And welcome to the Kindness Chronicles where we once again hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota nice that it desperately needs. Somebody here is clapping. That really works well in an audio medium. guess clapping is better than sign language. Kevin Gorg! Gentlemen, uh, good to be with you and good to have my phone back and operating. I want to Thank everybody that was working so hard behind the scenes at Verizon today after Seven hours without my phone.
I felt like I was back in the uh, 1980s. I was Almost in the fetal position. It wasn't good, but we're back and I'm quite happy about that. So back in the eighties, did your hair feel like it came back or no, God, you know, it's funny you bring that up. I had a guy at the racetrack over the weekend out of nowhere. Uh, bring me a picture. From the Des Moines Buccaneers.
It was the cover of our like game day magazine that they gave out at the rank and I, you know, we rotated around the locker was my turn to be the player on the cover and I had the perm in the back. Think of Adam Sandler in the wedding singer. Oh, no, that was my hair. And it was. I'd argue that I probably look better today bald even though I've got three more chins. It was quite a look So you actually got the back of your hair permed? Oh, yeah, I don't think we can be friends anymore.
That is shocking It was a thing. I guess it was it was a look not a good one, but it was a look we're gonna do one of our random chatter episodes. We got to do a little catch up we're gonna talk about a uh, we're gonna review You The challenge that we suggested several episodes ago. And I know everyone's been thinking about it and trying to get it in before we talked about it. And now it's time to talk about it and set a new challenge.
Yes. but a couple of, stories related to the, uh, the Charlie Walters show. Yeah. Uh, many, many downloads for the Charlie Walters show. One of our biggest shows yet. He's a big deal. He was a big deal. And what's super fun. Is he mentioned the fact that, uh, there was the 10 year old speed skater that he happened to witness go over and tell his dad after he won the national championship. That's right. The pack of cigarettes. Dad, you promised. Yeah. And then handed over the pack of cigarettes.
Well, one of our listeners, a friend of mine named Brian Kempchen, who was a, uh, Cretan grad, but still a good person. Kidding. Anyways, Brian Kempchen, found the story in the archives of the Pioneer Press, and the young man who, who happened to be that speed skater is a guy named Brian Tetzloff. And Brian Tetzloff happened to be Brian Kempchen's neighbor. And Brian Tetzlaff had a brother named Todd, who when we were freshmen, he played for Harding, I played for Hill Murray. He was very good.
I was not. Wow. That's quite a connection. It's almost like it's a crazy small world connection. Kg you should see he's got a big map and all the string lines, all the string connecting all the people together. So that's, that's quite a wild, that's so cool. Six degrees of, uh, Brian Kempston, but yeah, this Teslot kid, Todd, freshman year, the skater. So that's the brother. Is Brian. Okay. I wanna talk about Todd for a second. Got it. We are freshman early in the year football season.
Yeah. I lining up across the ball from him. He has a full beard as a freshman full Like a really good solid strong beard. He was a stud stud football player. His brother Brian was clearly an incredible athlete How do you remember that? That's who you lie. I was against I was horrified by it. Yeah. Yeah Honestly, he's probably the only person other than this guy named Rob Kratzky Who played at St. Thomas Academy, who is this, he was not a big guy, but man, he was a lunatic.
Mark Mackesy, our friend Mark Mackesy, uh, would remember Rob Kratzke. He scared me. God, your just memory for names is crazy. But that's, that's it. I can't remember what I had for lunch. I mean, it's uh, it's happening to people. It's wild, it's wild. Okay, so we got to the bottom of that so we got I just thought that was great Thank you, Brian Kemption for looking into that at some point. We're gonna have Brian's Daughter on the show.
She drove the Oscar Mayer wiener mobile And I guess that was quite an experience. Yeah. And she spent some time, I think, in Australia. There's a really great story. Baseball player, Stacy Michula is fascinated with the wiener boom meal. She's always talking about, yeah, she is. She's fascinated with it. That's her dream is to like drive that thing across the country too. She's a big fan. Do they still have the Wienermobile? I don't know. They must. Oh, yeah. Oh, no, it's still there.
No, no, it's, it's out there. Uh, I know it probably doesn't get great gas mileage, so if you're going to go on a long period like that, it might be expensive. Well, it can be. I want to, recognize the fact that, Schwan's is going out of business. What? Did you ever have Schwan's delivered to your house? For a short time we did, yes. So Schwan's was sold to some foreign company. the Schwan's family made out like bandits from what I understand. But uh, yeah they're shutting it, shutting it down.
