The Robe Life

0:00Hey, hey everybody, welcome to the RobElife radio show. I'm your host, the RobEguy, and we are coming to you as always from 102.9 FMWBCA. Boston's Community Neighborhood Radio Station, and it's great to be with you all here. Friday night 730, fall is upon us, and it couldn't be more exciting. In fact, that's what we're going to talk about today a little bit, is yeah, just all the things. Back to school, back to school, back to school, and you know, some of the things that come to mind when I'm thinking about the fall, the autumn, and all the transitions to come. So, we've been on this channel on the air, shall we say.

1:04Well, it's a pre-recorded show for several months now, and appreciating that we may have a few new listeners joining us. Welcome. If you're here, please make sure you have your robe on, your bathrobe that is. If you have one, if you don't have one, that's totally fine. You're more than welcome to stay. But I thought I'd just, yeah, tell you a little bit more about what to expect, what the show is all about, and then we'll dive in. So, basically, a Rob Life Radio show. What's that all about? Well, as I mentioned, the bathrobe, I am a huge bathrobe fan, have been for some time now, and I love wearing them. Love just looking at them, just maybe sometimes I'll wander into my closet and take a look at my robe collection and be like, wow, man, I've come so far. How did I do this? A lot of hard work and a lot of intentionality. But anyway, Rob Life Radio show, to bring through what I think about when I've got my bath robe on, certainly it's relaxing. This isn't necessarily, or should never be a high stress experience for you listeners

2:09out there. We talk a lot about some nostalgia. We reflect. We also respect. I think that's the third word that comes to mind, which doesn't really necessarily have a lot to do with a bathrobe. In fact, I'm pretty sure that people that may or may not see me around wearing a bathrobe, well, sometimes I get a little disrespect, but they look, that makes sense, that's fair. It's not necessarily a normal, middle-aged man walking around town in a bathrobe, but all that said, really do strive to respect others and be cognizant that we all live, well, we're all different people right? We all come different backgrounds. We all have different viewpoints. Well, let's do our best to respect one another. Then recently, I added a fourth word that also starts with our random. If you couldn't tell already, it's a little random with the show. What we cover in the past, I mean, we cover everything from sports movies mentioned. Some of my memories as a kid. Today we're going to go into a little bit of that mode with sort of, I'm calling it back to school and back to lots of things.

3:09Some of those things that I'm sure are many of our minds, regardless of our age, where we live, what our activities may be right now. It's a new season in front of us, and with that comes all sorts of cool stuff, well, I think so anyway. So why don't we dive in? And then just the only other thing is I get started. We usually take, well, we will take a short break about halfway through, and hope you'll stick with us on the other side when that moment comes. So back to school. Oh, boy. For me, I was a long time student, very fortunate to have been educated at a few different places over the years. And so right now, gosh, while I missed, I was away and main with my family over the last, I don't know, I guess you could say, a week or 10 days. They joined me for a Labor Day weekend, which was lovely. And you know, missed a little bit of all the people moving into Boston, a lot of college students returning, which is a big event. I have not been able to keep up with how many moving trucks had an issue on Stora Drive

4:11or not. If you're in the Boston area listening, and you're probably familiar that, well, there's many spots on Stora Drive that have, let's see, sort of low clearance, shall we say. Some of the overpasses and walking paths, and it's often a, well, much maligned experience, probably, maligned. I'm not sure if that's even the right word choice, but you know, for the driver, whomever isn't familiar, that may have a bumpy experience, you know, sort of making their way into the city to move somebody in, or maybe they themselves are moving in. With all that said, I hope that everyone out there that is moved back into the city of Boston had a smooth experience, welcome or excited. And there's different energy, I think, you know, in the city, probably in cities everywhere, when fall hits with all the influx of students. And then of course, we have all the, well, I'll call them the littles, younger kids, you know, that may not be yet to college age, but are going back to whether it's high school, grade school, elementary school, all that good stuff. And yeah, it's kind of a reentry period too. That's the term, my friend Jeremy mentioned me the other day, he was like, how's reentry

