(upbeat music)
There's a chance dry
January might be slightly damp.
Yeah. That's crazy.
Drink by myself. Mikey Kay.
I guess the moral of the story is don't
leave us to ourselves
because our worst vices surface.
Pop out.
Hey, life's tough.
I'm the butt of every
joke in this family.
That's another episode.
So if anybody watches Dateline.
However, so many wives
poison their husbands.
If one of us dies in the next month
under mysterious circumstances.
That's the connection.
You're a weak cutter.
Oh, that's a PK.
We don't stand for it and uphold it.
It's not self sustaining upon itself.
We take it for
granted because we've had it
because people have stood up for it.
Ooh, tough transition.
That got deep.
You won.
You had it worse.
(laughing)
God, I love the smell of the gym.
It really smells like sweat and feet.
I know, legally what?
You've got to stop telling people this.
See you on the other side.
On the other side.
Welcome to the Mr. and
Mrs. English podcast.
I'm Megan.
And I'm Sean.
We're here to talk about the wild ride
of raising kids and growing careers,
keeping life together in
the middle of all the chaos.
So buckle up because we're all
in this crazy journey together.
Wow, that's crazy.
We just did a little
kind of like audio intro.
And this is episode 50.
50.
Yeah, unbelievable.
That's crazy.
Yeah, 50 years we've been doing this.
It's a bicentennial.
We're bicentennial.
For the listeners, it
may feel like 50 years.
Feels like we should cheers to that.
Cheers. Cheers.
All right, well, we won't
both drink at the same time.
I'll let you take a
sip first, ladies first,
and alcoholics first.
I'm just kidding.
I'd be the one most likely,
probably, to check that box.
I don't think we're in that territory.
I think we're okay.
No, no, we're not in
that territory, I hope.
I hope I do.
We might not know it by looking at some
of our Instagram feeds.
There's a lot of
alcohol pouring on there.
There is a lot of pouring.
Well, I mean, once a week-ish, not even.
It is, it's my one pour a week.
And that's probably a
good place to start this,
is blaming Mikey Kay.
I mean, I'm strong
enough, I'm my own man,
I can do whatever I want to.
But I had kind of bullied you into like,
let's just do a dry January.
I felt like we were drinking,
normally we drink just on the weekends.
Right?
Not heavily either.
It'd be like--
No, like on a Friday,
Saturday, or Sunday night.
Yeah, if not all three.
But probably one would
be lighter than the other.
Friday's usually the
one that we're letting go.
But even more so,
more often than not now.
You mean like we have a full,
I have a full glass of
wine instead of a half?
Yeah.
Yeah, well, actually, I
meant we're letting go
of Fridays to some degree now,
because more often than not, we have a
game on Friday night.
That's right.
We're not drinking at the field.
Just bomb.
Letting go of like--
Just bombing it.
Control.
No, we're not letting go of--
Yeah, yeah, anybody that
knows this knows that's the case.
But I had thought, you know,
because it would maybe over the holidays,
it's just so easy for it to
leech into like a Tuesday,
or if something was canceled,
maybe a night, a
Thursday, you know what I mean?
Things like that.
Exactly.
And with all the excess anyways.
All the excess eating, and yeah.
And I mean, and for me, I enjoy,
I think part of the
enjoyment of a glass of wine
is because I haven't had
it in a week, you know?
And so it's like, but when
I have it more frequently,
like over the holidays,
it's like, eh, give or take.
So it kind of is, you
know, starting over.
And so we were on board
with this dry January.
Yeah, no, I'm with that.
And I want to come back
to that to some degree,
but yeah, we were on
board for this dry January
just to try it out,
because we've never done it.
I know people do it.
Yeah.
It wasn't really a big
deal this year, I don't think.
I didn't hear about anybody doing it.
I didn't hear any, yeah.
But I was like, I might
as well try it, right?
We'll see people, you read, you know,
that it made you feel way better,
detox you and all this
kind of stuff, right?
Right.
All the health benefits for it,
or just the benefits period of it.
Well, dry January turned
into, let's start the third,
because there's a lot of good football
on the first and second, right?
So it's like, it's like,
we're just gonna chop off,
you know, it's just
gonna be a short January.
I mean, we were still going through
the New Year's holiday.
Right, I mean, it was still time off,
kids hadn't gotten back to school,
so most of you would
understand dry January,
I think most people handle it that way.
I think so.
It doesn't start till
you go back to work.
Of course.
Right, if you've been off for two weeks,
it's not gonna start at the end of that.
That's crazy.
No, you're like, I'm going back to work
for like the longest stretch of time
that I don't get a paid holiday.
That's right, that's
right, that would be insane.
So as all normal human beings would do,
Yes.
We started on the
third, or whatever it was.
Anyways, so we had
totally planned on that,
and then we did really
good for about 10 days,
till I had to travel.
Yeah, I did.
And, go ahead.
By we being like,
yeah, we did really well.
That's what I said by we.
Yeah.
I said, you didn't
change what I said at all.
You're right, you're right.
