stacked?
Amanda Barker: yeah.
Marco Timpano: Or maybe, maybe if you go to a fancy gym.
Amanda Barker: The spas I go to, they fold them. So.
Marco Timpano: Okay, if you go to. You know when you see towels in a cubby hole somewhere fancy and they have them rolled up as sausages, going to go with.
Amanda Barker: Yes.
Marco Timpano: When would you see this kind of a roll? When have you seen stacked rolls like this? Where would be the environment where you've seen it?
Amanda Barker: at our house. And when I pack. Because I roll, pack.
Marco Timpano: No, but you don't roll towels when you pack.
Amanda Barker: Well, if I'm packing a towel, I would.
Marco Timpano: When have you packed a towel? When was the last time you packed a towel?
Amanda Barker: We pack towels when we go to beach places.
Marco Timpano: Not really.
Amanda Barker: Okay.
Marco Timpano: Okay. So anyways, back to the. The sausage roll towel. So then it's It's. It's kind of looks like a little package. Like a little. You know what it looks like. You know those pillows, that you put behind your neck?
Amanda Barker: Yes.
Marco Timpano: The little round ones?
Amanda Barker: Yes.
Marco Timpano: Some people have them on their beds.
Amanda Barker: Lumbar pillow.
Marco Timpano: Lumbar pillow. It looks like a lumbar pillow, but it's a towel.
Amanda Barker: Okay. Lumbar towel.
Marco Timpano: Lumber towel. So if you have. If you have a sore neck, you could use this essentially as a lumbar pillow.
Amanda Barker: I think people do.
Marco Timpano: So that's how I do it now. And I stack them in our linen closet like I would if. If I had a fancy spa.
Amanda Barker: Okay.
Marco Timpano: And I like it because you can just grab the towel. It's not going to pull other towels with it. Whereas the first fold that I talked about, the square fold, sometimes they get stacked. And if you have a lot of towels and you stack them high and you pull one, it will. It'll bring its friends down with it. That's never fun.
Amanda Barker: No, not fun. Never fun. When you go in and you go to grab one thing and everything comes with you.
Amanda Pease says she doesn't iron sheets because time is limited
Marco Timpano: So then let's talk about how I fold sheets, please. So when it comes to sheets, I wish I had the time or the desire to iron sheets, because I love a good iron sheet, but I don't iron sheets. I shouldn't say that.
Amanda Barker: It's like you're saying iron Chic.
Marco Timpano: No, iron the wrestler sheets. Iron Chic had a great, wrestling career. Yes. And a great X or Twitter account for the longest time. So. Okay, so if I could iron sheets, I would iron sheets.
Amanda Barker: Why can't you? Who's stopping you? Because it ain't me.
Marco Timpano: It takes a long time.
Amanda Barker: Time, time. Father time is stopping you.
Marco Timpano: And I could be podcasting instead of iron, ironing the sheet. And I'm often podcasting when I'm not. Instead of ironing sheets.
Amanda Barker: I would say I blame you, fans, but it's fine. no one needs iron sheets in this house.
Marco Timpano: It's so wonderful. I will iron sheets when we have guests. So the guest sheets are ironed.
Amanda Barker: Thank you.
Marco Timpano: But it's a long, laborious task. So basically, I try to fold my sheets when they come out of the dryer while they're still warm.
Amanda Barker: That's nice.
Marco Timpano: So I'll take the warm sheets. And so there's a fitted sheet and the regular sheet. I don't know what the regular sheet is called.
Amanda Barker: One magic set where they're connected.
Marco Timpano: We talked about that on the podcast.
Amanda Barker: I wish they made them still.
Marco Timpano: I wish they made more. I just. I can't. If you ever find. If our listeners know where one can purchase sheets, where the fitted sheet and the top sheet, I think it's called the top sheet, top sheet are connected at the bottom where your feet would be. So that when you fold the fitted sheet into the mattress or tuck, I guess you could say, when you tuck the fitted sheet into the mattress, the top sheet is connected at the bottom. So you never have to tuck the top sheet in. It stays connected to the fitted sheet, which is already tucked. And then you just pull that top sheet up to the top of your bed where your pillows are.
Amanda Barker: And I even love it. And I'm a one foot out gal. Like, I often will have one foot
Marco Timpano: out of the bed and one foot in the mouth. We magically bought a set of those years ago on the shopping channel because they were getting rid of them, because I guess people didn't understand how they worked or people just thought it was bizarre. And we bought it because they were very inexpensive and we needed sheets. And sometimes when you need sheets, especially when you're starting out, let's say, and you don't have money because sheets can be expensive, Amanda. Good sheets can be expensive.
Amanda Barker: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: And now with these tall beds, like these tall mattress beds or whatever you would call them, you know, the mattresses that are bigger, you need sheets that are deeper or fitted sheets that are deeper mattresses. And they often don't stay. And it's a frustrating thing, at least for me, because I'm a roll around kind of guy.
Amanda Barker: And I am too, by the way. I'm. My m. Sister used to call me kicky feet when we were little. So I. I guess I kick a lot.
Marco Timpano: So, you know, you wake up and kick. You know, you don't.
Amanda Barker: Okay.
Marco Timpano: You know, and, you wake up at the mic the middle of the night, and your sheets are off the bed. And that is something I just can't tolerate.
Amanda Barker: Or rope. What I call the rope.
Marco Timpano: Yeah, the rope is the top sheet, not the fitted sheet. I'm talking about the fitted sheet being off the bed.
Amanda Barker: Okay.
Marco Timpano: So I had garters for my sheets.
Amanda Barker: Sexy.
Marco Timpano: That your mother bought me. And. And they didn't work. I've tried them a million times. They don't work. They don't resist against the force of me in the bed.
Amanda Barker: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: Tossing and turning.
Amanda Barker: They might work an extra night, but then after that, nothing can be matched with the power of our tosses and our turns.
Marco Timpano: So that didn't work. I've tried the deep sheets. The deep. The fitted sheets don't work.
Amanda Barker: Deep pockets.
Marco Timpano: I tried one other method. I can't think it didn't work. So when we purchased our next mattress, we bought a regular sized mattress, which is not easy to do.
Amanda Barker: No, it was hard. And it was actually the most expensive mattress. My goodness, though, I love it.
Marco Timpano: That's also because you're a little bit the Princess and the Pea.
Amanda Barker: Why?
Marco Timpano: You tried a lot of mattresses and you always went back to that mattress.
Amanda Barker: Yeah, I'm.
Marco Timpano: But I'm not complaining because it's a great mattress.
Amanda Barker: It's a great mattress.
The top sheet is pretty easy to fold, and it's a question
Marco Timpano: Okay, so back to how I fold sheets, please. I take the top sheet. The top sheet is pretty easy to fold, and it's a question of how long are your arms?
Amanda Barker: How long are your arms?
Marco Timpano: well, I'm not an albatross, but they're pretty long. They're longer than yours. So take the sheet lengthwise so the longest it can open, and you fold it in half. Then you fold it in half. Then you fold it in half. And then it becomes a long, thin sheet. Long. You take the length, you fold it in half. You fold it in half. I think I fold it in half one more time. And then it's a nice square. And that's the top sheet. Easy enough.
Amanda Barker: I don't think it is. So I'm glad that you do it.
Marco Timpano: The fitted sheet. What I do, and I think I saw Martha Stewart do this, but to be honest with you, I learned this from watching my mother over the years when I was a kid.
Amanda Barker: It tests the mettle of a person.
Marco Timpano: You put your hand and you make your hand like, a. Like an oar. I don't know how to describe this shape. So your fingers together and your thumb tucked behind your fingers like this.
Amanda Barker: Okay.
Marco Timpano: So you take this hand that I just described that looks kind of like an oar, and you pop it into the.
Amanda Barker: He's putting his thumb in front of his palm, his open palm. That's what he means by oar.
Marco Timpano: Hand behind my palm. Like into my.
Amanda Barker: In front of your palm. Into your palm. Towards your pinky? Yes.
Marco Timpano: Yes. Okay, great. That's a great way to describe it. So then I take this and I tuck it into the inner part of the fitted sheet that would go around the corner of your bed so that my or hand is basically tucked to the point of the fitted sheet from the inside.
Amanda Barker: I don't.
Marco Timpano: Okay, so you know how the fitted sheet goes over the mattress.
Amanda Barker: I get what a fitted sheet is.
Marco Timpano: So that, that part that goes over the mattress, it kind of has a point to it.
Amanda Barker: Okay.
Marco Timpano: If you look as if you were to put it over your head like a, like a hoodie and wear it and run around the house and let it blow around you like a cape,
Amanda Barker: it's a great idea.
Marco Timpano: If you were to do that, the part that would go over your head like a hoodie. You know how a hoodie has kind of the, the topmost point?
Amanda Barker: Sure, yeah.
Marco Timpano: That's where my hand is. Okay.
Amanda Barker: All right.
Marco Timpano: So then I do that exact same movement to the other side. So now I'm, I'm like conducting a sheet with two hands.
Amanda Barker: It's a, it's a puppet. It's a puppet show.
Marco Timpano: Yeah, it's a puppet show. So now I've got that, those two things in my hand. So then I have to scoop the other side so that on one hand I now have one corner and I have the other corner on top of that.
Amanda Barker: Martha Stewart taught you this?
Marco Timpano: No, my mother taught me this. I saw Martha Stewart do a version of it, but it wasn't as good as my mom's version. Yes.
Amanda Barker: Okay.
Marco Timpano: Yes. So I did that. And then I, I do that. And then once that happens, I kind of untuck my hands and I fold the now creviced fitted sheet that's in itself down so that I have a direct fold from both corners.
Marco Timpano: And I fold down the other side.
Amanda Barker: Okay.
Marco Timpano: Hard to imagine, but picture an envelope. And now I folded the two, I folded the part that sort of. Once you've tucked in your letter and you fold that part down.
Amanda Barker: Oh, yes.
Marco Timpano: Okay. So now it looks like a big rectangle.
Amanda Barker: Alright. Yes. And which is what you want? Because the problem is it's an uneven shape.
Marco Timpano: Right. And so now it looks like a rectangle. I'll fold it lengthwise. And then much like the top sheet, I'll fold it in half. I'll fold it in half and I'll fold it in half. And I'll put the top sheet on top of the fitted sheet. And then I will fold the pillowcases in half. Amanda.
Amanda Barker: Okay. It's a good method. I like this. So it's all about trying to get it to a shape that's foldable.
