Articles
When your puppy shows you dead reptiles, snakes and (live) vultures oh my
This week, our backyard turned into a wildlife episode I didn’t sign up for. It started earlier in the week with a dead bird. Odd, but not headline material. Then came a snake — or what was left of it — in the driveway. Our puppy, Darcy, proudly found it and tried to...
Four Years. Four Books. No Podcast. Until Now.
I’ve talked about starting a podcast for years. April 24, 2021: I bought three Kindle books on podcasting. I read half of one. Not because it was bad — that half was actually pretty good. I just didn’t take action. November 27, 2022: Black Friday. Bought another...
🐔 Some days you’re the Road Runner. On this day, I was Wile E. Coyote.
The day stress poured down on me. Literally. 🪜 March 1998. The first warm day in a long time. My wife Beth and I decide to take our two-year-old Kenny out to play in the yard. When we get out there I tell Beth I’m going to unclog our front gutter. All winter long the...
My Midlife Crisis Was a Beach Towel. My Cure Was a Jet Ski.
📖 Story: Jet Skis at 50 (From my book "Fry Your Chickens!") (From my book Fry Your Chickens!) It’s a warm day in July. We’re on our annual South Carolina family vacation. I’m sharing a beach towel with my wife. I’d recently hit a milestone birthday. The big 5-0. Five...
🎤 From B– to Booked Solid: What “Simon Cowell” Said About My Speaking Brand
I asked ChatGPT to channel Simon Cowell and give me a brutally honest review of my speaking career — specifically how I stack up among Ohio’s top humorous keynote speakers. The feedback? Let’s just say it was equal parts inspiring and... slightly painful. Here’s how...
The $32,000 Greek Mythology Mistake
How I turned a game show loss into one of the most valuable lessons (and keynotes) of my life. Senior year of high school, I was on our quiz team. We weren’t just answering questions in a classroom — we were competing on a televised academic tournament out of Toledo,...
🐔 Unplugging Go Go Go Gary
How one chicken nearly ruined camp—and how I fried him instead. This past week, I was at Camp Friedlander with our Scout troop. Tent pitched by a lake. Nestled in the woods. It should’ve been peak relaxation. But on Day One, I heard him. At first, I listened. I found...
Will AI Make Us Dumber? I don’t know…
AI isn’t the problem. The way we use it is. Every few weeks, someone declares that AI is ruining our ability to think. “Students don’t learn to write anymore!”“People just copy/paste ChatGPT answers!”“We're outsourcing our brains to bots!” One article even blamed...
From Chickens to Keynotes: A Spring to Remember
In 2023, I made a big decision: I would retire from corporate life on March 31, 2024. But the chickens had other plans. They whispered doubts like: "You’re giving up a steady paycheck?" "What if no one wants to hire you?" "You’re walking away from security—you’re...