Aging ain't for Sissies
Aging isn't easy. Make sure your complete well-being is handled with a community and information that can make it easier and FUN. Aging needs humor, which you can find in the "Aging ain't for Sissies" Podcast, along with informational guests that give us the information we need.
Aging ain't for Sissies
Unraveling Random Curiosities!
Ever wondered about the actual name of the hashtag or the history behind the iconic Louis Vuitton shoes? Join me, Marcy Backhus, as we uncover a collection of random yet fascinating facts and dive into my personal escapades! From my recent health updates and the thrill of water aerobics, to my exciting adventures in California. Get ready to hear about it all!
Don't miss out on the tales of my upcoming escapades to Greece and the exhilarating process of renovating my bathroom! Plus, we take a delightful detour to explore the tantalizing flavors of Chicago's favorite deli, Manny's. We'll also shed light on the pros of Medicare Advantage Plans, how to navigate this maze, and the importance of seeking expert advice. Tune in for an episode filled with hearty conversations and intriguing insights!
Hello and welcome to the AG Name for Sissy's podcast. My name is Marcy Backes and I am your host. On today's episode, I have decided to go quite light. The world has been a very heavy place for the last few weeks, not just for me personally, but also for the world. So I thought, you know, today we need something light and breezy, fun and easy, and we're going to do some random facts after. We talk about my week and the world and what's been going on. So sit back, relax and take a deep breath, exhale, all right, everybody. Well, as we know, the world in the last few weeks is a lot going on. Actually, on tomorrow, which would be Monday, I'm recording this.
Speaker 1:On Sunday, I was supposed to be leaving for Israel for a trip that we had looked forward to for quite some time. Although it compares nothing to what's going on in Israel, it's still a sad and heartbreaking thing to miss out on a trip like this to walk in Jesus' footsteps. Not sure if I'll ever get to do it, not because of what's going on there, just because life, you know, things happen. We have switched the trip over to a trip in April to go to Greece and walk in St Paul's footsteps with a lot of the same people that we were going to be heading on this trip with. But again, I know this touches nothing to what has been going on in the Middle East and everything there. And with that said, today's episode, I'm going to go a little light, because just a lot has been going on in the world For me personally. I was finally able to see the cardiologist at the University of Illinois and I have. I can't even tell you the name of it. The main thing is is that part of my heart wall is growing and going to cover at some point my valve, but right now it's not there. I loved this cardiologist doctor at the University of Illinois Medical Center and we're going to do nothing. I feel great, I'm doing great, and he said we're just going to let it be. They're going to do some genetic testing, some other things like that, but they believe it's a genetic issue, not from high blood pressure or anything like that. So that was a really good thing to hear. We're not going to do anything. Saw my shoulder doctor this week and again the only answer for my shoulder would be a replacement and since the shots are working great for me, I got another one of those lovely shots that I love in my arm. And you know, funny enough, with those two things and all that's going on, this is the best I've felt, probably in the last eight or nine years. I feel great, doing great Again, water aerobics.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you, if you're looking for an exercise that you would love and makes you feel good and has really helped me, I take a water aerobics class. It's not for sissies, I'll tell you that much. It's a tough class but I love it three to four times a week. Just saying just loving it. Hope the world is treating you well.
Speaker 1:Out there it is a beautiful fall day. Here in Chicago it is a crisp, clear sunshine. I just heard that the Bears won their first home game in a year, so that'll make the city happy. 54 degrees out. After church today, Craig and I went to our favorite look it up sometime if you can Manny's Manny's deli in Chicago Good old school cafeteria style deli with all the good food and there is nothing I like better than a Jewish deli's egg salad had the best egg salad sandwich today. They make amazing potato pancakes Super thick, just amazing. So split one of those had half a sandwich and felt like home. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, grew up with a lot of Jewish delis, and Jewish deli food is home to me. So check out Manny's online You'll see what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1:What else has been going on? Nothing, just. Oh, we did. Last week we finally ordered the tile and countertops to have our bathroom a walk-in shower put in. I know that that's probably something that a lot of people do when they reach our age. Our condo just has one bathroom and it has a tub and I definitely wanted a walk-in shower. So I'm looking forward to getting that done in a few weeks here and we've ordered all the fixtures and all that.
