You might know Garrett Vogel as the on-air producer for the Elvis Durant Show, but there's more to his story than meets the ear. Tune in as we embark on a metaphorical, and quite literal, hike with him. We'll uncover the tales behind his red-carpet encounters, the backstory to his Staten Island roots, and the way he navigates his everyday life with Type 1 Diabetes. Expect laughs, candid insights, and a fair share of bugs along the way.
Our journey takes us on a deep-dive into the workings of the radio industry, from the hilarious prank calls to the complex negotiations that occur behind the scenes. Garrett's invaluable lessons about being assertive, speaking up, and asking for forgiveness, not permission, are golden nuggets of advice helpful to everyone, regardless of their profession. As we navigate the terrain, not only do we discuss the real concerns of the industry, such as the potential of AI replacing creative work, but also touch upon personal moments of his life, like his two frightening encounters with hypoglycemia.
Finally, we bring it home by discussing not just the thrills of the industry, but also the stakes. The reality of raising kids in the spotlight, the hustler mentality that's needed to succeed, and even the unexpected encounters with wildlife – yes, we're talking about a copperhead snake here! As we wind down, Garrett offers words of wisdom on why it's necessary to take risks and pursue passion, especially for those aspiring to make a mark in broadcasting. So, join us, and let's hit the trail with Garrett Vogel for a podcast episode that's as engaging as it is informative.
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You might know Garrett Vogel as the on-air producer for the Elvis Durant Show, but there's more to his story than meets the ear. Tune in as we embark on a metaphorical, and quite literal, hike with him. We'll uncover the tales behind his red-carpet encounters, the backstory to his Staten Island roots, and the way he navigates his everyday life with Type 1 Diabetes. Expect laughs, candid insights, and a fair share of bugs along the way.
Our journey takes us on a deep-dive into the workings of the radio industry, from the hilarious prank calls to the complex negotiations that occur behind the scenes. Garrett's invaluable lessons about being assertive, speaking up, and asking for forgiveness, not permission, are golden nuggets of advice helpful to everyone, regardless of their profession. As we navigate the terrain, not only do we discuss the real concerns of the industry, such as the potential of AI replacing creative work, but also touch upon personal moments of his life, like his two frightening encounters with hypoglycemia.
Finally, we bring it home by discussing not just the thrills of the industry, but also the stakes. The reality of raising kids in the spotlight, the hustler mentality that's needed to succeed, and even the unexpected encounters with wildlife – yes, we're talking about a copperhead snake here! As we wind down, Garrett offers words of wisdom on why it's necessary to take risks and pursue passion, especially for those aspiring to make a mark in broadcasting. So, join us, and let's hit the trail with Garrett Vogel for a podcast episode that's as engaging as it is informative.
Contribute to the granola bar fund :)
Follow The Journey on Instagram
Tiktok?
Submit Feedback
Apply to be a guest
Become a Sponsor
Alright, let's rock and roll, let's do it. Alright, Garrett Vogel, are you okay with being recorded on a podcast?
Speaker 2:Yes, which is odd because I'm normally saying that to the other side of it, so it'll be on the other end is weird, but yes, there goes that liability.
Speaker 1:This is I Took a Hike. I'm your host, darren Mass, founder of Business Therapy Group and Parktime Wilderness Philosopher. Here we step out of the boardrooms and home offices and into the great outdoors where the hustle of entrepreneurship meets the rustle of nature. In this episode we meander with Garrett Vogel, on-air producer for the Elvis Durant Show, and the voice behind Phone Taps. Along the trail we delve into the experiences with celebrities on red carpets thriving in the premier limelight, growing up in the studio with Regis Philbin and living with Type 1 Diabetes. This hike was a clear glimpse into a radio personality with a familiar voice, causing me to do a few mental double takes when I took a hike with Garrett Vogel. So, garrett, what is it that you do? Because you are a very famous voice in my head.
Speaker 2:Well, I am a part of a very big nationally syndicated radio show, the Elvis Durant Morning Show, which is broadcast out of New York City and locally in New York, new Jersey, on Z100, on the radio. Slash the iHeart app.
Speaker 1:So if you are listening and you haven't heard that, then you are definitely under a rock somewhere in the Tri-State area.
Speaker 2:Yeah, or 79 other cities across the country. There you go, All right awesome.
Speaker 1:So what do you do for the show?
Speaker 2:I am a producer slash on air host of the show, so it's pretty much just. It's a big family slash team of people bringing a lot of ideas and thoughts and creativity together and just trying to make it fun, entertaining and letting your 20 minute commute to work go by as quickly or slowly as possible so you don't have to worry about the big things in life Like mortgages or your boss or things like that. So the easy distraction of your day, hopefully.
Speaker 1:One thing I can say is I certainly tune into certain radio programs so I can forget about those little annoyances in life. Exactly, and if you are successful at your job, then I would say people are very appreciative. So thank you for that, no problem.
Speaker 2:So what does it mean to be a producer? It's more of just being that person or best friend to help someone out in a pinch, bringing stuff to the table, whether it be doing a red carpet interview or prank phone calls or just bringing ideas to the show, because, again, no one person can come up with just everything. There's a whole slew, a family, a team of people that bring all these things together. So it's just pretty much just trying to fill in the blanks where need be, like trying to jump on the crazy carousel of a show and trying to contribute any way possible.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we're going to come back to prank phone calls, because if you don't know, garrett, I know a secret and we'll get there. So we'll come back to that in a moment. But let's talk about the red carpet. Now that you just threw that out there, what celebrities I'm throwing up air quotes celebrities have you interviewed on the red carpet? This episode is sponsored by Business Therapy Group. Are you feeling lost along the winding trails of your business journey, searching for guidance to spark your entrepreneurial ambitions? Look no further. At Business Therapy Group, we're here to help you navigate the challenges and guide you to business and professional success. Book your session with me at Business TherapyGroupcom to break free from the entanglement of employees, processes and growth. Take action now and book your first session.
Speaker 2:Literally everyone from Matt Damon to Brad Pitt, leonardo DiCaprio, any musical like. It's so weird because, like you think about it, you don't realize how many people you actually have talked to, even though for a microsecond of a time. But it's one of those lists where when you hang out with your friends and you're like, hey, what celebrities would you love to meet, there's a good chance I've met them all. It's like my list, my bucket list has changed over the last 20 years. Some people have a list of three or four people. That list has changed several times for me. So who's currently on your bucket list? To be honest, I I think the only type of people I haven't met were presidents. Outside of presidents, I pretty much have come in contact or talking with, or seen or with anybody pretty much who is?
Speaker 1:your favorite If you had to say you had a fanboy moment, which one I've always had this thing for Justin Timberlake.
Speaker 2:I don't know if it's his swag or just his demeanor, but he was the guy I literally would be like you know what? That's the type of guy I would sit down and have a drink with at the bar and he would probably have the same. It's just he'll look in the eye and have a conversation with you and make sure you're the only person in the room, even though there might be 100 or 1000 other people in the room or concert or wherever. You're just like wow, it's like he might not actually fully care, but he makes it feel like you feel like he cares.
