MJ - 122 - Show About Show

Dave: [00:00:00] This is Dave.

Reese: This is Reese,

Dave: and this is Manic Joy, a podcast about

Reese: life,

Dave: love,

Dave & Reese: and uncertainty. Uncertainty.

Intro Music: Do it.

Dave: Like we do it Reese.

Reese: Yep.

Dave: Nobody do it like we do it.

Reese: Do it.

Dave: Hey!

Reese: Just do it.

Dave: You you're getting your glasses nice and clean away.

I feel like that's what you need. The little, little wipers I need.

Reese: You know what, that would be phenomenal if they made little mini windshield wipers for your glasses.

Dave: I need ' em for the inside side though.

Reese: I, I had been wearing glasses for, I dunno,

Dave: long time.

Reese: 20, 20 something years. I didn't have them in my childhood.

Dave: Yeah, I did.

Reese: I didn't, I had 2020 vision for the longest time, and then

Dave: I wanna say I would've gotten my glasses in third grade maybe.

Reese: Wow.

Dave: I think that's correct.

Reese: Yeah. [00:01:00] It's, that seems a. No, Jonnie had hers in kindergarten.

Like she was young.

Dave: Did she young? Yeah. She was

Speaker: young, right? Yeah.

Reese: Emily was like first or second grade waited and we thought she was lying.

Dave: Yeah, I know. 'cause she wanted to be,

Reese: She's like, I can't see the board.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: But yeah, I didn't get glasses until like maybe junior year or something like that because I had a stigmatism.

My eye would go Blo, and then it would like, make things fuzzy and

Dave: Wait, what? What would it do?

Reese: It'd go,

Dave: Ah.

Reese: I always had like a weird eye twitch that would go

Dave: And here, all this time I thought you were flirting with me.

Reese: Yeah, I'm like Lucille Luth. So yeah, so, yeah, so I didn't really have glasses for the longest time.

And then high school. And then my eyesight just has always been like, whatever. But I never had to wear the glasses all the time. I was just like reading or,

Dave: And that is something I, I just cannot understand.

Reese: Just not wearing glasses all the time.

Dave: Like if I don't [00:02:00] have my glasses or my contacts in, I am blind.

Reese: Yeah. I,

Dave: I, I can, I can. Make out shapes I can see.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: But I can't, like,

Reese: Yeah. See, I,

Dave: I'm I of no use to anyone in that sense.

Reese: Yeah. And I'm, I mean,

Dave: If they were like, what did he look like? Blobby

Reese: A blurb.

Dave: Blurb

Reese: Brownish, tan-ish with bluish. Yeah. I don't ever remember having the problem that I have over the last couple years where my glasses are constantly dirty and, and maybe it's because I'm, I wear them all the time now and I'm constantly pushing them up. And

Dave: So I have, so I feel like with these glasses, they are more so, and I think it may be actually. Because of the fact that they do stay up. Like I have long eyelashes to begin with.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: But I feel like with these glasses, for those of you playing along at home and keeping score, I'm wearing [00:03:00]Silhouette glasses and so they are like a lighter material and they kind of just like stick to your nose and so they don't slide.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: They really don't. And so I'm wondering if that's the reason why, like, I have to clean them every two seconds though. I have to clean them a lot.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: Like every time I go to my desk and like I get up and I go back in there, it's probably time to clean them again. It's insane. It's, it drives me crazy.

Reese: It drives me crazy too. And it's a,

Dave: But I enjoy not having to push them up every two seconds.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: So it's like a, it's like a catch 22,

Reese: I guess. I, I don't know what my issue is. I just,

Dave: You look cute when you do your little, you do your little

Reese: I do. I have a little, I do a little,

Dave: little movement.

Reese: I do have a movement.

It's, it's a tick

Dave: and I'm like, aww.

Reese: It's kind of like a tick because sometimes, and I do it sometimes when I don't have my glasses on and I forget and I just push up phantom glasses that aren't there, but just

Dave: Poke yourself in the eye. It's cute. Don't worry. We've only gone to the emergency twice, emergency room twice.

Reese: I have actually done that several times where I go to push the glasses. I [00:04:00] poke my eye out.

Dave: I'm sure anybody who's listened to this podcast for a while.

Reese: I'm gonna ignore that. So the other part of it is that I can't have a smudge on my glasses. It needs to be fixed immediately. Like, yeah, I sometimes I talk with people and their glasses are fricking filthy.

Dave: Oh, that's the worst.

Reese: And I'm not listening to anything that they're saying.

Dave: The girls,

Reese: I'm just looking at,

Dave: Remember when the girls, you'd see them and I'd be like, give me those.

Reese: Yes.

Dave: Give me those.

Reese: When they were younger,

Dave: How are you even Yeah,

Reese: They've gotten,

Dave: I know, but even

Reese: They've way more anal retentive now as they've gotten older.

Dave: They've finally caught up.

Reese: But

Dave: to the rest of us, but yeah.

Reese: Yeah. It used to be kind of

Dave: insane.

Reese: Kind of gross, but I am like constantly, it's a, it's a everyday battle.

Dave: Yeah. So, cheers.

Reese: Oh, cheers

Dave: to you.

Dave & Reese: Clink. Clink.

Reese: This is delicious. What is this? El Diablo.

Dave: So this is El Diablo. Let's, fill people in. So yesterday, and the reason this came up is because every once in a while, I go to.

Reddit is one of the places I'll [00:05:00] do a jaunt into every once in a while,

Reese: a jaunt,

Dave: See what's going on with the kids these days.

He puts on his jaunty hat, while he has a jaunt

And I go, tally-hoe good fellow. Let me see what the conversation be.

Reese: That's, that's why you would fit in with the usual Reddit.

Dave: Yep.

Reese: Users makes sense.

Dave: So everyone's like, ah, yay.

Reese: There he is.

Dave: Dave's here.

Reese: It's Jaunty, Dave. It was Jaunty Hat.