So I ended up traveling for soccer,
and all the dads, I
talked about it last week,
we stayed up till two
o'clock in the morning,
and we definitely had some drinks.
Which, you know, we had talked before,
as husband and wife, had a
very serious conversation.
Very, yeah.
I said, hey, just so you know,
there's a chance dry
January might be slightly damp.
Yeah, and I was like, go for it.
Knowing that I would be, you know,
sitting at the bar with all the dads,
watching football and basketball,
soccer dads, yeah.
Fuck, well, exactly.
And then Mikey Kay.
Mikey Kay.
As I endearingly refer to him.
(laughing)
Mikey Kay brings down, I
talked about it last week,
old fashions, and I
definitely can't say no
in an old passion,
especially when Mikey Kay
is bringing it down.
Exactly, and I do think, I
know this is lighthearted,
but I do think that it's really important
for you to have that time
with other male friends.
And so, while I did not turn in,
it did not turn into damp January for me,
who was alone with two kids,
and I was like, well, I
guess I would drink by myself,
and for you, I was super supportive,
because I was like,
how often do you get time
with male friends?
Right, not that often.
Not that often, so enjoy it.
Especially when I'm willing to stay up,
as we talked about last week.
I've known you a long time.
Anyway, so as you can tell, I mean,
as we shoot this, it's the 26th,
so it's just continuing
to rain in January for us.
(laughing)
Well, and we broke
because of the snowstorm
this past weekend.
Yeah, that's right.
So, everything, schedule 100% cleared,
we're now on day four of a
completely cleared schedule.
Yes, huge point.
Completely.
Because, I mean, people
that are in our phase of life,
we never get this, right?
And so it's like, we're sitting at home
for literally three, four nights in a row
with nothing to do.
Even during the day, it's insane.
I mean, we did Legos,
we're watching movies,
you're getting to actual chores.
I actually got to
some chores at the house.
What was I gonna say about that, though?
And that was on the heels
of the previous two weeks,
which we did say that one game,
that one, we had 12 or
something like that in a weekend.
12.
And you've done the math on the two weeks
or whatever it was.
For two weekends, we had 20
games across the three kids.
20 games in two weekends.
That's not inclusive of weekday practices
or what doesn't include
all of the volunteer hours
that two of our
children got over the weekends,
nor does it include
the birthday celebration
that we snuck in there.
So, it actually was pretty easy to be dry
because we were too busy.
To do anything.
And I think if we had a
regular weekend this weekend,
which we were supposed
to have a tournament again
this weekend, then we
probably would have been fine
to be dry that whole time.
Totally.
I guess the moral of the
story is don't leave us
to ourselves because
our worst vices surface.
We were around the
wine fridge and the bar,
you know, in our home bar.
Yeah, yeah.
But it was so nice to
not have to worry about,
I mean, the daily logistic touch point
that you and I have every
single day of you go here,
I go there and then we're gonna meet here
so that we can then,
you know, do four flips.
It just didn't happen.
It was amazing.
Yeah, yeah.
We had to celebrate that and we
celebrated with a glass.
We did, we did, that's right.
So bringing that back
to the storm in Texas,
obviously this is
something that in Minnesota
would be a non-event.
Correct.
And it's tough to
mention Minnesota right now
without bringing some
thoughts to my head,
but we're gonna set
those aside and just say,
how the heck did you live there?
Because this is pretty
normal for, you know,
a good chunk of the sun, a winner, right?
Oh my goodness, yeah.
I mean, the temperatures
that we've been having in Texas
are nothing compared to the temperatures
that they have all
winter long in Minnesota.
Right.
And I don't know.
But you don't like it either now.
I mean, your blood's thin.
I never liked it to begin with.
Yeah, you just dealt with it.
I dealt with it.
Okay.
And as a kid, I mean, it
is fun to play in the snow.
I was telling the kids this weekend,
I was like, when it
was 20 degrees and snowy,
that really was fun.
Growing up in Colorado,
you have to appreciate
that like 25 degree super snowy weather
as a kid is amazing.
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
I mean, here is five degrees in snowing.
Coming in, you're soaked
because your snow
layers didn't do anything,
but just soak it up, you know,
and like just leaving
it by the front door,
just melting the best.
I mean, everybody can smell.
I mean, I do.
I remember the smell of like the gloves
because they're like
wet, sweaty, you know,
I mean, just kids, just
nasty kid smells, you know?
Yeah, like absolutely.
That was the best being numb.
Our kids are doing it now.
Oh yeah.
Our youngest has been
outside for like two hours today.
It is a little warmer
today than yesterday, but.
Yeah, this morning was a low,
but at least they're
getting to know the fact
that there's different kinds of snow.
Go up in Texas, they didn't.
I remember there was
somebody at one point in time
that annoyed me and I think we've since
come to terms on it,
but they tried to make fun of our kids.
They didn't know how to make snowballs.
And it's like, our kids
have never been around snow.
Right.
I mean, I get it.
Making snowballs is
somewhat maybe self-explanatory
to some degree.
If you've been in snow.
But if you've never been in snow,
yeah, maybe you've seen
somebody model it for you first
and then you do it.
