The Mason Minute

The Mason Minute is coming up on its 15th anniversary. We’ve done it day in and day out for almost the entire time. When a couple of friends convinced me to grab a microphone again after retiring from radio, I decided to do the podcast three or four times a week just for fun. But within the first week, I knew it had to be a daily thing. And we almost hit the 15-year mark. But if you pay any attent...

I know the world is filled with entitled people. Or should I say, people who feel entitled? But have you noticed how the number keeps growing daily? I’ve had my moments throughout the years where I thought I was special. But it didn’t take long to learn that I wasn’t. We used to have a running joke about waiting for people to say, "Do you know who I am?" Sadly, that joke isn’t funny anymore; it’s...

I doubt that this will shock you. But every time the winter Olympic Games happen, there’s a huge interest spike in winter sports. Things like ice hockey, skiing, ice-skating, and even curling get people hyped. They get so caught up in the games that they want to start experimenting with and trying those sports. But there's a problem we’re starting to face. Climate change is affecting the amount of...

We all deal with anger to varying degrees. But somewhere along the way, we’re told that venting our anger can help get past it. I don’t remember when I was first told to find ways to express my frustrations. Of course, we told screaming and yelling aren’t the answer. But the quicker you can let go of it, the better off you will be. But a recent study from Ohio State University says that venting yo...

There are many controversial issues in the world right now. And vaccines are definitely included in that polarizing list of subjects. That fact hasn’t stopped Stanford researchers from working on a new vaccine. This nasal spray vaccine could protect against coughs, colds, and flu, as well as bacterial lung infections and perhaps allergies. We’re a long way from seeing it happen, as testing in lab...

We all have different reasons to look forward to the weekend. And I often think it has to do with where we are in life that determines why we’re looking forward to it. When you’re younger, you’re just looking forward to getting a day off. Later, perhaps going out on a date, to a concert, or just to hang with friends. Then you get older, and you'll look forward to having time to travel, relax, or e...

Do you still have a printer along with your home computer? Or perhaps I should ask if you even have a home computer anymore? I got my first printer, a dot-matrix model, back in 1989. And while it was fun to have access to that technology at home, the cost for ribbons and ink kept rising. Over the years, I’ve gone from dot matrix to inkjet. But sadly, the expensive printer I have now is out of ink....

As I said yesterday, when discussing the sad hours, any day that you can learn something is a good day. Well, I hit the motherlode by learning two things in the same article. First, the sad hours, and then about cognitive shuffling. For those who have trouble falling asleep or, in my case, getting back to sleep, cognitive shuffling might help. We all have problems sleeping throughout our lives, an...

I’ve often discussed my goal to learn something new every day. It doesn’t matter how big or how small, I just love learning, anything. The other day, I was reading an article about sleep, and I learned two things. It was two for the price of one. First, I learned about the sad hours. Now, perhaps for some, they’re like, " Have you been living under a rock? The sad hours happen between 1 and 5 AM,...

I remember back in 1995 when the Internet popped into everyone's stream of consciousness. Everyone was trying to figure out how to use it and what they could do with it. People were still trying to understand browsers. Well, it didn’t really happen overnight. That perception reminds me of what we’re experiencing with artificial intelligence right now. AI has gone mainstream in just a short time. B...

Whenever someone finds out I produce a podcast, they ask me to describe it. And if you've listenedto the Mason Minute for any length of time, you know it’s not easy to explain. There’s no single topic or theme. It’s just my view of the world. Well, this week, someone has finally explained the podcast perfectly. The company that hosts my audio files, Blubrry, has named me their podcaster of the mon...

I’m getting up on my soapbox today, but don’t think this is some old man rant, because it’s not. This is the problem I’ve had most of my life. I talked about this briefly yesterday in my Road Warrior video blog. I realize products change all the time, but I get the feeling that companies don’t want to tell us when this happens, for fear we’ll switch to another product. The face wash I use every da...

I’m not someone who’s often accused of having trust issues. And I guess, that’s something I should be proud of. When you’ve been in a relationship as long as I have, you typically don’t think of things like that. Now, perhaps in my younger days, there was a time or two when it was questioned, but that was long ago. But the other day, I found myself in a situation that tested my trust. And, in comp...