Wow. No more Schwan's ice cream. You know, you could get ice cream other ways. You didn't have to have a chocolate ice cream. Not Schwan's ice cream. I guess, yeah. I guess I won't need Ozempic after, uh, the Schwan's ice cream goes away. Um. Shoot. Yeah. So that's the Sadness Chronicles. Wow. Um. We've had some wicked weather. Yes. In the southeast part of the country. And some of the stories that I've been following, there has been some incredible kindness. That has taken place down there.
But any reflections, do you guys have any thoughts on, uh, on what you've seen? It's hard to believe that it's in our country. I could just say, I just noticed that it was, saw some reports about Asheville, uh, North Carolina and, uh, we've played at a school there and it's a beautiful town and it is demolished. My wife also had clients in from that area and it's, it's, they, they're still looking for people, employees and stuff. It's terrible.
I gotta tell you, you know, my, my oldest daughter, Trina lives in in Florida, so every time. You know, these hurricanes pop up. I'm in constant communication with her to find out if it's affecting her area and how she's getting around. And, you know, for this one, Orlando and that area, wasn't bad. Uh, you know, Tampa is the closest it got to her, but you know, as a dad, that's where, you know, that far away from his, his daughter, you get nervous.
You know, you bring up Asheville, um, you know, Chrissy, my, uh, my lovely, uh, Significant other, her mom passed away back in May. We've talked about this on the Chronicles and one of the last trips that, that her and her sister, Terry had with their mother, Karen KB, beloved KB was a trip to Asheville and the pictures and stories were just spectacular.
So I've never been there, but because they've been there and I've had a chance to visit about it, it's just, it's even that much more, Devastating, and you just have to hope that some of the people that are missing took refuge and maybe aren't in communication, but it just looks awful. I mean, it looks post apocalyptic. It does. there are towns that have been wiped off the map. They say that some of the areas are so inaccessible still. There's no water. There's no electricity. No Verizon.
Can you imagine? But all kidding aside. No means of communication. And all you have are the people that are around you. And one of the guys that they interviewed, I was watching, I don't know, NBC this morning, he'd lost everything. And he just humbly said, we're just trying our best to help each other out right now. And it just, there was such warmth to that.
And I think that, when the worst of the worst happens, that's really all you got is you've got each other and you've got, humanity and kindness. So when you, when you look at the devastation, you think about the power of nature and, We're really, you know, we really have no real, we can build these amazing buildings, building these towns and if nature wants, it can change that course and it's all we do have is each other. Yep. Nature is powerful. Or is it nature?
I gotta say one thing guys with the, uh, you know, speaking of kindness and I know these NFL teams and NFL owners make a gross amount of money, so I'm going to acknowledge that on the front of this commentary, but it was really uplifting this weekend. Uh, to get the updates on different NFL owners that have teams.
Down in that southern part of the states make these enormous donations and and they they started this trend where just like the the first one did it I think it was the Arthur Blank guy that owns Atlanta and they just one by one all of a sudden there was like eight or ten teams involved and they had a link up on the NFL broadcast to to make your donation. I I was really uh encouraged by that and like I said I I know they have Hundreds of millions of dollars.
It's the NFL and these owners are, are very well to do, but you still, again, have to take that first step of giving back and setting that tone. And it just kind of caught on, um, and, and, and spread like wildfire and everybody was donating. So that, that really made me feel good. the whole weekend was just filled with those kinds of opportunities, speaking of the NFL. I'm assuming you guys watched the Vikings game.
Yep. Um, there was, there were moments of kindness that I'd like to address Aaron Jones, who is the running back who used to play in Green Bay. The way that his former teammates, embraced him and the way that the fans reacted to him, I would hope that if, uh, Oh, who's a viking that left, when he came back, if, Stephan Diggs? Stephan Diggs. Yeah, there you go. When Stephan Diggs comes back to town, I hope that, uh, or he was just played with him. Yeah, we just played with him.
He was just here, yeah. Texans, right? I'm hoping that, uh, the Minnesota fans treated him with the kind of, love that, that Aaron Jones got in Green Bay. It was funny at the end of the game they were really trying to get him a touchdown so he could do the Lambo leap in the Vikings jersey.
