Tiger Woods, Britney Spears & Eric Swalwell Walk Into Our Empty Nest! Rory!!

Plate & Ponder: Empty Nesting just dropped the most unhinged family dinner table rant you’ll hear all week.

In this episode, Jen & Chris Fenton are officially feeling the empty-nest vibes—college internships, final exams, and the wild new Company Retreat Series are hitting different now that the kids are launching. 

Then the conversation takes a hard left: 

• Tiger Woods’ Masters magic was missed (and the golf drama that had Chris yelling at the TV). BUT HOW BOUT RORY!
• Britney Spears’ latest chaos (because of course it came up) 
• Eric Swalwell somehow sliding into the mix like that one uncle who won’t stop talking politics

It’s equal parts hilarious, heartfelt, and “wait… how did we get HERE?” — the exact chaotic energy that makes you hit play and text your group chat the link.

If you’ve ever mixed golf takes, pop-star meltdowns, and congressional shade while figuring out what life looks like when the kids move out… this one’s for you.

Listen now wherever you get your pods
Drop your favorite unhinged tangent in the comments — we read every single one!

#PlateAndPonder #EmptyNestLife #TigerWoods #BritneySpears #FamilyChaos #PodcastVibes

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Oh yeah. Here we are. It's Plate and Ponder Empty Nesting with Jen and Chris Fenton. It is a beautiful, soothing Sunday afternoon post Rory McElroy back-to-back wins at the Masters. Which is always nice because you're gonna whisper when they're watching it.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

You don't know how to whisper.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

We're on the 18th hole and he's puttying for a party.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Actually, I I don't think that you'd be able to go because you don't know how to speak in an indoor voice. Like your decibel volume is always much louder than most.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Oh, sweet board. I know.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Anyway, it is Plate and Ponder Empty Nesting with Jen and Chris Fenton. Flynn, don't eat your poo. By the way, do you guys have dogs that eat their poo every once in a while? I don't get it. I don't know what that's all about.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Oh, I think it's in his beard now.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

No, it's not.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Oh, and now he's licking the desk. What is wrong with this animal?

SPEAKER_00 1:03

No, but it is what we do on a lazy Sunday afternoon here in Manhattan Beach, California. We want to thank the 64 nations that are now listening to us.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

I am so proud of you.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

I think what we have to do is we have to broadcast from Europe more because we pick up a bunch of other um countries, and I gotta go through it to figure out which one is missing that I hadn't seen before.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

So where are you taking me next?

SPEAKER_00 1:30

I know. We're gonna do that.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Is that how I can bribe you to take me on another trip?

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Oh, you don't have to bribe me. I have to bribe you.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

No, but if if there's podcast viewers uh and you know listeners and we pick up another. Oh, there's my son. Okay, we gotta pause.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Are we really pausing? And we are back on. Sorry about that. That was um our son, yeah, Dylan Fenton. He was calling in on a Sunday. He sp he was supposed to call in earlier, but I guess he was maybe uh studying because he's got his math and environmental science finals this week.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

On the same day.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

They're on the same day. That's lame. And then he doesn't have another one.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Yeah, that fully deserves the trombone. And then he doesn't have another one until the 29th. And then he's done. He's done with his freshman year. Our children are done with their freshman year of college. Like honestly, it is like I don't like any of that.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Yes, because it's really upsetting to me. Well, no, it's like time has been going by. No, it's exciting for them, it's not exciting for me. Like, I don't want this time to go by this fast.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Well, do you feel, and this maybe can be one of our topics of conversation? Like, do you feel guilty that maybe you didn't spend enough time with them when they were younger? And so you wish you had more time? Because I don't think that's the case. You were a really involved father.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

You No, I'm just I don't like the passage of time. I just don't like it. So before we get into the serious subjects, can I can I bring up uh a couple things that really made me happy today?

