This is a special installment of our podcast to wish our family and loved ones (Venn diagram not totally overlapping!) a Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas.

That said, Ashley and Barker were drinking a Barbera from Piemonte, Italia. Ellis and Tabitha were enjoying a Honeycrisp Apple cider from Columbia Gorge Organic.

Carol of the Bells (Christmas Eve/Sarajevo) by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

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I describe the Littorai Pinot from 2014 that our friend Aaron opened up for us.

Ashley shouts out James, Ernesto, Carey, Colin, Jenny.

You MUST put this on your 2024 bucket list: the April 2024 Total Solar Eclipse.

I thought Marzena defined #JOMO, but it exists on the internet.

Also, please read Julie Soderlund's obituary.

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It's still Dry December for Barker, who actually found an acceptable de-alcoholized wine, from the Germans: Leitz Alkoholfrei Wein.

Ashley's drinking XOBC Cellars wine by singer/songwriter and Seattle-area neighbor Brandi Carlile.

We talk about the pseudoscientific Enneagram of Personality, Mastery by Robert Greene, and the storied Esalen Institute.

Plus, an unexplained and eerie story about the movie Freeway, starring Reese Witherspoon and Kiefer Sutherland.

Ashley enjoyed “The Year of Taylor Swift” from the NYTimes, which made Barker think of Shohei Ohtani and his $700 million contract with the LA Dodgers.

Is this a Winter Solstice Sound Bath perhaps like the one Ashley will experience this week?

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We discuss an article in The New York Times, titled “Bordeaux Wine Snobs Have a Point, According to This Computer Model” and the study behind the article, which we did not read, but you ought to.

Ashley loves Dickens' A Christmas Carol and just watched The Man Who Invented Christmas (apologies to the memory of Christopher Plummer, who is not British, but is Canadian).

We're drinking Ariel De-Alcoholized Cabernet Sauvignon and Klee Oregon Pinot.

Ashley references two psychiatry TV shows: Shrinking with Jason Segal and Harrison Ford, and Couples Therapy with Orna Guralnik.

We went to the PNB Nutcracker on the same night as a Seattle Kraken game.

And Ashley inexplicably gives free ad time to Taco Bell and something it may or may no longer sell called a “gooey enchirito.”

Bring on the hate mail, because we talk about Texas’s very own Water-burger.

Give us five stars on Apple Podcasts and/or Spotify.

Send us questions or ideas for the podcast at [email protected]

Cheers.

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In this Friday shorter episode, we define a “split” bottle of wine... but it turns out we were wrong and were describing a “demi.” A “split” is half a “demi” Now you know. 

Barker suffers from a proper British affliction called tinnitus. And Ashley was drinking Cab Sauv by Seattle’s own Kind Stranger. They give a portion of their proceeds to Mary’s Place, a non-profit shelter for women with children. 

We’re contractually obligated to link to Long December by the Counting Crows all this month.

Short-cut to the answer of what wine to buy for co-workers this holiday: it's Roederer Estate.

Ashley had a run in with Angie’s List.

And we mention the There Will Be Blood soundtrack by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead.

Send us questions to [email protected]

Give us 5 stars are Apple Music.

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Barker is drinking Newblood Alcohol Free Red Wine Blend to preview Dry January for you, which somehow reminds us of the song Long December by The Counting Crows.

Ashley is an addict for "fairy porn" even though there are no fairies, just dragons, in Fourth Wing and Iron Flame by Rebecca Yaros. She also recommends Indigenous Continent by Pekka Hämäläinen.

Barker let his imagination get away from him, connecting The New York Times on Sunday Night Football to the live owl in Blade Runner. Or something like that.

It's Krampusnacht! And if you want to know more about that, watch Rick Steves’ Christmas Special and the movie Rare Exports.

Get in touch with us at [email protected]

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We drank the Isenhower Cellars Holiday Red.

James won $5 for correctly identifying the Always Sunny in Philadelphia Sweet Dee Song

Have you used the Marco Polo App?

Here's the Fortune article on how Millennials think they need to earn $525K per year to be happy.

Send "conundra" to [email protected]

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We drink a special bottle for Ashley's 40th b-day, L’Aventure Winery’s For Her 2013 Red Blend.

And we mark the occasion by asking a few questions from the Proust Questionnaire, which you maybe know from the longtime Vanity Fair magazine feature, or maybe from Steve Carell's character in Little Miss Sunshine.

Ashley describes the traits she most despises in others and how she thinks of the "lowest depth of misery."

To celebrate Ashley's birth, please send us five stars on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Cheers!

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Ashley's got a shitty and persistent cough, and Barker simply does not have the patience to edit out all of the hacking and nose-blowing.

In the meantime, dig back into the past episodes you've not yet listened to.

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