You know what I mean?
It doesn't take an
extensive amount of training,
but like it does like, oh, oh,
that's how you do it snowball.
But there's been
enough snow now is my point
is they're getting to know like,
this is not the fun snow you
can run and jump off the deck
and just, you know, lay back in.
This would, if you did
that today, you would run.
It would be like
landing on white asphalt.
Except you just slide away.
Exactly.
It is.
This is the strangest
snow I've ever seen actually.
Cause it looks like
it's snow and it is snow.
I mean, and there's,
you know, a couple inches
and it covers grass and everything.
And then there's drifts
that are a couple feet.
Cause it was really windy,
but it is hard as a rock.
So I've taken the dog
out and keep in mind,
she's a, Paris is a princess puppy.
She gets carried to her potty spot.
She doesn't like cold.
She's eight pounds.
Anyway, so I carry her out there.
I don't know every three, four hours.
I have yet to make a footprint.
Like I am not even heavy
enough to make a footprint
on this snow ice
combination that we have.
So here's why I have
failed as a husband on this one,
for sure, because I
pretty much got in my head
when the whole city
was going to shut down.
We knew this was coming.
I'm like, I'm not
going to leave the house
for like three days.
Like literally, I'm
not going outside for,
I don't even need to
go outside for anything.
Now I did one time
cause we had some wind blow
some like chair covers and stuff off.
So I've been outside, but
my point where I failed you
is when you last night, you're like, hey,
will you just kind of
monitor how long I'm outside?
If I fall and I'm not back
inside for 30 minutes or so,
maybe come looking for me.
It's true.
Cause I was asking the kids like,
you guys weren't going to know
necessarily if I slip.
I mean, it is, it's like
you're skating the whole time.
A hundred percent.
So the responsible
husband I am who's worried
about your wellbeing, I
pulled you up on the ring camera
in the back and I watched you out there
and I turned on the microphone.
I told you, good job.
You made it down the stairs.
But as I'm looking at
what you're talking about,
the stairs are full of snow, frozen ice.
And so they're basically
like round lumps of slippery,
slippy, sabotaged stairs.
100%.
So to be clear, the wind has blown this
ice snow combination
like up.
And so it's hitting like
the riser of the stair,
the part that goes up.
So you no longer have the nice
perpendicular flat step.
It is one sheet.
It is one ramp all the way down.
You don't even have steps.
It's truly a ramp.
Kind of, but yeah, it's mostly a ramp.
It's mostly a ramp.
You could make it to a
ramp real easy is the point,
is why you're nervous too.
So my point where I failed
you on this is I'm watching you
from the ring camera
last night going like,
somebody probably should
have shoveled those stairs
or maybe even had the
forethought to buy some salt.
We could have iced a couple.
We could have salted a
couple of the pathways.
Not one thought was given to it.
Not even one.
Again, this is the chaos train.
And I told Megan, it's like,
we don't want to get on here
and just all day long
compared to how busy we are.
Last week was an extremely
busy week away from the kids.
Clearly we've talked about
the kids having a busy week.
We had a busy week from work
and all that kind of stuff.
I wasn't at the house.
Some of the times
finishing up some things.
Long story short, I mean,
just swinging and missing
on that one, like no forethought.
There's been times.
I mean, I've had ice,
I mean, I've had salt
at this house before
because I've had the forethought.
I brought the shovel down.
I've actually shoveled that back before.
You have, yeah, yeah.
Not this time.
Didn't even cross my
mind until last night.
I'm watching you in the
ring going, well done.
Well, because you have to
go down the stairs sideways.
You actually can't go down facing down.
Like if you have to
sidestep it all the way down,
it's that steep.
It's how you would basically
probably climb down Everest.
I'm guessing.
Yeah, I mean, if I could
just get some crampons.
If you could get a rope.
If you get a rope there.
I know, I know.
We don't have like
handles on those stairs
or anything like that.
I thought about that before.
We don't, we have no
handles on these stairs.
Like, yeah, so it really is a death trap.
And it's like, huh.
It is, it is.
And I just threw you to
the wolves, to the ice.
Well, and then, okay,
so on the ring camera,
the microphone doesn't work very well.
So actually, you scared
the ass of crap out of me
when all of a sudden
I'm hearing this like,
(imitates a crash) and so I like jerk.
I'm like, ugh.
I wondered about that.
As I'm on ice, I--
You're already down
when I said it though.
You're on the bottom level.
I was on the bottom.
But I was like, that
did not help my love.
Well, you know, I
mean, hey, life's tough.
You know, if our backyard
stairs turn into, you know,
Mount Everest where
they've got just, you know,
dead people along the
sideways of the path
that you just have to
cross because they're frozen
and it's too hard to remove them
and that ends up you, it's hot there.
That's the funniest visual.
I mean, it's a terrible
visual, but it's hilarious.
So if anybody watches Dateline.
That was the first one.
So many Datelines.
I mean, transition to Dateline.
Guess what?
I think we got a big clue right there.
So many husbands killed
their wives, it's incredible.
