Daddy Unscripted Podcast

Episode 101 is coming out as a celebration of my little girl becoming a not so little girl anymore. We have done the parental thing: we've blinked our eyes and this little human that was seriously just taking her first steps and just saying her first word is now turning 13 years old. How in the world does this happen? I don't even personally know Doc Brown, so how would I have borrowed his Delorean and accelerated it to 88 to get to where we are now?!So, the cliche is true. They all may be true: time flies. Your kids get older so quickly. Who are these wives and why are all of their tales so spot on?! This is a shorter than normal episode as I tell a little bit about how things were for me as a teenager as I celebrate the milestone birthday of my "baby girl". You can listen to this conversation by finding the Daddy Unscripted podcast, wherever you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Tune In Radio, etc).As I say in each episode: for anyone who may need help during any difficult times:

Episode 100 of the podcast is here! Appropriately so, it's me talking about some corners I have turned in my life recently and my hope to inspire YOU to be able to do the same. This may need to be categorized as a TimTalk (is that a thing? Can I ™ that, or WHAT?!). Quickly, I didn't acknowledge one time that this is my 100th episode. Shame on me for that. I will properly cheer on the next episode as we work on the second set of 100 episodes, eh?As a human who happened to have been born as a white male in Southern California, I'm now pretty aware and cognizant of a lot of the 'things' that have been afforded to me. Privileges I've had. Which also entails my becoming more aware of the way I have taken any of these for granted, and/or looked the proverbial gift horse in the mouth at times. There are two major life changes that have occurred for me within the past few months. I dissect both of these fully in this episode. The first is my very cyclical and unpredictable return to one of the original pass

Episode 99 features a glorious human being: Destini Ann. If you've seen her on Instagram or Twitter, you may recognize her more as ManifestDestini. If you're on TikTok, go find her as DestiniAnn. Oh, you're not on TikTok? Well, she's got over 1 million followers there now... so go see why so many other people love hearing from Destini! I'm thrilled that Destini is now the second guest of my newest series: "Who Tells Your Story?" She is so "on the verge" of blowing up even more right now that there isn't even a verge anymore. Verge? What verge?! This is why you'll hear me say that we should just lasso the comet ™ and enjoy soaking up Destini's insights. And that doesn't mean just on parenting, but on being better humans. Have you ever felt like you were talking with someone and in your mind, you could envision the two of you just constantly high-fiving each other after things you said? Well, I didn't ask Destini if her 'high five counter' had as high of a number as mine did after this. But, for me, t

Episode 98 is my annual Father's Day episode. Last year was the first year I didn't post one of these. Fittingly, as we sat today (on Father's Day) and tried to remember what our family actually did to celebrate Father's Day last year: we did nothing. So, it works out that I didn't record or post my normal episode that year, either. I recorded this episode the day before Father's Day this time 'round... which means that I recorded it on Juneteenth. I talked in this episode about some of those goals that continue to drive me with doing this podcast. At the end of the episode, in my own way of paying attention to Juneteenth, I reminded you all that a great way to honor Black people is to shop Black-Owned Businesses. There are so many ways to find great lists and recommendations from people for how you can do that for what you may be looking for. As for me, I pointed y'all at just one place in particular for the time being: to hopefully future guest of the podcast, Mahogany Mommies. This is a smal

Episode 97 is a bit of a rollercoaster episode with Dave Almy. A very honest and real conversation, that has a lot of laughs and an almost equal number of moments that cause to take great pause. This episode was recorded almost exactly 2 years ago. I continued to hold this for the right time and that time is now! It's finally ready to be out here for your consumption.I'm gonna give a quick shout-out to previous guest of the podcast: Bruce Mendelsohn, for connecting Dave and me for this conversation. Thanks Bruce!Dave, who lives in NorCal now, is from Boston and very early in the episode, he makes sure to check in on the usage of bad language on the podcast. I gave him the green flag (the green flag for the red "E" on this one) and I warned y'all early in the episode... so: if you read this first, be ready.Dave comes from an interesting family dynamic, himself. His parents divorced when he was very young and his Dad married his stepmom in the years following. It's really good to hear about how great his stepmo

