Take Your Pick
Before we get into it this week, we just want to say thank you to all of you for continuing to read our updates and for encouraging us to keep writing our weekly newsletter. We know the content has been drastically different than the world travel updates you originally signed up for, so it makes us happy that what we send out nowadays still resonates with many of you. Thanks for all your support; we’re so grateful for everything the newsletter has become for us, including a way for us to better connect with so many people we care about 😊
With that, we’re going to take a pause from our usual pontificating and switch things up with something a little more interactive and a little less heavy. Unless you have really strong opinions about food.
Food for Thought
One thing Jay likes to do is start trivial debates over food. And not in a fancy, gourmand kind of way, the way a sophisticated critic talks about texture or flavor profiles. Jay likes to get in heated arguments over preservative-laden, artificially-flavored snacks, specifically which ones are worst and which ones are best.
If you’re worked with Jay before (you poor thing), you’re familiar with this phenomenon: the JayRank™. It has two defining qualities:
A ranking system in which you rank from worst to best, rather than best to worst
Ranking foods that are generally terrible for you like chips, cookies, and candy
These debates get really, really intense. The two of us have been bashing each other over our chip preferences (Jay is team Funyuns, Jen is team Fritos) since we got married, with no end in sight. Jay once collected chip rankings at work among more than 20 colleagues and a flame war started in the spreadsheet he used.
Despite the contention, they’re also a lot of fun. We’re spending so much time debating heavy and important issues nowadays that it’s good to take a step back and playfully debate more inconsequential things in jest.
So, in that spirit, we’re opening up a survey to see where you, our beloved friends and family, land on your snack food allegiances:
We’ll collect submissions during the coming week and will release aggregated results in one of our future newsletters if we get enough submissions. It’s about to get heated, y’all. You’ll see.
Shoutouts
👶🏽 Best wishes to our friends Heather and Chris who have a baby boy coming in a few weeks. It was great catching up with you and the rest of the Cal crew at your virtual baby shower! (Just don’t tell Jay’s friends he had such a good time hanging out with so many Bears…)
🏀 + 🎧 Congratulations to Jeff Zeller (JZ) for the launch of ESPN’s Hype Hits campaign, a celebration of the greatest pump-up jams in sports history. Make sure to check out the fruits of his labor at https://espn.com/hypehits and check out the ‘Soundtrack’ section below for some of our own selections!
Better Together
What’s been going on? Feel like you need someone to talk to, or just send good vibes your way? Whatever way you’re feeling, we encourage you to fill out our weekly connection card (anonymously, if you prefer) so we can keep you and your loved ones in our thoughts and prayers. We read every submission, and reach out to connect when it’s appropriate. Or you can feel free to reach out to us directly by replying to this email (or texting one of us, or whatever medium you prefer). We can’t wait to hear from you!
Soundtrack
In support of JZ and ESPN Hype Hits, this week we wanted to hit you all up with some of our favorite pump up anthems:
“Forever” by Drake, Kanye West, Lil’ Wayne, and Eminem (explicit)
Starting pre-game layup lines? Trying to hit your one-rep max? Getting in the zone before a championship game? Let four of the greatest rappers of all time get you amped and you’ll be showing the competition just how long your glory lasts: forever.
Dancers are athletes, too. (Right, Kelly?) If there was a jock jam for dancers, this might just be it. Sometime basketball players talk about experiencing a “hot hand,” but dancers know what it’s like to feel like you just need to dance, that “canned heat in my heels” sort of feeling.
“Sweetness” by Jimmy Eat World
Sometimes you just need to yell really, really loud. This high school throwback isn’t just a ton of fun to sing, but is also a fantastic track to do sprint intervals through. It just feels fast.
Are you listening? WHOOOOOOOAAAAAAAOOOOOOAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOO!
For the full list of songs included in our newsletters, click here.
As always, please keep in touch! We’re so lucky to have seen so many of you in the months since we’ve returned, and we hope to keep seeing even more of you with each passing week. If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area and are open to a socially distant hangout, just holler! And, don’t hesitate to shoot us emails, texts, chats, or video invitations—you’re all the best part of our days!
Love,
Jen & Jay