Melissa: 00:09

Hey. I'm Melissa.

Jam: 00:11

I'm Jam.

Melissa: 00:11

And I'm a chemist. And I'm not. And welcome to chemistry for your life.

Jam: 00:15

The podcast helps you understand the chemistry of your everyday life.

Melissa: 00:19

It's so good to be back, Jam.

Jam: 00:21

It's very good to be back. We haven't been together in a while. We recorded the last few episodes all At once, basically?

Melissa: 00:27

In late November, I think, or early December.

Jam: 00:30

Yeah. Something like that. It's definitely been, like, a month since we've actually sat down and done this, I think.

Melissa: 00:34

Yes. And we've both been on adventures. We can talk about them at the end of the episode.

Jam: 00:38

Correct.

Melissa: 00:39

Scene family. I traveled internationally.

Jam: 00:42

Yes. You definitely have more on an adventure than

Melissa: 00:44

I have. That's for sure. Yeah. It was packed, but now I am excited to be back home and excited to be doing, you know, Doing my regular stuff.

Jam: 00:54

Yeah. Back in the swing of it.

Melissa: 00:55

So I've got a little bit of a shorty episode for you.

Jam: 00:59

Okay.

Melissa: 01:00

I know we're past Christmas, but I did write this while we were in the throes of the Christmas season, and just Jim and I didn't get a chance to record. So it was supposed to be recorded earlier. So that's where the inspiration came, but it is it is kind of a good post holiday episode. Okay. Okay.

Melissa: 01:21

So, you know, holiday season has passed, and a lot of people have their old Christmas trees.

Jam: 01:27

Right. Right.

Melissa: 01:29

Old, dry, dead Christmas trees.

Jam: 01:31

Correct.

Melissa: 01:32

And my husband won't let me have a real Christmas tree.

Jam: 01:37

Uh-huh.

Melissa: 01:37

You know this. You talked about this because of how easily they catch fire.

Jam: 01:41

Correct. I've heard this from him, and I feel like it's one of those Facts have kinda seen flew around a bit, but don't know the details about.

Melissa: 01:49

Yes. So well, actually, part of why they So easily catch fire is also part of why they smell so good, which is what I initially set out to investigate in this episode.

Jam: 02:03

Okay.

Melissa: 02:03

So, originally, I was like, wouldn't it be fun if I did an episode about why Christmas trees smell the way they do, which I think smells good.

Jam: 02:09

I agree. I I agree. They smell good. That is the whole reason we can't have them though is that I am allergic to so many types of plants and Trees and stuff like that.

Melissa: 02:20

Yes.

Jam: 02:20

Pine and cedar and those kinds of trees are especially your to to me. So I would love to have a real treat, if not for the fire problem there, and then also and if not because it wouldn't be worth it to me to have Horrible allergies for a month. So

Melissa: 02:36

Yeah. Not worth it as you bring the outside inside.

Jam: 02:39

But I do like the smell of it. You know? I I can still say I like the smell even though Enough time around it, it ends up being bad for me.

Melissa: 02:47

I'm curious. Do does pine flavored candles also give you allergies?

Jam: 02:52

You know, I don't Think that they do, but I I can't be sure. Mhmm. I think that a lot of allergy stuff isn't the scent. It is the other

Melissa: 03:02

Oh, it's the pollen or something else?

Jam: 03:04

Yeah. I think we're smelling it is one thing, but that also means that there's actual particles of pine

Melissa: 03:10

Yes.

Jam: 03:10

Floating around. But a candle, they probably just, like there's still some sort of oil

Melissa: 03:14

or oil. Well, that's what we're gonna talk about today. Okay. That So that's exciting. Well, that then was wondering because I was thinking of that.

Melissa: 03:21

Yeah. Okay. So so, yes, I initially set out To learn about why pine trees smell so good, but then that also led me to learn that pine trees and jet fuel has something in common. Uh-oh. So here we go.

Melissa: 03:37

This is a fun episode. I think it's more of a fun facts episode than a lesson episode, but I it's a good way to ease back into the new year.

Jam: 03:46

Same. I mean, I was I was glad to hear you say that a little bit because I was thinking, Am I rusty? Like, how good will my brain be at getting back into chemistry and learning stuff and regurgitating it back to you and all that?

Melissa: 03:58

Take Get easy on you.

Jam: 03:59

Okay.

Melissa: 04:00

Okay. So Christmas trees smell good mostly because of 1 molecule.