Dave: Jaunty. And so obviously involved in like the U2 group or whatever, or the topic, whatever you wanna call it. And so. Anytime, like something new or some, somebody's on a podcast or they're talking about a show or they're doing something, it ends up, and so there's this podcast, I think it's called like Strong songs or something like that, and they just started a new season of it and the guy that does the show.

Did an episode on where the streets have no name. I'll send it to you because I actually think you would find it interesting too. Probably not all of it. 'cause it gets like into music and geeky.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: But [00:06:00] some good conversation and he plays like things together. And so it's where the streets have no name and with or without you.

And he talks about the commonalities between those two songs and how they're really the same song but sound completely different. And like they use the same chords and they, they sing it and he talks about like how. Edge plays, and then he actually transposes the lyrics to one another on the other, like parts of the music.

Hmm. And so w where the streets have no name music with, with or without you lyrics and vice versa. It was pretty cool. It was fun.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: So anyway, as I was listening to that, obviously he's playing clips from these songs and you know, right. Like, okay, streets, of course, I'm in the car like. Singing along and like getting like excited and like Oh wow.

And then like, with, without you Ah, right. Doing all those things. And I'm just like, ah. And I'm like, all right. Tonight [00:07:00] when I get home, we're doing,

Reese: which was last night,

Dave: we're doing that thing where you got, you mentioned, you got me that book for, was that Christmas?

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: My birthday. It was a birthday. Cri Criber Christmas Criber Day.

Reese: It was a Criber cri. Oh boy.

Dave: So whatever it was. We, we hadn't, we haven't even done anything from that book yet. We just haven't gotten around to it. And

Reese: No, we did.

Dave: No.

Reese: Radiohead

Dave: No.

Reese: No.

Dave: We were gonna do, did, no, we were gonna do REM, but we never did.

Reese: Oh, that's right. REM Oh, we didn't do it. That's right.

Dave: We didn't do it.

Reese: Okay.

Dave: So I was like, all right, continue. Let's, let's do this. I'm like, that would be a great album to listen to. 'cause that's just fucking such a great album. And so the recipes were two. So you, you, you do a drink on side A and you do a drink on side B. The drink for side A was the El Diablo,

Reese: which we finished in record time 'cause we put a straw in there.

Dave: Oh yeah. Yeah.

Reese: And it, we just, it.

Dave: And so I have a, I have a problem, which is why I'm drinking it, [00:08:00] not with a straw right now, because I will done,

Reese: don't you hate straws?

Dave: I'm not a huge fan of.

Reese: Did you choke on a straw? You poked in the eye?

Dave: No.

Reese: Did you have an issue with the straw?

Dave: No. So here's the thing, I don't mind straws on things that you need straws for. What I don't like is, what would happen is

Reese: what had happen was

Dave: happened was, what had happened was typically, I don't like straws in cups. When the. Cup is not big enough for a straw because it's a spill hazard, and that's what you and the girls would do all the time. You'd have these giant straws and these tiny cups, and they'd just be sitting around just waiting to be knocked over

Reese: your tiny straws, making me hate you.

Dave: It's make me, yeah, more like your giant straws,

Reese: uhhuh,

Dave: making me hate you. Your giant straw, your tiny cup,

Reese: you're a straw hater.

Dave: So that's what my problem is with straws. I'm not using one now because I want to drink this more slowly and it's also got ice in it, so that will slow you down a little bit. But with the straw, I'm just go, go, go. 'cause I was done in like two seconds when we did that. I was like, we didn't even get through the first song yet. I know. And I was like, [00:09:00]almost done. I was like, fuck. But anyway, it's an El Diablo, and here's what I think we're gonna do moving forward and we'll tell you what we're gonna talk about here today in a minute, but. Moving forward, I'm going to post the recipes that we have on our website on the Manic Joy website.

Reese: That's a great idea.

Dave: So people can find them there and then we can promote those, right?

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: And hopefully get some more listenership that way. But it's an El Diablo cocktail. The ingredients are reposado, tequila, I reposado, I guess that's how you say it, creme de cassis, which is a black current.

Reese: You don't have to put an accent on everything.

Dave: You do it have the little thing there,

Reese: but it doesn't mean you have to do it.

Dave: I have to do it. I want to keep it authentic. Oh, then it's a lime juice. Ginger beer on top and you can put a little lime wedge or a little blackberry on there or something.

Reese: You put the blackberries

Dave: candy ginger. I did the you the blackberries last night. You fill that in a Collins glass or a high ball glass with ice. Damn good. Yeah, this is this. It will be delicious by the pool.

Reese: Summertime drink for

Dave: speaking of summertime Drink. I have the [00:10:00] window open next to me now, so if you hear some background noise, that's why.

What a beautiful day today.

Reese: Also, I'm surprised the dog isn't barking right now. The second you open the window,

Dave: Don't. I know, I know. Let's, let's, let's hope that

Reese: Our neighbor's, our's dog is a menace.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: They just leave it out there

Dave: Barking

Reese: and it just barks all the live long day.

Dave: Yeah. Not our good neighbors. Let's, let's be clear.

Reese: No, no.

Dave: They've got a great dog.

Reese: No, Amber

Dave: does not.

Reese: Our neighbor's dog. Amber is a blessing. She is the best dog. She's such a good girl. This one is, is across the backyard yard.

Dave: The other one, they just, it just barks.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: I'm like, why did you just put the dog out?

Reese: Well, you would park too if they left you in the backyard all day,

Dave: I guess.

Reese: And didn't play with you,

Dave: I guess,

Reese: and take care of you.

Dave: So, yeah. So that, that's, that's uncool.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: Don't put your dog out if it's just gonna bark.

Reese: I know it's rude.,

Dave: anyway, that's a digression.

Reese: Yes.

Dave: So. I'll put that on the website.

Reese: Yep.

Dave: So you can check that out. Highly recommend. Beautiful Day out today.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: It's like 50 today, sunny.

Reese: It was is nice.