Marco Timpano: Yeah. And square like I guess, is how I would, further, further describe it. So I've got two squares, a fitted sheet and a top sheet.
You need to replace your sheets after a certain time
And then the towels on top. Sometimes if we're traveling with sheets or if we have to bring the sheets somewhere, I will fold them more and then tuck them into the pillowcases, if that's possible, so that they stay in the pillowcases and are easy to transport.
Amanda Barker: I see, I see.
Amanda Barker: Very interesting.
Marco Timpano: And that's my fitted sheet folds.
Amanda Barker: Amazing.
Marco Timpano: But fitted sheets are not easy to deal with. They're not easy to iron, they're not easy to fold.
Amanda Barker: My mother's version, I believe, was sort of just fold them and then shove them in the linen closet. I think that's as far as we would get. I don't know. I think she had a method to it. She's not a messy person at all. But I don't think fitted sheets. My mother also was very much, whatever is the most efficient. My mom was all about efficiency.
Marco Timpano: Sure.
Amanda Barker: Efficiency over beauty even. So if it was not an efficient way of doing something, if it took too much time, she wasn't signing up for it, generally speaking.
Marco Timpano: I see, I see. Yeah. Some people roll them in a ball and put them in their little closet. It just takes up a lot of room when you're doing that. Right. Interesting.
Amanda Barker: Yeah. And how many sets of sheets does one have?
Marco Timpano: You know, it's a good question. How many sheets should one have? How many sets of sheets does one have? You know, these are all questions. And then, you know, after a certain time your sheets are no longer sheetable. So you need to, you know, replace your sheets.
Amanda Barker: It's true. And in. If you do need to replace your sheets, if you are doing spring cleaning and going, you know what, these sheets serve me well through a few winters, but I don't think I want to do another spring or summer with them. Or they're different types of sheets. Maybe they're heavier and you're feeling done with them. I will say this the best way to dispose of them. Well, there's lots of ways, but the best way I know, especially in this city, is to donate them to an animal shelter. Here, in Toronto, we have, the Humane Society.
Marco Timpano: Sure.
Amanda Barker: And they will always take your towels. Towels and old sheets because the dogs ultimately, and cats need them. And, and they need fabric that is soft but not precious, you know, for, you know, when the dogs come out for their walks and so on. So just something to keep in mind. If you are doing a bit of unloading and you're not sure what to do with them and you're like, well, they're good sheets or they have this stain or this tear. I'm not sure what to do with them. That's the best way that I Know to give them, a second life.
Marco Timpano: Sheets in my family were always used as, drop cloths for painting.
Amanda Barker: Oh, that's a good idea too. Yeah. That's another great, fabulous way to do it. If you have a painting project on
Marco Timpano: the horizon, painting a, ah, wall painting, a door or something that you. That might splash paint onto your tiles or carpet, you don't want that.
Amanda Barker: But if you don't have a painting project on the horizon, you just want to unload them. Some of us have small places, then option, option B, I think, or you know, some people. my mom made me a dress that I love and I still have. I don't think it fits me, but I still have it. A cute little dress from a tablecloth once.
Marco Timpano: Oh, really?
Amanda Barker: Yeah. I don't think I've ever shown you that.
Marco Timpano: No.
Amanda Barker: My little tablecloth dress, I wore it a lot when I was like 1920. I just loved it. It was like a brown and blue plaid, very simple, little shift dress, but shift dress and. Yeah, like a dress that doesn't really have any shape.
Marco Timpano: Oh, okay.
Amanda Barker: I was always a big fan of those.
Marco Timpano: I see. Okay.
Amanda Barker: They weren't, you know, constricting me anywhere. I could just kind of throw it on and put on a pair of shoes and out the door. and, that's what she did with an old tablecloth. So there you go.
Marco Timpano: Wow.
Amanda Barker: Yeah. Yeah.
Marco Timpano: What about. Could you do it with a set of sheets or a towel?
Amanda Barker: Well, that's what I was thinking. I don't know about a towel dress.
Marco Timpano: Well, you could do a towel, onesie with shorts and then use that at the beach.
Amanda Barker: That feels like a lot of work for an old towel. It's one of those towels with bleach stains on it. I don't know that you want to onesie it up.
Marco Timpano: I call that style.
Amanda Barker: Okay, well, you can make me a towel onesie. I'm not sure I'll wear it.
Marco Timpano: Imagine. well, you could make a towel into an absorbent sweater for the beach.
Amanda Barker: Again, this is a lot of sewing for an absorbent sweater.
What if I make you an absorbent sweater for the beach
Who needs an absorbent sweater when you
Marco Timpano: get out of the water?
Amanda Barker: Terry cloth robe, I suppose, right? Yeah. But then you're hot in your absorbent sweater. I don't know.
Marco Timpano: What if I make you a shawl out of an old towel for the beach?
Amanda Barker: Sounds beautiful. It would just be called a towel on my shoulders.
M. M. is starting swimming lessons in a few weeks
Do you know I had another dream about swimming last night? All my dreams. I managed to find pools or bodies of water in my dreams. And I'm like, well, here I go. And then I get in them and go swimming.
Marco Timpano: That's. That's nice.
Amanda Barker: Yeah, it's like in my DNA to do that, I think. And I, Last night I was in Thunder Bay at a really big pool by the water.
Marco Timpano: In your dream?
Amanda Barker: Yeah. But I did actually do a, play at Thunder Bay, and I did swim at that pool, so it didn't look like the one in my dream, though. In my dream was huge and sunny.
Marco Timpano: Oh, wow. I'm going to be taking swimming lessons. So that's happening soon.
Amanda Barker: You're starting in a few weeks.
Marco Timpano: That's right. Amanda's a very strong swimmer. Always has been, always will be. And I'm not. So, you know, it's. It's a challenge when you get friends or family to teach you to swim. You don't want to disappoint them. You want to, but you're also. You easily get frustrated with them, and they'll tell you to do things you don't want to do.
Amanda Barker: I just need to clarify. I'm not a strong simmer, in a sense that I do a perfect butterfly stroke or anything like that. Strong simmer that, too. strong swimmer. yeah, I just am. M. Have a level of confidence in water because I grew up in it. So I just need to. To sort of say that because I don't want anyone to think I'm, like an Olympic level swimmer. I'm most certainly not. I just grew up in pools and beach, and I just spent a lot of time in water as a kid. And so I have a level of confidence, and maybe even at one point, overconfidence.
Marco Timpano: But I've learned hubris, if you will.
Amanda Barker: Well, hopefully not. But, anyhow, so when we go, like, if I want to go snorkeling somewhere, if it's a little bit deeper, I know you get. I get scared for you because you're a little nervous. So I do think. I don't maybe always do all the water stuff I want to do because you're a little worried about it.
Marco Timpano: So I'm a chain around your neck.
Amanda Barker: Would you go scuba diving?
Marco Timpano: Maybe.
Amanda Barker: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: Ah, maybe.
Amanda Barker: Well, maybe that's something we can work our way towards.
Marco Timpano: We have to get. You. You should go scuba diving with Niddy. Nitty's a huge scuba dive, right?
Amanda Barker: No, she's like an amazing scuba diva. That would be super fun to go with Nitty. maybe we should. Maybe we should plan a trip with Nitty.
Marco Timpano: Oh, yeah. She'd Love to get your scuba. What's it called?
Amanda Barker: My Patty.
Marco Timpano: Your Patty.
Amanda Barker: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: And I'll just learn a simple stroke. Anyways, I'm excited and nervous about my swim class.
Amanda Barker: And when he's gonna do swim class, I'm gonna do hip hop dancing. Our city offers these very cheap classes, and we didn't really know about them. We thought they were just for kids. And then our dear friend was taking skiing.
Marco Timpano: Dale. Shout out to Dale.
Amanda Barker: Yeah, from the city. I don't know if she wants everyone to know her skiing business. Anyway, which is amazing that there's skiing classes right in the city of Toronto, but she skis at a park and she's learned a bunch. And she went on a proper hill,
Marco Timpano: like, ski resort with family during the break.
Amanda Barker: Yeah, they had a school break last week and she did great. And she was really helpful to the kids that didn't know what they're doing. So she's feeling really confident with those lessons. So she did her skiing and she said. I told her I wanted to do pottery. I've always wanted to do pottery. It's one of those things as a kid I was obsessed with, and I always have just wanted to sit at the wheel and play.
Marco Timpano: and I was buying you pottery classes, but we've got a schedule when you can pot.
Amanda Barker: Yeah. So she said, you know, the city offers pottery classes. And I was like, they do, but here's the thing.
Marco Timpano: Oh, no, here we go.
Amanda Barker: The city offers pottery. these classes to seniors.
Super cast thanks listeners for supporting our podcast
First the 65 and overcrowd. Well, they scoop up all the classes. So then you have to go on waiting list by the time it's your turn, because they get first pick and then they give them a day or two. So all the pottery classes were full by the time I wanted to do it. But you know what? The seniors didn't fill up. Hip hop.
Marco Timpano: I see, I see.
Amanda Barker: So I was like, you know what? I would love to do a dance class. I've been meaning to get back into dancing. That's another thing I did as a kid. it was my family's birthright, since my mom had a school where she taught dance and other performing arts, but it originated as a dance school. And I just thought, you know what? Hip hop is not something I learned because it was not as prevalent. And my mom in God love her, hip hop was not a big part of her dance training in the 60s of Massachusetts. So, anyhow, so I just want to get moving. I don't care how or in what capacity I would have taken any dance, but that's what was available. So there you go.
Marco Timpano: Amanda's going to be a hip hop dancer, and I'm going to be a swimmer. So, we'll see how. City of Toronto, thank you for City of Toronto. Thank you, listeners, for, you know, sending messages to us, rating and reviewing our podcast and just, supporting if you got this far. There's plenty of episodes out there. We have a YouTube channel now as well. You, you can subscribe to us on insomniaproject.super cast.com if you don't want, ads to listen to before our episode starts. But however you listen, wherever you listen, we just want to say thank you so much, and we hope you were able to listen and sleep.