Speaker 1:It's kind of fun Been picking things out, doing that and enjoying it. I don't know if you can hear that. That's another. I crack up so much at the ambulances going by. They not only have a siren, but they blow that horn like crazy. It makes me crazy, doesn't the siren do anything? But I guess it's all the walking people. But back to my bathroom and my kitchen, not doing cabinets or anything. We have beautiful cabinets and all that just doing flooring, countertops and a walk-in shower. So all of you that have done the walk-in shower, you know what I'm up to.
Speaker 1:And wonderful thing here in the building where I live is there is a guy His name is Roman, he's our contractor and he's done over a hundred bathrooms in this complex, this building that I live in, so he knows all the pitfalls. So hopefully everything should go well. They say a week, so we'll see. I'll keep you up to date on that. Had, let's see, had a great week in California I don't think I talked about that because we just did a repeat episode had a friend that had surgery, very successful surgery, and I'm so happy for her, and she's starting to feel better and had a valve replacement. So that's amazing and it's important to show up for our friends. These are friends that have always shown up for me and just because I was far away didn't mean I shouldn't show up for them. So I did my best to be there and to be supportive and let my friends know that I care about them, because they certainly care enough about me, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:A little bit of family drama, but nothing that won't be fixed in time. We've talked about those complex adult relationships. Alec and Sharon, I'm excited, are coming here for Christmas. As we all start talking about Christmas plans and things like that. I'm sure you're thinking about it in your family. I think it's important for Alec to be close with his cousins here, so they're going to come and spend a few days with us here at Christmas in the city, which is such a fun place to spend Christmas. So I'm grateful that they said yes to that. That's about all I can think of. That's going on.
Speaker 1:I started oh, I know a lot of you know I have an embroidery machine that's licensed to Disney and I was before we moved. I was doing a lot of work with that and I haven't done anything since I moved here. I haven't done anything crafty. I think I did a couple of Christmas crafts last year and that's it. So I broke out my machine and the gal that does my eyelashes here. She has a three-year-old little girl that loves Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas, so I embroidered her a cute top with a Sally on it and I delivered it yesterday when I got my eyelashes done and she's so sweet. The gal that does my eyelashes she said that she's going to record her daughter's reaction so that she could share it with me and I thought that was really nice.
Speaker 1:It's really nice here in Chicago to start to feeling a part of our community here, and doing things like that is part of it. I love my class that I go to. Everybody gets in the pool not everybody, but a group of us get in the pool half hour to 15 minutes early before the class and we walk up and down the pool and chat and talk about travel and things and it's giving me that feeling of community. Had a great morning at church this morning and feeling a part of that community. So it's taken us about a year and a half, but I feel like this is home, really home now. So it's been great.
Speaker 1:Well, today we're going to do some fun things. We're going to talk about some fun random facts. I don't know. I went down this rabbit hole this week of random fun facts and I just thought there's so many random fun facts, why not share them with you guys? You might enjoy them if you're just sitting listening to me, if you're walking on your treadmill, if you're driving in the car. We're going to talk about some fun, okay, so we're going to talk about random facts. Make sure I'm recording yes, I am recording Great Random facts.
Speaker 1:What are random facts? Random facts are just weird stuff. So things like did you know that avocados are a fruit, not a vegetable? They're a single-seated berry? Had no idea about that. Let's see what's. Another good one. Human teeth are the only part of the body that cannot heal themselves. Never thought of that, but that is true.
Speaker 1:It's illegal to own just one guinea pig in Switzerland. It's considered animal abuse because they're social beings and get lonely. Oh my God, doesn't that make you so sad for all the little lonely guinea pigs? Okay, this is a good one. Ancient Romans used to drop a piece of toast into their wine for good health, hence why we raise a toast. The heart of a shrimp is located in its head. That's an interesting one. Okay, this one.
Speaker 1:I totally do believe People are more creative in the shower. When we take a warm shower, we experience an increase in dopamine flow that makes us more creative. I totally believe that, honestly, some of my best ideas have come in the shower. I've always said that. Now I know why Baby rabbits are called kits. K-i-t-s. Kits the unicorn is the national animal of Scotland.