Dave: Beautiful.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: We've come to the realization that, so I went, what? What? I went to a early [00:11:00] morning yoga, but the second one in the morning, so I went to like a nine 30 yoga class today. I came back. So you and I, let's make the announcement. We've both been fasting.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: In the morning. So I've been doing, I think we're probably doing similar. You found yours one way. I found mine another, but I think it's called 16 eight.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: So that means you fast for 16 hours. You eat during eight hours.

Reese: For the eight hours

Dave: for just eight hours straight. You eat. It's amazing.

Reese: Well, at first that's what I thought it was.

I was like, I don't dunno if I can do that.

Dave: Yeah, no.

Reese: but its just, that's your window of eating,

Dave: that's your window to have food.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: So basically that means for me from eight to noon, like 8:00 PM. At night to noon, noontime the nip following day.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: I don't eat during that period.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: You can drink water, you can have black coffee.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: But otherwise, that's it.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: So far so good.

Reese: This was your first week?

Dave: I started on Wednesday.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: So my first kind of, yeah. Into the weekend.

Reese: Monday it'll be my third. Going on week three.

Dave: Yeah. I'm excited to see. I definitely have felt energetic.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: I have felt good. And I definitely have been looking [00:12:00] forward to eating, but I haven't been like starving.

Reese: Well, that's the whole thing, right? I thought that I would be rah, like my stomach would be like going crazy and I wouldn't be able to.

Dave: I think it helps that the two of us don't like breakfast that much to begin with.

Reese: True.

Dave: So,

Reese: However, I do, I've had a routine for the last couple of months getting up for. School. . I like to get up, make the coffee. I take all 87 of my vitamin pills. Then I got the, I'll have a little cottage cheese or a yogurt with my fruit. I've been enjoying that in the morning. So it's like a little, little routine and I, I would like to have a little something in my stomach before I go and teach because whatever, but I had all last week I did it.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: I was fine. Like my stomach. It's so funny 'cause my stomach starts to growl. At 12 o'clock.

Dave: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, as you get closer to 12, yes. That's for me too. Usually I'm pretty good, although, but yesterday I was a little hungry in the morning like I was at yoga and my stomach was like, [00:13:00]

Reese: but for the most part. I don't even really think about it.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: And the only time like I realize, oh, it's time to eat, is you come into the kitchen, start cooking. I'm like,

Dave: oh, I'm ready to, yeah, let's,

Reese: I'm like, okay, guess it's time.

Dave: Let's go. Our food plans have been great.

Reese: Oh my God. So good.

Dave: Loving it.

Reese: I think that's the best decision.

Dave: It's the best

Reese: we ever,

Dave: yeah. It may have been. It may have been, and I'll say this. Thank you for pushing me to continue to look into that. Because we, I finally did, when I was ready.

Reese: I know

Dave: I did it and here we are.

Reese: I've been saying it for a while, but eventually I just, I. I know we were on the same page when we go food shopping.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: And we're just like, I, I couldn't stand the question, what do you wanna make for dinner? What are we gonna get?

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: And then I would even be stressed out because , my meals were so sporadic. Yeah. And I just, I was like, I can't, I can't Yeah. Think about it. I don't wanna think about it. And this just makes everything,

Dave: it just makes everything, it, the food is good. And it again relieves the,

and a good portion,

It's a perfect size. You always have stuff left over, which blows my mind, [00:14:00] but it's also aleves us of the. Having to think about what we, what do we do for food?

Reese: Because I think that honestly, as you get older and

Dave: which,

Reese: when you have a family, it's

Dave: leads to bad habits.

Reese: It's v horrible because what we were doing at one point, we were eating out all the time. Wow. And then complaining about it. 'cause either

Dave & Reese: because wasn't even, wasn't good food.

Dave: That's the thing too. At least we're making this food and it's quick and easy to make and it's really fucking good.

Reese: I would say if you could budget, put it into your budget. Give up , the coffees, the Starbucks, whatever you do when you're spending your money on whatever. Do this.

Dave: I gotta make some notes. I gotta put some, I'll, I'll put some links with our, our links in there too, to give you a discounted you're, because honestly you're interested in checking them out because Sun Basket is the fucking shit. That's my favorite. As I mentioned, Hungry Root is the secondary one that we use more for, like lunch type of food, and that is also decent. But the Sunbasket for dinner. Oh my God. So [00:15:00] much better.

Reese: And are you still doing anything with the Thrive Market to order some nuts and ends too?

Dave: So that, so I have, so I have the Thrive Market to do when we want to just get like. Pantry related items, right? Like those types of things that we need. And then I do the Good Chop when we want to have just like extra meats and stuff in the freezer.

Reese: That'll be good for the summer too.

Dave: For example,

Reese: just to get some good stuff.

Dave: Sometimes example, sometimes some of the, for the recipes will be like veggie forward, right? So like for example, the recipe will have tomorrow is like a sheet pan, vegetable dish with , an herbed butter or something like that. So it's like a really lot of good vegetables. And then I took out a thing of the ground Turkey that

Reese: Add a protein, nice little

Dave: ground Turkey and put that in there with it and it'll be a really good, good meal.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: And then we have something like fish and stuff downstairs that, again, just to have for those times where like, oh, we need a little something extra.

Reese: And it's been great because yesterday we just had to do a quick little shopping at Market Basket.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: Which we didn't even really wanna go in there.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: But it, it, all we have to get from there is like [00:16:00] toiletries and fruit. There's really nothing. It's not like our regular trips, we're just, it. Everything that we need to eat is already here and we don't have to spend a lot of time peopling. And it cracked me up today 'cause we just went out to go drop some stuff off for,

Dave: so we went to drop some stuff off at the Goodwill.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: And then,

Reese: and and so

Dave: pick up a couple things.

Reese: Yeah. And so it was just like we, we, well, we went into Target and it was like, we were like, okay. Let's leave now. It was like

Dave: at a certain point,

Reese: an hours worth of people and we were like, we're done.

