Nicole went horseback riding on a horse named Moon and was the only rider in a helmet. VaShaun let his AI do the work this week, treated himself to African lobster tails at Capital Grille, and then got questioned by the panel about how lobster shows up every day from Africa at tariff prices. Eric has been in the workshop making canes out of bamboo, white oak and hickory. That is the first ten minutes.

From there it is canes, dogs and gadgets. Everybody names a favorite cane, and VaShaun tells the two times a stranger stepped on his, once while he stood holding a Starbucks at the NFB convention in New Orleans. Nicole explains why she owns two canes and carries neither. Eric, of the Epitome Show Band and president of LEOTO, talks about Excel, the black lab guide dog who came along right after two hard losses and had him walking with more confidence than any cane ever did. VaShaun is not sold on guide dogs, mostly because of the ones that smell, so Eric hands out the Bounce dryer sheet trick and a reminder that guide dog costs belong on your taxes. Then there are the two guide dogs at CSUN: one walked its handler into a pylon, the other into a glass wall.

On tech, Nicole picks the iPhone and ZoomText, VaShaun picks the AI that kept working while this episode was being recorded, and Eric tried on the Apple Vision Pro and felt like a Borg from Star Trek.

The last question is the one that names the episode: what is the one thing you cannot live without? Nicole says coffee and her daily walks. VaShaun says a good cigar and music. Eric answers in song. Nicole closes with her chiropractor story and a reminder about water: two cups, every morning.

Eric's internet is still broken, Nicole's love life will remain a mystery, and VaShaun wants prosthetic eyes in ocean blue with his signature written across them in silver. That is the first fifteen minutes.

From there the table question gets real: if you knew the sight was not coming back, would you get designer eyes? Eric, of the Epitome Show Band and president of LEOTO, would rather put the money in designer frames. Nicole would ask what the doctor is not telling you about the long term. VaShaun already has the color picked out.

October is Blindness Awareness Month, and the second half earns it. Eric talks about keeping it moving and the Helen Keller line he may or may not be quoting right. VaShaun tells the story of the Atlantic Station pole, and of being born three months premature, living half in and half out for decades, and finally loving being blind. Nicole, the show's moderator, goes the other way: she has not fully embraced it, she is still fighting the air, and she is doing it while taking sailing classes, braille courses and a trip where American Airlines called the night before to set up her assistance. Both things can be true at once, and that is the point.

Also in here: tequila testing versus tasting, jerk chicken pizza, egg water, chargrilled oysters, and what happens when a prosthetic eye ends up on a bar.

Next week: what happens to family and even friends when the sight goes.

Eric went to a high school homecoming game and came home with a topic, because somewhere in the stands five different colognes were competing for the same air. So this is the fragrance episode. It turns out VaShaun owns more than 500 of them and runs a YouTube channel called Sense of Smell, which explains the title and several other things.

Nicole wears Mugler, Angel and Alien, both refillable, and would like everyone to wash their winter coat once a week so they do not leave the house smelling like fried chicken. Eric wears his light, because certain things make his wife sneeze, and the sneeze messes up the squeeze. That became a song about four seconds later. Eric also went full granddaddy weekend in old school Obsession last year and got so many compliments, because nobody had smelled it in years, which led to a roll call of Drakkar Noir, Issey Miyake and whatever else is still sitting on VaShaun's dresser.

The turn is the question Nicole's sister keeps raising: are blind people's senses sharper because they cannot see? The panel's answer is no, they just get used more, the same as any muscle. From there it goes to AI, where VaShaun makes the case that for blind users it is only typing and listening, which we have done for decades, and Nicole makes the case her kids make against it.

Also: a Red Lobster gig with one outlet per room, Nicole's undisclosed birthday tour, BARD Mobile, and two separate on air requests for sponsorship from companies we had just finished insulting.

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