Packing a Suitcase | Calm Conversations for a Restful Journey
The Insomnia Project podcast is meant to soothe you and relax you
Marco Timpano: Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax and listen as we have a calm conversation that's meant to soothe you, relax you, chill you at work, and most of all, help you drift off to sleep. I'm your host, Marco Timpano.
Amanda Barker: I'm Amanda Barker.
Marco Timpano: Of course, if you want ad free episodes of our podcast, you could go to YouTube and watch, and listen on YouTube or go to the InsideProject Supercast CA and follow us there. And Amanda, you know our backpack episode was very popular.
Amanda Barker: It is very popular. And now that we've got the housekeeping set aside, I just want to give everybody the permission. You have our permission and the world's permission to close your eyes, sit back, take a big deep exhale, and just follow the conversation.
I wanted to talk about packing a suitcase since the backpack episode was so popular
Marco Timpano: I wanted to talk about packing a suitcase since the backpack episode was so popular. Okay, so tell me, Amanda, for me,
Amanda Barker: the backpack was popular for the reason that I would. I like containment and I like following, things that are contained. I don't feel the same way about a suitcase as I feel about a backpack.
Marco Timpano: How do you pack yours?
Amanda Barker: I will say this. What I do like to pack. Is the, the challenge I most love is actually when we don't have a suitcase and we travel with just the backpack and the neck roll.
Marco Timpano: Okay, tell us about the neck roll.
Amanda Barker: Are you okay with that?
Marco Timpano: of course. And then I'll talk about how I pack my suitcase.
Amanda Barker: That's fine. Great.
Amanda uses a neck roll on a plane to relax on long flights
So the neck roll, if you don't know about the magic that is the neck roll, then let me invite you to the community of neck roll.
Marco Timpano: And I should just clarify neck necker roll.
Amanda Barker: Okay.
Marco Timpano: Because it sounds like you're saying. It sounds like you're saying one word. Neckerel. And so people might be thinking it's
Amanda Barker: now called a neckerel.
Marco Timpano: The neckerel.
Amanda Barker: That's what it's called. Like almost rhymes with mackerel.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Amanda Barker: this is something that has changed my travel game. It is a pillow that clips. It's a long tube that has a zipper. It is made of like a nice velvety soft material. You open it up and you can gently roll whatever you'd like to fill this pillow. And then it clips on both ends and becomes a neck pillow.
Marco Timpano: So it's a zippered item that you fill with certain clothing.
Marco Timpano: And it becomes like a sausage.
Amanda Barker: That's right.
Marco Timpano: You then zip it.
Amanda Barker: Yes.
Marco Timpano: And then the two clips on either end clip together.
Amanda Barker: That's right.
Marco Timpano: And it forms a circle or a
Amanda Barker: c. Quite a large and substantial neck pillow that has. If you like a neck pillow on a plane, well then get ready because this thing is. One guy came on a plane once, like he was boarding and I was sitting and he went, well, that's a real neck pillow. And I was like, yes, it is, thank you very much. I take my neck pillows very seriously. It's also my luggage. I didn't tell them that part, but I actually like. What I like about it is it does have the clip on the end with like a little circle on the end and then you can clip it on. And then I use that clip. And when we do a really long flight, which we haven't done actually in a while, but when we do one of those long hauls, you know, overseas, you know, one of those long haul kind of flights, I like about halfway through going into the airport bathroom, clipping that little clip, hanging it down, I gently unzip it so that things don't come tumbling out. They're all kind of stuffed and have found their little place in there, so they usually are fine. I'm going to tell you something. I get completely naked in that bathroom in an airport. In an airline bathroom.
Marco Timpano: Oh, on the airplane.
Amanda Barker: Sometimes in an airport, but more likely on the plane itself. So, okay, so say it's like. Let's say it's a 12 hour flight. Around hour six or seven, time for Amanda and her neck pillow to go to the bathroom. I go into the bathroom, I take all of my clothes off.
Marco Timpano: Oh, my goodness.
Amanda Barker: I have a little wipe.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Amanda Barker: I do a little wipe down.
Marco Timpano: Okay. We don't need any more.
Amanda Barker: No, I'm not getting specific. I'm just saying I do a little wipe down.
Marco Timpano: Okay, fair enough.
Amanda Barker: you can imagine what you want.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Amanda Barker: He's trying to. Trying to cancel me.
Marco Timpano: I'm not trying to cancel you.
Amanda Barker: Editing me. We all know what a wipe down is.
Marco Timpano: All right.
Amanda Barker: It doesn't even matter. But like, even my hands like stuff like that.
Marco Timpano: Sure.
Amanda Barker: And then I put an entirely new outfit on, courtesy of neck pillow. Neck roller.
Marco Timpano: I see. Okay.
Amanda Barker: And then I walk back feeling all refreshed, like I've just had a nice little change. And that's how I stay. I don't know, just feeling good on the flight. Like I feel like I've. It almost feels like a new flight.
Marco Timpano: That's how you roll, I guess. Right?
Amanda Barker: That's how I.
Marco Timpano: Pardon the pun.
Amanda Barker: Yeah.
Halifax listens to this podcast and gives me great feedback
So, yeah, I usually like, if we are going to say Halifax, which I want to soon, and we haven't planned
Marco Timpano: it, we need to figure that out.
Amanda Barker: I know. And Halifax is listening to this.
Marco Timpano: Halifax listens and gives me great feedback and I love Halifax for it.
Amanda Barker: And apparently Halifax likes it better when I'm not here.
Marco Timpano: Well, listen is what I heard. Halifax did not say that. Halifax said that they liked my solo episode. That's all they said, really.
Amanda Barker: Halifax is beautiful and supportive and we love Halifax, which is, these are family members. however, my sister in law
Marco Timpano: listens to this podcast and I couldn't be happier, I have to say.
Amanda Barker: I know. She's so lovely. So, if I were going out there and I have done this, a few trips to Halifax, I usually get a nice cheap flight. And I don't pay the extra for the carry on or for the. I just have the personal item, which is everyone's favorite, my yellow backpack. And now it's accoutrement the neck roll that I sometimes clip to the backpack or clip to my head like around my neck. And so that'll usually have two or three pairs of socks, obviously changes of underwear, a couple of shirts, maybe something like a nicer shirt that doesn't wrinkle something more comfy as well. And I usually wear whatever jeans I'm planning on wearing. If, say it's a three, four day trip, then I'll just wear whatever jeans. But I'll always have another pair of pants. Like a thin black pair of pants that goes in there. Really? You can only fit maybe one, maybe two, but you can usually get three or four shirts in there as well. Now the only thing that doesn't.
Marco Timpano: Well, I mean, your shirt, my shirt, you wouldn't be able to get through. You'd be lucky.
Amanda Barker: Depends on the shirt. Yeah, you know, something more casual, something less casual that doesn't wrinkle.
Marco Timpano: For the record, I could probably not even get one shirt in there.
Amanda Barker: That's not true. You use. You use it too.
Marco Timpano: I can get it like a little thin, like a. Not a buttoned up shirt, like just a.
Amanda Barker: Well, and we wear layers too. Like we'll wear a sweater over a shirt on the plane anyway. But. But, the only thing I can't usually get is pajamas. So I either just ask whoever I'm staying with, hey, do you have an extra set of, you know, sweatpants or T shirt or whatever? Or. I've done this. I've just ordered pajamas. Just the cheapest pair. One time I stayed there in April and I ordered Christmas pajamas because they were like $10, you know, and they were like quite big, but. But $10 Christmas pajamas. And I just wore those for three days and just left them there, after which, you know, isn't the most environmental choice. I get it.
Marco Timpano: But sometimes, unless you use them again next time you're there.
Amanda Barker: Yeah, but then you don't want your host to have to keep your old pajamas around, even if you've only worn them a few times. But hey, free pajamas for them if they want them.
Marco Timpano: Sure.
Amanda Barker: I don't know who wanted my Christmas pajamas, but somebody might have.
Marco Timpano: Fair enough.
Amanda Barker: So that's my neck roll.
Amanda's backpack tends to spill out a lot of things these days
Marco Timpano: Amanda's backpack, which is bright yellow, tends to spill out a lot of things these days.
Amanda Barker: I have to say that's not something that's completely true. And I don't know how that's soothing for our listeners at all when we've established that the backpack is orderly and secure. Yes, we've been traveling a lot, and my life has been a little bit chaotic and messy in these last few weeks. So, yeah, there was a bit of spillage today. In fact, it was recent, so that's why he's saying that.
Marco Timpano: And you had a little spill earlier today too, but not with the backpack. No, with the shepherd's pie.
Amanda Barker: Oh, I didn't even think of that. Listen, it was a spilly day. I spilled my coffee this morning. I spilt shepherd's. I made a beautiful shepherd's pie with lentils. I don't use ground beef, usually because we're not the Rockefellers, so I make it with lentils. but it's my. Like, it's my stage two with lentils. I make a big pot of lentils, and we have that with some bread, you know, almost like baked beans. And then that becomes the basis of my shepherd's pie, and I mix it up with vegetables. And then I had a lot of potatoes, so I made mashed potatoes today. And I made one shepherd's pie for us, and then three little casseroles that I put in the freezer. So those lentils. I'm getting a lot of mileage. Two cups of lentils, man, dry. Turn into a big old pot of a crock pot full of, lentil goodness.
Marco Timpano: Nothing wrong with that. Unless you're trying to put the shepherd's pie into your yellow backpack and then spill it everywhere.
Amanda Barker: Why are you making disturbing ideas for our listeners who ask to be soothed?
Marco Timpano: You didn't finish how you spilled the shepherd's pie.
Amanda Barker: Well, I spilt it. I took it out of the oven, and it slipped in my big, gigantic silicone oven mitts. And splash, splishity splash. All over the oven, all over the wall. later. I found it on my toes. Oh, so it really got everywhere.
Marco Timpano: Little bonus.
Amanda takes you through how she packs her suitcase
All right, so I'm gonna take you through how I pack my suitcase, because that's where we were gonna go with it.
Amanda Barker: Should I do disturbing comments that'll unsettle everybody?
Marco Timpano: You should never do disturbing comments on this podcast.
Amanda Barker: That's what you've been. I've been trying to create soothing ideas, and then you rat me out.
Marco Timpano: I don't rat anybody out.
Amanda Barker: You're like, amanda tends to do this awful thing. That's your contribution.
Marco Timpano: Your backpack spills a bit. Okay?
Amanda Barker: You spill a lot of things, too.
Marco Timpano: It's true. But my backpack. So my backpack doesn't spill. But it's all black, and the zipper pulls are all black, too. So I can't find the zipper pulls because there's a lot of areas to zipper.
Amanda Barker: But you have a good system for that.
Marco Timpano: Now I put bright m. Neon, elastic bands around the zippers. So smart.
Amanda Barker: So you know which one is which.
Marco Timpano: It doesn't look stylish anymore. It looks a little bit.
Amanda Barker: I mean, Black backpack is not the epitome of style. You're not on the catwalk.
Marco Timpano: This one here. The style is that everything blends together. So you can't tell where a zipper is. The problem is I can't tell where a zipper is, so.
Amanda Barker: Right.
Marco Timpano: It's problematic. But when it comes to my suitcase, what I usually like to do is, you know, there's always one part of the suitcase that has like these bumps in it.
Marco Timpano: That's where.
Amanda Barker: Where the pulley thing lives.
Marco Timpano: Yeah. So, kind of like where the. Where the. What's that book called? Where the Monsters Live.
Amanda Barker: Where the Wild Things Are.
Marco Timpano: Well, the wild things are like you're
Amanda Barker: where the monsters live.
Marco Timpano: I just can only picture the.
Amanda Barker: The monsters.
Marco Timpano: Yeah. Okay, stop saying that. People are trying to sleep. And so I. Marco sometimes takes his
Amanda Barker: suitcase and it spills everywhere. Isn't that a soothing idea for everybody to hear about?
Marco Timpano: So that's where I put my smaller things like socks and underwear to make a sort of level playing field there.
Amanda Barker: I m. See.
Marco Timpano: Then I'll put usually like any sort of big items like pants or whatnot to make a layer of that. It's almost like you're making a lasagna of clothes.
Amanda Barker: Clothes. A clothing lasagna.
Marco Timpano: A clothing lasagna in your suitcase.
Marco Timpano: Right. So a layer of pants or a
Amanda Barker: clothing shepherd's piece, I guess.
Marco Timpano: but I deal in lasagna. You deal in shepherd's pie.
Amanda Barker: I deal in lentils.
Marco Timpano: Right. So a layer of pants, another layer of pants then I'll use then usually it's pretty flat. And so I will fold shirts properly. My button up shirts, I'll button them all the way up and then fold the sleeves behind. Make a perfect square lay shirt upon shirt upon shirt. T shirts. Sorry, I had to breathe in there
Amanda Barker: for a second there. I'm holding your breath, nervous.
Marco Timpano: And then a shirt, shirt, shirt. And then any other sort of flat clothing will go there.
Amanda Barker: So you don't roll everything. You're not a roller.
Marco Timpano: I'm not a roller.
Amanda Barker: I'm a roller.
Marco Timpano: you're a roller.
Amanda Barker: I believe in the roll, the neck roll, the jelly roll.
Marco Timpano: Yeah, you roll. But I think it's because your clothes are smaller than mine, they can roll better.
Amanda Barker: Well, I live by an ethos of anything I have to iron, I won't. So I shouldn't own it. And I pretty much live that way. I have a few things that are ironable, including my freshly purchased linen suit that I bought.
Marco Timpano: And usually I travel with a suit Jacket too, so that. I can't roll that.
Amanda Barker: No, you can't really roll that. That's fair.
Marco Timpano: plus, women's shirts tend to be more rollable than men's. Like, you have a lot of, like. Yeah, Rayoni things.
Amanda Barker: Oh, yeah, that's what I'm trying to say. I wear all oil and gas products. I wear. Everything I wear is. Is. Is.
