Astronaut, Spy, Surgeon, Astrophysicist — A Generations Origin Story

Peter and Aubrey share everything they wanted to be when they grew up — from Aubrey's childhood spy fantasies and mermaid aspirations to Peter's astronaut dreams (crushed by a second-grade principal). Peter recounts his journey from orthopaedic surgery to urology, and Aubrey traces her path from pediatric cardiothoracic surgery to astrophysics.Show NotesPlex FM: Peter built a custom music radio app using Claude/Fable that turns his Plex library into live FM-style stations by decade, genre, and mood — complete with dial hiss. PlexCoax: The inspiration — an app that creates pseudo-live TV channels from your Plex/Jellyfin library. Coax on App StoreThe Rest is History Festival: Peter attended the inaugural festival at Hampton Court Palace with Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. The Rest is History FestivalWildfire smoke in Wisconsin: Aubrey describes unsafe air quality conditions at summer camp, with a purple-level AQI from Canadian wildfires.Aubrey's spy phase: Mission Impossible fueled a childhood obsession with becoming a CIA agent — until she reconsidered working for the US government. Mission Impossible (IMDb)Peter's astronaut dream: Watching shuttle launches in school (including the Challenger disaster live) inspired it — then a principal told 7-year-old Peter he'd never make it because he got sick on the playground merry-go-round. Challenger disasterPeter's astronomer phase: He started a Young Astronomers Club in elementary school and hand-copied encyclopedia entries for a newsletter.Aubrey's mermaid era: She wanted to be Ariel, and still tells her camp kids her legs turn into a mermaid tail in the pool that they keep missing.Aubrey's legal/political detour: A mock Congress in 8th grade (2016–2017) made her consider law or politics — she was good at arguing but decided against both.Peter's engineering research paper: An 8th-grade report on electrical engineering convinced him in real-time that he wanted nothing to do with it.Aubrey's healthcare trajectory: She bounced from pediatric cardiothoracic surgery → NP → neurosurgery interest (killed by getting to know neurosurgeons in person).Peter's orthopedic surgery pivot: A two-week rotation confirmed the toxic stereotype — he chose urology after hearing a lecture on the Da Vinci robot. Robotic surgery in urologyWhy urology: Peter explains the prostate's difficult-to-access anatomy drove early robotic adoption, and he values the specialty's blend of medicine, surgery, long-term patient relationships, and better-quality call. Da Vinci prostatectomyVascular surgery story: A med school mentor (Dr. McCann) defied a "students only observe" mandate and let Peter close a two-foot leg incision solo — the nurse fed him suture sizes.Aubrey's astrophysics pivot: She realized if she was smart enough to be a surgeon, she was smart enough for astrophysics — now first author on a published paper.