Stuff I Learned Yesterday

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...

Did you know that Jerry Seinfeld was booed off stage the first time he did stand up?  Did you know that Stephen King’s bestseller “Carrie” was rejected by publishers 30 times?  Or how about this one?  Thomas Edison failed at making the light bulb over 1000 times!  The Beatles were rejected by a music label and told they have “no future in show business.”  Walt Disney was fired and told that he lac...

There are many things that I wish I had.  I wish I had a more energetic personality.  I wish I could play guitar, piano, and sing like Daryl Hall, I wish I had a mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomato is ripe.  they're so perky, I love that...and I wish I had the gift of encouragement. Now, I know that I can BE encouraging, and I hope that you find th...

Ah, high school.  As I mentioned yesterday, those aren’t really days that I would ever care to repeat.  Even though I don’t want to repeat them, I did learn a lot and look back at most of those days as good days.  Adolescence is hard.  I don’t care how big of a town you live in or how stable your home is.  Teenage boys are hormonal, generally have short attention spans, have tons of energy, and ge...

What is your proudest moment? Perhaps it is a professional achievement or recognition. Maybe it’s the day you reached a personal goal. Or maybe it was the day you overcame a gigantic obstacle. For me, it was the day I lost all my friends except one. Wait, what? That’s my proudest moment? Here’s the story. I grew up in a small town. I graduated with class of about 36. I tried to be athletic, but th...

Today's episode is titled, The Day I Slew the Fear Dragon. If you enjoy comic books, sci-fi shows, the geeky side of pop culture, or super hero movies, then chances are that you know what comic con is. Many people associate the word comic con with a massive gathering of geeks and pop culture nerds each July in the sun bathed city of San Diego, California. But in reality, that event is actually cal...

Today's episode is titled, The Contagious Smile of the Garbage Whistler . I want to tell you a lesson I learned, or relearned as this case may be, while I was recently in Las Vegas for New Media Expo 2014. I've gone to New Media Expo the last three years, the first year I attended it was still called Blogworld. I've always found it to be a great use of my time. It's a time that I get to meet and s...