Episode 5 of "We're Here Alone Together" (W.H.A.T.) features Jess Rosado: blogger, photographer, designer, mom and creative extraordinaire. You should find her @OddBirdOut on Instagram really quick. Go go go. This is Episode 96 of the podcast. Jess and I have known each other since maybe 2005 or so, and we met via the world of Flickr. We talked a little about that early time, the social media platform we were on before the words "social media" were such a mainstay.Jess talked about how much more difficult Christmas in 2020 was for her, in comparison with previous years. Some of that was based on the pandemic... but she also talked about her kids being teens now completely changes the landscape of gift giving and celebration. We talked a bit about kids, allowances and chores. Being the youngest of 8 kids and growing up in the '70s and '80s, an "allowance" wasn't the same for me as it was for a lot of my friends. So, I was curious on Jess' take on it as a Mom of 2. I told a story about trying to trick/bribe (ca

Episode 95 features Icelandic visual artist Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir. Is there such a thing as "admiration at first sight" that is similar in its nature to the whole "love at first sight" thing? I have to assume there is... and that is what my relationship with Rebekka is rooted in. I'm excited that she becomes the first guest of my newest series: "Who Tells Your Story?"This is the second half of our long conversation. Did you listen to the 1st half? If you didn't... seriously, you need to go do that now. Even though this is kind of like my The Godfather I and The Godfather II, as good as this 2nd part is, you can't really take it in perfectly without taking in the 1st half. So, if you haven't done that, go do that now. Come back. This will still be here. Okay, now that we're all on the same page and ready for part 2, let's move ahead as one. "I actually spent one night in the hospital on suicide watch..." So, less than one minute into the 2nd half and we are really starting at a high level here becau

Episode 94 features Icelandic visual artist Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir. Is there such a thing as "admiration at first sight" that is similar in its nature to the whole "love at first sight" thing? I have to assume there is... and that is what my relationship with Rebekka is rooted in. I'm excited that she becomes the first guest of my newest series: "Who Tells Your Story?"The year was 2005. I was dating my now wife. I was working at my old job that had me traveling around the world... quite a lot. I wish I could, but I can't recall what originally brought me to search up some type of photograph and led my internet search into a website called Flickr. To give perspective, this is 4 years before Instagram. Facebook was only available to college students at this time. Nobody was using the words "social media" in a meaningful way yet. As I wandered around photos on Flickr, something caught my eye and lassoed my imagination. It was what seemed to be a long exposure shot (one of a few she posted around that time)

Episode 93 is the first of 2021 and a brief check-in for all of us on our mental well-being. Literally for all of us: myself very much included.The world has changed a ton for a lot of us since we turned the pages on calendars from 2020 to 2021. Or has it? That's an actual question I wanted to sit down with for this episode. 2020 was not the best year ever for so many of us. I feel pretty safe saying that. I mean, unless you're Jeff Bezos or one of the other billionaires that just got even more disgustingly wealthy during the past year. Emphasis on that word 'disgusting', by the way.The transition to a new year tends to bring that big energy of leaving things in the past and moving into the fresh, shiny newness with some level of optimism. 2021 feels like it was the polar opposite calendar page-turn of the year 2000, with all of the y2k fear. So, what happened? What changed? I sat with that for a minute or 5 and came away with the reality that, aside from the literal calendar change: nothing changed

Episode 92 is my 3rd Thanksgiving episode. Last year's episode was heavily inspired by the life of Mr. Rogers and featured an inspiring message and challenge based on the kindness represented by Mr. Rogers' legacy. This year's episode is painted more with the current landscape of our country and, really, our planet during the fall and winter months of 2020. With everything going on in the world right now, I decided to just take some of it on with this solo, guest-less episode. I think, in the end, it allows me to be more thankful and grateful if I'm not straight up trying to avoid or dance around the obvious. I started by sharing the relief I felt with the (apparent) election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the president and vice president elect. I analyzed some of the fear I have heard some people express about what that may mean for USA; I tried to talk through a little of my confusion with that mindset while coming to terms with how that may feel valid to people that don't share my same ideas.T

