Shows
The Things That Entertain UsThings That Entertain Us - Ep.9 - How The Sausage Gets MadeThis Episode, Mr. Preston continues his service to our community as a Poll worker in the California State Primary and We talk all things podcasting…. Hear how the sausage gets made !
(Be sure to Stick around to the end for something special!)
In this episode, we talk about:
Curtis the poll worker
How we produce our podcasts:
Backup Central’s Restore it All (BackupCentral.com)
Relief Valve (https://reliefvalve.podbean.com)
Druva’s No Hardware Required (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/druvas-no-hardware-required/id1514019825)
and of course...
Things That Entertain Us (https://tteu.podbean.com)
2022-06-1659 min
The Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 37 - Jeff Prang - L.A. County AssessorJeff Prang was elected in 2014 as the 27th Assessor for the County of Los Angeles and re-elected in 2018.
Raised in Warren, Michigan, Assessor Prang is a graduate of Michigan State University. After graduation, Mr. Prang relocated to California where he served nearly 18 years as a council member for the City of West Hollywood, including four terms as Mayor, among many other positions in his public sector career.
Assessor Prang is a State Board of Equalization licensed appraiser and administers the largest office of its kind in the nation with 1,300 employees that provides the foundation for a...
2021-10-1747 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 36 - Mitch Ziegler -TeacherMitch Ziegler retired last June from a 35 year career in teaching. For 31 of them he was the adviser of the award winning newspaper and yearbook at Redondo Union High School, where he also taught AP English and photography.
The recipient of numerous advising and service awards over the years, Ziegler was named the H.L. Hall National Yearbook Adviser of the Year by the Journalism Education Association.
Ziegler has been married to his wife Julie for 33 years, and he has two adult sons.
Learn more about this and other podcasts along wit...
2021-09-2856 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 35 - Larry Blake - Motion Picture Sound Editor/Re-Recording MixerLarry Blake is a supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer of feature films. He has worked on over 80 features since 1989 and won an Emmy for his work on “Behind the Candelabra” in 2013.
He has been working with Film Maker Steven Soderbergh since the beginning with 29 features and three television seasons, plus multiple films from Victor Nuñez, David Gordon Green, and the Duplass Brothers.
He has written extensively on film sound, beginning in 1981 for Recording Engineer/Producer and then in Mix; these writings total over 110 columns and 35 feature articles. Right now, he is working on a book o...
2021-09-0751 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 34 - Bobak Roshan - Owner - Demitasse Cafe/Kindred Spirits - Santa Monica CABobak Roshan is a recovering lawyer who opened his first coffee bar 10 years ago in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood.
While that store has closed in the pandemic, his Demitasse cafe continues on Third Street in Santa Monica where he uses unique brewing methods to make fine drinks from his own coffee roastery.
In addition to Demitasse, Bobby now has a cafe and a dessert/mocktail bar called Kindred Spirits in Santa Monica on the Third Street Promenade.
Find him on-line at:
https://cafedemitasse.com
@cafe_demitasse
https...
2021-08-2335 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 33 - First AnniversaryHey Listeners. No guest interview on this show. I wanted to take a moment to reflect. See August marks a year since I published the first episode and started down this adventure.
I beg your indulgence for a moment while I share some of my story for perspective…
I’m hoping to pivot this podcast going forward into focusing a bit more on what my guests do, how they do it and how their ambitions are guiding them into the future. I know I have a lot more to learn and I’m looking forward to talking...
2021-08-0910 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 32 - Lani Rosales - COO of The American GeniusLani Rosales is the Chief Operating Officer at The American Genius , a strong news voice in the entrepreneur and tech world, offering meaningful, concise insight into emerging technologies, the digital economy, best practices, and a shifting business culture.
She has co-authored a book, co-founded BASHH, The Big Ass Social Happy Hour , a monthly networking event offline, and Austin Digital Jobs, a group offering a quarterly mixer, cramming two venues full of the city’s most popular employers, and highly qualified, eager talent.
She is a seasoned business writer and editorialist with a penchant for the irrev...
2021-07-1639 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 31 - Kelly Cheatle - Artistic Director / Literacy Advocate / Balloon ArtistKelly Cheatle is a materials and process maven who specializes in visual storytelling and innovation.
