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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.

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!

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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!

This week on Try-Hard Valley:

* There’s something growing in Carrie’s uterus (NOT the Messiah)

* Yael explains her two names situation (again… for your/Carrie’s edification)

* Airplane turbulence coping mechanisms

* Carrie invents a new “Melan-Choli-Day™” and realizes the podcast is an attempt to communicate with her dead mom

* Audio that intermittently sounds like a hostage tape recorded inside an air fryer

* The wildly talented cast and director of TEAM Theater’s production of Mean Girls

Featuring:🎭 Amanda Boyan🎭 Abhishek Natraj🎭 Jake Perry🎭 Ollie Mironov🎭 Kaelyn Cruz

If you’ve ever:

* missed your mom

* fought with a creative partner

* overthought literally everything

…welcome to the liminal space we call home.

Also:Please support your local try-hard theater teens. They are out there memorizing lines, surviving algebra tests, AND learning tap dance choreo. Not too shabby!

Get tickets to Mean Girls before they sell out!

Starring Ollie Mironov as Damian and Kaelyn Cruz as Janice

Director Extraordinaire Amanda Boyan

Abhishek Natraj (Aaron)

Jake Perry (also Damian, there are two casts)

Producer/TEAM Theatre Founder Salim Razawi

TEAM Theatre Choreographer Vivaan Rairecently won a Sara Bareilles award. That’s a big deal! Learn more here!

Mommy, look! And listen!

This song Intermittently gets stuck in Carrie’s head.

Aloha from Maui!

This week’s episode comes to you from Wailuku, Hawaii, specifically from the home of my delightful friend Sherri Ann Dante, and even more specifically from the sweet spot just after happy hour.

We also debut brand-new theme intro and outro music by my friend Beanpole, whose album All My Kin deserves your ears immediately.

Then things get complicated.

Our first-ever remote interview with my beloved cohost Yael Stuart was technically successful but sonically catastrophic. Rather than cut her from the episode, I made a bold artistic decision: I re-voiced her as a brand-new character.

Please welcome The Artful Yael — part Yael Stuart, part Artful Dodger. Also, part pickleball, park pickpocket.

Also in this episode:

* Why Sheri Ann left Livermore for Maui

* Outrigger canoeing at dawn in choppy water

* Hawaiian paddling commands Carrie did not understand

* An escape room where we were gently guided through our “escape”

* Volunteering with sea turtles and whales

* The downsides of paradise (bulldozers)

* The upside of paradise (everything else)

* A brief mention of plutonium hand warmers

* A stern warning from Charles Dickens regarding improv ticket sales

Come for the travel tales. Stay for the tequila-fueled chaos.

Also, check out these pics, notes, and Ram Dass quotes!

Sheri Ann finding a four-leaf clover at Maui’s lovely Ali’i Kula Lavender Farm.Go there! It’s beautiful. (And VERY clover-y!)

We got lucky indeed. Beanpole recorded our catchy new intro and outro. Check out this Rolling Stone review of Beanpole’s fabulous All My Kin.

Buy the digital album for ten measly dollars on Bandcamp.Also available on Amazon Music for $9.49.But if you’re a vinyl junkie who is made of money, you can buy it on eBay for $124.99.

New mashup alert!That’s Yael Stuart, one half of The Artful Yael.

That’s the other half of The Artful Yael.CONSIDER YOURSELF warned!

Buy tix now, lest ye anger vengeful Dickensian ghosts!

That’s my pal Sheri Ann standing next to Maui Mayor Richard T. Bissen, Junior.A Volunteer of the Year, she is!

Sheri’s house is decked out with many gorgeous pics by Livermore photographer extraordinaire Kim Grandfield! Please be a guest on the podcast, Kim!

Doing jazz hands of relief after we narrowly escaped Maui Mystery Escape Room.

They say “try hard” like it’s an insult. Around here, it’s a lifestyle. Welcome to Try-Hard Valley.

This week’s episode has it all: 🎭 A dramatic reading from The Music Man (you’re welcome) ⚕️ A candid convo about a prolapsed uterus 🧘‍♀️ Pelvic floor mantras you didn’t know you needed ✈️ European travel plans, e-bikes, and scary cycling stories 📚 A heartfelt reunion with a beloved high school teacher

⚠️ Content note: We talk openly about women’s reproductive organs. Consider yourself warned.

💜 This episode is dedicated to Diane Heinitz.

Plus: an important correction, a passionate plug for local improv, and a questionable life choice involving skipping a major baseball event.

