Episode #166: Feeney Talks with Rob O'Meara

#BeAGoodFriend and check out episode #166 of #FeeneyTalksWithFriends featuring Rob O’Meara.

It was great to talk with my #friend, Rob.

Rob is a real estate agent at Keller Williams Legacy Partners.

We talked about:

Video of the Star Spangled Banner performed by his son, Micheal (minute 1
What does The Johnny’s Jog mean to Rob? (minute 3)
Rob was the 2026 Honoree for The Hartford St. Patrick’s Day Parade (minute 7)
How has Conard changed since 1987?  (minute 8.30)
Rob’s dad was the first football captain at Conard (minute 9.30)
The Student Visionary of the Year for Blood Cancer United (minute 11)
Chelsea “Dropkick” and Greg Hammond (episode #125)  (minute 13)
Feeney was the 2023 Honoree for The Hartford St. Patrick’s Day Parade (minute 16)
Gifts of O’Meara Real Estate swag and The Millionaire Real Estate Investor book (minute 17.30)
Rob is a lone wolf! (minute 20)
3 Keys to being a great real estate agent (minute 22)
Rob’s favorite restaurant, The Barn on Block Island (minute 24)
Special guest, Derek Slap and what makes him a good #friend (minute 27)
Derek works at The Village for Families & Children (minute 31)
Feeney earned the “Champion of Children” award presented by The Village (minute 33)
The Sohn Family (minute 38)
The Village for Families & Children (minute 41)
Beth Bye (minute 42)
Sesame Street (minute 44)
Conard student reporter, Christina Griffin interviewed Feeney (minute 45)
Rapid Fire Questions (minute 50)
Recommendations: Nero and Bricco (minute 58)
Closing remarks (minute 1.02)

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Mandell JCC of Greater Hartford - www.mandelljcc.org

Creators and Guests

Host

Eric Feeney

After teaching for nearly a decade at his alma mater in Waterbury, in 2014, Eric Feeney began teaching at Wolcott Elementary in West Hartford. Shortly following, Sam Sohn, the father of one of his students, passed away suddenly from a heart attack. He left behind four beautiful children and a loving wife, Nancy Wallace-Sohn. Eric saw first-hand the toll this took on the family as they navigated their way through this unthinkable tragedy. The following year, Rashad Collier Sr., another father of a student in Eric’s class, passed away in Hartford as a result of gun violence. Rashad left behind two fantastic children and a loving wife, Denise Villegas. The impact of these tragedies weighed on Eric and motivated him to build an organization that could provide assistance for similar situations. With that, Friends of Feeney was born. In 2019, Friends of Feeney Inc. became an official 501©(3) nonprofit organization, allowing more funds to be raised and expanding the range of services provided to children and families in need. Today, over a decade since Eric’s idea to build a community organization dedicated to supporting our friends in need, Friends of Feeney has burgeoned into a reputable and recognized organization capable of providing financial and resource support to numerous families and individuals across greater Hartford and beyond. Through this work, an incredible community of children and families has been recognized, who care for and appreciate each other’s kindness.

Producer

David Chmielewski

David started his video career in the early 1990s working on video crews as an independent contractor for such companies as Martha Stewart Living, IBM and Xerox. After graduating Southern Connecticut State University with the degree in Corporate Communications, David continued his video production career and accepted a position at WFSB in Hartford, CT. Within a few years the news and production studios became his charge and David designed, installed and maintained the televisions sets for the various programs at the station. At the end of 2013 David founded DirectLine Media, a video production company that specializes in creating memorable and compelling video content for businesses.

Editor

Stefania Sassano

Stefania's acting journey began as early as the fourth grade, where she took on the role of Scarlett O'Hara in a stage production of Gone With the Wind. This early experience sparked a lifelong passion for the arts. With a background in musical theater fueled by her love of music and singing, Stefania stepped into larger roles, such as Fraulein Kost in Cabaret during her sophomore year at the University of New Haven. This performance earned her a nomination for the prestigious Irene Ryan Acting Award at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival—an honor she would receive again in her junior year.

What is Feeney Talks With Friends?

Eric Feeney talks with #friends! Eric is the founder of the nonprofit organization Friends of Feeney. Their mission is to help children and families who need assistance after heartbreak and tragedy. www.friendsoffeeney.com

About an inch.

And younger and younger
and better looking.

And I got a nose and a beard. All right.

So I do a couple warm up takes.

I think you're going to.

You'd think so.

All right. Fine. Roll.

Do you put your hands just down?

Should I keep them down?

What's your name?

Stefania.

Keep my hands down just like this.

And just lean in a little bit. You think?

All right.

So. All right, let's go.

Yeah.

All right, all right, all right.

It's friends. It.

Strike one.

Feeney talks with friends, right. Damn!

I'm going to do friends.

All right, let's go.

All right, all right, all right.

It's Feeny Talks with friends.

Where? Episode 166.

And with our good friend
Rob here at Luna Pizza today.

Hey, bro from Feeny.

Little bro got. Gotta go.

Okay, my turn, my turn.

Great job.

Dale, how do you do? Everybody?

Good job. Good job.

One take.

He was practicing for about 45 minutes.

Like my brother
said, we're with a good friend, Rob.

What's up? Rob O'Meara in the house.
How are you doing?

Hey, it's great to be here.

Thanks for having me.

we're going to start with the Star
Spangled Banner.

I like it.

Jimi Hendrix.

TV. Show. Me.

Love it.

Sounds familiar.

Yeah.

Oh, Tell us about that.

Who's that?

You know that guy?

You know that guy?

That was Michael O'Mara, my youngest son.

He's been playing the guitar for about a,

ten years.

Ten years?
And he just keeps getting better.

He's been doing the national anthem.

He plays it for kind of,
hockey games and football games.

And as we do it, Johnny's.

Yeah, I gotta say, maybe five years.

Yeah, yeah.
And it just keeps getting better.

Love it.

Yeah. He's so good.

So talented. Great kid.

Hope Tom saved the day.

He has it in his calendar. September 12th.

He's going to try to do the fifth
annual Friends of Fini golf tournament.

Browse.

My guy brows is trying to get him
for his cornhole tournament,

so it's, you know, hot ticket item.

Maybe they'll get me an invite into the.

Yes, that's a tough.

They don't play around.

That's serious.

Serious? Cornhole over there, then.

I just got it.

Hey, Mr.

Feeny, I'm raising money
for Conard High School boys lacrosse.

Please support me.

Help me reach my goal.

Got that today. Sound familiar? Yep.

I told riddle,
tapped out about fundraising.

I, I love it, I love it, no good kid.

I will be donating to that one too.

Yeah.

I'm repping. I work on it for you.

All right. Love it. Yeah.

So let's talk Giannis jog a little more
and then we'll get right into corner.

So how long and what was your involvement
and what does Giannis jog mean to you.

I mean it's just
I know you're involved too.

So you know it
but it's just a beautiful beautiful thing.

Dan and Laura moran

founded it with Danny Kelly Clark.

Johnny, it's inspired by Johnny Moran.

I think the great part of the story is

Johnny,
who, unfortunately, is no longer with us.

He had a very rare disease.

Most people haven't heard of it.

He was a beautiful kid. He.

His smile could light up a room.

