This week the guys welcome Matt Meyer — musician, songwriter, and civil engineer — for one of the most wide-open, honest conversations the show has had. What starts with Matt playing an original song on Mission Bay turns into a deep dive on friendship, the state of independent music, and what drives a person to keep creating even when there's no money in it.

Matt wraps the episode with a live performance of "One Foot Forward," the title track from Poor Dirty Astronauts' first full band recording.

If you've ever loved something just for the love of it, this one's for you.

🎵 Poor Dirty Astronauts — available on Spotify and all major platforms.

This week, we're taking a trip down memory lane — and what better time than May the 4th, with a milestone birthday right around the corner? Jeff's turning 50 on May 6th, so we're celebrating Gen X style: by talking about everything from the '80s that made us who we are (and somehow didn't kill us).

We dig into the biggest nostalgia trends making a comeback in 2026 — power dressing, retro sneakers, disposable cameras, cassette tapes, and mall culture. Then we go deep on the things that would never fly today: riding in the back of pickup trucks, lawn darts marketed to children, smoking sections everywhere, and drinking from garden hoses without a second thought.

From stretching phone cords for privacy to recording songs off the radio and getting ruined by DJs — this one's pure Gen X gold. We also talk fast food, VHS rewinding, Chuck E. Cheese crawl spaces, and the glorious chaos of '80s PE class.

Plus: Jeff's best advice to his younger self, why Gen X is built different, and what one thing each of us would bring back from the decade.

If you grew up in the '80s, this one hits different.

In this episode, Omar and Jeff sit down with Marisol Rerucha, educator, author, consultant, and principal at SciTech High who walked into their lives thanks to a misdirected FedEx package.

Marisol opens with a powerful indigenous-style introduction, tracing her lineage back seven generations and reframing success not as what we've accomplished, but as who we carry with us.

The conversation dives into:

• Alternative education — what it actually is, why it exists, and why the "school for bad kids" stigma is something we were sold and can choose to return
• Restorative practices — the core message of her book Beyond the Surface of Restorative Practices, and why connection, vulnerability, and community are the real silver bullets in education
• Career Technical Education (CTE) — pathways, internships, and "legitimizing the hustle" for students in the juvenile court system
• Charter schools, the Department of Education, and the state of public education today
• Personal stories — from Omar's experience in alternative ed, to Marisol raising two daughters at 21, to the Viktor Frankl quote that ties it all together: "The last of one's freedoms is to choose one's attitude in any given circumstance."

Get the book: Beyond the Surface of Restorative Practices — available on Amazon

Amazon.com: Beyond the Surface of Restorative Practices: Building a Culture of Equity, Connection, and Healing: 9781951600587: Rerucha, Marisol Quevedo: Books

In this episode of No Fixed Agenda, the hosts dive deep into two interconnected topics: managing stress and panic attacks, and the transformative power of forgiveness.

The episode opens with an honest conversation about panic attacks — what they feel like, how to recognize early warning signs, and the tools used to manage them (working out, sleep, fresh air, and sometimes medication). One host shares that he's dealt with them since childhood, including a stomach ulcer at 16, and how business stress and a packed schedule have been recent triggers.

From there, the conversation shifts to forgiveness — why it was brought up, and why it matters more than ever. Inspired by a Netflix documentary on fundamentalist Mormon polygamists, the hosts explore how one woman's ability to look past her own moral disagreements allowed her to help free dozens of young girls from an abusive environment.

Omar comes in hot with a heater this episode — and it's all about stress.

Not a polished, self-help breakdown. Real talk about what it actually feels like to be a growing entrepreneur who loves the people around him, hates hurting anyone, and is trying to hold it all together while building something bigger than himself.

He and Jeff go deep on:

Managing Stress as an EntrepreneurWhy the stress of a service-based business hits differently — and how Omar and Jeff each handle the pressure of running events and a gym, respectively.

Separation of Church and StateWhen your family is your staff, how do you turn it off? Omar's honest about how blurry those lines have gotten — and what nearly cost him his marriage years ago.

People Pleasing & LeadershipOmar's "superpower" — genuinely loving people even when he doesn't like parts of them — becomes a liability when you're leading a team and scaling fast.

