Good Day Google+ - The Dog Days of Summer

Hey everyone, I'm Chef Dennis and welcome to Good Day Google+. It makes me a little sad to say it that way because for a lot of times when I said Good Day Google+, I was always thinking Good Morning Vietnam, how Robin Williams would start that movie when he would start his show. The passing of Robin Williams was very unexpected. Just made me a little sad for all the times he brought laughter into our lives, you know, that we couldn't help him a little bit, stabilize him. But let's not dwell on, on bad things. It's a great day to be together on Google+ and I have some wonderful people in the film strip today. And let me just run down and say hi to everybody. And we have Zara Altair, and I hope I pronounced that correctly.

You did.

Great.

And you're coming to us— where are you at?

I am in Beaverton, Oregon. I'm just outside of Portland, and I'm kind of in the woods. I'm on the edge of town, so it's the woods all around. I love it.

Sounds good. Yeah, I'm in Orlando, loving the sunshine, and you're all the way on the West Coast. I have to make it out there someday.

I have no idea. Yeah, you do. It's really beautiful, and it's so funny because here we are, dog days, and today is actually overcast and cool, but Monday it was 102 degrees Fahrenheit, so yeah, it was warm.

That's dog days.

That is dog days.

Definitely, definitely. And now we have Cheryl Deuce, the better half of the Deuce family, coming to us from Utah, and I love that, celebrate Bacon Month, Bacon Babe, and you are in your work attire, I see.

I am in my work attire. I took the day off to do this because I wanted to spend some time and do this Hangout, and then they called me this morning. Someone called in sick, so I had to come in and do some surgery. So here I am with my hat hair and ready to enjoy the dog days of summer, huh?

Well, I'm glad you could be with us today. Thank you so much for making it despite the fact they called you into work.

Yeah.

And of course, next to Cheryl, we have my every other week co-hostess Maggie Unzueta.

Hello, everyone.

And nice to have you joining us today. It's great to see you, Maggie. How you doing this week on the sunny San Diego shore?

I'm doing fabulous. I'm really happy because I have a lot of wine here, like a lot of wine and a happy cake. Hold on, hold on, so maybe I can kind of do what Cheryl's got going on a little bit. Yeah, so we got to go with me first because this bacon is not going to last.

Let me just say hi to Charles and we'll go from there. All right, and today we have a very special guest and he's coming. Are you at work today, Charles?

Friday is kind of my day for doing all the stuff in my office that doesn't have to do with patients. So yes, I worked a little bit this morning, computers, just general stuff, no patients.

Yeah, I was afraid getting you on the show was going to be kind of like pulling teeth, but—

oh, hey, that's not right, come on.

Don't we have a rolling impact?

Yeah, they thought they needed a rim shot effect.

I've been waiting all week for that one, let me tell you. My wife will verify that. But I'm really happy to have you on, and you know, I'm trying to broaden my perspective, and I'm no longer afraid of the dentist, thank you. Took a while, but yeah, it's a happy place to be.

Once you find the right one, once you find the right one, it makes a huge difference. Yes, it does.

Yeah, not a problem. I know that's, that's the important— I still am looking for one down in Orlando though. So I'm trying to find a new one for here. I may have to fly back up to Jersey to visit them if I need a cleaning or something.

But oh no, actually, you know what, if you send me a little reminder message later, I've— I know a bunch of people down in that area. I bet you I can find Yeah, well, you know, online networking through dental forums. I know people— it's fine. I know more dentists around the country and around the world than I do here in Charlotte, so I can almost guarantee I can find you somebody in Orlando.

Sounds great.

Our dental hookup.

Yep.

Very good. Yeah, because I did go the way of the Sonic Electric kind of toothbrush.

Oh, good.

My teeth are feeling a lot better, but I know I need a professional cleaning. Cleaning too, so we want to get that done.

Good.

Maggie start since we don't want her bacon to go a bad way. She's got the one woman with the kind of wine that we all love. It's not the, "Oh, I want to go out to dinner." It's like, "Crack open a bottle, baby.

We're going to have some fun." So I wanted to pair bacon with wine today, so that's what I'm talking about. Okay, so I'm gonna start with a bacon salad, like a warm spinach bacon salad. I think we've all seen it on a menu somewhere with a little bit of blue cheese. And you know when you think about bacon, you kind of think, "Oh yeah, let's go strong. Let's get something like a Cab or a Zinfandel." And when I think about a salad, that's like the last thing I think about. More, I would go with a Rosé. Now, as you can tell, I had a little of this rosé, and it looks dark, but it's actually really pretty and pink, a little rosato. I need Nazim in here from Milan. But anyway, so rosato, a little, it's sweet, it's not too citrusy, or not too, it is sweet though, but it still has that hint. When you think salad and bacon, yeah, rosé. OK, so let's go move up the scale. Let's say you're having a bacon burger. Bacon burger.

With blue cheese.

With blue cheese.

Yeah, I—

OK, yeah, there you go. That's where I would have— and this one's empty, I'm sorry. I'm trying to get—

This one's empty.

This one's empty. Yeah, I have way too much wine in here. And I couldn't find a Zin, but I really wanted to show a Zinfandel because That's what I would drink it with. Or a cab. I would go with a cab. But this one's from Truant Four Vines. Oh wait, I didn't even tell you this one. This is Gooseneck Vineyards. And it's only on the East Coast in like 4 or 5 states. I know they're based out of Rhode Island. Rhode Island, Massachusetts, I know New Jersey, New York.

