Half Hour Intern

Do you get stressed out when your boss yells at you? Get a bad grade on a test? The waitress comes over to the table and you weren’t quite ready to order? Today’s guest, Dr. Raymond Shaheen, may be able to help put some of that in perspective for you. Dr. Shaheen is a vascular surgeon who very regularly has to make life or death decisions to help save the lives’ and limbs’ of patients. We’ll learn what it is like to carry that sort of mental burden, we’ll hear some of the memorable stories from Dr. Shaheen’s career, and most importantly we’ll find out just what the heck a vascular surgeon does.

Do you like to eat? Everything? All the time? I know I sure do! But there’s something I’ve learned in life, and that’s that you can’t always have it all. Want to eat some tasty sugary pastries and bliss out from the dopamine hit they give you? Sounds good, but be prepared to not feel motivated to go to the gym…or do much else after. Want to have loads of energy every day, have amazing looking skin, and a feel balanced emotionally? It’s probably gonna take some sort of sacrifice in your diet. In an almost literal sense, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Today we’ll talk to Darlene Adamusik who has one of the more extreme and restrictive diets out there (though that’s not how she thinks about it). She is a vegan. She is loving it. And she is going to tell us why.

Have you ever been on a website before? Has it ever occurred to you that almost every website you go to was designed by a web designer? That fact reminds me a lot of the architecture episode. It’s almost hard to believe that EVERY building we walk by was conceived by an architect, and even harder to believe that EVERY website we visit was conceived in much the same way. Time to take a look into that career and see what this ubiquitous field is all about.

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, ‘The only constant is change.’ Boy was he ever right. Times they are a changing. Some things for the good, others for the not as good, but that’s all a matter of perspective. From my perspective, one of the better changes to come about in the last decade or so is bringing an element of casualness to once very formal and very serious institutions. Showing that just because something looks more relaxed from the outside doesn’t mean that all of the emotion and substance that makes it special is not still on the inside. On the contrary, it can make it even more special as it becomes approachable and inviting to a larger group a people. One example of this is modern ‘fine dining’ institutions. Most of the famous young chefs in the world work at restaurants that you can feel at home in. No tuxedo necessary, just come in and enjoy the warm, unique atmosphere and amazing food. This similar change has come around to the institution of weddings. Gone are the days of 90% of people getting married in churches and country clubs, here are the days of my wife and I getting married outdoors in Yosemite. Today’s guest, Maggie Lord, sensed the writing on the wall and created a Rustic Wedding (and Rustic Baby) empire. She is the founder of one of the most popular wedding blogs, RusticWeddingChic.com, and proves that you don’t have to be precious and formal to be beautiful, memorable, and filled with emotion.

Just stop right there. I know what you’re thinking. ANOTHER episode about alcohol…that…is…AWESOME! And you’re right, it is awesome. Do you know how many treaties were signed over a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon? All of them. Do you know how many businesses were founded over a carafe of Zinfandel? All of them. Do you know how many statistics I’ve made up while drinking a glass of Sangiovese? None of them, because that would be totally irresponsible. Today’s guest, Madeline Puckette, is the ultimate Renaissance woman. She’s the graphic designer responsible for some of the greatest wine infographcs that have ever been made. She was voted Wine Blogger of the Year at the International Wine and Spirits Competition for her site, Wine Folly. And now, she’s responsible for the #1 selling wine book on Amazon of the same name…and as of my writing this it hasn’t even come out yet! So how, in just a few short years, do you completely take the wine world by storm?