Life 2.0

Gone But Not Forgotten

Throwback Thursday.

Had occasion yesterday to drive east on Washington St. into the city and found myself in somewhat familiar place as I hit the stop sign on Aberdeen, one block west of Carpenter Street. To my left, what was once Harpo Studios (now McDonald's Corporate Headquarters), and on the south side of the street, is where the studios of Oprah Radio were located, which now appear to be condos.

I have a ton of memories from my years working on the Oprah & Friends Satellite project, and then I remembered what happened just around this time of year back in 2008, when we had an uninvited visitor show up.

It might be one of the most bone-chilling, hair-raising, and unexplained experiences in my life, which was also witnessed by three other people.

 

"Neils Petersen will not be forgotten."

TMI=TMS

We live in a time when we are virtually closer than ever before, but also further apart from one another. Too much information (TMI) leads to Turbulent Mind Syndrome (TMS) as we cannot possibly assimilate all the headlines begging our attention, that serve one purpose-to kick off our fight or flight response, and drench our central nervous system with stuff we can't do anything about-except rachet up our anger meter and get the blame-thrower out to torch people who disagree with us. I offer a few options that I use to keep me from going over the deep end and forgetting how much of a gift it is to be alive. 

As Buckminster Fuller said, "Our technology is surpassing our humanity."

A little backup from John Denver on this one, and as always, JD's music is used by permission from the Denver Estate.

A Matter of Grace

My journey as a book coach/ghostwriter/publisher has brought me down some interesting paths. Each project brings with it a certain sense of fate, as if the person I'm working with and I have a date with destiny.

Of the dozen or more books I've helped bring into the world, that sense of the unseen hand guiding me to someone was never more apparent than when I met Trudy Gronning in 2015.

She'd grown up in Munich when it was under the rule of Hitler during WWII. She'd witnessed terrible things, endured the death of her beloved father, who was a renowned violinist, and the horrors of The "Night of Shattered Glass," commonly known as Kristallnacht. She battled MS since her mid-20s and was a single mom back when that was a serious liability as a German living in post-war America. 

Trudy's life was a testament to faith and her belief that tomorrow would be better than today.

After two years of work, her book "A Matter of Grace" was published in 2017 when she was 88 years young, and we became very close friends during the process. I was saddend to hear the news that Trudy Gronning has passed away at the age of 96.

This tribute/rememberance episode features audio from some of our most intimate conversations about her incredible life. 

Godspeed my dear friend.

Creature Features

It's one thing to take a lunch break, quite another to drop everything I'm doing to watch "The Creature From the Black Lagoon" for the 438th time. But that's exactly what happened today. But what I didn't know was that apparently, the Gill-Man (as well as all the other favorite movie monsters) is really a metaphor for something else in life. The same goes for the Wizard of Oz, which I will never look at the same way again. All this psychoanalysis aside, if the creature features allow me to be 12 years old for a couple of hours again, that's all I need to know.

Game Day

I haven't played high school football since Gerald Ford was president, but that really doesn't matter-because today is game day! For the past eleven seasons, a huge huddle of Schurz Bulldogs has gathered once a year to not only have a major all-school reunion called "The Bulldog Bash", but also raise some serious coin for kids who have no idea who we are, or why we support them as we do.

We're paying it back by paying it forward.

On a day when thousands will protest against something without knowing if it will change anything, a few hundred of us will be taking action that we absolutely know will make a world of difference. 

Remembering John.

28 years ago today, October 12th, 1997, John Denver's experimental aircraft plunged into the waters of Monterey Bay, and he died at the age of 53. Ever since that day, I've continued to honor the man and his music, and his support of my work, long before I could see it myself. I wasn't planning on doing this podcast, but then early this morning, I remembered that I wouldn't even be behind a microphone without him, and so, here are some songs and stories from JD.

His voice still matters.

Music is used by permission of the John Denver Estate.

Your Inner Albert

Albert Einstein is the gold standard when it comes to being a genius. Is it possible that each of us has an "inner Albert" that remains dormant until something comes along and shakes us up and wakes us up to the possibilities life has to offer? Kenn Hundley (younger brother of the legendary Chicago Cubs catcher Randy Hundley) has had an interesting path to say the least, and he shares the concept that embedded in our DNA, lies the genius gene, that once accessed, can change your life for the better.

Remembering Dr. Jane

Last Monday, I was able to virtually attend a service for my friend, the late Hal Thau, in Aspen, a man who made a difference in my life on many levels. Just two days later, the iconic Dr. Jane Goodall passed away, and I went on a search to find all of the audio I had from our conversations over the years. Hearing Dr. Jane's voice now reminded me that the lessons learned from both of these two life influencers came down to character, integrity, and singleness of purpose. I was fortunate to be in their orbit. A little help from Mr. Denver to close this one out.

Shards in My Hair

Cynthia Jamison had an executive career as a crisis CFO before ascending to become a member of, and eventually Chair, of several public company Boards of Directors. She is a frequent keynote speaker on CFO and boardroom topics. She has been quoted as a financial/economic expert in Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, CFO.com, Agenda, Corporate Board Member, and the Economist.

She was also a single mother to four boys - leading her to become somewhat of an expert on work-life balance.

All that and more has led her to write "Shards in My Hair-Tales From Breaking the Glass Ceiling" which is part a Devil Wears Prada coming-of-age story, part career advice, and part memoir - a story of the chaos and the sometimes unfair and challenging aspects of business.

Weiner Wars

There's a lotta turmoil in the land of the free these days.

Talk show hosts getting suspended, millions of Disney subscribers dumping Dumbo, protesters battling ICE, the Tylenol debate, The Rapture (it was either yesterday or later today), and now comes the Windy City shattering news that the CEO of Portillo's has made an abrupt exit, amid "sluggish sales."

Wait, what? Sluggish sales? Portillos? 

 

Holy celery salt Batman!

 

How is it possible that the iconic Chicago restaurant is in hot dog retreat? What's next for the weiners and beefs and what does Jurassic Park have to do with it all?