It’s messy. It’s honest. It’s a lot. But hey, at least we tried. And honestly? That counts.

Care Bear and Er BearFor the record, Carrie prefers to think of Eric as ”The Mary Poppins of Lovably Quirky Students”But if the weirdo shoe fits…

This is Diane Heinitz. Here is her obituary.She was funny, kind, and unforgettable.

Carrie’s uterus is even more adorbz than this one.

Class Clown (Foothill High School, Class of 1992) Scary Eagle’s favorite yearbook inscription

that Flight of the Conchords scene Carrie references

Here’s Dan Savage elaborating on this.

Support this improvised soap opera featuring try-hards of the Tri-Valley!Click here to buy tickets.

But if you’re in Seattle, go to this Number 51 Retirement Event on May 2nd. Then tell Carrie all about it so she can live vicariously through you.Go Mariners! We’ll get ‘em next year!

Learn more about this term and its origin story here.

In this episode of Try Hard Valley, we’re joined by Kevin Kuhlow, executive coach and licensed drug and alcohol counselor, who works with high-performing men navigating stress, identity, and major life transitions.

We talk about:

* Alcohol, stress, and coping mechanisms

* Rebuilding your life from the inside out (brain, body, purpose)

* Kevin and Yael’s second date, featuring light spanking

* Why Kevin loves the Miami Dolphins and the New York Mets

* Spherical mascots

Plus:

* The fine art of screlting (scream-belting)

* Listener feedback (yes, Christina, we heard you)

* A bold, music-free experiment for the “human voices only” fans

* Graveyard walks

* A reminder that this is still our podcast (plural, possessive)

* Presidential and Prime Ministerial fitness tests

They say “try hard” like it’s an insult. We say… good.

lovebirds Yael and Kevin: people who do their best and will judge your pickleball and/or pitching form

“lie hard” Elizabeth Holmes sitting under her favorite quote

Buzz Lightyear Swalwell, Halloween, 2022should’ve given him a copy of Dan Savage’s Campsite Rule 🔥 🏕️in lieu of the four-leafer 🍀

There are two kinds of breaking news in this episode:

* Michigan wins the national championship.

* My husband gets laid off.

So naturally, we process it the only way we know how:By singing a 19th-century fight song, letting the cat in, and unpacking a corporate layoff that affected roughly 30,000 people. Ya know… like… normal podcast stuff.

This episode has everything:

* A passionate defense of The Victors as the greatest fight song of all time

* A surprisingly upbeat take on getting laid off (baby bird… pushed from nest… etc.)

* A marriage recalibrating in real time as one deeply troubled spouse becomes the “primary breadwinner” (pray for us)

* A deeply honest—and slightly concerning—amount of time spent with an AI named Claude

Also, if you’ve ever:

* Stayed too long at a job because it felt safe

* Been really good at interviewing but suspiciously bad at getting hired

* Or watched someone you love slowly become eight employees in one increasingly stressed-out body

…this one might hit.

It’s about burnout.It’s about identity.It’s about what happens when the thing you couldn’t leave… leaves you.🎧 Listen if you like:existential career pivots, long marriages with strong opinions, and light emotional chaos set to a college fight song

Vanellope Von Schweetz, our emotional support catnow with laser eyes

In this episode, I:

- Demand answers from my mysterious Japanese audience (respectfully)

- Attempt to become “swims before work girl” (thwarted by Big Goggle)

- Pitch a new podcast: Ear Candy with Randy and Andy

- Reflect on bombing at a winery and then… doubling down

- And come to a life-changing realization:

I am not a strawberry. I am a Kalamata olive.

Another solo journey through the labyrinth of my brain

In this debut episode, I introduce you to the Tri-Valley corner of the San Francisco Bay Area and explain the top ten reasons this podcast had to exist—whether the world asked for it or not.

Along the way, we’ll cover:

• Why “try-hard” should be a compliment, not an insult• The strange comfort of parasocial relationships with podcast hosts—and their dearly departed pets• Tri-Valley grocery stores that are objectively superior to LA’s Gelson’s (fight me)• Carole King’s feral fraternal twin (C’est moi!)• An accidental throuple featuring Anthropic’s Claude as the unicorn• John Madden and the man I called Swole Dilbert• A 30+ year crush on a Hall of Fame pitcher that has frankly gone on long enough

Try-Hard Valley is a show about messy, sincere, occasionally uncomfortable effort—the kind that powers suburban ambition, personal reinvention, and the weird little obsessions that make life interesting.