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

So the last episode, we so we covered difficult subjects. We covered um Jeffrey Epstein and Melania and is that a difficult subject or a subject that you take joy in discussing? I take absolute joy in it. Not not joy about what happened with the victims and all that stuff, but joy in the fact that maybe at some point we're gonna get some sort of repercussions for all that wrongdoing.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

I I still don't think so.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

And also uncover a lot of the tangled web that was created by all that. So anyway, that's my joy, plus it's my rabbit hole that I love to go down. But facts. Um yes, facts. And so we talked about that, and we talked about the Iran conflict, which by the way, since we had that conversation, it turns out surprised to nobody that the the the uh diplomacy or the ability to negotiate some sort of a treaty um didn't go so well. Yeah, it fell on deaf ears. Now, it also seemed like Can you allow to say that anymore?

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Wha why is it I don't know, but like you know, you can't say homeless anymore. You're supposed to say a person experiencing homelessness that couldn't hear.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Um it but it you know, it was sort of interesting because the Islamabad hotel that was hosting it had all kinds of crazy promotion around it. It was almost like a it felt a little Trumpian in the way they were touting this um incredible uh peace treaty that was occurring in Islamabad, which I had never really thought of as much of a destination. In fact, maybe that could be one of our next destinations that we go to. Do they have pass are there live are there lie flat business class seats on Arab Pakistan?

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Nope. I would rather take coach the last seat by the bathroom where it doesn't recline and you're smelling poo-poo the entire flight than that.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Okay, well, yes. Uh I yes, I agree. I would not want that. But you know, I was thinking to myself, like, what if you're the Iranian representatives, the Iranian government officials that are there negotiating this thing, and you come up empty because you're taking a hard line, and then you have to jump on a plane that leaves Pakistan and gets into airspace that's not in Pakistan, let alone it could be in Pakistan. Like, what are the chances that plane mysteriously has a mechanical problem or something in the air?

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Well, that was the first episode of Tehran.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Oh, yes, but they didn't crash. Well, they did a spoiler, but they didn't crash.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

But it was scary, and we still don't understand exactly how that that maintenance issue was strategically put on that plane with specific passengers. I don't know. I uh hard pass, I think we move on.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

Okay, but w I was just thinking, like, what are the chances that that plane doesn't get back to Iran? I mean, it seems like why not, if you're taking out all the government officials throughout the war, why not take out the rest of them on that plane flying back to Iran? It would seem pretty easy. Um, anyway, they did get back, and I guess now we got the straight whore moose that's um under a lockdown, and apparently now we're blockading the blockade, and uh the war is gonna continue. And I I just I I pray on behalf of I mean everyone that that there's some sort of peaceful resolution somehow that we get to in this thing. And I also pray for our American soldiers, as do you, that um they're not put in harm's way. And it's uh anyway, the whole thing is um balls and strikes, hard to call. Um, so now we go to the the more fun subject because on that podcast, after we talked about the difficult things, we then oh, we even talked about MA um LA Unified School District is going on strike on Tuesday. Are they still going on strike? Is that still the work? They are okay. So we hit that one. So we did a triple decker, a triple lundie of sort of tough subjects, and then we ended with talking about company retreats. So good. A series where a guy named Anthony Norman was the mark, the only one who did not know that the whole show was fake. Everyone was an actor. They were trying to set up all these crazy scenarios for him to freak out and do things that are very human, you know, almost like the the truth serum that alcohol creates. Like, you know, those people that you think are good people, and then suddenly they get drunk, and the truth serum turns them into demons that that want to get in fights or they do all kinds of bad stuff, and you're like, oh, okay, now I know who that person is, and they're like, No, I was drunk, and you go, No, I I think I know who you are now. Okay, so Anthony Norman was thrown essentially all the alcohol you could in in in a symbolic way of saying it, right? And he came out better than any human I've seen, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Like such a good human.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

I mean, we want to adopt, I mean, he's young, way younger than us. So like I feel like you could adopt him and be really proud. Whatever he is. He's from Nashville. I I don't want to sound creepy about it, but I'm just like, if that was my son, I'd be really proud, just like we are about our kids. Like, but he's he's a role model.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

He's a role model, and he did the right thing. And in every situation, he was kind, he offered wise and sage advice, he he listened. It is such a good series. I would watch it again. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Apparently, there's two bonus episodes. Uh, one of my Twitter followers was telling me because I posted our podcast and also said that there's a uh a bunch of, I think there's eight other episodes of like crew behind the scenes like commentary or whatever. That would be so interesting because 10 extra episodes.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

