Stuff I Learned Yesterday show

Stuff I Learned Yesterday

Summary: Stuff I Learned Yesterday is a podcast intended to motivate and inspire you to learn something everyday. I believe that if you aren't learning, you aren't living. By taking time to reflect and learn something every day, you will not only improve yourself and your life, you will help make the world a better place. Share what you've learned by calling 304-837-2278 or emailing feedback@goldenspiralmedia.com.

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  • Artist: Golden Spiral Media
  • Copyright: ©2016 Golden Spiral Media

Podcasts:

 SILY Episode 13-Ray Ortega Bashed My Podcast…and He Was Right | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 11:19

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 via Skype each week. There is so much I didn’t know back then.  I had no idea how to get rid of that chirping electrical sound from our computers.  I didn’t know about shock mounts.  I had never even heard of a compressor/limiter/gate.  We landed an interview with actress Jasika Nicole about a month after the show premiered.  From an audio quality standpoint, that interview was and is a disaster.   In fact, it is such a disaster that when I was at new media expo 2014 I sat in on a session that had Ray Ortega as one of the panelists.  I was surprised when he mentioned this Fringe podcast that interviewed one of the actresses and how terrible the audio was.  He went on to say a few other very critical things about the podcast.  Keep in mind that Ray Ortega and I had never met. Later that day I saw Ray out in the hall and I swooped in.  I asked him if he remembered the exact name of the Fringe podcast.  He said that he didn’t.  I told him that I was quite sure that he was talking about my show.  He stammered a bit and insisted that I was probably mistaken.  I described the audio to him and the actress that was in the interview.  We both agreed that it was indeed my show that he’d just trashed to the audience of New Media Expo. Read More...

 SILY Episode 12-Words + Action = Belief | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 8:35

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 including both of them in today’s episode. The first story took place when I was probably 8 to 10 years old.  My brother and I always spent a lot of time with my grandparents, that is, my dad’s mom and stepdad.  My mom’s parents lived in California, and I only remember meeting them one time.  There were a couple of other times I met them, but just like my Disneyland experience, I was too young to remember.  My step grandpa was the only grandpa I ever knew, and never considered him  anything other than my real blood related grandpa.  Because they lived here in Oklahoma, they’ve always been a close and important part of my life.  Read More...

 SILY Episode 11-A Look Into the Eyes of Regret | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 8:51

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 year ago.  In fact, this Saturday, April 5th, will mark the one year anniversary of the day I turned in my resignation. My decision to leave the bookstore was not easy nor was it made quickly.  A few years ago I started a business that I hoped would help transition me from the bookstore to being full-time self employed.  That business is a website design company called Dramatic Traffic.  I still own it and have local clients that I serve under that name.  Most of my new clients are served under the more widely known company I own, Golden Spiral Media.   To help grow Dramatic Traffic locally, I joined a Wednesday morning group of other small business owners and entrepreneurs.  I knew that I had a lot to learn about being in business for myself and I wanted to learn from others who had blazed that trail before.  They didn’t have a website designer in their group and eagerly accepted me as a member.  Several members of the group spent time with me one on one and shared their wisdom and life stories with me.  One of those members was a man in his late 60’s named Mr. K. Read More...

 SILY Episode 10-Friday Forum | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 15:21

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 Voicemail tab on my website, GoldenSpiralMedia.com.  Friday Forum is your opportunity to Share what YOU’VE learned, so that other listeners and I can learn from YOU.  It can be a message as short as 30 seconds or several minutes long.  It really doesn’t matter just as long as it’s something that will benefit others.   This week’s Friday forum come to us from Mark.  Mark sent in a story that’s long enough to take up the entire duration of today’s show.  While it’s perfectly okay that Mark’s story is this long, please don’t think that your Friday Forum story has to be this long.  In fact, for most Friday Forum episodes, I envision 2 or 3 stories from various callers.  Read More...

 SILY Episode 09-The Fire Sauce, The Hot Tub, and the Prank War | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 12:45

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 come home either Friday night or Saturday afternoon.  This gave us a day to spend with our families before we headed back to Denton. Now, not all of the setup crew was from Oklahoma City.  The company pulled in top employees from all over the company to come help set up new stores.  Two of us from the Oklahoma City market were part of the team so we would ride down together and room together once we arrived.  My traveling partner for that four week stretch was a good friend of mine named Ben. Ben and I had a lot in common and being around him really made the drive time pass more quickly.  We were both competitive, so when one of us decided to pull a simple prank on the other, it was on like Donkey Kong!  Read More...

 SILY Episode 08-Teaching With Action | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 9:24

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 habits, but hopefully, if we do our job right, we’re teaching them those things that are good and noble and honorable. Of course, none of us as humans or as parents are perfect, so sometimes I screw up as a parent.  But the story I want to share today is about one of those times where I got it right. Dallas Comic-Con 2013 took place right around Mother’s Day and my wife thought that a good present for her would be to give her a weekend of relaxing at home...alone.  In fact, when I asked her what she thought about me taking the kids down to Dallas for Dallas Comic-con, her first words were, “Sounds like a great Mother’s Day present!”  This would be a win for everyone involved.  Kari would get to enjoy some peace and quiet, read her books, work on some cross-stitching, and relax.  The kids would get to take an adventure out of state, and I would get to get my geek on. Read More...