85% of your wardrobe is secondhand
Does not break down. I shouldn't say that. That's not true. Now I wear a lot more cotton, so, I'm actually trying to wear more natural fibers. So that's something I'm consciously doing. But because I thrift, because I buy almost exclusively secondhand, pretty much, I would say 85% of my wardrobe is secondhand. a lot of that is rayons and nylons and so on. So, And there's a lot to be. I could do a whole episode on the clothing industry. But one thing I will say is that stuff doesn't usually wrinkle. So that, you know, it's better for me that way.
Marco Timpano: For travel.
Amanda Barker: Yeah. And it's thinner, obviously, but. But I will say in the spirit of trying to buy more natural fibers. When we were in Italy last June, we were very hot. It was the first week of June, but it was a full blast of summer. unseasonably hot even for Rome in the summer. And so after our, however, our week long trip, we went. We were at the airport in Rome and we had gone to Budapest too. And as we talked about, back when we went and that was a little bit less steamy, a little less hot, just a bit. It was still warm, but a bit more temperate. But Rome was definitely humid hot, all the things. So natural fibers. Absolutely. Anything loose. Absolutely. And by the time we were done, because we had worn a lot of cotton, actually I had brought a lot of cotton. But by the time we were done, we went to the airport and there was, a Benetton there, which is an Italian brand, if you remember it, from the 80s, like I do. But even if you don't, it's just an Italian brand. And they had linen shirts and linen
Marco Timpano: pants and linen shorts.
Amanda Barker: And linen shorts.
Marco Timpano: So we bought linen.
Amanda Barker: So we just went, you know what? I'm never going to be without linen again. Because this type of heat, you just want to be in full linen. You really, really do. I really understood it more than I ever had. So I bought just an un. Not even an. Like, it's not even colored. It's this. The color of linen, I think, shirt and pants set. So it's like a suit. I guess it's not really a suit because it's a short sleeve shirt. But kind of feels like a suit when I wear it a little bit and then it feels put together and I love traveling with that. But that does require ironing at least. Or you just lean into the wrinkledness of the linen. Depends on how you roll, I guess.
Marco Timpano: On the other side of the suitcase, here's what I do.
Amanda Barker: Okay.
Marco Timpano: So I try to keep all my clothes on that one side.
Marco Timpano: And the other side I put my shoes.
Amanda Barker: So I'm not sharing. I thought the other side of this case was my side.
Marco Timpano: Well, sometimes it is. But if, if I have my druthers and my suitcase and, and I'm just neck rolling it up and you're neck rolling it and I'm like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna live the life of luxury and bring all the clothes I can. I'll usually bring shoes.
Marco Timpano: That I tuck my belts into. I'll tuck my, my If I'm wearing a watch, I'll tuck my watch into those shoes and any other things I can fit inside the shoes. M. I bring my slippers, my Birkenstock slippers. Because I.
Amanda Barker: They're sandals. But he calls them slippers. Just so you know.
Marco Timpano: These aren't sandals. Is that what you'd call a sandal?
Amanda Barker: Birkenstock does not. I mean they might make a slipper, but these would never be called slippers.
Marco Timpano: Oh, this is.
Amanda Barker: You're like an old man that calls lunch dinner.
Marco Timpano: No, no, this is, this is a slipper. In Italian this would be a slipper.
Amanda Barker: I know that's why you call them slippers. But I'm gonna, I'm gonna break your heart and tell you the rest of the world would call them sandals. Birkenstock sandals.
Marco Timpano: That. You know what that is in Italian? It's a ciabatta. And that's not what you put meat into and eat bread. That's a, ah, proper slipper.
Amanda Barker: Well, it's a sandal.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Sandalo is how we would say it. These are Birkenstock sandals, just for the record
Amanda Barker: Sandalo is how we would say it.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Amanda Barker: Because that's what it is.
Marco Timpano: I disagree. But anyways, it's a Birkenstock.
Amanda Barker: And folks, it looks like a, this isn't a special slipper version of a Birkenstock like the Birkenstock clogs. This is straight up the two, the, the two flaps over with the buckle made, out of, Is that silicone plastic?
Marco Timpano: That's plastic foam.
Amanda Barker: Some sort of foam, you know, good grade, whatever. Birkenstock. I. I'm wearing the exact same ones.
Marco Timpano: I have the leather ones too, but those are my. My casual slippers. So anyways, I bring those two that are also sandals.
Amanda Barker: These are Birkenstock sandals, just for the record.
Marco Timpano: Okay. I bring them, call them what you will, ciabatta. And then I will put my toiletry bag. I think I mentioned that. And any other non. Non cloth item that I have to bring. Toothbrush.
Amanda Barker: you put your toothbrush in your shoes?
Marco Timpano: No, no, no. My shoes are full with. With socks, belts, watches, cufflinks, whatever I might need. if I'm wearing a suit. Okay, we'll go in there.
Amanda Barker: Okay.
Marco Timpano: Yeah. And then I have my toiletry bag. And then I'll have any other little accoutrement. Ah. That I need that's not a clothing item.
Amanda Barker: Okay.
Marco Timpano: Stays on the other side. And then what I like to do, Amanda. And I do this, but Amanda could care less. I travel with a non permeable pillowcase that I can zip up and I can put the pillow that I sleep on in this pillowcase and I zip it up and I've written on non washable marker my name on it so I don't forget it in the hotel.
Amanda Barker: But you don't do that a lot.
Marco Timpano: I forgot to bring it last time. But I do, I do usually bring that.
Amanda Barker: Do you use the mesh thingy in the middle of the suitcase? The divider?
Marco Timpano: You know, sometimes I do. And I think I have stuff that I forgot in. In there. I'll usually pack. sometimes I'll pack like powdery things in there, like drink aids or whatever and.
Amanda Barker: And not what I thought you'd say.
Marco Timpano: What do you pack in that machine?
Amanda Barker: Not drink aids. I don't know. I pack. Usually I pack my underwear in there and I pack my travel jewelry case in there. Usually, yeah.
Marco Timpano: You haven't used your travel jewelry case for necklaces that I got you? Yes, I have the zippy one.
Amanda Barker: Oh, no, I haven't. Where is that even?
Marco Timpano: I don't know, because sometimes your necklaces tangle. That's why I got you that one.
Amanda Barker: I'm trying to picture what that one looks like. I don't remember what it's like.
Marco Timpano: It's like an accordion. And each one has a little zipper for each individual necklace.
Amanda Barker: Oh, I gotta find out where it is. I guess I was looking for my shamrock necklace and I couldn't find it.
Marco Timpano: Where is it?
Amanda Barker: I don't know.
Marco Timpano: Hm.
Amanda Barker: Not sure. I have a Shamrock. Don't know where it went. Okay, well, better wait till next year.
Your mom used to wish you a happy birthday two days in advance
Marco Timpano: I found something today that so.
Amanda Barker: Oh my goodness.
Marco Timpano: I know we're recording this March 17th and my birthday is December 17th. Just for, for perspective. And my in laws gave me a birthday card in November.
Amanda Barker: My mom is early with the birthday.
Marco Timpano: She's early, but she gave me a birthday.
Amanda Barker: She's chilled out. But she used to like to wish you a happy birthday, like a Facebook tribute. And she would do it solidly like two days in advance, so then everyone would start wishing you happy birthday, like two days early.
Marco Timpano: So she gave me my birthday card when we were all together on a recent trip to New York City. And so I was planning to open it in front of them even though it would be a bit early for my birthday, but I wanted to open it from that. And so I brought it down to lunch with us and I did not open it because we were just talking with friends and whatnot and so it just didn't happen. And then I had this card all through New York, came home, could not find the card.
Amanda Barker: Right.
Marco Timpano: Could not find the card. Couldn't find the card. Couldn't find the card. And then we went to Florida for Christmas and I didn't have the card. And so your mom asked, oh, did you open the card? Blah, blah, blah. I said I didn't. And so she felt bad and she, she, you know, gave me another present and whatnot. And I said, I know I'm going to find the card. Well, today, exactly three months later, I found the card.
Amanda Barker: And where was it?
Marco Timpano: So I keep a copy of our car insurance and our health, insurance in the meshy part of the suitcase.
Amanda Barker: That's right.
Marco Timpano: And that's where it stays.
Amanda Barker: And our passports, Copies of our passports. So if those go missing that we have copies of them.
Marco Timpano: Yeah, So I keep them there just in case we need them. So I know where they are.
Marco Timpano: Well, I guess I took them out when we got back for whatever reason, and the card was in there. So I took it out with the insurance and I put the insurance paperwork down so I would have it for future travel. And the card was there, buried amongst the insurance paper and the passport paper photocopies. And so today I grabbed a whole bunch of papers and I was going to go through them and lo and behold, out pops the card. I'm like, what card is this? And then as I'm opening, I'm like, oh, is this the. And sure enough, it was the card.
Amanda Barker: How was the card?
Marco Timpano: It was really Lovely.
Amanda Barker: Yeah. You should call my parents.
Marco Timpano: I will. I'll call them tomorrow and let them know I found the card.
Amanda Barker: Oh, they'll love that.
Marco Timpano: And, I'm. I'm usually really on top of things like that. I don't generally lose things like that. And then that happened. I think that's happened twice with your folks. Where I've lost the card.
Amanda Barker: They give it to you so early, and then by the time it's your birthday, you're like, what did we do with it? It happens a lot to us.
Marco Timpano: We now have a designated space for early cards and things like that in our home. So we don't. We don't misplace them.
Amanda Barker: We can use an organizational overhaul. Overhaul.
Marco Timpano: True.
Amanda Barker: I think we're due for a little bit of an organizational regroup. what do you think?
Marco Timpano: I agree.
Amanda Barker: Yeah, I think that's. Maybe we'll talk about that on the next one. Like how we're going to reorganize some things in our house.
Marco Timpano: I'd like time.
Amanda Barker: It's time.
Marco Timpano: And spring is here, so it's always
Amanda Barker: nice to have spring cleaning. Yeah. Open the windows.
Marco Timpano: Although today was very cold.
Amanda Barker: It was very snowy, still in the snow.
Marco Timpano: And we have to get our Vespa because the place where we store it, they're like, you gotta come before the 31st.
Amanda Barker: But it was a snowstorm yesterday.
Marco Timpano: Snow.
Amanda Barker: They don't care.
Marco Timpano: They don't care. I can't wait to see crocuses. I'm sure some people listening have already seen the crocus, have seen the tulips coming up.
Amanda Barker: And there's people everywhere.
Marco Timpano: So it's true.
Amanda Barker: They. They're seeing all sorts of stuff. Or maybe it's fall. We're there.
Marco Timpano: Fair. Fair enough.
Amanda shares some tips on what you should carry when traveling
Well, I wanted to talk about suitcases, so thank you for that. Thank you for telling us about the neck roll, Amanda.
Amanda Barker: it'll change your life. Folks.
Marco Timpano: another thing that. That I told our friend. Our mutual friend Mark Browning about, and he went on a trip to the Philippines, and he was so grateful, I told him to bring a travel scale, the kind that's like. It's like a hook on a handle. And. And you put the hook on the suitcase, and you. As you lift the handle with the hook on it, it lifts up your suitcase. And that will weigh the weight of your suitcase.
Amanda Barker: Yeah, it tells you the weight. Yeah.
Marco Timpano: And so he was like, we. He's like, we thought my girlfriend's suitcase was. Was perfectly in weight. Or she. She told him, no, no, it's within weight. And he said, let's just weigh it. And it was £20 over the legal limit.
Amanda Barker: Oh, my goodness.
Marco Timpano: So he's like, I was so grateful because we were able to distribute.
Amanda Barker: So he didn't have, he didn't have one. And you told him, go get one.
Marco Timpano: I told him. He's like, you travel a lot. What are some essentials that you would say to travel with? And I said, one of the things that I love.
Amanda Barker: Did you tell him about the neck
Marco Timpano: pillow, the travel scale, the neck pillow?
Amanda Barker: Did he get one?
Marco Timpano: No, he did not get a neck pillow.
Amanda Barker: When you, when you have, when you've already allotted for the big suitcases, then there's less need. It's more for those, you know, three, four day weekend trips.
Marco Timpano: But the other thing I told him to get, and he was grateful for as well, was spray propolis.
Amanda Barker: Yes.
Marco Timpano: And so we need to tell our
Amanda Barker: listeners what that is. Anyone who's still away.
Marco Timpano: His girlfriend used it when she was feeling like a bit of a sore throat and it helped.
Amanda Barker: Propolis is a magic thing that bees make, and that's what they use to seal their hives. It is antiviral and antibacterial and antifungal. So it keeps any viruses out, any bacteria, foreign matter out of the hive of the hive. And it has properties to repel or kill those things. And so, they make a spray with it. And if you're feeling like you've been around some sick people or you feel that little tickle in your throat, I'm telling you, you spray it in your throat and it feels like magic. It really does.
Marco Timpano: However, I will say this with a big caveat. If you're allergic to bee stings or bee pollen or honey, do not use propolis.
Amanda Barker: We're also not medical doctors, so for
Marco Timpano: the record, don't use everything we say with discretion. And speak to your doctor.
Amanda Barker: I'm going to say, is it. If you like honey, like I do, like I'm obsessed with honey, if you like honey and you like the taste of pollen and things like that, then this product is probably for you. And it's a great thing to travel with. Absolutely.
Let us know what you like to travel with
Marco Timpano: So there you have it, our suitcase. Some of our essentials. Let us know what you like to travel with and what your travel essential is. And for those of you who listen to our podcast, thank you for listening. If you're a new listener, thank you as well. And we hope this episode allowed you to listen and sleep sat.

