Stuff I Learned Yesterday
About Stuff I Learned Yesterday
Stuff I Learned Yesterday is a podcast that aims to encourage, inspire, challenge, motivate, and improve the lives of those who listen to it. Stuff I Learned Yesterday is released each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Each episode ranges from 5-15 minutes long and contain short stories based on real events and lessons learned by the hosts. Friday episodes are called the Friday Forum and are filled with inspirational and motivational thoughts submitted by Stuff I Learned Yesterday listeners. Submit your story for a Friday Forum episode by calling 304-837-2278, visiting our feedback page, or click on the Send a Voice Message button on the left hand side of this page.
49- Why I’m Not a Self Made Man
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Remember back in episode 38 when I talked about Kevin Durant’s MVP acceptance speech? While there are countless examples I could point to for today’s episode, I’d like to use that one again. Since it’s still so fresh in our minds and we know about it, it will serve as a great example to bring us all on the same page here today.
As a refresher, Kevin thanked EVERYONE in his speech. He thanked his teammates one by one, his coaches, trainers, and the team owner. He thanked his brothers, father, and his mother. He did the whole thing unscripted and without notes. He spoke from his heart and it was awesome. It was also awesome to hear him acknowledge that he didn’t get to that spot on his own.
Today I want to consider just how important to remember that we don’t go anywhere or accomplish anything on our own. Even “self made” people got to where they are with the assistance of someone. Take a moment and think about where you are today. Maybe you’re a high school student, a recent college graduate or a young married person. Maybe you’re an empty nester, or a retired person. It doesn’t matter where you are on the road of life or how far you climbed up the proverbial ladder, you’re not where you’re at because of your efforts alone.
Maybe you had a teacher that showed you something that you connected with or set you on a path of your passion. Perhaps your parents taught you the value of working hard, conducting yourself with integrity, or the benefit of giving a firm handshake. I had some of those influences in my life and I’m extremely grateful for them.
Today I want to take a few minutes and thank some of the people who have had a positive influence in my life since I’ve been an adult. Read More…
48- Trying to Avoid Bad Parking Spots
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I grew up in a very middle class home. We didn’t lack for anything we needed, but we didn’t have many extras. I think having 3 teenage boys was tough on my parents. I don’t even want to know what our grocery bill was each month.
I don’t know if it was because we couldn’t afford it, or if my dad wanted to teach me a lesson, but I didn’t get a car for my 16th birthday or high school graduation. If I wanted a car, it was entirely up to me to save up the necessary money and then buy it myself. I know that my parents definitely couldn’t afford to buy me one, so I never felt cheated in any way. But my dad is the kind of guy who appreciates hard work, and even if we could have afforded it, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did make the same decision in order for me to better appreciate the car and responsibility that comes with owning one.
Since we lived in a very small town, there weren’t a lot of job opportunities. Most kids worked on their family farm or other family business. There were a couple of jobs to be found at the local grocery store and a few jobs to be found at the McDonalds out on the turnpike. There were bigger towns nearby that offered more job opportunities, but without a car, those were not feasible options for me.
I applied at the grocery store and at McDonalds. After several months of consistently filling out applications, I finally got hired on as a burger flipper at McDonalds making $4.25/hour. I was 17 years old, it was the most money I’d ever seen, and my dream of owning a car would be a reality soon. Read More…
47- You Want Change With That?
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Tomorrow will be the end of an era. On Wednesday, May 21, 2014, the final episode of Revolution will air on NBC. Once it ends and we record our podcasts on Thursday night, it will mark the first time since we started podcasting in 2008 that Golden Spiral Media will not have a podcast about a currently airing TV show. Yes, we’ll still have our LOST podcast, and Triplecast is coming back in the next couple of weeks, but it’s a distinction that’s worth noting.
It’s worth noting because we have tried very hard to avoid this situation. When we weren’t sure if Fringe would get a fifth season, we made the decision early to find a show that we could get excited about and start covering it. We didn’t want there to be a lapse in our shows and take the risk of losing the audience we’d spent four years (at that point) building.