He was nonverbal, but, man, what a
what an impact he had on all the kids.

The my kids and all the kids
I grew up with.

But it's just a testament to our community

that Dan and Laura felt

so, appreciative of the way
the community helped

them, changes
the hard times they had with Johnny,

and they wanted to do something
to give back.

So they created Johnny, Johnny as a,

charity
that gives to children's charities.

It's not just one charity.

Yeah. For you.

You've been a recipient of it. Yep.

A rotating and,
But I really like the part that just.

Johnny was alive when this happened.

You out all right, love? You.

Do see a good job, wasn't Johnny Memoriam.

It was while Johnny was alive.

But to give back to the other charities
in the area

and then, I mean, you couldn't
find two better couples in the marriage.

The clerks who were so generous.

He's so good to everyone around him
to come up

with something that's now
been such a staple and such a great event.

Yeah, it's like a pillar of the community.

Like you have to have Johnny's dog.

I looked around and I was talking with
Bruce and we were like, this is amazing.

All these people are here for this race.

And every year it gets better and better
and just amazing people.

Yeah, you hit it on the head.

Go back and listen to podcast 42.

Laura and Kelly, Johnny's dog.

Great people, good friends.

Yeah. They'd give to the Molly.

Molly and tango, covenant prep,

Miracle League,
and then they pick a fourth one.

And again like you said, in 2023,
friends of Feeney

was selected and it completely catapulted
our organization.

We look to them as like the big brother,
they're all role models,

and they've been modeling how to get
in the community, how to fundraise,

and just how to be a good person
and a good friend.

So thank you for everything
that Johnny's Jorge's doing this year.

They helped the children, though.
Excuse me.

The center of children advocacy.

Okay, so, know what we're talking about?

They crossed the $1 million
mark this year, so.

Yeah, pretty amazing.

1 million provided. So, yeah. Amazing.

Amazing. Yeah. Great stuff.

We got a picture of me
and you from the Johnny's jog.

We'll put that right here. Ready? Boom!

Look at that.

And then we got another one,
and we might as well do another one from,

When is the last time I saw you?

Oh, when your your sash parade. Boom!

Sash boom.

Meant to wear the sash today, I forgot.

Yeah. What did that mean?
So let's get right into that.

You mentioned sash.

We'll show a picture of you in the sash.

You know why they pick you know, they.

You know, a is a great honor.

But what they said was my.

How I get back to you.

That's why.
Because I said, hey, I'm not all.

I said, I don't know if I'm quite the guy
that you're looking for.

And they said no, you know,
you spoke about somebody.

It's not just about you.

That is obviously my response
that your father.

Yeah. It's official.

The apostrophe makes it official.

That was my mom was all time

but Irish.

But also it's beyond that.

It's how you show up in this community.

Yep. That's why they chose me.

Because,

I guess when I look back on it. Yeah.

You know, I make it a point to give back.

It's. I grew up here, born
and raised here in this town.

Well, before all this stuff
going on around us was going on.

And, I love this place,
and I love the people in it.

And I love the community.
It's become as well.

You're, blue back.

Oh, yeah.

Conrad counted 87, 87.

All right, all right.

I was will be high school.

Waterbury, Connecticut, 96.

So will be 9687.

How how is things change?

87 Connor
to present day. Connor. What do you think?

Because your dad went there,

and now your children went there
as the first graduating class in 58.

So it used to be just called,
and it was over at the town hall. Yep.

High school was.

And then in 57, they opened up

any kind of high school,
which I learned recently.

It wasn't like it even split, like almost
everybody went over to college.

And then they built the new hall
and then split back.

But when it opened, the new kind of
most people went to current location was,

okay, gotcha.

I think people should walk like, oh.

Well, so yeah, he was a first
graduating class, which is pretty neat.

He was the first football captain,
the first,

first team to ball hall and football.

They won their first game.
We got that game ball in our basement.

I was not a football player.

I only played across the college.

But my sons are both football players,
so it's been pretty neat

to see that, torch passed down.

Yeah.

And I learned from my son this year,

my older son, Matthew,
that there's a picture of my father.

I guess somewhere in the
in the locker room.

I mean, maybe it's
one of the original captains or something,

but he said he goes by and taps it
on the way out to games, kind of like,

Notre Dame.

Yeah.

And he said, now, like, his buddies
do it too.

So that's awesome.

Legacy. Still living out of it. Yeah.

Clemson too.
They like rub a turtle or not.

Maybe that's Maryland.

Maryland.

Yeah, Clemson
rubs a dog or tiger or something.

Who knows? Well,
very cool, but we run a tiger.

Man. So Connor and,

The brothers playing on the same field.

Well, different field.

I don't think your dad played on astroturf
under the lights.

In fact, they play a McDuffie school
or a field school, or it's all on the way.

They'd walk over, I think.

So they, they take a horse.

Hahahahaha.

Yeah, I have some photos of that.

And like, it's Duffy was a swamp.

But they played football over there.

Yeah. You have some really great kids.
Back to your kids.

They did, visionaries of the year.

Of the year.

We just came off of that.
It ended last Thursday.

That's true blood Cancer United,
which used to be

most people know it as Leukemia
Lymphoma Society. Yep.

But they just rebranded.

So now it's called, Blood Cancer United
thought it was more inclusive.

It's, you know, I like the idea.

It's just going to take a bit
to get the word out.

So. Yeah.

But anyway, that student visionary
who has a seven week

fundraising campaign, it's high school.

So you get a team from,

each high school, as many high schools
as you can.

This year, there is 77 week
fundraising campaign.

It culminated last Thursday.

Nobody knew what anyone else had done.

You set goals as a team, and then,
you find out the big reveal on a numbers.

So last Thursday night were there.

My boys said goal of $60,000.

And by the way, thank you.

You supported us as well. But,

on the night it was revealed,
we did not take first place,

I regret to say,
but they did earn $91,000.

Jeez. For that cause.

So, I mean, it's, Yeah.

And then the girl who beat them
in the first place team,

she came in at $102,000.

And then collectively,
as this group of 17 high school

teams, $484,000.

Jeez. So real money.

Yeah. We're talking.

This is impact for money
that's doing good things.

Easy.

These are high school kids here,
and it's great to see kids doing it

because, you know, I didn't really get

thinking of others until later in life.

You know,
I wish I thought of others earlier.

I don't know, but, like, again,
great kids, talented

musicians, athletes, scholars,
other scholars.

Our sky.

Oh my God, there there's my kids.

Very cool, very cool.

And that's how you know Chelsea,

our former guest, because I think she's
with the leukemia and the blood.

She's the area director here.

She moved here.

I don't know.

I want to say, like, six years ago.

I could be way off on that, but,
I sold her house.

We got to talking about leukemia.

Lymphoma
because she worked for leukemia pharma.

You know, Ohio.

She moved here from Ohio? Yep.

And she worked here and now we are.

We work together a lot.

Yeah, I'm on the board here. Okay.

And so, yeah.

Chelsea. Oh, that's important to you?

Because that's how your father
passed, correct?

Yeah.

My dad passed in, 2010
from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

So that was,

you know, I didn't know much about
about the organization.

But after he passed,
they had asked me to do some things,

and I ran at the time,
it was called the man of the year.

