Episodes

  • 228: September 11 hero Betty Ong

    228: September 11 hero Betty Ong
    Sep 5 2025
    Do you know, with certainty, how you would react in a time of extreme stress or crisis? As a 22 year old woman in San Francisco, Betty had not yet decided on a career path. So, while she was figuring out what she wanted to do, she worked at the factory owned by her parents. The factory produced beef jerky. It wasn’t really her dream job, but it kept her busy at the time, and she also felt good about helping her parents in their business. One day, Betty’s workplace suddenly became very dangerous. Some people came in to rob the family business – and they were waving guns around. Betty was out front, and one of the first employees to come in contact with the robbers. She never panicked, even as one of the men held a gun to her head. Instead, she calmly called her dad, who was in the back, and said, “Dad, we’re being robbed”. The robbers got some money and left, and no one was physically injured. Betty’s nerves of steel would come into play again years later. She was one of the flight attendants on American Airlines flight 11, on September 11, 2001. Today you’ll hear her voice, and you’ll learn why the 9/11 Commission declared Betty a hero. Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here: https://WhatWasThatLike.com/228 Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai. Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well) Get every episode ad-free, AND get all the Raw Audio exclusive episodes to binge, by joining the other listeners at What Was That Like PLUS. Try What Was That Like PLUS free: iPhone: at the top of the What Was That Like podcast feed, click on “Try free” Android: on your phone, go to WhatWasThatLike.com/PLUS and click to try it free on any app Sponsor deals: If you’re 21 or older, get 25% OFF your first order + free shipping @IndaCloud with code [WHATWAS] at https://inda.shop/[WHATWAS]! #indacloudpod Go to ThriveMarket.com/WHATWAS to get 30% off your first order, plus a FREE $60 gift just for signing up. Go to Quince.com/whatwas for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code [WHATWAS] at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Try Mint Mobile for 3 months, for just 15 bucks a month - MintMobile.com/WHAT Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    31 mins
  • TQ45: What under-$100 item has been the best thing you've bought?

    TQ45: What under-$100 item has been the best thing you've bought?
    Sep 2 2025
    Every other Tuesday, we grab a past question from the Facebook group, then Meredith and Scott answer it and read some of the answers given by other listeners. The question for this episode: What under-$100 item has been the best thing you've bought? Links for this episode: Chris Moneymaker wins the 2003 World Series of Poker – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCkUImEGrMU Meredith’s beach cruiser bike https://www.walmart.com/ip/26-Huffy-Nel-Lusso-Cruiser-Bike-Adults-Ages-13-Years-Light-Blue/852840675?classType=VARIANT&from=%2Fsearch&sid=14eaec04-9668-412a-9777-6e7438b9a926 Scott’s Instant Pot: https://instantpot.com/ Scott’s bidet: https://hellotushy.com/ The Baker Creek Seed Catalog: https://www.rareseeds.com/requestcat/catalog?srsltid=AfmBOopnFGgxfoSyi0sjMPgVvmwRnWFgKIXtAYfY5L8kYrWRQbo2-ufE Finger toothbrushes for dogs: https://www.amazon.com/dog-finger-toothbrush/s?k=dog+finger+toothbrush Meredith’s neck reading light: https://www.amazon.com/Gritin-Dimmable-Brightness-Comfortable-Lightweight/dp/B0CBMKLC84/ref=sr_1_6?th=1 The LockPicking Lawyer: https://www.youtube.com/@lockpickinglawyer Meredith’s foot fetish episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6UinWG6euM0KCEK8L9wwbY?si=5QjEd_HJQNSIxaYjmVtWZQ Travel french press https://a.co/d/5s0BU8U Meredith’s podcast is Meredith For Real – the Curious Introvert: https://MeredithForReal.com To check out the new Tuesday Question and get in the discussion, join us at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook. Sponsor deals: If you’re 21 or older, get 25% OFF your first order + free shipping @IndaCloud with code [WHATWAS] at https://inda.shop/[WHATWAS]! #indacloudpod Go to ThriveMarket.com/WHATWAS to get 30% off your first order, plus a FREE $60 gift just for signing up. Go to Quince.com/whatwas for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code [WHATWAS] at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Try Mint Mobile for 3 months, for just 15 bucks a month - MintMobile.com/WHAT Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    34 mins
  • STAS 7: Geraldine Largay

    STAS 7: Geraldine Largay
    Aug 29 2025
    Geraldine was alone on a 6-month Appalachian Trail hike, with a poor sense of direction. Sponsor deals: If you’re 21 or older, get 25% OFF your first order + free shipping @IndaCloud with code [WHATWAS] at https://inda.shop/[WHATWAS]! #indacloudpod Go to ThriveMarket.com/WHATWAS to get 30% off your first order, plus a FREE $60 gift just for signing up. Go to Quince.com/whatwas for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code [WHATWAS] at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    23 mins
  • 227: Bathroom emergencies

