Try-Hard Valley

Regina Stoops is a woman who knows how to handle a drunk heckler, a tight 12, and a friend who is systematically emptying the cancer center of its snack foods.

Regina is also finishing her forthcoming book, The Road to Normal: Stories from a Life that Never Followed the Map, a collection of stories drawn from her blog, childhood memories, family life, and some of the rougher patches along the way.

The book became more urgent after Regina received a recent cancer diagnosis. She talks candidly about treatment, staying present, focusing on her health, and finding humor wherever she can.

Because when your friend starts stuffing Cheez-Its into her purse during your cancer treatment, there’s only one thing you can call it: Cancer Costco.

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Chet Haase is a Chet all the way.Photo credit: Maddy Pisio.

You know those people everyone seems to know and like?

“Chet’s so funny.”

“You gotta meet Chet.”

“Chet’s great.”

I heard variations of this from my fellow Fleet Feet runners for what felt like years. Naturally, I resisted. When someone or something is universally beloved, I assume it’s probably not for me.

Then I met Chet. They were right. Chet Haase is, indeed, a big deal. He’s a classically trained improviser, writer, podcaster, longtime Android advocate, recovering software engineer, and runner. He’s also someone who has recently entered a particularly interesting phase of life: saying yes to a lot of things and waiting to see which one sticks.

In this episode, we talk about his Try-Hard for the week and his Try-Hard for the year; why he’s currently saying yes to everything from improv to writing to running; and his larger Try-Hard for life: Enjoy. Have fun. Be passionate about the things you’re doing.

Chet spent a long career in tech, including 14 years working on Android and co-hosting the podcast Android Developers Backstage. Now that he’s no longer working in tech, he’s rediscovering something he missed: getting in front of an audience.

We talk about comedy, from his childhood introduction to Monty Python to improv and stand-up classes, comedy screenwriting at DePaul and Second City, and the attitude required to put your ideas out into the world.

We also talk about running, how the pandemic turned a reluctant runner into a marathoner, why running appeals to someone who never considered himself a sports person, and why Chet refuses to call himself “Fast Eddie,” despite my attempt to make the nickname happen.

And then there’s the Android podcast, where Chet describes one of his roles as being “the idiot in the room” willing to ask the question everyone else is too self-conscious to ask. It turns out that admitting you don’t understand something can actually make for a much better conversation. Honestly, there may be a lesson in that for all of us.

Also in this episode: Game of Thrones, Chicago’s Old Town, my thwarted attempt to start a podcast feud with the hosts of Android Developers Backstage, and a sound effect inspired by Yael’s opposition to the Bell of Transition.

So: meet Chet. You’ll see.

Try-Hard of the Week: Saying yes to everything and ramping up the running miles.

Try-Hard of the Year: Find a groove.

Try-Hard of Life: Enjoy.

You wouldn’t like Chet when he’s angry. Pic by Maddy Pisio

Chet’s book is available at small indie booksellers such as Amazon.com. Buy it now!Also, check out this review, which was written by a psychopath with a dumb screen name.

Boston Qualifier/Runner/Nickname Opposer Chet HaaseCome to Fleet Feet Pleasanton, where this pic is prominently displayed!

Chet and his Name Pending cohorts after an improv face-off

Chet in the middle, taking a knee in an improv scene

Chet in blue, taking a knee (again!?) among his fleet of feet fans

Chet’s book of donut poetry is also available on Amazon.Read this glowing review written by some random lunatic who still enjoys the very catchy St. Elsewhere theme song.

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Welcome to a new episode of Try-Hard Valley! This week, we’re hanging out with the fabulous Faith Alpher, poet, author, performer, speaker, radio personality, and Livermore’s first female Poet Laureate of Color. Faith has spent decades finding her voice, and today she’s trying hard to put herself even more out into the world… while also remembering not to overwhelm herself in the process.

We talk about the challenges of being a working artist, her spontaneous MLK Day walk that drew TENS of people, including Livermore’s mayor, and her Try-Hard for Life: uplifting people right where they are. Plus, Faith reads two pieces from her spoken-word collection, The Voice You Forgot You Had.

Faith is a fiercely fabulous follow!

All of “Carrie’s 16 cats” highly recommend Faith’s spoken word collection!

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Graham Gilbert has already been a TV star, an interior-design wunderkind, a Make-A-Wish playhouse designer, an actor, an improv performer, and the almost-star of a potential HGTV show that was derailed by COVID.

Now he’s heading to the Land of Lincoln to start the next chapter. We talk theater, college, figuring out what you want from life, and why keeping lots of doors open is a good plan.

Also, I added a bell 🔔 to the episode to signal transitions between topics.

I loved this conversation, and I think you’ll love Graham.

Graham at his high school graduation

Out to lunch with his mom and girlfriend Mads

Mads’ Rico-reminiscent cat Wicket

Hanging with the Property Brothers

With interior design icon David Phoenix

With Melissa McCarthy on Little Big Shots

In his school’s production of Metamorphoses

Taking in Chicago one architectural masterpiece at a time

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After a brief hiatus, Try-Hard Valley is back! Carrie and Yael sit down for a proper catch-up.

Carrie talks about what happened after her hysterectomy, including the bizarre anesthesia-induced hallucination that somehow turned into an entire puppet show starring a robotic Ross Perot. (Yes, really.)

Meanwhile, Yael has been traveling in the August heat, schvitzing her way through Fresno and Las Vegas.

We’re back, baby! Hopefully with fewer assignments from deceased presidential candidates.

the cast relaxes before their big performance

Yalie and Shir-zee in Vegas, Baby!