Adjusting the VisionWhat you think entrepreneurship will look like vs. what it actually becomes. Both Omar and Jeff have lived through multiple reinventions of their businesses — and they get real about that pivot.

Get Out of Your Own WayADHD + entrepreneurship = doing everything yourself. But the business can only grow as big as you allow it to — and that means learning to let go.

In this episode, we sit down with Mariah Willis, Functional Nutritionist and founder of Connected Roots Nutrition, to break down one of the most talked-about health trends right now — extended fasting. But more than just fasting, Mariah gives us the real story on what functional nutrition actually is, why there's no one-size-fits-all approach to health, and why the foundations matter more than any trending diet.

What We Cover:

What is functional nutrition — and how is it different from regular nutrition?

Intermittent fasting vs. 24-hour vs. 72-hour fasting: what's actually happening in your body at each stage

Autophagy explained: why 72 hours is the magic number for deep cellular cleansing

Who should NOT be fasting (red flags you need to know)How to prep your last meal before a fast — and what to eat when you break it

The truth about water, electrolytes, minerals, and caffeine during a fast

Activity levels during fasting: what's safe and what's dangerous

Blood sugar, pre-diabetes, and why more people are affected than they realize

Fasting and cancer: the science behind autophagy and damaged cell cleanup

Why keto, fasting, and every other diet actually "works" — and what that really means

The importance of self-honesty, food journaling, and building sustainable habits

How life stages (career changes, having kids, aging) affect your nutritional needs

Instagram: @ConnectedRootsNutritionWebsite: connectedrootsnutrition.com

Jeff vents about what's missing in today's media: Why isn't anyone covering Hawaii's devastating floods? While 50+ inches of rain destroy homes and displace families, news outlets obsess over political theater. This sparks a raw conversation about media fatigue, toxic polarization, doom-scrolling depression, and whether we can have civil disagreements anymore.Omar shares his "bubble" philosophy for staying sane. Jeff admits he's genuinely depressed from news consumption for the first time. We explore agape love, the narcissism problem in politics, why feel-good stories disappeared, and how small platforms can make a difference.

For the 100th episode of No Fixed Agenda, the crew takes the show on the road—literally. Instead of the usual studio setup, the team goes mobile to try something completely new: Pilates for the first time.What follows is exactly what you’d expect when a group with no fixed agenda walks into a Pilates studio… confusion, questionable flexibility, and plenty of laughs. From figuring out the machines to realizing just how humbling Pilates can be, the episode captures the full adventure in real time.Huge thanks to Club Pilates Oceanside for hosting the crew and giving us a crash course in Pilates while putting up with the chaos.Expect plenty of laughs, a little suffering, and proof that trying new things is always better with friends.Be honest…Does Pilates kick everyone’s butt the first time?

Join hosts Jeff and Omar as they reflect on their longest season yet and share what's coming for their 100th episode milestone!

In this candid recap, they discuss:

• The "post-event hangover" and balancing business growth with podcasting
• Why Season 4 felt like the hardest yet (and how they made it work)
• Top guest highlights: Brenda Stevens on narcissism, Dr. Alexandra Dick on body dysmorphia, Sean Bowers on Front Wave Marina, Alyssa Clark on coaching, and Chip Dykes
• The power of hitting 100+ hours of conversation together
• What they want to do differently in Season 5: more road trips, controversial topics, and getting off the fence
• A special recognition moment that made it all worth it

Episode 100 drops next week with something completely different - you'll want to WATCH this one!

What if the secret to success isn't following a straight path, but deliberately putting yourself in rooms where you don't belong?

Our guest, Chaz Rogers, shares how "stacking experiences" transformed him from a kid in Dayton, Ohio into a fitness industry veteran who's worked with NBA legends, met Joe Namath, and built a 25-year career by showing up in uncomfortable places.

The Stacking Experiences Framework: •

Put yourself where you know NOTHING - that's where you learn •

Don't wait to be qualified - show up anyway and figure it out •

Every experience becomes an opportunity, and opportunities become your career •

Meet people not for what they can do for you, but for what you can learn

Stop waiting for the perfect time or perfect qualifications. Chaz switched to fitness full-time at 38 and never looked back. The message: go where you don't know anything, get comfortable being uncomfortable, and stack those experiences relentlessly.