Ah!

I can't remember exactly which ones. But you can always get someone to— ship it to you from the other side. That's a little trick, I don't know if you guys knew that. But you could easily get, find someone who carries a wine that you love and they don't have it in your state, you can just have them ship it to you.

Love that. Maggie, I just want to update you that some states don't allow wine being shipped in.

Utah doesn't allow it.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, but Utah doesn't allow it.

Oh really, that was a big shocker there.

I'm never leaving California again. Okay, so old fun. Alright, now I'm gonna progress to something a little meatier and stronger with a kick to it. Like maybe— oh, Chef, have you ever had carne asada fries?

No, what kind of fries?

Carne asada fries. Yeah, mind blown, right? Like that just sounds amazing, and it is. When I moved to San Diego Someone said, oh, let's go have some carne asada fries. And I thought they were joking. I'm talking French fries with carne asada, of course bacon, lots and lots of bacon, guacamole, salsa, sour cream. It's just one of these things like you need 3 people to eat it. It's just this huge mountain of just fatty goodness. OK.

Delicious. I can feel my cholesterol rising while you talk. I know, right?

But we're not—

We're not damaging your teeth. We're not damaging your spine.

You don't want to kill me, but yeah, my teeth will look good. Your teeth will look real good. Oh yeah.

Take your blood thinners. Take your blood thinners before you eat it. Or drink some red wine. Now this is—

Oh, this right here.

Yes, you see, this is why you drink wine. OK, so this is Car Winery. And this one is full. My boyfriend and I went to Car Winery in Santa Barbara a couple months ago. It was, it's such a nice, oh, you know when you're in the car and you finally get out of the car and you smell a bunch of wine being made? I was just like, ah, it feels so good to be in here with barrels of wine, anyways. Okay, so they make a Cabernet Franc. They have different varietals, but the Cabernet Franc to me was one of these things that's It's stuck in my mind, and I haven't opened it. But he bought one too. But yeah, that one's gone. This one, I'm like, don't leave me. Anyways, it has a hint of spice to it. So you can kind of get the spicy notes in there. But it's sweet. Remember, it's wine. So it's not like, don't be afraid of this wine kind of thing. But anyways, OK, Cortesana Fries. Cabernet Franc. You got a salad, get some rosé. And everything else with bacon, Zinnenkapp. Alright, I'm good.

Wow.

You're good.

That was good.

Okay, so I don't want to be outdone by the wine girl, so I brought bacon soda.

Okay. Is it good? Did you like it?

I have not opened the can, the bottle.

I'd be scared. Bacon and soda, but bacon soda?

Bacon soda, artificial bacon soda.

Wow, that's strong. Okay.

I think it should be like the tequila with the worm and it should have a piece of bacon in it.

It should. Open it, open it, open it.

Yeah, come on, Jill, open it, you got to try it.

Come on, HOA. Yeah, we want to see.

Bing bing! Soda tasting.

Now we have to watch her face.

Yes, that's what I want.

Yes.

It is pure sugar.

Okay.

Dun dun dun.

Add.

You know, cold bacon grease is—

Oh yeah, there we go.

Oh, whoa, there you have it.

That is nasty. That is like beyond nasty.

That was brought to you from Coca-Cola today.

Yeah, I found a bacon thing I won't eat.

Thank you for sacrificing yourself for us, Dennis Littley.

Not in its defense, but you might want to take that to cook down some meat in the slow cooker.

Yeah, a good pork roast.

Sure, that would help.

That'll be dinner tonight.

There you go.

There you go. You know, they had me until you said artificial, you know, then you got me.

Yeah, right, that's when I left.

That's probably where it's wrong.

Since we have you, Cheryl, why don't you tell us a little bit about where you're at and what you're doing.

The thing that's really interesting, it's funny, when you asked me to do this show, I thought, what am I going to say? Because I'm not into marketing, I'm not into SEO, I don't even own a business. And I had someone ask me the other day, are you in marketing? And I said no. They said, "Why Google+?" I had to think about this. I finally came up with the answer. I'm on Google+ because I'm who you're trying to communicate to. I'm who you're marketing to. I am who you're trying to reach. I give the feedback. Yes, this is working. Yes, this is touching me. Yes, this is affecting me. I'm just here to make friends and have fun.

That's a great answer, and you know, that's the truth. We are here to make friends and have fun, and a lot of people forget that. And you know, the funniest thing, I got a letter one day asking me to write this article on SEO.

Uh-huh.

I'm like, excuse me?

I'm a chef. Did you see this Mark Whiteman?

I know a guy that can do this.

I know the guy.

I know a guy.

Yeah, yeah, you know, it's just, it was interesting, it was an interesting question to me, and then I realized I have made a ton of friends. I love making friends that aren't here. I love having, I love saying, yeah, I know someone in Florida, you know, oh, I saw the greatest picture of Spain the other day, a friend of mine shared it, you know, I love that, you know, and I've made some some what I consider some really deep friendships with Rhonda Green, Carmen Mandich, even David Henry, my dragon slayer. Just because I saw them in the audience. My husband is out there too, but I kind of know him a little more than just on Google+.

He just said too, he's also here to support me.

