Podcasts about adirondacks

(Mar 19, 2026) New York State needs more power. Some developers want to build battery storage sites in the Adirondacks, but they're facing pushback. Plus, today's North Country at Work story is about a common profession - sales - and a salesman in Schroon Lake who's selling something pretty uncommon — medical devices for mice and rats. And, local kiddos have a new space to play and learn about the North Country. The Children's Museum in Potsdam recently added a whole new floor. We check out the new interactive activities about daily Amish life, Akwesasne Mohawk music, and community theater. 

(Mar 17, 2026) Just three years after the Adirondack Mountain Club bought the Cascade Ski Center outside of Lake Placid, it put the property back up for sale. We dive into why the ADK's ambitious plans for the property broke down. Also: More than two dozen community projects in the Adirondacks were awarded state funding last week, focusing on housing, accessibility, and planning.

We're doing our best to not fully derail the episode and make it entirely about Cheezy G's. So instead we're juggling advice about strange folk songs, super-powered Janitor Eyes, and people who live at the DMV, like the Tom Hanks movie. Suggested talking points: Toss My Dead Body Down the Adirondacks, Damn These Computer Movies, This is Lunch, Hit Single: Stop's Coming Up Derek, The World's Worst Gusher, You Hear That, Cheesy Jesus? Border Angels: https://www.borderangels.org/our-services.html

(Mar 16, 2026) The company that runs the hospitals in Ogdensburg and Carthage says, without state funding in the very near future, it will have to take “drastic cost-cutting measures". But New York's health commissioner says North Star is in charge of restructuring itself, not the state. Also: An Indigenous cultural center in the Adirondacks is adding 600 acres of land to its property, one of the largest returns of private land to Indigenous people in state history.

(Mar 13, 2026) Chance for snow through weekend, especially at higher elevations. Drainages have been seriously affected by recent thaw. Several bridges damaged in High Peaks.

Send a textReturning guest Jack Vaisey, paranormal and cryptid investigator and co-host of SVC Explorers of the Unknown, joins us to explore treasure hunting in the Adirondack Mountains and the shadowed legends of upstate New York. We examine the cryptid lore of the North Woods, the hidden histories behind Adirondack folklore, and the encounters that continue to shape his investigative work. Drawing from the newest SVC Explorers episode, Jack shares what he has experienced firsthand while searching for lost treasure and unexplained activity in the wilderness. This episode blends modern paranormal research with regional legend, digital storytelling, and real field investigation. For listeners interested in Adirondack mysteries, North Woods cryptids, and emerging voices in paranormal media, this is a deep dive into what may still be waiting in the forest. Watch the video version here: https://youtube.com/live/FokuUD87mLwDon't forget, you can watch us live on Tuesday nights at 8PM CST - U.S. on YouTube and Facebook! Support the Show: Patreon (Bonus Content)Follow us on Social Media: YouTube ChannelFacebook Fan PageInstagram Fan Page X (formerly Twitter)TikTok Fan Page"After Dark with EVP" (Use code "AFTERDARK25" for 25% off an annual subscription)https://bit.ly/46GOmAzSubmit Your Story, Comments, or Questions: theevppod@gmail.com

