11-30-10 The Pedometer Results, the Hamster Saga and Jeannie Punches a Guy on 7th Ave

In case you missed it...

SKATING WITH THE STARS, PEDOMETER READINGS AND ROSIE'S HAMSTER SAGA
Today's broadcast started with Deirdre and Rosie talking about last night's Skating with the Stars.  Deirdre didn't enjoy it and Rosie thought it was a dangerous concept to have people skate who are not professional skaters.  Jeannie said she's a good 80's style roller-skater but not a good ice-skater.  Rosie said she tried roller-blading once.  She went about 300 yards and thought the blades were so painfully uncomfortable she never did it again.   Deirdre said she wished they would bring back Battle of the Network Stars. 

Everyone in the studio wore a pedometer yesterday so it was then time to reveal their results.  Each member of the studio was supposed to do nothing out of the ordinary and record the number of steps they took on a typical day.  There was some debate over the accuracy of the pedometers but in the end, everyone read their numbers.  Jeannie had 2500 (though she thought her flub bounced while she was riding in the car and made the pedometer think she was taking more steps than she did).  Rosie had 1790.  Pete had 4300 steps.  Deirdre wears a pedometer daily and said  she gets around 9000 a day.  Bobby got 8901 steps.  Janette's read 9950.  And Shoshana's read 10,760 steps.  Pete claimed Shoshana was cheating and Shoshana defended herself and said she was merely showing Vivi how the pedometer works.  Lou had almost the same as Rosie, about 2000 steps.  Brendan's read 5810 steps.  James had 8167 but he thought the pedometer didn't register his running because he forgot to switch it to the aerobic setting.  Rosie said wearing a pedometer made her more motivated to move.  For example, when she was cold and wanted a sweatshirt she got up and got it herself instead of asking one of the kids to get one for her.  Janette agreed and thought the pedometer gave her an awareness of how much she moves.

Deirdre bought and wore some Reebok Easy Tone sneakers yesterday and said her butt and her thighs are sore today.  Bobby agreed that those shoes help with toning while you walk.  Janette wears the shoes and thinks they're really comfortable.  Jeannie and Rosie both thought they sounded like a great idea and said they were going to get some for themselves.  The staff agreed to record how many steps they took daily in an effort to move more and Pete said he was going to make a spreadsheet for the studio showing everyone's progress.   

Yesterday was Rosie's daughter Vivi's 8th birthday.  Each of Rosie's kids get to pick out a pet when they turn 8 years old.  Blake picked a snake (which escaped and then died) and then a lizard for his 8th birthday.  Vivi wanted an all-white girl hamster.  They went through a lot to try to find the right hamster for Vivi and Rosie bought a Habitrail online for the hamster.  After they got the hamster home Tracy (Rosie's girlfriend) tried to put the hamster into the habitat they purchased for it.  She couldn't get it in there and Rosie's driver Stanley finally got it in.  Rosie thought the hamster looked like it was too big for the contraption and as she watched it go down one of the tubes she realized it was stuck!  Pete said he could hear the hamster squealing from the other room!  They panicked and Pete rushed to take apart the cage as fast as possible (the thing that took Tracy hours to put together).  He broke it open and held the tube upside down over the main cage area as the hamster was pooping everywhere.  Rosie said it was terrifying but the hamster is alive and all is well.  Pete then went to the pet store to purchase the correct size tubes for the hamster.  Rosie said she's since learned hamsters don't like crawling down the tubes, only gerbils like the tubes.  Rosie took some calls from listeners with their recommendations about hamsters and the appropriate habitats.  One caller told her the metal cages are bad, one caller told her hamsters don't make good pets because they bite and one caller talked to her about the plastic ball that hamsters can play inside.  Rosie said in the end, Vivi is happy and that's all that matters.  She said Vivi sits and stares at the hamster giving Rosie constant updates about what her new hamster is doing.  Mostly, Rosie's glad Vivi didn't choose to get another dog because her dog Missy still poops and pees all over the house.  She then wondered if it was too late to get a 3 year old Chihuahua potty-trained. 

BAND AIDS, PEOPLE NAMED DICK AND JEANNIE PUNCHES A GUY ON 7TH AVENUE
Rosie then declared her love of fabric band aids (also known as flexible band aids).  She said they don't come off and she thinks they're amazing.  She just recently found them after a makeup artist gave her one as she was getting her makeup done for the show Who Do You Think You Are.  Rosie was shocked with how much she loved them and Jeannie laughed at her.  Pete googled them and said they're about twice as expensive as regular band aids but Rosie thinks they're worth it.   