It’s Valentine’s Day, a day that celebrates love and romance. And with that, you normally think of special songs, like love songs. For some reason, I often think of the Love Boat theme from the old TV show. It talks about love, that’s exciting and new. My love is not so new, and to me, that’s actually a good thing. Sure, when love is new, there is some excitement, but as time goes on and love chan...

Home shopping channels have been a TV craze for decades. But it looks like the remaining players will be filing for bankruptcy shortly. QVC and HSN's days are numbered thanks to the Internet. They can’t survive. I remember friends who were obsessed with the home shopping channels back in the 80s. They would watch for hours and hours on end. Now that we can shop for anything online, there really is...

The NFL unofficially wrapped up the season yesterday. Sure, the big game was on Sunday, but yesterday the Seattle Seahawks had their Super Bowl parade. But many people throughout the area weren’t able to celebrate. The city of Seattle announced that any student missing school yesterday would be issued an unexcused absence. And while I understand the school system taking the hard line, I’m sure the...

There’s a TikTok video that looks to be going viral. Now that happens often, but the one thing that stood out to me was a video from a father of three here in Nashville. I read about the video online. His premise is that he’s no longer welcome at fast food restaurants like McDonald’s and Taco Bell. He feels restaurants are discouraging indoor dining and are encouraging you to use DoorDash or the d...

Long before it was a movie, Groundhog Day always made me chuckle. It’s silly to think that so many people could be upset by whether a rodent sees their shadow or not. And of course, last week, when Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, for some reason, that means six more weeks of winter. Now we all know the season technically lasts six more weeks. But at this point, everybody is tired of snow, or in...

When people ask me how I like my job, I tell them I’ve never worked harder in my life. My careers in radio and the music business could be intense, sometimes frantic, but with both, there was always a lot of downtime. You wouldn’t think that working for an advertising agency would be quite as demanding. But it is. I go nonstop for eight hours a day, and by the time I get home, I’m tired. I grab my...

You know what day it is. It’s the day of that big Bad Bunny concert. I guess "concert" isn’t the right word; perhaps I should say ‘performance'. Bad Bunny, who almost everybody in the world knows, is performing the halftime show at this year's Super Bowl. While I’m not a fan of his music, I have no problem with him performing. In fact, I rarely pay attention to the halftime show anyway. I know for...

Let me pose a question. Are nostalgia and history exclusive of one another? No, I’m not talking about feeling nostalgic, I’m talking about nostalgia, the love of things that are old. If people love nostalgia, do they also love history? I don’t know the answer, but I do know that most people who don’t like history aren’t fond of looking back. I love nostalgia. I love old pictures. I love stories of...

Do you ever have a situation where you think the issue is probably more in your mind than it is in reality? Let me explain. For some reason, our house feels colder when it’s 40° outside than when it’s 20° outside. And it’s not like we’re changing the thermostat. During the winter months, we keep our house consistently at 66°. But I find the house feels colder when it’s 40 outside than when it’s 20...

When you think of wildlife, you don’t often think of Nashville. Okay, perhaps you think of the wildlife that’s happening on Lower Broadway, but Nashville isn’t known as a rural area. But, as I can attest, we still have lots of animals within the city limits. Within just a few miles of my house, many families of deer, a few coyotes, and even some water buffalo on a nearby farm that do escape every...

One of my old bosses used to say that nobody likes change except for a wet baby. I always knew what he meant and agreed, to a point. One thing I’ve realized is that most change is a slow process. It happens behind the scenes when we’re not paying attention. When we notice, the change seems abrupt. The way we watch sports on television is changing. I should say it’s constantly changing. The regiona...

The Winter Olympics are almost here. They begin in a couple of days, with curling among the first events. I’m not the biggest Olympic fan, but I do keep track of what’s going on. One thing I wondered about recently is why some sports, like figure skating, wait until the last minute to announce the Olympic participants. The figure skaters who will represent the US were announced a couple of weeks a...