Carrie doing her homework at Livermore’s Shanti Winery

the star of the show

proof Carrie did not hallucinate “Fresno” the mini-series

Carrie’s CONTENT ADVISORY

proof Fresno’s underground gardens also actually exist

the Ross Perobot has a word with the crowd

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After a quick health update from Carrie, Yael welcomes one of the most quietly impressive people we’ve met: Chad Kawahara.

Chad’s résumé is almost comically stacked. He grew up playing junior tennis alongside Pete Sampras and Lindsay Davenport, won NCAA championships at USC, attended Harvard Law School, helped rewrite part of NAFTA while working at FedEx, and somehow found his way back to the sport he loves as a coach and Head Tennis representative.

More importantly, he’s a genuinely humble, thoughtful guy who believes in working hard without making a big fuss about it, which is pretty much the definition of a try-hard.

In this episode:

🎾 Growing up in Southern California’s legendary junior tennis scene

🎾 Playing alongside future world Number Ones

🎾 Why he chose USC over Harvard as an undergraduate

🎾 Life at Harvard Law School

🎾 Working on international trade and NAFTA

🎾 Why he left law to return to tennis

🎾 The rise of pickleball (and why tennis isn’t going anywhere)

🎾 What he’s trying hard to accomplish today

Plus:🍝 Yael says “pasta” in the most Canadian way imaginable.

🎓 She casually drops the H-bomb (Harvard).

📜 Chad casually mentions rewriting part of NAFTA like it’s no bigger deal than returning a library book.

As always, thanks for listening, subscribing, sharing the show, and cheering us on. Every download makes our little try-hard hearts happy.

🎧 Happy listening!

Chad, Roxie Hart*, Yael

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) is Awesome!

Carrie’s next gig

*Possibly not the dog’s real name. Carrie just guessed.

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This week on Try-Hard Valley:🤖 Carrie prepares for a robotic hysterectomy… and a uterus retirement party.🥒 Yael gets jalapeño hands.💪 We meet Andrew Hamel, owner of Pleasanton’s Prodigy Fitness, who reminds us that everyone can get stronger.

“People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.” That philosophy has shaped the culture Andrew Hamel has built at Pleasanton’s Prodigy Fitness.

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In this episode, Yael sits down with her sister, Shiera: government affairs specialist, tennis ace, and the person most likely to lovingly call Yael out on absolutely everything.

They chat about:

* Growing up together and staying close despite living in different countries

* Cooking catastrophes (including fire alarms and garlic powder gone wrong)

* Competitive tennis, the Maccabiah Games (aka “the Jew Olympics”), and why playing doubles with your sibling isn’t always a great idea

* Pickleball rivalries

* Anxiety, perfectionism, and the challenge of letting things go

* What Shiera is trying hard to do these days… and why stepping outside your comfort zone matters

It’s occasionally chaotic and it ends with a medley of sister songs. How could it not?

Yaley, Shirzeeze, and Mama Stuart in Whistler, BC

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It’s the halfway point of the year, so Yael and Carrie are taking stock of the podcast and revisiting the reasons they started Try-Hard Valley in the first place.

Along the way, they discuss Adriatic cruise ports, the male loneliness epidemic, aging out of tech, aging into senior living, parasocial relationships, podcast success, and Carrie’s ongoing campaign to get Randy Johnson to return her Instagram messages.

Livermore Comedy Kingmaker. Side-Eye Specialist. Heckler Vanquisher. Brian Maggi.

Then Carrie sits down with comedian and producer Brian Maggi, who shares how a former tech worker with a Craigslist sound system built a thriving network of comedy shows throughout the Tri-Valley. They also swap stories about memorable shows, one unforgettable heckler, and the business of making people laugh.

Plus: Yael’s sales tip of the week, Milo the internet-famous Shih Tzu, and the surprisingly complicated challenge of existing at the intersection of FOMO and JOMO.

Milo. Former royal guard dog of Imperial China.Currently: a deposed monarch with excellent grooming and zero military responsibilities.

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This week on Try-Hard Valley, Yael prepares for her Adriatic adventures and Carrie wonders if her running career has one more chapter left.

Then Carrie sits down with one of her favorite writers and longest-running intellectual crushes, author and perfume critic Tania Sanchez.

Tania. Sacramento. Extended Stay America. Canned vodka mule. The glamour is subtle.

Tania shares the unlikely story of how a finance writer from New York became one of the world’s best-known perfume critics, fell in love with fellow perfume writer Luca Turin, and spent the next two decades packing and unpacking.

Along the way, the conversation wanders through:• The challenges of caring for aging parents• Life as an American living in England• Perimenopause and the indignities of middle age• The enduring weirdness of high school• Why the British keep asking, "Are you all right?"• The mysterious power of scent

As always, the episode is ultimately about what we're all trying hard to do right now, and why that's often more interesting than what we've already accomplished.Subscribe to Tania’s Substack! And to her husband Luca Turin’s Substack as well!

That’s the brilliant and hilarious perfume guide Tania wrote with her husband Luca Turin.Is it available on Amazon? You ask. Why, yes, it is. I answer.Buy it here!

The Devil wears Guerlain's Samsara. Perfume legends Tania Sanchez and Luca Turin discuss the alchemy of great scent in Vogue.

Two try-hards. One hotel room selfie. Several teeth.

This great book, The Emperor of Scent, is about Tania’s husband Luca Turin.Tania has been married to Luca for 19 years. Ergo, she is The Empress of Scent in our book!

Tania’s many fans and theRedditors of r/fragrance agree wholeheartedly!

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