Episode description

TOPIC: First Meeting, Gifts, and Grifts

This week—after 122 episodes, plus almost a decade of internet pal-dom—Dan and Merlin finally meet and record in a room together for the first time.

With only passing nods to the nominal topic of "gifts," Dan and Merlin mostly get to know each other.

Why is Dan staring so penetratingly at Merlin? Does Dan think Merlin is fat as well as old? Why does Dan keep looking at his phone? Does that look clean to you? Whose show is it, really? Is John Siracusa slender or sickly? Why can't I show you the sole of my shoe? Should we stand up? Who am I thinking of? Is it hot in here or is it just me? Which one am I?

Also, bathrooms.

Inarguably, a Very Important Episode™.

Links for this episode:

• [SPONSOR] Tonx Coffee
  Tonx sources, roasts, and ships to your door every-other-week some of the freshest and finest beans on earth. Sign up now for The Standard (or bigger) subscription to Tonx and we’ll throw in another great tool: a FREE Aeropress! ($30 value).
• [SPONSOR] Build a Website — Squarespace
  Everything You Need to Create an Exceptional Website. (Use offer code "**`BMO`**" for an additional 10% off)
• [SPONSOR] OmniPresence - The Omni Group
  OmniPresence is the best way to sync all of your documents across all of your devices. And it works on most web hosts, including OS X Server, which means you can store all of your data yourself.
• Does That Look Clean to You? Sound Clip and Quote - Hark
  Howard: Does that look clean to you? Ava: Nothing's clean, Howard. But we do our best, right?
• $5000 in 1950 dollars - Wolfram|Alpha
  $48,792 in 2013 dollars.
• Jason Snell (jsnell) on Twitter
  Editorial director for @Macworld/@TechHive/@PCWorld. @theincomparable podcaster. Writer, primate, parent. Mill Valley, CA · intertext.com
• Glen Glenn - IMDb
  Trivia: Founder of Glen Glenn Sound Systems which has been used for sound in over 20,000 motion pictures to date.

This week's episode of Back to Work is kindly sponsored by:

• Squarespace (Use offer code "BMO" for an additional 10% off)

• Tonx (Sign up for a Standard (or bigger) subscription by Father's Day, and get a FREE Aeropress)

• OmniPresence (The best way to sync all of your documents across all of your devices)