🐔 Some days you’re the Road Runner. On this day, I was Wile E. Coyote.

Aug 25, 2025 | Stress Management

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.

Aug 5, 2025 | Stress Management

📖 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...

🎤 From B– to Booked Solid: What “Simon Cowell” Said About My Speaking Brand

Jul 23, 2025 | Stress Management

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...

The $32,000 Greek Mythology Mistake

Jul 16, 2025 | Stress Management

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

Jul 5, 2025 | Stress Management

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…

Jul 1, 2025 | Stress Management

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...