Episode 91 features Chris Colbert, the CEO of DCP Entertainment, which just launched a new show titled "Say Their Name". We talk about that podcast a lot in this episode, let me first tell you about Chris. He began his career in audio production over a decade ago as an intern and consultant for Sirius Satellite Radio (now SiriusXM Radio). While simultaneously earning his degree from Seton Hall University, he helped create Oscar and Grammy award winner Jamie Foxx’s comedy and music channel “The Foxxhole.”Upon successful completion and tremendous success with “The Foxxhole,” Chris joined SiriusXM full time and helped create “Carlin’s Corner”, a 24/7 George Carlin comedy channel, and “Que Funny”, SiriusXM’s only bilingual Latino comedy channel. He also oversaw programming and operations for “Urban View” and “Blue Collar Radio” (now “Jeff & Larry’s Comedy Roundup”). In addition to SiriusXM’s permanent stations, Chris also worked on pop-up channels such as “Richard Pryor Radio”, “Star Wars Radio”, “Comic Con R

Episode 90 features David Gans, songwriter, musician, author, photographer, radio host of The Grateful Dead Hour... and, what did I miss? I've recently released a few episodes recorded pre-Covid. This is another of those and, again, I kind of like hearing these conversations during what was a simpler, much different time. This conversation took place near New Year's 2019, believe it or not. A number of reasons held this one back so long, including other podcasts in the Osiris Media family releasing their own convos with David and my not wanting to create a David Gans deluge (which, really, might not be such a bad thing, honestly). So, at long last, I'm very happy to finally bring this conversation to you all.Another thing that made this conversation unique: he was the second person I had on Daddy Unscripted even though they were not actually Dads. We chuckled about that at the beginning of this episode. I will stand firmly by the idea that I thought this conversation would still be warmly welcomed by my audie

Episode 5 of "We're Here Alone Together" (W.H.A.T.) features Billie Weiss, the Senior Manager of Photography for the Boston Red Sox. If you, like me, follow him on social media, you may actually think his name is BJ Weiss. That's merely his handle on most of social media, however... so go find him as @BJWeiss22 on both Instagram and Twitter. Okay... I assume you handled following him on social media now so you can better follow who this artiste is (that is not a typo... he absolutely is more than an 'artist'). Billie and I started the episode by just getting the "acquaintance" part out of the way. Even if you may think I was a little effusive in my excitement about talking with him and how complimentary I was of his work over the years: trust me. I held back. As a photographer and as a huge sports fan and as a ridiculous fan of the Red Sox, I really did restrain myself from what could have come off as way too much time of utter fanboy treatment. I cannot fully describe how passionate I am about Bill

Episode 88 features Damon Miller, a CEO and longtime surfer from Oregon. This is another blast from the past episode, actually recorded in the summer of 2019. I started to feel the guilt while editing this recently of it taking me so long to get to... but I actually really enjoy the nostalgia of hearing these conversations that happen pre-Covid, if I'm being honest.Damon starts us off, going back to his great grandfather moving to the Miami area from Wisconsin back in the 1920's. His great grandfather started a business in Miami that ended up becoming kind of the family business and that is where his family roots dug in deep for generations to come. Damon was in that state until he moved out west in the middle of his college years.When we go back into the relationship between Damon and his parents, Damon tells how his parents divorced when he was only 6 years old. "It's not really a tragic story in any way..." Damon says of that time of his life. He had a stepdad that entered his hemisphere not too long after

Episode 4 of "We're Here Alone Together" (W.H.A.T.) features Ashley Girres, an author and Mom very well known on Twitter as @aFierceMind. Just pause right now and get onto Twitter and go follow her. I'll wait for you to take care of that.Good... you're back. Thanks for doing that. Actually: you're welcome for that. You'll thank me. Ashley has been making me LOL for quite some time now with her incredibly witty tweets. Not just that, but she is also immensely bold, honest, and real.I started telling people over a decade ago that "I feel like I have lived many lives already" (in my lifetime... not a reference to reincarnation). I recently read one of Ashley's tweets with that same sentiment and it was just another way I felt connected to her. When I listened to a recent podcast that had Ashley on as a guest, I was taken aback by how much I felt right in line with her in so many different ways.Ashley's Dad passed away when she was just 7 years old. She tells a little bit about that in our conversation because th