5:13going? And I don't have a typical nine to five job right now, which is fine for me. And yet I recall in a past life when I was working in that environment, you know, you'd have all the things I just mentioned, of course, going on amongst those with children. So it added a little stress, you know, it's like, okay, how am I going to do that? I'm going to make sure I get the kids off to school. There's the first day, some of the anxieties and excitement that come with that. And so it was, I don't have children myself. I have four nieces and nephews and I've gotten to experience, you know, a little bit of that energy, shall we say, through them and through their parents, my brothers, of course, and my lovely sisters-in-law, sisters-in-laws, well, I two of them. So we'll do this plural. Anyway, it was cool to kind of observe a little bit of that. And also just made me appreciate, you know, not being a parent like among all the other things that come with being a parent is, you know, how people that, you know, sort of are working through, say they've got their job, they've got all the other things going on, how they're able to successfully help their kids and be there for them, get to school

6:14okay, pick them up after school or meet them at the bus stop, all those things. So to all the moms and dads, caregivers, grandparents, teachers out there, I salute you. I know it's not easy and I know there's a lot of excitement, but there's also a lot of stress that comes with it, so hang in there. And I just thank you for what you're doing, educating our children and supporting them as they grow is so critically important for a number of reasons. So I salute you and wish you all the best with this upcoming school year. And for me, I do miss it a little bit, you know, I wouldn't say I miss being a kid per say, there's always been that moment where you reflect, you think about all the fun memories you had. In fact, some of this came to mind as I was talking with my nephew Nolan over the weekend, a little bit about, you know, him getting back to school, but he'll be a freshman for the first time in high school at Central Catholic, which is a school local here in Massachusetts. And thankfully, maybe thankfully isn't the right word, but what I think is cool is the sister, Ella, my other, well, my niece, she goes to the same school.

7:15So there's kind of a great way to, well, the two of them to be together in that setting. In fact, I think Ella is going to be driving Nolan to school now. So well, I wish you both luck with that. I have no doubt Ella is a wonderful driver and I think I'm sure Nolan will be a wonderful passenger. But anyway, he was talking a little bit about how this Friday, I believe, we're actually today, if I think about the time of this show, hearing, he'll have had his first day. And it's mostly, or if I'm not mistaken, just freshmen. So incoming freshmen that have a chance to kind of meet each other and get familiar with the school and things like that, whereas this coming Monday, I don't have their first classes and of course get to be with all the other upper classmen. So yeah, I was remembering that gosh, I mean, the first day of high school, well, I don't remember specifics. I remember having certainly some of that anxiety where, you know, so many people, you don't know, I remember walking the halls and feeling like the smallest person ever. You know, when you think about juniors and seniors, you know, nowadays, gosh, well, I'm

8:17much older of course, but I sometimes see a group of high school students and they all look small to me, but I can appreciate where you're new to that environment. Never mind, you know, the classes you get in front of you, sports, all those things is just, you know, connecting with others, hoping you can maybe make a good impression. I know that for me was kind of important and it was sort of something internal that, you know, I wanted to show up and be confident and have high self esteem, but it's not easy. It's a very different environment and it takes a while. So again, sort of going back to what I mentioned earlier on wishing everyone luck in that setting. Yeah, like take it day by day, it's natural. There's going to be a little stress, a little anxiety. There's going to be some ups and downs. There's going to be a, you know, a grade that you get that you didn't expect on the positive side. There's going to be a bumpy practice. There might be some awkward interaction in the hallway, but just know you're going to take something away from it. You're going to get through it and you will enjoy yourself. So let's see, reentry. I mentioned that again in what that kind of means.