Jam: 04:05

K.

Melissa: 04:06

That molecule is called pinene. That's a common name for it.

Jam: 04:10

Okay.

Melissa: 04:11

So I wonder if you can guess, you know, where the name came from. Yeah. And pinene is essentially a 6 membered carbon ring. You know? So it has 6 carbons in, bonded together in a ring, but it's kind of special because it has a bridge of atoms across the top.

Jam: 04:33

K.

Melissa: 04:34

So we talk a lot about molecules, but we don't talk a lot about the three d shape of them. And that's something I wish we talked about more, but it's it's just kinda difficult to do on the show. Right. So Maybe the best way to think of it is did you ever play with those connects when you were a kid? Yeah.

Melissa: 04:59

I I

Jam: 04:59

remember those. I think I I think I'm thinking of the right thing. But

Melissa: 05:03

They're like the they are like sticks, and you could sort of clip them into other things.

Jam: 05:07

Yes. Yes.

Melissa: 05:08

So I I guess I feel like that's the best way to visualize it because there's not a lot of stick like those remind me of atoms more than anything.

Jam: 05:17

Okay.

Melissa: 05:18

So if you imagine you sort of had, like, a hexagon out of connects

Jam: 05:23

Okay.

Melissa: 05:23

And then you took 2 more long sticks and connected it to one of those joints in the middle. You know how you could do that with connects? They have, like, joints that were several pieces. Yes. So it's like you have a base hexagon, but then you kind of have a triangle that comes out of it.

Jam: 05:37

K. Or maybe even, like, I guess, slightly more rudimentary, but, like, Tinkertoys Mike could still could do the hexagon thing, I think.

Melissa: 05:46

I didn't play with tinker toys. I don't know if I know what those look like. Let me look them up real quick.

Jam: 05:50

They're just like the The slightly more the younger, age group version.

Melissa: 05:56

Okay. Yes. Yes.

Jam: 05:57

But they have they had several, like, spoke, Like Yes.

Melissa: 05:59

This is a lot of the joints that would let you do that. Yes. Yes. So it's kind of the same thing, but we don't so we don't talk about that a ton in chemistry. Even the Six membered ring isn't really a flat hexagon.

Melissa: 06:09

It kinda takes on different shapes.

Jam: 06:11

Right.

Melissa: 06:12

But that's probably the best way to think about it.

Jam: 06:15

Okay.

Melissa: 06:16

So I thought that would be a good chance to kind of visualize and remind you that atoms and molecules are actually three-dimensional in nature.

Jam: 06:23

Yeah.

Melissa: 06:24

So it's a bicyclic ring, and it has a few other functional groups on it. And it's part of a class of molecules called terpenes.

Jam: 06:34

K.

Melissa: 06:35

They do sort of stem from a parent molecule, but actually, there were a lot of things that got lumped in that it was hard to tell If those stemmed from a parent molecule or not. So I kind of think that terpenes is a really broad class of molecules That basically, if it has a double bond present, people will say, oh, yeah. That's a terpene.

Jam: 06:55

Okay.

Melissa: 06:56

There are a lot of aromatic compounds in terms of Smell, aroma compounds. Not the chemistry, aromatic, which means something dim different to chemist.

Jam: 07:06

Okay.

Melissa: 07:06

But aromatic like smells and spices.

Jam: 07:09

Okay.

Melissa: 07:09

So menthol, which we talked about a few weeks ago

Jam: 07:12

Mhmm.

Melissa: 07:13

That is a terpene, technically.

Jam: 07:15

Okay.

Melissa: 07:16

And So are a lot of the molecules like lemmonine that we talked about, which has a smell? Uh-huh. And there are terpenes are considered the aromatic or flavor molecules in marijuana, in different types of marijuana plants. Uh-huh. So all these are terpenes, and they're actually the single largest class of compounds found in essential oils.

Jam: 07:42

Okay.

Melissa: 07:42

Because they have that smell.

Jam: 07:44

Mhmm.

Melissa: 07:45

So that is a terpene that Causes, that causes the good smell present in pine trees.

Jam: 07:55

Okay.

Melissa: 07:56

And so when I talk about aroma molecules, Just to review, our episode where we talked about smell, these molecules are easily able to turn into gas, the scientific word for that is volatile. And then once they've turned into gaseous molecules in the air, that basically means they're easy easily moving around in The, air around us, they're able to be inhaled through our nose and hit our olfactory receptors. And if they smell good to us, we interpret it positively, and that's why pine trees smell good.

