Talking With Friends, Sharing the Load Podcast

When the world feels as broken as it does right now, it’s still possible to have a day where you feel happiness, contentment, hope for the future. The components are no huge secret but I have deconstructed my day in hopes it will inform one of yours in the very near future. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit joannap...

There’s something about mornings, once you’re no longer beholden to other people such as children or employers. What to do with the day, how to begin, takes on new significance. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit joannapiros.substack.com/subscribe

This will be another one of my introspective, “is it just me” type posts so if you find them infuriating maybe sit this one out? But I guarantee you, everyone has a relationship with morning, and yours is likely changing over time, as is mine. For those of you raising children and/or showing up at a workplace which demands your daily presence, morning isn’t anything to ponder; it simply is, marchi...

Small business is truly the engine of the Canadian economy. If you define a small business as anything with fewer than 99 employees, you’re talking about 98 percent of all businesses and 47% of the private sector workforce. Crunching that even further, more than half of those small businesses are termed “micro”, meaning 1 to 4 employees. As a small business coach, Jordan Tait has seen it all. Entr...

Too many small business owners struggle to grasp the true picture of their finances. Many pay bookkeepers and accountants to generate P & L statements that they never look at! Now, through the wonders of ingenuity and AI, natch, there’s an app for that. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit joannapiros.substack.com/sub...

Shopping at a local general store yesterday, I unloaded my odd and sundry onto the counter behind an elderly lady who appeared a little confused and a teensy bit annoyed as a result. She was purchasing some kind of small appliance in a 12” square box and had a vague issue with the advertised price, which she eventually, but grudgingly, paid. It wasn’t an inordinate wait and voices were not raised....

With the deluge of doom and gloom, all of it legitimate, I have been struggling to find the good news, or at least a hint. I found it in the parking lot. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit joannapiros.substack.com/subscribe

Music can soothe the savage breast but my old friend, Jim Steele, contends that it’s not soothing music we need in these difficult times, but rather music to coalesce our anger and focus our resistance. Please enjoy this guest post. “Let fury have the hour, anger can be power.” Joe Strummer wrote that, years after proving it with “White Riot”, the Clash’s first release. He wrote that after watchin...

My friend, Jim, and I were discussing the latest Springsteen song to rock the charts, an emotional response to the travesty underway in Minneapolis. Now Jim is the guy who, before there was Google, could tell you who played drums on a particular song, on a particular album. So it made perfect sense to ask him to write his frustrations with the music industry as a guest post. I hope you enjoy it as...

We’ve all sat through them: speeches that miss the mark so widely you wonder how the speaker was selected and invited in the first place. I’m not talking about your CEO or the chair of your board. They get selected by virtue of position and, if they’re good at it, you don’t mind listening to them talk. If they suck at it, you listen anyway because it’s your job. But when you go to a conference, or...

There have always been bad speeches and poor speakers but recently, I’m noticing the reliance on AI generated writing seeping into public speaking. Two wrongs don’t make a right, people! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit joannapiros.substack.com/subscribe

I live in a place which is abundant with wildlife and I mean that in the traditional sense: wild animals, animals that live in the wild, you get the idea. And they’re not just in the woods that surround us; they’re right here in my yard. And here in my neighbour’s tree. On top of that there are crows, eagles that hunt nearby and sealions who, trying to escape from whales, hoist themselves up onto...

When people come to visit me in this small town surrounded by woods and water, they are thrilled to see eagles, deer and bears. At first, so was I. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit joannapiros.substack.com/subscribe

I’ve been having very unsettling dreams lately, and perhaps you have as well. Mine are an updated variation on the old “don’t have my notes; don’t know where the classroom is; not wearing pants” variety we likely all endured at various times in our lives. These dreams are different though, as there’s an underlying threat woven into the frustration of looking all over campus for a building you can’...

As AI continues to strip mine human knowledge and experience, humanity itself is becoming AI — Acquired Ignorance. And your phone? It’s the advance scout for this invasion. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit joannapiros.substack.com/subscribe

This is one of my posts that is more journalistic than personal essay. I speak with Dr. Darryl Knight, VP of Research for Providence Health in Vancouver, about the new clinical trial capacity, and how much further we have to go in British Columbia, and Canada, to realize the potential for patient benefit. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access...

It’s the eve of Christmas, in the tradition I’ve grown up with, and also a period of celebration and commemoration for other cultures and religions. Whatever your leanings, background and traditions, please accept my thanks for being such dedicated readers of this Substack. It began as a whim, a way of sharing heartfelt conversations I was having with friends, with other people. Sometimes I write...

There aren’t as many listeners to my Substack as there are readers so this is a very special thank you and holiday greeting to all of you! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit joannapiros.substack.com/subscribe

You can call it an obsession, or you can accept that striving for a goal against all odds, and good sense, is somehow admirable. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit joannapiros.substack.com/subscribe

Don’t worry; this isn’t some dreary treatise on the death penalty. It’s another throwback memory from childhood, and beyond, complete with a tearjerker tune to round it all out for you. You might want to pull over if driving. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit joannapiros.substack.com/subscribe

Did you hear the big news out of Mount Saint Joseph’s Hospital recently? No? It was significant for a couple of reasons but it wouldn’t surprise me if it escaped your notice. Firstly, MSJ’s new unit is the first unit in BC to run non-cancer/oncology phase 1 clinical trials, opening the doors for researchers to move into a local home for this important first stage of any ground-breaking therapeutic...

The first non-cancer clinical trials launch in Vancouver, setting the stage for more ground breaking research in British Columbia. And high time! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit joannapiros.substack.com/subscribe

What the screen grab doesn’t reveal is that Sylvia joined my Zoom room at 2:10 a.m. local time, slipping through unseen doors while I slept. I hadn’t summoned her to that meeting, my calendar bore no trace, nor do I know Sylvia. Perhaps you’ve had similar messages and, as I did, promptly undertook a hurried search of online wisdom into “unknown entries into Zoom room”. The consensus seems to be th...

Some people like to try joining your zoom room early, and that’s totally fine if I’m all ready for them. Sylvia, on the other hand, tried to join in the middle of the night and that’s not okay. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit joannapiros.substack.com/subscribe

If you drive through this province in the fall you will experience every season but one in the space of 402 miles/647 kilometres. At the higher elevations it will be snowing and -4 C, then slippery in the shady bits as you round corners on the descent. There might be slushy rain on the windshield. On the downslope the skies clear, the bighorn sheep appear, grazing in the roadside ditches even thou...