She is the Artistic Director of Airigami, a creative firm that specializes in colossal experiential and dimensional illustrative projects built from modeling balloons.
Along with her husband and partner Larry Moss, she leads teams of artists and community volunteers to construct ephemeral installations that enchant diverse audiences of all ages. Their unique fine art and award-winning illustration work has been showcased around the world.
She is also a founding member of Read Along Road, an on-line program supporting the...
2021-06-3047 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 30 - Mike Appel - Lighting Director / DesignerMike Appel is a Multiple Emmy Award winning Lighting Director/Designer, working on such projects as the Kid’s Choice Awards for Nickelodeon, Unplugged and The Video Music Awards for MTV, The BET Awards, NBC’s Christmas in Rockefeller Center and Democracy Plaza for Election Nights, VH-1’s Storytellers and the I-Heart Radio Festival Amongst many other shows. He has lit performances at The White House and for the broadcast of The NBA Draft.
He has been nominated for 5 Emmy Awards and the winner of 3.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, he now lives in South...
2021-06-1639 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 29 - Dave Dinsmore - WinemakerDave Dinsmore has never taken a single wine class, but he knows what he likes and best of all, he likes to share.
Originally from Chicago, and currently working remotely from South Carolina, Dave works in IT at a film studio while building his his dream, Ascension Wines with his wife Lisa.
As Master of Quality Control of the company, he’s dedicated to testing every bottle, so only the best wine finds its way into the glass.
Find the product of his labor of love at:
https://ascensioncellars.com
2021-06-0243 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 28 - Annie Choi - Coffee EntrepreneurAnnie Choi is the owner of Found Coffee, a specialty coffee shop in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles which recently celebrated it’s sixth year in business despite the pandemic!
Prior to being an entrepreneur, Annie worked in television post production on notable shows such Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Project Runway: All Stars.
She loves telling stories and has a passion for gathering community.
On her days off, she enjoys traveling, cuddling with her pup, Frankie, going to other coffee shops, and reading non-fiction literature.
Find her at: h...
2021-05-1929 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 27 - Al Pimentel - Musician / TeacherAl Pimentel grew up in a family of musicians.
By age 12, music became his passion and he decide he wanted a career in the music industry.
Thru high school he performed in several small venues from Santa Monica to Venice Beach and started teaching part time during the summer.
He completed his formal musical studies at El Camino College, where he studied both Jazz and Classical saxophone.
Besides teaching, he can also be found playing not just Jazz, but other popular styles of music all over Los Angeles.
Want to see one of those on-lin...
2021-05-0530 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 26 - Adam Bunnell - Food Truck Entrepreneur and The Donut ManAdam Bunnell is a serial entrepreneur who has been involved in multiple coffee startups.
He currently is the owner and operator of Hustle-N-Dough, a small batch donut company that serves handmade donuts- and Adam's own roast from a food truck in all four corners of Los Angeles.
Keep up on where to find the truck on his Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/hustlendough/
http://www.hustlendough.com
If you enjoy the work we are doing here at The Relief Valve, please share it with your friends!
2021-04-2139 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 25 - W. Curtis Preston Revisited - Chief Technical Evangelist at DruvaW. Curtis Preston is a specialist in computer storage, backup and recovery and has been a consultant and analyst in the industry for many years.
He’s the author of 3 O’Reilly books with a fourth, “Modern Data Protection” being released in May.
Currently the Chief Technical Evangelist at Druva, a cloud-based data protection company, You can also find his works in publications like Network World and in the “Restore It All” podcast from his website, Backup Central.
http://www.backupcentral.com/
https://soundcloud.com/restoreitall
https://www.oreilly.com/library/v...
2021-04-071h 02The Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 24 - Alyson Rochlin - College Student and Music TeacherAlyson Rochlin is a Student at California State University Long Beach in Southern California where she is studying Music Education and Performance.
She has been studying flute since she was 11 years old and has since learned to play eight instruments as part of her education studies.
She teaches privately to help support herself through college, and works in the Pit Orchestra for the Encore Theatre Company in Los Angeles’s South Bay where she has played Reed 1 in productions of Annie and Matilda During non-pandemic times.