They had man of the Year
and woman of the year,

which is now been turned into visionary.

Okay.

So, but I did that back in 2014.

That was my introduction to

the organization,
and I've been involved with this.

Yeah, her name's not.

But I always think it's Chelsea Dropkick
but it's like the wrestling move

dropkick dropkick Murphys yes yes.

And then Greg Hammond was her the co guest
and Greg was a visionary. Yes.

Yep. Yeah.

You guys talked about the beard
and I think he won I think.

Yep yep.

Had everybody go drink a beer.

Smart. Smart man.

Yeah he he mapped out the beer

all these different breweries and
they donated some every every every month.

Yeah, yeah.

Greg Hammond, great person.

Yeah. Good friend.

He golfed in our golf tournament.

He sponsored the golf tournament.

He actually sponsored the water bottles.

Every water bottle
that the golfer got, golfers got Greg

Hammond, Hammond and Isles.

So great person on September 12th.

You playing?

What? Sponsoring?

Yeah. Yeah, it's it's a Saturday.

Okay. Does that work for you?

That's football. It is.

Yeah I know, I know, that's what Mike
has it on the schedule, but he's like Mr.

Feeny. It's football season.

Nice. Like, I totally understand.

We'll see what we can do.

That's my non-negotiable.

I can't miss six games.

Is, there's only so many left. Exactly.

I'm miserable.

Season last year was going to be stale.

Oh, which one's older?

Matthew's okay.

Matthew, do you hear Michael's? Sorry.

Yeah. Okay.

And then Matthew, I ran into a town hall.

Super polite kid.

They were doing a breaking, biased
community building.

I was honored to be selected
and had my pictures up there.

And he was, the high school tour guide.

He's like, hey, I know you know Michael
Moore, but I just want to say, hi, Mr.

Feeny. I was like, oh, great kid.

I wish I got a picture.

We would have put it here. Boom!

But we don't have the picture.

You took a photo?

Haha.

Now.

So, yeah, I was the honoree of the Saint
Patrick's Day parade in 2023.

Yeah, I was there.

It was great. Complete, like you said.

My grandfather's born and raised in
Ireland.

Waterford died in Ireland.

I have his death certificate.

His birth certificate?

Wedding certificate
I can file to be an Irish citizen.

I've been sitting on this info for,
I think, 17 years now.

Talk about procrastinating.

And if I got it in before
my children are born, come to find out,

they could have filed for it

because then their dad
would have been an Irish citizen.

But now if I file after yeah,
they're grandfathered out.

Yeah.

So regrets? Big time regrets.

Stay here. Right. Yeah.

But I like to visit and say, hey, hey,
unlike you, I'm a I'm a citizen here.

I'm good at that.

But again John, starting
in that whole crew, wonderful people,

you know, again, it was a true honor.

I was teamed up with Eddie
Car, the marshal.

He's a phenomenal.

He's like, he's a legend.

His all time great, all time great. Then.

Eddie, lonesome Eddie in the Bird

Dogs episode 100 was a special episode.

Actually, 100, 150.

Excuse me, 150.

We celebrated with the ball for q r crew.

So. Great.

New Park brewery, then with live music
with Eddie and the Bird dogs.

So go back and check out
150 Luke and Matt Connors,

and then Eddie in the bird, and Eddie
makes a surprise visit, of course.

And, you know,
puts on the glasses and yes, guitar.

Guitar. Good. Yeah.

Character. Love that guy. You know.

Got to get him on here.

So speaking of which, you brought some.

You know,
I love swag. O'Meara. Real estate.

Yeah, well, I thought you might want
a couple of planes to work with.

Cheers.

And, I brought you that book so you can,

if you decide you want to

start investing.

That's a good,

a good little book to get started
with the millionaire real estate series.

And so it's this, like buying.

I should buy a lot of property.

And there was a family after this.

Go out and buy a couple for you.
All right? Okay.

All right.

I think I'm going to buy.

I'll buy a house.

Great time. On my way home.

No, the, you got the bag to go with it
so you can keep all your stuff?

Yep, yep.

And you are still at [phone].

Sure.

Reach out to my guy Rob
if you need a house.

Rob O'Meara dot com.

And what's up with Keller Williams
Y Kel Keller Williams

oh man it's a great great organization.

I started out here in West
Hartford in 2004.

I got my license.

My mother was in the business,

so she's not she's still with us,
but she's not in the business.

But she was at Coldwell Banker.

So for us to work together,
we have to be in the same place.

So I want to be like a banker in town.

And then,

I was doing it more to invest, like
I wasn't planning to do real estate, etc..

That was not my intention.

I got my license to go first,
and then as I got into it a little bit,

especially the age
I was in where my friends were in life,

it just turned out that there was a need
and a lot of people

that were in the industry or part timers
and doing a deal here

and doing a deal there,
and I said, you know what?

If I need to do this,
I think there's some real opportunity.

So that's what I did. And

so a few years into it, I started looking
where I was going to be the best way

or best place for me to build a business
that was going to last.

And, Keller
Williams turned out to be that place,

which I've been there since 2008.

Oh, wow. And I have not that nice.

It's, it's a great place
to do business for 18 years.

What, do you have an office?

Yeah. 29 South Main Street.

Over, town center. Okay.

Yep. Yeah.

Right across from, and and, live there.

Oh, gotcha. Yep.

Oh, yeah.

All right. I know exactly where that is.

Do you have a team under you?

I do not I, I did in the past.

You know, I thought that you had to do,
grow a big team.

I tried it, I had agents working for me.

It wasn't my thing. It was,

a lot more of a lone wolf.

I like to do my thing. Give me.

You got hit me with a lone wolf,
then go ahead, hit it.

Come on. Yes.

I do have a full time licensed assistant.

Because, you know, I.

You know,
I need more. Yes. Yep, yep. Lead.

And I've been working together for years.

She actually worked for the attorney
that I was working with forever with.

And who's it?
Oh. Yep. Know him? Hit him up.

I want him to be a podcast guest.

I asked him all the time.

All right. Deal.

But I leave work for him.

And then they were kind of going

in a different direction, and,
she came to work with me.

It's, it's,
you know, her brother be more in

trouble or, not not not so trouble.

No comment.

Let's see. Is he friend or foe?

It's kind of what makes him a good friend.

Because he show up for you.

He he's very. Without even be asking.

I know this year

I found out, but he supported my kids
in this without me asking a lot.

I mean, that's.

Yeah. Great example right there. Yeah.

Truly a good friend. He,

spends a time on Black Island,
so that always makes you a good guy.

Oh, nice. And, he's friend to Dan Clark.

That's how I express that.

Oh, because they work together. Yeah.

That's right, that's right.

Yeah.

That's great.

Yeah, I like him a lot. Yeah.

We saw it together.

He's got that deep voice

that sounds like it hurt
sometimes when he's talking to talk.

No no, no.

Yeah. He's shy. He's shy.

Very quiet guy.

All right, so we're here at Luna Pizza.

Let me shout out some sponsors
Luna Pizza here on 999 Farmington Road.

Come out and check their Korean
barbecue wings.

They're fantastic.

Along with the pizza. Phenomenal.

Direct line media.

None of this would be possible
without Dave and Stephania.

We got people's bank, Brooke.