Speaker 1:He gives you the one on one attention. I will tell you, I fully agree with you. I am a huge fan of Justin Timberlake, not only because he has immense talent, he absolutely does. When I saw him on Saturday Night Live and he created some of the most iconic skits.
Speaker 2:For someone who wasn't on the cast, and that's the cool thing. I think that's the other thing, too that I appreciate is he's not just one thing. I live by that to a degree too. It's not just one thing. You got to be different things, because if you're just one thing in life, then you're kind of just. Unless you're Jordan or Tom Brady, you can't just bank on one thing. You got to be a Harlem Globetrotter and spinning several different plates to make things work and make sure you're happy and having fun doing it.
Speaker 1:Hey listener, thanks for hiking along with us. Discover more episodes at hightokahikecom. Or to recommend an adventurous guest, apply to be a sponsor, discover books along the trail, or to simply drop us a line.
Speaker 2:Only on in life. I knew I just didn't want to be doing the typical nine to five, wanted to be out and about and not be behind a desk. That was my main thing. I just didn't want to be behind a desk. We're in a suit and tie. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but for me personally, I just knew that that wasn't my path in life.
Speaker 1:You'll be happy to know. Not many people go to work in a suit and tie anymore yeah, but just the phrase and same thing.
Speaker 2:they don't work nine to five, but just the typical quote unquote phrase of it all.
Speaker 1:So I assume I'm making an assumption you love your job.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I actually just celebrated being there 20 years about two weeks ago in.
Speaker 1:July. That is amazing. Have you ever given an interview while hiking?
Speaker 2:No, this is the first Like. I said there's a first for everything, and that's why it was so intriguing.
Speaker 1:I win the first. That's awesome. Okay, good. So let's talk about your personal life just a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1:What was that like?
Speaker 2:I grew up in Staten Island. My parents did the Brooklyn thing, where they were born and raised in Brooklyn. They went to Staten Island and typical story is now they were supposed to move to Jersey, where they stopped in Staten Island and me and my wife picked up and we went to Jersey. So it's either we're moving to Florida after that or my kids are down the road. Yep, that's the path in life living in the New Jersey area.
Speaker 1:We keep moving down south, Right exactly Go to the warps.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I grew up in Staten Island, have two sisters, brittany and Ashley. It's weird, as I'm going to be 39 and they're in their mid-30s and my sister Brittany just had her first kid and celebrated her first year of marriage and my other sister, ashley, is just coming into her own in life. It's weird, the same people grown up playing pretty princess with are now adults.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, it goes by really fast. By the way, that sound happens to be the train from the Turtleback Zoo. There we are. We are on the opposite side of South Mountain Reservation.
Speaker 2:I've been on that many of times I have as well.
Speaker 1:It is a painful ride on your 15th experience.
Speaker 2:It's actually either the best way to start the day at Turtleback Zoo or end the day, or just take that time out.
Speaker 1:If you like your knees. This is professional advice. If you like your knees, turn sideways For the taller folk out there, yes, exactly, All right. So you grew up you have two sisters. What?
Speaker 2:type of a child were you? I was more of a, I guess quiet introvert until about eighth grade. I just broke out of my shell of sorts of where I just wasn't quiet anymore. That's where I started finding my passion of doing something different. I wanted to play for the New York Knicks, and some can argue that I can now too, depending on the team I wanted to play sports.
Speaker 1:You wanted to play for the New York Knicks. Are you good at basketball?
Speaker 2:I was okay, I was good. When you're in eighth grade, you don't realize the immense talent that is out there. As a kid best dream to have, you're going to play in Madison Square Garden underneath the lights, in front of thousands. What did your dad say when you told him he was cool? That was a cool thing, my dad. I grew up in a very unique situation. My dad was one of the main managers at Toys R Us.
Speaker 1:He literally yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, all your friends thought you were the coolest.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oddly enough, as we got into high school and college, he then was the one employing us for winter breaks and summer jobs.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, that is absolutely a holy grail job right there.
Speaker 2:Of course, as a kid too, your dad working for Toys R Us. It was a lot of hey. Can your dad help me get Nintendo 64 or PlayStation or this doll or whatever?
Speaker 1:The.
Speaker 2:Furby Correct, it was the Furby. We've been through it all. Fortunately enough, I've never been subject to not have my family and my sisters have never been subject to oh man, we didn't get. Blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 1:We always got it. Wow, all right. You were a lucky, fortunate kid there. Your dad empowered your dreams.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he pretty much was the same thing, Same thing with my mom too. I get my passion for communications from my mom as well. My dad's the quiet one my mom was. She wanted to be a news anchor growing up and she actually went to journalism school at NYU. And in the mid-80s a little kid, after my parents got married, a little kid named Garrett came along and if you ever watch Mad Men you know how it was back in the 80s, where women really weren't given that opportunity to succeed. Having a pregnant lady on the news wasn't exactly newsworthy. Yeah, it really wasn't. It didn't connect, as my mom said. As she was told, she took a job in trafficking continuity at WABC in New York and worked for ABC and she was with that job for close to 40 years. Did she ever tell you that she was sad about her career or that no not at all. She wanted to do it, but she also knew that she couldn't get rid of me. She was having me. So it was that and just like every parent's story, when you have the first kid and you have kids right, I have three daughters, I have two kids, but when your parents for the first time and it's just like you're just going to do whatever it takes to survive as the other kids go we're not life or death right now, so it gets easier as you have more kids, obviously, but the sense of like being that college kid hungry and eating ramen. That's how you act when you're having a kid for the first time, where you're just very cautious of things.
Speaker 1:You don't want to harm the baby. Hold the baby We'll hold the baby.
Speaker 2:but in your life you're like how are we going to pay for this, this, this?
Speaker 1:So it was more about just having a job and going for it If their baby comes out and all of a sudden it's like whatever. Let them play over there. Exactly, it's in the matches.
Speaker 2:Right. So that was my mom. She was more like you've got to do this for the family, take the job still working in the communications business and being surrounded, and for her sticking around and working with it. That's where my bug for it all came through.
Speaker 1:So you fed off of her stories and her inspiration?
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, that and the fact that her office literally was right next to Regis Philbins. So I grew up with Regis playing, with Regis playing on a set of Regis and Kathy Lee when no one was around, at the age of five through 11.
Speaker 1:That's really cool.
Speaker 2:So I joke. I joke, if I do it now I'd probably be arrested, but as a kid it was cool. So as people would watch the five o'clock news, I would be in the newsroom watching the five o'clock news live. So just being around the elements of it kind of got that bug in me to do what I'm doing now to a degree.
Speaker 1:When you were that age, did you realize how extraordinary and unique? Oh, not at all.
Speaker 2:I don't think any kid really does at that age. Do you think it's cool? Yeah, I guess it no, but do you understand the magnitude of it? Not at all, but now you obviously do, Of course. And same thing my kids. They understand it. Dad's on the radio and when they're in the car it's hey, that's dad's voice. But they don't understand how many people that are listening at any given time. They will eventually, but as a five-year-old and an eight-year-old, it's a cool thing.
Speaker 1:Which is how many people are listening at any given time.