I do, you know, that's why I originally came to Google+. I wanted to understand what it was he was doing. And so I started watching some HOAs, and then I started hooking up with some people. And I mean, I made friends online way, way back when internet started. And now I'm gonna age and date myself so everyone will know how old I really am, but I've had friends from Philly that I've been friends with for 20-something years, and it's a complete online relationship. We've met in real life a couple of times But we originally met in some discussion forums.

So, you know, and Google+ has made our world a lot smaller too with Hangouts like this, even just private Hangouts where we can jump in. I mean, I can't count the number of times I've talked to Nazim over in Milan. He'll just ping me to torture me showing me the countryside.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's not pinging you, he's pinging me and he's sending me pictures. I'm like, I hate you.

I hate you. I know.

I love you, Dennis Littley. Poor guy, 3-week vacation in the countryside, couldn't be here.

Well, and I don't think there's any other place you can have such an eclectic group of people that you get along with. You know, I love Charles's photography, I love his photos, but in addition to that because I learned to love him through his photos, I've gotten to enjoy what he offers as a dentist and share some of those things out. I'm in a lot of parenting groups because, as a lot of people like to point out on Google+, I do have 8 children. And so it's— am I the only one hearing myself echo back?

No, I'm hearing a little bit too.

Anyway, I just, you know, I found him through his pictures, but then I've gotten to expand and know him better. You know, I found Chef Dennis through his recipes and Maggie through some recipes, but now I know her better. And I just, I don't know anywhere else you can do that, where it's like seemingly something small that brings you to someone and then you just— this whole world opens up to you.

Yeah, it is an eclectic mix of people here, and the people that are missing out are the ones that don't reach outside of their comfort zone and don't talk to people, you know, with other interests. And I always tell my food bloggers that the last place you want to be is in food blogging forums, because you know those people. Get out and explore, make new friends. You have other interests. Everybody's got other interests. Otherwise, I wouldn't have met half of you if not, so.

Mm-hmm.

Unless you love bacon.

Bacon is the common bond that brings us together, except for those vegans. I have tried vegan bacon, not a good thing. No.

No, I saw somewhere where bacon is the cure for vegetarianism.

Oh, that's good.

I like that one.

Very good, very good.

Do you guys really understand I understand the bacon obsession this month because it is National Bacon Day on August 30th. It's in my house. And that's why August is bacon month. It's not that I eat, sleep, and breathe bacon. Okay, it might be.

Might be. How much bacon does it take for 8 kids, Cheryl?

Oh, 2 pounds.

2 pounds?

Each.

No, I'm just kidding.

Each time I cook it as a meal, yeah.

Do you do it in the oven?

I do, on a baking sheet. Good.

I was gonna say, with that much bacon, frying it is just not—

no, no, no, I do it on a baking sheet.

I hate to tell you, I cheat now too. I buy that precooked bacon. I love it.

What?

Precooked bacon?

You know what?

When it's just Dennis Littley home, it's really nice. You grab a couple pieces, heat them up real quick, and you've got a good, a good sandwich going.

Yeah, quit very fast. And you know, and I love bacon, I love the smell of bacon, but I don't want to smell it for the rest of the day.

Bacon? Yeah, it does kind of fill up the kitchen a little bit.

Just want to smell it while it's cooking. Yeah. And then when you're done, you want it to go away.

And then not to have the reminder on my clothes for the rest of the day.

I had bacon.

Did you have bacon today? All of a sudden I'm craving bacon.

It's like when you go camping and you smell like campfire for weeks.

Yeah, but I love the smell of bacon because that's exactly what it reminds me of. Because when I, when I was little, we used to drive all over and, and breakfast, and breakfast in the morning, you know, with the bacon over the campfire and And every time I smell bacon, that's what it makes me think of, being out camping and, you know, the sun coming up and just, you know, this whole thing all around bacon. It's just a whole life. It was very, very adventurous, and once my dad figured out that my mom didn't like camping, How long did it take? It took a couple of years. I think it took long enough for my sister, who's 3 years younger, to get, you know, so she could go without my mom. But he used to take the two of us and we'd just go out and drive and keep driving. And then as, you know, evening was approaching, he'd find some place by the side of the road, and he would put out his cot, and my sister would sleep in the front seat, and I would sleep in the back seat, and that's how we, that's how we went. I can't imagine doing that now. No, no, it's just a different world to do, to do that kind of adventure. But that we did, we went everywhere.

The things that you can't do now, I mean, I remember going camping, we had a camper And we'd rode in the camper, and that was like the best ever.

And now— that would be child abuse now.

You know, I'll have to admit, crawling through the little window from the camper to the cab of the truck was child abuse. Scraped your sides all up.

It really makes you remember, like, you know, that little meme that goes around every once in a while that says something like Thank God I'm over 40. I did all my stupid shit before the internet. Yeah. Cheers to that.

And cell phone cameras.

Yep.

It's mostly not documented.

Or if it is, you can't really watch it on anything anymore.

Yeah, 8mm.

Uh-huh.

Well, in those days we didn't wear seat belts though, you know.

No, no seat belts.

You carried babies in your lap.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, all of our— or most of our mothers smoked, you know, and we all turned out fairly reasonably well, you know. It just wasn't a problem back then. Now everything's a problem.

Yeah, my favorite was the station wagon with the seat in back that looked out.

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah, the cars would roll up and they're very nice. And you're just like, uh-huh.

I still remember being covered in luggage in Washington, D.C. though. We were driving up from Texas, my father had to slam on the brakes, I went forward and everything else went forward, and then they had to dig me out. I was like, I think I was 6, and they're digging me out from under the luggage.