Golf law group. Sally and Bob's

the fix.

Ivy Keating agency insurance.

Parkville management.

People's bank.

Keating agency.

Yes, that's good stuff.

Where were we?

I think I got them all new,
but with New England

dawn security,
formerly West Hartford Lock.

What are three keys
that make you a great, real estate agent?

Well, I mean,
I think I have to start with experience.

Okay.

I'm gonna do it a long time now.

Yeah. There's not a lot I haven't seen.

And so that really comes into play.

I think the fact that

my my business philosophy.

I'm not trying to sell you a house
like this, like you can't really just.

I suppose you could try to trick someone
in to buy a house, but that's not it.

It's it.

If I need to show you
50 houses over three years.

Because that's the right thing for you.

That's like my goal.

At the end of the day
is for you to have an amazing experience.

Sometimes it's not even buy a house.

I can't tell you how many people
have told not to buy a house

because it wasn't the right time for them,
so it's more about the buying the right,

consulting for the person who they are
at that time.

Okay.

So experience,

so, you know, being purpose driven that,

my goal is to be the, that experience.

And then I think probably,
you know, what's important negotiate.

And I'm a good negotiator,
and I use that to my client's advantage.

So, when that.

All right.

Those are three keys

sponsored by West Hartford Lock
or New England Door and security.

All right, we're at Luna Pizza.

Do you have a favorite restaurant

like, in the world?

Yeah, let's do world.

I don't know if you want to be
put on the spot, but,

yeah, not that world, but,

I might say.

I might say the barn.

Block Island, is back there.

Yeah, I've only been there once.

Where's that?

So there's a big hotel and all.

The straight house? Yup. Hotel.

Stairs to go.

Yep, yep, it's part of the spring
and it's just behind.

It's a it's a much smaller space
that they keep open year round and it's,

it's phenomenal.

Just where do you get the best mudslides
ever.

Is that like up in the back.

Where is it.

It's hands down to champions.

Glory to the basket trader.

It's really that's not the one I heard
people tell you the or

or yeah that's where I went.

They're good.

Yeah.
My my guy Lee told me to go to the Or.

It's not the other one.

And then you go over the champions
in that three

and they're better for their better.

Yeah.

And then what's the
the bar on the water that has like

the live music.

Towards the end.

That's, that's over at Kings Dock
and that's called Mahogany Shoals.

Mahogany Shoals.

Okay. Yeah.

That's cheese.

Oh my God, that's changed.

You used to be a tiny little shack.

There is old Irish musician, musician
who's playing there almost every day.

This guy Walter McDonough.

And he was just a surly old salt.

Yes. My favorite.

You know, you make a request
and he's like, give you that from like.

Yeah.

And then, like, play it if you want it,
but oh I love it.

Now they've opened it up and it's
got a big outdoor square bar rectangle.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, man.

I want to go.

When are you up there? Often.

I'll be up there.

Like meet July into August.

So. Yeah. Heck yeah.

I'll, I'll take it. And what's like.

Okay. Yes.

Absolutely. Yeah.

We went down to the cliffs.

Bluffs, Bluffs risked our life
going down these, like, rocky stairs and.

Yeah. And then took nice pictures.

Went out on the boat, saw
the new windmills

that my buddy was complaining about.

The fish out there is good fish out there.

Yeah, the
or I think we ate at the spring house.

What's another?
Is that a hotel as a hotel.

Yeah.

Like if you were coming into town
on a boat. Yep.

It's right there on your left.

On the left a lot.

So there's like that mall, like
when you get off the boat is something

called Ballards, and that place is cruise.

It's like it's pretty brave.

It's a lot of young bachelors.

Might be the live music place.

Oh, yeah.

That's the one I was fans of also.

Okay. Yeah.

Did they have a Jamaican thing?
They got in trouble.

Yes, they have the,

I don't think it's around any.

And they had the,

Jamaican Fest I think.

Yeah, yeah.

That got shut down
because there was a lot of.

Yep, yep.

I saw that on the ferry on the way
home. No.

So what about local politicians?

You like local politicians?

What makes Derek slap a good friend?

Well, I like his.

Yes, yes, he's got a free haircut.

He was the guy that saw me
in, I don't know

if you guys got sworn in, but,
because I did my proclamation.

Yeah.

The candidate had a special.

And, you know, he's a
we do a good things for

not just our community,
but for the kids, for, for everyone.

You in our state? Yep.

Go back and check it out.

Episode 21 Derek Slap.

He's a good friend. Yep.

Yeah. He was he was in the top 50.

Almost top 20 of almost.

He was 21.

He he was on the cusp.

That's, Yeah.

We have a mic set up for you
if you want to join us.

So you would hang out for a little bit,
but,

really excited to have our special guest,
Derek, slap in the building.

the my boys were younger,

eight, ten years ago.

I've always wanted to play with that.

Like, I love music.
I just thought that a musical.

Yeah. But.

So I got us all guitar
lessons, right? Right here.

Oh, yeah.

So me
and my two boys would go for lessons,

and it only stuck with one of us,
like my youngest one.

And he took to it,
and the rest of us just didn't play.

Yeah. I can't even clap on beat.

I can't hear I'm with you
or the school system.

West Hartford school system
really is strong in the music department,

so I give a lot of credit

to the music program at West Hartford
for both of your children.

Yeah.

So they have wonderful teachers,
but the music teachers are also great.

So, yeah. Oh, 100%.

We are very grateful.

But I mean, both of them are there
and pursuing their dream and music.

And part because of the West Hartford
Public Schools.

Now is the grad opportunity
also for music.

Oh. So nice.

Wow. Oh, and, to get on campus auditions.

So she got into Indiana.

So far, it's just it's
a great music program in Illinois. And.

And she's waiting on, Juilliard and, Yale
and the conservatory.

She's. Those are all phenomenal.

Yeah, there's a future reference.

But they're. Yeah. No lottery tickets,
you know, in.

Seems like they're just so
tough to get into. So. Yeah,

I have twin girls, seniors.

So, one hopefully, UConn
and one Quinnipiac.

Right? Yeah.

PA program at Quinnipiac.

Law program at UConn. Wonderful.

So very excited.

Golf captain. Shout out to Mila okay.

And, yeah.

And they're local and they're local.

Yes 40 minutes in each direction.

So we're seeing as you go. Yeah.

Unified theater's going on right
now. Yeah.

You know, they do the mock trial,
the model U.N.,

the student council, all the good stuff.

So many opportunities.

It's great if you're not into sports.

There's so many black box
theater. There's.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, that unified
theater is is nationwide

now started at Konrad. So.

Yeah, we just finished up there.

Anything goes is. Yep.

I went with my sons
and the kids to do that for the music.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah,
my girls and I went because my son fit.

Sure.
I didn't really want to go that much, but.

Yeah. And it's not like he's going to be
I'm not going to really hear him. Yeah.

Because he's.

Yeah, yeah.

I'll tell you what.

That show was unbelievable. Yeah.

So they work hard and those kids are like
professional actors.

Right. Like unbelievably good.

I went same thing. My daughter was crew.

So when the lights go out, she brings
stuff out in the dark and brings it back

before the lights go on.

So I don't get to see her.

But here I am
supporting to go see her. So.