Black Lives Matter. If you can't say that, or can't agree with it: this just may not be the episode for you. I paused while typing these show notes right after those 2 sentences there. Like I was standing at a 4-way intersection, deciding which path to take. Do I go for simplicity and a bereft approach (unlike the actual episode itself) and just leave those sentences as the entirety of the notes? That would feel "cool" to do... kind of like a big mic drop. But, not a smart SEO move, right? Also, it would feel like I'm saying very demonstratively: "I'm right. Period. If you disagree, go suck an egg!" Which, A: I could say. It's my podcast. And, B: I mean... if we're being real, I completely do not understand if you can't agree with this idea. That Black lives matter. If you're thrown off by my usage of the "Black Lives Matter" symbol and going to go down the road of theories behind the actual #BlackLivesMatter movement and what do they do with their finances and are they holding hands behind their ow

Ofosu of the Balance meditation app is my guest for Episode 85. Ofosu is also known in the music world as "Born I", and you can find his music basically everywhere (Soundcloud, Spotify, Youtube). This is the 3rd of the "We're Here, Alone Together" episodes; meaning we don't really get into the whole fatherhood side of things. We recorded this episode on June 6, 2020, just 12 days after the murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis. I have been very outspoken about how much meditation via the Balance app has helped me from the onset of the new world we live in due to Covid-19. I reached out to Ofosu some time ago, after I saw that he's a Dad. I wanted to have him as part of the podcast to learn more about his own familial history and to, of course, thank him for his work with Balance. However, family history took a back seat when our country found itself in the middle of its own writing of history right now. With all of the protests and the surging battle for racial equality that we find ou

The 2nd Episode of my side series of the Daddy Unscripted podcast: We're Here Alone Together (W.H.A.T.) features my longtime friend Ana who is a doctor in Bucharest, Romania. When I started this side project of my podcast, I immediately thought of Ana and a conversation I had with her a little over a month ago about how things got out of control quickly with the spread of the Corona Virus. The stories she told were both fascinating and immensely troubling. Ana talked about a large number of Romanian citizens who were lying about their travels after returning to the country from Italy (where the virus had begun its massive rampage of the country). I'm not pulling in a fact-checker here, because I am not a news source. So, let's just be clear on that. But some of what she told me is just so sensational. A Senator who was infected that refused to go into quarantine who continued to speak in public and meet with people. A policeman who was infected that, amongst other things, went to a club with 20

Episode 83: Matt Darwin, listener of the podcast, becomes an important guest! Matt was so real, honest, and open in this conversation about the path for him and his wife from having an only child to adding a 4th to their little family of 3.Matt normally would be making the commute to his law firm in Manhattan from his home in New Jersey on the daily. But, at the time we recorded this (April 8, 2020), shelter-in-place and quarantine life had been underway for close to a month. We spent some time talking about how things are on the east coast for him with the new world we find ourselves in currently.Matt reached out to me with the proposition of being a guest with a story that he had not yet heard on the podcast: parents toiling with the decision to add another child to their family or not. We agreed it would be a great discussion to have for multiple reasons. It took us some time to nail everything down to record and, by the time we got everything settled, Matt reached back out to me with some news.Life has it

The official First Episode of my side series of the Daddy Unscripted podcast: We're Here Alone Together (W.H.A.T.) is here. My guest is Jose Rosado, who was on Daddy Unscripted Episodes 7 and 10. If you remember, Jose was instrumental in helping Daddy Unscripted become a podcast. A big part of that is because Jose had his own podcast going strong back then: The Angry Millenial Podcast. Jose works in the Mental Health field and his family of four live in Maryland. His wife (Jess) and I have been friends for close to 15 years now. Jess is extremely talented and gifted in many ways and when the whole Corona Virus thing started sweeping through, she was one of the people who took it upon themselves to learn how to make masks. She quickly started working day in and out, making masks to donate to local hospitals and healthcare workers. She made quite a number of masks for the staff at the animal hospital I manage and you should check out all of her stuff at www.umecreative.com In this episode, Jose and I