Taglit is the Hebrew word for 'discovery'. The Birthright Israel program was initiated in 1994 and is funded by private donors, The Jewish Agency for Israel and the Israeli Government.  To be eligible you have to have at least one parent of recognized Jewish descent, or who have converted to Judaism through a recognized Jewish movement and be between the ages of 18 and 27. As of 2022, more than 800,000 participants from 68 countries had participated in a Birthright tour.  A Birthright Israel trip includes airfare from a major gateway city, room, board and transportation associated with touring the country for a ten-day trip.  On today’s show, my guests are Nina Levinson who works in the entertainment industry creating localizations, literally the foreign language versions,  of popular TV shows and movies.  And Jason Rochlin who is the Lead Features Editor at Game Rant, a popular web blog site covering news and interest stories of the video gaming industry.  (And yes, he is my son)   Authors Personal Note: When I started Relief Valve in August of 2020, it was all about getting through a challenging time during the Covid outbreak.  I was looking for work and like most others locked in my house waiting for the first vaccines to come along.  I wanted to see how others were coping and while I was at it, learning more about who they were, what they did and how they were dealing with the world.   I paused in October of 2021 after 37 interviews, realizing that we were really beginning to move on from Covid, and after a year and a half, I discovered I really miss talking to other people about what they do and how they go there. So, today, I want to rededicate this podcast to sharing the experiences of others.  Hopefully with interesting stories and maybe the occasional inspiration along the way.   Music in this episode is: Title: Degenerate Blues Artist: Alexander Nakarada First release: 24.04.2019 Source: https://filmmusic.io/song/4781-degenerate-blues

Jeff 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 property tax system that generates over $17 billion annually.  https://assessor.lacounty.gov/forms   --- Learn more about this and other podcasts along with the other stuff we make in the garage…  https://www.jrocksgarage.com/

Mitch 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 with the other stuff we make in the garage…  https://jrocksgarage.com/

Larry 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 on the digital archiving of motion pictures called “Solving the Digital Dilemma”.  From 2000-2016 he owned Swelltone Labs, a post-production sound facility in New Orleans, where he lives and works. Learn more about his work on IMDB:  https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0086626/   Learn more about this and other podcasts along with the other stuff we make in the garage…  https://jrocksgarage.com/

Bobak 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://www.eatkindredspirit.com @eatkindredspirit __________ Learn more about this and other podcasts along with the other stuff we make in the garage…  https://jrocksgarage.com/

Hey 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 about how the new normal takes shape and what is really important for everyone! If you have a story to share about your world and how it’s taking shape, reach out!  If you are willing to talk about it, I’d love the chance to talk to you!  I’m convinced that when we share our experience with each other it give us a chance to grow and encourages us into a brighter shared future. Thanks for listening!  I think of all of you as friends and I hope all this has brought some joy to your lives.    Here’s to hopefully another year of sharing these stories with you! Our next episode should hit the feed next week, but if you want to learn more about me and this podcast, take a look at  https://www.jeffrochlin.com/relief-valve Please subscribe!  If you have a story to share, reach out!  I’d love to talk to you about it! My email is:  jrock@jnrprod.com

Lani 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 irreverent. You can find all her ventures at: https://theamericangenius.com/author/lani/ Check out her book: https://www.amazon.com/Real-Passion-Purpose-Profits-Estate/dp/0615838340/   -- Thanks for listening! If you enjoy the show, please be sure to subscribe to The Relief Valve Podcast here (https://feed.podbean.com/reliefvalve/feed.xml) or listen to us on Apple (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-relief-valve-podcast/id1528405470) Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/6LXn0Y1GCiQQIqP5zEf3aW?si=gOfZ-QXbRE-B8pPSd5REog&dl_branch=1) or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Kelly 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 development of family literacy skills by not only providing access to age-appropriate reading materials, but also by modeling how reading aloud is done in fun and welcoming videos.  Find her work here: https://airigami.com/ https://readalongroad.com/

Mike 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 Florida with his wife Gwen and his two kids, both world class Ice Skaters on their way to future Olympic Gold! Learn more about his work at:   https://www.madesign.tv

Dave 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   See the Wine Pouring Broadcasts at: https://www.facebook.com/AscensionCellars   And get the latest anytime on Instagram at: @ascensioncellars

Annie 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:  http://www.foundcoffeela.com Or on Instagram:  @foundcoffeela

Al 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-line performance we talk about, check out his performance of the theme from “The Mandalorian” released for “May the fourth be with you” https://youtu.be/EEdI6zgOv84n    And some of his other performances with his band “The Candy Bomber” https://www.facebook.com/TheCandyBomber/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnlUNzT-sIgtSkXrs4Wx0Xw   And learn more about his teaching at: http://www.sunsetlearningstudio.com/our-teachers.html https://justplaysax.wixsite.com/alpimenteljazz   If you enjoy The Relief Valve Podcast, please share it with your friends!

Adam 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!

W. 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/view/modern-data-protection/9781492094043/ https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Data-Protection-Recoverability-Workloads/dp/1492094056/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=ISBN%3A+9781492094050&qid=1617493103&sr=8-1

Alyson 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!

Scott "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. See the fruits of his labors at https://www.dreamworks.com

Born 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 British Citizen in October 2020. https://www.facebook.com/daradactyl https://www.linkedin.com/in/dara-mcgarry-6a75512/?originalSubdomain=uk

Tommy 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 around the world. When he’s not on tour, he teaches and performs weekly live webcast on Facebook Live. https://www.tommywilliams.net https://www.facebook.com/Tommy-Williams-42057517974/ https://wonderous-stories.com https://www.hootersmusic.com/tommy-williams https://www.facebook.com/quarantinekeys   ONE OF US / TIME AFTER TIME - The Hooters (Kiel, Germany 6-17-11) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4VP6OxrvN8&feature=youtu.be   The Hooters - Give The Music Back (with Tommy Williams guitar intro) Ocean City NJ 7/18/17 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K0oN17_gy4   The Hooters "And We Danced" @Epcot 11/07/2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ3g8H8GX2U   Follow up on the Relief Valve feed for some of Tommys tracks from his album Two Hundred

Tommy 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

Greetings 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 conversation about our humble experiences in the pre- and early-PC era of computers. We also spoke about what it is like looking for a job right smack in the middle of a pandemic. It was great stuff, but it didn’t really fit in the amount of time available for the episode, so it landed in the cutting room.    I’m releasing here for you all as a bonus while I’m working on finding more folks to chat with for 2021, so I hope you enjoy it ! Have a safe and happy new year and wear your damn masks ! You can find out more about Edward at his websites: https://nolahistoryguy.com https://ebranley.com -- Any suggestions or if you just want to share your thoughts, email me: jrock@jnrprod.com You can learn more about Jeff Rochlin at https://jeffrochlin.com/ If you enjoy the podcast, please be sure to subscribe and tell your friends about us!