And that was last year. It was great.
But again, the shows are phenomenal.

Yeah.

So Senator Slap is an honor
to have you here. Yep.

And I know you

you are helping us in our community,
but you also have a full time job.

Yeah.

So do you want to talk about a little bit
about that and what brings you here?

Sure. Yeah.

So I work at the village, the village for,
for families and children.

So, that is one of the oldest non-profits
in the state of Connecticut,

200 years old, and we're one of the larger

providers of mental health services,
especially for children in the state.

So, most people know the campus is driven

by a million times, but they tell
they don't know what goes on there.

Yeah, different campuses,
but the one I'm referring to is the one

right there on Albany Avenue.

Right back there's the Unitarian Church
that's there, and University of Hartford.

Okay. Right on the corner.

And there's those brick buildings.

Okay.

That used to be an orphanage
100 years ago,

and now we run the largest,
foster care program in the state.

We have outpatient, mental health care,
and we actually provide services

for adults, as well for, substance
use issues, you know, fatherhood program.

So lots of different programs, but
we serve about 20,000 families a year. So,

decades ago, we started this,

it's really, an event.

It it's called the champions for children.

For that.

We have it every year in the spring,
hundreds of people come together.

And it's people who like supporters,
it's board members, donors.

It's, all sorts of people
who are connected to the village

in some way, or just are really dedicated
to helping children.

And we name award 1 or 2 people
in the community who are champions

for children, and they don't necessarily
have anything to do with the village.

But, you know, there's that saying,
and it takes a village, right?

Really guys, to raise children.

It takes all of us, the whole community.

And so, I am so thrilled

to announce that and this is we're
we're making, like, major news, right?

This this is great news that you are

a champion for children
and will be awarded, that honor,

that distinction, in
May at the, at this annual event.

Yeah, yeah. Thank you, thank you. Yeah.

I'm gonna, like, get the shake the chills.

Yeah. It's great. We got an exclusive.

We met.

You called me today,
a couple weeks ago before school.

Yeah, just made my day.

You know, I got emotional.

You know, I it's not why I do what I do.

But it felt good to be recognized,
so I'm truly honored and humbled.

And I'm very proud of this achievement.

So thank you, Senator. Slap my guy.

And, you know, you said, well,
not why you do what you do.

Like everyone knows that

you do.

Even more remarkable, you know, is
that you're not in it for for fame or for,

you know, praise
even though you deserve it.

Yeah.

You know, our organization,
I mean, it, like,

cut you off because I really want to hear
too about, like.

And I'm sure people who listen as podcasts
are familiar with it,

but just about kind of the impact that
your work has, I mean, in the classroom.

But even beyond
I just think it's incredible.

And so our organization is committed
to helping children

cope with trauma and to not only deal
with trauma, but of trauma.

And so the other champion
is this guy, Doctor Rogers, who,

is works at Connecticut Children's does.

And that's kind of like,
one act, it helps prevent, suicide.

But we just so impressed.

I'm impressed with what you do.

Like you go above and beyond
and you help children right.

Yeah.

I think that was the origin of, of. Yup.

You started your nonprofit. Yeah.

Yeah a need and you, you didn't
wait for somebody else to do something.

You did it tomorrow.

All right.

Thank you. Yeah.
We hopped in 13 years ago.

Gabby son was my fifth grade student,
and she lost her father unexpectedly.

From a divorce family.

I know how it was
not to see my dad every once in a while.

I could never imagine him.

Never seeing him again.

So we started helping.

We raised money and,
you know, use GoFundMe. Me.

But then, the following year,
another student lost her dad

to, unexpected violence in Hartford.

So I was like,
all right, let's go official.

We started a nonprofit, and since then,
we just helped our 147th family

and provided over $285,000,
all volunteer grassroots organization

that's working with wonderful people
like Rob Luna, Pete's, Direct Line Media.

I mean, the list goes on and on.

The West Hartford
community is so supportive.

And so, they bought into the mission,
you know, helping children and families

that need assistance
after heartbreak or tragedy.

Yeah.

You know, I talked to the superintendent
of schools, and you're to give this award.

And he was saying,

that
you are a completely selfless person.

And he said, you have created a holiday

that just.

Had a very nice follow.

And, I don't know, maybe we do.

You do see the magnets a lot.

I hear that a lot.

Call phone.

Try to hand them out.

Yeah. Got to get them out there.

You're the real deal.

And, and that motto
is something that easy to get behind.

You know, I tell kids sometimes, hey,
you pick up that trash, and they're like,

it's not my trash.

Well, how about you be a good friend
and pick it up?

Or, you know, pick up trash? It's
not yours.

Hold the door, give compliment, smile.

And, you know, be charitable.

So it's a it's a good mission
to get to stand behind a motto.

And it's simple, you know, it's
such a great, simple, feel good friend.

It's so simple, but it's so great.

It is really like
we all really appreciate it.

Thank you,
thank you Rob. Thank you. Derek. Yeah.

I was
going to say now this is truly honored.

I can't believe it.

So May 14th.

That's right.

And you know, a nice speech.

Oh, I did get a speech. Speech.

You got to do a little speech.

How? Five minutes. You'll be okay.

How many people can I bring?

How many of the cult can I bring?
Oh, gosh.

Are you selling tickets as well?

No, it's not a fundraiser, actually.

So it's, you know, people are welcome to
what have I mentioned there

about our capital campaign, etc..

But, primarily it's to thank donors
and to bring people

together or, like part of this community
that help children.

So there's tables, attend a table.

Okay.

I can invite my elementary school.

Yeah, of course it is.

It's still.

All right.

No. Yeah. Teaching.

I've been teaching for 22 years.

13, 13 at get where I currently am,

nine at Kingsbury School in Waterbury,
where I went to school.

So that was like a dream,
you know, is important to me to be there.

And it brings me so much joy.

But, you know,
there is heartbreak or tragedy.

So, you know, that's why I started
what I started the Friends of Feeny

and I marched in the Park Road parade
with little kids on the back of a trailer,

and they're like, haha,
there's friends of Feeney, and it's stuck.

And yeah, and it's been working.

And then I got a great team.

I can't
thank Matt, Marty, Jen, Ty, Dante and Rob.

They're just a wonderful team and,
we work really hard.

We got a board
meeting Thursday night. Yeah,

working.

We get donation requests,
we meet to see how much

we're going to fund,
and we help them all out.

Yeah, we help a couple families
in hall currently,

family in Tolland, Bristol.

So it's not just west?

No, we're we're branching out.

Yeah. The whole state pretty much. Yeah.

From Waterbury to,

Suffield, Connecticut, actually.

Yeah. So.

All right,
I know this is your show, so, like,

I shouldn't be interviewing you,
but can I ask you, like.

Of course, a story or one, family
or child

that you help that it's, like,
really stays in your, in your education.

Chair.

Yeah.

Well, my first family will always be near
and dear to my heart.

The song family Nancy song, practically
like I feel part of the family now.

They had twins.

I have twins,
Gabby's graduated from college.

Gabby was a podcast guest.

Nancy was a podcast guest.

Braden is going to be a podcast guest.

We just see them a lot.

Spend holidays
or help them out when they need something.

I know, I, I know this is

maybe fitting, but,
yard goats allowed friends

if you need to be half of the 5050 wants,
and we got to go around and collect.