    227: Bathroom emergencies
    Aug 22 2025
    Quite a few of the episodes here on What Was That Like involve emergencies. Today we’re talking about a different kind of emergency. If you’re new to the podcast, this is definitely not a typical episode. You might want to look through some of the past episode titles and pick one out that looks interesting. But today is a little different. I’m in Dallas this week, hanging out with a bunch of my podcasting friends, so for this episode we’re kind of taking a break from the normal interview format. A little bit of background. About 10 years ago, I was creating and hosting a different podcast. It was called Ultrafinishers. Each episode, I would interview a runner who had just finished their first ultramarathon. An ultramarathon is any race longer than a marathon, which is 26.2 miles. So an ultra usually ranges from 50k, which is a little more than 30 miles, up to 100 miles. Some are even longer than that. But for one of those episodes, I asked people to call in and tell their story of the nightmare that just about every runner has had to deal with – you’re out on a run, and you have to poop, and there’s no bathroom in sight. It’s not a fun thing when it’s happening – but as it turns out, it’s pretty entertaining to hear about when it happens to other people. So you’re about to hear a bunch of my ultra running friends from 10 years ago, telling their poop stories. And all of these were called in on a phone line, so the audio quality is not quite what you’d expect on a modern podcast. But it’s listenable. And don’t worry – I have lots of crazy What Was That Like stories in the pipeline, and I’m looking forward to bringing those to you in the near future. Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai. Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well) Get every episode ad-free, AND get all the Raw Audio exclusive episodes to binge, by joining the other listeners at What Was That Like PLUS. Try What Was That Like PLUS free: iPhone: at the top of the What Was That Like podcast feed, click on “Try free” Android: on your phone, go to WhatWasThatLike.com/PLUS and click to try it free on any app Sponsor deals: If you’re 21 or older, get 25% OFF your first order + free shipping @IndaCloud with code [WHATWAS] at https://inda.shop/[WHATWAS]! #indacloudpod Go to ThriveMarket.com/WHATWAS to get 30% off your first order, plus a FREE $60 gift just for signing up. Go to Quince.com/whatwas for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code [WHATWAS] at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • TQ44: Who was your celebrity crush when you were young?

    TQ44: Who was your celebrity crush when you were young?
    Aug 19 2025
    Every Tuesday, we grab a past question from the Facebook group, then Meredith and Scott answer it and read some of the answers given by other listeners. The question for this episode: Who was your celebrity crush when you were young? Links for this episode: How Deep Will You Go card game: https://howdeepwillyougo.com/ Jonathan Taylor Thomas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Taylor_Thomas Valerie Bertinelli https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Bertinelli MacGyver https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGyver Get Smart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_Smart Don Adams https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Adams Andy Gibb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Gibb Princess Diana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana,_Princess_of_Wales Anthony Bourdain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Bourdain Robin Williams https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Williams Selena https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selena Jack Lemmon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Lemmon Jason Priestley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Priestley Jayna Marie https://www.hellojayna.com/ Justin Timberlake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Timberlake James Taylor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Taylor Jim Carrey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Carrey Jaws https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073195/ Tom Hanks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Hanks Duck Duck Go https://duckduckgo.com/ LibreOffice https://www.libreoffice.org/ Meredith’s podcast is Meredith For Real – the Curious Introvert: https://MeredithForReal.com To check out the new Tuesday Question and get in the discussion, join us at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook. Sponsor deals: If you’re 21 or older, get 25% OFF your first order + free shipping @IndaCloud with code [WHATWAS] at https://inda.shop/[WHATWAS]! #indacloudpod Go to ThriveMarket.com/WHATWAS to get 30% off your first order, plus a FREE $60 gift just for signing up. Go to Quince.com/whatwas for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code [WHATWAS] at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Try Mint Mobile for 3 months, for just 15 bucks a month - MintMobile.com/WHAT Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    38 mins
  • 226: Bill's daughter was murdered