Dave: We got home. And I was like, you know, I think what it is, is that like, I don't, I don't mind going out, like when we have a place to go and we're meeting people and doing like things like that, not my favorite, but I like to be out with people and, and all of that.

But what I realized, I'm like, you know what? But what I hate is doing like the mundane, like

Reese: shopping

Dave: things that you need to do.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: Which shopping falls under that and to go out, I. Having to just deal with

Reese: mm-hmm.

Dave: Everyone And not everyone is cool.

Reese: [00:17:00] Yeah.

Dave: People are just the worst.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: In many instances that I'm just like at a certain point, like, all right, I'm done.

I'm out.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: And it was a beautiful day today.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: Beautiful out.

Reese: It was just nice

Dave: I got the window open as I said

Reese: get some vitamin D sunlight. It was perfect amount. It's just too people-ly out there.

Dave: Yeah. So we, it wasn't good.

Reese: It's all good. Yeah. But

Dave: it wasn't good. Yeah. But anyway. So,

Reese: Ooh, so look at this drink is gone.

Byebye,

Dave: I told you, I told you it goes fast. So here's what I did, and here's what we're gonna clue you in on, and we'd like to get, if you're listening for the first time, if you're a regular listener,

Reese: if you're Ed

Dave: honestly, we'd love to get some feedback from you because I, as, again, I've been leaning into the chat GPT stuff and I was like, all right, let's get chat, GPT to do some things here for us and make some recommendations on how we might be able to improve the show. Right? And I also like how it analyzes things and then shows you some stuff. So I'm gonna go through some of the things that it, it kind of mentioned, and I also did a couple of things.

So I did just like a general, so I had episode [00:18:00] one for example, and I have the transcript for that. So I fed it, that transcript and I was like. Hey, take a look at what, did I prompt it or right? I said this. I said I'm gonna, I'm gonna post a transcript of our first episode, analyze it to come up with some ideas on how we can improve the show.

Here's the transcript. And so it's like, Hey, thanks. All right. You and Reese have great chemistry and the personal stories give it emotional depth with plenty of laugh out loud moments laugh out loud moments that send here a few ideas to tighten and enhance the show. So. I'm gonna read these out and let's see what we agree with and what we don't agree with, and then see like some things that I think we can maybe add in or, work towards in the future.

Reese: Okay.

Dave: And then again, send us in your opinions as well. So number one, add structure without losing flow. I think we, and I think we started there a little bit, but we,

Reese: we used to, definitely used to print up a whole thing. Yeah. And then we would go according to the thing,

Dave: I think. I think we can get back to a little bit of that.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: But here's what it says, what's working. The episode has a natural [00:19:00] conversational feel. That's a huge asset. The opportunity, add a quick roadmap at the top after the thank yous, so listeners know what to expect. Even something like. In today's episode, we're tackling the theme of life sharing stories that shaped us, answering your questions and asking each other one surprise question.

Reese: Mm.

Dave: That gives people a little bit of an orientation without sounding rigid.

Reese: Oh, I like that.

Dave: Well, I like that. Alright. And I like the little

Reese: that's doable.

Dave: That's a little roadmap. Number two, trim the fat just a little. So I think this is about you,

Reese: right?

Dave: You don't

Reese: calling me fat, that's why I don't like chat. GPT?

Dave: No. Just a little. I thought No, no. Okay.

Reese: Oh no. I was talking about being fat,

Dave: right? You don't need to cut the banter. It's charming and authentic. Oh, thanks, Cathy. But a tighter edit could help keep the pacing up. Some suggestions, start faster. I, I agree with this. We we're. 20 minutes in before we actually started talking about the show, but Right.

Reese: Yeah. But I like that we kind of have a little back and forth though.

Dave: No, we can still have that, but we can get into,

Reese: maybe we set a timer so that we, we say [00:20:00] like, all right, we'll do like three minutes of this and

Dave: Right.

Reese: Then move on.

Dave: Right.

Reese: Okay.

Dave: And so it says like, start faster. You might begin right after the, you know, a podcast about life, love and uncertainty, and then get into the meat more quickly. That's all. So we might have like, here's a five minute catch up, and then we get into

Reese: ketchup.

Dave: Ketchup,

Reese: and then

Dave: get into, keep it

Reese: right into the meat,

Dave: into mayonnaise or the meat.

Reese: The meat, the mayonnaise. If you, once you catch up, then you go do the mayonnaise.

Dave: So here's a good one. Here's a,

Reese: the menaisse

Dave: midsection. There are a few tangents that could be snipped or shortened to keep the energy up. The deep dive on the word demure could be trimmed by 30 to 60 seconds without losing the joke. That's which. Okay. All right.

Reese: That's fair

Dave: point. Well taken. Consider making audience q and a, a separate section with a jingle or a segment to give the title shape.

I like that idea.

Reese: You know what, that would be great.

Dave: Yeah. So maybe I'll start, we're gonna up our game. Maybe, maybe I'll look for a little, I would love to have some things on the board that's like for certain things.

Reese: Yes. Okay.

Dave: Number three is lean into your unique dynamic. So the heart of the show is your [00:21:00] relationship,

Reese: right?

Dave: That's what makes it stand out. Keep embracing that, but consider. Letting Reese open a future episode, which we did. We did do that

Reese: once,

Dave: once, and then we quickly realized that

Reese: that was a mistake.

Dave: So it mixes up the energy and makes it feel like a true co-hosting partnership.

Reese: Oh,

Dave: but maybe we could do that from time to time. But I think that what that boils down to is us, and I think one of the things that will come out of this is again, having a roadmap of like the shows we're gonna do.

Reese: Well, you know, it would be fun.

Dave: Tell me,

Reese: take a note on this bitch.

Dave: All right.

Reese: I think that we should, every once in a while, maybe on a special occasion or whatever,

Dave: have a guest.

Reese: I've been saying that for a long time, but that's not where I was going with that.

Dave: Oh, okay. Where you going?

Reese: I was going to say we. Like one of us and we switch it off are in charge of the episodes. So yeah. Like I would do the research, plan it out, not tell you about it.