So I'm going around telling people,
hey, friends, if you need 5050 put in

if you buy a ticket.

And some mom looked at her
daughter and went,

hey honey, that's friends with Feeney.

They helped us when daddy passed away.

So I was like, oh, it caught me off guard
and I didn't know what to say.

Do I hug?

Do I say I'm sorry?

It was like, just for those moments.

That one sticks out
as like kind of like, wow, it.

I'm affecting people that I didn't.

I can walk by this person I didn't know,
and she didn't know

that I helped her or their family.

You know, I hear people,

we have a couple people,
one of my former students,

Jason, lost his dad when he, you know,
he was my third grade teacher.

He's graduating from high school.

You know, he he'll tell me when he got his
first job or he he just got his license.

And, you know,

invite
us over for Thanksgiving or something.

So it's like we're really,
becoming close.

And it's a big community. Like you said,
it takes a village.

I love that.

And speaking of the village,
I always thought it was by

the train station in Hartford.

Or is that just a billboard,
or is that a is that.

Well, so we have a yeah, a building
is there,

just a few years old
and since when we, we moved in there.

So, yeah.

So we're, we're there
and then we have the campus

on Albany Avenue,
and we actually serve people 80 times now.

So, it was only about eight
before the pandemic.

So, you know, it's,

telehealth, it's expanded
and just the whole mental health crisis.

Right?
I think there's more attention to it now.

Yeah.

I understanding
that it's really everywhere.

I know my girls are going to college.

So we go from full house to empty house.

And I joked with my wife,
I said, we might have to foster a kid,

so I might, you might hear from me.

So yeah, well,
there's a lot of need out there.

There's, you know,

dozens and dozens of kids right now,
and just you are waiting for problems.

And, you know, that's one of the things
we do is tap into foster.

All right? So let's do it.

Yeah, you said it. So sign me up.

That's right,
that's right. Bring commute to school.

You know, you you tried triplets
and instead.

Oh, you have a good track record.

Yeah, yeah.

Just here.

Wow. No, I'm truly honored.

This means the world.

And to announce it here on the podcast 166
with my good friend Rob.

Dare episode 21, it Takes a village.

Truly honored.

Best by was last year's right?

No. So that was, was it last year,
where at some point she won?

That absolutely was, actually,
I'm trying to think who just to follow

in her footsteps or to be in the same room
or thought of the same.

It was Beth was like,
okay, that's was former commissioner

for, early
Childhood Education State Center as well.

She was in the house and,

yeah. So Beth and then,

Tammy.

Okay.

Who's currently in the state rapid. She's,

to be retiring and and Matt Rader.

Oh, yeah. And because they passed so

landmark legislation
when it comes to, mental health.

And so that Senator Murphy,
this one as well, we've had,

a lot of funds, Jeffrey and Nancy
Hoffman, with the Hoffman Auto Group.

They've done a ton.

Yeah.

Charity, a lot of these nonprofits.

And you see their name on
almost everything.

You just tell what impact they've had.

They've done a lot for for the village.

Nice and spoke about, you know,

their commitment to, to children.

So, yeah, it's, quite a, impressive list
that you, you, part of.

Thank you absolutely deserve it.

And I think, hear you.

I mean, you do all the time,
but you're going to inspire people there,

like to give, but just to to get it off.

All right.

Yeah. No, I'm truly honored. Yeah.

I'm looking forward to the opportunity
to talk and share our story.

And, you know, our mission

and our goals and keep moving forward
and helping as many people as we can.

You know,
one person at a time make a difference.

Can't move the whole mountain.

You try to move it rock by rock.

Out. You know, the bigger it's
going to grow.

Yeah,

I did send a magnet.

Speaking of sending magnets,
maybe getting off topic.

Sent it to Sesame Street.

So I'm trying to get,

you know, speaking of spreading awareness,
if I could get Big Bird or Oscar

the Grouch holding
the be a good friend magnet. Come on.

So we'll see. Get it like maybe.

And that as well.

Sesame Street raised me.

Mister Rogers raised me.
So I'm going to try to get on.

Yeah, I want to sing a song
with Big Bird or Elmo,

so we'll see.

I joked,

oh, Christina Griffin, a walk,
not a walk.

It O'Connor student is a reporter.

She's like the reporter for the school,
and she had an interview.

A community member interviewed me, and
she was like, where do you see yourself?

I'm like, well,
I want to get a magnet on the statue.

Liberty's nose, Eiffel Tower, the Great
Wall of China, maybe a NASA shuttle.

She's like, okay, come on.

Looking at me like, okay,
but now we're just trying to help people

and spread the good word
of being a good friend and helping

children and, you know, need assistance
after heartbreak or tragedy.

So this grow it beyond, you know,
I don't know, I don't know.

I'm very happy teaching.

I love teaching,
like I said, best job in the world.

Today we're doing frack.

You introduce fractions in cursive.

It's like a celebration. Today
we're learning fractions.

Kids are like, yeah, finally.

It's like a rite of passage.

Yeah. It was so cool. It's very cool.

And curves is back.

Yeah, I'm going to.

I wrote a thank you card the other day
and I tried to do it all

cursive to model to my students say, hey,
we can do this.

Yeah.

You just got to go slow.

Got to take your time. Don't try to teach.

It's a lost art,
but it's good for your brain.

And it helps to help reading.

For some reason,
the left to right, the smooth surface.

Yeah, yeah.

And so I smudge. Yep.

Do you tuck your wrist into,

We teach it's called foundations,
and we have special booklets there.

Like if you're teaching
cursive to a lefty, they get this booklet,

you get the special booklet.

Yeah.

That too.

So I cut with my right hand to this guy.

Oh, there you go. In there.

Yeah.

That backwards
like the thumbs different or something.

Yeah.

Yeah. That's so cool.

Lefty. Yeah.

All right.

Man, this is great.

May, May 14th,

May 14th at the Hartford Golf Club.

And we'll have some entertainment there.

We have some,

if any, listeners listening, can I say
be a good friend to get in for free?

I'm kidding.

Richardson. Absolutely.

So I know it'll it'll be great,

but I want to give an update on
what's going on with the veterans, too.

Yeah, I'm truly honored.

This is only going to inspire me
and motivate me to help more people.

So this is fantastic. I'm like,

I'm not as motional as the

first time you told me, but I was like,
I call my wife right away.

I was like, honey, you don't understand.

I just got off the phone.
She's going to be there.

If she's not busy,
I don't know if she likes me.

Yeah, yeah, 100, 100%.
My mom will be there.

I'm going to invite my family and my,
the board of directors.

So maybe that table for ten
will be perfect.

Truly honored.

I joke and play,
but this. This means the world.

So thank you so much.

Well,
of course I know you have such an impact.

And I think a lot of times,

you know,
people like you are doing good things

and you just you're not in it
for attention or glory or anything.

I mean, that's the kind of people that
really should be lifted up and celebrated.

And then it has these ripple

effects right into the community,
and you do nice things for somebody.

And so grateful.

Gratitude is,
I think, the key to happiness.

Yeah. I mean, if you feel like.

Yeah.

And pass and pass it down,

getting young kids to follow your lead.

Yeah.