Speaker 2:Any given time, anywhere from a million to five million, and then close to 20 million a week, and you really don't realize it at all, because you're in a room of five to eight people at any given time. You don't realize how many people are truly listening. And then putting into fact the online aspect of the world yeah, streaming, yeah, streaming. It makes it even more.
Speaker 1:Well, really fun and interesting. Fact, that's slightly more than the listeners of the show. There we go, just a smidge, just a smidge.
Speaker 2:A tinge.
Speaker 1:So we've got our first obstacle here that we have to navigate Huge tree falling in the road. You would think they would clean this up.
Speaker 2:Who's this thing? You're in nature.
Speaker 1:Nature will clean this up. I think we've got a path, though Some ants will carry these logs away Over time. Yes, not too bad. Let me ask you when did you develop the radio voice, or was this just always your thing?
Speaker 2:This was just my voice. I mean growing up in New York, especially in Staten Island, if you're familiar with the area. I am very familiar with Staten Island. It's very Italian. It is extremely Italian. My parents are both Irish and German, so I have zero Italian in my blood, so I you know. That must have worked out really well in grade school. Well, everybody, because there we go, you're from Staten Island, you don't sound like it and it's just because that's how my voice is. You know I don't have the hey how you doing, you know, but I think that's you know, I think that's you know, I think that's you know kind of worked in my benefit in the sense of just being able to communicate in general. So yeah.
Speaker 1:So I will say it's kind of uncanny, walking next to you, that voice, I hear it on the radio and it's a little bit odd that my right ear is picking up the fact that I feel like I'm listening to you on the radio.
Speaker 2:The left ear, though it's on its own, but the left ear is listening to this and it's. You know, the cool thing about radio. You know, for the time being it was kind of you kind of flew on the radar, kind of like very Batman-esque, you know. No one really knew who you were. And then the inception of social media kind of changed the game a little bit, but not a ton. But you know you're able to just do normal things. But it's still cool when people hey love listening to the show. And how wild is that. They love it. And you bathed in bug spray before.
Speaker 1:So you obviously cannot see this, but I bathed myself in bug spray and there's hundreds of gnats around my recording gear. I have learned over these hikes that Just accept it Something in there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, something in there.
Speaker 1:It's the frequency, yeah as you were saying.
Speaker 2:No, you know social media being around, you know people are now being able to access your life a little bit more, which is, you know, it's definitely an interesting slash, cool, you know, life experiment.
Speaker 1:But so at what point did you say you wanted to go into radio as your medium? Where did it?
Speaker 2:happen, naturally. Naturally, I went to a bullathon between two radio stations one being where Elvis was on and still is on, z100, where I currently work versus another radio station, senior year of high school. I literally went there and I said, hey, I'd love to work for your show one day. And his response Elvis was all right, cool, get some college credit. I was a senior in high school so it really wasn't, you know, an option just yet, but I was going into freshman year of college. So day one of college, after I dropped my boxes off I didn't even unpack my room I went straight to the communications offices, introduced myself and asked for internship credit, where they just said, okay, crazy kid, get out of here. Crazy ambitious kid. Internship credits are for juniors and seniors, you know, because the whole idea of, well, it can transition into a job, and I said, screw it, I need them now. So that spring semester of freshman year, going into summer, that's when I got my first internship credit with the radio station and then that transitioned into, you know, a part-time job, working at the radio station, answering phones on Friday nights, saturdays, you know, taking the train up from Central Jersey up to Jersey City at the time and doing whatever it took. And then by junior year I ran out of internship credit and they said, well, what can you do when I go, I'm going to write a thesis. What college was this? A Ryder University, where is that? In Lawrenceville, new Jersey, right between Princeton and Trenton. So a little bit of best of both worlds. And the school said, okay, write a thesis, that's great, good job, kid. 20 pages of a diary pretty much of what I did at the radio station, that's what it was. And then I found a loophole in the system. So I got myself back there junior year for the morning show and then senior year rolled around and I said, well, I could write two thesis. And they were like, yeah, so I just rounded different avenue of the morning show to write a thesis about and senior year wrote it, and then by spring semester of senior year, job opened up with the morning show and I pretty much started working from that moment on.
Speaker 1:So I love the hustle, I love the drive, and the underlying theme here is that if you ask worst cases, you get a no. So your college told you, no, you can't get internship credits. And you kept pushing with persistence and you got them.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, yeah, that's the and I've learned that later on in life where it's easier to ask and someone saying no than not ask at all, and then always question like, well, I should have asked, and I wonder, if I did ask, if what would have happened, versus not asking and just sitting there and just twiddling your thumbs and pulling your hair out. Well, better to ask for forgiveness than permission, correct.
Speaker 1:But what you will hear is this is absolutely an underlying theme of assertion for any executive or empowered person is that they're not afraid to ask to fail for the no and then be persistent. Those with sales as well. Right, that first no is just. Oh, of course you have to pivot.
Speaker 2:But I think I've also started to apply that in life too, where a lot of people take advantage of just others and if you don't speak up, things are just going to go by the wayside and people are going to live on with their way, knowing that they got away with whatever, unless you speak up. And then that's where people then get nervous, because you're speaking up, knowing you're calling them on their BS. Oh, there's a lot of BS out there.
Speaker 1:Trust me, I know I mean. Does it concern you that both of those thesis papers or thesis could have been written by AI or with AI at about 10 minutes?
Speaker 2:Now, yeah, but 20 years ago not so much. Ai wasn't even a thing 20 years ago to write those papers.
Speaker 1:It wasn't a thought, but it is quite concerning that these days you can shortcut mostly anything.
Speaker 2:Oh, of course, I mean to simple. I had friends who were going through a breakup and our group of friends didn't know what to say, so they put what was going on into AI and they got a thoughtful response back to send to a friend, which something that you nor I could have probably even thought of. Well, we could have thought of it. It might have taken a while, but AI did it in seconds and sure enough, it was that being a good friend and just sending the text, I mean it's quite concerning in a way, but if AI is pivoted and used properly, this is the evolution of man at this point. Oh, of course. That's why the writers and actors are striking right now.
Speaker 1:Speaking of which, we were supposed to go on this hike a few weeks ago and you had to strike as part of the union.
Speaker 2:Oh yes, so our union, that we're in the broadcasters broadcast doesn't fall under the striking, but you still show solidarity and you show up and you support and that's what we did.
Speaker 1:So is the main concern that writers are going to be displaced by AI. It's twofold.
Speaker 2:It's the AI aspect and the fact that people aren't getting compensated properly for streaming services. So 10 years ago, about 10 years ago, there was another strike from the actors and their argument was streaming was going to change the game, which it has. But unfortunately, they're playing off of 10 years ago rules where CEOs and corporations are benefiting from the streaming services, like Mandy Moore getting eight cents for an episode of this Is Us, where Hulu paid a buttload of money to have the rights to air this Is Us. So it's like that's what they're arguing now. You said play along 10 years ago and look what happened now. Look where we are. So why are we going to play along with you now, or raising this AI issue in good faith, because you obviously screwed us?
Speaker 1:So we're not trusting what the suits are saying.