Jam: 08:29

So they stopped by the old factory.

Melissa: 08:31

They stopped by the old factory. Dirty.

Jam: 08:33

I got it. Okay. Yeah.

Melissa: 08:35

So lots of terpenes have that good smell.

Jam: 08:37

Okay.

Melissa: 08:39

But it also burns easily because What it's made up of is mostly carbon and hydrogen. Uh-huh. Right? Hydrocarbon. It's just a hydrocarbon.

Melissa: 08:51

And we've talked about carbons and hydrogens being good fuel for those combustion reactions, Which, you know, we talked about in the candle episode. We've talked about fire a few times, I think.

Jam: 09:03

Yes. Yes.

Melissa: 09:05

So, basically, you know, the Carbon and the hydrogens react with the oxygen to make carbon dioxide and h two o combustion reaction. So that the fact that it burns easily because it's a hydrocarbon is also the basis for what Christmas trees have to do with jet fuel.

Jam: 09:29

Okay.

Melissa: 09:30

So we did our whole series on recyclables, and we talked about how, crude oil is a lot of different hydrocarbons, and it's not a renewable resource.

Jam: 09:40

Right.

Melissa: 09:42

But terpenes, if they're essentially just simply hydrocarbons, hydrogens and carbons, they could be used To sort of give a good baseline to make other chemicals.

Jam: 09:56

K.

Melissa: 09:57

Essentially, organic Chemists or synthetic chemists could take the terpenes in theory, which are carbons and hydrogens, and manipulate the atoms to get them to be something usable and not have to rely on the nonrenewable resource of oil coming from the ground. Okay. This is called a platform chemical. So something you could take, use it as a platform to make a bunch of other stuff.

Jam: 10:25

Okay.

Melissa: 10:28

But but still then if we were using trees to do that, just like a similar problem comes up where, oh, these trees are kind of not I guess they're renewable, but at a certain rate. So in order to Have a renewable source of hydrocarbons. Scientists have enabled bacteria To they've engineered bacteria to consume sugar and convert it to terpenes.

Jam: 10:58

Interesting.

Melissa: 11:01

And so then they needed to find how to use these terpenes as a platform chemical, especially pinene. It's a ring, and it need those Two rings, really, the bicyclic rings need to be opened. So I read about this initially in a 2014 Teen article from the Royal Society of Chemistry. They were just kind of sort of talking about the possibilities of this happening.

Jam: 11:25

Yeah.

Melissa: 11:25

And they Framed it similarly looking at, you know, Christmas trees have pinene, pinene's terpenes. Terpenes can be used to do all this cool stuff, Theoretically.

Jam: 11:34

Yeah.

Melissa: 11:35

And then there was a 2017 article where they were able to convert pinene by opening it to making it something easily polymerized. So easily turned into a polymer.

Jam: 11:45

Right. Right.

Melissa: 11:46

And polymers, you know, they're just those repeating units of hydrocarbon. So they basically We're starting to make the process happen.

Jam: 11:54

Okay.

Melissa: 11:55

And then I saw a 2020 article where they had taken synthetic pinene from the bacteria Uh-huh. Along with several other terpenes and blended it with other things to make a jet fuel, and it burned as a jet fuel would be expected to burn. Wow. Isn't that amazing?

Jam: 12:16

Yeah. That's crazy.

Melissa: 12:17

So really, technically, I guess, you have to do a lot to turn the Christmas trees into the jet fuel, but Yeah. There's a connection. Yeah. Definitely.

Jam: 12:29

That's crazy, dude.

Melissa: 12:30

Isn't that so cool?

Jam: 12:32

Yeah. So the having the terpene and the pinene are both

Melissa: 12:38

So terpene is kind of like a big category of a bunch of different hydrocarbons that smell good. And pinene is one type of that.

Jam: 12:46

Okay.

Melissa: 12:47

So pinene is one that we all know because it makes our Christmas tree smell good, so I just honed in on that.

Jam: 12:53

Got it.

Melissa: 12:55

Got it. But they used the pinene as well as several other different terpenes and blended them together to make the jet fuel.

Jam: 13:01

Got it. Okay. Cool. That makes sense.

Melissa: 13:03

Isn't that so wild? I know.

Jam: 13:06

So I guess, like, does it mean that there's potential for that process to be the way that we Make that fuel in the future. Is it still bad to burn though in terms of emissions?