Episode 16: Prime Ministerial Showdown | A Sleep-Inducing Debate on Boredom
Marco Timpano: Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax and listen as we have a conversation about the mundane. One thing that we strive for, as we strive that our conversation will be less than fascinating so that you can just feel free to drift off. I want to thank you for joining us. We hope that you will listen and sweep. Not sweep, listen and sleep. But, we hope you sweep as well, wouldn't you say?
Nidhi Khanna: I. People can sweep. This is a really good podcast for sweeping in household chores, I think.
Marco Timpano: Also tweet us if you're gonna sweep, tweet and sweep and sleep, listen and sleep.
Marco Timpano asks listeners to pick the most boring Canadian prime minister
I'm your host, Marco Timpano, who seems a little tongue tied today.
Nidhi Khanna: And I am your co host, Nidhi Khanna. Marco, I was looking up, a few facts and figures about as,
Marco Timpano: you do for our podcast.
Nidhi Khanna: I do, I do, about a Canadian prime minister from back in the day, shall we say. And I was adamant that the Canadian prime minister that I picked was one of the most boring or the most boring in Canadian history. To which you retorted, if I may say so, of course, with, a challenge that the Canadian prime minister that you had on your mind was actually more boring than the one that I had.
Marco Timpano: And I picked mine randomly. I was just like, you know, we know certain prime ministers, but who was the fifth prime minister? I couldn't list you in order the different prime ministers of Canada, so I looked up the fifth prime minister of Canada and I said, oh, Nidhi, this dude is boring. So we decided to have our very first Canadian prime minister off.
Nidhi Khanna: So who was the prime minister you picked up?
Marco Timpano: So I'm going to invite our listeners to tweet who they think Was the most boring prime minister from the two that we selected. Or if they have their own boring prime minister. My prime minister, Canadian prime minister, is the honourable sir mackenzie. Bowell. Or Bowell.
Nidhi Khanna: And mine is Alexander, Mackenzie. So I guess if we were to do this in true debate fashion, Be it resolved.
Marco Timpano: Oh, I like where this is going.
Nidhi Khanna: That Alexander Mackenzie was a more boring Canadian prime minister than sir mackenzie.
Marco Timpano: How would you say this? Bowl.
Nidhi Khanna: Bowel.
Marco Timpano: Bowel.
Nidhi Khanna: Bowel. Bowel sounds bad.
Marco Timpano: Bowl sounds bad.
Nidhi Khanna: I'd feel bad for him if it was bad.
Marco Timpano: I say bowl. It's B O D W E L L. Bowel. I'm gonna say bowel and give him like the benefit of the doubt.
Nidhi Khanna: Sounds good.
Marco Timpano: So my prime minister was prime minister from December 21, 1894 to April 27, 1896. And he was the fifth prime minister.
Nidhi Khanna: Okay, so if we're gonna go that
Marco Timpano: way just to see who goes first is what I was thinking.
Nidhi Khanna: Oh, I see. Okay. mine was prime minister from 1874
Marco Timpano: to 1878, so you go first because he was prime minister before my guy was.
Nidhi Khanna: Okay, so I'm just gonna go start with a very brief couple of facts.
Marco Timpano: And I'm gonna be looking at wikipedia for my facts.
Nidhi Khanna: Great. I am gonna be looking at various sources, starting with vice.
Marco Timpano: It seems like you've dropped a gauntlet on that. Okay, great.
Nidhi Khanna: so Alexander Mackenzie was a stone mason by train.
Marco Timpano: Oh, that's so funny. Because sir Mackenzie, Bowell, or bowell was also a mason. But I'll get to my guy.
Nidhi Khanna: Okay. And he carried.
Marco Timpano: He, was a freemason. Sorry, a freemason.
Nidhi Khanna: Okay. Mine was a stone mason and carried all his life the no nonsense, straight shooting attitude of a good working class 19th century Protestant. Oh, he also looks like the man, the old man from home alone.
Marco Timpano: Really?
Nidhi Khanna: He does.
Marco Timpano: My guy, Sir Mackenzie Bowell was an English born Canadian politician and he served as the fifth prime minister of Canada. He was born in Ricking hall, England. Do you know where that is, nitty?
Nidhi Khanna: No, I don't.
Marco Timpano: Neither do I. And in 1832, his family immigrated to belleville, upper Canada at the time, which is now Belleville, Ontario. What can you tell me about Belleville?
Nidhi Khanna: Well, I can tell you that Belleville is on its way to Montreal. Because every time I drive to Montreal, I pass Belleville.
Marco Timpano: I can tell you that Belleville is where, the black diamond cheese factory is. And they have a fountain of orange water in front of their building that I want to say is some of the. Let's say the whey products from the cheddar they make. I'm guessing at that.
Nidhi Khanna: I'm just gonna say that obviously that was an exciting fact because Xena came running. My dog came running over, as one would.
Marco Timpano: Right.
Marco Cardona says Alexander McKenzie is a more boring prime minister
Nidhi Khanna: Well, with the mention of cheese. Yes. I am going to up your Bellevue reference.
Marco Timpano: Sure.
Nidhi Khanna: And let you know that Alexander MacKenzie immigrated in 1842 from Scotland.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Nidhi Khanna: And he worked, as I said, as a stonemason and established himself as a building contractor in Sarnia, Ontario. Yes.
Marco Timpano: Good old Sarnia.
Nidhi Khanna: Yes, exactly. So I think Sarnia trumps Belleville because Belleville is still, like, more south, closer to Upper and lower Canada, I would say still on the trade route. Sarnia is a little bit further afield.
Marco Timpano: Doesn't Sarnia have, like, natural, resource money or didn't at one time? I know that Belleville is on the Bay of Quinty. And I also want to put this fun fact about Belleville. Lauren Ash, who's a great Canadian actor and a friend of mine, is from Belleville.
Nidhi Khanna: Well, see how interesting. Whereas the resolved that Alexander McKenzie is a more boring prime minister.
Marco Timpano: No, but this has nothing to do with the prime minister other than his birthplace or his immigra.
Nidhi Khanna: Immigra.
Marco Timpano: Place of immigration.
Nidhi Khanna: Listen, Marco, I'm gonna tell you right now, every fact counts. The facts that you choose to reveal argue for whatever case you're trying to make. So be careful of what facts you decide to run this debate with.
Marco Timpano: Don't fault me for knowing that Lauren Nash is from Belleville and she happens to be interesting, because I'm certain that there's interesting people from Sarnia who you just don't happen to know.
Nidhi Khanna: I'm not using them in my argument.
Marco Timpano: Then you're just giving a base, a basic argument.
Nidhi Khanna: And that's not because it's boring. So I'm also gonna say. Well, actually, okay, this is a little bit interesting. Pretty much the most interesting fact you're gonna find with Alexander Mitchell MacKenzie. He was the first, Liberal prime minister.
Marco Timpano: Oh, well, there you go. My prime minister was Conservative, and he held his seat for the Conservatives when they lost the election in January 1874 in the wake of the Pacific scandal. And later that year, he was.
Nidhi Khanna: That sounds interesting. What is the Persian fix?
Marco Timpano: Well, I'll look it up in just a second, but, he was instrumental in having Louis Royal expelled from the House.
Nidhi Khanna: These are all interesting facts. You don't understand this debate, do you?
Marco Timpano: You. You don't. You need to go on Wikipedia, because this site here is just giving you such a truncated version of your. Your prime minister that it's not fair.
Nidhi Khanna: All right, if, that's the way
Marco Timpano: you want to play it while you're doing that. The Pacific scandal was a political scandal in Canada involving allegations of bribes being accepted by 150 members the Conservative government, in the attempts of private interest to influence the bidding for a national rail contract. So it had to deal with the rail and bribes. Nitty.
Nidhi Khanna: That's actually really interesting.
Marco Timpano: Well, you may say so.
Nidhi Khanna: bribes are not like scandal. He's scandalous. That's pretty.
Marco Timpano: In 1892, he became minister of Militia and Defense.
Nidhi Khanna: Oh, see? Minister militia.
Marco Timpano: Well, let's not. Let's not. Let's not make this too exciting, okay? Because I'm. I'm just trying to. I don't think he was Prime Minister yet when all this happened. So too, this is. This is his early political life, so you can't judge him on this because.
As Prime Minister, Bowell faced the Manitoba School question
Let's talk about when he became prime minister. In December of 1894, it was because Prime Minister Sir John Spar. Sorry. Sir John Sparrow. David Thompson, died suddenly. And Bowell, as the most senior cabinet member, was appointed in Thompson's seat by the Governor General. And then Bowell thus became the second of just two Canadian Prime Minister after John Abbott, to hold that office while serving in the Senate rather than the House of Commons. Are, you awake? Did you hear that?
Nidhi Khanna: Did he have any military service?
Marco Timpano: No. Did yours? Because military service is exciting.
Nidhi Khanna: Well, he was only a major.
Marco Timpano: You can't only be a major. A major is a pretty awesome, title to have.
Nidhi Khanna: Is it really?
Marco Timpano: Have you ever seen Major, Dad? I rest my case. As Prime Minister, Bowell faced the Manitoba School question.
Nidhi Khanna: Which was what? Tell me more about the Manitoba school question.
Marco Timpano: In 1890, Manitoba had abolished public funding for denominational schools, both Catholic and Protestant, which many thought was contrary to the provisions made for denominational schools. It's funny, Nidhi, that this is a debate, even in 1890 continues to be a debate now in Canada. However, in a court challenge, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council held that Manitoba's, abolition of public funding for denominational schools was consistent with the Manitoba act provision. So there you go. There you go.
Nidhi Khanna: Okay, so, let's.
Alexander Mackenzie was the most boring prime minister in Canada
Let's talk a bit about. I don't know if he was even a sir. There's not even an honorable. I'm assuming there's an honorable MacKenzie, but it doesn't say here in this article. but when. Oh, look, okay. When the McDonald government fell due to The Pacific scandal.
Marco Timpano: Oh, so you've got a connection to the Pacific scandal.
Nidhi Khanna: In 1873, the governor general, Lord Dufferin.
Marco Timpano: And it's funny because you live. We're actually recording this just off Dufferin Street.
Nidhi Khanna: That's right. called upon Mackenzie, who had been chosen as the leader of the Liberal Party a few months earlier, to form a new government. And Mackenzie formed a government and then asked the Governor General to call an election. So he was so boring that he did not even wait to call an election after being appointed Prime Minister. That's how good he was. And then he won the election and he remained prime minister for the next four years.
Marco Timpano: Wow, that's impressive. Bowel and his predecessors struggle to solve the Manitoba question, which at that time divided the country. And even Bowel's own cabinet was divided because of this Nidhi. And then this poor sir Bowel was further hampered by his handling of the issue by his own. Get this indecisiveness. So, you know, that just shows you what kind of gentleman this person was. And his inability as a senator to take part in debates in the House of Commons because Bowell backed legislation already drafted that would have forced Manitoba to restore its Catholic schools, but then postponed it due to opposition within his own cabinet.
Nidhi Khanna: See, he was like at the forefront of a lot of controversy. Whereas Alexander Mackenzie, you know, it was unusual for a man of Mackenzie's humble origins to attain a position such as Prime Minister. And usually it was only given. It was something that was usually given to someone who was a little bit more privileged in society. And so Lord Dufferin, who as I said, was the Governor General at the time.
Marco Timpano: Right.
Nidhi Khanna: He expressed some early misgivings about a stain stonemason taking over the government.
Marco Timpano: But why would he have misgivings? Firstone me, because I get.
Nidhi Khanna: I'm assuming he's like, ah, he's not of high society. However, okay, this is how boring Alexander Mackenzie is is that upon meeting Mackenzie, Lord Dufferin revised his opinions and said,
Marco Timpano: and I quote, oh, here we go.
Nidhi Khanna: However narrow and inexperienced Mackenzie might be, I imagine he is thoroughly upright, well principled and well meaning man. Which means he is so even keel and so non scandalous that he was able to be the most boring prime minister in Canada.
Marco Timpano: Well, I doubt that, because I will say this, that while the government was in crisis over this Manitoba question, it was resolved in everything returned to normal when six of the ministers were reinstated by the leadership and then effectively held by Charles Tupper, who had joined the cabinet at the same time filling the Seventh place Tupper, who had been the Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, had been recalled by the plotters to replace.
Nidhi Khanna: These are all interesting facts.
Marco Timpano: Well, I don't know. Like, these are all interesting. I think you're Lord Dufferin. that whole Lord Dufferin stuff is pretty great. What happened later in life with your. Your Prime Minister?