    226: Bill's daughter was murdered
    Aug 15 2025
    Sometimes, you see a phone call coming in and you just know that something bad has happened. I remember back several years ago, when my dad was still alive. He was in pretty poor health. He could still walk around, sort of, but it was with a walker, and it was very slowly. I’m the oldest of three sons, and of the three, I live the closest. It’s only about a 5 or 6 minute drive for me to get to my parents’ place, so if something happened, I’d be the one to get that call. Lots of times my phone would ring, and it would be my mom calling, quite upset and worried, because my dad had fallen and she couldn’t get him up. And you know, when a call comes in the middle of the night, it’s almost never going to be good news. We’ve had a few of those as well. For my guest today, Bill, life was good. He and his wife had two children – David, in high school, and Kristin, who had just graduated from college and was about to start a career. But then, Bill got a phone call. It was from a woman who identified herself as a police detective. And she was calling with news about Bill’s daughter. Bill told this story on the podcast a little over 3 years ago, and it’s one of the episodes that had a big impact on people. Some of the elements of this story are just incredible. And you’ll also hear a recent conversation I had with Bill, about what’s happened since then. If you’d like to contact Bill, you can do that through his website: https://www.whendatinghurts.com/ Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here: https://WhatWasThatLike.com/226 Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai. Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well) Get every episode ad-free, AND get all the Raw Audio exclusive episodes to binge, by joining the other listeners at What Was That Like PLUS. Try What Was That Like PLUS free: iPhone: at the top of the What Was That Like podcast feed, click on “Try free” Android: on your phone, go to WhatWasThatLike.com/PLUS and click to try it free on any app Sponsor deals: If you’re 21 or older, get 25% OFF your first order + free shipping @IndaCloud with code [WHATWAS] at https://inda.shop/[WHATWAS]! #indacloudpod Go to ThriveMarket.com/WHATWAS to get 30% off your first order, plus a FREE $60 gift just for signing up. Go to Quince.com/whatwas for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code [WHATWAS] at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 29 mins
  • 225: David couldn't find the cabin

    225: David couldn't find the cabin
    Aug 8 2025
    My favorite author is Jack London. His style of writing paints a very vivid picture in my mind. As I read his stories, it feels like I’m right there in the middle of it. One of his most well-known works is titled To Build A Fire. This is the opening paragraph of that story. Day had dawned cold and gray when the man turned aside from the main Yukon trail. He climbed the high earth-bank where a little-traveled trail led east through the pine forest. It was a high bank, and he paused to breathe at the top. He excused the act to himself by looking at his watch. It was nine o’clock in the morning. There was no sun or promise of sun, although there was not a cloud in the sky. It was a clear day. However, there seemed to be an indescribable darkness over the face of things. That was because the sun was absent from the sky. This fact did not worry the man. He was not alarmed by the lack of sun. It had been days since he had seen the sun. There’s something about the quiet, dark, biting cold of northern Canada that really fascinates me. I’ve lived in cold climates, but nothing like that. When the outside temperature gets to be well below zero, the constant thought is just what you have to do in order to survive. My guest today is David. He and his partner in this adventure, Scott, dreamed of spending time in those conditions. But what they encountered just in the first few days had them - from one hour to the next – wondering, what else could go wrong? Video of David and Scott returning to cabin site in 2014: https://youtu.be/NOuuCS0oAYU Website about David and Scott's experience: https://paradisecreekcabin.com David’s book, Paradise Creek: A True Story of Adventure and Survival – https://www.amazon.com/Paradise-Creek-Adventure-Canadian-Wilderness-ebook/dp/B08KTXZ4S6/ref=sr_1_1 David’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidrscott/ Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here: https://WhatWasThatLike.com/225 Scott’s podcast: https://notrealart.com/ Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai. Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well) Get every episode ad-free, AND get all the Raw Audio exclusive episodes to binge, by joining the other listeners at What Was That Like PLUS. Try What Was That Like PLUS free: iPhone: at the top of the What Was That Like podcast feed, click on “Try free” Android: on your phone, go to WhatWasThatLike.com/PLUS and click to try it free on any app Sponsor deals: If you’re 21 or older, get 25% OFF your first order + free shipping @IndaCloud with code [WHATWAS] at https://inda.shop/[WHATWAS]! #indacloudpod Go to ThriveMarket.com/WHATWAS to get 30% off your first order, plus a FREE $60 gift just for signing up. Go to Quince.com/whatwas for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code [WHATWAS] at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 37 mins
  • TQ43: Describe one of your most memorable birthdays

    TQ43: Describe one of your most memorable birthdays
    Aug 5 2025
    Every other Tuesday, we grab a past question from the Facebook group, then Meredith and Scott answer it and read some of the answers given by other listeners. The question for this episode: Describe one of your most memorable birthdays Links for this episode: Big thanks to Kiona for filling in for Meredith on this episode! Kiona’s podcast is Birth As We Know It, and you can get all of her information here: https://BirthAsWeKnowItPodcast.com Airtags: https://www.amazon.com/Apple-MX532LL-A-AirTag/dp/B0CWXNS552/ref=sr_1_3_pp Bike bell designed to hide an airtag: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZD2V7JJ?th=1 Postpartum Support International: https://postpartum.net/ Meredith’s podcast is Meredith For Real – the Curious Introvert: https://MeredithForReal.com To check out the new Tuesday Question and get in the discussion, join us at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook. Sponsor deals: If you’re 21 or older, get 25% OFF your first order + free shipping @IndaCloud with code [WHATWAS] at https://inda.shop/[WHATWAS]! #indacloudpod Go to ThriveMarket.com/WHATWAS to get 30% off your first order, plus a FREE $60 gift just for signing up. Go to Quince.com/whatwas for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code [WHATWAS] at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    30 mins