That's, that's really the that's the weird
because when you get the, the youth

participating the way you want them to
is that it spreads like wildfire.

Yeah,

yeah. A bunch of celebrities got together

and said, you know,
the children are the future

and let them lead the way.

No, I didn't notice that to where

kids are doing mastery experiences

or they're doing student visionary stuff

and they're starting a lot younger
to give back.

So fundraising or volunteering their time,

my daughter and their friends volunteer
and hang out and help out.

So, they saw those kids.

Oh my goodness, it must have been 40
high school.

Oh, yeah.

The Connor lacrosse Hall baseball. Yeah.

They have so many wonderful volunteers
there.

And, I don't know, maybe this is

I don't know,
maybe I'm a little too kind of, down on,

you know,
social media, devices and all that.

But it seems like
we have to be really intentional

now to get our kids off of the screens,

you know, and and connecting with them.

Yeah.

Because it's like,
if we're not careful, it's just, you know,

there's just a lot of loneliness,
you hear?

Yeah. Solitude.

And so that human connection, I think
that's what you do to help to foster.

Yeah.

And that we got to live in IRL.

In real life.

I encourage students eye contact.

Yeah. Talking
need a knee and face to face.

Like when you're sitting and talking
and being a good listener.

Yeah.

So that's effective communication,
being a good listener and a good speaker.

So yeah, the devices are changing
that attention spans.

I've seen it changing jobs.

I used to get
I want to be an astronaut, president.

Now it's like I want to be an influencer.

YouTuber.

Yeah. You're like, come on.

Just want to be they, they thought,
job category with billionaire.

They want to be.

Yeah, I like that. Sign me up.

Sign me up for that.

I'm just going to ride those coattails.

Yeah, that's a good job.

I like that billionaire. Yeah, yeah.

Wow. This is amazing.

All right,
so we want to play a quick little game.

Both of you guys. It's rapid fire.

We're moving on.

We're going to do rapid fire.

What do we fire you?

Coffee or tea?

Both. You just.

Good rapid fire coffee.

All right.

Are you a buyer or are you a seller?

Depends on the product.

What if it's homes?

I want to buy.

Okay.

How many homes do you own?

Four.

Very nice.

Do you have multiple homes? Just one.

Yeah.

Are you an open house kind of guy
or a private showing kind of guy?

Well,

for my sellers, if they would like

an open house,
I'm going to have an open house for,

for my clients, I would much.

We're not going to the open house.

We're going to have practice.
So I go to my best.

It's interesting.

How many homes
have you purchased in your lifetime? To

both in West Hartford or 1 in 1 in Hamden.

That was that was the first
all the way out there

about five years
and then moved out there ever since.

Well, if you need a new house,
I got a guy, I guess.

So, yeah.

All right.

So I've never been there.

A lot of people.

I guess that's why
there's not too many homes. That's right.

Yeah.

How many homes are for sale right now
currently in West Hartford.

Do you know?

Yeah.

Last I looked today,
it was 23 single family homes.

That's crazy.

Yeah, that's not a lot of do with condos.

I think it was 32.

But like 12 of them just fell off

because all these new construction condos
right down the street here.

Right? They just fell off.

I'm sure they're going to relist
on these expired up.

Yeah.

Are you a center

stroll kind of guy or a backyard barbecue
kind of guy?

But what was the center stroll
like strolling around the center?

Yeah, I like that. Sure.

Okay. All right.

Yeah. I mean, I got the barbecue too, but.

Yeah, but those don't feel like
they're exclusive.

Well,

I guess if I had to choose one,
I'm going to go.

I'm going to go to barbecue.

All right. A bunch of vegetarians.

So it's tough to grill.

I mean, I can grill by myself,
you know, but grilling tofu is just.

Yeah, I've been there.

I have one vegetarian in the family.

That's true. We do to do that sometimes.

Now, are you a classic colonial guy
or a new construction guy?

I've been a classic colonial guy forever,

and I've never been
a new construction guy.

I'm starting to leave.

I can see the appeal in the new place.

Okay, but I've been a lifelong classic.

Yeah.

Is that just because, like,

updated wood and paint or

what is it
the new construction, the just modern.

It's just if it's done right.

Of course.

But if it's done right, there's just

so much less

to uncover.

You know our housing stock here. So.

Are full of his baskets
and like a knob into wiring

all these things that don't build a home
now you know, have that.

Yeah.

Much more energy efficient spray

fuel, all these things that make a home
so much better.

So I like the looks of the old home,
but I like the,

I like the newness of

agreed, agreed.

Yeah. Victoria.

Oh, that's that's how I grew up in
where my parents got divorced.

So I'm up next for the rest of my life.

Once you get back to a Victorian house.
Yeah, it's I don't know.

Now it's quiet and it's, you know,
it's fine, but.

Yeah, very, very cool.

Yeah.

With a nice wraparound porch,
with the rocking chair and just hang out.

That's what I want. Yeah, exactly.

Summer concert at Blue Back or celebrate.

We ha at town hall.

Summer castle.

Who has a series down there?

The singing principal,
LaTonya Farrell, podcast guest number 99.

She's fantastic.

Shout out to LaTanya.

You know, making them that one.

I know, because she was right before 100
because her band helped with 100.

Some.

I know I knew you were coming
on, so I wrote yours down, but I

will best coffee spot in in West Hartford.

Wow. Are you going to have go?

I'm not a coffee guy,
I can tell you. The one.

So I I've been drinking a little bit
of coffee lately just because I

need a little bit.

So I'd be going into Europe.

Oh, we just went to Nero twice now.

Yeah, past month,
and it said, give me the fake books.

So I guess the real.

Yeah, it's
kind of like it's it's a cool vibe.

Okay. I've never been.
I want to go. All right.

And the place right
across the street from us is.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I don't know if I know what's good.
Yeah. So.

Yeah. But that was good.

I like, I wish I had a spot.

It's better, you know. Nice.

I know you're going to say.

Oh, this is good.

I think this we got Conrad or Hall.

That's nice.

And mighty as I've aged,
I can appreciate all the.

We know that the halls, like,
had a team in this.

What can you name vision? Eric?

You know,
you got blessed the late, great kids.

Yeah. Like, am I kind of in a.

Oh, you know,
what's interesting is that I know this,

and it's obviously
a big rivalry with sports.

Now, my two girls were in so many state,
which is a combined orchestra.

Okay.

So they don't get the rivalry there.

Like why is there.

Why do they.

Yeah because they're like experiences
togetherness right.

Yeah.

Yeah I think I saw the girls
Connor and hockey.

Hockey and Hall girls
team together is a combo.

Same thing.

Yeah.

And it's weird when they show the fans
they were in blue.

In red.

I feel like they should get
an alternate color.

Do you know they changed
the name of the mascot? Man?

These used be warriors
and chieftains. Yep.

I know the hockey team at the
when they had a combined at 1.0,

but I'm assuming it probably isn't
that now.

I don't know what they were Chiefs,
I like that.

Yeah.

Are you more of a biggie or a Tupac?

Yeah.

Do you know who those are?

You know, he looked at me like,
come on, you're a music guy.

Can your daughter
play it on the cello? Oh,

hear something on the radio?

Go over and just do a piano
and a cello or whatever.

Give me two. Yeah.