9:18For me, it's, well, selfishly, a little time on my hands and getting to re-enture the world of football. So football is upon us and tonight, or well, there would have been a couple nights ago. Forgive me for the continued awkwardness here with the temporal piece, if you will, but at the time of this recording, Pat's and Seahawks kicking off the NFL season tonight, big Patriots fan. If you listen to the show before, you've probably heard me mention them. And while this isn't a sports radio show per se, I do like to, at times, just spend a moment double-clicking on something I'm enjoying about the local sports scene, a big fan of all the, well, call them the big four. Well, sort of, yeah, I guess maybe the Bruins. That's more my brother's gym, but still a fan. But Patriots are right there at the top for me with the Celtics and really excited. I mean, the football, if you're a fan, American football, I should say, not that we don't know that by now, but not referring to soccer. Really do love just all the things that come with it, whether it's, you know, Sundays

10:19and when they're playing the Patriots or whatever team you may follow. Or if you're a college football fan, that's usually Saturdays and being able to take in a game. Maybe you're out with friends. There's a lot of social aspects to it. Get together, things like that. Tonight, though, I'm probably just going to take it in at home in my little back patio, which I'm very lucky to have where I live in Charlestown. I've actually dragged a TV outside. I have an outlet out there, plugged it in to kind of create an outdoor TV experience, if you will. But strangely, I don't know if others have been experiencing this. Mosquitoes, I don't know why there are mosquitos around them. Maybe they've just chosen to take up residence if you will in my backyard, but they're out there, folks. So be vigilant. Continue to use your bug spray if you need to. That's actually, I mentioned it because there's been a few times over the last week or so where I've had to go back inside, partly because I don't have any bug spray, but that's the road life. I sometimes just have a little bit of a lapse when it comes to those things that others would just naturally have on their person or nearby it all times.

11:21So as usual, here I'm digressing. But Patriots, excited. It does you that maybe aren't as familiar. This is a rematch tonight. Well, their first game will be against the team they faced in the Super Bowl last year. And they didn't, of course, win that game, but I'm optimistic. They're going to have a good game. I'm not sure they're going to win. And I still haven't sort of thought through what my call would be. Most of the media and people that are sort of in that football universe are all picking the Seahawks. Of course, they're at home. They're going to raise their Super Bowl banner. And they pretty much mop the floor with the Patriots last year. So you know what? I'm going to make my prediction now. It's going to be the Patriots in a close one. I often find it's fun even just to, I mean, I root for the team. So I should, you know, of course, probably pick them. But I also find when, you know, you're the other dog and everyone else is picking against you. It's never a bad idea to go all in on that underdog. And quick caveat. This is not promotional. This is not gambling advice. So you should do what you feel is right. And if you want to root for the Patriots, please do, but do not feel obligated to. There's not a requirement if you're listening to the show.

12:25And then Sundays in general, I mentioned, you know, kind of a cool vibe when you've got football going on. And part of it too, I just remember it is, you know, seeing everybody else stay here in the city of Boston. And I experienced this too when I lived in Toronto because much like Boston, I think anyway, you have so many different people from around the world, around the country. They may be visiting on a weekend, maybe tourists, but also, I mentioned the college students. And, you know, I'm trying to think of the right term. It's not a expatriate. No, it's not it. Not to continue with the Patriots talk, but it's people that have moved to Boston that may have, you know, grown up somewhere else. So why do I bring all this up? You have all the different fans of the different teams. So you could kind of walk into any sports bar or restaurant or just get together and you'll see people with all the different jerseys on some dialed in on this game. Maybe they're dialed in on the four o'clock game. So it just makes it more fun. You know, you can kind of get quickly pulled in to kind of rooting for, you know, another team or sometimes it's fun to have a little, you know, healthy banter and back and forth with the opposing teams fans.