Oh, and she is also my daughter!
2021-03-2429 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 23 - Scott Miller - Technology Fellow at DreamWorks AnimationScott "Skottie" Miller is a Technologist focused on operational tactics and long-term strategy around High-Performance Computing, Storage and Networking as it relates to Computational Visualization for feature length animated films.
A graduate of California State University at Fullerton, he spent 11 years in Aerospace before landing at The Walt Disney Animation Studio where amongst his many achievements, he helped build the first all CG Pipeline for the movie Dinosaur.
He moved over to Dreamworks Animation in 1999 where he still is a Vice President and Technology Fellow and one of the smartest people I know.
Se...
2021-03-1031 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 22 - Dara McGarry - Animation/Post Production ProfessionalBorn in Nashville, Dara McGarry worked at Disney Feature Animation for 14 years before trading her mouse ears for a bowler hat.
She moved to London in 2010 to work as an Artist Manager at Double Negative, a Post Production, Visual Effects and Animation studio. ( https://www.dneg.com )
Besides traveling around Europe (when that was a thing), seeing theatre on the West End, and historic sites around the UK, Dara also was a regular at the story telling event, One Track Minds, which recounts stories of songs that changed your life.
She became a Briti...
2021-02-2456 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 20/21 - Tommy Williams - Professional MusicianTommy Williams is a professional musician from Long Island, New York.
After honing his skills on guitar, bass, keyboards, songwriting and arranging, he began his professional career at 17 on the New York club circuit. He soon landed the position of guitarist, keyboardist and Musical Director for ‘80’s teen-pop star DEBBIE GIBSON, touring the world and appearing on her first three albums (including lead guitar on the #1 hit “Lost In Your Eyes”).
Tommy is a member of the band THE HOOTERS , where he provides vocals, guitar, mandolin, mandola and keyboards, playing to sold-out concert and festival crowds ar...
2021-02-1059 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 20/21 - Tommy Williams Bonus - Two HundredTommy Williams is a professional musician from Long Island, New York.
Listen to his profile and Interview at the top of the feed...
In this bonus episode, enjoy 3 cuts from Tommy’s solo Release “Two Hundred”
https://www.tommywilliams.net/music
Track 1 - Two Hundred
Track 2 - I don’t Want to Cry Anymore
Track 3 - Where Are You Now
All Music / Rights Reserved by Tommy Williams
2021-02-1014 minThe Relief Valve PodcastSeason One Bonus - Computers and Stuff with Edward BranleyGreetings Relief Valve Listener and Happy New Year!
Back in September 2020, during the third interview on the podcast, I spoke with Edward Branley. (https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-m9ky7-e9ebc5)
Edward is a writer, teacher, historian, and computer nerd. He is the author of six books on the history of New Orleans as well as several Young Adult fiction novels.
He also teaches computer classes on high-end topics such as Converged Computing Environments, High-Availability, and Enterprise Storage Management.
When Edward and I chatted last year we had a fun conve...
2021-01-0527 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 18 - Chris Hause -TechnologistChris Hause is the Group Vice President, North America Sales Engineering at Oracle. He spent the first twelve years of his career at Hughes Aircraft Company where he wrote test automation suites for the M1 Abrams main battle tank and then later at Hughes Space and Communications where he worked as a Systems Engineer supporting integration, system test and launch operations for various missions including the Earth Observing System for Goddard Space Flight Center and launch vehicle integration and operations for the Airane 4 as well as two Space Shuttle missions.
Chris lives on a small ranch in Northern...
2020-12-1645 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 17 - Cat Thelia - VFX ProducerCat Thelia is a Visual Effects & Animation Producer.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, she saw “Jurassic Park” at a formative time and decided she wanted to be a part of it. A chance encounter at Disneyland sent her career to the technology department at Walt Disney Feature Animation.
She has worked at studios such as Digital Domain, Rhythm & Hues, Sony Imageworks, and Dreamworks Animation. She also served as Digital Manager at Gentle Giant studios where she developed the framework for their 3D scanning facility in London for “Solo: A Star Wars Story” and got to see a l...
2020-12-0939 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 16 - Susan Karlin - Science JournalistSusan Karlin is an award-winning journalist in Los Angeles who writes about the nexus of science, technology, business, and arts.