I know, if you do watch Dateline,
I think you lose your faith in humanity.
However, so many wives
poison their husbands.
I know. Killing them.
Yeah.
And I had an upset stomach
this weekend out of nowhere
from something I ate,
everybody else seemed to be fine.
I know.
So if anybody's watching this, look back.
(laughing)
If one of us dies in the next month
under mysterious
circumstances, investigate.
Investigate.
Oh wait, it's not gonna work though.
We did not just
increase our life insurance.
They always increase their life insurance
like the month before.
Always, right before it happens.
Yeah, it's a shocker.
Yeah, it's amazing.
By the way, I just
upped your life insurance.
(laughing)
I had no notification of this.
It's always some pathetic amount,
I shouldn't say pathetic amount.
Everybody has their own
life, but it's always like,
well they had $70,000 of life insurance.
Like you're gonna
kill someone for $70,000.
Right, like.
The person you once loved and married,
for better or for
worse, unless it's 70 grand.
I mean, really, yeah.
It's crazy.
You really put the price
of a human life at that.
I mean, come on.
I mean, some of them are
gonna be like $200,000.
I mean, granted, $200,000 is
not a small amount of money,
but I would hope you would think I was
worth more than $200,000
and your life is worth more than $2,000.
Yes!
Yeah.
Well, that and you would
actually have to get over
the fact that you took a
life, which I don't know how
you would ever live with yourself again.
We're all born animals, sinners.
Yeah, the ego and the id.
Is it the id that takes
over, according to Freud?
Yeah, yeah.
The animal impulses?
I don't know, I barely studied Freud.
I have a degree in psychology.
Yeah.
So is that why you like Dateline?
No, I don't know.
I was just trying to
think where to go with that.
(laughing) I spent 25 years in banking.
I know!
And I can tell you there's
a lot of egos in banking.
That's what I gather from that.
That's the connection.
Their ids and egos are out of control.
They're like refs, you know?
There's a lot of like--
Oh my gosh, yes!
Credit mostly.
And anybody that watches this knows.
I mean, the credit
guys, they're like refs.
They got mama issues, can't be wrong.
They gotta be right.
They love the power.
They do.
And I'm like, what are they--
I don't miss it at all.
They at least, so
bankers are at least doing it
for a nice salary.
Like, your refs aren't
making enough money to be like--
That's why they're even worse.
Yeah, it's like even worse.
Bankers are like, okay,
we're all professionals,
so I gotta keep it summer professional,
but I'm gonna pound you
and make you into a pulp
as much as I possibly can.
Because I'm smarter than you.
Check the smartest guys in the room.
If you haven't read
the book, read the book.
Great book.
But it's exactly what I came from.
Refs, that money's not there, right?
The professionalism isn't there.
So all they wanna do is win.
They just want to
beat the life out of you
by bad call after bad
call after bad call.
That's what I know.
I know our sideline.
Our dads know that too, right?
Like the second we start getting on them,
that's why I never yell refs anymore.
No, no.
And that's just a safety
issue I might a little bit more.
But even then, now I
don't because they're so bad
that they'll throw a game
because they don't like the parents.
Oh, totally.
100%.
I know.
Oh, that's a PK.
That was at midfield.
Right. No, PK.
And I'm sorry, it was
also in the 128th minute.
Of a 90 minute game.
Time's up, bud.
No, not till they win.
Not till they win.
Get the other team to win.
They are so, yeah.
Anyways.
I'm peeved.
Oh yeah, I'm peeved.
Yeah, let's go to our I'm peeved.
Do you have an I'm
peeved from this week segment?
I need to think about that a little bit.
Oh, I know, I'm peeved.
We've been very peeved all week.
About the rule of law.
Like there's a reason.
And I think it's fair
for everybody on here.
If you're listening to this
and you don't believe in the rule of law.
Then that's an issue.
You know what I mean?
I mean, even police, if they kill
somebody on the job,
they're taken off the job.
Their firearms are turned in,
pending a mandatory investigation
to make sure it was, you know,
Above board.
Legal, above board.
So yeah, my I'm peeved right now is,
I could go, we could talk about,
I could talk about this
for the rest of the show
and into next week.
But we got to get back
under control in this country.
Because what's
happening on the streets of
the United States of America,
is not the country that I grew up in.
Is it the country you grew up in?
You actually grew up in Minneapolis.
I grew up in Minneapolis.
The man shot was actually a couple blocks
from where you lived.
Yep, exactly.
And you lived there.
Exactly.
And I can speak for the area
and it's just, it's
absolutely breaking my heart.
I don't know if I'm
more angry or more sad.
I don't know, but I'm definitely scared.
I'm scared for how and what world
our children are growing up in.
That was the next point of mine.
Yeah, it's like what
we're leaving to them.
I'm, I'm--
It's not normal.
Yeah, it's not.
This is not acceptable
on the streets of America.
And you're absolutely right.
I'm peeved.
It's actually a very
euphemistic way to say it.
Yeah, I mean, we have a constitution.
We have rules and we have law.
We have governing law that
is just being pushed aside.
