Boonmee McElroy recently released her first book, "I Hate Potatoes: They Make Me Cry". It's a huge accomplishment and something she said would be happening when we spoke to each other for Episode 92 of this podcast. Boonmee lived through an impoverished and abusive childhood in Thailand. For the first time, in her new book, she tells the full story and how she uses her experiences to better her life and the lives of others.

For me, this is the 100th episode of my podcast. It's a huge accomplishment to have published so many meaningful conversations.

This episode serves as a celebration for both of us.

Watch this conversation on YouTube.

Buy Boonmee's book on Amazon.

Follow Boonmee's coaching page on Facebook @passionatecoach.

Learn about the 75HardChallenge and/or listen to creator Andy Frisella explain the program.

Connect with me on my Facebook page @curt.carstensen and on Instagram @curtpiks.

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Thanousay "T" Khamphoune realized a few years ago that sharing his story might be encouraging to others that have had a lot to overcome. As a child, he and his siblings had to live with different family members while his parents had legal problems. He was frequently moving and changing schools. Eventually being reunited with his dad brought some positives but also many challenges and threats of being taken away from his parents once again.

Through all of this he's continued to work hard, pursue his dreams, and maintain the best life that he could. Sadly, he lost his youngest brother to suicide in the fall of 2021, adding another trauma to his family life.

Still, "T" strives to be encouraging to others facing difficult challenges in their own lives.

Watch this conversation on YouTube.

Connect with me on my Facebook page @curt.carstensen and on Instagram @curtpiks.

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Email comments and questions to [email protected].

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Gary Arndt is the creator and host of the "Everything Everywhere Daily" podcast. The podcast is a newer extension of his work as a successful travel blogger on the website everything-everywhere.com. Gary's podcast showcases his never-ending curiosity and wide variety of interests, while providing great, well-written information in a short amount of time each day for his audience.

In this conversation we discuss the growing success of his podcast and some of what he has learned from it in the first year and a half. Plus we share observations and lessons from traveling. Gary has been to well over 200 countries and territories, each US state twice, and each Canadian province three times.

Listen to Everything Everywhere Daily.

Connect with Gary on Instagram @everythingeverywhere.

Watch this conversation on YouTube.

Connect with me on my Facebook page @curt.carstensen and on Instagram @curtpiks.

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Jeff Rinde was one of the other neighborhood farm kids when I was growing up in rural central Minnesota in the 1990s. While my family continually became less and less involved with farming, Jeff and his two older siblings partnered with their parents to expand the family farm into a much larger family business.

What drew him to a life of farming? What does it take to make it as a modern farmer? The beef industry is accused of being one of the causes of climate change. Is farming sustainable?

Watch this conversation on YouTube.

Listen to Freakonomics - The Future of Meat.

Listen to How to Save a Planet - The Beef with Beef.

Connect with me on my Facebook page @curt.carstensen and on Instagram @curtpiks.

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Julie Rose has been on the road for nearly a year after selling her house and becoming a nomad. She works from "home" from wherever she chooses with her dog Penny as her permanent companion. She's on the verge of seeing all 50 states. Even when she completes that goal, there is no end in sight.

What inspires Julie? Is it expensive? How is being single and dating with this lifestyle? 

Julie answers those questions and many more.

Follow her journey from @juliebrose on Instagram or juliedevivre.com. Her mini Australian shepherd, Penny, is @minipennyrose on IG.

Watch this conversation on YouTube.

Connect with me on my Facebook page @curt.carstensen and on Instagram @curtpiks.

Follow "People I Know Show" on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for photos, videos and to interact with other listeners.

See clips from recent episodes on the People I Know Show Clips channel on YouTube. Make sure you subscribe!

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My oldest two nephews Chase Carstensen and AJ Torfin joined me for an epic road trip to eleven national parks and three national monuments. In this episode we recap our exciting journey. We did the Delta Lake hike at Grand Teton National Park, the Angels Landing hike at Zion National Park, hiked to waterfalls at Glacier National Park, and whitewater rafted through Browns Canyon in Colorado.

Chase is quite the adventurer and the main guest in this episode. AJ and I attempt to guide Chase through some of our observations we had of him during our journey. Chase turned 18 years old during the road trip.

Watch this conversation on YouTube.

Connect with me on my Facebook page @curt.carstensen and on Instagram @curtpiks.

Follow "People I Know Show" on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for photos, videos and to interact with other listeners.

See clips from recent episodes on the People I Know Show Clips channel on YouTube. Make sure you subscribe!

Email comments and questions to [email protected].

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Luke Boser left small town Minnesota shortly after high school nearly 20 years ago and has been living in Alaska and a few other distant places ever since.

Visiting Alaska for the first time recently, I concluded that a certain type of person settles there. Luke is an outdoorsy, rugged, adventurer, which seems to fit the demographic. He shares the story of his recent trip to hunt for a brown bear, something relatively few people are able to do.

Watch this conversation on YouTube.

Connect with me on my Facebook page @curt.carstensen and on Instagram @curtpiks.

Follow "People I Know Show" on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for photos, videos and to interact with other listeners.

See clips from recent episodes on the People I Know Show Clips channel on YouTube. Make sure you subscribe!

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Natalia Cortes has been living in San Francisco for almost three years and this experience has had a big impact on her life. Originally from Colombia in South America, she spent nearly a decade studying and working in several different countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Now in the United States for a few years, she's gained a lot of perspective on what it takes to make it in Silicon Valley, and how vastly different the cultures are in the United States.

Natalia has been traveling to many parts of the United States recently and happened to be in Minnesota when the Derek Chauvin trial verdict was announced for his murder of George Floyd. We share opinions on that and how it ties into history and the importance of understanding history.

Watch this conversation on YouTube.

Check out my previous conversation with Natalia for the podcast. Episode 23: Natalia Cortes, Colombia Born Citizen of the World.

Connect with me on my Facebook page @curt.carstensen and on Instagram @curtpiks.

Follow "People I Know Show" on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for photos, videos and to interact with other listeners.

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Boonmee McElroy has overcome extraordinary obstacles in her life. Growing up in poverty in a small village in Thailand, vital things like food and education were not always available to her. After years of struggle she began to grow a career as an international life coach and inspirational speaker in Asia.

As fate would have it, she met an American man while on a flight, eventually married him, and settled into a new life in Rochester, Minnesota. Now over a decade and many big life events later, Boonmee (Oui) is re-establishing her former career as a life coach and inspirational speaker.

Watch this conversation on YouTube.

Visit Boonmee's website for Above & Beyond Coaching LLC.

Connect with me on my Facebook page @curt.carstensen and on Instagram @curtpiks.

Follow "People I Know Show" on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for photos, videos and to interact with other listeners.

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Email comments and questions to [email protected].

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Noah Franske has a passion for math and for adventure. That combination has led him to Vietnam where he has been teaching math at an international school for the last 18 months.

One of his math-related interests is investing and personal finance. A portion of his investment portfolio is devoted to cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin.

In the conversation, Noah helps me talk through some of my recent thoughts regarding crypto and the stock market. He also explains what the pandemic has been like in Vietnam as an ex-pat. Plus we explore the term "ex-pat" and how it's not used in the United States.

Watch this conversation on YouTube.

Connect with me on my Facebook page @curt.carstensen and on Instagram @curtpiks.

Follow "People I Know Show" on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for photos, videos and to interact with other listeners.

See clips from recent episodes on the People I Know Show Clips channel on YouTube. Make sure you subscribe!

Email comments and questions to [email protected].

Browse a list of some of the apps to listen to "People I Know Show".