Ba Vojdaan با وجدان

Ba Vojdaan با وجدان

By James D. NewcombSociety & CultureBusinessEntrepreneurship
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Ba Vojdaan با وجدان episodes

  • Thuggish Hotel Manager Shares Powerful Business Lesson With Petty Power Trip

    "Mr. Newcomb..." said the voice on the other end of the line.

    "Yes."

    "This is the hotel manager. Did you break the rules of the hotel this morning?"

    Silence. I could practically feel the white-hot lights in the interrogation room burning into my skin, my freedom hinging on what I would say next.

    "Mr. Newcomb, did you break the rules of the quarantine this morning?"

    "Did you see me breaking the rules?"

    "I saw it on the video camera."

    "I see."

    "Mr. Newcomb, would you like me to assist you in moving to the army barracks to do the remainder of your quarantine? Because I'll be happy to do so if that's your wish."

    "Now why would you do that?"

    "We notified the local authority, and they told us we should send you to the army barracks because you broke the rules of the hotel this morning."

    Silence.

    "I need some water sent to my room."

    "What size?"

    "The big 19 liter jug."

    "Okay, it's coming right up, sir."

    Click.

    The water arrived a few minutes later.

    The above conversation actually happened this morning at the hotel where I'm serving my mandatory 14-day quarantine upon my arrival in Vietnam to live with my wife Sana.

    What was my crime? you're probably asking.

    I walked outside my room in the hallway, attempting to mimic something that resembles a walk. It was 6 am, and not a soul was in sight. But the rule clearly states that "guests" are not permitted to leave their hotel room for any reason.

    Now, I don't mind rules that are intended to keep Covid out of the country. It's their home, I'm more or less visiting. What bothers me, whether for disease prevention or anything else, is rules that exist just to exist. And people who enforce them for no other reason than they're there - common sense, or the mental health of paying guests at a hotel be damned.

    As petty and childish as the hotel manager was, there's an important lesson to be gleaned from this experience.

    From my perspective, these people are unreasonable, to the point of being even fanatical in their hyper-compliance with the rules.

    But it kind of puts to shame many who have a business, a side-hustle, a ministry who don't have the same zeal.

    I'm not saying we should emulate the indifference to the welfare of other human beings. But in the spirit of not throwing out the baby with the bath water, there is an important lesson to be learned from this other wise negative experience.

    Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/james-and-sana.


    See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

    27 min
  • The Most Inconsequential New Year's Resolutions Podcast You'll Hear This New Year

    If you enjoy these podcasts that James and Sana produce, perhaps you'll consider supporting us financially.

    As you may have heard, we are in the process of obtaining a visa for Sana to reside in the United States. And boy it aint cheap. If you'd like to help us out with covering the attorney's fees, filing fees, copying fees (it cost nearly $200 just to make copies of all the materials in our application), and what not, we'd be tremendously grateful.

    If you choose not to, that's okay too. We love making these podcasts as it has grown us closer together as a couple, and we're glad other people are able to share in our exploits as we grow a new family!

    Click here to send your contribution

    Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/james-and-sana.


    See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

    32 min
  • CALLED OUT! Local Boy No Longer Able to Keep Quiet on Father's Terrible Sushi

    "Your sushi is terrible!" said Gabriel, 6, to his father, James Newcomb.

    So it goes in James' rented apartment on the oceanfront of Virginia Beach, VA while he awaits the arrival of his wife Shafieh (Sana) Dorry when her visa to reside in the United States is approved by the State Department.

    The recent failed attempt at making sushi is the latest in a string of culinary mishaps which has befallen James and Gabriel. Police reports reveal responses to complaints of burnt blueberry pancakes, overdone turkey bacon, and meat in a spaghetti sauce with the texture of an Adidas running sneaker.

    Sana's arrival in the U.S. will be most welcome, not only to bring a degree of competence into the kitchen, but to finally unite a young child and his stepmother, with whom he has corresponded only via video chat since March 2019.

    When this podcast went to press, James was seen poring over a Betty Crocker™ cookbook planning dinner.

    Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/james-and-sana.


    See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

    14 min
  • A Persian Lesson for the Dumb American, Brushing One Tooth at a Time, and The Real Source of Wisdom on this Podcast

    **This just may be the most important podcast episode of our lifetimes.

    We're certain that if you listen to this episode, you'll find something of value in it.

    Thing is, we're not exactly sure where.

    Sana gave James an introductory lesson in the Persian language, we discussed the best way to boil potatoes, and even managed to squeeze in a discussion on Biblical history among other topics.

    Enjoy!

    Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/james-and-sana.


    See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

    17 min
  • Society Rises and Falls to the Level of Its Art

    (James) While I was living in Vietnam earlier this year, Sana and I went to a shopping mall to just hang out. It was very odd that the mall was playing kids music - think Wheels On the Bus, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, stuff like that.

    We discussed this on today's podcast. While Sana's rationale as to why the mall management would do that makes sense, it got me to thinking about how mainstream art as a whole has degraded to what it is today.

    Seriously... Does anyone think that Justin Timberlake holds a candle to Simon and Garfunkel, George Gershwin, Mozart, etc. when it comes to artistic integrity.

    Those cats were the Justin Timberlake of their time as far as popularity, cultural "relevance" and such.

    Think about that.

    The decline we see in social norms, off the charts anxiety and depression, mass shootings, etc. along with this decline in artistic integrity is not a coincidence.

    And now the arts are basically at a standstill during the COVID-19 era.

    Sana and I touched on this briefly, but truth be told, I wished we would have gone much longer on this one.

    I guess that's the beauty of a podcast. You can always fill in the gaps next week, right?

    Enjoy!

    Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/james-and-sana.


    See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

    19 min
  • How NOT to Pitch Your Product, The True Meaning of Entertainment, and Lessons from Walter White for Real-Life Media Producers: Two Podcasters Geek Out on Podcasting and Life!

    Well, Sana got a week off this week. She's got another week to devise ways to exploit James' weaknesses to gain the upper hand in their on-show banter.

    But this one is a doozy. James interviewed his friend and fellow podcast host Jason Heath this past week. Jason is a professional symphony bassist and hosts a show called Contrabass Conversations. Jason "gets it" when it comes to tribe-building and building community around a podcast. His show generates over one million downloads per year at last count!

    So he knows a thing or two about running a successful podcast, and is always game for a friendly chat to talk business, media production and life.

    Among the more salient points in our discussion:

    -Why a podcast is like your baby...5:00

    -People are into you, not the topic...7:30

    -Why put out content when there's already so much out there?...10:00

    -Your hero podcaster didn't start out as a rock star...13:00

    -The true meaning of entertainment..18:40

    -How to kill your credibility while pitching your product...29:10

    -An unconventional route to success in the digital media world...40:15

    Check out Jason's work at contrabassconversations.com

    Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/james-and-sana.


    See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

    47 min

About Ba Vojdaan با وجدان

From the publisher's feed

با وجدان (transliterated to Ba Vojdaan) is a Persian word which translates to English as "Conscientious".