She’s a regular contributor to Fast Company, where she covers space science, autonomous vehicles, and the future of transportation.
She has also reported for the New York Times, Scientific American, Wired, Discover, and NPR, among other outlets, from such locations as the Antarctica, The Middle East, and Southeast Asia.
Find her work at:
https://www.fastcompany.com/user/susan-karlin
https://www.kcrw.com/people/susan-karlin
Reach out...
2020-12-0242 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 15 - Matt Cooperstein - Marketing ManagerOriginally from the Philadelphia area, Matthew Cooperstein transplanted to LA in 2006 to work for the LA Weekly. He has 15 years experience in media and marketing and was formerly in digital marketing sales for V Digital Services a part of the Voice Media Group.
Check out his his new work home at: https://simpleshow.com/us-en/
I hope you find your Relief Valve with those you love the most on Thanksgiving! Be smart and no matter where you go or what you do, be safe!
And Wear The Damn Mask!
We're...
2020-11-1929 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 14 - Athena Demos - Documentarian / MuseAthena Demos sees herself as a muse, fueling her soul by facilitating the creative process.
She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston University in Huntsville, Texas. After graduating from college, she decided to focus her attention on an Acting career, earning many professional credits while working as a Coordinator for the Los Angeles Burning Man community. From that experience, she worked to create a virtual reality version of the Burning Man Playa at BRCvr.org
She is currently developing a new TV show about the lives of indigenous women. Tra...
2020-11-1141 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 13 - Linda Nelson - Independent Film ProducerLinda Nelson has been an investment banker, IT executive and real estate developer before pivoting into her true passion as a producer and distributor of films and television shows.
In 2007, she co-founded Indie Rights with Michael Madison and has been active in creating and distributing quality content ever since.
Find her and her work at:
@indierights
https://www.indierights.com/
https://www.facebook.com/IndieRightsMovies
https://www.facebook.com/LindaNelson
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindanelson/
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If you lik...
2020-11-0538 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 12 - Noelle Stransky - UX DesignerNoelle Stransky is a User Experience design strategist for brands such as ZipRecruiter, Livestrong.com and the Active Network.
She's also spent time working in the gaming industry at Microsoft Xbox and is currently working on internal tooling at Riot Games.
When Noelle isn’t busy leveraging her technical and creative talents to craft world-class designs, she can usually be found building massive art installations for Burning Man out of wood, metal, fire effects, and LEDs.
You can find her on Twitter: @nstransky
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One last thing…. Election Day is nex...
2020-10-2830 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 11 - Tiana Chun - Post Production AssistantTiana Chun is a Post Production Assistant for the NCIS: New Orleans TV Show on CBS.
She graduated from California State University at Long Beach with a BA in Film and Electronic Arts with an emphasis in editing. Prior to working on NCIS:NOLA, she was a Post PA for the Netflix show, Julie and The Phantoms.
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Thanks for listening to The Relief Valve podcast. If you like the episode, check out the other episodes at https://reliefvalve.podbean.com Subscribe to our feed on any of your favorite services and tell your...
2020-10-2124 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 10 - Jen Lee Reeves - Teacher / Activist / InfluencerJen Lee Reeves is Founder of Born Just Right Strategy which evolved from her experience as a parent and led to her work as an ally in the disability community.
When she isn’t working as a communications consultant or as Co-Founder/Executive Director for her Born Just Right Non-Profit, she’s a Digital Director at the University of Missouri and a training consultant.
She is an alumna of the social strategy team at A.A.R.P. in Washington, DC and also spent years as a television news producer.
Jen taught digital journ...
2020-10-1454 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 9 - Scott Kelley - Technologist/World TravelerScott Kelley is a world traveler these days!
He used to work in IT for such places as the US Air Force, Oracle, Disney, and various busted startups.
Back in January 2018 he took on the American dream, sold his home and quit his job in order to travel more and enjoy life.
Since then he has visited at least seven countries and thirteen states and has plans for many more. He also volunteers for the state parks, the Sierra Club, and Burning Man.
If you are looking for someplace to volunteer, Sco...