I mean, imagine if you and I are actors in the show, right? And you and I are doing our lines, yet the mark, Anthony, isn't responding. So obviously we have some sort of earpiece, and obviously the the crew and the behind the scenes team is feeding us, but you're you're trying to elicit a certain response. Like that's part of the show, is to see how this mark is going to respond. Well, it it's so that would be interesting to see like what you know. Do we need to move the camera? Do we need to say this? Because based on like the psychology test that this mark took as he applied, he's more likely to respond this way as opposed. I I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Well, when you think about doing that show, there were so many things that could have gone wrong. Oh my god. I mean, no, they they all went right in terms of what we saw on camera, but we it we found out that a lot of things almost didn't go right. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

Well, that's life. I mean, do you think you would know how I would respond every single time? Um you've been with me for a long time, 26 years. So obviously, I think you probably have a good idea how I might respond in a specific situation or what I might say. Maybe not what I might say, but the tone in which I say it. I think you would, but we've been together 26 years. I mean, this is a character who is hired, and again, we're not we're not giving anything away, but he's hired to be uh a temp on a company retreat, so he knows nobody. I mean, he is coming in as green as it gets. He doesn't even know the boss's son's name until he meets Dougie.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

It's well, his Instagram says the only real working person at Rockin' Grandma's Hot Sauce Company. So anyway, I guess the feel-good thing that I wanted to bring up at the beginning of this is when you do the like this is a hobby for Jen and I, and we're just sort of messing around with it and having a lot of fun, and it turns out that it's sort of taking off, and people are listening to it, and then it's like in a bunch of different markets around the world, some countries I really hadn't heard of before. And um it it it it gets noticed, and in fact, Anthony Norman, the mark in company retreat, actually DM'd us saying, you know, thanking us for talking about the show and was like really honored by it.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

But he was not the only one, he wasn't the only one.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Then we also had a cast member, Wendy uh Wendy Baum, who also responded and was really glowing about it, and then on top of it was really appreciative, and then she Wendy Braun, B R and she reminded us that we know her, and we were at her wedding. How crazy is it? So crazy. Yeah, I had a client named Josh Cox who was like literally one of the coolest guys ever. And we used to surf a lot. He was a good buddy, but he was also client. He was on that show Strong Medicine, and you'd seen him in Mercedes commercial. Like he's everywhere, like he works all the time. He's just one of those working actors that's ridiculously good looking, um, sort of like godlike, good looking.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

And um so cool and really, really nice.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Very cool. And um, we went to their wedding and we were thinking, oh, maybe that was like five or six years ago. No, it was in 2007.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

It was right after we had the babies.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

So, anyway, that was really interesting. So we got reconnected through talking about a show on the podcast, and then finally Emily uh Pendergast also uh DM'd us saying thanks for talking about the show. So um three people, yeah, pretty cool. And actually, we had a couple other cast members who just liked it, which was really cool.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

Yeah, so remember, I'm private, so I don't I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

Yeah, you're a snob, you're a social media snob. Exactly. Like I don't want people following me or knowing about what I do.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Really? Is that what you're gonna say?

SPEAKER_00 12:51

I don't know. Like, why are you private? What is that about? You do a podcast that's heard in 64 countries, you're not very private anymore.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

That is true, but when I first started my Instagram account, I was private and I had younger kids, and I think like the parent of me didn't want my kids' face shown in you know the world wide web and yeah, you post their faces all the time showing how awesome they are.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

No, but only my only my friends can see that only your friends, but you asked me to repost it or post things about it.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Well, I didn't I forgot about that, it's all coming together, and now I'm saying thank god nobody got kidnapped.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Are you private on Facebook too?

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Probably.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Really?

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Probably if you get a friend request, does that mean you're private?