Rosie said when she was watching Skating With The Stars she was shocked to find out that Dick Buttons was still alive.  Rosie's mom hated him because her mom was a big fan of some ice-skaters who lived in her area growing up and she thought Dick always jinxed them into messing up during his commentating.  Rosie then commented how she doesn't understand why anyone would name their child Dick.  She said her best friend Jackie's father was named Richard and her father was the only one who insisted on calling him Dick.  It horrified Rosie every time.  Rosie said Dick Clark has restaurants in airports and whenever she sees them she thinks of penises.  

Jeannie then shared a really funny story about a guy she met on the streets of New York City.  About five months ago the Rosie Radio staff recorded a show from the Manhattan Sirius Studios.  Jeannie took the train to the city that day.  After the broadcast she was walking back to the train station and she ran into a really cute African American guy selling his music CD.  She and the guy struck up a conversation and he told her all about his love of jazz and they shared their mutual love of the saxophone.  She has a soft spot for struggling musicians so she decided to purchase his CD.  A few days later she put in her new jazz CD and what she heard was nothing that sounded like jazz at all! It was rap filled with curse words and gangster talk.  The lyrics consisted of words like fuck, cocaine, the n word, and "mama's got a donkey in the kitchen."  Jeannie was horrified and felt totally duped!  A few weeks ago they were back at the NYC Sirius studios and again Jeannie took the train to the show.  On her walk back to the train station she saw the same guy standing on the corner of 7th Avenue!  She went up to him and "lost her mind on him."  She yelled at him for duping her and said she bet he saw this chubby white suburban mom and thought he could take her for her $10 by telling her it was a jazz CD!  While she was yelling at him she was punching him in the arm and his friends were all rolling all over the ground laughing at the scene.  She didn't ask for a refund because she still liked him because he was so personable and adorable.  They played clips of the CD on the air and Brendan analyzed the lyrics and said his message (in the song they played on air) was actually a positive anti-gangster message. 

ROSIE TALKS TO STRANGERS, ROYALTY, DEATH AND CELEBRITY TREATMENT
Over the break Rosie said she read Ricky Martin's book Me and she loved it.  She said she would read some of her favorite excerpts from it on tomorrow's show and said she would like to have him on as a guest.   Also on her break, she saw a man at the airport bookstore asking the sales associate why they didn't carry his book.  She said the man was very handsome and spoke with an African accent.  She and the man struck up a conversation and he told her all about the book he had written about his life.  This man had lost his brother and his sister to AIDS and raised their 9 children combined and the book is his story.  He gave Rosie his only copy that he uses to travel the world telling his story.  Rosie said she's going to read it and would like to have him on as a guest. 

Rosie said her recent interactions with strangers made her realize that the more famous you become the less you get to interact with everyday people.  For example, when you're famous if you go to the airport they have special services that will walk you through the airport and the airport lines.  She used to use them but she doesn't anymore.  After her show ended she chose not to use special services and she would hear the security personnel talking on their radios noticing she was walking alone and then someone would approach her and offer to escort her.  She doesn't get that anymore.  Later on the plane she was telling this to a housewife she was sitting next to and the woman asked if Rosie misses that treatment.  She said she did not because it was very isolating.  The first time Rosie ever sat in first class she saw Peter Frampton, Meryl Streep and Christopher Reeve!  Janette, who has witnessed Rosie's fame when she was super famous, said she sees how being super famous can be very isolating. 

Rosie said that was why she wondered, when she heard of his engagement, why anyone would ever marry Prince William.  She said she wondered who in their right mind would choose to join that madness and lose your life of being your own.  Rosie said at least with fame (as opposed to royalty), there's a time limit.  She briefly mentioned Leslie Nielsen who died Sunday at 84 years of age.  Rosie said in 1986 she got an award and donated it back for charity.  Leslie bid on it and mailed it back to her.  She thought it was such a sweet gesture and didn't have the heart to tell him the award (which was made of all glass) broke to pieces in the mail.  She said he was a lovely, funny guy and that 84 is a long life.  Janette, who admittedly is not good with death and doesn't want to die, thought it sounded far too young.  Shoshana deals with old people in her life on a regular basis and said she doesn't want to be old for very long because she thinks it looks like a horrible experience.  Jeannie, who watched her father struggle with a terminal illness, said when you're actually faced with death your perspective about growing older changes entirely.  The staff all agreed that none of them feel as old as they are and they talked about how it feels to watch themselves getting older when they don't feel  any older.   