So that's what I'm
peeved about this week.
Yeah.
Mostly.
Yeah, it is.
I've been peeved
about it for a long time,
but this week it's just
again, again and again.
How many times are we gonna just let
this kind of stuff continue to happen
and watch the erosion of democracy
and the erosion of law?
Of law.
They've talked about it.
Law is not self-sustaining.
Yes.
Law is sustaining
because people uphold it.
Governments uphold it.
Legislator uphold it.
Judicial courts uphold it.
If we don't stand for it and uphold it,
it's not self-sustaining upon itself.
We take it for granted
because we've had it.
Yeah.
Because people have stood up for it.
That's exactly right.
People have sacrificed for it.
Yeah.
Anyways, I could talk
about this for hours
and we've decided on this podcast
that we don't get
into this kind of stuff,
but that's what I'm
people about this week.
It's crossed the threshold.
Of how I can, I can't stay silent.
I can't stand by and stay silent.
I can't.
Because I don't see
that this is correcting.
I don't see it self-correcting.
I don't see people upholding the law.
And honestly, it breaks
my heart to see a community
completely ravaged by this.
Children can't go to
school because they're families
and they are too afraid.
Business is closing.
I mean, because they don't have people,
because people don't
wanna leave their homes.
But one thing I have seen is the beauty
of the people of Minneapolis.
Well, you have family, we have family,
that live in Minneapolis still.
So there's a lot that we can
know what's happening there
that's not being covered also.
Exactly, there's just too much happening
for it to be covered, honestly.
And I will say, in Minnesota, I grew up
where your neighbor,
I mean, truly, like if
we look back at the Bible,
love your neighbor as yourself.
I grew up that way.
I grew up always knowing my neighbors
and doing May baskets and I mean,
together in block
parties and all of that.
Like your neighborhood was a huge deal
and it is still that way in Minnesota.
Yeah.
And I see people standing up
to fight for their neighbor.
I heard a story about a kid,
he's a high school student.
And he is actually,
because some of his friends are,
maybe they're biracial or
they don't look the right way,
he's going and he's like
filling up their cars with gas
because these people are too
afraid to leave their homes
to fill up their car with gas.
This is a teenager who's taken a stand
and done the right thing
and helped someone out.
So it's like, I see and I
hear these stories happening,
which are making,
giving me hope, but yes,
when it comes down to it, I am so peeved
what is happening.
And again, it's a euphemistic term, but.
It is and I'll end it from my perspective
from just saying,
I just, I find it hard to
believe that this is what people
voted for.
If you voted in that direction,
is this what you voted for?
Right.
And think about where this country's
going in the future.
Yep.
So, all right, well that aside.
Ooh, tough transition.
That got deep, that got real deep.
Okay, hey, sometimes when you're peeved,
you gotta let it out.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
What was the new segment
that we were gonna say?
Do you remember them?
"Benversus Now" and "Who Had It Worse?"
"Who Had It Worse?"
All right, so here's a
new, here's a new segment
we're gonna try to
introduce and try to remember these.
So we have more segments on here.
So it's not just us
rambling all the time,
but so this new one
is "Who Had It Worse?"
So we're gonna, we're gonna, we're
basically gonna talk
about our last week
and see who had it worse,
you or me, or maybe you, right?
You can tell like,
hey, I beat both of you
because of this.
So I would say for
2025, the year as a whole,
you won, you had it worse.
(laughing)
New knee, you blew your
knee, you had a knee surgery,
you had the other
issue, which I don't know
if you brought it up on here or not.
So you had another
medical issue that you had,
it was scary and you had that fixed.
Moved past that, thank God.
So you won 2025, but
what about this week?
This week, I'm...
Tell me about what you're introducing.
I think that's an important one to say,
what you're introducing.
So I had...
The honor.
I had the honor, I was,
and we won't say that,
I was chosen to lead a
return to office program
for my company.
So the company has been, background here.
For a portion of the company.
Yeah, but the
background here is the company.
The company.
On a whole is...
Largely is remote.
And it's a large
company, so different teams.
That's following COVID.
Right, and yeah, COVID, pre-COVID,
everybody was in the
office 100% of the time
and then post-COVID,
we were largely remote.
Now some areas have
been back on a limited,
more hybrid basis as the buzzword.
And over the last several months,
I've been working on something that,
how to roll out, returning to the office
a couple days a week.
I know you're trying to
be so careful just in case,
because you've been the face of this
for your division or the part of the
company that you're at.
You've been the face of it.
I've had to be the face of it.
And I've heard you
talking about it to some people,
and I think you've said that you've,
you're incredibly
democratic about it, right?
I mean, not democratic,
that's not the right word.
Diplomatic.
Maybe.
Where I heard you
today say to someone like,
"Look, they brought me in."
And they basically were saying,
you can cut this if you want to,
but they were basically saying like,
"Look, we want you to be
the face of this for reasons,
I think, that I totally get."
You're incredibly,
because of your likability,
your agreeableness, your ability to
deliver tough information
in a very easy, relatable way.