Dave: Oh, I'm ready for that.

Reese: Right. And then give you like, just before we're [00:22:00] ready to go, give you like, okay, this is what we're doing. And then I would basically. Lead it off.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: You know?

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: Just open up the show.

Dave: Okay.

Reese: Do the whole thing and then we can switch.

Dave: Maybe we can just alternate weeks. So I think we,

Reese: I don't need to do it all the time, but I think sometimes it would be fun to do that.

Dave: Here it comes folks.

Reese: And then, and then I definitely think we should have guests.

Dave: Well, okay. So let me get into some of the things that it co gets into here. 'cause we can get into this a little bit more deeply. So this is just the overview. The other thing is building an cca occasional mini segments like Reese's Rant.

Reese: Oh,

Dave: or Dave's deep thought.

Reese: Ooh.

Dave: To give you each a spotlight and add recurring bits. I like that.

Reese: I would like to do Reese's. Fun fact.

Dave: Okay, like that.

Reese: I like to give a little fun fact.

Dave: Reese's fun. Fact. Okay. I like that. See, this is what I like. So just we have some things to go back to. Alright, number four, consider a cold open tease. Now, this is hilarious before the theme song drop in a short, so this becomes an editing issue.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: But I think I can do it now with a. [00:23:00] The thing that we have easily enough that I, I have more skills than when we started and I didn't wanna get lost in the editing.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: But I could do this now. And this is just a trick that you do all the time, right.

To get people's attention

Reese: mm-hmm.

Dave: Before the show actually starts.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: But like, drop in a short, funny, or moving moment from later in the episode. Think. That's when I realized the blood wasn't from my leg. Then roll into the intro and it creates intrigue right away. Right. Like imagine, like, that's perfect.

Yeah. That makes sense.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: Number five is tighten the outro CTA, so it's solid. But I think at the beginning we were asking people to do a lot of things right. Make one clear ask instead of asking for reviews, emails, and shares at once.

Reese: Ah,

Dave: considering focusing on one per episode, like for example, and it gives you examples, like what you heard, share it with a friend who needs a laugh or who's been walked in on the bathroom.

You know who they are, right? So we can have fun ways to kind of do things like that. So, so I that bonus idea episode.

Reese: I thought you were gonna say boner idea.

Dave: Boner idea. Well, this conversation would not [00:24:00] be complete with, maybe that'll be a segment. Dave's boner idea.

Reese: Oh. Yeah,

Dave: maybe

Reese: I, I'm glad you said idea because I, you were

Dave: Dave's boner.

Reese: It took a second there.

Dave: Let's take a moment to talk about Dave's boner.

Reese: And it's, and now it's time for Dave's Boner.

Dave: So for those of you who didn't know that every time we record one of these episodes, I have a boner.

Reese: Yep. It's. Um,

Dave: Sorry for that visual ed.

Reese: Wow. Yeah, ed, sorry.

Dave: Or, you're welcome.

Reese: Oh, no, absolutely not. I think we just lost Ed. Now only three people listen to the show.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: Including me and you.

Dave: So consider episode title naming and we gotta stop listening to it together so we get those numbers up. Consider titles that tease the story versus just the theme. So instead of life, which is how we started, which I think we've started to do more of, maybe the bathroom incident. Or shaving shame and swapping and shaping who we are Swapping.

Reese: Shaving shame?

Dave: Yeah, shaving shame and shaping who we are. Because you were talking about, I was about the shaving and then [00:25:00] divorce, death and dumb mure.

Reese: Dumb mure.

Dave: Dumb mure.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: So anyway, this would,

Reese: it didn't mention anything about Dolos airport.

Dave: No, I didn't give it that yet. So, but, so this was the first thing that I had done. And then it was like, what I love about it too is then it asks you, it's like, all right, do you want me to do a tightened sample edit , of the intro for reference or come up with possible mini segments or running bits based on this episode?

So I was like, all right, well, let's come up with some mini segments or running bits. So here's what it recommended. That can help add rhythm and signature personality of the show without making it feel overproduced. But re reoccurring segments could be that these could appear in every episode, would just, you know, rotate.

Which I think we'd rotate one from now every morning and now. But I like the idea of this one. Surprise me. So one of the, one of you surprises the other with a weird, funny, poignant question, memory, or quote. Right. So for it gives a couple of,

Reese: I feel like that's what we do every,

Dave: so we used to, well [00:26:00] we used to do the surprise question

Reese: mm-hmm.

Dave: When we had a theme.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: But this is just like a random, like, okay, I found this in your high school yearbook. Explain.

Reese: Oh,

Dave: right. So like, we bring something that you don't know,

Reese: like you looking through my high school yearbook,

Dave: what's the weirdest lie you ever told as a kid? Right. So we just come with like a random surprise thing.

So that could be something. I don't, I'm not, I don't mind that

Reese: I used to lie a lot as a kid, by the way.

Dave: I, well, that I believe as a kid. This, this,

Reese: I don't lie now I'm very honest.

Dave: This is how I think we still open the episodes, right? But this week in Manic Joy, so a quick personal update that captures the chaos, beauty, and absurdity of life that week. So it could be a heartfelt or hilarious. Like Reese tripping in platform shoes again.

Reese: Hmm.

Speaker: I love how it, like it knows, like, again,

Reese: it's picking out all the things

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: That I'm doing, but, okay.

Dave: So don't At me is a segment.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: So a short rant or a hot take from Dave or Reese.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: Lighthearted or real?

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: Don't at me, but bathrobes or formal wear. I [00:27:00] mean, we wouldn't do that, but don't at me. But I don't believe in brunch actually. We both agree with that. We don't believe in brunch, but brunch,

Reese: yeah.

Dave: So that maybe

Reese: I, except for the mimosas or like a Bloody Mary course. If that's just it. That's good.

Dave: Hey, don't at me. But

Reese: yeah.

Dave: What's wrong with alcohol?