Oh no, don't tie anything down back then.

Not anymore.

I made my kids watch Family Vacation with Chevy Chase.

I love that movie.

And I said to them, I said, this isn't funny, this was real. This is how it went down.

The reason we thought it was funny is because we remembered it. Yeah, that was me and Sarah, we did that.

I make my son watch old I Love Lucy episodes, and you know, this is like really, really old times, right? So he saw her, you know, dial a telephone, and he said, "Mommy, what's that?" And you remembered, which made you feel really old right away. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, that's funny.

I'm really old. My grandmother had the phone where where, you know, you called the operator and then operator connected you with whoever it was that you wanted to talk to.

I had a friend who had a party line.

I had a— growing up, we had a party line.

They were horrible.

You had to listen for your ring.

Yeah, you listen for your ring. Lizzie, get off the phone. Lizzie, this is for me.

We've come a long way.

Yeah, we have.

Yeah, it's just amazing. It's just amazing now. And I was reading yesterday— I can't— I read so much I can't remember where it was, but it was, you know, that the internet is, is go— is building algorithms so that all the numbers Everything will be attached to a name, so it's going back to having a name attached to a phone number rather than the number, so that people don't have to remember number strings. And that's coming, you know, so it'll be like going back but without the operator.

So, okay, so here's a question for all of you: how many of you remember your childhood phone number?

I do.

I do.

I do. Only the women? Women rule.

Yeah, Plateau 3. I remember when they had words, you know, but ours was Plateau.

Ours was worth, worth something. I don't know why.

Worth something.

It makes you wonder too, it's like, you know, What are our grandkids going to be saying? They're going to be like, oh my God, yeah, I saw my granddad was talking about they had these Hangouts. You could only have a certain number of people. And just imagine, this is so cool and awesome. And I've got a 7-year-old, I've got a 19-year-old, and a 7-year-old. And when my 7-year-old's my age, she's going to think this was just so primitive. Headphones, why do you have to stick things in your ear?

Well, I told them at Google, I just want the chip. Just put the chip in back here, I'm ready for it. I don't want to go through all that nonsense.

No, Google Glass, just put the chip in.

Yeah, put the chip in and it will scroll, I don't need—

Well, the contact lenses they're coming out with, it will just be all like right on your eye. Gosh.

That's bizarre.

Yeah. My grandmother died a year ago, not quite a year ago, she was 94, and you know, when she was born, I mean, the Model T was pretty darn awesome, and now we're talking about contacts that we can see everything on the internet maybe in a few years. It just boggles the mind.

I mean, if you took your grandmother's date of birth and cataloged all the inventions and things that came along, I mean, the list is—

it's long—

expansive of what happened just in her lifetime.

Oh yeah.

And ours will probably be just as much.

I mean, yes, I know. I mean, I wonder what I'm going to be like, you know, when my granddaughter, you know, says, you know, "Grandma, why don't you try blah, blah, blah?" Because I remember when, you know, the— in the '80s, and computers and stuff, and then, you know, laptops and portable computers came out, and I went to my dad, who had been a ham radio operator and loved connecting with people all over the world, you know, and he had all his cards and everything, and I said, you know, "Dad, man, you really need to try this. And he's like, I'm not going to do the computer. That was it, you know. And I'm like, you can connect with people all over the world. And, you know, and he was just— that was the line. That was the line. He would not— he wouldn't even think about it. And I'm wondering, you know, am I going to have one of those lines where my granddaughter comes and says, you know, Grandma, you need to try this, and I'm just going, uh-uh. It's too much.

You know what, Zara, I don't picture you ever being like that. I picture you going, "Try what? Okay, go for it." Yeah, that's probably me.

And I love my granddaughter because, you know, you're— not only your children, but your grandchildren have some of your genes, your own genes inside of them. And all you have to do is say, "Eleanor, are you ready for an adventure?" And she goes, "Adventure!" And I'm like, "Oh, she's got the genes." Don't ask my kids about adventures because that usually means we're lost. Oh.

They go, "Yeah, weren't we supposed to be there like an hour ago?" "We're on an adventure!" The Golden Spike is— I gotta get this right— about an hour and a half from my house. It took us 4 and a half hours to get there. But you know, northern Utah is very pretty.

It is very pretty.

Wait a minute. I thought you were saying women rule, and aren't women supposed to be the ones who ask for directions?

No, it's men. In the mythology.

Or was Dennis Littley He was not around at that time because Dennis and I are a second marriage. Okay, he wasn't. We were— I was a single mom at the time, and I don't know if I want to admit this out loud on a public HOA, but I am— I'm more like a man when it comes to stuff like that. I'm more of the, I could do it, I don't need to read directions Don't these parts look like they go together?

Uh, yeah.

Yeah, I do that too. I just start doing it, and if I really get stuck, I go, "Oh, maybe I should read the directions." Unfortunately, I cook that way too, Chef, so don't—

Oh well.

That's how you come up with new dishes.

That's right.

Or adventurous dishes.