Speaker 1:It was apparently chosen because of its connection with dominance and chivalry, as well as purity innocence. In Celtic mythology, venus is the only planet to spin clockwise. Okay, so it travels around the sun once every 225 Earth days, but it rotates clockwise once every 243 days. Glenn, it's just amazing to me. I don't know about you, but it all confuses me. But that's an interesting fact.
Speaker 1:Nutmeg is a hallucinogen. The spice contains Okay, I'm going to try to say this word Muristusin, a natural compound that has mind-altering effects if ingested in large doses. So buy yourself a Costco-sized nutmeg and have at it. Competitive art used to be an Olympic sport between 1912 and 1948. Who knew this? One's an interesting one A chef's hat.
Speaker 1:You know? The big white hat has a hundred pleats. Apparently it's meant to represent the hundred ways you can cook an egg. Hmm, let's see. There's only one letter that doesn't appear in any American state name. There's a Z in Arizona, there's an X in Texas, but there's no Q in any of them. So you know how Louis Vuitton shoes have the iconic red soles. Apparently they were inspired by Andy Warhol.
Speaker 1:Who knew that Google images so that you know when you can go into images and just see images on Google's was literally created after Jennifer Lopez wore that infamous dress to the 2000 Grammys. I think that green one. So many people were searching for her outfit that they added that function. Big Ben's clock stopped at 10.07 pm on May 27, 2005, most likely to to extreme hot temperatures of 31.8 degrees Celsius. That's hot. I don't know what that is in Fahrenheit, but it's hot.
Speaker 1:Walt Disney currently holds the most Academy Awards. Disney won 26 Oscars over the course of his career. It was nominated for a grand total of 59 times. Let's see, did you? Oh, I knew this, but I think it's kind of interesting. The Easter Island heads. So you know, the Easter Island heads. They have bodies. They have bodies, they're just covered under the earth.
Speaker 1:M&ms are named after a businessman who created them. And what do the M stand for? For a smarts and Bruce Murie, who apparently didn't have the best relationship. All right, oh, the real name for a hashtag, or as we called it back in the day, the pound symbol when they put it on the phone, is an octo Thorpe. Octo octo refers to the eight points in the symbol, but according to Miriam Webb's tradition, the Thorpe part is a mystery. Oh, this is, you know me and loving Disney trivia. This is some good Disney trivia. The actors who voiced Mickey and Minnie Mouse got married in real life. They tied the knot in 1991. You can hear a blue well's heartbeat from over two miles away.
Speaker 1:The last letter added to the English alphabet was J. Let's see, oh, ketchup was once sold as medicine. The condiment was prescribed and sold to people suffering with indigestion back in 1834. I think it's the cause of indigestion. But okay, the moon has moonquakes like we have earthquakes. Humans are the only animals that blush. An ostrich's eyes are bigger than its brain.
Speaker 1:A jiffy is an actual unit of time, so I'll be there in a jiffy. It's one one hundredth of a second, so you might want to think about how you've used that. Are you really going to be there in a jiffy? You can't hum if you hold your nose. Hands up, if you just tried it. I think we all know the Vatican is the smallest country in the world. If we don't, you know.
Speaker 1:Now, this is interesting. You know candy bars. Japan has over 200 flavors Banana, blueberry, cheesecake, some questionable like baked potato and melon and wasabi. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out. Pigs cannot look up into the sky. Okay, this is so gross. This is going to freak you out and I don't know if you're going to be able to sleep tonight, but in the course of the average lifetime.
Speaker 1:While sleeping you could eat around 700. I'm 700. I'm sorry. 70 different instax and 10 spiders or more. Eww, eww, eww. Everyone's tongue print is different, like our fingerprints. Let's see here.
Speaker 1:People used to say prunes instead of cheese when getting their picture taken in the 1840s. A cheesy grin was seen as childish. So a London photographer told people to say prunes to keep their mouths tight. Blue whale tongues can weigh as much as an elephant. Geez, louise. Let's see, dolphins have names for one another Interesting.
Speaker 1:Oh, the blob of toothpaste on your toothbrush has a name. It's called a nerdle. There are more than 1000 types of bananas growing in the world. That's an interesting fun fact. All right, let's go to my other. Okay, these are some interesting ones. Three presidents, all founding fathers John Adams, thomas Jefferson, james Monroe all died on July 4th. Barbie, barbie the doll has a full name. Her name is Barbara Millicent Roberts from Willows, wisconsin. Her birthday is March 9th 1959. And she was first displayed at a New York Toy Fair.