Speaker 2:Correct, and it's just anything in life where the big CEOs are like, well, you just don't understand the numbers, where they're making billions of dollars when a guy who's writing for a show is making a couple thousand and because of the union, you got to make a certain amount of money just to be covered by health benefits. So that's why actors like the Rock and others are pouring their own hard earned money and millions of dollars into a fund just to help those people that need help with the simplest of things of life insurance, just like many people are out there.
Speaker 1:So I fully understand the argument and the concern. I think we might be giving those CEOs too much credit, especially with the streaming side. As you just mentioned is, sometimes the CEOs don't have a crystal ball and don't know where things are going. But that's the way that it evolves. We all love to label the CEO as the big bad ugly individual, but if you look at the role of the CEO, the CEO's sole responsibility in a publicly traded organization is to protect and increase shareholder value. Oh, correct, right, so it's not really so. Maniacal, no-transcript big evil genius twiddling his thumbs together. So that's my piece on that.
Speaker 2:But also but with that too the support there. The CEO's job isn't easy in anything in life and I get that but also being a good team player and realizing the people that are putting the hard work into the product that year. Then in turn, making millions of dollars off of Netflix, made like close to a billion dollars when episodes are getting paid. Episodes of what Stranger Things are a million and a half per episode.
Speaker 1:At this point it's amazing, so I fully align with that. So where do we stand right now with the strike Cause? I believe it's still ongoing correct.
Speaker 2:Yep, it's still negotiations as we speak, right now what month? Are we at? It's over a hundred days, I know that. So month 3.5. Yeah, just about. Personally, I think it's gonna go into the new year.
Speaker 1:And this is the reason why new shows are not being produced.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, no one's gonna really feel the effects until about January, because there will be no new shows.
Speaker 1:Well it's similar to with COVID right, COVID. We had our shows and all of a sudden, there's no new movies, there's no new Netflix specials. There's all these reported documentaries and other language shows coming in on Netflix.
Speaker 2:Well, you're gonna get a lot of all the stuff that they said no to a year or two ago. Well no, they shot it but they never went through it, they never pushed forward. Now they're gonna push forward those projects where, at the end of the day, all it's gonna do is just heard the product, where everyone's like it's another reality show with 10 people sitting in a house. So where do you think this is going to end up? I think eventually there will be probably some type of meat in the middle, personally, but when, don't know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the W is to be determined. Oh yeah, most likely, it's going to end up with both sides losing, as they use things usually do Yep, all right, there will be some liberties granted on the union side and some Ws on the production side, simply because people need to go back to work.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, not even that. Everyone's thinking about CEOs and actors and writers, but it's the grips, it's the stage hands, it's the hair and makeup people. The people that need that paycheck. It's literally the people that are working paycheck to paycheck the food truck people that show up on set, the lighting, the grips. It goes far beyond just doing. We talked to a production assistant who worked on several shows and now is literally just doing grub hub just to make money.
Speaker 1:So they don't get paid at all? No, they. Yeah. I thought the union covers some period of time of salary.
Speaker 2:Well, not the case, not for everybody. Well, for union members. But those people that are production assistants and whatnot, they're not the union, they're just working for a company, at that point.
Speaker 1:So they've pivoted their careers and chances are sometimes they might not come back to those careers, Right?
Speaker 2:after just coming out of two years, of two to three years of just not having a career, they just got back up and started to just they're going backwards and they're almost living. Deja vu again.
Speaker 1:What a nightmare, absolute nightmare. So let's do a pivot. Yeah, we talked about prank phone calls before, and if you're scratching your head wondering, why is this voice so familiar? Something called phony phone calls, yeah, phone taps, yeah.
Speaker 2:So why don't you talk about that for a little bit? I mean, it goes back to the crank anchor days, the jerky boy days. We all listen to them, we all have done them to our friends and it's interesting seeing how many people are out there that I mean, as you know, as we do this, everyone has a story. You know, from the simplest of things to the largest of things, and you know we just took advantage of the opportunity at the time. You know they started almost 20 years ago, maybe 21 years ago, which is longer than most shows. Yeah, you know, but it's people. Just everybody has that one thing you know, we all know that one friend that will flip out on on when a waiter doesn't bring enough ice cubes into the cup and wants a refund. I have a friend that freaked out about that Right, Like like the simplest of things, everybody has a story. It's probably one ice cube why?
Speaker 1:not two.
Speaker 2:Everybody has a story, so we're just kind of taking advantage of that with you know, their, their friends and family and loved ones. So what was your favorite one? There was one. Remember Farmville, back in the day, of course, yeah. That game that got everyone addicted. Yeah, the start of smartphone games Candy Crush that would have gone away.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:So I shut a mom's farm down. I remember this one For you know, illegal, illegal activity.
Speaker 1:Legal farming yeah.
Speaker 2:No one really. You know, she, she doesn't know, you just don't know and you just roll with it and not. I really haven't taken any improv, but that's the best way to do it. At that point you got, you got an outline of of things to say, but you can only roll so far before you know, kind of just the joke ends. So it's just being able to be on your toes and shutting down someone's farm. That really doesn't understand the technology side. Like a parent you know it makes for, it makes for good content. So who set that up it?
Speaker 1:was her daughter, right? Yes, okay, I do remember that one. That's hilarious. And what was the reaction you got?
Speaker 2:Oh it's, it's more of the, what I don't understand, like a lot of confusion, and then you know again. Just, you find the, you find the core things that strike people hard of. You know, when you take people's money, access to their account, shutting down their accounts, you know things like that. So charging someone a buttload of money for things that they didn't do and it's and something they're addicted to, you know gets the reaction that it did. Yep.
Speaker 1:Is that your favorite thing to do on the show or your favorite topic, or do you have something else to come up with?
Speaker 2:It was but you know, just like anything in life, things change. So it's got monotonous. Yeah, kind of kind of has, you know, run its course. Personally, people do love them and I get it and, like we said earlier, that's why we do the show, just to get people away from their life, their everyday worries, for, you know, 15, 20, 30, an hour long. So that's why that's the positive side of doing them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we never got ourselfies, so let's get that going. Not very hard trail, by the way, not at all, I mean, it's just professional walking.
Speaker 2:So it is. When we did what's your name? When we got here, it was 70 degrees. It was like, oh, we're going to be, but I have a jacket on right now, so it's like I'm starting to feel that part of it.
Speaker 1:You know, I'm not the fashion police, but there are times where I realize I'm in a T-shirt for a reason. But this is not hard trail, this is a mild one, right, and there may be a round two where we go up a very hard trail. No snakes, though, so you listened to the episode. Yes, sir, excellent. Yes, that was a real snake, and I'm fairly certain I saved her life, did you well?
Speaker 2:obviously you spotted it first, but did you see it like far out or as you guys were just walking and talking as we?
Speaker 1:drew closer. So having lived in Manhattan for so long, you in Staten Island, you know you always look down when walking, otherwise you're a tourist, right? So why do we look down? We don't want the street bombs to get into our shoes Yep, those are dog bombs. So I do that. And on the trail I don't want to trip on rocks. So I did happen to see this one copperhead snake sitting out there. I didn't know what it was at first. Now I know it's a copperhead and now I'm much the wiser. They sit very still, they don't move, they sit out in the open, they blend in, they camouflage.
