The Pickles

(upbeat music) Hi again everybody, welcome back to the Miles Baff cast, the flagship podcast of The Pickles, MST Ball Team. (grunts) I feel like they absolutely nailed that team name. How they did it though is they had everyone come up with ideas. There was the sharks, the dinosaurs, the Dodgers. There was the popcorns, the unicorns, but they put all these names in the hat and drew it out and ended up being the pickles, which, that is the perfect, maybe a little cliche. I don't know why I feel like I've heard that somewhere. Maybe that was like the Pixar show where they had like the pickles team. Regardless, the pickles perfect, perfect name. When they were initially suggesting ideas, someone, I think it got lost in translation, but someone said the chicken pickles, which I thought it was even better, but we shortened it up, went with the pickles, with the naming of the team though. One of my proudest moments of Emmy that I've ever had, which is saying something. So initially the coach said, "Hey, come to practice on Monday and everyone say your ideas and we'll put them on a hat and we'll choose a name." When that came to be, we talked about it with Emmy, what our ideas were. She just wanted the unicorns, eventually switched to the popcorns. The corn apparently is a thing. But so the coach asked, "Hey, does anyone think of any names?" And everyone sat there kind of in the same way that if you're sitting in a class like the teacher asks, I get there's any questions, or if there's, one of those situations like where no one initially wants to talk, no one was saying anything. It was awkward, silence completely. And then I give Emmy a lot of credit. She was the first one to speak up. And then of course, that opened up the floodgates. But I told her I was so proud of her for being the first. Everyone was nervous, everyone was scared, and insecure about their ideas. And Emmy spoke first with everybody else brave. And I was so proud of her for that. She did an awesome job at speaking up, of being the leader, and falling through with it, and I was very proud of her. But yeah, we ended up with the pickles. They had their first game last night. It was so cold. It rained all day, and it rained, like even when we pulled in the parking lot, it was still like drizzling a little bit. And thankfully the rain stopped, but holy smokes that cold wind with the kind of a damp air, and it was maybe 50 degrees, but it did not feel 50, but it was so cold. Every kid's out there like with coats on and they're jersey over their coats, 'cause their jersey's our way too big, poor Emma, just drowning and swimming in her jersey more or less. But they did. They went up, the way that it works, is everybody hits through the line up, and then you switch, and then you go to the field, and everybody's through the line up again, and you just kind of do that three times. It was like three innings-ish. Obviously there's no keeping score. We might have got one out the entire time. There might have been one kid who got the ball of the base before the player did, maybe once. But it's cool. It was fun just to watch. It's controlled chaos in every sense of the word. The coach is an absolute staint, like how she, it's just, Billy stand up or put your glove on, and not to isolate Emmy from this, because she was definitely the one, like I said, she was the first to speak up the other day. She's also the first to sit down and start feeling her little cone up with grass at short stop of all places. Like, "Em, the ball's coming. You gotta stand up." And it's just, you know, that's what do you expect from T-ball? And it was great. They did good. I mean, did a really good job of hitting the ball. She hit her eye on the ball. She didn't hit the T once. I think she hit three times, and did a really good job with that. Ran the bases. We're still working on like paying attention to every time when the other teams up, like you just watched that ball the entire time, because she was not alone in this. I think the entire field did this because half time the ball was hit and no one moved. But like if you were just, you're out looking up at the sky, you're looking at the other teams bench, at the parents and the ball's hit. And it's just, wait, well, we're still playing a game, but that's T-ball. We'll work on it. But it was great. First game of the season down, it was fun. Oh, I, the other team didn't do this, but our team, they have catchers gear. And I was wondering why, why, we're hitting off a T. Like why in the world is the catcher like putting on the knee pads and the chest protector and the helmet. And then sure enough, at one point, somebody on their team wasn't paying attention. They were up to bat, swung the bat and caught our catcher straight in the face. Like had he, had he or she, hope it was, not wearing that mask would have been on a one way trip to the dentist. Like it, it answered my question in with not a single bit out of unknown left there 'cause it was, it's mainly why they were wearing it. So it all made sense. But the pickles, pickles are now one and oh, well, we're gonna say they're wet or no anyways. They got snacks, they won, it was great. Another game on Saturday. Please just thought it'd be warmer. It was so cold just sitting there and waiting and I'm like, Emmy, I promise it won't always be this way because everybody's just out there shivering. It was, it was brutal. Anyways, on the show, tell me something good. You might hear in my