Speaker 1:Okay, there actually aren't 57 varieties of Heinz ketchup, and never were. The company founder H G Heinz thought his product should have a number. He liked the number 57. Here's a hint the glass bottle. Here's a hint Hit the glass bottle on the 57, not the bottom, to get the ketchup to flow.
Speaker 1:Let's see here, I don't like tallest people. Blah, blah, blah. Oh, here's if you are in the senior age, as we all are, experiments in universities have actually been carried out to figure out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop, both with machine and human licks, because this is important scientific knowledge. The results ranged from 252 licks to 411. I guess it would depend on how long your tongue is right, like, if you have a really long tongue, you'd look it longer, so you'd need less licks. Okay, I'm looking too close into this.
Speaker 1:I've been here. I don't know if you have the four corners. This is the only spot in the US where you can stand in four states at once Utah, colorado, arizona and New Mexico. Been there. It's kind of cool. It was a super hot day when I was there. Canada is south of Detroit. Just look at a map.
Speaker 1:The original search engine, google's name was back rub. It was renamed Google after Google goal, which is the number one, followed by 100 zeros. Okay, the oldest known living land animal is a tortoise named Jonathan. He's 190 years old. He was born in 1832 and he lives on the island of St Helena and the Atlantic Ocean. Hmm, let's see.
Speaker 1:Elephants can't jump. Octopuses have three hearts. Cows really don't have four stomachs, they have one stomach with four chambers. I hope you're enjoying these. I like funny things. Let's see here. Polar bears have black skin and actually their fur is not white, it's see-through, so it appears white as it reflects light. Tiger skin is also striped, like it's fur, and there's no two fur patterns alike. Flamingos are only pink because of chemicals called keratonoids in the algae and fish. They also eat algae, by the way that they eat, and their feathers are grayish white when they are born. This is an interesting one.
Speaker 1:Mosquitoes are the most deadly animal in the world. They kill more people than any other creature due to disease. They carry Mosquitoes. Who knew? Everybody's afraid of sharks? But it's not the shark, it's the mosquito you should be afraid of. Miss Piggy and Yoda have something in common. Do you know what it is? They were both voiced by the same person, puppeteer Frank Oz.
Speaker 1:Psycho was the first movie to show a flushing toilet. One of the most famous movie lines in history was never said. We often quote play it again, sam from Casablanca. But the real line is this play it, sam. Play as time goes by.
Speaker 1:Okay, hmm, there are no muscles in your fingers. Their function is controlled by the muscles in your palms and your arms. The hardest working muscle in your body is your heart. It pumps more than 2000 gallons of blood a day. It beats more than 2.5 billion times in a 70 year lifespan. Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm.
Speaker 1:According to recent research, the human nose can distinguish at least a trillion different odors. Oh, that's a lot of smells. This is so gross. I don't even know why somebody would do this. But the longest fingernails were over 42 feet in total and belong to an American, diana Armstrong, recognized as the new record holder in March of 2022. The previous record was held by American Lee Redmond, and his fingernails were over 28 feet. So this person really went above and beyond to get 42 feet. But that is just so gross to me. It's so disgusting I can't even think about it. The word strength is the longest word in the English language, with only one vowel. That's strengths. Let's see if I got anything else interesting. Oh, mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein when she was 18 years old, during a ghost story competition while staying in Switzerland with Widers, percy Shelley, her lover, and Lord Byron.
Speaker 1:German chocolate cake does not come from Germany. It was named for a person, sam German, who was created a type of baking chocolate for bakers in 1852,. Almost all commercially grown artichokes come from California, in Castrow ville. It's the artichoke capital of the world. Okay, so do you think Fruit Loops has all those colors? Do you think each color tastes different? Well, they don't, it's all one flavor. Pound Cake got its name because the original recipe required a pound each of butter, flour and sugar. That's a lot of cake, but it was meant to last for a long time. I'm sure you know this, but if you don't, the difference between jam and jelly. Jam is made with mashed up fruit and jelly is made with juice.