I mean, there's a million reasons.
I can't find the right words for it,
but they picked the
right person to do it.
And when they picked you, it
was also kind of a thing of,
"Hey, this is not about your input
on whether this is gonna happen or not,
this is how we're gonna
talk about how it's happening,
how it's rolling out."
Right. Right.
And so you've had to get on board with,
it's just not easy,
because I think everybody
would love to stay home.
We all get that.
Whether we're going back
to work or not, that's fine.
We've been there.
We all did it five
days a week, 12 years ago.
We did. Right?
So this is one of those things
where now you're having
to answer a little bit to,
"Oh, hey, Megan, so this is your gig.
You're making everybody go back to work."
And you're like, "No,
I'm not making people."
Right. Right.
And so, delivering that tough message.
I'm still supporting leadership.
You have to support leadership.
You have to, I mean, I
don't wanna cry over a decision
that I can't influence that,
but what I can influence is how it
happens and all of that.
And so, but I'm the face of it.
And I know that people will
have this visceral reaction.
And yet, I'm the one having largely
to maybe not deliver the initial message.
I did not deliver the initial message.
That did come from
people way higher than me,
but I am the one who had
to deliver a lot of the whys
and the substantiation of the decision.
And you're officially like,
here's why this is such
a great thing, everybody.
Here's why, you're the
cheerleader, unfortunately.
(sighs)
Yeah.
So, I--
That dilutes you so much.
You weren't the
cheerleader, but essentially,
that's a tough place to be put in.
I was the employee
relations person, and like--
And it's still going.
I heard you talking about
people with it today, even.
Yeah, yeah.
So--
Almost as though they're asking you,
like, "Was this your gig?"
Yeah, well, and part of
it is I want to under--
Is this your bag?
Yeah, and here's the thing.
I want to understand
people's concerns, right?
And maybe this is why
they partly picked me,
is because I truly do care about what
people are concerned
about and how do we make
it better and if we can
and all of that.
And I'm like, I have
some of the same concerns.
And it's like, we're gonna figure it out.
But I might say that I had the worst week
because, A, I had to roll out and get on,
present to a couple hundred people.
Explaining how this is gonna happen,
why it's gonna happen,
answer some tough questions.
So I did have to get in
front of a couple hundred people
and explain and give
answers to very pointed questions.
And I speak quite a bit in
front of large audiences.
I will tell you, this is one
that I was pretty nervous for.
Yeah.
Yeah, and this would be tough too,
because it's like, you
were for a very large,
big company, fortune, X company.
And not the whole company
is going back though either.
So it's like, oh, hey,
this is why we're special.
We got the golden ticket also.
Yep.
Yeah, because it's not easy.
It's not.
And so, that was not fun.
You know, knowing the reaction.
I mean, it is what it had to be.
And, but I will say I was nervous.
I don't usually get that nervous
in front of large audiences
anymore, but this one did.
Well, A, because you know,
usually know your
material back and forth.
And you believe in your
material back and forth.
It's not that you don't believe in this,
but it's, if everybody
have given the option,
would be like, oh, I'll stay at home.
I don't, you know, it's
two hours of more work I get
because I'm not on the
road and yada, yada, yada.
Absolutely.
Exactly.
And there's the
trade-offs and all of that.
And part of it was, I
didn't really have much time
to prepare.
So 24, 48 hours before
we had this large meeting,
I mean, people were asking questions.
And so I wanted to
capture the latest snapshot
of questions before I
even hopped on this.
And so it's like, there are things added
five minutes before
the call that I'm like,
I need to mentally
prepare to answer that question.
You know, it was just asked.
Yeah.
And it was a busy, it
was a busy week last week.
I mean, I'd say this past
week, maybe it was harder for me.
I think you won the
previous week when you were out
and working until 1
a.m. multiple nights and.
Yeah, but we didn't start it that week.
So this week, my hardest thing,
my hardest thing this week
was that you signed us up
for this, the girls basketball team.
The parents have like a rotational,
I'll buy all the dinners
or lunches for the girls.
It's a dinner carpool
before basketball games.
And of course the week
that you have to be in office
delivering this information was our week,
was your week that you
signed up for this carpool
for you and the other moms
that I ended up having to do.
Which wasn't bad, I mean,
this had to go Chick-fil-A.
But I actually had to, I
mean, I've been finishing up
a property, you know,
dot and T's crossing eyes.
Yeah, no.
That's all right.
I was just seeing if you
were gonna catch me on it.
Dot and eyes crossing T's.
Yeah, you know, kissing babies.
And I had to leave to go get Chick-fil-A
for all the girlies.
Yeah, you did.
Yep.
So that was tough.
It's really hard.
So I would say, I don't know what's up,
you gotta tell us who won that one.
I mean, it's pretty tough for me.
There's some weeks I definitely win,
and some weeks you definitely win.
I think I won this week.
I think you won this week.
I definitely think you won this week.
Well done, well done.
Way to hang in there.
You did it, you did it.
I did it.
And another reason why on
Friday evening I was like,
yeah, dry January is not sticking.