 SILY Episode 07-When Relationships Hurt | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 11:27

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 in a deep depression and started seeing a psychologist this past friday. One of my many issues is my relationship with my sister, which is almost inexistent, we might as well be strangers. Yesterday I asked my sister about this and for her I'm quite dramatic, boring, ridiculous and she have no interest in sharing her life with me. She doesn't understand why this affects me, I was shocked. Well, I think that's everything. Thank you for sharing your passion for so many wonderful series, thank you for make my life less miserable. First, I want to thank this listener for her courage to write in about such a difficult issue.  I am not at all qualified to address this situation in any kind of clinical or professional way, but I can tell you that her story is not uncommon and hits really close to me.  I want to share a story with you today in hopes that it might give you strength and a brighter outlook.  Read More...

 SILY 006-Feeding Off of Failure | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 9:46

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 lacked imagination and had no original ideas. There are many, many other stories of how now-famous people once failed miserably.  Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Abraham Lincoln, and Steve Jobs are just a few.  The stories of their failures have been widely circulated around the internet and often used to inspire others.  Sometimes it’s hard for me to look at those people and think that they have anything to do with ME.  I’m not a millionaire.  I’m not a famous author or inventor.  I’ve never won any awards, well, unless you count that podcasting award! The point is, if you’re like me, when you hear stories of famous people who once failed, you quickly tell yourself why you’re not like that person and their story may not inspire you the way it was intended.  In reality, all those people are normal humans just like the rest of us.  And while we may not ever be a famous inventor, TV personality, athlete, author, or musician, we can do the EXACT same things that each of those people did.  We can learn from our failures and use them to make us stronger.  Read More...

 SILY 005-The Power of Encouragement | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 9:25

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 these podcasts, encouraging, but there are people out there that just have this gift of encouragement.  Those people that seem to always know what to say in those tough situations or moments when life has you down.  When the tables are turned and someone around me is struggling, I often find it difficult to figure out what to say.  It seems like anything I say is just trite or hollow. Read More...

 SILY 004-That Wrong Answer is Correct! | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 8:13

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 generally would rather be any place other than school. It just so happened that my high school sophomore English/Lit class was the same time of day that the girls had their PE or elective.  This meant that my sophomore English/Lit teacher, Mr. Harrison had a room full 20 or smart mouthed, teenage boys who couldn’t care less about Shakespeare, Poe, Dickens, or Steinbeck.  I was naturally good at English, but didn’t really care much for literature.  Some of it was interesting, like Poe, Dickens, and Twain, but the poetry, and Shakespeare stuff was dull.  Please don’t hate me. Mr. Harrison was different than most teachers.  He didn’t fit the mold.  That’s probably why he only lasted about 3 years.  He drove a 1976 Jeep CJ5 and it had the word “Tenacity” stenciled on the sides.  He always backed it into his parking space.  In the classroom he was different too.  He understood what it was like to be a teenage boy and, while he demanded respect and order in the classroom, he tried to make our time and fun as possible. Read More...

 SILY 003-My Proudest Moment | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 8:22

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 that didn’t work. The basketball coach and the other players would literally laugh at me as I tried to do the drills. I was never in the cool crowd. Most of the kids at school were nice enough, but I never really felt like I fit in. When I graduated high school I was insecure, and not exactly sure where life would take me, but I could not wait to get out of that small town and see what else was out there. I started attending the university in a town about 30 miles away, the town I still live in today. I enrolled as a Graphic Arts major with hopes to one day be an animator for Warner Brothers. I’d never taken a formal art class because my school didn’t offer any art courses. I also found a part time job to pay my way through college. I soon realized that my love for drawing went away when it started becoming an assignment and stopped being a mere hobby. So it didn’t take long for my interest in school to wane, even though I was making great grades and made the dean’s honor roll. At the same time, I grew more interested in my job. And there at that little book store is where I reached my proudest moment.  Read More...

 SILY 002-The Day I Slew the Fear Dragon | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 10:27

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 called Comic Con International or even San Diego Comic Con. There are many comic cons happening all year round in cities all around the world. In 2013 I not only made my 3rd trip back to San Diego Comic Con, I attended Seattle's Emerald City Comic Con, Dallas Comic Con, and Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia. There are many things to love about comic cons, and one of my favorites is the opportunity to see and often speak to the people that have worked tirelessly to create books, TV shows, and movies that I love. Sometimes these encounters with celebrities have come in one on one conversations, sometimes they've come in small group conversations, but most of the time I've simply been one of thousand of giddy geeks in a room for an hour as the actors and producers sat on a stage and spoke about their work. I don't get nervous or scared during the one on one conversations, and I no longer get butterflies when I'm part of a round table discussion, but those massive rooms filled with people...those are the ones that make me nervous just thinking about it right now. My fear is the peers. My first year at San Diego Comic Con I got up in front of nearly 5,000 people in Ballroom 20 so that I could ask a question to the stars of my favorite show, Fringe. I was disappointed, but mostly relieved when time ran out before I even got close to the microphone. I attended 4 other comic cons, as I mentioned before, and never got up enough nerve to even approach the microphone line again. And then came Dragon Con 2013. It seems only fitting that I would finally slay the fear dragon at con bearing its name. But first, a little background. Read More...

 SILY 001-The Contagious Smile of the Garbage Whistler | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 14:37

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 share ideas with other people like me; other podcasters, online content creators, and those who aspire to share their message with the world. This last bit, the bit about sharing a message with the world, is something that had been on my mind for quite a while, at least a year. When I started podcasting in 2008, I had no idea how it would change my life. At the time it was either spend a bit of money on season tickets for the Oklahoma Sooners football team, or buy some podcasting equipment. I chose podcasting and it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. Read More...

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