voice, but I'm still like under the weather, but I had my Michael Jordan sick game on Saturday. We had a big event that I just pushed through. The IOU1, I've been a single dad all week. A lot of IOUs for that for helping me out through that. And then, Chandra really into. I finally got to it. I've listened to the first, almost through the whole way the first Harry Potter full cast edition. I gotta talk about it. But first, tell me something good. Tell me something good. This sickness has been like, on me and it's been coming up. And I feel like it hit it hit the hardest. Ironically, in the day that I didn't need to. On Saturday, I had the, like the river run, or it says Sunday, Sunday morning. I woke up not feeling great, knowing that I had like this big trail race. We did it once before three years ago. It's like the river run or the river run race. And it's, it's really pretty. It's, it's 15 miles through Riverside State Park. And these 15 miles, it's not like a road race binding means. Like you're running through a forest and then you, you dive like down this like cliff into this like rocky stream bed. And then you go up the other side and all of a sudden, it's, you are going from like landscape to landscape. Like it is biome to biome, come completely different things. But really, really pretty. But man, I went into that like just not feeling great. I'd kind of put enough thought into it that I'd prepped by eating more of the previous couple days. I knew what I was gonna wear on hell that stuff laid out. But that was the extent of it. And I usually, I'm a little more plain now than this. But like I woke up without really an alarm. I was like, "My shower, just not really thinking about like what time the race will start." I knew when it would start. And I knew it wouldn't be like late. But I was not planning on, I'd said it thought it through. I guess I should have been a little bit earlier. I drive to the race. I park. I jog over to the bathrooms, go to the bathroom, jog up to the start of the race. And I bend down to time my shoes. And at that very moment, the announcer's like, "All right, the race starts in five, four." Like I hadn't been there a second. And the race is starting, you know, the countdown was on. And that was it. And again, it was just a product of me just not being a hundred percent. And I thought on the way there, I'm like, "Man, if I'm gonna do this, like you just, you gotta put it behind you." Somehow Michael Jordan did it when he was sick and he had a great game. I get you gotta kind of just do the same thing. That's what it is. You just, you kind of go into the mindset of playing with house money and you know it's not gonna be great. And somehow, somehow that works. 'Cause I told Kendall, like last time I did it in X amount of time, let's assume I'm not in the shape that I was in then, 'cause I just run on the marathon the last time. And I'm not feeling great. Give me like an extra mile a minute. Lure a mile per minute on the time. So like show up 15 minutes later. And I had a text that like, at mile 11 or 12, I was like, "Hey, I've got three left." And she's like, "Holy smokes, we gotta go." Because it was, I beat my time. It beat it by three minutes, which is, which is a, that's a long time race wise. But the second, the second that I stopped, like my lungs felt like they aged 15 years. Like I was running, I was fine. But the second I stopped, like all of a sudden, like breathing was labored and it was hard because whatever I've got, it sunk that deep. But we survived. And also, it means the world. Like Emmy and Gabby and Kendall all showed up right at the very ends. Like you cheer me on. And it's one of those things, like when you cheer someone at the end of the race, it seems really kind of anticlimactic 'cause it happens in the span of, you know, a minute more or less. Like you run by, you see him, you wave, you're happy, you finish. They tell you a good job and it's like, all right, time to go home. But it meant the world. Like coming around that corner, it's just seeing him all there and cheering. Like that is worth every second. And it means so, so much. Even though the span of it's very short and it comes and it goes right away, it's that the intensity of it means, means the absolute world. But then this race was so cool. Like I said, it was just, there's straight ups and straight downs. And one of the times, I was thinking about it. Like you're running like down this, like really rocky cliff, kind of like into the stream bed. Like you're dropping along long ways. And it reminds me of snowboarding. Like just the speed that your mind has to process, like how your eyes have to see like where you're running. And then you have to brainless process it. And then you're, it has to like program your feet to like not, you know, step to the wrong spot or else you're gonna go face first into rock. It is, it was crazy. Like it just makes you appreciate like, how amazing all that stuff is. I think I have more than appreciation for it because of my job. Like we, when we work with kids, we break these things down in individual components and help them progress in different ways. Like you work on the visual and you work on the processing and you work on the motor. Like when you put that into action, like I think of snowboarding. Like we'd go up to Schweitzer and I don't know if I'm gonna run. Like maybe it was crystal. Garrett and I would, we'd go to the backside and you go all the way over down. And then