Yeah, adventurous dishes. I think that's great, Cheryl, about the adventures being lost, because I had this weird thing that I did with my kids. This is the same thing— God, I'm admitting this in public, but, you know, some— we had, when the kids were growing up, there was a big deck in the back of the house, and it looked out over the valley. It was just really beautiful. But anyway, and so when I didn't feel like cooking, I said, "Okay, we're all gonna eat outside and it's called dining al fresco." And, you know, and what that usually meant was kind of rummaging in the refrigerator and, you know, looking around and putting stuff together. And then when the kids got a little older, they would go, "Mom, can we dine al fresco tonight?" And, you know, and they'd go and find stuff and then they'd go sit out on the desk the deck, but you know, for them it was not just being out in the open air, but it was like the place where they could go create stuff, you know, and then just take it outside. But for me, it was the place where the food just fell through the cracks of the deck, you know. There was no cleanup.

There was no cleanup. Well, part of my classes would always include when I didn't have time to pre-plan anything, and I would take my girls into the walk-in and say, "Alright, let's see what we have and let's see what we can make." You know, I hadn't thought of anything ahead of time, and I would just show them to think that way. Because there's days when you just got to throw something together. It doesn't mean it has to be terrible. So you just have to think outside the box.

That's the way it's like—

That's a great lesson.

Growing up, that was— my parents, both my parents loved to cook. My mom is definitely a, you know, by the recipe. She loves to have recipes in front of her, and as long as she's got a recipe, she's fine. My dad was always the kind who would, like, if things were running late or whatever, he would just look in the fridge, look in the pantry, and he would just make up something. He had a chemistry background, so I guess somehow he used that. It was like a chemical experiment. This smell goes with this smell, or this taste. He could remember that this This taste goes with this taste. He would just toss stuff together, and that was the thing. If Mom was cooking, then it was going to be a real meal. If Dad was going to cook, then who knew what we were going to come up with. It was usually pretty good. It worked out well, of course, because that way whenever we had leftovers, they were pretty good leftovers.

That's awesome.

When I started cooking, I started more like my mom. Nowadays, my older daughter gets really irritated when she asks me what's for dinner because I just I don't know, I'm going to make it up as I go along. It's like, oh great, that one again.

Some people have problems with that.

I'm going to interject here. So the FedEx guy just knocked on my door like bam, bam, bam. I'm thinking, oh my God, there's a fire going on, right? Then I looked over, I was like, oh, it's the FedEx guy. Okay, so wine blogger over here, right? You have to be 21 and over in order for them to sign. So you have to be there. And it has to be at your— you can't leave it at your neighbor's or anything. You have to be there. So when I saw it was a FedEx, I was like, oh my goodness, stop everything. I need to get my wine.

I need my wine.

So they just sent me some wine. I actually don't know who sent me this. But hey, I got a rosé. I was just talking about a rosé.

And something else.

Oh, a Sauvignon Blanc. So Arrogant Frog Sauvignon Blanc. This is my life, people.

Drinking wine.

I'm on an island.

Yes.

I'm trying to get your gig of having people just send me wines. Oh, whoa.

What is this?

It looks like a dental tool.

Yeah, it does.

It does.

Yeah, this is my life.

Yeah.

And then I have to write about it and take pictures and make it look pretty. So I have a lot of wine sitting in front of me.

Well, you don't have a problem.

Anyone want to join me?

We got some great comments too. I want to throw some of them up here. Kirsten Hancock says, "I am laughing hard. My girls have just eaten outside al fresco." Gotta love it. Carmen Mandich is here, "Spice in life." And of course Dennis Littley saying that Cheryl, you should have gone east when you, when you should have gone west, or you went east when you should have gone west.

Yeah, I actually went over a whole mountain and had to go around it.

That's hard to miss, not saying, not for nothing.

But I did find the malt-o-meal factory.

Cool!

The malt-o-meal factory, wow!

And I love this, Maggie had put this up earlier, Mark Barus, I just dialed my childhood childhood phone number and it's a pizza place. They asked if I wanted home delivery and I said I'd be right there.

Gotta love it.

Gotta love it. Oh no, great.

I've never tried calling my— I'll have to call it.

Absolutely. Kathleen's in the house, Candy's here. Talking about they have a lot of hand sanitizer everywhere in Japan. Mark had asked about, remember the days when there wasn't hand sanitizer? Carmen lives in—

My sister's a hand sanitizer addict. I think she buys it in cases.

I remember hearing when somebody, you know, talked— being in the food industry, we're always looking at the sanitation, and I read or heard someone speak saying that just soap and water gets rid of about 99% of the germs if you use it, and then the sanitizer gets rid of 99%. So you still got that 1%, you know, if it was— a different 1%, you'd be cool because then one would overlap, but I'm getting the feeling it's that same 1%.

It's the same 1%, and the thing is, the other myth is people think you have to have hot water because hot apparently kills more germs, but the water would have to be 272 degrees.

Yeah. You're not going to wash your hands with hot water.

No idea.

Yeah. So washing your hands in cold water with soap is just as effective.

It's the soap, and it's how long do you have to wash your hands for too. That's the other thing. We were always told you have to sing Happy Birthday. That's how long you need to be washing your hands.

About 30 seconds.

Yeah, and nobody ever does that. It's 5-10 seconds, you rinse them off, and you're good to go.

I think my 7-year-old can get it down to 2. He's like, "I'm done, I'm done, see?" No, why?

I think that's dirt coming out of your ears.

Well, I had a friend that, you know, we'd always talk about that. We'd go to the bathroom, he said, "Didn't your mother teach you to wash your hands after you went to the bathroom?" He said, "No, she taught me not to pee on my hands." I guess we can't go there. But as a dentist, you must be very sanitary, aren't you, Charles?

