Butter Knives, Blizzards, & Robot Vacuums

Personal Updates

• Holiday Work Chaos: Hayden, who works as a director of operations for an orchestra, shared stories about the chaotic holiday season. He detailed a "run-out" concert where stagehands went to the wrong high school (30 minutes away), forcing him to load and unload equipment in a snowstorm.
• Phone Upgrades: Kelsey discussed getting a new flip-style smartphone that reminds her of the Gameboy SP, while her husband Zach got a new fold phone
• Internet Issues: They briefly discussed a failed attempt to switch to AT&T internet, which lasted less than an hour before they switched back to Xfinity.

News Segments

The hosts discussed a wide variety of news topics, ranging from sports scandals to oddities:

• Michigan State Football Scandal: They discussed the firing of coach Sherrone Moore (referred to as Sharon Moore in the text). He was charged with stalking and breaking into his mistress's home with a butter knife and kitchen scissors after she tried to end their affair.
• Brown University Shooting: They covered the recent shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where two people were killed and nine injured. They noted police had released a photo of a suspect.
• Cannabis Reclassification: Donald Trump is reportedly considering reclassifying marijuana to Schedule III to allow for more medical research
• Tesla Robotaxis: Tesla is planning to test robotaxis in Austin, Texas, with no safety drivers, which the hosts noted as concerning given previous issues with autonomous vehicles .
• Entertainment News:
• Dick Van Dyke turned 100 years old.
• Lindsay Lohan has been revealed as the voice of Maggie Simpson in a new Simpsons segment .
• Rob Reiner's son was arrested for stabbing his parents (Rob Reiner and his wife).
• Odd News:
• Care Bear Bandits: Seven teenagers dressed in Care Bear costumes were arrested for trespassing in a vacant hotel in Wisconsin .
• Nativity Fugitive: A fugitive in Italy was caught hiding in a nativity scene by posing as a "fourth wise man".
• Littering Fine: An 86-year-old man in the UK was fined £250 for "littering" after spitting out a leaf that blew into his mouth.
• Word of the Year: Merriam-Webster’s word of the year is "Slop," defined as low-quality digital content produced by AI.

Book Reviews & Media

• "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" by Caitlin Doughty: Hayden finished this book and highly recommended it. He noted it changed his perspective on death and family involvement in the grieving process.
• "The Royal Governess" by Wendy Holden: Hayden has just started reading this historical fiction novel about Queen Elizabeth II’s childhood governess.
• "Out of Air" by Rachel Reece: Kelsey read this YA book about kids breathing underwater in an air pocket. She found the narrator of the audiobook very whiny.
• "In the Lives of Puppets" by T.J. Klune: Kelsey loved this book, specifically highlighting a character named Rambo, an anxious Roomba vacuum robot, as hilarious. She recommended listening to the audio version.

2026 Goals & Resolutions

• Kelsey: Wants to grow the podcast and her cottage bakery business, and stay off her phone to read more.
• Hayden: Wants to detach from his phone and be more creative (art, miniatures) and allow himself to be bored to stimulate creativity

We are also happy to announce that we will be beginning our book club! We will be starting The DiscWorld Series by Terry Pratchett! We are moving to book 5, Sourcery (we are reading in publication order). Please be patient with Kelsey, she never reads a series start to finish without reading things inbetween!

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