like you drop into style. Like it's a furthest one over. We'd love going over there though because there wasn't a ton of tracks and it was like the train was like just a little bit more unpredictable. So you're going down. You have to think so freaking fast. And it's just astounding that your brain can go that quick because especially like when you're looking right in front of you. Like it's constantly going. It's kind of the same thing like running down the sail. It's just amazing how quickly your brain does it or else you're stepping on a rock just the slight wrong way your balance is off and you're going face first because you're flying. But I was cool. It was a good race. Survived. I think I'm probably paid for it. Like I push myself away too hard because I've been just trying to make it through ever since, like the cold or the illness, whatever, it is still hanging on. I never threw up, thank God. Like this is the, the, the straits that I have to take in order to get past that. And that was, that was the sacrifice I made somewhere online. And that's what fate said. Then we'll take this over that any, any day. But finally everybody's feeling better. We're on the up and up. It's great. We survived. I thought I was getting a blister like halfway through and I was just sure I was gonna take my shoe off and it was gonna look horrible. But nothing was there. I think it's just the race. It worked out. And, and we survived. All right, I owe you one. (upbeat music) ♪ You know who you are ♪ ♪ Yeah, who you are ♪ Kindle's been gone ever since Monday. And there are so many people to think for this. Like it's a lot of work. I, I've said before I'll say it again, single parents is astounding what they do. I mean, just the amount that you have to juggle. Like yeah, you're taking care of your kids. But there's so many little things that I feel like when you're a couple, like you, you kind of share that mental load a little bit. Like someone takes care of this. Someone takes care of that. When you're on your own, you're handling every little bit of it. And you're spending all your time like I would get home and I'm getting the girls, like you gotta get them dinner and get them to bath or get their jams on and then get them to bed. And then oh, I've gotta make their lunch. And I've gotta make my lunch for tomorrow. It's just a ton of little things that you just don't have time for when you're on your own. And it's a lot. We made it. But again, in no small part, thanks to Kendall's mom, Lori for coming up. She made dinner one night and helped with the girls. My mom came up one night and helped with the girls, like picking them up from school 'cause they get off from school early when they get off from work. So it makes it just, it's hard and it's convenient to take it off more time from work. So like they are both really, really helpful in taking care of those things. For Dana, like their daycare person, Man she's so tolerant. Like there are sometimes I spent, I said I'm like the girls like they are coughing. Like they don't sound great. But man, oh man, she's so, so tolerant of it. And it doesn't mind, just let's it go. I mean, there's sometimes I probably could have missed multiple days this week 'cause the girls just weren't great. I can't wait, finally better. We've just been hit, it was the RSV and then the ear infections, then they're throwing up. And now whatever I've got, they've got like this cough, weird kind of thing going on. We're all so, but thanks to all those people from making up through this week. 'Cause I, so I called this on Thursday, Kendall's about home and she'll pick the girls up and we'll have made it through. But it's a lot and it takes a village and I'm so appreciative and so grateful. I'm so close to so many people who can help out. Granted with that said, also major things. I was picking the girls up on Monday and I got there at the same time as the dads and the other kids was there. And he's in the Air Force and his wife's in the Air Force and she was deployed like in February and doesn't get back into like this fall. So he's a single dad for at least, it's like six to eight months with four boys. Like here I am, like complaining that it's four days and that's a lot, I can't imagine. Like just knowing like your wife's, oh she's leaving in February and she might be back by Halloween, it's just, man that's insane. So also thanks for the sacrifices that those people make. Like it is just that to me is just incomprehensible. And like knowing your kids, like they're not gonna see their mom for that period of time. Like the sacrifices that are made on all different sides. This, I, well you wondered all those people. Like that, that to me is just crazy. Just crazy the sacrifices. All right, Sean's what he went to. - All right listeners, it's time for hidden passions, wild hobbies and that one thing that you didn't know miles was obsessed with. Buckle up, it's time for Sean's, what are you into? - I talked about it, I talked about a podcast that I listened to that had the background, like they explained the auditory creation of this. But the Harry Potter, the full cast editions, they came out on Audible. I was waiting until Audible sent me another deal where it's like here, it's a dollar a month for three months and then we'll turn you for a price. Cool, I'm gonna sign up for it and then cancel it but I'm gonna take advantage and get these Harry Potter books for a dollar a month. Man, they're so cool. I was worried