Yeah, you kind of have to be.

Oh, oh, OK, so Carmen Mandic is saying, this is to hang my purse on the edge of the table.

Oh, I've seen this.

I know what this is.

I know what this is. Yeah, those are those purse hooks to keep your purses off the table.

Oh, purse there. Oh, yeah. Thank you.

So when you're in a drunken stupor from all the wine, you know.

I'll take it away.

I love it.

Although if you're that drunk, you may find other uses for it too. Guess what this is. So Charles, let's get back to sanitary hands and stuff.

I don't know, the other one looked like it was going a lot more fun places. But yeah, probably can't go there live.

Quick question though, advances in dentistry, I mean, not that you're here, I got you. What do you think is the most important thing that's happened over the past few years that's changed? Because like I said, dentists for me have changed. I don't think it's just me that's changed, but the experience has changed.

Mm-hmm.

Oh God, I mean, probably the biggest thing is just more and more dentists are finally getting into technology. You know, medicine, I think, and probably it just had to do with cost a lot. I mean, you know, medicine, typically you've got big medical groups, so they've got a lot more money at their disposal for buying all this, you know, this big equipment, which is, of course, ungodly expensive. But for dentists, since we're almost all small businessmen, you know, as technology came along and the early adopters, I mean, that stuff's really expensive. And so people, you know, my colleagues were really hesitant to just like jump in and say, oh, let me buy this. Well, now he's like, you know, CAD/CAM, you know, make a crown right in our office, or, you know, lasers. This stuff is still expensive, but it's finally getting more in reach so doctors aren't like, oh my God, how am I gonna pay for that? I mean, it's still expensive. I mean, the amount of money that I've spent on equipment in the last few years, yeah, I try not to think about it too much actually, and my wife really doesn't like to, but she's like, "You've got enough toys. No more toys for you." I'm like, "Aww, but I want one more, and this one, and it's only—" And she just— yeah. I've learned that at least for a while, I really have to just hold off because number one, I want to stay married, and number two, I want to stay alive. And unfortunately, the last couple things I want to get are so expensive that if I were to ask for them anytime soon, I would be either not married or not alive., and if it were the not alive, all she would have to do is stand in front of the jury and tell them everything, and she would get off scot-free. So yes, I'm holding off for a while, just trying to pay everything off. But, um, I mean, dentistry, it's— yeah, I mean, it's changed. Technology, lasers, I think that's really cool. We do a lot of fillings, no shot, no drill, no pain. People love that. There's microscopes, which helps keep my back and neck in good shape. Like I said, CAD/CAM, being able to make, you know, crowns right in our office, stuff like that.

That's my most favorite. Yeah. Is the crown instantly, because you take off time to go in in the first place, and then you've got to come back for another hour appointment, you know, you just— to save me that time is huge. Oh, it is.

People love it. I mean, you come in, you need a crown, when you leave it's done. No temporary, you don't have to worry about it falling off and being sensitive or anything. I mean, it's just— it's done. So that's— I mean, technology is making it easier, faster, more comfortable, less scary. So it's a lot more fun to be a dentist. I mean, yeah, we do still get all the, "Oh, no offense, Doc, I hate the dentist." I mean, yeah, sure. In the chef's world, you probably don't get too many people coming and saying, "No offense, Chef, I'm just scared that you're going to cut my hand off with that big chef's knife." But yeah, it's, it's, I mean, it's— I gotta admit, I love my job. I'm a tech geek, so I love all this technology. Cheryl mentioned my photography. I've actually got a bit of a reputation in the dental world as knowledgeable about dental photography. I mean, I've got 90,000 photos of the work that I've done over the last 10 years. Really? Oh yeah. I take huge numbers of photos. Now there's other people who take more than I do. But, so yeah, I mean, it's— technology makes things just so much easier. It's not as scary, and so the hard part actually these days is, of course, you know, honestly, is marketing. I mean, that's why I even got onto Google+ was because I was thinking, well, alright, well it's part of Google. I've been doing all my own websites and SEO and I was like, alright, Google, I got to be on this. So I came in really early and so now it's kind of weird now, I'm like, I've got a reputation now as Dr. Google+. I'm like the Google+ dentist expert. I can't believe I'm actually starting my own HOA series in just a couple of weeks. I'm like excited and scared out of my mind. Two weeks ago I was trying to cut back on things, I was like too many projects, overwhelmed, too much, cut back, and a week later I'm more committed than I was before. Okay. I don't know how it happened but it did and so who knows where it's going to go.

So what is the name of your new HOA that's going to be starting?

Okay, I think it's going to be like the Google+ Primer for Dentists. Okay. Alright. So I've got, you know, Stefan Hofnannian, Lee Smallwood, John Dietrich, let's see, Christine DeGraaff, Martin Shervington. So I'm going to get all these people coming on and just get the— I can't believe I've got like probably, I think at least 50 people, you know, 50 like dental people interested. Wow. And so This could— I don't know. I mean, I don't know if it's going to turn into a weekly thing like you guys, Chef, or if this is going to be like, you know, do this little series and then it's done. I don't know, but I'm going to have fun. Yeah, just have fun. Just have fun doing it and see where it goes.

Sometimes it's good to start out with a series like you're doing, and if it seems like it's run its course, move on to something else. You know, it might lead into another area. So I think it's great that you're getting started, and if I can help in any way, you know, don't hesitate to call.