After Rosie went through the airport screening she heard one of the TSA employee say to another TSA employee, "Doesn't that look like an old Rosie O'Donnell?"  And she agreed.  She does look like an old Rosie O'Donnell.  Rosie said because her show went off the air 10 years ago, there's an age group of people that have no idea that she's famous in any capacity.  She said it used to be moms explaining to their children in strollers who she was and now those kids are all grown up.  Jeannie said League of Their Own was on over the weekend and her 5 year-old son Ryan, who has no idea Rosie was ever famous, still can't understand why Rosie is on TV in a movie.  Shoshana told Rosie she watched Exit To Eden over the break!  Rosie wanted to know why on Earth Shoshana would watch that!  Shoshana said she thought it was very funny (not because of the movie but because she now knows Rosie so well).  Rosie said there was no need to sit through the entire performance.

DONNY AND MARIE, DADT AND SPIDERMAN ON BROADWAY
Rosie is excited to go see Donny and Marie perform on Broadway on December 9th!  Jeannie added that December 9th is Donny's birthday. She said she loved him growing up, wore purple socks and was a  member of his fan club.  Jeannie said she was sure she would grow up and marry him.  She didn't ever even want to drink or smoke because he was a Mormon (though Rosie could never recall her ever standing by that promise). 

Rosie wanted to discuss recent findings of a 10 year study done by the Pentagon about the military's Don't As Don't Tell policy.  The study found minimal risk to the military population should gays be allowed to serve openly.  70% of the respondents (who were military members and their families) said lifting the ban would have no impact (or even a positive impact) on the military.  Read the article HERE.  John McCain is leading the opposition against the studies' findings and claiming military recruitment is at his highest levels so since there is no trouble with recruitment, there is no reason to lift the ban.  Rosie doesn't understand the policy and doesn't understand McCain's line of thinking.  Brendan said McCain is catering to his base in Arizona.  Harry Reid, the majority leader in the Senate,  has said there will be a vote on DADT before the end of the year.  Rosie took several callers on the topic.  One caller, whose husband is currently stationed in South Korea, had talked about this topic in length with her husband and he has told her soldiers follow something called a "Soldier's Creed" and that creed is not based on whether someone is gay or straight. She said being gay or straight is not really a big issue for anyone in the Army.  Rosie guessed that the vast majority of people in the Armed Forces don't care about someone's sexuality and thinks it's an absurd law.  One caller felt that DADT has always been a political issue and not a soldier's issue.  One caller thinks McCain is using this issue as a way to rally his base in the state of Arizona.  He said it's embarrassing that we live in the last civilized country to give gay men and women the same civil rights as everyone else.  Rosie wanted to know what these types of discriminatory laws says to our future generations.  One caller, who was a Vietnam Veteran said every gay person he's ever known served in the military and they all fought the same war over in Vietnam for the same cause.  He said if you were in the military and you think you served without homosexuals, you're dreaming.  Rosie wished they could get every gay service member who ever served to come together to show the country that gay men and women have always been in our military and always will be. 

Rosie said she cannot wait to see Spiderman on Broadway even though she's hearing it's having lots of issues.  She said it's normal for Broadway shows to hit snags during previews and thinks it's unfair for bloggers to write reviews of a show that is still in previews.  Bobby said a friend of his texted him from last night's show and said it was curtain time and he and 1000 of the guests were still on the street and hadn't been let into the theater yet.  Rosie said it's supposed to be a great show and she cannot wait to see it.  Bobby agreed.  She said when she saw the piece 60 Minutes did on the show she thought it looked amazing!  (see video below)  Rosie said she thinks director Julie Taymor is a genius.  She said when she saw The Lion King on Broadway she couldn't believe how Julie got the movie's big action scenes to translate onto the Broadway stage! 