2020-10-0734 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 8 - Lisa Diana Shapiro - Playwright / TeacherLisa Diana Shapiro is a playwright and actor living in New York City. She is a graduate of the Northwestern University theatre program.
Her most recent production, Samantha Spade, Ace Detective was produced by the TADA Youth Theatre Program in New York where she is currently writing a new full-length family musical.
By day, Lisa works as a teaching artist throughout the five boroughs, bringing theatre classes to some of the most under-served schools in the area. She is Lead Teaching Artist for LEAP On Stage, a playwriting and production program run by the arts org...
2020-09-3028 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 7 - Peter Kurbikoff - EntrepreneurPeter Kurbikoff is a retired entrepreneur from Redondo Beach, California. Peter talks today about dealing with a Chronic Illness and Family Overseas during the pandemic.
I met Peter as one of the parent volunteers at the High School Band and Guard Booster group and his energy and enthusiasm was infectious.
He spends his time working with local Non-Profit groups and volunteering with the local Boy Scout Troop and helping his son earn his Eagle Scout Credentials.
Thanks for listening to Relief Valve! If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on your...
2020-09-2430 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 6 - Sylvain Goessens - TechnologistSylvain Goessens is a real man of the world, having lived and worked in 6 countries across 4 continents. He loves to travel and has always been fascinated by different cultures.
A Technologist working in Los Angeles, he currently lives in the Santa Clarita Valley and is working in Hollywood; he is a real Southern California road warrior in the truest sense of the word!
Thanks for listening to Relief Valve! If you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review on your favorite service and tell your friends about us.
2020-09-1636 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 5 - Tom Gilsenan - Entrepreneur / TechnologistOriginally from the San Francisco Bay area, Tom Gilsenan is the owner of DZ Solutions, a reseller of hardware, software, cloud, and IT Professional Services.
His professional background is that of Systems Engineer. His hobbies include Coffee, Cigar Smoking, and slow-smoked BBQ.
Tom serves as a board member of the For Goodness Cakes nonprofit and is a contributor to the SOVA food pantry. He lives in Santa Monica with his partner Marleigh and his dog, Luna.
You can reach Tom through his company at http://dzsolutions.com
If you lik...
2020-09-0940 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 4 - Edward Branley - Historian / AuthorEdward Branley is a writer, teacher, historian, and computer nerd.
Branley is the author of six books on the history of New Orleans as well as several Young Adult fiction novels.
Teaching is Branley’s passion and vocation. He earned a degree in Secondary Education from the University of New Orleans and taught at a Catholic high school in New Orleans after graduation.
He then moved to teaching adult continuing education for teachers and now teaches computer classes on high-end topics such as Converged Computing Environments, High-Availability, and Enterprise Storage Management.
You can find out...
2020-09-0234 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 3 - Nina Levinson - LinguistNina Levinson is a graduate student at The Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, studying translation localization management in Japanese.
She has earned a B.A. in Media, Culture and Communication from International Christian University in Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan. She worked as a freelance simultaneous conference interpreter and research assistant on revitalization methods for the indigenous language of Miyakoan on Miyako Island located southwest of Okinawa, Japan.
She is currently set to begin an internship in VFX localization at LAI Global Game Services this summer.
This conversation was recorded at the end...
2020-08-2632 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve - Episode 2 - W Curtis Preston - TechnologistToday I get to talk with W. Curtis Preston.
Curtis has been a close friend for fifteen years. He is a specialist in computer storage, backup and recovery and has been a consultant and analyst in the industry.
He is currently the Chief Technical Evangelist at Druva, a cloud-based data protection company.
He’s the author of 3 O’Reilly books and has clearly earned his title of “Mr. Backup”
Connect directly with Curtis at his site, Backup Central. http://www.backupcentral.com
2020-08-1935 minThe Relief Valve PodcastRelief Valve -Episode 1-The IntroductionWelcome to Relief Valve!
In this episode, I'll take just a few moments of your time to tell you about this project. The good stuff follows soon!
I’m new at this so I expect this to be a real learning experience, both on how to create this and how to communicate in a way that works. I would love your feedback so please feel free to reach out and share your thoughts.
jrock@jnrprod.com
https://jnrprod.com/
2020-08-1802 min