Oh, you bet I will. Love it.

You know, I'm always happy to see people starting new shows on Google+. It just shows how much we're progressing. You know, people keep saying, oh, it's a ghost town.

Yeah, well, that's why I decided to do this, because I mean, the way I started was on a Facebook dental marketing group. Yeah, because most dentists, even some people that I know who are like really big into websites and, you know, optimization, and they're like, "Oh no, no, Google+, forget about it." And I'm like, "You should know better," and they don't. So I just asked this group, it started with just me asking a simple question, "Who might be interested in me doing a 1-hour Hangout?" It would be nice to have at least like 10 people to make it worth doing a presentation, it's going to take some work. Well, 4 hours later I had 40 people. Okay, well, that's a little more than I thought. Okay, cool. So let me ask these other people, maybe, maybe they would like to come on the show and, you know, get a couple people. But I was like, I'm just a dentist. I'm no guru or anything like that. So I said, now, you know, message all these people. I said, hey, would a couple of you like to come on my show and, and be, you know, guest presenters and 2 hours later, all of them had said yes.

So now you have 7 shows.

Oh, great. Now I'm like, what have I gotten myself into? And so yeah, so it's just, it literally 48 hours, you went from nothing to this whole 8 or 10 week series. Like, wow.

So you'll be a pro at the end of that, so don't worry, then you can move on. Here's a, I saw this question and I wanted to ask it too., "Do dentists get trained in college to ask questions when the patient has a drill in his mouth?" Oh yeah, it's a full course, and we get actual language classes.

It's the language, because how do you understand the answers?

Yeah, this is going to be done in about 15 more minutes. I know, it's no fun.

That's the scary part, is you always understand us.

I don't know how, but sometimes after a while you You just kind of, "Oh, yeah, okay, sure.

Yeah, 10 more minutes." Well, I'm telling you, I love the times where you forget to go in for your cleanings. Every now and then, there's a few years in between cleanings. My last dental technician— it hasn't been that long now, but I keep wanting to ask when she was scraping my teeth, "Is it safe?" That's what I'm waiting to hear out of her mouth, like, "Is it safe?" I don't know if any of you get that reference. From the movie, but the Marathon Man with Dustin Hoffman.

Oh yeah, it's been a while. It's been a while. Sí.

Yeah, my favorite question that they always ask is, do you floss? And it's like, you can tell, you can tell, look at my teeth. No, no, I don't.

Well, who was it, Jeff Foxworthy or one of those says, Doc, why do you make me lie to you each time I come in?

I just tell them flat out, they're like, no one ever says no. I go, well, I do like for the week before I come in. That's—

see, you know, there's that meme that goes around sometimes, you know, like the richest man in the world or whatever, it's like, you know, do I brush my teeth all the time? No, but when I do, it's the week before my cleaning. I want to get that. I need to find— actually, I want to get it like printed out really big and put it in our hygienist rooms. That's a good one.

I'm a ritual brusher.

But flossing is— I finally bought this. I figured that was better than nothing. Yes, it is. My dentist tells me they're not the best, but it is better than nothing.

Absolutely nothing. I love my electric one. My wife won't use it because of the noise, but I love it. It's like fun to use, gets my gums in shape and everything.

Yeah, the Sonicare is supposed to be the best.

Toothbrushes.

I love mine. I've been using it for 15 years.

Yeah, yeah, they are. But we have, uh, there's, there's a, there's another part that goes at my house because I have 2 kitties and they get— and they're Maine Coons, so they have long, lots of fur. And so they get brushed every day and they know that they're going to get brushed right after I brush my teeth. As soon as the toothbrush starts, you know, and I'm standing there, you know, and the kids are like, boom, they're right there, they're like, okay, who gets the toothbrush?

Oh wow, they like their brushing, huh?

So I call it brushing time, everybody gets brushed.

I do it with my daughter, but yeah, my dog Oh, God, they do not like getting their teeth brushed.

Do you have the little finger toothbrush for your dogs?

No, I've got to admit, I've kind of gave up on it. I mean, one of my dogs, she's a shepherd chow mix. I mean, she's had gum disease for years. I mean, she's 14 now, but I mean, trying to get anything near her, I mean, trying to like trim her nails, she doesn't even like being brushed. She doesn't like— oh, it's just— just let her go.

I'm a firm believer that's what vets are for.

Oh yeah.

Except that, you know— It's like, "Lollamy, you need a trim.

Let's go!" Yeah, I mean, people say we're expensive. "Oh my gosh, I take my dog to the vet." But yeah, of course they have to get put to sleep and stuff. Yeah, they do. We don't put people to sleep for cleaning.

I found the little finger toothbrush was acceptable. Everything else that I tried didn't work on my dog. And then with the toes, I freak out about clipping. I just don't want to clip.

Yeah, too far.

I'm gonna cut too short. So I got a wood file at the hardware store, you know, one of those long slim— I don't have it here, but you know, we had puppy toe time and he liked it. He thought it was fun, you know, because my dog's a piece of trash. We would cuddle up together and I'd do his feet with it because it didn't make any He didn't make any sound because the puppy school that we went to, they said, you know, get the Dremel and you go, gee, gee, gee, gee, gee.

I tried that with my dog.

And he freaked out. Oh my God, that was not, you know.

