Stuff I Learned Yesterday

You know what I enjoy?  Well, lots of things, really, but to be more specific, I enjoy sitting at a computer and producing podcasts or building websites.  I can easily spend over 12 hours a day doing that stuff and not feel tired.  You know what I don’t enjoy?  Working out in my yard. As you probably know by now, it was right at a year ago when I left the company I had worked for for 19 years so t...

Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday.  My name is Darrell Darnell, when I was 9 I sat on the front row of the movie The Return of the Living Dead just to prove to my brothers that I was brave, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living.  In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I’m happy to share another installment of the Friday Forum. Read More... The post 30-Friday Foru...

Time sure flies, doesn’t it?  It’s hard for me to believe that 20 years have gone by since I graduated high school.  I’ve mentioned before that I graduated from the thriving metropolis (if you use the word metropolis in the loosest way possible) of Wellston, OK in 1994.  I moved to Wellston before I went into the fourth grade. It was an odd adjustment for me.  I had previously gone to school in a...

Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday.  My name is Darrell Darnell, my favorite cookie is oatmeal raisin, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living.  In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a story of conflict and confession. Friday Forum Friday Forum is your opportunity to Share what YOU’VE […] The post 28- Do You Want to Punch it Out, or Hug it Out? appear...

When I was in seventh grade one of my teachers thought it would be good to teach our class a lesson on perspective.  She gave each of us a glass and had us fill it up half way with water.  She then asked us to carefully study the glass of water.  After we had time to study the glass of water she asked us a simple question.  She wanted us to tell her if the glass was half full or half empty.  She a...

I have to admit, I’m pretty excited about the state of Golden Spiral Media.  If you’ve been listening to any of our podcasts for a while, you are probably aware of the work that Golden Spiral Media does.  Just in case you aren’t here’s a brief synopsis.  Golden Spiral Media works in two branches.  One branch is this one, that is, the podcasting branch.  From this branch we record and produce podca...

Today is the Friday Forum!! In today's episode I share contributions received from Jill, Ana, and Bonita. You can participate in a future Friday Forum episode by calling and leaving a message at 304-837-2278, emailing an audio file to feedback@goldenspiralmedia.com, or clicking on the Send Voicemail tab on my website, GoldenSpiralMedia.com. Read More... The post 25- Friday Forum appeared first on...

Time really flies when you’re having fun, right?  The first episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday was released on March 17, so that means that today marks the one month anniversary of Stuff I Learned Yesterday.  This last month has been one of the most challenging and rewarding that I’ve had both personally and professionally.  I’ve learned a lot about myself and some of you in the process.  I don'...

As I mentioned in an earlier episode, my parents divorced when I was 9.  My dad remarried later that year, in December I think.  Sometime after my parents divorced and before the next school year started, my dad moved us into a rent house in a small town.  It was the town that my soon to be step-mom and her two kids lived.   I was going into 4th grade, my step-brother would be in 5th grade, my bro...

Today’s story begins on an ordinary Wednesday, in an ordinary dorm room in 1995.  I was nearly finished with my first year of college, and as the semester was drawing to a close, I had a few assignment deadlines approaching.  One of the assignments was for a paper I had to write.  I have no idea which class it was or what the paper was about.   What I do remember is that on this particular day I w...

Today’s episode is a story told from two perspectives.  One perspective is mine, and the other is from a friend named Emilee.  Some of you know her on Twitter or in our community as Fauxmeonce.   I asked Emilee if she’d be willing to share her side of this story with the idea that I would then weave them together in a This American Life sort of way.  We did not compare notes or talk about what eac...

The Friday Forum is here! Thanks to everyone that has sent in a Friday Forum contribution. You can participate in Friday Forum by calling and leaving a message at 304-837-2278, emailing an audio file to feedback@goldenspiralmedia.com, or clicking on the Send Voicemail tab on my website, GoldenSpiralMedia.com. Friday Forum is your opportunity to Share what YOU’VE learned, so that other listeners an...

