Open Mike LIVE

Open Mike LIVE

Join Mike George for his wanders, as he completes his quest to return home from Louisiana, battling various foes, fears and follies along the way…

Featuring occasional appearances with Dave, unidentified stoners in the park, WANDA, and Parking Garage KAREN.

Play along and join my next LIVE stream. You might be the next essential guide for Mike to finally reach home.

This collection chronicles over 7 years of live-streaming video posts I’ve recorded.

This raw format is a move from static text to video, facilitating a more immediate and direct connection with others. They are unscripted and unpolished slices in my life, documenting my travels and adventures across various locations in North America.

A man with dark hair and a bandana around his neck stands in front of red and white striped fabric and a blue section with white stars, reminiscent of the American flag.

I hope you enjoy these productions and find some small value from my story.

I’m an engineer in the industry of energy and electric power who, like many of my beloved colleagues, asks myself “how can we do better?

Gazing upon the marvels of which humanity is capable, I can’t help but compare the promise of our time to what we see happening on the news today and what anxieties haunt our children about the world we leave them. And that comparison grows more and more difficult to paint kindly.

But I cannot stay silent. So here I am to offer some civility, humor, and critical insight into how I believe we can restore American excellence, starting with each of us.

Follow my journey through the following places in America in which I’ve called home:

  • Columbus, Ohio

  • Portland, Oregon

  • Montreal, Quebec

  • Alexandria, Louisiana

  • Steubenville, Ohio

Featured Episodes

Skip to Videos
  • Escaping Hell
    1/4/21

    Escaping Hell

    Mike vents about a relentless stream of hardships and trauma that have followed him since leaving Portland, Oregon, during a period of hell that includes being a victim of rape and theft by an ex-partner, an illegal eviction spurred by friends of the ex, and precipitously losing his job after a mental health crisis sparked by the wildfires that besieged the state of Oregon in summer 2020.

  • Love, Loss, and Legal Weed
    2/14/21

    Love, Loss, and Legal Weed

    In this Valentine's Day special, Mike reflects candidly on his recent dating misadventures, including one with a gay white supremacist. He also discusses his relationship with cannabis, comparing the market between different states he's visited recently, and shares his thoughts regarding addiction, politics, and the state of the country.

  • Cold Morning Cruise
    1/14/18

    Cold Morning Cruise

    Mike reports from his car on a frigid Sunday morning in Steubenville, expressing frustration and confusion over his recent breakup with Matt. He also shares updates on his job search, discussing several potential engineering opportunities, and offers glimpses of local landmarks during his drive.

  • Interview Prep
    1/17/18

    Interview Prep

    Enroute to Cambridge, Ohio, Mike discusses his ongoing job search and recent interviews, sharing details about 3 separate interviews scheduled this week - one with a natural gas distributor, one with a previous employer in Montreal, and one with an insurance company. He also touches upon a recent breakup and some of the associated fallout.

  • Portland Debacle
    11/24/17

    Portland Debacle

    Broadcasting aboard his car in Portland, Mike vents on his recent breakup with Matt and welcomes special guests Dakota Conduct and Mya James. He highlights Dakota's new podcast series "Thots and Shares" and navigates a cluster of technical difficulties while driving.

  • Natchez Bluff
    2/1/23

    Natchez Bluff

    A Grindr date abruptly goes awry during a short roadtrip to the lad’s hometown of Natchez, Mississippi, resulting in the lad speeding off in his vehicle alone, leaving Mike in a hotel parking lot near the Mississippi River in an unfamiliar area with nearly no money, accommodations, or friends.

    Welcome to Natchez, y’all!

  • The Portland She-bacle
    9/7/22

    The Portland She-bacle

    Two years after the 2020 West Coast wildfires, Mike opens up and shares the series of traumatic events he faced mere months after moving to Portland, Oregon.

  • Be There
    2/21/23

    Be There

    Despite living in an age in which everyone has a cellphone (with a clock), folks cannot be bothered to respect each other’s time and show up.

Journals & Musings

  • A hand-drawn graph on white paper shows the relationship between boredom and the tendency to write a blog. The graph has two lines, one in pink labeled "intensity of opinion" and one in orange. The pink line increases more steeply than the orange line. The title at the top reads "Figuring things out..." in green. The pink line and text indicate that as the intensity of opinion increases, so does the tendency to write a blog, especially at higher levels of opinion intensity.

    Figuring Things Out

    2013-2020

    Graphics are colorful, they invite a myriad of differing interpretations, they portray trends, etc.  Plus, they're less prone to language barriers.

    Figures make complicated concepts easier to understand, simplify, and organize. Plus, I was too lazy to write longwinded essays anymore.

  • Close-up of a person's face with blue lighting, showing a serious expression.

    My Little Corner of Semi-Reality

    2004-2013

    My life is an open book. Please don't burn it.