Shed Dogs

In the time we’ve been making this podcast, we’ve tried hard to create a picture of three genial older men who anyone would like to chat with. Regardless of the success of that effort, in this episode we hint at a sadder aspect of those who lurk in the Shed. Yes, we have fun listener mail, we hear about the Vancouver Rise along, and we give our impressions of central vacuums. We laugh at a cute dog story. We even have a light brush with poetry. The troubling part comes with a topic we toss around lightly but which can surely only beg this scary question: Why do these guys know so much about anti-snoring devices? Alright, gotta go, time to catch some Zs, you know, saw some logs…

Links: Shed Dogs; the Vancouver Rise; Vancouver’s upcoming new hockey team; taxes withheld at source; anti-snoring devices; vibe coding; recurring dreams; built-in vacuum cleaners; BC’s fast food bags policy; the class action suit against TD Bank regarding their coin counting machines.

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, with permission.

This episode kicks off with RJ sharing why he and Sue are founding season ticket holders for the Vancouver Rise FC, the city’s entry in the women’s professional soccer Northern Super League. KJ gives us a couple of Snappers to wrestle with, as well as another glimpse into the Wide World of Theater: from the thrill of landing a role in a new production of “West Side Story”, to the agony of a power outage on the opening night of “Burning Mom”. The antidote? RJ’s admiration of season 2 of The White Lotus. He also brings news of daughter Hannah’s efforts in a 3-minute thesis contest.

Links: Shed Dogs; the Vancouver Rise; diving in soccer; the White Lotus; the exit row; Roger Daltry going deaf and blind; Burning Mom trailer; West Side Story.

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, by permission.

Special guest and originating visionary Hayley of Vancouver joins us in the Shed for our milestone 200th episode! We try to play it all very cool, even though (as we hear again in this episode) we have already caught the attention of various social media tool producers by our sheer longevity. Nothing spells success like people thinking they could make money from you, are we right? Still, even though on the inside we’re dancing around shouting and high-fiving each other, we coolly look at an unusually weak moneymaker, listen to Hayley’s deep disappointment over her middle name, hear another piece of Listener Mail, discuss baby names, hear about Rich’s planning for three foosball trips (one of which is anachronistic), and then…and then we slide into politics, as though against our will. Don’t worry, it’s grim. Your Shed Dogs have come to this. Stick with us, we’ll all get through it together.

Links: Shed Dogs; the award-winning Shambhala episode featuring Hayley of Vancouver; what RJ calls “bots”, at least the conversational ones like ChatGPT’s text mode, are actually Large Language Models (LLMs); Magic Mind (not an endorsement); Roderick on the Line (the buddy podcast RJ refers to); Michael Alig; the Canada Foosball Hall of Fame; fascism in the USA; Melania’s prenup; Ōura Ring.

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, with permission.

Poised to jet off to the 2025 World Cup of Foosball in Spain, RJ delights with his experiences and observations at the 1st Annual North American Multitable Foosball Tournament in Trois Rivières, Quebec, including scary stories about crossing the border these days. KJ lets us hear about a short movie from his daughter Lucy that will go to Cannes, and PJ talks (okay complains) about translation apps. We wander by tidbits about Japanese recycling ideas and favourite viewing choices like Mr. Inbetween, and share whatever fragments our memories hold about Formula 1 racing we may have seen and heard. Or was it the Molson Indy? All in all, we start out with no particular destination and get there in fine style, as usual. Get on board? 

Links: Shed Dogs; How Brief; Variety’s withering review of Never Ending Story III; “Travellers Who Do Not ‘Align’ with US Policies Risk Denial of Entry”; the Molson Indy; should travellers use translation apps?; Mr. Inbetween; seeds in Japan’s Mainichi newspaper; plastic recycling in BC.

In this month’s special episode we are joined by friend of the show and spiritual leader Hayley of Vancouver for a laid-back near-hour discussing some great listener mail, Snappers™, movie reviews, and of course the Super Bowl Halftime Show. We apparently also have a pretty upbeat view of the current state of award shows that we want you to hear about, plus a shorter and more bittersweet encounter with AI-generated content, too. Don’t worry, it’s not as mindbending as those previous ones, honest. Relax. Forget current events for a while. Just envision Buddy sleeping happily while we go on about the mainstream culture world. Everything will be fine.

Links: Shed Dogs; our Episode 193 (in which the bots discuss our Episode 193); Chuck Norris and USB plugs; how ammonia is made; Wynyard; Geoff Lindsey on Shtrong; Emilia Pérez; Wicked! Part 1; The 95th Academy Awards; watch Kendrick Lamar’s performance at the Super Bowl; Serena Williams Crip-walks at the Super Bowl; Top list of K- and C-Dramas; The White Lotus scene in the Italian piazza; will a heat pump cost less to operate than a natural gas furnace?

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, with permission.