All right. I made it to 2 to 5.

All right, all right, Jordan, there we go.

There we go.

Jordan, Kobe or LeBron for best ever.

Yeah. The Goat. Who's the goat?

Well you know and I had this debate
with my son because he, he loves Kobe.

But he says that LeBron is
is the best ever.

And you can make a case
you know, all the stats and scoring.

And you look at a system
by the time he hangs it up.

But Jordan for me yes.

Just the dominance for the those six years
and the defense

and just a killer instinct
tongue comes out and you are in trouble.

I love it
and I'm enjoying it all day, every day.

I don't even think it's a fair fight.

I think it's too easy.

You you you know,
of course you can appreciate stats for,

LeBron, but he's been playing for 120.

He's a flat.

Glad you said it.

Be a flopper
and be the greatest of all time.

Like he's like, oh I got him the I see
the guy's hands like nowhere near him.

It's like he was a sniper in the stands.

It took a while. Yeah. Jordan, I think.

All right.

Any recommendations?

Podcasts, movies, restaurants.

Where you been? What you been up to?

Anything you'd like to share?

Yes. Dress like right here.

Yeah. Anywhere.

I mean,

Rico's my all time.

It's been incredibly consistent
since they opened,

and I know I'm not a French restaurant
guy, but I really come from,

sorry.

Masa or whatever. Yeah.

Really good.

And my new sneaky little spot
is right around the corner and south.

Make a lobby sound.

Oh, I've heard good things about that.

I went there once.

Have you ever brought your mom,

your Italian mom, to Rico?

Oh, yeah.

What she take what you think
Italian grandfather.

Oh, what?

He been out 30 years?

Yeah, they just celebrated 30 years

like that.

And it passes the test right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah,
the gnocchi passed the test.

I don't think he had that.

He probably had, like, the

bolognaise.

Or you would have had a piece,

a piece of meat,
but that would not be like it.

Yeah.

And my dad,
my dad used to live on Arapahoe Road. Wow.

He used to call Rico's kitchen
walking distance out of the kitchen.

Oh, there you go.

Perfect, perfect.

Wow. Yeah.

I'm a big restaurant.

Stay tuned.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, they deserve some publicity.

Yeah, yeah. Really good.

Mediterranean, etc..

And there's a podcast I'm really into.

It's, other than yours.

I thought I was going to go on. Go on.

Author. I mean, famous author, but Malcolm
Gladwell.

Oh, yeah.

Tipping point in this.

And he has this podcast
called The Business History. Yep.

And I think there's 16 seasons now
and I listen to a lot at the gym

and it's so good.

Yeah.

It's just kind of the way
he kind of tells the story.

And it's things that you
maybe haven't thought about.

Or there's misconceptions about things,
you know.

Yeah, like you guys won about
why are science the sirens here.

You know for the first responders.

Why are they different
than the ones in Europe.

And like what's this.

What's the science behind it.

You know, like something like that.

And just and you could
he could do anything.

And I think it's fascinating. Yeah.

You know, there was a Seinfeld episode
that was exactly that.

Oh, is that right?

Yeah.

Yeah, that was the question with George
and Jerry on the back of a car.

They know that.

Oh, do something different, right? Right.

Yeah.

Actually, my I'm reading a book on page
30 talking to strangers.

Malcolm Gladwell, my daughter
got it for me.

She goes, she's like, dad,
I got you this book and you're on page 30.

I've read 30 books
since I've given you this book.

It's I'm.

I'm like one that he does and just might
find this interesting music fans.

But yeah. Why?

Country
music is sadder than rock and roll.

Oh, you know, what is it about country
music and what makes it such a song?

But what makes them sad and, like,
why they can go there.

And it's basically that it's it's

you have to create melancholy,
but then it's specificity.

So like the very specific experiences

that they write about in
country music songs, and they can do that

because they're appealing
to a smaller demographic.

Right?

So they have more shared experiences.

But that he does this kind of,
you know, nation

that like rock and roll songs
that are more okay.

Yeah, yeah.

And bigger audience too and more general.

Okay. Okay.

Check it out. Interesting.

No, I have it.

That's one of mine that I listen to.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Very cool.

Any closing remarks?

I'm going to say
congratulations to you because,

aside from all the great things
you do to hear about this award

he's going to be receiving,
that's that's pretty impressive to you.

Keep doing what you're doing.

Thanks for having me.

You know, you should probably sell
your house to the next.

What do you say?

I'm so a 23 homes. Yeah. Yeah.

So you could, you know,
I could be the 24th, right?

No. I appreciate you having me.

It's, Yeah, I,
I think it was great that we connected.

Were talking at the,
at that great fundraiser that I just

kind, you came up to me
today, like what you said, and.

Yeah, I said a thing about,

you know, getting up in the morning
and trying to climb a good idea.

Yeah, I appreciate that.

And I think that kind of
brought us to where to sit.

And he said something like, hey, West
Hartford community is great.

There's Johnny's dog,
there's friends of Feeney.

And I say, hey, you gave me a shout out,
I like this guy.

Yeah.

And then, no.

And I will be seeing you at Johnny's dog.

I see you at church.

I know you're you're you're
you raised wonderful children.

So I said, this guy's got to be all right.

So, you got the honoree, and,
you hilarious speech had sense.

You had, you know, humor.

You had some self-deprecating deprecation
jokes. So.

Right, right. Cheers to that.

I'm really good at that, too,
if I could say it.

But, Yeah.

Well, Rob O'Meara,
real estate agent, top producer

in 23 and 22, Kevin Williams.

Now it's great.

Bio. What do you got here?

Yeah, I'm doing all right now, you know.

Where were you where in 24, 25 and 26?

Well, I would say numbers have gone down
just across the board.

History is actually I never
in the entire state in the northeast, but,

hanging in there,
you know, averaging about 50,

about 50 a year. And,

you know, when it I was throwing it up

before the market went down,
so just cracked like the 80 mark.

And, against, like, so the,

but it's a little tight right,
in this day, but we'll get there.

And ultimately, it's not about.

I mean, it's not about my stats.

It's about the clients. I serve.

Are they happy with where they go?

What and where the,

where they went.

Yeah, that's that's the whole,

Well, if you need a house. Rob.

Rob O'mara's here for you.

Derek.

So glad you you popped in
with some wonderful news again.

I'm honored and proud.

Do you have any closing remarks?

Well, one,

I got to say happy birthday to my middle
child, Zoe, who turned 20 today.

So, anyway, I'm
very happy about the big two.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah. Yes.

No. Do I remember,

though, to be 20 again? Right.

So anyway, so happy birthday to her.

But, like Rob said, I mean, thank you
so much for doing this for our community.

And, if you ever wonder what you know,

yeah, people know is the answer is yes.

People are like, picking on, you know,
and so grateful for this package.

So just to celebrate you, you know,
you don't hear it.

I'm sure you got sometimes it's thankless
or just the fact that,

you know, you do your job,
and that's exhausting in itself.

And what you do as public service
to teach your children,

but then to go about beyond it.

So, just grateful for you.

And I'm very excited to celebrate you.

With a big group of people
and very, festive occasion on May 14th.

But thank you so much. It takes a village.

All right.

It was wonderful.

Chatting 166, this is Feeny talks
with friends.

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