SPEAKER_00 13:37

I don't know. You're asking very technical questions.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

I don't know if it's technical. I feel like we're dating.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

I think there's a setting that you you would put on your Facebook, but I don't know if you're do people use Facebook anymore? Um, I thought you told me they do.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Well, no, I'm asking.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

I use it, I use it when I consciously try to remind myself to go on there every morning to see whose birthday it is.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

That is true. You do. You're very good at those texts.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

I'm not very good at it. No, you are. But I try to. I try hard.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

But remember Facebook was the thing.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Yes, it was. Remember, Atari was the thing. Remember A-Trax were the thing.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Yeah, no, not in my room.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Remember, phones with cords were the thing.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Yes, I had a pink one, and I could wrap it around like my my bed, and I could lay on the floor, or at my parents' house. There was a distinct spot at the counter where like two counters met and two cabinets met, and it created like this L shape, and I would just wedge myself into that corner. I'd hop my butt onto the counter and I would just talk on the phone. Yep, I had my own telephone line. Did you? But that was a birthday present my parents got me.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

I never had my own telephone line, never. It was a cord, a phone with a cord that we had a swinging door that separated the dining room from our kitchen. So if I wanted to get privacy talking to somebody, I could pull the cord through one side of the swinging door or the other and talk if my parents were like we're on the other side or whatever it was.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

So were you whispering in that whisper voice or were you loud?

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Um, I have no idea, but I do remember Allison Smith, who was my first girlfriend. She was like really I she was cool, she was beautiful, she was really nice if she's listening to this. I think nothing but great things about her. Um, I do remember actually my first kiss with her was at JW Gerardo's um sixth grade party, was out by the canal where he had his boat, and um tell 'em that it's human nature by um Michael Jackson was playing. Wow, you know a lot of details. I just remember that. But I remember when I talked to her on the phone, you could hear the phone click because her mom would listen to our conversations. Oh anyway, so you can't.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

I never did that, never did that to the kids.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Okay, so speaking of reminiscing, like this idea of of time and the passage of time and all this stuff, and and I know I wanted to talk about it, and you were like, I don't think it's a good subject, but maybe it's not. Maybe it's just a little banter thing. But I did um send uh I I for some reason I get these retro uh handle things on Twitter and Instagram that just send me random retro things. So there was one it said like an image from 1984. Yeah, so this one this one I sent you, which was like a multiplex theater where it said it's eighty 1985, which movie are you watching? And it was literally a multiplex theater um like billboard showing what movies it had in its on its screens, and there were seven screens. In 1985, there were seven screens they had there on screen number one was Weird Science. Okay, on screen screen number two was The Goonies. Oh my gosh. On three, it was Cocoon, on four, it was Mad Max. Wow, on five, it was Back to the Future, on six, it was The Breakfast Club, and on seven it was Ghostbusters.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Everything about that title I mean, is there any movie that no one has seen out of those? No, it's like I'm still I mean that screams the 80s. I feel like there's a song. Oh my god, I love the every single one of those. There's a scene, there's a one-liner that we could pull out. They are all classics.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Well, and then the other one that was crazy is that there was there was this. I don't did you have one of those when you were in. Yes, I did.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

It's a paper cutter.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

Yes, paper cutter. Remember the big wooden paper cutter that was in the corner of your school room, and it had a big like sh like, what do you call that? Like a hatchet that was attached to it. And you open, yeah, and you opened it up, it was attached to the thing, and then you would close it.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

And it had a grid at the bottom so you could mark and make sure you were cutting in a straight line. A hundred percent. Were were those for projects? Like what?

SPEAKER_00 17:58

Yes, no, they were for like cutting cardboard or cutting different poster board or cutting multiple papers at the same time. Hold on.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

If you're cutting, if you're cutting cardboard or you know, something that's used for a project, presumably you're in a lower grade. And presumably if you're in a lower grade, you should not be using a ginormous knife that could cut off your well, that's the thing.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

And it's like the Twitter handle says it's a miracle my generation's hands are mostly intact, considering every classroom came equipped with one of these finger guillotines. True. So true. I remember those things. They were so sharp. And they could literally, if you had 50 um like tests to give the students, you could cut off 50 of them to make it whatever it was. Yeah, yeah. It was crazy. Like uh anyway, so those must have gotten banned sometime after we were out of elementary school because I have not seen them in a classroom in a long time.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

But TikTok does not.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Well, no, but Eric Swabell got banned, I guess. Uh today he did.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

He pulled out of the race.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Yes. Well, uh I've been wanting him out of politics forever before this Me Too movement because he he fell in love with this very hot woman who he thought he was playing above the rim with, and it turned out it was a honeypot operation by China that was trying to get him to give him all kinds of And what do you mean by honeypot? Honeypot means you like sh sh sh throw a really hot female spy at a guy and is that all it takes?