Melissa: 13:22

Is that think it would still be bad to burn in terms of Not good for emissions. Mhmm. But it's better than having to extract it from the Earth.

Jam: 13:34

Right.

Melissa: 13:34

And I don't know about the carbon footprint of converting that into jet fuel as opposed to, you know, separating out all the different levels of hydrocarbons from the Carbons from the raw? Yeah. I don't I don't know.

Jam: 13:48

Right.

Melissa: 13:49

But I do think it's a possibility that if we hit our the end of our nonrenewable resource of fuel that there is another option.

Jam: 13:56

Right. Right.

Melissa: 13:57

Which that I think I've wondered about that. I'm like, we keep finding more.

Jam: 14:02

Yeah.

Melissa: 14:02

So we keep acting like, we'll keep finding more. Yeah. But at some point, I don't know that we will find more.

Jam: 14:10

Yeah.

Melissa: 14:12

So I guess maybe it's a two sided coin. Part of me is like, For the environment's sake, we should just run out at some point. Right. And the other part of me is like, well, this is a way to keep life going, like, to keep air travel possible or,

Jam: 14:27

you

Melissa: 14:27

know, things like That that is like, yeah, we should probably figure out a renewable way Yeah. To continue To provide energy. You know? Yeah. So that's interesting, but it probably is still not good for emissions because you're still ultimately burning hydrocarbons.

Jam: 14:43

Right.

Melissa: 14:44

That's a lot of CO 2 you're putting out there.

Jam: 14:47

Yeah.

Melissa: 14:48

So that's your little chemistry fun facts for today. Oh, also, I wanted you to know that turpentine is made up of 90% pinene.

Jam: 15:00

Okay.

Melissa: 15:01

So if you've heard of turpentine. I have. I don't

Jam: 15:04

know I mean, this I think I just know of it, but I don't know if I've ever actually encountered it or used it myself.

Melissa: 15:11

I think it's, like, used for paint thinner and, like, I think it also I think it's kinda like a solvent. Like so it gets used as a base for things.

Jam: 15:21

Got it. Got it.

Melissa: 15:22

But I don't think it's used as frequently anymore.

Jam: 15:27

Yeah. I was gonna say when you said when you said terpenes, I was like that immediately evoked the I was like turpentine. So I was like, I don't know anything about turpentine really. I just Just the sound of your the word was more.

Melissa: 15:37

Turpinze is a lot of things other than turpentine. And I do I am like, did all these things get named together? I don't know.

Jam: 15:50

There's a lot more information and nuance here. Yeah. This we're gonna call this category terpenes because the first one we knew about was turpentine, but, unfortunately, it was, like, 20 or something. I don't know.

Melissa: 16:01

I think

Jam: 16:01

that would be that would happen to me. I'd be like, here's a naming scheme. I'll call this turpentine. I called this Terpenes.

Melissa: 16:08

Actually, that's kind of what happened with vitamins.

Jam: 16:11

Oh, really?

Melissa: 16:11

Do you want us a little side fun fact?

Jam: 16:13

Sure. I'll take it.

Melissa: 16:14

I have tried to write an episode about this, but it's so short that I've never really been able to come up with anything. But vitamins started the guy who discovered them, I don't know, He called them vital amines.

Jam: 16:26

Uh-huh.

Melissa: 16:27

Amine being that functional group. It's a nitrogen with some hydrogens on it. Uh-huh. And so he's like, Vitamins, you know, vital amines, so we need them to survive. And then they found a bunch of other vitamins that don't have the amines, but it was too late.

Jam: 16:41

Yeah. Thing.

Melissa: 16:42

So that's I feel like that's kinda Yep. That's very similar. Classic.

Jam: 16:47

Because, I mean, there's so many things that like, you discover a new category of things, and You're like, dang it. Wish I hadn't named it when I named it.

Melissa: 17:06

That's funny. That's your little chemistry, your little chemistry fun facts, Easing us into the new year, coming back from the holiday. So when you're getting rid of your Christmas trees, for those of you who celebrate And for those of you who actually have real Christmas trees Mhmm. You can think of all of the pinene that could be turned into jet fuel in them.

Jam: 17:28

Yep. All all it's all going to waste. So Yeah. So kids, if you're at home, you could you can make your own.

