Feel Free to Deviate

Am I the guest? Is Oppie the guest? Is Pi the guest? Are all of us simultaneously both the guest and the host? These questions may never be answered, but in this episode I chat with Pi Ai about Christopher Nolan's 2023 summer blockbuster film, Oppenheimer. In case you are unaware, Oppenheimer is a film about the scientist who lead the team that developed the atomic bombs used at the end of World W...

Despite long breaks and periods of doubt and despair, I finally made it to episode 50. This is a weird one. The guest, or guests are two different AI bots. The first is one I’ve named Max, and the second is the chat bot provided by Bing. We talk about a few articles about satisfaction in workplace, and I receive some decent feedback from a computer who has never actually had a job before, and I’m...

Episode 49 of Feel Free to Deviate features musician and educator Eric Miller. Eric and I were in a band together when we were in high school and were later roommates during my early years in Boston. Since then, Eric has been a serially self-employed music creator, educator, and proprietor of Miller Music in Farmington, CT. He is a pillar of the community and an over all great guy who can shred wi...

Episode 0048 of Feel Free to Deviate features nobody… It’s a quick explanation of why Jim has recently strayed from the release schedule, and an outline of what you might expect in the future.  Topics include: Excuses are like… Dead grass is not awesome Job search An awkward job interview Bathroom renovations So much more! - really, not much more. A little more, but whatever. Feel Free to Deviate...

Episode 47 of Feel Free to Deviate features singing, songwriting, guitar playing creative person, Tom Sturm. Our paths originally crossed in the late 90s when he moved into a house with a bunch of my friends. He’s a musician, but as many parents of musicians have noted over the years, making money as a musician can be… challenging. Because of that, he currently works as a content creator at Cooley...

Episode 46 of Feel Free to Deviate features architectural power couple Valentina Fantini and Giulio Margheri. Both of them work for notable Dutch architecture firms and have their own career trajectories. They share their experiences of how they ended up working for their current firms, and how their relationship evolved with their careers over the years. The conversation provides insight into the...

Episode 45 of Feel Free to Deviate features Evonne Wetzner, Senior Global Marketing Communications Strategist at Oracle, the gigantic software company. Sounds kinda nerdy, but she’s worked in a variety of industries, and she even founded one of the greatest video stores of all time: The Video Underground! This episode is brimming with pivots and real business experience, and it’s super fun. Perhap...

The guest on episode 44 is Joost van der Spek. Joost is a storyteller who mostly writes “stories that translate factual knowledge into an experience that museum visitors will remember.” Basically, he writes the scripts and stories that accompany those elaborate exhibitions you see in museums, and sometimes other places. We talk about how he approaches doing that as well as how he got into the fiel...

Episode 43 of Feel Free to Deviate features Eric Mead. He’s qualified to do many things, but he is currently teaching young people the ins and outs of rigging for 3d animation. As cool as that is, it’s not the only reason I asked him to be on the show. Eric is the pivot master. Whether learning a new language or piloting helicopters, he ONLY does things that he enjoys or finds interesting. I belie...

The guest on episode 42 of Feel Free to Deviate is Rachel Carey. She’s an artist. I’ll let her fill you in on what that means, but it’s fairly important to note that she has a “regular” job doing financial stuff, because the bills aren’t going to pay themselves. It’s a fun and lively episode, and it is my observation that her combined experiences have brought her a pleasing and tasteful level of s...

Episode 41 of Feel Free to Deviate is the follow up, or sequel to episode 40, which was a re-visitation of a month long blog I wrote during the final 26 days of my twenties, back in 2005. That’s why it’s called 26 Days. Clever, right? If you haven’t listened to episode 40 yet, you should do that first. If you don’t, this episode won’t make much sense. It’s all about context. Frequent Feel Free to...

Today is my birthday, and I recently rediscovered a blog I wrote in December 2005 about the last days of my 20s. Episode 40 of Feel Free to Deviate is a recitation of that snippet of my life. It’s a fun (for me, at least…) look into the mindset of myself at 30. I think I’ll follow up with thoughts and feelings about this at a later date. I guess I’ll do a part 2 in a few weeks. Right now I’m going...