It turned out that Fringe did get a fifth season, albeit a shortened one, so for several months, we had two shows that we were covering. When the show runner for Fringe announced he had a new show called Almost Human, we immediately got on board with that too. That meant that this TV season we covered Revolution and Almost Human.
While we get to choose the shows that we will podcast about, we certainly have no influence on deciding when or if those shows will be canceled. Despite doubling down our efforts and doing all we could to make sure we always had a show to look forward to, FOX cancelled Almost Human and NBC cancelled Revolution, and both of our podcasts got cancelled right along with them.
A year ago I would have been in a quiet panic. I’m the type of person who has to have everything planned out with as much advance as possible. I’m also a bit of a control freak, although I’d like to think I’ve come a long way in that area. Read More…
46- Dinner With That Guy From Charles in Charge
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Some of you that are in your 40’s or older may remember a show named 8 is Enough and a character named Tommy Bradford. If you’re a bit younger than that then you may remember a show called Charles in Charge and a character named Buddy Lembeck, the goofy best friend of Scott Baio’s character, Charles. Both of these characters were played by a guy named Willie Aames.
I never really watched 8 is Enough. I saw a few reruns when I was a kid, but it never really interested me that much. However, I did watch Charles in Charge. That was a funny show to me. When I started working at the bookstore in the mid 90’s, we started carrying a new video series named Bibleman. Imagine my surprise when I learned that Bibleman was portrayed by none other than Buddy Lembeck himself, Willie Aames. Go ahead and think about that for a minute.
Okay, now I don’t know if you’ve ever seen an episode of Bibleman or what you just imagined in your mind, but it wasn’t as bad as you may think. It was a live action super hero style show where Bibleman would try to help kids learn how to handle various life issues and solve character defining moments by looking to see what the Bible taught.
The early episodes were pretty cheesy, but as Bibleman grew in popularity and they got a bigger budget, the show got much better. The costumes were better, the special effects were better, the lighting was better, and the whole production was pretty decent. It was still a cheesy kids show, but it wasn’t any worse than anything else you’d see on PBS.
By the time I was living in Lubbock and training to be a store manager, Bibleman was at the peak of its popularity. Church kids were crazy about him. Read More…
45- Friday Forum
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Today is the Friday Forum!! In today’s episode I share a very special story of adoption from John McGrail. 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…
44- The Best Thing To Ever Come Out of Texas
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15 years. It really doesn’t seem like it’s been 15 years since I married Kari Maechelle Brunson, but today is our 15 year anniversary. We met while working at a bookstore. I was the assistant manager. She and her family had just moved to Oklahoma City from Texas and she was hired to work in the teacher supplies department and work customer service.
It was not love at first sight. I was coming off of a break up with a girl that I was pretty serious with, so I wasn’t really looking to date anyone at that point. Kari had a funny Texas accent and I would make fun of the way she said certain words, but that was about the extent of our relationship.
One day one of our regular customers named Cindy told me that she thought Kari and would be good together and she encouraged me to ask her out. I still wasn’t really looking to date anyone, but it was a comment that stuck with me. I began to notice Kari more after that day. Often times after work, a group of us would go get coffee or grab some food a together. When we did this, I’d often find myself sitting near Kari and we’d talk. Then we started hanging out in the parking lot after work, just sitting on the tailgate of my truck and talking.
Soon after that we started going on dates with just the two of us. I was really trying to be cautious and not get carried away. After a couple of months of dating, I realized that I there was something really cool going on between us and I didn’t want to see anyone else but her. I was pretty sure she felt the same way, but I wanted to make it clear that I was ready to take our relationship more seriously. I began planning the best date ever. Read More…
43- The Beautiful Act of Giving and Receiving
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We all know that college students are usually broke. I certainly was when I was in college. I had a couple of small scholarships that covered most of the expense of books, but nothing more. All of my tuition was paid for by saving money earned from my part time job.