13:25So I suspect, you know, you might find that type of dynamic with other sports, but football is pretty unique where you've got this sort of all day and it's only once a week, of course, sort of experience you can have on Sunday. So looking forward to that and let's see what else. Well, we've got other things to talk about. I want to dive in more to the season of autumn itself, pumpkin stuff, comfy clothes, but with all that said, I think it's probably prudent that we take our first break. So we're going to do that now. And as I sort of close out here for the first segment, I want to remind you all that you're listening to the Robloy radio show on one of 2.9 WBCA Boston's Community Neighborhood Radio Station. I'm your host, the RobE guy, and we're going to come back to you very shortly. We're going to continue our discussion on this sort of back to school front and all the things that I really love about followed on them. So stay tuned and we'll be right back folks.

14:28This is WBCA LP Boston, Boston's Community Radio Station. You have a awesome Your Wallet, your keys, or your favorite show on WBCA. Well, let me bring you to the information station. On Facebook, you can find us at WBCA Radio and BNN Television. On Instagram, you can find us at BNN Undershore Media and TikTok at BNN Media or X, if you feel inclined, you can find us at BNN Under Score Television. Now please, stay up to date with Boston's Community Radio Station. Welcome back everyone.

15:42RobE guy here and I'm excited to have you join us. This is the RobE life radio show and we are coming to you as always from 1.0 2.9 WBCA Boston's Community Neighborhood Radio Station. Excited to have you join us if you're just tuning in or as a quick recap if you've been with us. We were talking a little bit about back to school and the reentry, everything that kind of happens around the fall time frame and you know, well, I don't have a bathrobe actually on right now. I do have a very comfy jacket which I remember wearing in the fall a lot. Gosh, maybe now 25 years ago, which is kind of scary, but in any event, one of the things I do love about the fall in addition to what we talked about before the break, football coming back, the energy from back to school, whether in college, high school, elementary, all that good stuff, it's just being in a position to wear a hoodie more comfortably. I lucky to spend some time up in Maine over the summer with their for Labor Day weekend

16:45and you know, there it's getting a little cooler at night ahead of maybe how cold it's been down here in the Boston area, not too much of a delta, but I, you know, did wear a, I guess, wore like a sweatpants in the morning hoodie, but I just love those comfy clothes and recover this before. So the Hollister is a jacket I have on now, Hollister, it's a brand I think is still affiliated with Abercrombie if it isn't owned out right by them. I, well, I had the privilege of working ever so briefly for Hollister back in my early days. I was living in Connecticut at the time and I recall, well, being a scientist, working at a very large pharmaceutical company and yet still, I guess at the time, naively thought I had a future in, you know, maybe modeling or clothing and at the time Abercrombie was really big Hollister was emerging as a sister brand or another brand that was part of that umbrella, similar style of clothing and at the crystal mall in Waterford, Connecticut, not too far from where I lived. There was a Hollister and I managed to get a job working on the floor folding clothes

17:49and I mentioned this because my, one of my older friends now, orless friends, JT who I met at the company I was working at and we were friendly back then. To this day, he still says that I appeared more excited about getting the job at Hollister, folding clothes than I was about my first job there working on the lab at, you know, one of the largest and most reputable pharmaceutical companies in the world. So I don't know what you can take from that, but I still have this really cool jacket. So I think in the robe verse, if you will, bath robe certainly, there's other types of robes that can be worn. Smoking jackets, this is kind of what that looks like. It's a blue sort of crushed velvet, velour looking coat, super comfy. I think one of the highlights for me anyway, the inside lining is sort of tropical in nature. It's a lighter blue with some purple like flowers and they almost look like little seeds or pollen kind of being blown off. It's strange. I know, why is this all relevant? It's super comfy. I would probably never get away with wearing something like this in the summer or the spring.

