Over the holidays, I decided to try my hand at making a custom frame bag for my fat bike. It was a fun project and great way to spend a day between Christmas and New Years.

Rather than purchasing new fabric, zippers, and all the other bobbles necessary to construct the bag, I decided to repurpose an old Columbia winter jacket that picked up at a local thrift store for only $11.

The idea was inspired by my friend Josh who make custom bike bags of various shapes and sizes with his small business The Nxrth.

I was also influenced by this article on BIKEPACKING.com: DIY: How to Make A Simple Frame Bag

Here’s the original donor jacket (lame pic) and both sides of the finished bag:

In an effort to be somewhat environmentally conscious and serve my desire for drive and eat convenience, I once tried asking for something out of the ordinary at a local fast food chain and threw a wrench into the whole system.

Not long after that experience, I tried it again at a different establishment and experienced the briefest moment of cosmic connection and understanding.

Lesson learned?  Some systems are optimized for conformity; others are not.

A few years ago, I tried calling an upstart organic foods company to give them a compliment. Apparently, sharing positive feedback via phone call was not accepted by this company.

We bought a mobile home back in 1995. But before we bought that one, we did not buy another one. This is the story of the other one. You’ll understand why.

Oh, I also mentioned the Meta Minute concept again not realizing that I already released my first Meta Minute episode in December. Ha! Oh well, these things are often stream of consciousness, and sometimes these kinds of things will happen.

Big news on the fitness front: I finally bought a fat bike!

I have wanted a fat bike so I could start winter mountain biking for at least five years.  But every year, I have seemed to find other ways to prioritize my spending or just couldn’t convince myself it made sense.

But last weekend, the murky clouds in the overcast sky of another non-cycling winter season parted, and glorious rays of sunshine shone down upon me and led me to the fat bike sale post I have been waiting for all this time!

And less than three hours later, I was driving home with an immaculately clean 2018 Specialized Fatboy.

Oh man…I am so excited and in this episode, I share some of my enthusiasm about the newest addition to my stable.

I decided to pass on the Apple Watch Series 6 this week. Care to hear my rationale? Listen on!

In this episode, I revisit a podcast I recorded several years ago about my newfound love for Nordic skiing, a.k.a. skate skiing.

I change things up a bit this time by doing some recording from my studio as well as integrating the original audio from back when I recorded my skiing thoughts.

Also, during the episode, I discuss the book that really inspired me checking out cross-country skiing in the first place: Younger Next Year by Chris Crowley and Henry Lodge. Great book!

Are you feeling the fatigue of all these “virtual conferences”? I know that I am. I understand the shift to all online delivery, and I’ve been playing along. But I confess I am growing weary of this new pattern.

In this episode, I share some of my thoughts on why I am feeling Virtual Conference Fatigue and share at least a couple of ideas on possible ways to change how we do things going forward.

Here’s a simple idea that would get me spending more money when I walk into your retail store. At least sometimes it would.

I thought I really wanted to get into 3D printing…until someone gave me a 3D printer to use for free. 

As it turns out, I just don’t really have enough interest to engage this particular hobby. And as a registered serial hobby jumper, this surprised me.

In this episode, I talk a little bit about why I love being a Serial Hobby Jumper and then share the insights I had about myself and my apparent lack of interest in 3D printing as a hobby.  At least for now.

I also tease the idea of the Season of Jason, the details of which are shared in Episode 6: The Season of Jason.

During this episode, I mention the brand “Missionary” Belt which is wrong.  It’s just “Mission” Belt, and they are awesome.  Check them out here:  https://missionbelt.com/

Also, I used the wrong intro on this episode.  I accidentally dropped in the original “On THE Drive Home” intro.  The vs. My.  Oh well, it’s fine.  I’ll fix that next time around.

Listen in to hear more, and I hope you enjoy this episode.

After the better part of 5 months, I am finally releasing another episode of On My Drive Home. And the funny thing is, I actually recorded this one in early June, so it still took me 2+ months to release it.

Join me in this episode as I talk about reigniting creativity and what it might take to find that original spark that inspired me so much last year.

Great news everyone! Our style is back!

Yes, rolling the cuffs of your denim jeans is once again cool. And I have seen it in the wild by native 20-somethings.

I can’t help talking about this fun blast from the fashion past.