Are you up for one more Chicago story? This is the last one for a while…I think. Remember a couple of episodes ago when I said that I want my kids to put others before themselves and make a positive impact on society? I know that the best way for them to learn that behavior is to see it demonstrated in me or my wife, Kari. The thing is, I don’t think I’m particularly good at this. It’s not that I...

One of the things that my dad always taught me is to live within your means.  He told me to never use a credit card unless I could pay off the full balance when the bill came in.  He told me to save for the things that I wanted and buy them after I had saved the money.  He told me to be content with what I had and not be jealous of things other people had.  These are are all very sound financial p...

As I mentioned in yesterday’s episode, today’s lesson also came this past weekend while I was visiting Chicago with my daughter.  One thing I didn’t mention in yesterday’s episode was that doing the meetup was not my idea.  I did mention that Matthew organized the event, but I think I should clarify that the whole event was led by three Golden Spiral Media listeners, Matthew, Emilee, and Melissa....

I am exhausted.  I am encouraged.  I am inspired.  I am feeling blessed.  All of these things things are because of the same thing.  I just returned home from spending the weekend in Chicago where I got to spend some great one on one time with my daughter, Addison, eat some of Chicago’s tastiest pizza, and meet and hangout with some wonderful members of the Golden Spiral Media Community. When I st...

The Friday Forum is here! Thanks to everyone that has sent in a Friday Forum contribution. You can participate in Friday Forum by calling and leaving a message at 304-837-2278, emailing an audio file to feedback@goldenspiralmedia.com, or clicking on the Send Voicemail tab on my website, GoldenSpiralMedia.com. Friday Forum is your opportunity to Share what YOU’VE learned, so that other listeners an...

I could make today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday really short and sweet.  If you don’t ask, you won’t receive.  I mean, that’s not the way it works 100% of the time, but it’s a pretty solid statement.  I would say that the vast majority of the time, if you don’t ask, you won’t get what you seek.  Let me share an example that drastically impacted my life. This story begins in the fall of 2...

I recorded the first episode of The Fringe Podcast speaking directly into the digital recorder while standing in my closet.  I thought the clothes in the closet would help absorb any echo from my voice, and also drown out the noise from my kids in the other room.  Jason ended up not wanting to drive to my house each week, and never even used the equipment he’d help pay for.   We would bring him in...

Today I have not one story to share with you, but two.  On the surface, these two stories seem completely unrelated.  Honestly, I suppose they are completely unrelated.  The first story took place nearly 30 years ago.  The second story took place 2 weeks ago.  As I thought about what I learned from the recent story, it reminded me of the older story.  I think they share a common thread, so I’m inc...

If you’ve listened to all the episodes of Stuff I Learned Yesterday, then by now you know that I spent a good chunk of my life working for a bookstore.  I started out as a part-time cashier, worked my way up to store manager, worked as a buyer for a short time, and then worked as the e-commerce director.  Many of you also know that after nearly 19 years with the company, I left there almost one ye...

Thanks to everyone that has sent in a Friday Forum contribution.  If you submitted a Friday Forum and don’t hear it on the show today, don’t worry.  I still have it and will very likely use it on next week’s Friday Forum episode.  You can participate in Friday Forum by calling and leaving a message at 304-837-2278, emailing an audio file to feedback@goldenspiralmedia.com, or clicking on the Send V...

There was one particular stretch of time though that was challenging.  It started when we  set up a new store in Denton, TX.  Denton was close, only about 2.5 hours away from home.  The setup took a month, and that included staying a week or so after the store opened so that we could be there to assist the new employees as customers started arriving.  We would travel down to Denton on Sunday and c...

We have tried very hard to teach our kids to think of others before themselves, don’t do things to other people that you wouldn’t want done to you, be responsible for their own behavior, treat everyone with respect, and to never, ever be afraid to wear a Doctor Who shirt in public.  We all know that as parents, our kids are observing us and learning from us.  Sometimes they’re picking up our bad h...

Today’s story is one that I thought I’d get around to sharing eventually, but really didn’t think I’d be sharing it this early.  My mind was changed after I received this email (I’m withholding the name of the sender out of respect for her privacy): My name is [withheld] and I'm from Mexico. I follow several of your podcasts and find them really amusing and enjoyable. …  I have almost five years i...