Happy Chanukah, Everyone!

@smokeyrobinson #tbt I know what it is now! 😂 Happy Chanukah Everyone! #smokeyrobinson #happychanukah #fyp #fun #classic #goodtimes ♬ original sound - Smokey Robinson

Been Working with Playzoomers All Week

Rachel was cast in "Yes, Santa, There is a Virginia," an online theater troupe active from coast to coast. It has taken some effort to keep everything running smooth:

To begin our final spotlight series, let's meet the cast of 'Yes, Santa Claus, There is a Virginia': MaKenna Spencer, Adam Triplett, Steve Allison, and Rachel Hoover!

• MaKenna Spencer is ecstatic to be playing Virginia in this production of “Yes, Santa Claus, There Is a Virginia.” MaKenna is a freshman in high school. Her recent stage credits include Lucy in “Dracula” at Lincoln High School and Shprintze in “Fiddler on the Roof” with Lincoln Theatre Company.

• Adam Triplett Adam’s love for theater began as a child watching productions at the Music Circus. After a brief detour into film, he has returned to the stage, acting in plays such as “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Ragtime,” and “Something Rotten,” and is incredibly excited to be joining Playzoomers.

• Steve Allison is delighted to add to his long list of musical / theater performances. Steve has played Equity / Non-Equity roles in California and New York and has also performed in TV roles. Steve lives in Citrus Heights and works as a local Hospice Chaplain. This is his PlayZoomers debut.

• Rachel Hoover is thrilled to be making her PlayZoomers debut. Favorite roles include Golde in “Fiddler on the Roof,” Rose in “Gypsy,” and Hannah Pitt in “Angels in America.” Rachel also wrote “Out of the Woods” for “The Vaccine Monologues,” produced via Zoom by Luna Stage in New Jersey. 

• Friday, December 8th @7:30 PM ET | 6:30 CT | 5:30 MT | 4:30 PT Saturday, December 9th @ 9:30 PM ET | 8:30 CT | 7:30 MT | 6:30 PT

Caffeine - Downmarket Fentanyl

Caffeine can be like downmarket fentanyl, a threat to people with certain heart issues - particularly long QT syndrome - and including people like myself. Drink manufacturers put caffeine into drinks where you don't expect it - into citrusy lemonades and orangeades - and then label it poorly or not at all. Customers don't realize they are being threatened. Time to start suing people's asses off:

Panera is being sued again after another customer is said to have died after consuming the chain’s caffeinated lemonade.

Dennis Brown was a 46-year-old man with a chromosomal deficiency disorder, ADHD and high blood pressure who avoided energy drinks, according to a wrongful death complaint filed this week by his mother, brother and sister. A loyal Panera customer, he started regularly ordering “charged lemonade” in late September, according to the suit.

On October 9, Brown, who had a mild intellectual disability and blurry vision along with developmental delay but lived independently, ordered a charged lemonade and is believed to have refilled his cup twice over the course of about an hour and a half, the suit said. He suffered a cardiac event on his walk home and was pronounced dead at the scene when found unresponsive. 

The complaint resembles another wrongful death suit filed earlier this year by the parents of Sarah Katz, a 21-year-old woman who died in September 2022 after drinking Panera’s charged lemonade. Katz was diagnosed with a heart condition called long QT syndrome when she was five years old, and managed symptoms by taking medication and limiting caffeine, according to that lawsuit.