Some topics are so deep, so wide, and so fundamental to who we are as a species that broaching them invites chaos. But if your Dogs won’t talk about it, who will, we ask you? Here in Episode 208, we take on such a topic: the fine art of soccer diving: archer’s bows, delayed collapses, endless rolling, astonishing recoveries, and why the refs never seem to catch on. We also get to hear from theatre insider KJ about Burning Mom’s triumphant run and about a rediscovered stash of 1975 London cassette letters to home. We also have PJ’s reminiscences about a Honda CR500 dirt bike that still raises heart rates, and from RJ a full tour of the new foosball‑friendly Mench Café. There’s yet another million dollar idea awaiting an enterprising listener, some Listener Mail, a great PSA on sun damage to skin, and even more… Dive right in with us!

Hear about several examples of—plus a fun encounter with—AI based scams! Avoid being taken advantage of and tremble at the future of AI! Mourn and celebrate the passing of KJ’s much-venerated 1964 International Travel-all!  Listen to several leftover chunks of last episode’s What We Did on Our Summer Vacation!  Enjoy some Snappers and even more! It’s all here, so don’t even hesitate; just dive right in and enjoy! 

Faithful listeners may recall RJ preparing to head for Spain to represent his country in table soccer and PJ preparing to go to France for an epic cycling trip.  Non-listeners (are there any?) will likely have heard about these exciting exploits at the grocery or the gym, going about their daily business. In either case, here in episode 205 we share our experiences and impressions along with our achievements as we report on What We Did On Our Summer Vacations. We’re hoping new friends made at these events will hear about themselves at the same time you do!

Here in Episode 204 we once again find AI, and its increasing use as a substitute for human interaction, entering our chat. We feel the need to assure you: we are real, even if cover art isn’t. If you talk to us, it’s an actual interaction with organic beings. This episode sees said beings discussing KJ’s goings-on with career and family, another round of Snappers, the amusing nature of artists’ conceptual renderings of proposed architectural drawings and the aforementioned AI conversation. Plus, RJ reviews Wicked: Part I in anticipation of Part II. It’s all refreshingly and reassuringly human. Any odd inflections or awkward speech rhythms are clearly the result of human software problems, believe us.

Fall has arrived again, in spite of our doubts, and despite this fully anachronistic episode. Gather ‘round the fire while we amuse ourselves talking about potential Pope names, get a full report on goings-on in KJ’s star-studded life, discuss the strange voting experiences in this year’s federal election, and yeet us some Snappers. We touch on some serious matters, too, so let’s see if we can get Friendly to call Rusty and Jerome to join us around the fire. Buddy will be pleased

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our latest episode includes a fount of ideas and information that range from interesting and entertaining (like attending a house concert) to borderline apocalyptic (like newly introduced, widely available, simple to use, and highly sophisticated image management software that allows realistic fakes). We try to keep our heads on straight by also discussing what we are watching and enjoying, as well as providing a taste of the nefarious powers of big banks in Canada. All in all it’s 40 minutes that should leave you with things light and things heavy to think about.

Happy New Year! As we hurtle toward our 200th episode, the Shed Dogs wish you all a very happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year! Here in Episode 191, we are once again enjoying letters from faithful listeners, thrashing our way towards understanding obscure words and phrases in Snappers, and getting the latest on how the PNE was feeling last September. Spoiler alert: it was feeling pretty good again. We also manage to fit in a surprisingly complicated approach to bifocals from RJ, and a short exposé on several of Ticketmaster’s super-seedy business practices. Just like we hope the New Year will be, this episode is familiar and comfortable but still new and informative, so put on a comfy sweater and settle in!

Happy Holidays to you and everyone you care about, from us to you! We hope the new year is way better than we expected or hoped. Episode 190 sees us pursuing our normal interests: wasting another golden yet ridiculous money maker idea from PJ, enduring his pontifications about the state of the world, hearing actual valuable advice and concert reviews from RJ, and diving into Listener Mail. But then… what to our wondering ears should appear but KJ responding to Leigh’s remarks about something we said about religion several episodes back. All of a sudden we have a casual yet plausible conversation around whether history indicates that the apostle Paul, writer of letters and founding architect of modern Christianity, was in fact a Roman plant! What…!? So anyway, get ready for that and let us know what you think, we are curious!

This time capsule episode vaults us back to the heady days of the Olympics, particularly the one-time magic of Olympic break dancing. We have a little look at how to watch sports events like that these days, throw in bits and pieces about free will, dealing with special dietary requests, and then find out a lot about “House, M.D.” (eg., is that even the title? Many of us don’t know). You’ll be relieved to know we’re not pitching our special diet plan that promises success at the geriatric Olympics. Not yet, anyway.