Life's Learning Curve

Send us Fan Mail If you go where you’ve never been, you MAY just find yourself. The desert can be blazing hot, the desert can be freezing cold -A challenge to the human spirit. The human spirit needs to be challenged and to recreate. On this remote episode, Paul talks with a couple of brothers in the Mesilla Valley area of New Mexico . It’s good for our souls to work with our hands. Their innovati...

Send us Fan Mail This episode presents Paul’s life adventures peddling a two-wheeler.  -Just recently, riding his bike put Paul in a satisfied state of mind. Mentally Paul felt 18 years old again.  Soon Paul began to assume he looked that way as well. Feeling healthy and upbeat, Paul I stopped to let traffic pass. As he did, he glanced up and saw himself in the reflection of a local bakery. “ Who...

Send us Fan Mail We are so busy being busy that along the way we sometimes might loose ourselves in the process. What do a lineman, a weather event, and a power outage have in common? Episode 51 finds Paul deeply imbedded in a learning curve involving a weather event, a lineman, and finally connecting with neighbors all because of an unexpected microburst over his small mid-midwestern town. This e...

Send us Fan Mail Celebrating episode number 50, Paul reminisces about times he was overcome with devastating c reative / writer’s block . This allows Paul to look back on some favorite clips from the past three seasons. He tells of the shows process of inception for each episode and shares what works for him.   -The quote, ” You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wan...

Send us Fan Mail It was all of ninety-five years ago, when the world was the street where Gramma Ruth lived, and a young man named Harold sailed on a ship at sea carrying a picture of my Gramma Ruth. Ruth had that carefree mind of her own, and a very particular delicate look in her eye, which made one misunderstood blink, look like a wink, and with that another generation of Wilkinsons came to be....

Send us Fan Mail “Change is never easy for me. You fight to hold on. And you fight to let go.”  This episode is Paul’s very recent self-indulgent take on a wedding that came off with love, happiness & fun. Paul marries off his first child Heidi and faces all the joy and emotion of the day. During the wedding Paul’s subconscious kept reminding him, Change is okay. Life can be lucky AND often we...

Send us Fan Mail After this encounter, Paul never skied again. There was a time when at the age of 19, Paul and his ski buddies rode a bus and headed out to Montana to Big Sky country. Their purpose: Skiing the fresh white powder, or COLD SMOKE packed ski trails. This episode finally reveals the embarrassing way Paul finally learned coordinate himself to ski. Bar talent competitions, great friends...

Send us Fan Mail This episode unfolds like a classic Bogart cinematic movie. Have you ever been with someone so inspiring that their enthusiasm rubbed off on you? In today’s episode this happens to Paul during a very delicate part of his life. Escaping a failing documentary and personal threats left Paul in shreds. He needs an escape. It was the summer of 2013 and Paul attends a film festival in t...

Send us Fan Mail What took place on Waterman Road made Paul's life change . “Horses WILL step on your feet. You will work harder than you’ve ever worked before. You will rise at 4AM. You will be given real responsibilities that effect this business.” At age 10, Paul is relocated to a farm for a week. Even with all the rules and regs, he embraces the farm run by his Uncle Art, Aunt Virginia an...

Send us Fan Mail Ever been overwhelmed when trying to fall asleep? When this happened to Paul, he felt the old neighborhood was calling out to him. It wanted to be remembered. This type of personification seems odd, but truly happened. From some wonderful positive neighbors, to one possibly from Area 51, this episode centers around those neighbors with whom Paul and his family were blessed AAAAAAN...

Send us Fan Mail “What you’ve done is so bad I can’t even talk about it! I have 30 negative letters in my drawer about you! I am so angry at you!”    Imagine your supervisor exclaiming this to you, pushing at you, poking at you, or threatening you!   This happened to several of the best and most effective teachers at a small local school. Why? Paul shares an episode about a new administrator who b...

Send us Fan Mail  Ever been so passively aggressed that you become JUST PLAIN SPEECHLESS?  There no words for some of life’s situations. In part one of this episode, Paul retells stories of being led down a path of stupidity where he learns exactly how NOT to treat other people. From a dull school leader conducting a disconnected interview -which was decided by what Chicago ball team Paul favored,...