Reese: That's really why everybody's going a brunch. No one's going The food

Dave: So number four would you rather unhinged edition.

Reese: Ooh.

Dave: So lean into the weird, could be listener submitted. That could be interesting.

Reese: That would be interesting.

Dave: Would you rather have to relive your first period or your first job interview?

Reese: Oh, job interview.

Dave: Would you rather be married to Bono or be Bono? Ooh, that's interesting, huh?

Reese: That is interesting. But also

Dave: you don't have to answer it now.

Reese: I would say married because being Bono would be exhausting.

Dave: I would, so I like you would wanna be married to him. I would want to be him.

Reese: Yeah. And then there we are.

Dave: And there it is.

Reese: Mm.

Dave: All right. Number five, Reese reacts. [00:28:00] Reese gives her unfiltered. And this is kind of like Reese, well, not Reese's fun facts. This is more of like Reese's rants. But hey, Reese reacts. Reese gives her unfiltered take on something. Dave says, A listener comment or a random topic.

Reese: Hmm.

Dave: Bonus if she doesn't know what's coming. So I like that.

Reese: Okay.

Dave: It could be something that, you know, ask Reese.

Reese: Okay.

Dave: It could be a, a little segment like that or something.

Reese: All right.

Dave: Dave's deep thoughts. Dave shares a short moment of reflection or odd philosophical musing, like his poker life metaphor. Listener, confessional, listeners, anonymous anonymously, submit confessions or awkward moments based on the episode's theme, and you can read and react to them.

Could end with we absolve you with laughter.

Reese: Oh, that actually.

Dave: So that could be interesting.

Reese: Fricking hilarious.

Dave: I feel like what we could do is we could take some of these that were like, yes, yes, yes. And then we could, I'll send out an email that has like a poll in there and we can like have people vote on things too.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: And we can even do that on social. That would be [00:29:00] fun.

Reese: Cool.

Dave: So seasonal or occasional bits, right. Could be number eight, which is joy or, Nope. You both named something that you encountered recently and decide if it sparked joy or It is a big, Nope.

Group project check-in. This is kind of cool since your tagline is, life is a group project check in and with how you're doing as co-hosts, partners, and parents that week

Number 10 is, what the hell are we doing? Oh. An honest update on parenting life at work where neither of you has the answers, but you're trying

Reese: Oh, that's interest also every day.

Dave: Yeah. So. Then I had to give me like a, this was actually funny. I, I had like, give me a like an outline for what that show could look like. So it gave an example of, okay, for episode two, life is a group project, a podcast of blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So the cold open tease is, and it gives you like the timing too.

It's pretty intense. It's like zero to 20 seconds, drop in a juicy [00:30:00] moment from a, from later in the episode to hook listeners. It's me and you and it's you saying. And then he's just standing there with roses, a ukulele, and no pants. And then I say, that's love baby.

Reese: Oh God. And

Dave: then it goes into the show

Reese: and it just, it created that dialogue.

Dave: Yeah. Like as some, as an example of like the type of thing that you can do

Reese: Zoinks

Dave: and then intro and welcome. So that's like a minute or so where we reintroduce ourselves and we do quick shout outs to new listeners. Mention the theme. Then this week in Manic Joy. So we recap, which is what we typically do, but we're putting some more structure in it.

So this week I learned that putting Reese's iced coffee in a wine glass is not romantic. And you're like, it was a choice.

Reese: It just was choice.

Dave & Reese: A choice.

Dave: The main segment was three questions about love. So like we would, I like that idea of going back to some questions too, about a particular thing.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: But so three questions and then the surprise me, which is the, the wild card question or story. Listener confessional based on the [00:31:00] theme of the episode. And then the group project check in. So we just check in. Things are going,

Reese: we should just,

Dave: and then we wrap up.

Reese: We should just read the text messages we get from the Manic Joy fan club thread.

Dave: Hmm. That could be good too. Yeah.

Reese: Which is, so two people.

Dave: So that was just, and then I also said, Hey, oh, just a note. I want, remember we wanna put like the cocktail recipes on the Manic Joy website. So I think that'll be good. But now the other thing that, chat GPT can do is deep research and what I did was I had it do run like a whole deep research thing on the thing.

So I essentially, I. I wanted to help us improve the show and suggest new topics, right?

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: So basically, so I was like, do I want, I basically said, I want you to research the podcast, take note on episodes, transcripts, things we've already talked about so that you can help us come up with new ideas to improve the show and get new listeners.

And then it comes back and it's like, could you clarify [00:32:00] what you want? And it gave me a list of four things, like, do you wanna do this, do you wanna do that? And then I was like, well, what would be most useful to you to help us improve the show and suggest new topics? And he was like, all right, thanks.

I'll do this. So Cathy went and took 11 minutes to go research this stuff. And so it created an overview. It gave a whole catalog of our episodes, so everything on the website that we have, and it told us what the episode title was, it told us when it was published, and it tells us whether or not that has a transcript.

Pretty fucking awesome. And it goes in there and include, it could include links to all of the, these things, and it gives the little synopsis of stuff, right? And then after that it went into, let's see if there's some things that we can talk about here. So, okay. Then it gives reoccurring themes and structure, right?

So it said life, love, and family. And I think that's our uncertainty piece, right? As the tagline suggests, the podcast frequently centers on life events. Their long term [00:33:00] marriage and family experiences, many episodes are essentially candid conversations about everyday life, from navigating parenthood to reflecting on aging.

For example, this was, this is, this is what drives me. Like, I'm like, wow. For example, Dave

Reese: wa

Dave: listen, for example, Dave and Reese often discuss their twin daughters, and in the parentheses it puts the doodles.

Reese: Mm,

Dave: going to college, , leaving a temporary , empty nest and returning with stories.

They openly share marital dynamics and memories, even celebrating milestone anniversaries on air. The tone is consistently informal, humorous, and conversational. Episodes typically feel like in quotes, catching up with the family as one listener review describes it, there's a genuine playful chemistry between the hosts that listeners find engaging.