Speaker 2:So you grown up in Staten Island outside, the only time I saw snakes was at the zoo. That's exactly right. And being out in you know the suburbs quote unquote. You know I see more deer than I've ever seen before in my life.
Speaker 1:So I grew up on the other island, the Long Island, and the same thing. You don't really see snakes or wildlife. Deer were foreign to me. They were in a movie that's about it. And then you come to New Jersey and the deer are a plague. Everywhere Plague they'll eat everything, but yeah, so I spotted that, as she was literally about to step on the middle of it, which means it would have struck Absolutely Not a snake expert, but I will save your life, for you too, I appreciate it. Good to know. Yes, so we do know. Sucking the venom out does not work and it's a bad idea.
Speaker 2:Get your slide in the room. Well, that'll be on you.
Speaker 1:I can't reach my legs, so I tell you right. So now we're getting to a more challenging part of this trek.
Speaker 2:Now we can have some fun? Is this where the interview goes more intense now as we get more intense as we go up this?
Speaker 1:tends to happen as you get more out of breath. Yeah, we find out a little bit more about Garrett. All right, we'll do some cool stuff, though. Cool, I promised you some drone activity. This is one of the coolest things, so we'll just be walking and chatting.
Speaker 2:How long did it take for you to master this?
Speaker 1:I took a hike with one of my very close friends my best friend and we spent four hours hiking and talking.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:So I learned it on that track, but it's quite easy, all right. So continuing on your story, how long have you been at the show?
Speaker 2:20 years. 20 years, you love it. Yeah, I mean waking up at 3.45 every day. I wouldn't. If I didn't love it, I would have been out very early.
Speaker 1:That is quite early to wake up, but that's your norm.
Speaker 2:For the most part too, and then, just because the hustler that I am, there's overnight opportunities, like I've talked to you about, where I'll be on the air at 2 am, so I'll leave my house at 12.45 some mornings.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is rough.
Speaker 2:So what do you do in the overnight On the air just playing songs and taking calls and pretty much it. Do you love that? It's fun? I would think that's fun, right? Yeah, You're manning the radio station, you know, and I'm all about trying to provide information that people go. Oh wow, I learned that from the radio.
Speaker 1:Do you find yourself letting your true, real personality out, or do you have to mask that a little or amp it up?
Speaker 2:You know more positive than the negative side of things. So only because, again, you don't want to be negative, nancy, on the radio, that's a different station, right, and people are waking up, groggy, not having coffee, and last thing they want to hear is wah, wah.
Speaker 1:You know so tell me about a time where you screwed up or embarrassed yourself on the air.
Speaker 2:Screwed up, I mean early on too, just like, as we're talking about technology, we used to be able to stream. We would stream things before Facebook lives and Instagram lives on this technology where it's a cell phone like thing, and when we were on and technology isn't as great because the internet wasn't as great 10 plus years ago, yeah, I thought we were off, but we weren't off. What'd you say, well? What'd you do Well?
Speaker 1:I said, fuck, oh, don't worry, we're not believing it out now. There's no FCC anymore.
Speaker 2:No, there is. If you put this on the radio, yes, but we were actually. We pulled up the stream, so the DF accidentally went through, even though I thought we were off as I hit the mic. We weren't. But how big was that fine? No, fines only occur when people go. There are several instances, you know, Like if there's if it's a genuine accident. Yeah, exactly, the accidents do occur, but it's one of those things. If it does, you just move on and Did you get it talking to Just more of you know, be cautious and aware of what's going on, versus just assuming Got it. So you'll only say that on my show.
Speaker 1:Right, I'm kidding, I gave you the full, the full shebang. I absolutely do not mind. I liked things to be completely real. I don't do a lot of research and the guest ahead of time, because I want to learn, like the audience wants to learn.
Speaker 2:Well, that's a great thing, like I mean, if you ever read or have read or learned about Larry King, he would have one question and then he would just listen and then form an hour long interview off of one question. That's the beauty of it.
Speaker 1:You want to discover, like other people are also discovered, right? So what is there about you that makes you so successful?
Speaker 2:I think it's. I think it's just the passion and the hustle and knowing that if you just sit and just assume and let things hopefully come to you, you know, like the Powerball or Mega Millions, that ain't happened. Well, correct. Same thing in life, you know, if you just sit there and wait, can it happen? Yes, are your odds severely stacked against you? Of course. So you got to almost take your life into your own hands and figure out your own path and, and you know, be nice to people and be friendly and cordial and be your true self and not fake, and people will see that, you know, and opportunities will come from that. Do you consider yourself famous? No, not at all. Do people ever recognize you? Well, that's the thing. Yeah, people are like oh, you're so famous. And you know, like, I'm sure, if you do a Google, you know my net worth is probably millions upon millions of dollars. Yeah, because those are accurate. Yeah, correct. Well, that's the problem with the internet, where just because it's on the internet doesn't mean necessarily that it's true. You know, unfortunately, people don't believe that. Well, correct. But then again, as you saw, I showed up in a 2013 Ford Escape with two car seats in the back.
Speaker 1:You, know, so I know that you have an opportunity to make sure that you are doing the right thing to protect your family and children. Oh, of course, yeah, but then you hide your bags of money in the back. Exactly, it's just a front. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:So would you believe that you are successful? Successful, yes, but I think did I reach the top of the mountain? I'm, you know, I'm near a top of the mountain, but I think the top of the mountain would be when something is mine, my own, versus just being a part of something big. You know, Am I a part of something huge at the top of the mountain? Of course, but eventually, you know, I want to be able to stand atop a loan of the mountain.
Speaker 1:You know, saying something I did, well, I would agree with that, I think that you have definitely crested one of the top pinnacles of radio shows, of terrestrial radio shows, for sure, right, I don't know. Is there any better, bigger than Elvis Duran? Not that I know of. Yeah, I wouldn't think so either. So I think you've crested that, but that doesn't mean that that's the end of your tail, well correct.
Speaker 2:And again, I'm going to be 39 years old in October and you know I unless you're reading the internet I don't have the money to retire, so I took that spider web for you.
Speaker 1:But I appreciate it. You are welcome. You are the Kevin.
Speaker 2:Costner to my Whitney Houston.
Speaker 1:For both of them. So what's next? Where do you see yourself when you grow up? Because you know, you know being the age. I'm at now. 39 sounds young to me, which is crazy, Right, but you have so much career left. You have so much life left.
Speaker 2:Which is funny, like you know. Going back to you know my dad. You know the slogan for Toys R Us growing up was I don't want to grow up because.
Speaker 1:I'm a Toys R Us kid. That's ingrained in all of us. In fact, I believe that is my mentality.
Speaker 2:And that's kind of like my mantra in the sense where, you know, yes, I'm a kid, always will be a kid at heart. And just again, doing fun, fun things, like you know, helping my friends out at the gym we both go to, you know, just finding fun, creative things to do and making connections with the people that I meet along the way and connecting them and creating opportunities for myself and others. So do you see yourself staying in the industry? Oh, yeah, no, you know, outside of the radio, you know I do I do red carpet work for E news and that's through a friend that I met 10 years ago, who just landed a job recently and said, hey, I'd love for you to cover red carpets for us in New York. And I said, sure, that friend being Ryan Seacrest, of course. Yeah, no, no, my friend, john Pascarella. He, he worked with Mori Povich and we made a connection over the years and we stayed friends and again just being nice and having conversations with people and not, you know, just using them for their name or stature, for status. You know he said, hey, we've done this. You know you've done a few things, I've helped you out along the way. You know why don't you come, you know, do it again, but on TV for me.