Send us Fan Mail Ever played an instrument? Where did that instrument take you?    On this episode, Paul retells stories of where playing drums has taken him. Not every band worked out well. Managing talent, overbearing personalities and inflated egos were new to him. Add to that an angry orchestra teacher, a somewhat fuzzy-headed seller of drum set number 2, and a crying lead singer, and you&apos...

Send us Fan Mail It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, there’s always forgiveness.  Guest Mary MacDowell, shares her fictional book based on real life memories of a young woman, Mary Wagner, who was forced to confront the sins of her past, the reckless behavior that almost killed her. And then there was Betsey, the young disabled child who refused to let her go – even after death. Energetic author M...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes it’s NOT the journey that makes an adventure, it’s the people you meet along the way that might re-ignite your life’s passions. Paul retells experiential stories of the gruff and angry unsheltered homeless, stories of the dry wit and comedy of FBI Feds, to stories of an arrogant and self-absorbed west coaster. In 2000, Paul migrates from analog editing to digital editing...

Send us Fan Mail Alternate title: BURNS MALTS …. Paul remembers being told:  ‘It’s a nice day outside. Why don’t you go out & enjoy it?” He heard this phrase throughout his years as a child from local pharmacist Milt Burns. Burns Drugstore made the world’s BEST MALTS and people of all ages flocked there to taste the thick, ice creamy goodness in a tin . Milt Burns seemed to not fully understan...

Send us Fan Mail In studio 502, join our guest Heidi Hardt and Paul as they weed thru some of the best parts, of arguably, one of the worst tramatic years in US history. From quarantining while working at home, to making creative uses of free time and blogging, Heidi maintains a strong sense of humor as she shares some highs and lows.        In our podcast's two year run so far, our purpose h...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode:  Steve, Paul’s college friend, shares the accomplishment he and his family felt when taking a whitewater rafting excursion overnigh t in West Virginia. After Steve retells a few rafting adventure stories, Paul and Steve realize that the elements of the rafting trip might easily synthesize into a motivational video from the perspective of living your best life ever...

Send us Fan Mail Same time each year it happens: Paul goes in search of his “other me.” The one from decades earlier that dreams, writes, produces, makes effective use of time, creative projects and self-evaluates. -Many years ago, Paul set a course for himself, his destiny and life goals, but something got in the way…Life. Day to day life happens to all of us and usually steers us off of our desi...

Send us Fan Mail When introduced to ‘drifting,’ -car drifting- in his late teens, Tristen realizes a passion for the sport. On this episode, Tristen, now 21, heads down life’s roads discovering personal & financial responsibilities. Learning never ceases. In Tristen’s world of diverse vehicles, he shares his ongoing dreams, passions & goals & a few great stories . Life’s Learning Curve...

Send us Fan Mail Our Guest, Erik Iverson shares stories from his upcoming book titled “If Only I’d Taken Roswell.” NEWS & SPORTS broadcaster Erik shares a few of his television & radio broadcasting experiences in the mid Midwest markets. From a sour station manager to positive qualified mentors, Erik shares his experiences. Note: A creepy & diverse assignment editor asks Erik to spend...

Send us Fan Mail When Paul is asked to shoot a commercial for a local retired millionaire named Hal, things never gelled at all. Easily triggered, Hal is braggy, manipulative, dismissive & constantly dissatisfied with Paul. Teased by a chance to shoot video from a helicopter, Paul begins to understand he is being lured & intimidated by a man with control & bad debt issues.  -True story...

Send us Fan Mail Why did Paul create THIS podcast - Life's Learning Curve? A combination of things: A former student named Sean, Paul's daughter Heidi, some fast food and a car's satellite radio service  all synthesized into LLC. It was as if Paul had been rehearsing it for 35 years! Find out why.  LISTEN to this one! 'WHISKEY DOCS' podcast appears on Spotify, Apple Podcas...

Send us Fan Mail F reshman year at a downstate university. Paul’s friends told him how lucky he was to be going away and NOT having to go to a local community college. But something happened, things didn’t turn out like he thought they would. It was 1976, and the mid midwest was headed for its most hot and humid fall ever.  Life threw Paul several unexpected life-changing learning curves which alm...

Send us Fan Mail Explaining Paul’s need for escapism and finding paradise is boldly retold. Driven by films, books and music, finding paradise always seems to be just over there, or just a day’s drive away. But it’s a funny thing, escapism… He discovers that you can go far and wide and can keep moving on and on through places and years, but Paul never escapes his own life. At last Paul locates whe...