SPEAKER_01 19:32

Yeah, are you that simple?

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Have you met men? I mean, yes, like men are pretty simple. Um, you know, I mean, yes, there's men that are faithful to the people that they devote their life to, but like if you take that out of the equation, men are pretty darn simple.

unknown 19:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

Okay. I mean, to the point where like the master uh like we could watch ten hours of a guy hitting a ball off a T with where you have to whisper when they're on the eighth grade while they're putting. Like that's that's how simple we are. We're like something's really hard about putting that ball into the hole. Like it's just weird how guys are. I don't know. And you're not I think you find it interesting because it's very like, you know, people are wearing clothes that are interesting and there's very a lot of grass and flowers and stuff, but you're like, why is it? It's very relaxing.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

It's almost it's almost like having a big thing.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Well, because they play that nice music around it, too.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

No, there's something very soothing about it, um, and like meditative, but golf is not my thing. Um, I we had it on because I knew it was a big game, but golf's not my thing. Baseball's not my thing either.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

I mean, the Masters is a weird it it it's it's weird how it got so big. It's weird how much um controversy there is around the whole like the country club and all that stuff over the past history. And you know, I mean it was controversial when Tiger Woods won. Like that was like initially.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

Well was it why was it controversial? Was he the first black man to win?

SPEAKER_00 21:13

No, he was the first guy to drive up to the first T and flip over his SUV.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

No, that happened, I think, last week. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Yes, there was there's there were race issues involved with the whole thing. It's and but anyway, it's a like all that's thankfully in the past, but it's uh anyway, it's really fun to be.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

Hey, speaking of Tiger, um, you know how he's in a rehab. I just read on People and Us Weekly that Brittany Spears has voluntarily checked herself into a rehab.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

The Britney Spears that's eighteen from the Pepsi commercials or a different one?

SPEAKER_01 21:46

That's in your head. The Britney Spears that you know, she I think she needs some help. That poor girl.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

Boy, the one from the Pepsi commercial was No, I I get that.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

I I totally get that, but that that is not said Britney anymore.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

Okay, well we Are we going to wish her well?

SPEAKER_01 22:02

We are going to wish her well, just like we're wishing Tiger well.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

We're wishing Tiger. Where is Tiger now? Like apparently this Saturday Night Live, he's in a Switzerland rehab center. Um, but I don't know where he is.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Wait a minute. We never discussed Switzerland, did we? Should we put Switzerland on our travel list?

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Uh I have brought it up with you a couple times.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

And did I just ignore you?

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Yeah. Like I'd like to go to Stad.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

You you do want to go skiing in Stad. I w I don't really want to do a ski trip. Here's the thing with skiing, and I do love skiing. I grew up with the sky.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

I would like to control the Davos crowd.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Okay. Hang on. I I love skiing. It is an you know, it's a fun activity, it's great exercise. You're outdoors. We taught our kids young. It is time with the family, it's time in nature. There are no, you know, no mobile devices, no cell phones, no tick tocking. It's really just a great time. Here's here's my issue. Number one, I hate I just I kind of hate the cold. I have rain odds, so my fingers and my toes don't do well with the cold. But besides that, you know, we found ways around it. I have those like electric heated gloves that last me like two or three hours on the slopes. Fine. The issue is, and this is me, and maybe it's my like mom guilt per se, but when when the kids were younger, I would always envision like falling off a chairlift, which I know is really scary, or I don't know, going down a really hard run, not being able to control myself, and ending up in the trees and like breaking a leg. And then if I broke the leg, that means I couldn't do carpool, I couldn't cook dinner, I couldn't go to the market, I couldn't work out, and all things would go to hell in a handbasket. So that's why skiing, like there's this innate fear and guilt of like, oh my god, if I go down this run, everything's gonna go to shit.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

Well, A, we shouldn't be swearing on this PG-rated show, number one. But number two is yeah, I know. It's a but it is a bummer, it's a bummer to my daughter and I. But you guys can go together. Dylan likes it a lot, although he's a bit of a tard on the Well, let's not use that word, but he's a little more of a menace.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

He's a little more of a menace. Like Kaylee's form is a little bit more.