Melissa: 17:36

No. No. And Jasmine? And the reason my husband won't let me have a Christmas tree, a real Christmas tree, is 1 year, you know, he was out camping with some of his friends, and there was a big pile of Christmas trees that were, like, to be burned, but they hadn't yet.

Jam: 17:52

Uh-huh.

Melissa: 17:53

And so him and his friends thought, wouldn't it be fun if we, like, burn those trees? So they got 1 and set it up like it was in your living room, and they, like, through a you know, in their fire pit or whatever they put it there, and he said the whole thing was engulfed in seconds.

Jam: 18:06

Oh my gosh.

Melissa: 18:07

And that was After it had been out, you know, it wasn't being watered or anything, but that was enough for him that he was like, and that's it. I'll never have Yeah. Christmas tree.

Jam: 18:17

And it makes sense too, because, like, a lot of people who are gonna have a real tree, it's also gonna be the time of year where they are way more likely to have their fire going

Melissa: 18:25

Yep.

Jam: 18:25

And stuff. And so it's like Yeah. You're combining a bunch of risk factors all at once. Like, what if a spark flies over? Like, in our case, Or we put our fig tree right near our fireplace.

Melissa: 18:34

Yep.

Jam: 18:35

And we definitely used our fireplace. Mhmm. So it's like we would be asking for The chances to go up.

Melissa: 18:41

Yes. And fire safety is a big risk in December, I think, at least partially because of that. So

Jam: 18:46

Yep. Yep.

Melissa: 18:48

And I think also my mom saw a house when she was really little. I think she saw a house catch on fire because of the Christmas tree. So she also has that rule. Initially, we had real Christmas trees when I was little, but then we got a plastic one and no turning back. Yeah.

Melissa: 19:03

It's also more safe now because we have LED lights instead of the other the old lights which used heat. They literally put out heat. Yeah. You know? Yeah.

Melissa: 19:12

So it's A little bit safer, but still, that's why they won't let me.

Jam: 19:17

Yeah.

Melissa: 19:18

That's why those figures of my life never let me have good smelling trees in my home.

Jam: 19:22

Right. But all I could do, you know, all you gotta do is, I guess, just get a fake tree and then just get a new candle every year that smells

Melissa: 19:30

like it. Basically the same.

Jam: 19:31

And then you get both things.

Melissa: 19:32

Actually, I do like those cinnamony Christmas candles a little bit more. So Yeah. I'll just go with that.

Jam: 19:38

There you go.

Melissa: 19:40

So that's, that's your fun Christmas episode, and I wanted to also leave some time for us to catch up. So do you wanna share some fun stuff about your Holidays jam?

Jam: 19:48

Yeah. Sure. I'd love to. And I'd love to hear about yours as well. I didn't have, like, a crazy, holiday Break, so to speak, or whatever.

Jam: 19:57

But, it was a little exhausting, but also some there's some rest in there too. Got to see some family. The probably one of the highlights is that my son and my brother's daughter, they are about 10 months apart. This was the 1st year that we got together and that they were really, really able to play at the same level for

Melissa: 20:20

Yes.

Jam: 20:20

The most part. You know what I mean? Yeah. And in the 1st few years, it kinda feels like 10 months is a big difference between kids. And then a certain point, it just isn't anymore, and it quickly kinda fades away.

Jam: 20:31

And so they're able to play really well and had a ton of fun and also fought over toys and stuff like that, which is normal. But, it was just kind of this weird moment of realizing, like, oh, man. Me and my brother, like, our kids are playing together right now. Like, they're running around

Melissa: 20:47

around At Christmas time. Yeah.

Jam: 20:48

At Christmas time. Run they're running around. They're playing. They're goofing off. They're making jokes.

Jam: 20:53

They're getting each other excited. And it was just kinda funny. You'd see them, like, copy each other about certain things. Like, my son loves security, sticks around when we go on walks, and then My niece started doing it

Melissa: 21:06

to and

Jam: 21:07

doing it the same way that he does. My son likes to have the stick drag along the ground just for fun the entire walk.

Melissa: 21:13

So I've seen him do that. It's like he's walking a dog, but there's nothing there. Yep.

Jam: 21:17

And then my niece started doing the same thing, and then she would do stuff and say things that My son would start doing and saying that he'd never, you know, seen or heard. So they're just, like it was really fun and and just an enjoyable time to get to, like, just witness that. Yeah. You know?

Melissa: 21:31

I just also remember playing with my cousins growing up

Jam: 21:34

Yeah.