18:52And I continue to enjoy rocking it. So it's stuff like that, your hoodies, your sweatpants, all the things are coming back where you can throw those on at night in the morning. And sometimes it's still a sunny day. That's the other reason I like the fall. You get those moments where they call, you know, sort of a summer day in the fall, Indian summer, which is maybe not the most appropriate term anymore. But at the end of the day, I just think those moments where it suddenly gets a little warmer than expected can also be really nice to experience, especially if you're having a little, you know, withdrawal from summertime, which we all enjoy. So what else does a fall at autumn bring? And why may or may not have mentioned this at the Starfish show festival. So there's festivals happening all the time. But I really, for some reason, have always been drawn to those happening in autumn, maybe because summer time you're out a lot. It's kind of a very active time, I think, for many of us, whether you're your kids or yourself, whether that's working out, traveling a fall, I think, for some, can slow down a bit because okay, we've got school. We've got, oh gosh, I can't believe I'm going to put it this way, whether it's, you know,

19:56your end of Q3 or Q4, those KPIs you're trying to hit. Summer might be, and yet on the weekends, there's always some cool stuff to check out. And for me, a couple of the highlights, you know, cider. So love apple cider. And I've always been a fan. There's also some hard cider out there. That's become a real popular thing for some that enjoy that. And you'll find some festivals out there where it's sort of cider makers from all around a certain area or even the world. I used to go to one out in Western mass called cider days. You may still have that, which was really fun. And if you're interested in learning more, you can probably find something about it online. And it was near Deerfield Academy. I remember that. And it was just a great time to kind of meet people, enjoy some cider. And then there would be a really cool dinner at the end of the night where I'm pretty sure, if I recall, every sort of part of the meal somehow incorporated cider, whether it was like, you know, you have a drink to start or you have a cider based sort of salad

20:58dressing with your salad, all that kind of stuff. Really neat oysters. So oysters, of course, can be eaten all the time. I love them. But also they have some oyster festivals in the fall. I believe one in the Korean beach area. I think there may be one down in the cape as well. I'm blanking on the specifics. But just suffice it to say, you've King Richard's fair. I think that's another one. A lot of cool things to check out. So if you're interested in festivals, curious to learn more, just head online. You can probably find some in your area. And it's also just kind of a great way to escape, you know, do a little mini trip, even if it's just a day trip, where you can go with a group of friends or on your own and enjoy what the festival brings. The other thing about that that I blanked on that I'm well huge fan of that I know some of us have some fatigue with, but it's just all the pumpkin stuff, whether it's pumpkin donuts, pumpkin pie. I'm not a big go to a patch and pick a pumpkin. I tend to sort of keep it easy on me as, you know, thinking about the Robelife.

22:00I'll just grab one at my grocery store, but I know that's a lot of fun for some people. The apple picking too. And Russell Orchard is a place I like to go to that is again up near a Korean beach probably because the name is, well, it's related to my actual name as well. Given my middle name is Russell, but I like to joke with people that it's my Orchard. It is not. Again, a non promotional comment or a set of statements, but it is a lot of fun places like that where you can kind of get all the things. You can get your cider, your cider donuts, a pumpkin, take a walk through the apple picking area, if you will. And yeah, so just encourage you to maybe you're not a big pumpkin fan or a festival fan, but if you're curious, look into it and check it out. You might have a really good time. You might discover something new to experience in the fall that you haven't before. And then the other thing is, oh boy, Halloween, my favorite season or rather holiday. And you know, for me, I'm not sure if I mentioned this on the show before, but I'm a big scary

23:01movie person. So I love all that stuff. And of course, on some of the local channels, whether they're, well, I'm not sure you would consider it local, but places like AMC, TNT, TBS and all those types of places are you streaming services. They all now for some time offer kind of okay in September and October. We're going to dial up our our scary movie offerings. So if you're a fan of that sort of genre, I have no doubt you can find something you'll enjoy. And I'm sort of like making my way through a lot of the classics. I love the OG Halloween from 1978, one of my favorite scary movies among others. And so yeah, I think it's just a cool thing to check out when you know the leaves are changing color. And it's a little windier. It's a little darker. It gets dark earlier. I'm not sure if you're a big fan of that, but if you like a scary movie, have it on. It's definitely a great time to do that. And then let's see. Well, we don't have too much time left. What else can I cover? Well, not hot coffee.