My problem with Wallaby is he's ticklish. Yeah. I mean, it's beyond skittish. It is ticklish. Wow. And he, well, you know, he's 125-130 pounds, so, because he's a Great Dane, and there is no holding him down. No. So trust me, that's what the vet's for.

Yeah, but I found that the file, I thought about it, you know, because he was freaking out about the Dremel and stuff, and I thought about when I had goats, I used to use a wood rasp on their hooves instead of cutting, same reason I didn't want to cut too quick. So I would just use a wood rasp and little shavings would come off and I went, "Well, you know, maybe I can just use one of those little fine wood files," you know, because they come in different— I don't know the tool speak, but different— Tools? No, the different finenesses of, you know, I got a pretty fine one and then I would just use it on on his toenails, and that way, you know, it didn't tickle, Cheryl, you know. And you also weren't grabbing and trying to cut the thing while they're fighting you, you know. Yeah, I know about brushing the dog's teeth.

I never had a problem with that. It was the flossing that always got me.

Oh no, I never went that far with the dogs.

I'm trying to get my 7-year-old dog Auditor floss, honestly. I've got this new little series on my blog called Kids' Tooth Tips, and so just do like a little picture and a couple little points about it and stuff. Oh, God, I'm so bad. I've got to get a picture of Elizabeth flossing, but getting her to floss, it's like pulling teeth. Yeah. I'm kind of lucky because her Her teeth— she actually got my teeth, unfortunately, which means many, many, many years of braces ahead for the poor girl. So her teeth right now actually are pretty spread out, so flossing doesn't help a whole lot. I'm kind of lucky on that. But yeah, it's—

have you tried the little, you know, the little thing that she can hold?

You know, it's like— that's the next thing we're going to try because the other stuff, she'll have more control over it.

Than trying to, you know, do this.

Yeah, mostly I just make sure she does a really good— we've got like one of the little Barbie or Little Mermaid electric toothbrushes, I don't remember one, and those things are great for kids. Oh, those are so good.

Yeah. I have Spider-Man. Spider-Man?

Is that yours or your son's?

Um, it is, it is.

Well, this has been fun. We've had a really great get-together today and a lot of nice conversation, but we're going to go down the panel. We're getting close to time, and I'm going to ask you all to share where everyone can find you, if you have any projects coming up, anything you'd like to say before we sign off for the day. So I'm going to start right next to me. Zara, anything? Where can everyone find you? I know you have a show. What's up for you next?

Oh yeah, I have a show on Wednesdays, the Midweek Zap, and it's to help people learn about getting better skills on the web marketing and especially tailored toward Google+ of course. And then I also have a blog at Actation Now and I am working on a book, I have no publication date yet but It's there, it's coming along. So yes, come to the show if you want to learn more about being online, your presence, and Google+. Nice.

And Cheryl, where can we find you? Anything going on besides just being a regular person on Google+?

I'm actually going to be on the Plus Word Game Show tonight. Woohoo! 10 Eastern— let me see if I can get these right. 10 Eastern, 9 Central, 8 Mountain, and 7 Pacific, right? Yes. I'm going to be on that. I'm a little concerned. I had a good showing in the comment section, but you know when you're live on camera and you've got to come up with that, I'm a little nervous. But I'm going to do that. Other than that, I am just around the Plus supporting my friends and helping you guys get your word out. I share a lot of what I get here other places. So I'm there.

Sounds good. And Maggie, what's the future hold for you besides drinking wine?

And eating bacon. And eating bacon.

Yeah, eating and drinking, that's my life. And that's my blog, mommymaggieskitchen.com. I also have a wine tour coming up in October, so that's really exciting. God, there's so much going on. Just follow my blog, you'll see everything that's happening, or tweet me. Or ping me on G+. I'm always around, always around.

And we're thankful for that. Thanks so much. And Charles, and what's up for you besides you got your show coming, and when is that starting?

That will be starting Saturday, September 6th. Obviously, being in dentistry, it's kind of hard to do anything during the week, which is— that's like one of the things, sometimes I feel like my day job kind of gets in the way of spending as much time on Google+ as I'd like. But yeah, so I mean, that's— I mean, of course, anybody of course can watch, but it's going to be geared towards Dennis Littley. My practice website, smilesbypayette.com. I have another website that's kind of getting revived a little bit, dentaldigitalphotography.com. Starting to— that's kind of ignored that for a little while, but bringing it back. Then I have a personal log or a personal website, Chip's Personal Log, like Star Trek Captain's Personal Log, Chip's Personal Log. Then I'm around Google+ a lot. So just lots of stuff going on right now, just trying to stay busy, taking care of my wife, 2 daughters, 2 dogs.

So is your show going to be geared just towards dentists or would normal people enjoy it too.

Well, I think almost anybody would enjoy it who wants to learn about Google+. I mean, anybody who's new, yeah. It's, I mean, certainly, of course, some of it's going to be geared specifically towards what dentists need because dentists are basically clueless about it. But anybody who wants to get the basics, I mean, I've been seeing the people that I'm having on, there's going to be a lot of good stuff that they can learn, yeah.

Sure, so it's going to be a good way for beginners to get their feet wet too, so that'll be a good place to send people. Absolutely. I think so. Very good. So we'll keep that in mind, we can send all of our newbies there to watch a show. That'll be great. Alright, well thanks everyone for coming today. It's always a great day on Google+ when you get to spend time with your friends and talk. And thanks for stopping by and we will see you all soon. Take care. Bye.

Bye.