Melissa: 21:35

While the grown ups did boring grown up things.

Jam: 21:37

Totally.

Melissa: 21:38

And now it's like we're We are at the age where we're the boring grown ups.

Jam: 21:42

Yep.

Melissa: 21:42

And they're the cousins.

Jam: 21:43

Exactly. And it's like I mean, it's cool. I remember growing up and, like, yeah, I I there's several of my aunts and uncles I liked, But that was not what got me excited about No. Getting the other family. It was if whatever family function is happening with extended family, If the cousins that are my age are gonna be there Yes.

Jam: 22:00

Then I'm excited. Yeah. But if not, then I'm saying, okay. It's cool to see aunt knuckle, whoever. But I'm a kid, And we don't like to do send things

Melissa: 22:08

for fun. Yeah. And so

Jam: 22:09

I'm gonna give you a hug and talk for a second, and then you and I are not gonna be And

Melissa: 22:14

then we went to the kids' room, and we just all played in the kids'

Jam: 22:17

room. Exactly. Yeah?

Melissa: 22:19

Yes. I remember. So that's cool.

Jam: 22:22

Yeah. That was a lot of fun. And then last small thing is that my sister-in-law, who several years ago got me into Baking banana bread?

Melissa: 22:32

Oh, yeah. That banana bread phase. That was good.

Jam: 22:35

I went on that kick hard and then dropped it Hard. And then haven't picked it up again since, but she got me back into it. And she converted to doing muffins instead of Bread. Oh.

Melissa: 22:47

Which one

Jam: 22:47

of the biggest benefits is it's already packaged in a little deal.

Melissa: 22:49

Yeah. You just grab it and go.

Jam: 22:51

Way less bake time, which is, you know, at a premium here. So, so I started doing that again. She kinda got me hooked on that again. So I've started baking Only banana bread. Again, I'm not venturing into other crazy stuff.

Jam: 23:07

I'm not taking requests or, no comments at this time.

Melissa: 23:11

I do have a similarly easy blueberry muffin recipe if you're a muffin guy now.

Jam: 23:18

I love muffins, and I love blueberries. So

Melissa: 23:20

And it's kinda like a healthy ish option. It's got whole wheat and not very much sugar and oats in it.

Jam: 23:26

Nice. That's exactly so that's one of the things I was gonna say. I added oats

Melissa: 23:29

to this

Jam: 23:30

recipe just for fun, and I decreased the sugar. And I use it in whole wheat flour.

Melissa: 23:34

I bet you would like this recipe. It's Yeah. I will say shout out Well Plated by Erin. I got it from that website about 10 years ago. Nice.

Melissa: 23:44

Nice. I just love it much. Dude,

Jam: 23:45

I'll take it. I would that'd be cool. Can add some variety to the to the muffin game around here. So yeah. That was me.

Jam: 23:52

What about you? What have you been up to? Where have you been going? What's the what's the deal? Why are you

Melissa: 23:55

I've been going

Jam: 23:56

surfing the globe.

Melissa: 23:57

Yeah. I've been going all over the place. I went with my family. We rented an Airbnb at the lake About 2, 3 hours from here, and that was really nice. It was nice to have a big house with rooms for everyone.

Melissa: 24:09

There was a ping pong table and a foosball table

Jam: 24:12

Nice.

Melissa: 24:13

And, a fire pit out back. We weren't able to actually use the lake because water level was really low. But Yeah. We were all sick anyway, so that's kind of a bummer. But it was really fun, and my nephew really understood for the 1st time, I feel like, about the presence.

Melissa: 24:28

He was sick, So that was kind of sad. But Yeah. It he was also really excited when he was excited. So that was nice and restful and just for us to all be together. So I really loved that.

Jam: 24:38

Nice.

Melissa: 24:39

And then we my brother had actually, we sort of decided to do experiences instead of gifts. Uh-huh. And so my brother, His experience this year was to take us to Home Alone, and it so it was a live screening of Home Alone or, Like, they played Hummel in the moo movie, and then the Dallas Symphony Orchestra played the the soundtrack.

Jam: 25:02

Oh, nice.

Melissa: 25:03

So we got to see the Music live. And that was such a good Yeah. Experience because my nephew could enjoy it even though he's little because they're just watching a movie. And Watching the orchestra was so cool. All of us were in band when we're younger.

Melissa: 25:18

Yeah. That was so cool, so I really love that. That was a really fun experience. So

Jam: 25:23

That's awesome.

