Stuff I Learned Yesterday

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.

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...

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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...

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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 [email protected], or clicking on the Send Voicemail tab on my website, GoldenSpiralMedia.com. Read More...

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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...

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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...

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