3 Guys in a Basement

Last episode we assigned ourselves homework. Part one: eat somewhere you would never pick. Chris took Ava to Afghani Box in Naperville and came back with a full review and one question about the fries. Part two: learn something about Buddhism. We compare notes on the wheel of rebirth, nirvana as a flame going out, the idea of no self, and the question Chris puts to the table: if you lived a hundred lives, would that be a gift or a sentence?

We did something different for Episode 2 — we left the basement, set up around a kitchen table, and brought in our first guest: Pepper. She's married to Nick and has been a close friend of all three hosts for over twenty years, which made for an unusual challenge. When you've known someone more than half their life, a normal interview falls flat. So the whole night became an exercise in pulling out the stories we'd somehow never heard.

And there were stories. How she got her name (hint: there was a dog first). The college night a quiet campfire turned into thirty-some squad cars tearing onto a farm with guns drawn. The slow-motion way she and Nick actually got together. Building a marketing company from a few inherited clients into her own LLC. Along the way it turns into something bigger — saying yes when your gut says don't, why hard conversations beat avoided ones, how a person can genuinely change, and where AI is pushing all of us back toward plain human relationships and critical thinking.

Woven through all of it is Kimberly, whose way of meeting everyone where they are still shapes how this whole group moves through the world — and the two words that became the night's mantra: be the light.

Recorded around a kitchen table. Thanks for listening — all 30 of you, and counting.