This week kicks off with recalibrating some expectations and repeatedly clicking some buttons. Merlin likes dog shopping and dislikes that dumb Winston Churchill movie.

In follow-up, John scores a monarchical point to listener, " swilliams ," and Merlin likes Parliamentary questions. In an accidental nano-topic, your hosts discuss the decline of Shame. In further follow-up, John has some more tips on getting the lyrics right.

In this week’s mini-topic, John has some pointed questions about Merlin’s quote-unquote Caffeine Addiction. Is Merlin a Fake Migraine Girl? John still doesn’t like coffee, and Merlin is weirdly protective about his eyeglasses. Much like the great John Hurt. This leads to a broader discussion of addiction, focusing on how smoking used to be much more of a thing.

Pivoting off of Merlin’s obsession with infrastructure, John throws a very large piece of very red meat on the table: What If Productivity, but Too Much? In the pursuit of efficiency and professional development, how do you know when you’ve gone too far? And what are the downsides when you do?

(Recorded on Tuesday, January 30, 2018.)