In this Episode Nine (9) of the Back Down Memory Lane podcast, Joe talks to another special friend he met during the pandemic, Megan Renee. We talk about our paths initially crossing in WordPress, origin stories, and the difficulties of social unrest and the bright voices that appeared in the darkness. Megan is an Organizer for WordCamp Northeast Ohio and her sense of humor and sarcasm keeps me in stitches.

During Memo to Self, I talked about how we as inflexible, routine-oriented people were forced to change during 2020 and how rolling with it isn't such a bad thing.

In this Episode Eight (8) of the Back Down Memory Lane podcast, Joe talks to a friend I met during the pandemic, Sally Thoun, one of the special souls that made a dark 2020 bright and inspiring for me. We talked about our initial meeting in my backyard doing a virtual Meetup last summer, our shared experiences as survivors of major health crises, and why we give back, and why it’s so important to us. An incredible personality with an incredible backstory, enjoy part one of our two-part discussion.

Memo to Self

During Memo to Self, I talked about my new telecommuting experience as one commuter pecks at a keyboard and works on his laptop as he drives his Tesla into work each morning.

On Season Two of the Back Down Memory Lane Podcast, the calendar year 2020 was one that everyone on this planet would like to forget. We'll preview some of the people I met and how they shaped our shared memories during a tragic, horrifying, glorious, momentous year. 

In this Episode Six (6) of the Back Down Memory Lane podcast, Joe Simpson talks with his long-time friend and former colleague, Raynard Price who saw every door closing as an opportunity to travel in a new and exciting direction. An incredible personality with an incredible backstory, enjoy part one of our two-part discussion.

Memo to Self

Also, this week’s “Memo to Self” recalls an experience on the 405 freeway when a young woman has a strange commuting buddy on her drive into the office.

In this Episode Five (5) of the Back Down Memory Lane podcast, Joe Simpson talks with his mother, Carolyn Lewis of skeinsandthings.com whose knack for making things out of various threads and yarns what the launching pad from my creative path. We’ll talk of the original side hustle back in the 1960s and 1970s Highland Park, Michigan and how she learned the art of crocheting from a teacher similar to music lessons.

On this week’s installment of “Memo to Self”, Joe recalls a startling tale of entitlement of passengers on Metrolink, a regional commuter train service with the tale of My Bag Needs a Seat.

In Episode Four (4) of the Back Down Memory Lane podcast, Joe Simpson recalls a paradigm-shifting conversation at the front desk of a fitness center after a workout that evolved into an inspirational story and connection in a place where you least expected. Arriving at the perfect time in my recovery from a heart event, we meet Myron McCloud, Fitness Center Director ONE|Fitness at Metro Los Angeles who leads the most advanced and strenuous training sessions daily but also survived a massive heart attack. Relive his harrowing tale and the story of how we met.

Also, this week’s “Memo to Self” recalls a long drive home from a speaking engagement during WordCamp Riverside and a detour for an emergency bathroom break becomes a lesson in never losing faith in the kind nature still flickering inside us during these strange times.

Fitness Instructor Survives Heart Attack, Living Better, Piedmont Healthcare

My first business mentor and hero was John's mother, Edna way back in the seventies in the Motown and home of the Model T. We'll talk about how even though a new job separated us we'd travel to stay connected. Music transcends cultures, boundaries, and can heal. We'll learn about the science behind how John's music helps the elderly and influences that shaped our lives.

We'll also hear the amazing story of how a long-distance call was instrumental in saving a loved one during a brain attack (stroke) , drama during the "greatest wedding of all time", and more as we travel Back Down Memory Lane.

Learn how a comic book rack in an adult bookstore in a small town in southeastern Michigan fostered a friendship starting in elementary school has endured the test of time and distance. John Pearson and I are so similar - from a family of four with two older sisters and one younger brother. We were close friends until his family relocated with the relocation of his mother's job as a mid-level executive with Ford Motor Company to Berea, Ohio.

If you blink, you'll miss his part as an extra, "scientist in a lab coat", in the first Avengers movie, shot in Cleveland where he's lived his life since moving there in the late seventies. Detroit was disintegrating after social unrest, neglect, and the rise of the Japanese automobile but our love of all things comic books and film kept up safe. Part one of two, we explore the early days in the "Home of the Model T", Highland Park, Michigan.

In this episode of Back Down Memory Lane, Joe Simpson reminisces about the differences in a first meeting tale with Digital Nomad and WooCommerce Docs Lead Kat Christofer and how perceptions and motivations weave very different stories within our minds. Also, this week's "Memo to Self" recalls a ride to Detroit Metropolitan Airport becomes an adventure when a fast-moving peer-to-peer rideshare driver reveals that he's had two strokes, a heart attack, and still has limited vision!