SPEAKER_00 24:22

Well, he was like that one video, that one like shooting down the moguls and like out of control. But he goes a hundred miles an hour and he's sort of in control and he's like being crazy, but thank goodness. He doesn't look like a mono skier like Kaylee does.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

No, Kaylee just glides effortlessly. She hums, she's like a Giselle on the on the mountain, and Dylan doesn't just clangs her boots. Yeah, and Dylan is just uh I mean, it's a train wreck. He's a bit of a mess. I'm gonna acknowledge that he is. But so I do I love skiing for like two or three hours with the family, but that's kind of where my threshold ends.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

So But that's like the Italian version of skiing. We could go to the dolomites.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

Well, how do we get there? I mean, I know by the way.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

We go to Milan and we drive up wherever, or we go maybe through the Swiss side. I don't know. I have to look at a map to figure out the best places to I mean, do you think that would be a good three-day or?

SPEAKER_01 25:23

Because we don't we don't like anything more.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

Three days, three days uh to ski and everything, you know. I mean, I I don't know. We could figure it out. Let's we'll have the conversation off the podcast so that we can work out some of the kinks. Okay, so we're gonna talk about it. And then we can make it entertaining when we talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 25:38

Well, so we will put Switzerland on the list. Um speaking of Switzerland and being neutral, I have a question for you. Are you neutral when it comes to kids? You know, our kids are graduating their first year of college, so they're coming back to uh California for, you know, Dylan for a little bit and and Kaylee for the whole summer. Like, what's your thought on internship versus just like summer job versus something to build your resume versus make some money? Like where's your headspace in that? Because there are two conflict I think there's two conflicting thoughts that go on, especially in a community like like Manhattan Beach, right?

SPEAKER_00 26:17

I think there's I think a couple things. One is you can go back and think about what you did between those summers, right? Which could be completely irrelevant. Then I think um 20 uh over the last I would say 20 years, there was a rat race where like everybody had to do something that won up each other during every summer. There was no summer to waste, right? And then I think now people are realizing like the importance of experiencing things and trying to enjoy like a childhood, just the ability to um maybe mess around one summer yet work um on like a work job, just a working job, and then maybe going and doing something more important the the following years. Now, what I will say is I think I s I focused on enjoying uh the experience of of trying things. So, like if I think about my summers, A, I had a business between my freshman and sophomore year where we created a business. This guy Mike Litke actually um was older than me and he sort of co-led it. We were 60, 40 partners, and we were uh painting houses in my hometown of Glastonbury, Connecticut. The next year I was like, I'm gonna drive down to Wa uh to Florida and I'm gonna work construction in Florida on a development outside of Palm Beach Gown, uh outside of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. It was one of the hottest, most crazy summers. It was incredible, but wow, what a what a difficult um physical job that was, at least until the thunderstorms came in every afternoon at 1.30 in the afternoon. Then my um my junior and senior year, I actually stayed at Cornell University so I could graduate on time. I had to take two classes. I had to take two electives. I took statistics and I took that's an elective? Yeah, I took it.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

Because that's a requirement for Kaylee. In fact, she's gonna do it this summer. Maybe it was a summer school.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

You know what? Maybe it wasn't, it wasn't a core class that I had to take during it was a course I had to take at some point during the four years. So I took it then, and then I took an English course where um that course had a bunch of juniors in high school that were in it that were looking at Cornell that were thinking about it.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

I did that at I did that at Brown.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

And they were very, very adamant about the fact that you're over 18. Anyone that is in the college that's over 18, and those people that are here for the summers, you cannot date them. You cannot be with them. Like it was a very uh there were these laws or rules I remember about that.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

Yes, there's probably still the same rules that are in place now.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

I will say I wasn't gonna make a difference like when I looked at what was coming in there then. But good or bad? Yeah, it's just not not my type. Not my type.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

Is it what Dilma? Not my type. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

I'm just gonna say not my type. So anyway, the bottom line is that those were my three summers. And then I come out of college and for almost a year I ski bummed and worked odd jobs and figured myself out. So I am a terrible case study to ask. Now, I will say there was a period over the say the 2010s to 2020 where I would have been like, yeah, every kid's gotta have like a serious internship during their undergrad summers. Now I think it's a little different.