After my freshman year, my roommate and I got a small apartment just off of campus. It was the cheapest one we could find. It wasn’t fancy at all, but it was more than enough for us. It was a one bedroom apartment and we worked it out that he got the bedroom and I got the couch. I really didn’t mind. For 4 years I slept on the couch every night.
When we first moved in, there was no couch, or bed for that matter. We had a computer desk and my drafting table. The previous tenant left a chest of drawers with a mirror and the landlord said we could use it and just leave it for the next tenant. I bought a used futon from another friend, and my roommate got a bed from his parents. I also bought a dinette set from a co-worker. We were living the dream.
At some point we scored an extra long couch from another friend of ours and a lady that my roommate went to church gave us a coffee table and entertainment center. We soon had a fully furnished apartment and we’d only had to buy the dinette set.
We ate a lot of ramen noodles and spent a good amount of time at the CiCi’s pizza all you can eat buffet. My roommate and I got along great. We split all the bills 50/50, and we both valued the importance of paying all of our bills on time. We always paid our bills first, and then used the rest to buy food or other needs. Read More…
42- Michael Jackson, a Cappella, and Daft Punk
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I think most people dream about being a singer at some point as a child. For me the first memory I have of dreaming what it would be like to be a rock star was when I was first introduced to Michael Jackson’s Thriller album. I was 6 years old.
I don’t think I ever really thought I’d make it as a big time singer and never really pursued it. In fact, I never even sang in front of anyone except for the occasion when my brother would catch me singing along to the radio. That all changed on a random day after I graduated high school.
We had a new youth pastor, named Tim, at the church I was attending and since I we were pretty close in age. I thought it would be cool to get to know him a bit so I asked him if he’d like to hang out sometime. He invited me to go to the city with him one day when he was meeting up with some of his other friends and I agreed to tag along.
I had just discovered this really cool a cappella group and was really amazed by how much music they could make with only their voices and I brought their cassette tape with me. At some point I popped it into the cassette player of Tim’s car and he liked it too. I sat in the back seat looking out the window and singing softly to myself as we drove around Oklahoma City picking up Tim’s friends.
I had no idea at the time, but Tim was in a vocal quartet and the friends we were picking up were the other members of his group. I was also unaware that I was singing loud enough for Tim to hear me. I became suddenly aware when, at the end of one song, Tim hit the rewind on the tape player and told me that he was going to play it again and he wanted me to sing again, but louder. I was reluctant to do so, but he coaxed me into it. After the song was over he announced that the group had just found their new lead singer. Read More…
41- Acknowledging Unmet Expectations
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Like many of you, I had a pretty busy weekend. My Saturday started with my son and I attending men’s Bible study at church, and then I had to set up the drum kit for Sunday’s church service. While we were doing those things, my wife and daughter did a bit of shopping. We all met back at our house shortly before lunch and then headed out together to deliver some flowers to my grandma for Mother’s Day.
Once we finished our visit to my grandma we had time to grab a quick lunch before heading off to my high school reunion. Addison had really enjoyed her one-on-one time with Kari earlier that day, and wanted to have a lunch with just the two of them. Colby liked the idea of just having a lunch with me, so we agreed to split back up for lunch.
While Colby and I were alone in my car he said, “Dad, I thought that when you quit your job you were going to get to spend more time with us.” It was a beautiful sunny day so I had the sunroof open and the windows down. While having the windows down and the sunroof open make a great way to get some sun while I’m in my car, the amount of wind noise that is brought into the car make it difficult to have a real conversation. I closed the sunroof, rolled up the windows, turned the A/C on, and turned the radio off.
To me, when Colby said this to me, he was basically telling me that he’s disappointed in the the amount of time and attention that I’m spending with him. Now, as I mentioned in episode 36, I’m very aware that I have not been spending as much time with my family as I had hoped I would be when I started working from home. But now that my son is calling me out on it, I needed to let him know that I was aware of it and I was making steps to get better. Read More…
40- Stuff I Learned Yesterday Friday Forum Mother’s Day Edition
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Today is the Friday Forum!! 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. 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.
In today’s Friday Forum we hear Mother’s Day contributions from Celina, Bonita, and Mark. Read More…