that I just listened to all these things last year, the gym day of narrated versions of it. And I thought it'd be, "Nackah, I just listened to that, "it's not gonna be as good." This is a completely different ball game. These, the product is, it's not even like in the same category. It's not an audiobook at the end of the day. None of these are audiobooks. It's like a full radio, production, auditory, play. Just an experience. I imagine if you listened to the radio like 50 years ago, it might have been like the stories that they tell was something kind of like this. Because yeah, there's the audio and it's different actors doing different voices and everyone's got their own voice and their own actor. But as I talked about before, it's all the underlying stuff. All of the audio behind it, like I was just listening to, I'm on the second to last chapter, and that last chapter now of the Sorcerer's Stone, almost done with it. And as I was listening to it, it's like there's not a single strand of audio that is like standalone. Like there's always overlap. Like there's the character's talking. And then there is the sound effects, always going, like there's a sound effect for everything going on in the background. And then sometimes there's like a little bit of background music happening below that. And there's difference. Like if it said like everybody cheered, like they don't say everybody cheers, like it's Harry and Ron and Hermione all cheering. And like there's just so much more that goes into an amazing production. If you listen to it, you gotta listen to it with headphones or like in a car somewhere where you're like in stereo. Because there are several times where I had like look over my shoulder because the sound was so well done that it felt like something was happening behind me. And I look and it's like, no, that's your headphones, idiot. That's the book. And that's like the whatever's happening in the story. That's that happening. Like it's just amazing and it's well done. I was listening to the scene where at the end of the Sorcerer's Stone, like they're trying to catch the keys. Like they went through the trap door and they're trying to catch the keys like flying through the air. And A, you've got like the sound effects of like these, like the flapping and the fluttering of the keys, like going left to right in your headphones and like they're in front of you and behind you. It's like it's just an amazing, stereopic experience. If that's even a word. And then you got like Harry and Ron and Hermione, like all shouting here and there and like they got their voices and they got their lines. And then there's like this, again, like the underlying, like kind of background music playing. It's just it's an entire experience and it's really really well done. And it's worth, if you've ever listened to Harry Potter, you care about it, it's worth listening to. The actors are great. I think Harry, Hermione is the best, or Hermione, I always call her Hermione, Hermione. One of the best cast, like her voice is just, sounds like Emma Watson, it just is perfect, fits her. And then Hagrid is also just perfectly cast. It is Ned Stark from Game of Thrones, but I prefer like We Grow up with Jack Frost. I love that movie. He is the drummer, kind of like the uncle that kind of like steps in when the spoiler, the dad dies. I think he's perfect. You can kind of hear that shine through every now and then, like the Jack Frost guy kind of cutting through. And man, he crushes Hagrid. Like just so well done. Hagrid initially in the movies was fantastic. This guy, I think is even better, but that might just be my bias talking as well. Anyways, they're great. I'm excited to listen to the rest of them. Almost done with one, hoping to get through two, like in this little like bottle of all thing that I've gotten, and we'll have to get through us later. It's hard, like I've got the Mariners games, I've got other podcasts, I got music I listen to, like I just can't plow through these things. And probably with this, 'cause it's meant to be enjoyed and savored and not just rushed through. And man, Kenzie got me out of the room and they are so freaking good. So well done. I was worried it'd just be like just another audiobook, but man, it's something entirely, entirely different. It's so cool. Oh, anything else? Oh, also. Hermione's great, Hagrid's great. Hugh Laurie as Dumbledore, like House as Dumbledore, he's awesome as well. He's not a big part of book one, Sorcerer's Stone, but every time he comes up, it's like, oh, you can hear it. Sounds so good. All right, that's it. That's all I've got. My voice is about ready to crack and fall apart. I don't know how much I got left. We made it through. Thank you all for listening. I appreciate it. Enjoy the sunset on this weekend. The pickles got a game on Saturday and picture day. I do explain to em you what picture day for Teaball was. We're gonna get the individual pictures and then the team's all gonna line up and it's gonna be cute and great. And pickles will be on there somewhere. But they got a game on Saturday. It's gonna be sunny, 55 and great. Anyways, go pickles, go mariners. Thank you all for listening and we'll talk to you on the flip side. Bye. (upbeat music) - What do you want, Gems? - Cozy. - You wanna be cozy? - Yeah. - With what? - Bucky. - You wanna be cozy with the blankie? - Yeah. - Should I wrap you up? - Yeah. - There we go. What do you say? - Thank you. - I love you. - I love you.