Be the thermostat, not the thermometer

My son Gabriel and I watched the most recent movie going by the title Journey to the Center of the Earth this past weekend. It was actually really entertaining. I’d never seen any movies based on the novel, nor have I read the novel, but it kind of made me want to do both. The…

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My 7 year old son, the master negotiator (in training)

My son Gabriel is a legit video game addict. Perhaps it’s an escape for him from the constant drama between his parents. Or maybe he just is prone to enjoy video games over other things kids like. Whatever the case may be, he’s always playing his Switch, or his iPad, but he loves nothing more…

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Too smart for their own good

I remember in my early days of being a podcaster, someone who’s opinion I highly value personally recommended to me that I listen to a particular individual who had achieved a certain level of success in his own right doing his own show, running his own business, etc. So I tuned in for a few…

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My “proposal” to Sana

January 2020 was when I popped the “proposal” to my wife Sana. You’ll note I didn’t say I “popped the question.” In my mind, it was a done deal, it was simply time to say, “Alright, let’s do this.” We were in our apartment in Vietnam, the moment was seemingly gifted to me from on…

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No jazz at Juilliard

In today’s of the Trumpet Dynamics podcast, hot off the press, player/teacher/author extraordinaire Chris Gekker talks about how the playing of jazz was at one time forbidden in the sacred halls of the Juilliard School. Chris is no spring chicken, we’re talking the 60’s here, and Juilliard has since rectified the issue. But believe it…

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You’re not NPR for goodness’ sake

This past week Podcast Artistry™ client Ariane Sommer (host of the outstanding Superhumanize podcast which I highly recommend checking out) sent over some material to put into the podcast sausage factory we’ve honed and fine-tuned with a great deal of success and efficiency. Upon downloading the files, entering the interview into the template and giving…

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I wouldn’t allow anyone else to occupy her mind

Back when Sana and I met in March 2019, I knew within a very short time that getting her to be my wife was going to be my top priority in life. We had established using WhatsApp as our mode of communication of choice, and I would literally send messages every hour on the hour,…

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That was special…only it wasn’t

I just watched a video of an individual playing an orchestral excerpt on the trumpet that every orchestral trumpet player knows and has played a thousand times. What gets me is how he played it with such passion, eyes closed for dramatic effect, as though this performance of it will be truly special. Meanwhile, the…

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Real commitment on display in Orlando

I wasn’t sure I would make the trip to be honest. My friend Tom Woods is about to publish the 2000th (!) episode of his super popular podcast, The Tom Woods Show. If you don’t know of Tom, he’s a legit rock star in the world of libertarian culture and politics. Which essentially means he’s…

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Give me the theory, reality scares me

Years ago, I attended and received a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Regent University. What’s funny is that I attended Regent online while living in Hawaii, Kentucky, Georgia, N. Carolina and Korea. And the actual campus is in Virginia Beach, which is my current city of residence and I pass by it all the time.…

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