High school begins at 12 years old in the Netherlands, and the first year is what they call a bridge year. My daughter and her classmates are in the midst of choosing which high school they will attend next year. She and her classmates are rushing off to different schools for open days, information evenings, and trial classes hoping to figure out which Rotterdam school will cater to their needs af...

The guest on episode 0038 of Feel Free to Deviate is techno artist/producer/musician/and DJ extraordinaire, Joris Voorn. He made a name for himself in the early 2000s, and he’s been going strong since. His job and lifestyle have always been interesting to me, partially because I once harbored a desire to be an indie-rockstar. Of course, I didn’t have the talent, drive, focus, or diligence to make...

The Guest on episode 37 of Feel Free to Deviate is Holly Adams. She’s a performer, voice actor, educator, and several adjacent things. She’s even a clown, but she doesn’t clown around. She is completely embedded and focused on being a legit working actor, and she’s been doing that for her entire adult life. It’s remarkable, and she’ll tell you all about it. Fun fact: I was in a play called Godspel...

***Apologies - If you were among the first downloaders you will notice a technical problem around 25 minutes in. I have fixed it. Please download the file again. You're gonna love it.  The guest on episode 36 of Feel Free to Deviate is photographer, educator, and photography book author Sarah Malakoff. She is a professor at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth and also a bonafide fine art photog...

Episode 35 of Feel Free to Deviate is an outtake episode that has almost nothing to do with careers. Is that weird? Now that I’m writing this, I think it is. Anyway, first up is an extension of episode 34, featuring Justin Baum . We talked a bit about music and bikes and audio equipment. After the Justin segment is a clip from my conversation with esteemed educator, film lover, and comic book guy,...

The guest on episode 34 of Feel Free to Deviate is Justin Baum. He is the VP of Product at a software company called LeaseUp. He’s also a designer and a user experience guru. He probably won’t like that I called him a guru, but that’s too bad…  He’s a very knowledgeable guy who digs deep into the philosophy surrounding the tech industry. I have always admired his technical skills, but also his unc...

Normally I say that Feel Free to Deviate is the podcast about people, their careers, and their relationships with success, but Episode 33 of Feel Free to Deviate is a sort of rambling and lightly focused discussion of a film that many people consider inspirational for career, success, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness… In this episode I speak with my friend Florian Schroiff about the 2006 fi...

Episode 32 of Feel Free to Deviate features musician and sonic consultant Adam Brilla. Adam and his wife Jennifer run a company called Stompbox Sonic . What’s a sonic consultant? You should listen and find out. Spoiler alert: It’s super cool. He also works in the IT department of a Boston area college, and has had a string of jobby jobs along the way. This is a low-key episode sprinkled with bits...

Episode 31 of Feel Free to Deviate features Viva Butler. Viva is a teacher who spent many of her formative years traveling and working in cooperatives and food service, including an indie chocolate company!!! Now she’s a teacher who lives at and maintains a retreat in the Berkshires with her partner and a tiny activist who happens to be her daughter. We talk about her circuitous journey towards un...

Episode 30 of Feel Free to Deviate features academic librarian and comics artist Dawn Wing. She’s moved around and changed careers a few times, and recently self-published two comics about Chinese-American women under the banner of her publishing company WaterPigPress.com . She does a wonderful job of balancing her job and her artistic practice.  Topics include: Chinese-American feminist heroes! T...

Episode 29 of Feel Free to Deviate features Chris Nelson. When he was a child he decided that he wanted to be a toy or game designer, and he proceeded to do everything he could to make that happen. Shortly after graduating from MassArt he mostly achieved his goal by landing a job working for a company that is synonymous with board games, and now he’s working as an independent game designer/invento...

Episode 28 of Feel Free to Deviate features Janelle Stone. Janelle is and Associate in Training at Orton-Gillingham Academy. As their website says, “The Orton-Gillingham Approach is a direct, explicit, multisensory, structured, sequential, diagnostic, and prescriptive way to teach literacy when reading, writing, and spelling does not come easily to individuals, such as those with dyslexia.” Janell...

This is a very special episode of Feel Free to Deviate. Ed Mubarek from episode 5 is back to talk about the cumulative effect of little things becoming big problems and getting ghosted by potential collaborators. We also talk about the state of the podcast, the state of the Jim, and the state of my psyche on the eve of potential employment. You can find Ed and procure audio editing and post produc...