I might want a glass of
wine after the day I've had
or the week I've had.
Yeah, yep, I see that, I see that.
Well, that's what I
was gonna say too earlier
when I was like, we'll come back to this.
But I do feel like sometimes in this,
I don't wanna dive deeply into this
because you get real
deep into this, whatnot.
But it's like, I do feel like earlier,
and sometimes even now
it's like, you know what?
A drink just takes the edge off.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
And it's like, I
don't wanna start drinking
just taking edge off.
You don't want to do that.
Right, I wanna take a
drink, like you said earlier,
to enjoy it, because I
haven't had it in a week.
Right.
I like the taste, I like the, you know,
whatever the taste of the
different kind of bourbon
or the different kind of
wine you're drinking is.
Yeah, yeah.
Not to take the edge off.
Yeah.
Right, and I think that's
where I gotta get back into
because this year, here's the other thing
I haven't gotten into.
I've not been back to
working out since when?
I mean, you did run last week or so, but.
I did, but I, there's something happened.
I either got sick or
something happened or I got hurt.
I don't remember what it was,
but I kinda didn't have time to work out,
and I haven't got back
to it for like two months.
As you've been working at the property,
like it's just been
back to the wall every day.
Yeah.
Every day.
Yeah.
So that's what usually takes
my edge off, is doing that.
So I think what I'm gonna do,
I think I'm gonna join a local gym here
because I know
there's some guys that play,
they play pickup games,
and maybe start playing basketball again.
I mean, I haven't played in 20 years.
It'll come back.
It's gotta be like riding a bike.
You know, here's the
thing I'm most nervous about
is my eyes have gotten worse.
These are those things getting old.
So there's two things.
One, I don't wanna get hurt
because I already know I've got a
slightly torn meniscus.
Yeah.
And I just don't want that
being a taking time bomb.
I don't wanna go
through what you went through,
but I also don't wanna not live life
because I'm worried about my neck.
I think that's the--
So that went aside.
I don't wanna get hurt.
Also, I don't wanna twist an ankle again.
Twisting ankles is the worst,
but maybe I'm not gonna be active enough.
Who knows?
I'm getting older.
But I'm getting older to the point where
my eyes aren't great.
I wear glasses most
of the time right now.
When I'm driving at
night, when I'm watching TV.
So most people, when they see me,
they don't see me like this.
They see me with glasses on.
And a hat for that matter.
(laughing) You do usually have a hat.
So I'm incognito everywhere,
mostly because of just
the throngs of people
who know me from morning cereal.
I've constantly
recognized from morning cereal.
I know, you can't go
out without somebody.
I almost can't go out anymore.
Stopping you, yeah.
But anyways,
the eyesight thing is an issue
because I did notice when
we were members of that gym
two years ago, maybe.
I went twice and shot around in the gym.
Just the feel and the smell of the gym.
I love it.
I love basketball.
Being in there with our
daughter has been incredible.
Just watching her A is incredible.
B, every time I go into a new gym,
I'm like, God, I love
the smell of the gym.
I can attest to this.
He does say this every time.
And I was like, it
smells like sweat and feet.
I lived in a gym.
I just lived in gyms when I was younger.
And it's nostalgic and very,
that was the best part of my child.
It was in gyms, we spent in gyms,
especially my adolescents.
So that's like such a
special smell to me.
Anyways, but the sound
of the ball and the nets.
And I just, I know it all.
I know it all by the back of my hand.
But my point is I
can't see the rim clearly.
So when I'm shooting, like from threes,
I can't see the rim clearly.
I see two rims.
Oh, you might have to get contacts.
Well, the last time I was at,
the last time I was there,
he suggested contacts for me
based on my prescription now.
And I was like, I am
not ready for contacts.
I am not ready to touch my eyes.
Your judgment for
people who have worn contacts
since they were in second grade.
Yeah, well, I'm not legally
blind, unlike other people.
I know legally blind.
You've got to stop telling people this.
You now have our children
parroting what you're saying.
Mom's legally blind.
I'm not.
I have terrible eyesight,
but I am not legally blind.
Our children don't repeat anything I say.
Especially that would be negatively
connotated towards you.
I am the butt of
every joke in this family.
Well, that's for another episode.
Maybe that's my next time peeved.
That's another episode.
That's an entire episode.
Anyways, that's my whole thing.
I want to go back.
I don't want to get hurt, but I might
have to get contacts
if I really want to play.
Because I mean, you know, I mean,
my game used to be quickness,
like driving left or right to the hole.
If not, I could shoot from anywhere.
But now I'm probably not as fast.
I don't, I got to
remember how to dribble again.
So that half of my game is probably gone.
(laughs)
So that leaves me with shooting.
And if I can't see the
rim, that's a problem.
I mean, there's some muscle memory there,
which gets me through.
I mean, I make a high
percentage of the shots I take.
But in the game when I
was winded, I did not.
When I was just shooting around,
I bet I make 95% of the shots I take
anywhere on the court.
But when in the game, after I got winded,
I mean, I couldn't see how
many fingers I had in my hand.
