Comforting patients as they prepare to transition, navigating end-of-life regrets and frayed relationships, and providing support and advice for fearful families with Heather Meyerend, a retired hospice nurse. How does she know when the end is imminent? And what has the work taught her about the different ways we deal with death?

Heather is a contributing author to the book Resilient Faith: Dare To Believe. She was also profiled in The New Yorker in 2016: "A Tender Hand in the Presence of Death".

Like this episode? Check out what it's like to be...

• A Nurse
• A Brain Surgeon
• A Veterinarian

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Want to be on the show? Leave us a voicemail at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

• What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?
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We can’t respond to every message, but we do listen to all of them! We’ll follow up if it's a good fit.

Calming scared cats with pheromone sprays, advising families how to balance their pet's well-being with budget realities, and diagnosing mysterious animal maladies with Dr. Hindatu Mohammed, a veterinarian in Austin, TX. What breed of dog, when having its nails clipped, responds as though it's being murdered? And how did an injured ant shape her career choice?

Got a comment or suggestion? Email us at [email protected]

Want to be on the show? Leave us a voicemail at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

• What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?
• What’s a specific story you tell your friends that happened on the job? It could be funny, sad, anxiety-making, pride-inducing or otherwise.

We can’t respond to every message, but we do listen to all of them! We’ll follow up if it's a good fit.

Tracing mysterious errors to their source, jousting with product managers, and rolling out new features (without breaking the old ones) with Taylor Hughes, a software engineer. How did one failed software fix ruin Christmas for kids around the country? And what is "spaghetti code"?

Taylor is currently a co-founder and the CTO at Hypernatural.ai.

Got a comment or suggestion? Email us at [email protected]

Want to be on the show? Leave us a voicemail at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

• What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?
• What’s a specific story you tell your friends that happened on the job? It could be funny, sad, anxiety-making, pride-inducing or otherwise.

We can’t respond to every message, but we do listen to all of them! We’ll follow up if it's a good fit.

Mediating pickleball noise disputes, shepherding communities through thorny decisions, and practicing radical pragmatism with Martha Bennett, city manager of Lake Oswego, Oregon. What is it that makes public hearings so noxious? And what's the difference between "Big P" and "Little P" politics? 

Got a comment or suggestion? Email us at [email protected]

Want to be on the show? Leave us a voicemail at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

• What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?
• What’s a specific story you tell your friends that happened on the job? It could be funny, sad, anxiety-making, pride-inducing or otherwise.

We can’t respond to every message, but we do listen to all of them! We’ll follow up if it's a good fit.

Pouring pints for thirsty tourists, defusing situations with drunk patrons, and finding flow in the Friday night rush with Brian Wynne, a barman in Dublin. What caused one customer to throw a dog at Brian? And what is "craic"?

If you'd like to reach-out to Brian, we'll pass along your note. Just email [email protected]

Got a comment or suggestion? Email us at [email protected]

Want to be on the show? Leave us a voicemail at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

• What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?
• What’s a specific story you tell your friends that happened on the job? It could be funny, sad, anxiety-making, pride-inducing or otherwise.

We can’t respond to every message, but we do listen to all of them! We’ll follow up if it's a good fit.

Zapping parts of the brain to know where to cut, operating a mouth-controlled microscope that's worth more than a house, and carrying the weight of life-or-death decisions with Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, a brain surgeon at the Mayo Clinic. How do you preserve a mathematician's expertise when removing tumors? And how did he go from picking tomatoes to performing brain surgery?

Dr. Q wrote about his remarkable journey to the operating room in the book, Becoming Dr. Q: My Journey from Migrant Farm Worker to Brain Surgeon.

He was also featured in the Netflix documentary series The Surgeon’s Cut.

Got a comment or suggestion? Email us at [email protected]

Want to be on the show? Leave us a voicemail at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

• What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?
• What’s a specific story you tell your friends that happened on the job? It could be funny, sad, anxiety-making, pride-inducing or otherwise.

We can’t respond to every message, but we do listen to all of them! We’ll follow up if it's a good fit.

Commanding a floating city of 5,000 sailors, intercepting Houthi missiles in the Red Sea, and stripping rank from sailors who cross the line with Captain Chris "Chowdah" Hill, commanding officer of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier. How do you stop a fighter jet in 2-seconds? And what are “midrats”?

Got a comment or suggestion? Email us at [email protected]

Want to be on the show? Leave us a voicemail at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

• What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?
• What’s a specific story you tell your friends that happened on the job? It could be funny, sad, anxiety-making, pride-inducing or otherwise.

We can’t respond to every message, but we do listen to all of them! We’ll follow up if it's a good fit.

Singing cleanup songs, tiring out kids before naptime, and battling the "babysitter" stereotype with Brenda Hawkins, a daycare owner in Maryland. How has childcare changed over the years? And what is a "dope and drop"?

Got a comment or suggestion? Email us at [email protected]

Want to be on the show? Leave us a voicemail at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

• What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?
• What’s a specific story you tell your friends that happened on the job? It could be funny, sad, anxiety-making, pride-inducing or otherwise.

We can’t respond to every message, but we do listen to all of them! We’ll follow up if it's a good fit.

Fine-tuning the perfect accent for a character, recording for hours in a sound-insulated booth, and tracking down obscure pronunciations with Sean Pratt, an audiobook narrator. What is "punch and roll"? And what kind of voice do you need to be a great narrator?

EXTRA
We spoke with Sean about his work narrating the David Foster Wallace literary behemoth Infinite Jest. That part of the interview didn’t fit into this episode, but you can listen to it here!

Got a comment or suggestion? Email us at [email protected]

Want to be on the show? Leave us a voicemail at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

• What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?
• What’s a specific story you tell your friends that happened on the job? It could be funny, sad, anxiety-making, pride-inducing or otherwise.

We can’t respond to every message, but we do listen to all of them! We’ll follow up if it's a good fit.

We've got something a little different and special for you this week! The day this is dropping, January 21st, is the launch day for my new book, called RESET: How to Change What’s Not Working. We’re running an excerpt (a whole chapter!) from the audiobook on this podcast.

You can buy the full audiobook, hardcover, or Kindle version here!

We’ll be back next week with a new episode of the show, talking with a professional audiobook narrator!

Got a comment or suggestion? Email us at [email protected]

Want to be on the show? Leave us a voicemail at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

• What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?
• What’s a specific story you tell your friends that happened on the job? It could be funny, sad, anxiety-making, pride-inducing or otherwise.

We can’t respond to every message, but we do listen to all of them! We’ll follow up if it's a good fit.