This is NOT an April Fool’s joke. It’s the real thing, people!

In this episode I fondly recall the now seemingly arduous process us teenagers of the 80s had to employ just to find our friends in the pre-GPS cell phone era.

In the fall of 1995, an entire room full of college students may have left class that day surprised, confused and a bit creeped out by what someone said about me and, by association, my family.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that the young woman was listening very carefully after all, because…

That’s NOT what I said!!

Tune into this episode for a funny story that harkens back to my last semester at UW-Stout.

In this episode, my son Cole and I have a brief discussion about our shared feelings regarding flavored seltzer water. It was fun to have Cole join me on this one. He’s a natural!

Originally recorded, December 23rd, 2019.

This is it, friends, the episode where I announce the NEW location of the NEW On My Drive Home podcast. Which, of course, is HERE!  

This episode is one that I released on my old Getting Started Podcast feed and website to let my listeners know that everything is moving here permanently.  So, if you are here reading this right now, you have already gotten the message!

Thanks for checking out the site, the podcast, and I look forward to sharing more thoughts, ideas and stories from the driver’s seat!

It’s time for this On The Drive Home experiment to grow-up and move to it’s own place on the web.  However, there is already another podcast out there with the same name.  DOH!!!

So, I’m changing the name of this podcast from On The Drive Home to On MY Drive Home.  Small change, but it all works out.

In this episode, I talk give a bit more detail into mildly arduous process of choosing a podcast name.

IT HAS BEEN APPROVED!!  Woo-Hoo on Apple Podcasts and on Google Play!  

For quite some time, I have been frustrated by the fact that the Apple Podcasts app does not allow me to simply mark a clip like in the Audible app. I love being able to go back to things that I found interesting or valuable in the audio books I consume, and I have wanted the same features on my podcast player for years!

Two days ago, I discovered the RadioPublic podcast app, and it provides that feature plus more! I am loving it, so far. Though, admittedly, I’m only a couple of days in. We’ll see how it holds out over the long term.

You can learn more about RadioPublic at their website here:  https://radiopublic.com/

And the app is available for iOS and Android.

RadioPublic also provides a host of tools, learning guides, and marketing plans for podcasters.

If you’re like me and want a better podcast app, this might be the ticket for you!

This episode focuses specifically on suggestion to create before consuming.

All too often, I find myself consuming the content of other creators before I do any of my own creative work. I tell myself that it’s all about inspiration and encouragement, but it is usually just a distraction.

Even worse, I find that I can get discouraged which really derails my progress.

The answer?  Create BEFORE I consume.

In this episode, I talk about the “Creative Gap” – a concept that Chase Jarvis briefly mentions in his new book “Creative Calling”.

In addition, I try out a different microphone setup which does a decent job, but I think I’ll stick with my prior methods going forward.

Also mentioned in this episode:

The Zoom H5 Handy Recorder
Rode smartLav+
Willy Porter (This guy is awesome!)

Enjoy!

Last Saturday, I met with a friend I had not seen face-to-face for over 20 years. It was very fun and got me to thinking about the value of the relationships we build – particularly in the early formative years of our lives and careers.

I hope you enjoy this short story and some of my thoughts around it.

It’s time for a funny story involving me doing something innocent but then realizing how potentially creepy it made me look in the midst of mostly strangers.  

Fortunately, everyone was cool, and nobody walked away thinking I was too much of a weirdo.  Well, at least not as a result of what I did in this situation, anyway.  

I hope you enjoy the short story.

Also – I added a brief podcast into starting with this episode.  What do you think?  Like it or hate it?  Leave me some feedback on iTunes if you feel so inclined.

I bought a new book yesterday – “Creative Calling” by Chase Jarvis.  I bought it almost immediately after I heard him on Episode 327 of The GaryVee Audio Experience podcast. 

And, I got the book delivered in less than 24 hours! Quite a world we live in, isn’t it?

In this episode, I talk a little bit about what motivated me to purchase the book and why the themes they discussed resonated with me.  SPOILER ALERT: I haven’t actually read the book yet.  I’ve only had it for 10 hours!

However, the discussion between Chase and Gary also motivated me to record this episode. It’s been a while since the last On The Drive Home recording.  This was fun!

Ooooh…. What could it be?!