So very cool. It said recurring themes and structure. The, the structure is structured, spontaneity. It's like banter and recap of their week. There's a drink in hand while recording. There's a theme segment or game. [00:34:00] There's random questions that they do. The hypotheticals, it mentions, talks about when we do like Valentine's Day, St.

Patrick's Day, all that kind of stuff. And it, it also said you know, guest appearances, although it's primarily us, every once in a while we'll have a family member or other relatives hop on for certain things. It says like the format is consistent, a mix of storytelling, humor, and heartfelt discussion and the host often balance each other.

This is great. For instance, Dave tries to keep Reese on track while Reese's energetic tangents create comedic moments.

Reese: Oh,

Dave: as one reviewer joked, Dave tries to keep Reese on topic. Definitely not, but that's what makes it great.

Reese: It was a choice. Can I just say something really quick?

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: But not really. I just had like a little bit,

Dave: a tangent.

Reese: Yeah. A little bit of an epiphany just now because I'm just, I'm listening to everything that you're saying and you're definitely like a data guy. Like, you like to know the data of things

Dave: mm-hmm.

Reese: And how to improve stuff and

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: You also like to make sure that things have [00:35:00] a meaning.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: You like structure. And you said one of the things with the Chat GPT is basically like, it's like playing catch up and that's basically what we're doing here. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. And it just, my brain started to spiral as it does.

Dave: Mm-hmm.

Reese: And I'm like, this is more like a time capsule.

Yeah. This is something that, hold on. Yeah. For our children. I know like we make jokes like it's always Ed listening or Sharon or Sarah or whatever, whoever the five people are that listen, right. And we do this, but we do this 'cause this is like quality time for us. Yep. I enjoy it. We, I, you know, I look forward to us doing this.

Yeah. But I also feel like when we are not here,

Dave: absolutely I'm, yeah, of course

Reese: the girls will have. 'cause now think about how great I. That is in 2025. When I say to you the things, I don't have very many things that [00:36:00] have my parents' voices, right?

Dave: Yeah, no, I, yeah,

Reese: I have pictures and pictures and pictures, pictures on my thing.

I love pictures, but we're in Generation X. We are the ones that had like, the cameras that are no longer compatible VCR tapes, so which are no longer like, I mean, I do have the VCR, so every once in a while I can watch. The VCR tapes that I saved, but I'm not, it's not always guaranteed that it's gonna work or I'm, I, I worry that I'll put the tape in and it'll get all

Dave: mm-hmm.

Reese: Screwed up mm-hmm. like it used to do in the past. And then the one thing I have is I just looked on my phone. I have two messages saved from my mom from 12 11 16.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: A 17 second one and a 52nd one.

Dave: Mm-hmm.

Reese: And that's what I have of her.

Dave: Yeah.

Reese: And then I have like the. VCR tapes, but you know what I mean?

Like they'll have this Yeah, they'll have like,

Dave: Ooh, we should do an episode. We could probably do an episode where we [00:37:00] play that.

Reese: What my, my mom's messages.

Dave: If you were open to that.

Reese: Oh yeah.

Dave: We could talk about it, but yeah.

Reese: Do we could play, wanna play one right now?

Dave: We don't know. Don't, I don't think we play ' em right now.

Reese: They're ridiculous.

Dave: Yeah, they're, I'm sure they are. Yeah. But that would be, that would be an interesting episode to just talk about, right?

Reese: Yeah. But I just feel like. Whatever this is.

Dave: I think about that a lot.

Reese: Yeah.

Dave: That like the, they may not be listening now

Reese: Right.

Dave: But they're gonna be so excited,

Reese: right.

Dave: That at one point, like they could sit around and just, I'm going to cry.

Reese: I know I've, but I'm holding it back. But I'm thinking the same thing. Like, they'll be like, do you wanna throw that on? You know what I mean? And like drink and, you know, share it with people or just for the two of them to connect and feel.

Sorry, I didn't mean to give. I'm nice. Really? I'm talking like,

Dave: way to go Reese,

Reese: what's her name? Hepper, not Audrey. Katherine Hepper. No.

Dave: Yeah, of course. I agree with you on that for sure.

Reese: But I'm just saying I just wanted to, while that thought was in my head. Yeah. I'm [00:38:00] like, it's actually really special.

Dave: Mm-hmm.

Reese: As much as we poke fun at it, because that's what we do, but

Dave: mm-hmm.

Reese: Anyway,

Dave: so. Lemme just 'cause I wanna get

Reese: what else you got?

Dave: Yep. So, well, this is funny. I'll see if I can find where that is. But so it goes on to go then do an analysis of our recurring topics and patterns, right? So it talks about like nostalgia and reflections, personal growth and aging, pop culture and hobbies, interactive games and q and a.

But then it goes on to then look for topic gaps and unexplored angles. So this is where we could have some stuff that, areas that manic joy touches on only lightly or could explore further. And so one of them was in depth expert or outside perspectives. So that could be interesting where we find somebody that has some expertise in something we're curious about.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: We invite them on the show and have an a conversation with them, with the two of us, like, you know what I mean?

Reese: I like that.

Dave: So that could be [00:39:00] cool.

Reese: Well, we can find people that are experts in the three topics that we talk about at the beginning of the well.

Dave: So this, this is what it says. It's like you could have outside guests or experts, a counselor for a deeper talk on grief or a friend with a very different background.

But bringing out a, it says bringing out an outside perspective on such topics, even as just a one off, one-off or guest interviewer panel hasn't been done and could add some depth. So I like that. Mental health and wellness, right, while humorously complaining about stress and mentioning anxiety. They haven't delved into mental health in a serious way beyond the grief episode.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: Or discussing the funk of pandemic blues. Mm. So episodes tend to keep a light tone. So more serious explorations are, are are brief or couched in jokes, which is of course our mo Yeah. But a, a more focused, yet still empathetic episode of mental wellness or perhaps how they cope with the pandemic stress or something like that could fill a gap.