Speaker 1:So well, there's there's a need to build genuine connections with people.
Speaker 2:Oh correct.
Speaker 1:So I agree with what you said earlier. I don't really get starstruck.
Speaker 2:Maybe if slash was like in front of me everybody has their one you know like, and rightfully so.
Speaker 1:Slash is my one. I've met him once and I got nothing to say Right, Fanboy there, I must have been 25. I'm just like thank you, sir.
Speaker 2:Which is funny too, because I had a situation I was doing something for E news up in Connecticut and I had the cast of Full House All of them, no, dave Coulier and let everyone know, I just did cut it out and DJ.
Speaker 1:Tanner.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I forget her real name off the top the sweat starting to get to me. But my son and daughter just started watching Full House and Full or House on Netflix. So we FaceTimed and the kids that, the kids who they've been watching on TV religiously because you know, if you know how kids work with TV, they watch the same thing over and over and over again. They were, they were starstruck. They went from being able to, you know, recite lines from the show to talking to them on FaceTime through my phone and they, they hadn't not a word to say so so you're now, essentially, you've replaced your father.
Speaker 1:You're kids.
Speaker 2:Think that you are the most amazing father Correct, which is kind of weird because you know, with Toys R Us being closed and my dad not working there anymore, you know, for several years prior to them closing they don't to me I was like that would be the coolest thing. Grandpa works at a freaking toy store. You know. They do now, with you know, toys R Us slowly coming back and being in several malls and Macy's, yeah they are making a slight resurgence, and the reason why is because, well, everything is reciclic. Oh, right what's?
Speaker 1:old is new, the circle of life, yeah, and we're all nostalgic and of course, I want to take my kids to Toys R Us. That doesn't exist, right Right. Kmart doesn't really exist, I think.
Speaker 2:Kmart's. You know it's target now, but but even so just toy is lacking. Right, a whole, a whole store of toys is a different story than just a few aisles here and there With a giant talking giraffe Right.
Speaker 1:You know who doesn't love a giant talking giraffe?
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I am a little, you know, envious of the fact that my kids can't experience grandpa working, but they're experiencing you, Correct, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I think that's really awesome. I might be a little bit envious myself of that, so I might actually ask you, around Christmas and Hanukkah time, if you could just make an appearance at my house.
Speaker 2:Not a problem, it's Garret. It's free of charge. Who is it? No, don't worry about it, it's Garret. He brought you a toy. Go on Google. He makes a lot of money.
Speaker 1:Oh man. So how are you raising your children? What do you? What are you telling them? Do you want them to be in the spotlight, like you, or do you want them to stay away?
Speaker 2:No, I just want my kids. You know my wife and I, you know, both agree that it's hard to say like we want you to do this. We just want you to be happy. You know what I mean. Like learn as you go, like my son. My son loves art. So we're going, you know, whatever we got to do, whatever art type things that he loves. But then you know he's at the arcade for the first time and he's playing pop a shot. So let's get him into basketball and let him experience that and see what he likes, you know. And my daughter's coming into her own, where she loves makeup. How old is she? She's five. Oh yeah that's tough, so you, but you know you have to say yes, but you're, you ride it out. You ride out the phases and you know, eventually a phase turns into a passion and a passion turns into a career.
Speaker 1:So interesting so what advice would you have for anybody who wants a broadcasting career for their profession, whether it's in radio or on TV or even streaming? These days, in fact, I mean, yes, most people want to be streamers?
Speaker 2:Right, they essentially. Do you need school? Probably not. I do tell kids that do go to school, learn while you're there, but make those connections, you know, make those friends, make those those fistful of friends that will be with you and can be a phone call away. You know, 10 years down the road, 20 years down the road, and we'll pick up and we'll get back to you a week later. You know that's more college of breaking that mold of shyness and that exterior that you might have. Do you learn a thing or two? Yes, is it expensive? Hell, yes, but Expensive.
Speaker 1:How Monetarily or Money-wise?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, both. It's expensive, where you walk away with a degree that you paid you know six figures for, essentially unless you know you're smart and have a scholarship. But essentially it's more about setting yourself up for life of becoming day one of the person that you're about to become as an adult.
Speaker 1:Would you recommend this as a career for kids growing up today?
Speaker 2:If you're passionate. Yeah, I mean, my wife's a physician assistant and we always joke that she can land a job any given day, because a physician assistant is always on that top five list of jobs that you always want. You know, is radio there? No, well, you can start a pod. Oh, you can.
Speaker 1:As the kids call it. I just learned this on the last episode.
Speaker 2:The kids call this pod. You can, of course, but again, that's even more work. You know, again everybody thinks because Joe Rogan is so successful. You know, day two yes, you can, but it's not going to happen overnight.
Speaker 1:Well, joe Rogan had a slight shortcut the fact that he put in his 100,000 hours doing everything else first Correct.
Speaker 2:And that's the thing that people don't realize. They just think that, oh, joe Rogan has a podcast. I can too, yes, you can, but there's also work after you hit off, as you know.
Speaker 1:I can attest to just how challenging it is to have a podcast, how miserable it can be at times and how depressing because it's a roller coaster. You're putting in hundreds of hours in episode and sometimes it yields no return, correct, but it's like any other business, it's like any other profession If you're not willing to put in the work, then don't go into that industry. Right, exactly, but you know it's. You know my story. I started a podcast at a pure insanity, right Going on a hike, realizing that this would be cool, and I have not looked back since and I love it.
Speaker 2:And it's something different too. You know, we're not driving in a car singing a song.
Speaker 1:Well, actually that's what made those specials, so comedians in cars with coffee. What made it special is one it's Jerry Seinfeld and two. That was unique, or karaoke cars unique. Any activity based program is pretty unique, correct.
Speaker 2:Comes to the outside of the element.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so just I'm just a dude trying to make things. You knew that line was coming right. Just the guy.
Speaker 2:Just a dude.
Speaker 1:This guy is another dude. Sorry, is that your medical alert? Yep, you okay. Yep, all good, all right. What is that for? Ah, glucose, I'm a type one diabetic. You are a type one diabetic. See, I told you. The truth comes out while you're hiking, so we're going to talk about that now. Yeah, of course I happen to know a little bit about the subject, because I do have close family and personal friends. Their son has type one diabetes with diagnosis 15 months.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:Very young, I was 13. So you were 13 years old, yep, so up until you were 13,. What did you experience?
Speaker 2:Candy food normalcy.
Speaker 1:Totally normal.
Speaker 2:But yeah, once I was 13, I thought, well, my parents thought it was the. I thought, well, you know, just the average flu. But prior to that, conspiracy theorists and me, I had the chickenpox. Okay, and doing research over the years, there's a link between the chickenpox and type one diabetes.
Speaker 1:Where what?