Spiderman on Broadway on 60 Minutes

DECORATING FOR CHRISTMAS, MADEBYSURVIVORS AND RICKY MARTIN 
Rosie asked the staff if they've started decorating for Christmas.  Jeannie said her husband starts decorating the day after Thanksgiving every year and loves to do it.  He decorates their entire house and Jeannie loves it.  She said he's great at decorating, cooking and cleaning but she swears he isn't gay.  She's even told him if he was gay she'd be totally fine with it and he swears he's not!  Janette's boyfriend Barry is a "gay straight guy" too and Janette loves it.  Pete wanted to know what about liking to cook and clean makes you gay and Shoshana (Pete's radio wife) said he's a little bit gay too so he should just accept it. 

Rosie's putting her tree up on the 10th of this month.  She's going away this weekend for the show Who Do You Think You Are, then she's home the weekend of the 10th and then she goes away again for the show. And then they will have two weeks off for Christmas.  Rosie said she and her family typically fly to Miami for Christmas so they don't do a lot of decorating around the house at Christmas.  Rosie said Halloween is the big decorating holiday for her.   

Pete doesn't have a tree up yet because he's closing on a new house soon!  He said he loves their new house and is excited to move in.  He said it's old and has a lot of character like stained glass windows and a specially designed backyard for gardening.  Rosie was very excited for them to move into their new home and asked about their new baby.  Pete said baby Ellie is now 7 pounds 1 ounce and getting bigger every day.  

Janette doesn't put up a tree for  Christmas but she does decorate with Christmas decorations all over her home.  She also recommended picking a family that needs gifts for the holiday which she said always makes her feel good.  She ordered some gifts on MadeBySurivors.com too.  She said the items (made by sex trafficking survivors) are very beautiful and very affordable and make you feel good because 100% of the proceeds go to the charity.  Rosie said Ricky Martin's big charitable cause is also helping victims of sex trafficking.  Rosie again recommended Ricky Martin's book Me.  Rosie said she's even mentioned in it because he talks about the time she hosted the Grammy's when he performed! 

GAME
Brendan described today's game for the staff - the sandwich ingredient game.  He gave the player the ingredients and they were to guess what sandwich he was describing.   

ROUND ONE
Pete: fresh tomato, lettuce mayonnaise, bacon - Pete guessed a BLT and was correct.
Janette: beef, melted cheese and onions on a hero -She guessed a Philly Cheese Steak and was correct.
Jeannie: a double decker sandwich with 3 layers of bread, chicken or turkey, bacon and tomato.  She guessed a Club which was correct.
Shoshana: ground beef, onions in tomato sauce,  She guessed a Sloppy Joe which was correct.
Rosie: corned beef, Swiss cheese and sauerkraut on rye.  Rosie guessed a Reuben which was correct.

ROUND TWO
Pete: chicken or turkey and cheese dipped in a beaten egg and grilled until golden.  It was a Monte Cristo but he didn't know it so he was out. 
Janette: roast beef on baguette with juices on the side.  It was a French Dip but she didn't know it so she was out. 
Jeannie: hamburger with grilled onions, cheddar or Swiss cheese, two slices of rye with butter.  She guessed a Patty Melt and was correct. 
Shoshana: ham, roasted pork, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard on crusty, white bread.  It was a Cuban but she didn't guess it so she was out. 
Rosie: fried meat or seafood (such as oysters or shrimp), lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and optional pickles and onions on french bread.  She guessed a Po Boy and was correct.

ROUND THREE
Jeannie: shaved, spit-roasted lamb, chicken or beef in pita with lettuce, tomatoes and Tahini sauce.  It was a Shawarma or Souvlaki but she didn't know it. 
Rosie: (for the win) every deli meat left available, three cheeses, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, mustard, pickles and onions.  It was a Dagwood but she didn't know it.  On to Round Four!

ROUND FOUR
Jeannie: sliced Genoa salami, ham, provolone cheese, olive salad, layered on crusty bread.  She had no idea.  It's called a Muffaletta. 
Rosie: ham and cheese, typically Gruyere on grilled bread topped with a poached or fried egg.  It's called a Croque Madame but she didn't know it.  On to Round Five!

ROUND FIVE
Jeannie: an open faced sandwich with turkey and tomato covered Mornay sauce, American cheese sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and broiled.  It's called a Hot Brown but neither Jeannie or Rosie knew it so the game was called a tie!
Rosie closed the show.

and that's what you missed -kw