So that could be interesting. Career and work life. We occasionally mention work and blah, blah, [00:40:00] blah, but we could do something more there. So we can, you and I can go deeper into these, but friendships and social life the, the, the couple often talks about family and each other, but friendships are less of a focal point.

Aside from a question like how do you make friends as an adult? We haven't had much heard much about their friendships or social circle. And an episode on maintaining friendships on midlife or funny friend stories could tap into a common experience as many listeners navigate. Staying connected with friends while busy with family and work.

Community or current events we could talk about. So like suggestions for new episodes, friends of manic joy, so navigating adult friendships. We could even have people on to do something like that, like have a drop in call. I think we tried to do that once or a couple of times and it just never really worked, but we could potentially do something like that.

Career curves and detours. So work life and reflections. Mindful madness, mental health check-in. Couples unplugged, a digital detox diary. So this would be interesting if you'd be up for something like this, but building on [00:41:00] their tech discussions, I. They could challenge themselves to a 48 hour digital detox.

Reese: That's too long.

Dave: And then record an episode about it.

Reese: I could do 24 hours. Don't make me do two days.

Dave: No, I'm, we can, we can bargain, but that might be a bad

Reese: look at how I look at how defensive I got.

Dave: I know you got really, really,

Reese: I shot up in this chair. Like I got adrenaline.

Dave: You got really

Reese: like pumped into my, my heart.

Dave: Don't, don't take my phone away.

Reese: Oh my God. Well, what

Dave: we could do that could be fun to do if we did like a Saturday, we said, all right, Saturday we're gonna take the phones, we're gonna lock 'em away.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: Turn off all the notifications.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: And we just spend the day without it. And then the next day we record our reflections on that.

Reese: Okay.

Dave: That could be cool. Yeah, I like that idea.

Reese: All right. That sounds terrible.

Dave: Travel and rediscovery. So em emptiness. Road trip. Anyway, other things, but then it gets into like how we can promote the show and do better with listener engagement and all of that kind of stuff. So there's a bunch of other things and other ways to grow the show.

But. It's pretty amazing that, again, in 11 minutes it can spin all of this [00:42:00] out.

Reese: I mean, that's pretty,

Dave: what I like about it too, is like if there's something here, then we can say, Ooh, this thing you mentioned here, let's explore that more.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: And then we can take that and build

Reese: mm-hmm.

Dave: from there. So anyway, that pretty cool?

Reese: Yeah. I like it stuff. I mean, Cathy's been pretty good.

Dave: Yeah. So, hey, if there's anything that you heard in here. Please do let us know the Manic Joy Fan club message chat. Feel free to hit us up there. You know what, I think we, if you've got access to that, maybe

Reese: we need new stickers and, and t-shirts that say Manic Joy Fan club.

Dave: Yeah. Maybe we do, maybe we do

Reese: like, like a, like a weezer, like a nod to the Weezer.

Dave: Yeah. Well, we've got some things we can, we can do some things we can start to explore.

Reese: And then let's, we can do,

Dave: have to have a production meeting.

Reese: Manic Joy, fan club, cruise.

Dave: Oh yeah.

Reese: And then we have everybody. Ha. Do like a seven night. Six night, seven day cruise.

Dave: So we do that on like, like a canoe

Reese: on a okay. On [00:43:00] a sea. Do

Dave: a sea do yes

Reese: on a sea. Do

Dave: that'll fit everybody?

Reese: I took a picture of the fact that you are still drinking that drink and I've been done with this for the last 20 minutes.

Dave: This is why I told you I didn't wanna straw.

Reese: Well listen, you're a goody two shoes.

Dave: Oh, oh yeah, you did get me there.

Reese: I'm gonna have an episode called Why Dave's A Goody Two Shoes.

Dave: Goody two Shoes. I think some things that we can structure, and I think what we can do then is also. Again, plan ahead a little bit.

Reese: Mm-hmm.

Dave: So we have homework that we do when we bring to it. So again, but

Reese: you're pushing it. Youre pushing it.

Dave: No. What I mean is like dad

Reese: and getting you gonna go the phone for 24 hours. You're getting

Dave: time out. I mean, like what we did a little bit before where we had some, like we have an idea and we come with the idea.

Reese: Okay.

Dave: That's all I'm saying.

Reese: We're gonna come with the idea.

Dave: Yeah. Ooh,

Reese: wait.

Dave: Ready to say it.

Reese: What kind of podcast is this?

Dave: I already have a boner and we go, so you might as well just go for it.

Reese: Just, just.

Dave: Did that again, man.

Reese: Just do it.

Dave: I blew it. See what I did there?

Reese: I just blued it myself.

Dave: Oh,

Reese: that was a classic.

Dave: If you know that reference, let us know the classic

Reese: if you know, you know. [00:44:00]

Dave: Hey so again, no, seriously, tell us if you got any ideas you liked, anything you heard here today that you like.

Yes, you should definitely do that.

Reese: Also, go watch Paradise.

Dave: Okay. Paradise, so I realized we didn't talk about it. We'll save that for next time,

Reese: but, but. Let's give a little shout out. Shout out to, maybe people will see it and know Paradise, what we're talking about.

Dave: Paradise was awesome and I don't wanna say anything about it.

Reese: And Adolescence.

Dave: And adolescence was also also good

Reese: on Netflix.

Dave: I like paradise better.

Reese: I loved Paradise.

Dave: The first episode of Adolescence, though is fucking amazing.

Reese: Yes.

Dave: And the last episode was really good.

Reese: Yes, but also,

Dave: but thought the middle was a little me, but

Reese: Paradise. Just buckle up for the last two episodes.

Trigger warning. Yeah. Yeah. Trauma warning.

Dave: Really good stuff. We love you. Yep. I love you.

Reese: I love you babe.

Dave: We'll talk to you next time. Remember, friends life is a group project. Be kind to each other.

Outro Music: We got the right though. We the hammer right now.

You gotta [00:45:00] do.