He still did the leap though, going off the field there was a bunch of, uh, Vikings fans that had moved down by the tunnel where The visiting team leaves the field and he did the least in the lap of, uh, yeah, he did. And, you know, just talking to our mutual friend, Paul Allen, who's been on the show, um, and, and folks that worked around the Vikings, apparently this guy is just a really terrific human being. And I think you saw some of those stories come out over the weekend with how much.
The fans in Green Bay miss him. How much his teammates still love him. Uh, it was kind of a really cool sub story to that. And, uh, it's exciting. Listen, the Sam Darnold story guys, like here's another guy that had lost all his confidence. Um, went from being the third pick in the draft to just a cast away, back up in San Francisco. Nobody believed in him. And I think what you're seeing, and again, athletics, we've all played sports, we've had kids that play sports. It's so much.
In between the years, this this KOC, this Kevin O'Connell believes in this guy and at every turn, you're seeing the faith that this coach has in this quarterback and I think the game in Green Bay was getting away from the Vikings. Yeah. The Packers had got the touchdown, the two point conversion. It's a six point game. The crowd's going crazy. There's 10 minutes to go. A lot of coaches would have gone back to the running game. There have been a couple of turnovers. Yeah. And what does he do?
The first four plays, he says, you're throwing the football, and we're moving it down the field, and I think you're seeing a guy kind of morph from this cast away, I'm a bust in the draft, to like, wait a minute, I'm actually pretty good, and I actually can do this, and it's incredible to watch. It's very fun. And I would imagine that after four games, he's gotta be darn near a frontrunner for the league MVP.
Yeah, obviously we're getting a little ahead of ourselves here, but I mean, the guys played incredibly well. Yeah. And he has, he, and he is one of the favorites, which I think before the year he was 500 to one. And currently he's 10 to one. So that does tell you how well he's played. Holy cow. Yeah, that's remarkable. And yeah, KOC seems like a hell of a good guy and just seems to just have a way with his players. I mean, it really seems whatever they're doing, that's working.
There's a vibe going on there. It is a vibe, for sure. And, uh, the Minnesota Wild, when do they start? Real hockey. Well, the real hockey starts on the 10th. We've got a couple of preseason games we're doing this week. A home and home with, uh, the Blackhawks home game on, uh, if you're listening, you know, this week, Tuesday and Friday is the final preseason game. October 10th it starts for real. And I still think the weather has our sports clock all messed up because 80 and 85 degrees.
And so I'm not complaining. It's awesome. But normally by the time the hockey season rolls around, it's at least in the fifties and sixties. And I think that's going to turn at some point here. But yeah, they start in, uh, In about a week, so that's exciting too. Very exciting. Steve, what do you got going on in your life? Uh, why do you Why do I want to know? Why are you picking on me? I was reading something. I know, that's why I was asking, because you weren't paying attention.
I am paying attention. You started talking about the Minnesota Wild and Steve started, uh, you know, playing solitaire on his phone. I'm producing the show, thinking about the next plan. Well, let's talk about what you want to talk about, Steve. Okay. So we had a challenge.
Yes, we had a challenge to our listeners, and I don't remember it's been a long time We didn't get back to it because we've had a lot of amazing guests Yes, then and now the last challenge we had was write a positive review So we asked our listeners and you know, and this challenge goes to us as well So the challenge was to you know, take a minute to write a review of an experience you had it went Okay, let's hear about yours.
Okay, so mine was I went to the Valvoline instant oil change in Stillwater Yeah Is that a place you often go? Uh, I usually go to the one in White Bear Lake. Okay. But the one at Stillwater, I was going to get a car wash, and I noticed that it was, uh, there was nobody waiting in line, so I pulled right in, And they probably had half a dozen people working at this location. The service could not have been better.
High school kids, older guys, young people, women, men, total combination, men, women, high school kids, high school kids don't really care. They don't understand. I'll tell you what. It was, I was blown away really fast, efficient, friendly. Before I left the, uh, the premises, I started writing the review because I, and what it was, it was, um, it was. A request to write a review from the last time that I went to the, uh, the Valvoline Instant Oil Change. Oh, oh, I see.
So, you know, because I hadn't even gotten the, uh, the prompt yet. Hey, how was your service? So you just jumped in. Yeah, just ex, exceptional. And, you know, it, it, it kind of feels good to say nice things about people. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, sometimes there's some Selfishness to kindness. Oh totally totally in fact so my experience was I we we had a my wife And I flew to visit our son in Colorado.