What happens when success, hustle, and constant work stop bringing fulfillment? In this episode of Unstoppable Mindset, I talk with marketing strategist and entrepreneur Carlos Hidalgo about business growth, faith, burnout, and the hidden cost of hustle culture. Carlos shares his journey from corporate marketing leader to founder of Digital Exhaust, along with lessons from his book The UnAmerican Dream about work addiction, burnout, and redefining success. Their conversation explores why growth does not need to be complicated, why storytelling builds trust in business, and why boundaries matter more than work life balance. Carlos also opens up about faith, failure, relationships, and the power of honest conversations. You will hear practical insights on leadership, personal growth, community, and building a life that is both successful and meaningful. Highlights: ·  06:04 – Carlos explains how his faith became a personal relationship. ·  17:32 – Why he left corporate work to start his own business. ·  25:40 – His approach to making business growth simple. ·  30:17 – How hustle culture often leads to burnout. ·  42:29 – Why boundaries matter more than work life balance. ·  54:33 – Why real community helps solve loneliness. Top of Form Bottom of Form About the Guest: Carlos Hidalgo is the co-founder and CEO of Digital Exhaust, a growth partner that helps clients make growth simple. Carlos serves his clients as an advisor, consultant, and teacher to ensure they have meaningful engagement with their customers at every stage of the journey and are able to mature and create sustainable growth. Carlos has 30 years of experience working with organizations of all sizes as an advisor, consultant, innovator, and growth expert. He is widely recognized for his expertise in demand generation, marketing, sales, and customer experience and for coaching executives in the areas of leadership and managing change. In addition to his work with his clients, Carlos has won numerous marketing awards and been named to several prestigious industry lists as a marketing leader. Carlos is also the author of Driving Demand, which is ranked as a top 5 marketing book of all time by Book Authority, and The UnAmerican Dream, which was released in 2019. In addition to books, Carlos is a well-known international keynote and TEDx speaker. You can follow Carlos on LinkedIn or on Twitter @cahidalgo Ways to connect with Scott**:** LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlosahidalgo/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/CHidalgoJr Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cahidalgo_ Twitter/X: https://x.com/cahidalgo About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Well, hi and welcome once again to an episode of unstoppable mindset. Today, our guest is Carlos Hidalgo. Carlos has many facets about him. He's a speaker. He deals with growth and growth management and with his company. He tries to make growth simple for the people who are his clients. I'm interested in learning about that, but he does other things as well. He is also involved with his wife and marriage counseling, which is a little bit different than the one I think I find a lot of people to do. So I think we got lots to talk about. So, Carlos, I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're here. Carlos Hidalgo  01:59 Thank you for having me. Michael, it's an absolute pleasure. Well, let's Michael Hingson  02:03 start with the early Carlos, why don't you tell us about you growing up and all that sort of thing, and where you came from, where you're headed, or whatever. Carlos Hidalgo  02:14 Sure, I was born one of six children. I was the youngest for about four years, and then my my parents had two more. So I am smack dab in the middle of middle six siblings. Was born in New Jersey, but call where I'm at now home, which is a little town in the Adirondack Mountains. And the reason I call it home, I started coming to camp here when I was five years old. Fell in love with the area, and then my father, in 1983 moved us up here when I was 12, and fell more in love with it. And that lasted for four years. And then my junior of high school, or right after my sophomore year, was told, Hey, we're we're moving I was 16, I was pretty pissed off at the prospect of leaving a place I loved, so I had engineered a plan to stay through my junior and senior high school, which in my mind, made perfect sense in my parents' mind, and for reasons now I understand, because I'm a parent, did not make so much sense, but I came back as often as I could, and then my wife and I moved here back full time in 2021 we also lived here in the 90s for two years, had our first son here so but grew up really charmed childhood was my dad was in advertising, so we got tickets to Great sporting events. We had horses that I took care of, along with some of my siblings, developed a love of the outdoors, which I still hold, which is one of the many benefits of living up here again. And so, yeah, pretty, pretty much, early childhood was, you know, be outside as much as I can run around school work wasn't my strong suit, but I muddled through and I Michael Hingson  04:04 made it. Where in New Jersey were you born? Carlos Hidalgo  04:07 Was born in a little town called Randolph in northern jersey. Spent most of our time in a place called blairis town. Their claim to fame as a prep school called Blair Academy, which I believe is still there. And then, I believe it was the original Friday the 13th was filmed. Part