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dealer today.

Well, hello there. It's the bookcase with Kate and Charlie. I'm Charlie.

And I am Kate, and hello. Happy Thursday to all of you out there in Listeningland.

We were kidding around a couple of weeks ago about our being the official podcast of the National Hockey League.

And somebody actually said to me, you weren't serious, were you that you're the official podcast of the National Hockey League, and somebody actually said to me, you weren't serious, were you, that you're the official podcast of the national hockey? I said, no, we were kidding around. But we are the official podcast of Betty Crocker's cake mixes.

But I think we should make a pitch here. I think we should make a pitch. NHL, we are great for the penalty box. We are a great penalty box podcast. Well, she looked at me like I was

nuts. But, you know, if we could get on any or every Betty Crocker cake mix box as the

official podcast, we might be doing better than we are. Who knows? We're apparently also open to

being sued by both major sports organizations, product placement, and Betty Crocker.

So, you know, if anybody's feeling litigious today.

Well, I was feeling we were more trying to get bribes.

We're in the market for bribes.

Also very much on the up and up.

Anyway, if you've been listening to the podcast for the last year and a half,

and you better have been listening, absolutely, you know that the writer Jay Ryan Straddle,

who wrote Kitchens of the Great Midwest, he wrote the Lager Queen of Minnesota, he wrote

Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club, he has written a series of very successful books. And we asked him,

since Kate knows him and is a good friend, we asked him if he would be our writer in residence.

And for the last year and a half, he was just starting his fourth novel. And for the last year

and a half, we've been checking in with him on occasion as he goes through a writing his fourth novel. And?

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