24:01So another transition point for some, at least if you're a coffee drinker or maybe you're a tea drinker is, you know, as it gets a little cooler out, you transition, you might, from your iced coffee to your hot coffee. Now, now it doesn't really work for me. Probably because I just, over the last, don't even know how long developed a little bit of a habit. I'm not saying it's a good one. But when I get my coffee in the morning, there's a certain efficiency, shall we say, that I like to strive for when consuming it. And I know certainly social coffee drinking tea drinking, whatever your drink of choice is wonderful. I have many times where I can enjoy it that way. But generally speaking during the week, or even in the mornings on, say, a Saturday before I'm going to get going with whether it's the gym or my errands, I got to have an ability to get that down quick. And for the longest time, when it comes to just really hot coffee, gosh, I got better to sit. You know, I'm not able to even just dive in and, oh, man, I just get so impatient.

25:02So that's just a long way to way of saying, if you're transitioning now to hot coffee and that's your gym, welcome back. But if you're going to continue to drink your iced coffee or tea, whatever it might be in the morning, afternoon and night, I'm with you, whether it's for efficiency or otherwise. And then, oh boy, well, while we're not quite there yet, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my wonderful Boston Celtics. They're going to be kicking things off. I believe preseason sometime around the early to mid-October time frame. And just very, very interested to see how they do. If you're familiar with the team, you know, that they traded away one of their best players, Jalen Brown earlier this year over this summer and added a few pieces. And so it's going to be, I'm interested to see how it goes. It's going to be a different set of people. Some, some are coming back, you know, JT, who's our best player. And I'm going to have some new faces like Paul George and Mitchell Robinson. And I'm confident that with the sort of veterans they have, as well as some of the younger

26:03players that have shown a lot of competence, you know, whether it's Pritchard or Gonzalez, among others, they're going to be a solid team. The question is, are they going to be solid enough or strong enough to really be at the level they've been over the last several years anyway, appreciating the fact that they haven't done so well in the playoffs last couple of years. So lots to think about there and be excited about if you're a sportsman. And it doesn't just end with the Celtics. You'll have the Bruins season starting soon. The Red Sox are continuing to hold on to that wildcard playoff spot. So we're going to hopefully, I don't want to jinx them, but see some October baseball. And you know, I think you're also going to hopefully not just with the Patriots, but see some of these local teams, even if you're a fan of say the revolution, your Boston College football team. I know they aren't necessarily what they used to be. But whatever your jam is on the sports front, if you have a jam, it's a great time in the fall where things are winding down where you get your playoff action or they're starting

27:04up where you get to kind of get a feel for how that team's going to look as things progress into the winter in the spring. So well, that was a lot we covered. A lot of terrain. I appreciate you all listening. If you have been joining us for the Robloy radio show and our back to school and other things, shall we say some random, but all I think generally connected to the autumn fall time frame. Oh, the wonderful Sam Cook. I love this outro song. Well, I want to again, thank you for listening. As a reminder, we do air their show each and every Friday at 7.30 p.m. usually with new content. Looking to record a new content, sort of driven show each and every week. And of course, we're brought to you by the wonderful folks at 102.9 FM WBCA Boston's Community Neighborhood Radio Station. Train me as a radio host and producer. And I'm ever so grateful for them having such a wonderful time here at the studio. And lastly, if you aren't able to listen to the show, say one of the errors, you can always find our episodes on the WBCA Podbean site.

28:08And please search for the Robloy. And if you're curious to learn more about the show, if you're on Instagram, you can send us direct message to at the RobEguy or you can always email us at CelticsRobEguy at gmail.com. Thank you all for listening. And I hope to have you join us next Friday. Take care, all.