Nidhi Khanna: Later in life? Like after. After.
Marco Timpano: After he became Prime Minister, did he do anything interesting? What was his legacy? Sure. What was his legacy? Ah. Ah.
Nidhi Khanna: A monument is dedicated to his tomb in Lakeview Cemetery, Sarnia.
Switch to Boost Mobile's 25 Unlimited Forever plan and unlock up to $600 savings
Marco Timpano: Oh,
Nidhi Khanna: hey, this is Paige Desorbo from Giggly Squad, and today I want to talk to you about Boost Mobile. Quick question. Why are we letting our ph bully us? Here's a money tip. Stop paying a carrier tax. When you bring your own phone and switch To Boost Mobile's 25 Unlimited Forever plan, you can unlock up to $600 in savings. That's real life money, not money trapped in a pricey phone bill. $600 is a trip, a shopping spree, or paying something off. Your money belongs in your life. You get unlimited data, talk and text for $25 a month with no contracts and no minimum line requirement. Your phone, your rules. Head to boost mobile.com to switch today and unlock the savings you actually deserve. After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience. Customers pay $25 per month while active on Boost Mobile Unlimited Plan savings claim based on a January 2026 Boost Mobile survey comparing average annual payments of major carrier customers to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited plan. Visit boostmobile.com for details.
Nidhi Khanna: When it comes to managing money, forget the hype and look at the results. Bill has a trillion dollars of secure payments powering our, Bill pay tools. Instead of just moving money, Bill is powering the financial operations of nearly half a million customers. So stop the guesswork and start scaling with the proven choice. Ready to talk with an expert? Visit bill.comproven to get started and grab a $250 gift card as a thank you. Terms and conditions apply. See offer page for details.
M. Bowell died of pneumonia in 1917 at the age of 93
Nidhi Khanna: Oh, okay, this one's interesting. And I know you'll like this because this is actually. So he was honorable. Like, an honorable. He obviously had a title at the end, but, honorable. Alexander MacKenzie by Lauren Harris.
Marco Timpano: Oh. One of my favorite painters now hangs
Nidhi Khanna: at the McKenzie Building, the Royal Military College of Canada.
Marco Timpano: Well, there you go. So one of my favorite artists painted a picture of him. So I think that's pretty awesome.
Nidhi Khanna: That's it?
Marco Timpano: Pretty awesome.
Nidhi Khanna: That's his legacy. Those two pieces of art? Well, no, one is more like a, monument dedicated to his tomb and a piece of art that was his legacy.
Marco Timpano: Well, I don't see anything here that states that. There is a bust of this dude. Prime Minister Bowell. Bowell stayed in the Senate after his prime ministership and served as his party's leader until 1906. And afterwards as a plain senator until his death at 94. What did he die of? Nitty, you might ask. Any guesses?
Nidhi Khanna: I am gonna say. What year did he die?
Marco Timpano: He died. So he was. He died on December 10, 1917 at the age of 93. I stand corrected.
Nidhi Khanna: Okay, 19. Sorry. 1917. Oh, 1917. He died, I bet. Of like I'm gonna say something, you
Marco Timpano: know,
Nidhi Khanna: interesting about the time. Probably like Spanish flu.
Marco Timpano: No, he died of a broken heart.
Nidhi Khanna: Well, that's interesting.
Marco Timpano: No, he actually didn't. He died of pneumonia in Belleville, 17 days short of his 94th birthday. And guess where he's buried? In Belleville, in the Belleville cemetery. His funeral was attended by a full complement of the Orange Order because he was an Orangeman, but not by any current or formally elected members of the government. That's how boring he was. A former prime minister. None of the current leadership or politicians showed up at his funeral.
Nidhi Khanna: That's true of Alexander Mackenzie as well.
Marco Timpano: Well, don't try.
Nidhi Khanna: The government showed up at his funeral.
Marco Timpano: Don't try to steal my guys.
Nidhi Khanna: But wait, no one showed up. And even though he died while he was leader of the opposition, so that's how boring he was, he was still a sitting member of parliament.
Marco Timpano: I think that shows how unliked he was, not necessarily how boring he was. I will say this, that, Bowels descendants live in Hertfordshire, England. Have you ever been there?
Nidhi Khanna: I have not.
Marco Timpano: And some of them live in Ontario, Canada.
Nidhi Khanna: Well, look at that.
Marco Timpano: In, their 1998 study of the Canadian prime ministers up through Jean Chretien, who was prime minister at the time, J.L. granadstein and Norman Hillmer found that a survey of Canadian historians ranked M. Bowell 19th out of the 20 prime ministers up until then. So he was ranked second last. I should find out who was. Hm. Who was marked last.
Nidhi Khanna: So.
Marco Timpano: So that we can. We can.
Nidhi Khanna: That's good. Alexander MacKenzie was ranked 11th. Oh, 11th place.
Marco Timpano: Just in that same. In that same study. In that same.
Nidhi Khanna: Yes.
Marco Timpano: Okay, so you found that out. Okay.
Nidhi Khanna: However, I, think he was number 11 because he did nothing. He did nothing bad and he did nothing good. He kind of just was status quo. So that's why he's right in the middle.
Marco Timpano: Well, I'll just say this. Let the listeners decide who was more boring. But I want to.
Sir John Sparrow was the fourth Prime Minister of Canada
I want to look into this Sparrow dude, because isn't that the name of the character that, Is. Yeah. Is that. Is his name Jack Sparrow? Yeah, but isn't John.
Nidhi Khanna: but it's Sir John Sparrow. David Thompson.
Marco Timpano: Right, but.
Nidhi Khanna: So he's got two names.
Marco Timpano: I know, but isn't Jack a diminutive of John? Is it. Is it Jack?
Nidhi Khanna: Jack, John? No, I think Jack is like Jackson or. Well, I don't.
Marco Timpano: Can it. Can a John not be a Jack?
Nidhi Khanna: That's pretty. Like, are we that lazy with.
Marco Timpano: I don't know. We need Jacks and Johns. I know my friend has a son named Jack, but his name is Jack. It was always Jack.
Nidhi Khanna: Right. Okay.
Marco Timpano: So, Jack, while you're looking that, up. John Sparrow was a Canadian lawyer, judge, politician, and university professor who served as the fourth Prime Minister of Canada. So he was clearly a prime minister before my dude. And he died in office on, December 12th. And how did he die, you might ask? In office? Heart attack. Age of 49.
Nidhi Khanna: It's a hard time.
Marco Timpano: Difficult man. It's hard to run a country.
Nidhi Khanna: Okay. The origins of ten nicknames. it can be Jack. It could be James as well.
Marco Timpano: Oh, yeah, it's James. I think I've always known it as James. I knew there was something about it that was. Didn't strike me. what is.
Nidhi Khanna: Oh, no, but Jack is. Why is Jack from John?
Marco Timpano: Yeah, why is Jack from John?
Nidhi Khanna: Oh, this is actually an interesting fact.
Marco Timpano: Okay.
Nidhi Khanna: The name Jack dates back to about, 1200, the year 1200, and was originally used as a generic name for peasants.
Marco Timpano: Oh.
Nidhi Khanna: Over time, Jack worked his way into words such as lumberjack and steeplejack. and John was once used as the generic name for English commoners and peasants like John Doe, which could be why Jack became the nickname for John. But the more likely explanation is that the Normans added, kin. this is very.
Marco Timpano: Now, this is getting a little complex.
Nidhi Khanna: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: Let me tell you this.
Nidhi Khanna: Tell me.
Marco Timpano: Going back to John Sparrow. Prime Minister John Sparrow. Despite having held, prime ministerial office, Prime Minister John Sparrow had little estate. So Parliament set up, a fund to support his widow and children. His only remaining descendants today is the Canadian politician Margaret Mitchell. Do you know who Margaret Mitchell is? No. she is part of the New Democratic Party, and she is a member of Parliament for Vancouver East. She held office from 79 to 93.
Nidhi Khanna: Wow. Look at that.
Marco Timpano: So there you go, why?
Nidhi Khanna: He has like five names that are all like, name names.
Marco Timpano: I think that was the custom of the time talking, of nicknames from actual names. Do you know where the name Peggy comes from? What the actual female name is?
Nidhi Khanna: I do. Margaret.
Marco Timpano: And we just talked about Margaret Mitchell. That's why came to mind.
Nidhi Khanna: Oh, look at that.
Marco Timpano: So does that mean Peggy's Cove is actually Margaret's Cove.
Nidhi Khanna: Oh,
Marco Timpano: But it's in Margaret's Bay, if I'm not mistaken. No.
Nidhi Khanna: That's why.
Marco Timpano: Interesting. Have you ever been to Peggy's Cove?
Nidhi Khanna: I haven't.
Marco Timpano: It's fantastic.
Nidhi Khanna: Is it really?
Marco Timpano: It's spectacular. I think it's the second most photographed site in Canada after.
St Margaret's Bay lighthouse gets its name from Niagara Falls
Do you want to guess?
Nidhi Khanna: Ooh, think of, think of after Niagara Falls.
Marco Timpano: You got it. I think that's what they, what they say there. Right. It's like, it's one of the sort of facts of it. But it's absolutely gorgeous. Gorgeous. And it is on St Margaret's Bay. So I think that's where it gets its name, from. And a beautiful lighthouse. You gotta go there is all I can say.
How do you feel about lighthouses? Lighthouses in general
How do you feel about lighthouses?
Nidhi Khanna: Lighthouses in general?
Marco Timpano: Lighthouse homes? I don't know what you'd call a. Plural lighthouse light.
Nidhi Khanna: Yeah, you're right. I don't, know. Light homes, lighthouses. Odd. I'm neither here nor there with them. I feel like they're very interesting structures and I would love to like go up one. But it's one of those things that's also kind of a relic because it's no longer really necessary, is it?
Marco Timpano: Like, I know, unfortunately, we did. We talked about things that were sort of a few episodes back, about things that are becoming obsolete. And I feel like certainly the lighthouse keeper.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Marco Timpano: There's few and far betweens because the lighthouses that are currently used are automated.
Nidhi Khanna: Right, Right.
Marco Timpano: Do you know that? So Peggy's Cove in St. Margaret's Bay. St. Margaret's Bay was named after Samuel de Champlain's mother, Marguerite. Did you know that?
Nidhi Khanna: I didn't know that. Look at you with all these facts.
Marco Timpano: Listen, it's what happens when you have a phone next to you and you're recording a podcast. You can just sort of look things up.
Nidhi Khanna: I think all of these interesting facts are actually a distraction, Marco, for the fact that I clearly won this debate.
Marco Timpano: I don't think it's something that you can determine. We need our listeners to tell us who in fact was the more boring Prime Minister, Sir Bowell Or, I mean,
Nidhi Khanna: look, Sir Bol even has such an interesting name that there's a million pronunciations.
Marco Timpano: It's only interesting because I don't know how to pronounce that name.
Nidhi Khanna: Whatever. It doesn't matter. Mine is, like, the most boring English. Like Scott, like Alexander Mackenzie. You can't get any more, like, plain
Marco Timpano: than that, I suppose. well, we can both say safely that there are no John Sparrow.
Nidhi Khanna: He obviously was a lot more interesting.
Did you do any reports on prime ministers when you were going to school
Marco Timpano: I think it's interesting that we don't know what prime minister is, though. I have to say, like, you know. I know. I know the last. Say five prime ministers. Five to seven prime ministers. Like, I remember the prime minister I remember as a child was Trudeau. So I remember from Pierre Trudeau up. I would guess I'd be able to do it, but before that, I think it was Pearson. I want to say. I, want to guess. And this is from having done a report on Lester B. Pearson back in, I want to say the fifth grade. Did you do any reports on prime ministers when you were going to school?
Nidhi Khanna: Oh, probably. I mean, we all had to do, I think, in grade 10 that, like, I think we have to do it in French. I can't even remember the history of kids. Canada. You know, in order to graduate high school, you have to do the history of Canada.
Marco Timpano: Sure.
Nidhi Khanna: Like the year. I think it's grade 10 or 10th grade that. That you have to do it in.
Marco Timpano: So I once had to portray Sir John A. MacDonald. Oh, yeah. It was this weird sort of gig I had where it was like, me and two friends. And one friend was Katherine Partrail, who wrote Roughing it in the Bush, one of Kenna's first novels or books. It wasn't a novel. It was about life living in the Canadian wilderness or first coming to Canada.
Nidhi Khanna: Okay.
Marco Timpano: And the other friend of mine was Cornelius Kriegoff, who was a Canadian painter, if I'm not mistaken. Oh, I hope he was a painter. I want to say he was a trapper and a painter. Anyways, so I got to play one of the Canada. I got to play Canada's first prime minister. We invite you to tweet us on who you think was the more boring prime minister. Mine, Sir Bowell, or Nimmies.
Nidhi Khanna: The honorable Alexander Mackenzie. Please tweet ustenandsleep because this is definitely something that Marco and I want settled by you, the listener. as always, we are recording in Toronto, and we're produced by John Cast Productions. So until the next time, we hope you listen and sleep.