We were running kind of late early crazy early in the morning we're grumpy at each other trying to get through trying to figure it out drop your stuff and Everyone we experienced it was busy. Of course you get in the airport at 5 in the coffee story No, no, it's packed full of people. No, we're always crabby and traveling. Yes. Oh, we're stressed out It's packed full of people really early, right? And so trying to figure out where we had to go.
I don't know what was going on, but we finally got to this one gate to drop our bags. And the person that we encountered worked at the desk for Delta for Delta. Okay. And she was incredibly human and kind and nice and like calming. And what does that mean? She was human. She was just, she wasn't just like, All the cattle like a robot like cattle. She was she was not a robot. She was a person going.
This is great Okay, you guys just got to go right there and it's it's she did whatever her tone was it changed my gears I was like, ah, this this is what I now my bags gone. I'm happy. She's put us in the right direction I can now be you know kinder to my wife because they're both stressing out It changed gears for me, and I can't even really explain what it was, but it was her. But she did write a review. I wrote a review, and like you, I wrote it on their online thing. Feedback.
Did you put down her name? I didn't remember her name. It was too long before I, you know, so. I wanted to keep this, I thought I wrote a beautiful letter, right? I wanted to keep it, and I thought maybe they'd send me some tickets. But I didn't save the letter, so I don't remember what it was. And, uh, so I was looking for credit or I was like excited to do something kind and felt good about it as well. Um, but I'm glad it got done. KG, have you ever said anything nice to somebody?
Yeah, I do that all the time. But I did write one up for the guys over at Safelite. Glass and Eden Prairie. Yeah, yeah, it's catchy. Um, I had a glass issue when the ladies were over in Greece and I spent an afternoon in there while they did some work on one of our vehicles and these guys could not have been better. Um, like, like Steve just said, sometimes you just want to have some humanity in the conversation.
And we're not just a customer number this or, uh, you know, whatever, I just was really impressed. So I took the time to go online and give them all the 5 stars and then a little paragraph about how nice the people were, how efficient the service was, and, uh, you know, just recommended that if you're in the area and you need it. Something done with your glass, with your vehicles that they're the guys to go see. And, you know, it takes five, 10 minutes, right?
And I don't think we, we do it enough. And so to have it here on the show and to push that challenge out there, I think is a good thing. And I encourage our listeners to do it because imagine if you're working there, I mean, every day, the same monotonous routine at the airport, some of these jobs are a grind, man. And every day they're dealing with people. And a lot of times they're doing people that aren't very happy. Their travel's getting messed up. Exactly.
Their windshield's broken, whatever. They do it with kindness and they do it at a high level. Just imagine just that little five or 10 minutes you spend, how that ripple effect can be for them with the, the people they work with, with the people they work for, right. Um, and just to give 'em a little wind underneath their sails to encourage that kind of behavior. I, it's a small thing and I love that you. Brought this back up because it needs to happen more, right?
And I this is bringing back to what I thought about when I encountered this this woman who helped us She there was a million people around and to actually take the time to focus on purse a person after repeating everything over and over again It actually takes energy from that person to do that because I've worked in a situation where there's a lot of people you have to Keep repeating things over and over again But to do that in a calm way and unique to each person takes energy And that is what
is I was thankful for and appreciative of I had the privilege of having lunch this past Thursday with the president of the University of St. Thomas. Ding, ding, there's the St. Thomas mention. Oh, good for you! No, I had lunch at the Minneapolis Club. Well You got your own drops now. Anyway, yeah. Got my own drops. Anyway. His name is Rob Vischer, and he could not be a better guy.
I am so pleased with the person that they have chosen to be the next president at St. Thomas, and one of the things that really struck me, I went to the um, the nursing school had its first like pinning ceremony, and I really didn't even understand what the pins were all about, but they invited me to go to this, this pinning ceremony, because we, you know, we're in the nursing business. We have nurses at the Masonic home. Yeah, yeah.
So I went there and one of the things that Rob talked about is with his nursing program, you know, or the nursing program at the University of St. Thomas, they really want it to be about how you connect with the people that you're caring for. And he talked specifically about a nurse that was, uh, that was caring for his daughter.
And he said the eye contact that this nurse had with them and just the way that, that You felt just so connected to that nurse and I think about nurses for for example Can you imagine?
What a challenging job it must be to be a nurse because oh, especially if you're like a critical care nurse And the stress that you are surrounded by, not just the stress of the patient that you're dealing with who's going through some terrible health matter, but the family and the uncertainty and the ability for them to maintain the level of dignity and the, and in many cases, charm. It just blows me away. And they're shifting gears with every day.