Speaker 2:Yeah, just roll that tape back. The same, the same. I don't know exactly what it is and you know people can be like the the same type of autoimmune disease because chicken, that's what chickenpox is Okay. So is diabetes when something from the chickenpox was still in me a year later, the I didn't have it on the outside, but it was still lying in me on the inside, okay, and something of getting sick triggered that which then triggered the rest of the autoimmune disease inside of me.
Speaker 1:So you already had. So that that is my understanding, because in type one you were born with type one, right, you take something to bring it out.
Speaker 2:Correct, and that's where it was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the chickenpox brought it out. That is amazing. So nowadays kids don't get chickenpox.
Speaker 2:Correct.
Speaker 1:We give them an immunity. You know a vaccine for it. When you were diagnosed, was it more prevalent, based on a chickenpox disease, and that's when it was.
Speaker 2:No one really kind of. It was more just the question Does? I was the first type one. In my family Everyone had type two.
Speaker 1:That was the first. Everyone in your family has type two.
Speaker 2:Not everybody, but that's from diet and exercise right, yes and no, but it was. But again, diabetes is autoimmune. Like my dad, tall, skinny, same thing with my mom. So it you know it goes down. You start going down generations and, as I think you know, our parents just like pictures. They really didn't give a good record in life.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:You know. So you're kind of left with questioning of things of like well, what about? What about your mom's mom? Yeah, oh, we don't know.
Speaker 1:They think they kept records back in the 40s, like that, you know like they barely have a picture Right, so kind of left with questions.
Speaker 2:But you're also kind of like left with what's at hand, meaning the diabetes and kind of what triggered it. So probably probably the chickenpox, and chickenpox triggered it. You felt like you had a flu a year later. And what do you do when you have the flu? As a kid, you drink Gatorade.
Speaker 1:As I'm drinking, right now I'm drinking it. At the time I noticed it's the lemon Gatorade which, in my opinion, is the wrong Gatorade.
Speaker 2:Well, I sorry, I grabbed. I grabbed what was there. Red is the best. I have the slew of them. I'm more of a purple guy, but purple.
Speaker 1:So I we're going on a little tangent here down this trail, but I personally think that purple is the best flavor gum on the planet. Purple is also the best nerds. All right, but purple is not the best Gatorade.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, to each their own and that's why there's many of flavors, just like the rainbow. You have your own, your own favorites, Okay.
Speaker 1:We will. We will agree to disagree that red is the best Gatorade flavor, right? Yes, all right, so back to this, yeah.
Speaker 2:So thought I had the flu. And you know, just as a parent, you know, being playing sports, it's like, okay, you're dehydrated, which I was. Walk it off kid. Yeah, well, not even that. It was all right, drink some Gatorade, feel better, have some. But as a as I'm drinking the Gatorade, what it's, what it did was shoot my blood sugar, you know, way up. So my blood sugar was close to a thousand.
Speaker 1:A thousand, yeah, oh Jesus. Okay, that's really high. For those that are not aware, and I'll let you answer this, what is? Normal, what is?
Speaker 2:a normal non-diabetic, it should be between 80 and 150 of a blood sugar, a blood glucose level, yeah, so we've got an eight to 10 X rise, right, okay, and that's what happened at that moment, After I peed on a stick at the pediatrician, straight to the ER where. I just got pumped with fluids because I also was dehydrated and that's when they diagnosed you, yep.
Speaker 1:What did your parents do? What was their immediate reaction?
Speaker 2:Well, theirs was more just like what the hell? Because no one really knew what a type one diabetic was, you know? Yeah, what year was this? 96.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we have research, but we didn't have an enormous amount of research like we have to do. We were on the ground floor of research in the sense we knew of type two. Right, we all remember Wilfer Brimley and Diabetus.
Speaker 2:Right, exactly.
Speaker 1:But we did not have that much information on type one, so your parents, I imagine, were shocked. They freaked out a little bit. They had to show you that, but they had to.
Speaker 2:Right, like you know, they didn't know and pretty much they were learning as I was learning. So what was your feeling when you were told that you have diabetes? Being in sixth grade, you just thought, okay, it's like the flu, I'll be good next week. You know, just like the pandemic, we all thought it would be over in a week. Yeah, that didn't happen, right, okay. We all know how that played out.
Speaker 1:Same thing for me. How did you end up managing it, because this is a daily struggle.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, back in the day had to had to give myself. You know, I wasn't giving myself vials of insulin at all. Your mom, yeah, my mom my dad.
Speaker 1:And then now today, you obviously have a machine that goes for you.
Speaker 2:I have. It's almost like my own pancreas on the outside of my body, which pretty much just A little patch which has your insulin.
Speaker 1:Yeah, pretty much, yeah, so technology has come very far. Oh big time. When you were young, how often did you have to inject?
Speaker 2:About three to four times a day.
Speaker 1:Three to four times. Is it before or after meals?
Speaker 2:Or both. Yeah, so three to four times a day, the quick acting and the long acting.
Speaker 1:So this is obviously. I want to use the word handicap because in a way it does. It takes you out of the game if need be, but it's not really. It's manageable, right.
Speaker 2:Well, that's the thing, it is not.
Speaker 1:You live a normal, long lasting life. Only you have to do something else that a lot of other people don't, right? Do people ever know?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, no, they grew up knowing Any AACs do that. It's almost like you know. It's almost like M&M and 8 Mile If you don't call it out, people are going to call it out, and then it's like you know why, let them have take advantage of a joke, of a situation. You just call it out before they're able to call it out.
Speaker 1:So that's a little bit of the comedian in you, and I fully agree with that. I've lived my life like that as well. If you have something that you're embarrassed by, just call it out.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, not even embarrassed, I would say, but like more of you know, as kids you know they'll pick on anything Correct.
Speaker 1:Anything that makes you a little bit different, Correct Whether you have a big nose or funny hair or, in this case, you have diabetes. They'll call it out because it's a way that they get over fear and difference.
Speaker 2:Oh, correct. And if anything too, from what I've learned is if you're the way to ruin a joke or someone you know trying to make a joke on your expense, if you call it out and you lean into it kind of take them out by the kneecaps and they have nothing to really Very statin' island of you. Oh yeah, this is very, very strong, and I'm not an Italian too, so Well, you assume I'm not Tony Soprano, or?
Speaker 1:Well, I'm not Italian either, and I spent my life growing up in the Italian section. I totally understand that. But yeah, no, the way to ruin a joke is to ruin it for them.
Speaker 2:Right, exactly, and that's why I use the M&M analogy.
Speaker 1:So today, you manage it, you live with it. Yep, it's part of your life, little beep. Actually we'll go this way sorry, Little beep every once in a while. What does the beep?
Speaker 2:mean Just low blood sugar. It's kind of like a warning of like, hey, just take action, which you know I did Gatorade and some glucose tablets. Have you ever had a scare?
Speaker 1:where you didn't have Gatorade nearby.