​Listerine, Groceries, & Wine Making
(Original airdate: Sept 7, 2016)

Welcome to the Insomnia Project. We hope you will listen and sleep as well as rate us on itunes

Marco:  Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax and listen as we have a conversation about the mundane. One thing that we can promise is that our conversation will be less than fascinating so that you can just feel free to float away and drift off. Thank you for joining us. We hope you will listen and sleep as well as rate us or comment on itunes. We love reading what you have to say about our show. I'm your host, Marco Timpano.

Nidhi: And I'm your co host, Nidhi Khanna. Marco. We've been receiving some wonderful, um,

Marco:  feedback,

Nidhi: feedback, comments, uh, communications from some of our listeners. And I wanted to take a moment on this episode to kind of do some shout outs really. Um, particularly to Brent who, who mentioned that listening to our podcast has changed his life.

Marco:  Oh. So hopefully, hopefully for the better.

Nidhi: Hopefully. Um, and hopefully that means he's getting a good night's sleep after listening to us. So thank you, Brent.

Marco:  You know, Nidhi, um, my life changed when I found something that helped me sleep. And uh, you know, when one can't sleep and you find that sort of key that allows you to at least relax. We're hoping that if our podcast doesn't allow you to find sleep, it'll at least allow you to listen and relax and focus on something else.

Nidhi: Agreed. And, uh, it seems that that's sort of what's, what's happening in terms of the feedback we're getting. So, um, Steve also sent in an email and he mentioned that him and his wife are our avid listeners and they even download our episodes because playing them on repeat doesn't seem to be an issue because they seem to be falling asleep, except when the topics are too interesting, which I'm fascinated by because I'd like to know maybe what topics have been interesting.

Marco:  We try not to be too interesting, but you know, sometimes Nidhi, conversation will bring you to an, uh, avenue that uh, sparks an interest for certain people. And uh, I apologize if at any point this episode or future episodes becomes so interesting that one can't find their way to sleep. But at the very least, I'm hoping that if you do follow this a particular episode to the end that it is at the very least relaxed you

Nidhi: so clearly maybe given you a tad bit of information about something mundane.

Marco:  Sure.


Little Goose on Twitter offers to take us around Ann Arbor if we visit

Nidhi: Um, uh, and with that, my last shout out goes to um, Little Goose on Twitter, who has been wonderful with uh, the offer to take us around Ann Arbor if we're ever visiting and recording from there. So maybe he can take us to some of the places that we met or she.

Marco:  Do we know if Little Goose is a.

Nidhi: You know what? That's a good point. Not sure if it's he or she or.

Marco:  Well, thank you Little Goose.

Nidhi: They. For now.

Marco:  Fair enough. You've never been to Ann Arbor though, right?

Nidhi: I have never been to Ann Arbor.

Marco:  I loved Ann Ar. Ann Arbor when I was there. I remember being there and, and thinking, I remember driving through there and saying to Amanda, oh, this is Ann Arbor. And I wanted to explore. So we kind of drove around and I saw the beautiful homes and how green it was and I was like, oh, um, this is a place that, you know when you see a place nitty and you're like, I could live here. And yeah, it was like that for me. It really resonated with me. So thank you, Little Goose.

Nidhi: Thank you, Little Goose. Goose. And little, uh, Goose also mentioned a particular staple brand.

Marco:  Oh, that's right. Because we talked about staples.

Nidhi: Exactly.

Marco:  So I'm going to, I'm, I'm going to find a stapler.

Nidhi: That particular brand is the swing line stapler.

Marco:  So I'm going to find a swing line and I will give some feedback on how it works for me with that.

Nidhi: That closes off our shout outs for today. Please do continue to send us all this great, great, ah, feedback. We're thrilled when we receive it.


Nidhi: I've always liked Listerine because it's antiseptic

Marco:  We've also received feedback from certain um, products or companies that we've mentioned, which is kind of neat on our, on our Twitter and I was just talking to you about Listerine.

Nidhi: Yes, you were.

Marco:  So Amanda and I, uh, on the last episode were talking about toothpaste and then I started to, to, to talk about Listerine. I start to read up on it. Listerine. And it's a great antiseptic, right Nidhi? And so when you use, you know, there's different types of mouthwashes but I've always liked Listerine. I don't like things that are too

Nidhi: like brand like you like listering the brand.

Marco:  The brand. I like listering the brand versus its competitors. I won't, I won't mention what they are. But I've always liked Listerine because it's. Has always left my mouth feeling very clean. And what I've noticed is that if I've had a cut in my mouth and I often I'm an inside cheek biter.

Nidhi: Oh, I Do that, too. Sometimes it's the worst.

Marco:  Ah. Yeah. So, um, using Listerine has helped to heal.

Nidhi: Yeah.

Marco:  And clean the inside of my mouth. So I've always been a fan of Listerine, but there's a lot of different uses that one can have for Listerine.

Nidhi: You know what, Marco? It's very true. It's actually, uh, quite a versatile product. So, um, some of the more interesting, I guess they call them life hacks for Listerine.

Marco:  Sure.

Nidhi: Uh, if you've run out of deodorant, you can dip a cotton ball into some Listerine and dab it under your arms, which I guess, you know, when you think about it, it's an antiseptic maybe takes sort of gets rid of the sweat bacteria underneath your arm.

Marco:  Sure. And, you know, it does come in a mint flavor, too. So if you use the minty one, it's going to give you a refreshing sort of smell. Zing. Sure.

Nidhi: And to that point, you could also take it, you can use it as sort of an aftershave. Did you know?

Marco:  Sure. Like, uh.

Nidhi: Yeah, it's pretty cool.

Marco:  The other thing, with Listerine, you could probably dilute it in water and put it in a little spray bottle so that, you know, Nidhi, sometimes you are at a, let's say a cabin, um, or you're at, um, a hotel and the pillows don't smell fresh. Well, dilute a little bit of Listerine in water and spray it on the pillow. It's going to kill any bacteria that's on that and it's going to leave a fresh scent. And that's a great thing. When you're in hotels or motels and you're kind of like, I don't know about these pillows. Pillows, or I don't know what this particular bed or sheets or whatnot.

Nidhi: Marco, that's a great idea. Um, I'm actually. That. That's actually a really great idea. I never thought about that before.


I can tell you my most unique time that I use Listerine

I can tell you my most unique time that I use or my. My most unique use for listening.

Marco:  Sure.

Nidhi: Uh, I've used it as a foot bath before pedicure.

Marco:  Oh.

Nidhi: So particularly, um, if you've walked a lot during the day or you have tired feet, if you put it in a bath of Listerine and water, it actually.

Marco:  Say if you put it in a bath.

Nidhi: If you put it in a bath of Listerine and water, you can actually, uh, make your feel. Your feet feel very, um, refreshed and tingly and clean, obviously, because you've pretty much killed anything that could possibly go in there. So that's the most unique way that I've used Listerine.


Listerine is used to kill bacteria and to kill odors

Marco:  And now I'll tell you the most unique way that I've used it. So. And this actually comes from something that Amanda and Dale, who've both been on our episodes, uh, told me about. So when you're a mascot, so you know those people who are inside the suits of your favorite cartoon character, whether it be Mickey Mouse or Scooby Doo or one of those types, what they do is they spray the, uh, Listerine inside to kill the bacteria from the person who wore it before and to keep it smelling fresh. I took that advice and I use it for my helmet. So, you know, you wear a helmet when you're riding and you get sweaty in it, and over time it's going to start to, I guess, stink. Right? Well, I dilute some Listerine in water in a little spray bottle, and I spray it. And I would recommend this to people who are doing a lot of sports. So, for example, if you have a hockey bag and you've got your hockey equipment in there, just spray Listerine in there. It's gonna kill whatever odor, whatever odors in there. And the bacteria, it's an antiseptic. So it's not gonna be like, um, you know, it's something you can, you can ingest and it's not gonna be harmful. Whereas if you use something that is like a Lysol type product or something like that, you don't. It's not meant to be, you know, put onto your skin.

Nidhi: Right.

Marco:  Or to be ingested. So if you have like, you know, padding and stuff that's close to your face or that stays on your skin, you don't want that.

Nidhi: It's funny you say that because one of the uses for Listerine is actually, um, clearly to kill odors. And so if you soak, um, sort of like a paper towel with Listerine and put it, um, in your garbage can underneath the actual garbage, uh, bag, um, it will kill the odors of the garbage.

Marco:  Oh, that's great. Because, you know, I find the organic. So in Toronto, we have organic waste, and I know a lot more communities are having organic waste that you can have, but oftentimes you have the organic waste and when you remove the bag, there'll be some debris that goes on the bottom and it'll, it'll have a bit of a, you know, an unpleasant odor to it. So I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna actually do that.

Nidhi: Uh, please let us know how it goes.

Marco:  Yeah, I will.

Nidhi: Because I wonder if that works as it. In theory, it should work very well.

Marco:  Well, because what I do is I put a newspaper. So when I use my organic waste. Right. I will take, you know, how you get those flyers delivered to your home. I'll, um, take one of those flyers and I'll put it underneath so that if the bag should rip or if something should fall out of the bag, oftentimes it's organic waste. So it could have some liquid to it. Let's say the rind of a watermelon or whatever, peach pit or something. Right. And the newspaper will kind of soak that up so it doesn't remain wet on the bottom. And so because I already do that, it wouldn't take much for me to get a paper towel and put it on top of that. And I'll let you know how that goes because I think that's a great idea.


You can use Listerine to clean television or computer screens

Thank you for that little tip. Full Life Hab hack tips. And it's so funny. Who would have thought?

Nidhi: Who would have thought? And here's my last tip. Listerine. You can actually. And this is something that, um, I think I'm going to try. You can use it to clean the screens on your television or computer.

Marco:  Oh, really?

Nidhi: So if you put Listerine on a song soft cloth, you'll be able to clean it. And I find that helpful because you can't use the same products on your screens as you do to normally clean.

Marco:  Right, right. I always buy like, um, at a computer store, one of those things. And they're not cheap. You know, they're not. That'd be interesting to PE for people who use touch pads. You know, when you use touch pads for your line of work, whether it be, let's say you work in a restaurant or somewhere that, um, you share an iPad and people are always touching it.

Nidhi: Sure.

Marco:  Someone's sick, they touch the iPad and then you're touching it and you touch your face. Well, it'd be great to use that between each person using that iPad or that touchscreen to kill any sort of, um.

Nidhi: I just think we solved the world's problems when it comes to germs.

Marco:  Little mouthwash goes a long way. In particular if you have holitosis. That's his primary use.

Nidhi: This true.


Nidhi: I recently discovered my local grocery store

Marco:  So, Nidhi, um, you were telling me about something that happened to you just, uh, recently that was very interesting.

Nidhi: And, uh, yes, Marco, I, I mean, I recently, um, discovered my local grocery store.