Every group they're meeting with or talking with every all day long. They're shifting their perspective and letting that one go and get into the next one. Find that moment for each group, each person that's, and what's really funny is the, the reason I had lunch with Rob is because. Karen Lang, who was one of the head people of, uh, Residence Life, back when I was a resident assistant in the dorms at St. Thomas. She was like our boss.
And, uh, she's now like the vice president of student affairs. She's kind of a big deal. And I just really did just adore Karen. She couldn't be nicer. Anyway, I ran into her getting a pedicure. She sits down next to me, we're getting pedicures, and I said, Oh my god. Karen Lang and she goes, Oh my God, John Schweitz. So we started chatting and at lunch, she came along with Rob, uh, the, the, the president of the university.
And I confessed to her that when I was an RA, I was two years as an RA, one year as the assistant hall director. Oh, what'd you tell her? Never wrote out a single person in three years. And she said, she said, that's not possible. I said, Oh, it is.
And I told her I said this is what I would do and I think that this is kind of speaks to the kindness chronicles I always told the guys at the very beginning of the year the guys on my floor I said here's the deal you guys are gonna make some bad choices in you know while you're a student here Make the bad choices here in the dorm.
I don't want you go out getting drunk and then driving somewhere or yeah We're getting bad choices here but the minute a light bulb gets broken, the minute somebody pukes in a sink, all hell is gonna break loose. We have an understanding that I will look i'll the other way. I'll look the other way when it comes to some of the misdemeanor infractions. Yeah, no felonies. Just no felonies, guys. I'm okay with petty misdemeanors. I'm okay with just, you know, like, regular misdemeanors. I love it!
It's brilliant! But if there are felonies So what was the result? No felonies. Well, so No felonies. Well, I Well, Karen wasn't pleased, but no, she actually, she, she kinda had an idea that I, I had a way of, of, of operating. So they get, they, you earned their respect, even though these are like your peers, basically, right? And it wasn't necessarily that I was looking for their respect.
What I was doing is, is I was looking for You know the respect that they have for the other members of the the of the dorm Yeah, it's like, you know, if you're the guy that's gonna get so drunk that you puke in a urinal Somebody's got to clean that up. Yeah, and it's not gonna be it's not gonna be your RA It's gonna be some poor guy that's making 12 bucks an hour and that's just not right.
Don't be that guy Okay, and they really you know, they they kind of least each other idea like yeah, let's do this, right? Somebody did commit a felony The felony was cleaned up before the police arrived. Oh my wow. There's a, there you go. But I just, I, I really enjoyed my visit with Rob. He's going to be a guest on the kindness Chronicles here in the next couple of weeks, uh, the stuff that's going on at the same time. It's a good get. Yeah. Um, I'm looking very much forward to it.
Good. Are we ready for the second or the third challenge? Okay. This is a little, uh, This is a little self serving, you know in a small way, but compliment Steve Brown. Well, no, no No, this is about supporting the arts and okay, and it's really around about reasoning in that supporting the arts It creates oxytocin and it creates unity and people it create calms your mind. It helps you think better So music do what we count movies count for sure. That's part of the arts as part of drama.
It's all good It induces oxytocin, of course, as you know from our episode about that. So the, uh, the challenge, this third challenge is support a local artist.
So whether that's music, art, uh, theater, a guy that's making clay pottery in the neighborhood, buy some of it, purchase some of it, uh, you know, listen to the stuff and give them a compliment, somehow support the arts because they are giving back way more for our mental health and our overall, you know, ability to be kind to each other. It, it really does. It does, it, it works that way. So support a local artist wherever you can between now and our next Uh, time we talk about the challenges.
Is baking considered an art? No. Well, the culinary arts There's a brand new bakery that opened in Matamitai here. Yeah, but eating, eating donuts is not counting in this. Okay, I'm just trying to find a loophole here. Yeah, I know you are. Okay. No, culinary arts Well, the soup Nazi was a soup artist. He was! He went to there to get the soup, then you were supporting art there.
So I, I would argue that John Is on to something and whether John knows it or not, he already does have something scheduled to support a local artist. Her name is Carrie Noble. We take our lovely ladies to see her for the holiday show every single December. So we are supporting a local artist. Whether we like it or not, we're going. And on that note, support a local artist, report back to us and off we go.