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Peter's 50th: the Sphere, Crab Legs, and 130 MPH
S2:E21

Peter's 50th: the Sphere, Crab Legs, and 130 MPH

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Peter and Aubrey recap the surprise family trip to Las Vegas for Peter's 50th — the first time the whole family has been together since Alex and Lily got married. They cover the Backstreet Boys' "Into the Millennium" residency at the Sphere (including the Gen Z crowd singing along, often badly, and some truly unsettling visuals), the crab-leg assault at the Bacchanal Buffet, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and the main event: 20 laps in a Ferrari 296 GTB at SpeedVegas with a relentlessly encouraging coach named Nico. Peter also plugs his new Imperfect Practice piece arguing that the harms of social isolation have been exaggerated, and Aubrey announces she's getting back into research with her old mentor.
Show Notes
  • The surprise: Lis planned the whole trip for Peter's 50th — he only found out the destination when his youngest son let it slip about Vegas ("Mom, he's gonna be the one driving there").
  • First full-family trip since the weddings: Alex and Lily got married, but Hayden couldn't make it, and Lily was only a week-old "plus-one" at Aubrey's reception — so this was the first time everyone was actually together.
  • The flight drama: Aubrey and Hayden's 2:45 a.m. flight out of Madison was delayed over federally mandated crew rest, so they drove to Milwaukee and landed about five hours late.
  • The Signature at MGM Grand is an all-suite, casino-free resort with kitchenettes, its own pools, and key-card access into the MGM Grand — and it's literally a block from the airport. The Signature at MGM Grand
  • Backstreet Boys at the Sphere: The "Into the Millennium" residency is a Sphere exclusive — Millennium-themed visuals with a spaceship flying across the dome, plus one new single with Mount Rushmore-style faces carved into snowy mountains that was both the cringiest visual and the worst song of the night ("it didn't have the juice").
  • The crowd was surprisingly Gen Z: Peter expected his own demographic but found 18-to-30-somethings singing along to every word — often very badly ("their ability and enthusiasm did not match").
  • Boy bands are a dead industry in the West: The 90s/early-2000s producer-driven machine that manufactured Backstreet Boys doesn't exist anymore — the only place it survives is K-pop.
  • Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace: Crab legs everywhere, funky dishes you'd never order at a restaurant, and the payoff for Aubrey and Hayden's cut — a weekend with no counting, no restricting. Bacchanal Buffet
  • Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the fourth Tom Holland Spider-Man — lots of heart, stands on its own, and made Hayden cry (he's a softie). Spider-Man: Brand New Day
  • The main event — SpeedVegas: Lis bought Peter 20 laps in a Ferrari 296 GTB on their 1.3-mile track with a 2,000-foot straightaway, a couple of hairpins, and 10 turns — Peter hit above 130 mph and heard the tires squeal on every corner.
  • The Ferrari 296 GTB is Ferrari's first production V6 since the Dino — an 819-hp hybrid, which is why the car was new to him.
  • Coach Nico: The orientation promised a choice between casual and pushing it, but Nico never asked — 20 laps of "faster, faster, give me more gas" (23 total with cooldown laps), and Peter was wiped afterward: "I need a nap."
  • The merch: Peter came home with the "Speed Daddy" t-shirt and the onboard video, and he's already planning to do it again in a different car.
  • The Vegas heat: 113°F on arrival, still 111°F walking back from the Sphere at 10:30 p.m., and 98°F at both 7 a.m. and 6 a.m. on departure day.
  • Peter's Imperfect Practice piece: He published on how the harms of social isolation and loneliness have been exaggerated — connection matters, but you don't need to "friendship max" or optimize your social life.
  • Aubrey's astro-adjacent fact: She's getting back into research with her old mentor — unpaid, no funding, but "there is always projects for us to be working on," and she's thrilled.