I was, hey. You were so winded.
I was tired.
And my eyes were just, they were going.
It was crazy.
You're gonna have to get contacts.
I know.
But I just, in just in
the last four months or so,
six months of my life,
I've noticed that little,
wait a second, I gotta
move that back just slightly.
I can't see it that close.
Yeah.
And if I have my glasses on,
I definitely can't see things up close.
I have to actually take my glasses up
and then I can see.
So I'm like, wow.
I'm gonna start getting gray hair next?
Oh, honey.
The mirror should tell you
that you're already getting it feathered.
You have like the streak.
I'm kidding.
I'm totally kidding.
Although the kids will say,
dad, you have way
less gray hair than mom.
I know.
They gave you a hard time.
We'll talk about that next week.
But no, your gray hair
is very distinguished.
But I will start laughing
if you have a pair of
glasses up on your head
and a pair on your nose.
Oh my gosh.
No, I'm not ready for that.
Not ready for that.
Gotta get back into
the gym, into our gym.
Yup.
Yeah.
And start playing basketball.
I am.
So many calories that way.
Yeah.
I mean, knock on wood, as
long as I don't get hurt,
it'll be, it should be fun.
I mean, I love basketball.
I used to, I guess.
I used to is the point.
I think you still do.
See, 25 years later, I
don't watch basketball.
I mean, I guess I
watch the Jayhawks play.
I mean, NBA is terrible now.
It's not much fun, is it?
No, I do like a college basketball.
Even college is just, you
can't build teams anymore.
That's a whole other thing.
Oh yeah, that's a whole other segment.
That's another impeamed
segment of like, you know.
NIL money.
We'll talk about that next week.
We were gonna nix the NIL money
conversation in our house.
Oh, it was one of the dads.
It was the last
story, we'll close it down.
But when I was, I tell you
that, when we were out there,
I was telling people about the NIL story.
Did I tell that story on here?
I think I did.
Somebody next to us bought
the house with NIL money.
And he's like 23 years old, nice kid.
But it's like, hey, oh yeah, that must,
if someone gave me $5
million when I was 23,
just as a head start
in life after, you know,
I mean, I played college ball, you know,
and this kid's not in the NFL, you know,
so it's like, he wasn't
like an outstanding player,
potentially.
I don't wanna talk, I
don't wanna talk smack around.
I don't know enough about him.
Nice kid, nice dad.
I'm jealous, this is
what it comes down to.
I'm jealous that he got a
$5 million check from NIL
and he bought the house right next to us
and I was like, oh, I
worked 30 years to buy this lot.
More power to you.
All right, well, anything
you wanna finish up with?
You know what?
No.
I like our two new
segments, so I think I'm good.
Yeah, look at some segmentality on here.
Segmentation?
Segmentality?
Segmentality-isms.
There we go.
I like that.
All right, we can do it.
Well, hopefully we thought out,
hopefully everything's
okay for everybody out there
in the cold that was in the cold as well.
It's just cold, but Texas
isn't made for the cold.
No, it's not made.
It's creased, pipes burst, burst pipes.
Pipes burst.
Yeah, have another.
Homes here were built to
keep in the cool, right?
Not the heat, so we have
what, another 24 hours of this
before it gets, before
we thought out again?
We hit the low, but yeah, we get above,
tomorrow we get above free things.
Sweet.
We'll still fall
below freezing all the way
through next Tuesday, but
we're still above it, so.
Well, we might wanna put
some salt on those stairs.
I gotta go out tomorrow anyways.
Well, everybody, thanks
for tuning in, I guess.
Be kind to one another.
Appreciate the law,
appreciate this incredible country
that was founded
centuries ago under certain
inalienable rights.
Yep.
That we should just
cherish the Constitution
that was put in place,
and the rules, and the law,
and the government that the
way it was supposed to be.
Appelled.
It was meant to be upheld.
You know, we do, we
have an amazing country,
but let's not lose it,
so be kind to each other.
Support the people
that want it to carry on
the way it used to be great.
Yep.
And I'll leave it at that,
because it could be a whole podcast
that we could just tear into, but.
Exactly.
Other than that, stay
warm, and anything else?
We'll see you on the other side.
On the other side.
All right.
See ya. Time to go.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
There's a chance dry
January might be slightly damp.
Yeah.
That's crazy.
Drink by myself.
Mikey Kay, I guess the moral of the story
is don't leave us to ourselves because
our worst vices surface.
Pop out.
Hey, life's tough.
I'm the butt of every
joke in this family.
That's another episode.
So if anybody watches Dateline--
However, so many wives
poison their husbands.
If one of us dies in the next month
under mysterious circumstances--
That's the connection.
You're a weak cutter.
Oh, that's a PK.
If we don't stand for it and uphold it,
it's not self-sustaining upon itself.
We take it for granted
because we've had it,
because people have stood up for it.
Ooh, tough transition.
That got deep.
You won.
You had it worse.
God, I love the smell of the gym.
It really smells like sweat and feet.
I know, legally what?
You've got to stop telling people this.
We'll see you on the other side.
On the other side.