Speaker 2:Not twice early on. You know, when I was, I think, in eighth grade. That's where I just kind of went into a diabetic seizure pretty much oh you went into a full seizure. That's scary. I woke up to my two uncles who really didn't get along at the time. When I came out of it myself, I watched them like they were literally going hand-to-hand combat just because they didn't like each other. Oh, that's helpful. Yeah. So my wife again. Luckily she's a physician assistant. She was in the shower. I was just waiting for her to come out of the shower and just you know, laying on our bed and just kind of went. What does that mean? No same thing, just the warning. So you have another warning. Well, yeah, between my cell phone and then I have a PDM. I kind of I have double like. People are like oh, you have two cell phones. No, I don't have two cell phones. One's my insulin and then one's my insulin slash glucose reading. So it's easier than carrying around vials of things in a blood stick. But yeah, so I had one, as my wife was in a shower and all I remember was waking up to the paramedics as they were giving me a glucose amine which is pretty much just sugar gel. Wow, who was the president? And I think I said Bush at the time, even though it was Obama.
Speaker 1:Close.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was in the ballpark.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but yeah that was Same century, yeah that was the only other scare. So you don't know how or what you just passed out. And there all of a sudden, yep, what did your wife say?
Speaker 2:happened. She was in the shower. She just woke up to me like convulsing on the bed and there was no warning for you to know. No, I was outside at testing my blood sugar, which I did. It was okay, as it normally is in the morning, right before breakfast. Yeah, it just took a nosedive per se. Oh, my God, wow.
Speaker 1:All right. So that landed you in the hospital. Yeah, and that was the last scare, Yep. So how do you prevent that from ever happening again? Well, those alerts those beeps carrying?
Speaker 2:Did you have these devices at?
Speaker 1:the time no not at all.
Speaker 2:They weren't invented just yet.
Speaker 1:That is some scary stuff. So let's talk about your kids. Do they have type one, or is this a wait and see, and hopefully we pray.
Speaker 2:It's a wait and see, but they should be okay because, according to doctors, it's one of those it skips a generation, so they're going to have to worry about their kids.
Speaker 1:Correct possibly Genetics. Wow, all right. Well, thanks for educating us on that. As I told you, as we dive deeper into a trail, the person comes out. Did you think you'd be talking about that?
Speaker 2:Yes and no. It's one of those things where I'm not the.
Speaker 1:I'm a diabetic. Hey, here's my sleeve.
Speaker 2:Here's everything. Look at me, but it's who you are. Well, correct, and that's the thing too. Like, growing up, there were kids that because you get into groups of, oh, they're diabetics too. They want you to relate, be able to be like hey, you're not the only one. You can't fault that. That's actually a good strategy. No, of course, but you learn kind of like there's kids that are in a group setting and it's like hey, and you know, I'm Garrett. I'm like hey, I'm Josh, I'm a diabetic. I'm like okay, or hey, I'm Kara, I'm a diabetic.
Speaker 1:We can obviously change the names protect the innocent, Understood so, but I mean normal functioning is just you have to deal with something that many don't.
Speaker 2:And then, yeah, it goes with that. And then, to jump it on, the diabetes of Trinity is Ciliac, which I have, so I'm gluten free. That was diagnosed one. I probably back in the again almost 30 years ago. Ciliac was in a real thing. Gluten free wasn't a thing. Did I probably have it? Probably yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, if you have an issue with your pancreas, converting complex carbohydrates to sugar is probably an issue.
Speaker 2:So about a little over about 12 years ago, I got diagnosed, went in for endoscopy and they're like yeah, you do have Ciliac, so is that hard to deal with? Well, it is, as you get older, because you're so used to eating a certain way in life.
Speaker 1:No more pizza.
Speaker 2:Well, gluten free pizza, yeah, you have to have that lovely cauliflower pizza, well crust or gluten free dough as they make them, but after a while, after the first year you're like okay it is what it is, you got to accept it and you just got to find the best of the best. Yeah, so what is your favorite thing to eat? Oh, pizza I'm a pizza guy and chicken parm.
Speaker 1:I will agree. So you are clearly from Staten Island.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I grew up on chicken, parm and steak you know steak and potatoes.
Speaker 1:You still converse with the people you grew up with.
Speaker 2:We have a group of friends. There's a group of about 10 of us that are all still connected, but they're all on Staten Island. No, no, all spread out between you know, some in Jersey, some in you know the city, dc, texas, so Texas.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know I wanted to move to Texas for a while and then my wife and I went to Texas and I realized Austin's awesome, but outside you're in Texas and unless you grew up in Texas, that's a hard thing to overcome.
Speaker 2:Well, but again it's. Austin's a cool city in the sense of like it's a great city Once you dig your toes in and, like you know, plant your flag. Yes, but just like, how do people live? You don't do it, you don't understand it until you're fully there you know, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Keeping it weird, right, but no, it's for me. I'm too New York. No, I get it. I never wanted to fly.
Speaker 2:I had trouble when we moved to Jersey, I had trouble giving up my New York driver's license for a Jersey license.
Speaker 1:So did I. Yeah, so did I.
Speaker 2:I don't know why it was like. It was like almost like the tall, tall sign of like okay, no more.
Speaker 1:Well when did you move here?
Speaker 2:I moved here about nine years ago to Westfield, but I, my wife and I lived in Hoboken for about three to four years. Yeah which is like New York City life, right. Well, I call it the thing that everybody eventually moves to from the city, because everybody grows up watching sex in the city, going I want that lifestyle. And then they they moved down to Wall Street and realized, holy shit, this is not what I want to. There's no cobblestone streets really. Then they moved to Hoboken, that's right.
Speaker 1:It's the baby step to get out. But I agree, so nine years ago, I think they still had that really horrible ID that anyone could fake, right? So that's why is you taking this beautiful New York ID and turning it into this laminated thing? But yeah, it ain't had it that bad. I actually like it. I think I prefer it now, but that's also because home is where the heart is.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And we have children, and these children have great opportunities to play and laugh Not that they wouldn't in a city, but they don't. You can find.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we realized we had to go to, we had to move to add a Hoboken, because our son was in a one bedroom apartment and his walker just walking into everything and we're like he needs room. Think think. So we brought him to the suburbs and first day we put him in the backyard with grass. You freaked out because he didn't know what grass was.
Speaker 1:Obviously because he's, you know one and a half recorded that.
Speaker 2:I don't think we did. Maybe my wife is very good at that.
Speaker 1:So, garrett, we are coming to the conclusion of our trail. Would you like to add anything?
Speaker 2:else. No, this you know more interesting, as you said, you really don't. You're like how am I going to be able to walk and talk? And it's a lot of fun, you know, therapeutic in a way. What's the co-pay?
Speaker 1:Well there, is a co-pay. At the door when you return the mic you have to pay that. No, when I was growing up, I was told that I have a mouse that doesn't stop, so I will get you to talk.
Speaker 2:No, that's what I mean. Between comedians and entertainers. You hear the same story of just like yeah, I was told, you know, sit down and class clown didn't talk, you know, so it happens. So, yeah, this is a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:So, garavogal, thank you for taking this trek alongside. I'm happy to learn your story. I think you provided some great insight and valuable information on diabetes, which is great. So thanks for the episode.
Speaker 2:No problem.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me. Next time on Itoka Hike, we take a spirited journey with Daisy Joplin, a classical and rock violinist and founder of the Daisy Joplin Music Mentorship Foundation. Till next time, I'm Darren Mass. Thanks for listening.