Melissa: 25:24

We did that with my family, then we went to Amarillo and saw my husband's family. Uh-huh. That was a nice drive. I was already exhausted by that point, but it was really nice to see his family. And it was just cozy and chill, and, Yeah.

Melissa: 25:37

We played a lot of games. It was really fun.

Jam: 25:40

Nice.

Melissa: 25:40

And then I came home and jet setted off on a girl's trip to Scotland.

Jam: 25:46

Girl's trip.

Melissa: 25:47

So I had a very hectic time. I would, like, work for 2 days, do all the laundry I could do, and then pack again. And then I kept it all off with a 24 hour awake travel day, which was chaos. So I just you know? It's been a lot, but I'm glad to be home and sleeping in my own bed.

Melissa: 26:11

And I don't have any more traveling to do till February. So

Jam: 26:15

Nice.

Melissa: 26:16

That's nice.

Jam: 26:17

Yeah. That's great. I mean, it's fun to do that stuff. And then it also is fun because then when you are home, you're glad to be home.

Melissa: 26:23

So glad to be home.

Jam: 26:25

It's kinda nice. I mean, like, then Seinfeld has a bit about that. Just like, we wanna go out. We're bored at home. We wanna go out, and we're out.

Jam: 26:41

We wanna get back.

Melissa: 26:42

A 100%. We're just so fickle about that. It's like, once we're out, we're

Jam: 26:45

like, oh, you know, really? I just wanna get laid.

Melissa: 26:48

What are you

Jam: 26:48

getting back?

Melissa: 26:50

Yeah. That's definitely that's had been the vibe lately. As as soon as I get home, I'm like, alright. When's the next trip? Yeah.

Melissa: 26:57

Yeah. So, yeah, I think it'll be fun. And a lot of my trips upcoming will be with Mason, which is nice. It's it's kinda sad when you're not with your spouse sometimes.

Jam: 27:06

Yep. Yeah.

Melissa: 27:08

Yeah. You're gone for a lot of time.

Jam: 27:10

Especially when you're married to Mason.

Melissa: 27:12

Yeah. He's really cool and great.

Jam: 27:14

Yeah. So Yeah. I'm sure most people don't really know what it's But yeah.

Melissa: 27:19

Well so that's a little bit about my holidays. It was a really nice it It was a lot of stuff happening, but I do actually feel rested and excited to return to work and back into habits and normalcy. So

Jam: 27:33

Nice.

Melissa: 27:33

It's been good to get back into the swing of things.

Jam: 27:35

Yeah. I definitely get that. I definitely get that. We're glad to have you back.

Melissa: 27:39

Thanks. Thanks, Jam.

Jam: 27:41

Glad we're back in the chemistry zone.

Melissa: 27:43

And thanks to all of our listeners. We hope you all had an amazing holiday season as well. We'd love to hear what you got up to, And we are really so thankful for y'all because we could not do this podcast without you.

Jam: 27:55

And thank you, Melissa, for teaching us about the crazy Secret danger of, pine trees or whatever.

Melissa: 28:02

The Secret Life of Pines?

Jam: 28:03

The Secret Life of Pines. And if you, listener, out there have an idea, or thought or question about something that could be chemistry in everyday life, please reach out to us on our website, chem for your life.com to share your thoughts and ideas with us. If you'd like to help us keep our show going and contribute to cover the cost of making it, go to patreon.com/chem for your life or tap the link in our show notes to join our super cool community Patrons. If you're not able to do that, you can still help us by subscribing on our favorite podcast app and rating and writing our review on Apple Podcasts. That also helps us share chemistry with even more people.

Melissa: 28:39

This episode of Chemistry Free Life was created by Melissa Colini and Jam Robinson. Jam Robinson is our producer, and this episode was made possible by our financial supporters over on Patreon. It means so much that you wanna help make chemistry accessible to even more people. Those supporters are Avishai B, Brie M, Brian K, Chris and Claire S, Chelsea B, Derek L, Emerson W, Hunter r, Jacob t, Christina g, Lynn s, Melissa p, Nicole c, Steven b, Shadow, Suzanne s, Sam in, Steven b, and Timothy p. Thanks again for everything you do to make chemistry for your life happen.

Jam: 29:22

We'd also like to give a special thanks to our viewers who reviewed this episode before it went out. And if you'd like to learn more about today's chemistry lesson, you can check out the references for this episode in our show notes or on our website.