Speaker 1:Flaming hot Cheetos were developed by a janitor at Fritole, richard Montanas, who got the idea after putting chili powder on some rejected Cheetos I didn't know they had rejected Cheetos and then pitched it to the CEO. He is now a successful executive and motivational speaker, and there's a movie in the works about his life. The first footprints on the moon will remain there for a million years. Our modern interpretation of Santa Claus with the red outfit and white beard is due largely to a part in a holiday Coca-Cola ad that began in 1931. Do you know how many rooms are in Buckingham Palace, or bathrooms? I bet you didn't guess 775 rooms, including 78 bathrooms. Our little White House is set in comparison. It has 132 rooms and 35 bathrooms. In order to paint the exterior of the White House, it takes 570 gallons. This is a good one. Speaking of, craig and I are planning a trip to Falling Waters. Frank Lloyd Wright one of his houses that he built in Pennsylvania. Lincoln logs were created by John Lloyd Wright, son of famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, in the 1920s. They were named after Abraham Lincoln, who grew up in a log cabin. Plato started out as wallpaper cleaner and then they realized it made good modeling clay for kids.
Speaker 1:The reason people shake hands is to show that we are unarmed. So if you're still shaking hands, which I don't think a lot of us do after COVID not quite as many of us that used to shake hands, but we are just showing people we are not armed, all right, I think that is some of the best ones that I have. Okay, this is not a fun fact and it's sad and it's been in the news lately, but there are over 200 dead bodies of climbers on Mount Everest. I certainly can't leave that. Oh, okay, only two people have ever swam the entire length the 2,350 mile Mississippi River. A Slovenian long distance swimmer did it in 2002 and a Navy SEAL did it in 2015. The Slovenian swimmer took 68 days in a row and the other, the Navy SEAL, took him 181 days. Okay, so I'm guilty of this because I've asked my kids to do this.
Speaker 1:Visitors are not allowed to scatter loved one ashes at Disney World or Disneyland. This is apparently a problem particularly around the haunted mansion, and we'll leave it at that. The man who designed the Bringles can, fred Bauer, is buried in one, or at least some of his ashes are. I would totally do that if I had developed that. Well, there's a little bit of fun for you. I hope that this brought you some fun today. Stay tuned. We do have a senior moment. Okay, today's senior moment.
Speaker 1:So if you are on Medicare, this is a Medicare signup season. This is the time where, if you want to change your advantage plan, you want to make some changes. This is the time you can do it. You can always get to Anita Wenrich's information on my website at wwwaging8forSissy'sPodcastcom, under resources. Anita's information is always there. If she can't help you and you live in a different state or something that she doesn't work at, she can get you someone that can. If you don't understand advantage plans, please listen to my prior podcast. Go into the library, look. We Nita and I have talked about Medicare several times Again. If you have questions, she's always happy to help you. But this is the time where you can change your choices. This is the choice time and find out if an advantage plan is right for you.
Speaker 1:Craig loves his advantage plan. It gives us a lot of advantages. Find out what's right for you. Talk to an expert. Don't call the 800 Medicare number. Anita will always tell you. Do not call that number. Call Nita first, or call a Medicare insurance agent, an independent. It doesn't cost you anything. They do not charge you for this. There is no charge for it. Okay, so this is their job. There is no charge for it. So make sure that you're making the best choices in your Medicare. Get on that today.
Speaker 1:If it's something that you've thought, I really wish I've added something or take something away, or I'm on a new medicine. Is there a better way for me? This is what their job is. This is what their experts in. We are not experts, people. No matter how much you read, no matter how much you know, we're not experts.
Speaker 1:So I ask you to take a moment and check in with Nita or email me at agingfastone. That's agingfast, the number one at gmailcom. I'm happy to get you in touch with people as well. If you have any ideas, questions or anything for this podcast, please contact me there Again. Check in my website, medi-nateforsissy'spodcastcom, our resource page. There's all kinds of information there for you past people that have been on the broadcast, and I really hope you have a good week coming up. My week will be a little quiet because, since I said we were supposed to be in Israel this coming week, I don't have any appointments or nothing on my calendar, so I'm going to have to find a way to fill up that day, those days. I know that Tuesday it's supposed to be close to 80 here in Chicago and Craig and I are taking our bikes out. That's all I know for the week. I hope your week goes well and remember what I say always say aging persistently.