SPEAKER_01 29:49

I do, and I could say, look, you're talking junior senior year of college. I think that's one thing. Yes. We're talking freshman and sophomore year. Now, I mean, uh, Kaylee is working and she's also doing something towards her career. So that we just kind of got we lucked out where we've got a twofold, right? She's making money and she's working towards something that she wants to do long term. Dylan, we really lucked out. He got an internship exploring uh a career path that he's very interested in. Although I I don't think either one of us said to the kids, like, you have to get a crazy internship. We want you on Wall Street, we want you making, you know, blah blah blah blah blah. I think it was really like, come home, great, make some money, have some fun, and you know, kind of I think guide rather than say you must do this because this is what's required of you. Like I think that was really I mean, both of our kids happen to to get these gigs that will help them down the line in their career. And I think we just got lucky.

SPEAKER_00 30:49

I think I think one of the issues that I have with trying to really push kids into these internships that then tee up what they're gonna be doing right after college is it it's one thing if they have these internships where they actually get them and they can figure out is this what I really want to do or not, right? Like I get that. The problem is I think a lot of people are pushing kids into these internships, saying this is your ticket into that industry and into those entry-level jobs after college, you have to do it because you this is gonna tee up your career. Where I look at it and I go, I had no idea what I wanted to do for a living. Even by the time I came out to LA, I was still clear clueless. So, like, you're talking 22, 23 years old. I still wasn't really sure. So, like, why are we expecting our kids to know exactly what they want to do? Now, some kids do.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Yes, they absolutely do. Some kids do.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

And some kids maybe need time to figure it out or need internships to try things, right?

SPEAKER_01 31:55

I I'm not saying sleep until noon and I'm on the show.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

That's not a job. That's not what you're gonna do for a career. No, you have if you're not taking one of these important career jobs, you have to work hard because that is a skill set you have to learn. You gotta learn, like even if you're waiting tables, busing tables, short order cook, you know, lifeguard, whatever it is, you got to know what it is to have a W-2, what it is to work for money that you spend, realize like in your head what it takes, how much time does it take you to work in order to buy that cup of coffee at Starbucks, or to go out and have that $40 night at whatever bar and tavern it is, right? Or take a girl out on a date that costs a hundred and something dollars, right? Like you need to get that understanding, you need to know what it is to work for somebody. Even if you're gonna be an entrepreneur, you still gotta know what it is to work for someone.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Absolutely. You're learning skills. It's not to say that those are gonna be the skills that you are in fact utilizing when you go into the professional world, but I think it's another layer exactly that these kids, right? Maybe it's communicating with the boss, it's communicating with the colleague. Not to say our kids can't do that, but I just think there's an art form to it, or like the follow-up, right? There's an art form to that, understanding the timing, what you say in it. And yes, we help our kids, and you know, that's actually a really good point. So with our with our kids, there were a couple times when they're like, Okay, well, what do I say? What do I say? And our response to them was you craft it, you draft it, send it to us, and you know, we'll make a couple tweaks here and there, but this has to be your email, this has to be your text, we're not writing it for you.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

Exactly. No, that's key. And and and they have to know they they have to start to get good at it without us even knowing like we can be there. But I will also I'll be there for them anytime they want.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

You guys, if you want to move back in, you can. I love you so much.