RJ is heading to the World Foosball Championships in Spain this summer! It’s true, and you’ll hear about it here. You’ll also hear: a valuable PSA on what to do if you’re involved in a hit and run; really fun listener mail, our thoughts about our mentally taxing Episode 193, and for no real reason a good long talk about about how we use our vacuum cleaners, and how much they have sucked.

Links: Shed Dogs; lunar new year; Year of the Snake; Saskatchewan time; Emilia Perez; Helen Jarvis; Magic Mind (not brought to you by); the Foosball World Cup; Episode 193; shirt label location; Little Red Warrior; Elon Musk cheats.

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, with permission.

Just when we thought we had exhausted our language and usage outrage, we stumble upon a new wave of pronunciation changes that has crept up and caught us napping in our rocking chairs. So that’s the big news, but we also have Snappers, more from the world of Artificial Intelligence, some food reports from nearby eateries we’ve visited, another car oil change PSA, an introduction to Lifting Straps (which given our demographic I initially thought might be just sock garters, but thankfully not), and discussion with KJ about his recent very successful turn as Kris Kringle in the Arts Club Theatre production of “Miracle on 34th Street”. There is other stuff too, but that last sentence has worn us right out, so just go ahead and have a listen and let us know what you thought, how you’re doing, and what you’d love to hear about from us.

Links: Shed Dogs; Bobby Fingers; Yum! Gourmet Donuts; To Live For bakery; Innocent Ice Cream, Variable Valve Timing; use of botox to relieve migraines; review of Miracle on 34th Street; Kagi search engine.

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, with permission.

We were so focused on our material in this episode that we were apparently taken by surprise that we are marking seven years of, ummm, Shed stuff. This episode is largely listener mail, which we always enjoy, in which we had to revisit old, old wounds from high school days, discuss health and medical care as people our age do, and marvel at the concept of digital dentures (which sounds a lot more fun and exciting than it actually is). So we’ve all penciled in entries on our paper calendars to remember to make a way bigger deal of it when we record our epic 200th episode. But until that shows up, feel free to enjoy this one!

Links: Shed Dogs; digital dentures; Scrap Arts Music; rotator cuff; Tripadvisor; Rick Steves; Dakotas Fanning and Johnson; dogs selling perfume; brain fog; Wynyard, Sask; washing machine sensors; getting the stink out of exercise gear; types of heat pumps per the BC government; natural gas.

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, with permission.

Salty Dogs, you say? Yes, as in salt water taffy and sailing the seas in the late 1700s. Those are just a couple of landfalls this episode makes as we hear about RJ’s trip to Portland, Astoria, and points in between, eat the saltwater taffy he brings us (don’t worry, we were mostly careful about the misophonia), wonder how bathtubs in hotels and motels are somehow not slippery yet don’t feel like sandpaper, and by a route we no longer recall get to talking about DNRs and a few of the many questions there are on that topic. You may be able to help us out on that one—it’s an important topic and we are not really up to speed. Give us a hand. Have a few laughs. Maybe even learn something, who knows? Let’s go!

Links: Shed Dogs; Astoria; article on the magic shop in Astoria featuring the dude RJ and Sue spoke to there; John Jacob Astor; John Jacob Astor IV (the one that died on the Titanic); the Lewis and Clark Expedition; Cannon Beach; The Geology of the North Oregon Coast; Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area; Salt Water Taffy; the Interstate Bridge; an amazing video of the the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in a 35 mph wind; recycling plastic in BC; a typical Rivian repair; The Lexus LS400 and the Birth of the Japanese Luxury Brands; why paramedics need to ask about DNRs; fascinating HMS Victory video (even for someone like RJ who normally isn’t drawn to this kind of stuff); Master & Commander.

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, with permission.

Our latest episode presents the listener with a bit of a puzzle: who are those two people that comment and expand upon most of the segments? You’ll figure it out, but if not, it hopefully will become clear by the time we get to a key segment later on. If it still isn’t clear, well that’s because what RJ said we’d do didn’t exactly match with what he finally did while up there in the control booth. He hopes the punishment issued by our podcast overlords isn’t too severe.

We also get a look at KJ’s glamorous acting life—riding horses, doing auditions, and attending gala events, among other things. The word “champagne” never comes up but you just know it’s being splashed around in there somewhere. We get so excited that we propose turning audition taping into a whole industry of its own. We also get really fun listener mail, and then discuss an AI-generated discussion of your humble yet fantastic Shed Dogs (see above). It’s a fascinating look into the evolution of AI applications, even if it has a certain “once you hear it, you can’t unhear it” quality. But you be the judge, and let us know what you think! 

Links: Shed Dogs; the elections we discuss are: BC Provincial, US Federal, Canadian Federal; When Calls the Heart; patriarch; Attendance; Hunting Matthew Nichols; self-taping auditions (though this author was unaware of the amazing opportunity to hire extras for self-tapes); Allegiance; TV revenue trend; Rust Valley Restorers on Netflix; Slow Horses; YouTube Premium; short-form videos (TikTok, reels, Facebook Shorts, etc.); NotebookLM.

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, with permission.