Marco:  Right.

Nidhi: Um, and in the area that I've moved into, there's like a store, grocery. Grocery store that's sort of a, um, like a discount, more sort of. I don't want to say lower end because that's not true. It's still got very quality food. But it's the type of grocery store where you go in, you know, lights are kind of dimmed halfway. Like there's not a lot of extras that you get.

Marco:  Okay.

Nidhi: Um, and I thought it was really interesting because then I also, on the other side, side of the street, um, had a food co op.

Marco:  Oh.

Nidhi: And so it's an interesting.

Marco:  What exactly is a food co op? We should, we should explain that.

Nidhi: Good question. That's a good question. So a food co op is. From what I understand now, I haven't yet become a member of a food co op, uh, or this particular one. Um, but I'm considering it because. So I think you buy a membership to be able to take advantage of discounted goods. I mean anyone could go in there and purchase something.

Marco:  Sure.

Nidhi: But they have special deals. Let's say if you're a member and the idea is to sort of create community around these grocery stores. Um, and it's all local and organic and very healthy foods. And um, the meats and everything, the vegetable are, are locally, ah, sourced and I don't know, properly raised, etc. Um, so it's interesting to kind of have both those options. But here's where I kind of go. You know, when you have both food co op and then you have the more discounted grocery store.

Marco:  Right.

Nidhi: Sometimes I feel guilty because it's like, which one do I choose? Because the part of me that wants to be all holistic and zen and only put clean things, um, and meats and whatever foods in my body is like, go to the food co op because you're also, you know, um, um, helping local farmers and businesses, etc. But then the other part of me that is like, food's so expensive.

Marco:  Right.

Nidhi: It's like I want to go to like the lower end grocery store.

Marco:  Sure.

Nidhi: And it's starting to actually make me feel very guilty. I don't know what to just hide.

Marco:  Well, here's what we do. We get a, um, organic food box delivered to our home once a week.

Nidhi: Right.

Marco:  So it's really interesting. It was something we wanted to try and we're like, let's just do it and see what it is. And it's actually quite fun because you never know. Or at least we don't know what we're gonna get in our box. It happens to be whatever's in C and sometimes not like, we consistently get organic bananas in our box, which is great because I love bananas, so it's never. But then every once in a while you'll get something like, oh, no, we got these. And it might be something that I'm not a big fan of, but they happen to be in season.

Nidhi: We all prefer things a certain way, like groceries. If you want groceries just how you like them, you gotta try Instacart. They have a new preference picker that lets you pick how ripe or unripe you want your bananas. Shoppers can see your preferences upfront, helping guide their choices. Because when it comes to groceries, the details matter. Instacart get groceries just how you like. Knock knock.

Marco:  Ooh, who's there? A, uh, Boost Mobile expert here to deliver and set up your all new iPhone 17 Pro, designed to be the most powerful iPhone ever. You called that a knock knock joke? This isn't a joke. Boost mobile really sends experts to deliver and set up your phone at home or work. Okay. It's just that when people say knock knock, there's usually a joke to go with it.

Nidhi: Like I said, this isn't a joke.

Marco:  So the knock knock was just you knocking? Yeah, that's how doors work. Get the new iPhone 17 Pro delivered and set up by an expert wherever you are. Delivery available for select devices purchased at boostmobile.com, terms apply.

Marco:  Over 90 of the top 100 US accounting firms trust Bill to handle bill pay processes. Why? Because our tools are built on over a trillion doll secure payments. We're not just moving money. We're powering financial workflows for half a million customers. That's a level of expertise you just can't fake. Ready to talk with an expert? Visit bill.comproven to get started and grab a $250 gift card as a thank you. Terms and conditions apply. See offer page for details.


What has been, um, the oddest thing that you've received

Nidhi: What has been, um, the oddest thing or the thing that you've received that you're like, I don't even know what to do with this. Like, how do we make something out of this?

Marco:  I think it was, um. Oh, I wish I could remember exactly what they called it, but it was like grape. Grape skin flower. Oh, so they made like a. Oh, I don't know if it's called grape skin flower, but it was like a powdery substance made of grape skins and, um.

Nidhi: Sounds like grape skin. Um, great. Well, let's just. Now. Grape skin powder.

Marco:  No, grape skin flower. Does that make sense? Grape skin flower. Grape skin. Oh, um, it's gonna.

Nidhi: I didn't know that you could.

Marco:  Oh, maybe I'm getting this wrong. Anyways, clearly I didn't know what to do with this. It was like this purpley kind of powder, and that was in the box one time. But it was kind of fun. It was kind of like, oh, this is pretty cool. Um, I never like the oranges we got from it. The oranges were always, like, not my favorite, and I love oranges. They just weren't the oranges that I'm used to. So maybe they weren't the sort of varietal of orange that I like. Valencia or. Okay.

Nidhi: You know, did it look like this image?

Marco:  Yeah, it looked like that.

Nidhi: Okay, so, um. So it is. Oh, interesting. So in the last few years, grapeseed flower has kind of been on the eyes.

Marco:  Okay. Oh, so it's grape seed, not scrape skin.

Nidhi: Grape seed. Yes, grape seed, flour. And it's, um. Actually, it's produced from the pomace, so the seeds and the skin together. Um. Um. And it's actually the. The waste that's generated during, uh, winemaking.

Marco:  Okay.

Nidhi: And so I guess they found a way to take whatever it is they. After they've extracted the juice from the grape and make it into sort of a flower form. And it has so many great antioxidants, apparently. So it seems to be very good for you. One of those.


My family growing up, my grandfather and father would make wine

Marco:  Have you ever made wine?

Nidhi: Made.

Marco:  Sorry, wine. Have you ever made wine?

Nidhi: No, I haven't.

Marco:  My family growing up, my grandfather and father would make wine.

Nidhi: Really?

Marco:  Yeah. Yeah. And so what we would do is the grapes would come from California in these crates.

Nidhi: Okay.

Marco:  And you would take the crates and you would put them in this giant. Well, as a kid, it seemed giant. It was this kind of like. Oh, my goodness, masher, for lack of a better word. So it looks like two cogs that rotate in unison, and they sort of have grooves that fit in almost like the gears of a clock. But imagine them as if they were thrashers. Or you would put something in, and it would. It would. It would, um, crush the grapes, the seeds, the skin, and parts of the vine that would be.

Nidhi: But what would I want to imagine more? That it's you and your family in a barrel, crushing grapes with your feet?

Marco:  Well, that was never how we made wine. And I don't think people have made wine like that for probably centuries, unless you watch reruns of I Love Lucy.

Nidhi: There you go.

Marco:  Um, Though I will say my buddy Mark DeAngelis has some photos of him and his brothers as kids doing that. Family would do that. Not that that's how they made wine. But that was certainly what they made the kids do for fun and whatnot. And you'd end up with purple feet, I guess. But we would take it. You throw the grapes into this grinder of sorts.

Nidhi: Sure.

Marco:  It always reminded me of. Because it had. It was big and metal and it had like, handles that you could put on your shoulders. So it reminded me of like, you know, when you see images of Cleopatra being carried by her strong, uh, carry guys, slaves or whatever they were. Like, it always reminded me of that. It had that look to it. But then you would throw the grapes into it. Somebody would turn a wheel and it would grind the grapes, which would fall into a giant barrel. And there it would sit, um, the juices, the grapes, the skins, the seeds, the

Nidhi: whatever waste is generated.

Marco:  It would be in this thing. And then you would take it and you would put it into this other contraption. And it looked like. Oh, niddy. Like it's so distinct. But it is. It had two wooden pieces that were slats of wood in a concave. So two half circles that you would put together. And you'd kind of like latch them so they would secure. And you would put the grapes inside this. And through the slats, the juice would sort of drip into a little round. Um, it circled the two. The two pieces of wood that are now, um, together. So it was kind of like a barrel, but a barrel that allowed liquid to drip out of it. So it was kind of like slat, a slatted barrel, let's say. And it would drip into a. Like a cup or holder that would go around the barrel and it would have a spout at the bottom or at one end, which would drip into a holding barrel. Because you would get more juice this way. Right. Wine juice or so grape juice, I should say.

Nidhi: How much? Sorry.

Marco:  Oh, it doesn't.

Marco:  It doesn't end there? No, no. Then. Because that would just be the juice. But you'd still have skins and flesh of the grape that's been crushed in this sort of slatted barrel. Then you would take wooden blocks and they were sort of half moon wooden blocks or half circles, and you put them on top. Then you take another two and you put them on top of that and they were pretty heavy. Another two.

Nidhi: Isn't that how you play Jenga? Ish. Yeah.


The grinder was pretty big. I remember it being pretty. How big was this contraption

Marco:  So you do that for maybe three or four. And then on the top of this barrel would be a, um, like a metal thing. And you'd put a metal rod in and you'd Click it back and forth. And as you clicked it back and forth, it would send, like a vise. It would kind of circle and would push these Jenga blocks or these blocks down and down and down, thus crushing what's inside the slatted barrel. And I'm sure it has a name to it. It would crush it. So that, uh, French press, kind of. Kind of. But, uh, you'd click it back and forth so they would. It would slowly go down and it would crush the grapes and push the grapes and the skins and the seeds until it flattened it and caused almost all of the juice to drip out the sides into this little moat that would cause the juice to go into another barrel. And then you would be able to use this. This grape juice to make wine.

Nidhi: So this was in your house?

Marco:  This was in our garage. In your garage.

Nidhi: How big was this.

Marco:  This contraption? The contraption was the size of a barrel, let's say.

Nidhi: Oh, wow.

Marco:  And it was like, kind of raised on. On metal legs with a little sort of moat around it. And I know they have words for this, but anyways, I digress. But the actual grinder that I mentioned earlier, that was pretty big. I remember it being pretty. Pretty monstrous.


How many grapes would you need to make, like, a bottle of wine

Nidhi: And how many, like, how, um. How many grapes would you need to make, like, a bottle of wine?

Marco:  You'd never just make one bottle of wine. So you'd have. You'd have crates and crates and crates. Right. So I'd have to ask my family how many crates they would order. And then we wouldn't bottle our wine.

Nidhi: Okay.

Marco:  So we would put them in what's called a demijohn.

Nidhi: Okay.

Marco:  Do you know what a demijohn is? It's an old term for a cask, a large cask. Okay. M. And we'd allow it to ferment the demijohn. And then you would have wine. Right. So then from this large cask, and you'll often see them. It's kind of the interesting thing about a demijohn is that it is a round circle of glass that sits in a straw basket.

Nidhi: I know which ones you're talking about. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Marco:  And so what my family would do is the wine that we had in our demijohn, we would then transfer into a gallon.

Nidhi: Okay.

Marco:  Jug.

Nidhi: Sure.

Marco:  And then we would use the gallon jug as our wine. Not that we would put a gallon jug on our table, but we would take the. The gallon jug that we would have and we'd put. Pour them into liter leader glassware, not bottles, but you know, those little flasks type things. They're more like, uh, they're not flasks, but they're the leader.

Nidhi: I know what you mean.

Marco:  Yeah, they kind of have a, a really beautiful shape to them that a leader. Like a liter, bottle, glass, whatever you want to call it, flask of flask that you would put on the table. And that's what we would drink our wine out of.

Nidhi: Um, so that.

Marco:  That's.

Nidhi: Wow. And was it good?

Marco:  It was great. Like we would get different types of varietals of grapes from California. California has fantastic wines, so clearly they have fantastic grapes and we would use those grapes to make our wine.


Marco: This show has life hacks from list into winemaking

Nidhi: Well, Marco, this has been a show full of information. It certainly has life hacks from list into winemaking. M. Um, so we'd like to once again thank all our listeners out there, uh, particularly, uh, the ones who took the time to write in and rate

Marco:  us, rate us and write comments.

Nidhi: We're always happy to receive, um, feedback. Oh, look at that.

Marco:  There you go.

Nidhi: Um, so thank you to everyone. And tonight's show was actually broadcast from Toronto, as always produced by drumcast Productions, and we hope that you continue to listen and sleep. Mhm, mhm. Sa.