SPEAKER_00 33:49

But the other thing I'll add too is that I see there's a huge benefit. Say, say if you want to go home and you want to work life, yeah, you got a lifeguard job and you want to like wait tables or whatever to make money, but you want to stay at home, hang out with your friends, all that kind of stuff. I can see that being perfectly fine freshman between freshman and sophomore year. Then say after sophomore year, you go, hey, I want to do the same thing. Well, I would go, okay, we're okay with that, but do it somewhere else, right? Like that's sort of what I did with like Florida. I was like, yeah, I'm not going into construction full time when I have a uh a career, but at least I could, you know, hammer nails in another part of the country and meet people and hang out and understand like different things and see different things and all that stuff. It's very important to get that sort of perspective.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

Absolutely the same reason why we wanted our kids to go away for for college. Uh, you know, obviously LA and California, there were some schools that we considered, but we were really pushing not for them to leave the nest because we wanted them to, but we wanted them to have that experience living on their own, living away from home, having to figure things out. Like it sucks when you're sick and you got to go to class and you got to turn an assignment and you gotta wash your clothes and you gotta figure out how to get the soup and the medicine, and like that that's hard if you're if you're living away.

SPEAKER_00 35:15

Well, and I find you even in I I'm not gonna use names here, but we know somebody who's got a kid going to a school locally here that's playing a sport, and and you could say, Oh, well, it's staying in town playing a sport or whatever. No, this summer going to Switzerland to train with like another team in that sport, and work in finance.

SPEAKER_01 35:36

Yeah, so it's like a dual thing. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 35:39

You you can you can do things that I think are sort of common ground where you're like, oh, okay, maybe that's not exactly following the model of whatever you want to call it, success or whatever. But then if No, that's successful, right? Right. But you can complement it with with other things that create that exploration and all that sort of self-discovery, and then suddenly you realize that's the perfect combo.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

So, like go work on a fishing boat.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

Yeah, well, I yeah, I had a fraternity brother that did that, and some of those most incredible stories I've ever heard are from those fishing boats. Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 36:14

Oh, is it like CD?

SPEAKER_00 36:17

Like uh like some guys had sea lions for girlfriends, no, but no, you are wrong.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

No, stomp it.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

I'm gonna uh let's digress from from that. But yes, the those fishing boats. Now, if you're gonna learn how to do hard work and grind it out, like there's nothing better.

SPEAKER_01 36:35

Right, because that's like a 20-hour shift, and you are just manual laboring.

SPEAKER_00 36:38

No, you're on a boat out at sea for six straight weeks. Like you don't see it.

SPEAKER_01 36:42

It's like the world's deadliest catch. We used to watch that show.

SPEAKER_00 36:45

The world's deadliest catch.

SPEAKER_01 36:46

You're a green horn, you're a greenhorn, but they're you're not doing crab fishing. They're I'm guessing they're doing like no, you do crab fishing.

SPEAKER_00 36:53

Some of those kids are crab fishing or salmon fishing or cod fishing or whatever they are. They're out there. Wow. Yeah. Um, and they're out there with excons and everything else. I mean, if you want to be a man of the people, you're gonna learn it pretty quick that way.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

Well, I appreciate the fact that the fishing boat owners are hiring people who would otherwise they would not be able to get a job.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

I think they have to get who they can get, right? And and I will say they probably would rather get an ex con than a college kid who's going up there thinking that he's up there for adventure, right? Like the ex-con is like, I gotta work food, give me some money, I'm out of here. You know, and the other kids like, oh, if I don't like it, I'll just call mom and have her save me. Helicopter in and the Coast Guard and pull me out and with those little buckets. So anyway, you know, we um I don't know if we hit all the topics we wanted to hit, but we've done a full episode here. So I, you know, is there anything else you want to talk about to our 64 nations out there?

SPEAKER_01 37:55

Thanks for listening.

SPEAKER_00 37:57

I mean, this had been quite uh quite a fun, like fun galloping horse type of this reminds me of a song that Kaylee played in her orchestra dress when she was in the orchestra. Doesn't it sound like it does? Remember they had that guy hitting the cluck thing or whatever? Anyway, this is Plate and Ponder, empty nesting with Jen and Chris Fenton. We want to thank you all for listening. We want to thank Dylan for calling in and interrupting, but we still handled it well. We'll see how that edit turns out. We want to thank um Flynn for not eating his poo and for uh drinking water rather loudly with his collar hitting the uh water um thing.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

And thank you to the company retreat people who uh who liked us.

SPEAKER_00 38:44

Oh yeah, that was super cool. Anyway, until next time, we are Plate and Ponder Empty Nesting. Jen and Chris Fenton, please follow, download, engage, enjoy, DM us, and all the other stuff. Until next time, we love ya.