of it was filmed in Blairstown. Yeah, yeah. So I'm dating myself just a little bit. Michael Hingson  04:32 Well, we lived in Westfield for six years, so kind of know, New Jersey, but yeah, while we were back there, my wife always wanted to move back to California. She's a native. I was born in Chicago. She wouldn't let me call myself a native, even though we moved to California when I was five. But yeah, it's okay. Carlos Hidalgo  04:50 Sure, yeah, people get a little touchy about the term native or local and how it's defined, right? Michael Hingson  04:55 Oh, yeah, it varies all around the country, but there's. Nothing. You can't say anything bad about Chicago. They have Garrett Popcorn there. If you've never had it, next time we go through O'Hare Airport, you should get some Garrett Popcorn. Carlos Hidalgo  05:09 Okay, I will do that absolutely. Michael Hingson  05:12 Take a memo. Get Garrett Popcorn. It's it's really good stuff. Well, so what did you do for college? Or did you? Carlos Hidalgo  05:21 Yeah, I went to my first year, I went to a school called Word of Life Bible Institute. So it's a one year intensive program, study of the Bible actually here, not far from, literally eight miles down the road here, from where I live now. And at that point, it was really just an excuse to get back to the Adirondacks for a year, but I learned a whole lot. Met some incredible people, some of who I'm still very, very close with today. And then from there, I transferred to Cedarville University in Ohio. At the time I went there, we were about 2500 students. I think today they're closer to 7500 but I met my wife there, which was that, in and of itself, the three years of tuition that I paid as I transferred in, but study Business Communication, again, I wasn't a great student. What I realized is, if it was the things that I really loved to participate in, it was awesome. I had a really great time studying communication and language and how we speak. I was two years on the debate team, which was such a great education in and of itself. But everything else I didn't really love. I just the general ed stuff. I kind of thought, well, if I can skate by and, you know, get that, get the passing the credits. So that's really how I want about it. And the reality is, the way things are taught today, I'm a very visual and hands on learner, and so to sit in a classroom and try to take notes and go through theory and things like that just makes my brain hurt a little bit. So I but I but I finished. I got the degree and made some great friendships in the process. Michael Hingson  07:04 Well and clearly, based on what you did for your first year, you have a Christian orientation, or definitely a god orientation as well. Carlos Hidalgo  07:15 Yeah, that's that's really my operating system. Michael, I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. I base my life on it. I spend time in it each and every day. And so what's interesting in that regard is, yes, I went to the Bible Institute. So while I had a lot of head knowledge about the Bible and God and Jesus and all these things, it's really been in the last 10 years that I would say I had a deep, meaningful relationship with them, and that came as from a lot of experience in my life, a lot of dark, dark moments in my life that were self induced, unfortunately. But really, what it's done for me is it's just radicalized who I am, changed my heart. And so it's gone from a having a head knowledge of it to a real experience and an engagement with Christ through His Word and through prayer. Michael Hingson  08:11 Yeah, head knowledge is is a fine thing as far as it goes, but there's nothing like personally experience coming closer to whatever it is, including dealing with believing in God and really recognizing what what God brings. And my last book that I wrote that was published last year, called Live like a guide dog, true stories from a blind man and his dogs about being brave, overcoming adversity and moving forward in faith very much deals with with a lot of that, the whole concept of the value and the power of personal knowledge, as opposed to just head knowledge. I talk about the World Trade Center a lot in that book, specifically in terms of what I learned and how I developed a mindset to be able to control fear, rather than letting it be the thing that overwhelmed me or overwhelms anyone and and I've had a couple people on this podcast who talk about it, and they say the same sort of thing that you did. It's not about knowledge that you sort of intellectually know. It's what you really know. So people, for example, in evacuating the World Trade Center, would look at signs, and they would follow those and a lot of people were able to do that, but that's still not knowing that is really relying on something else that you may or may not really have access to. So True Knowledge is the only way to go Carlos Hidalgo  09:38 100% and I find that I gather that through experience, yeah. And so the example I use is, if you ask me about my wife, you know, do you know Suzanne? I would say, Oh, yeah. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes, about five, five. Funny, smart. I could tell you all the different facts, but there's a big difference when you sit and you get to experience being with her, seeing. Her, how she interacts with people, how she treats others, all of those things. Take that knowledge and actually make an experience an experience, yeah. And so that's been the difference for me, as it regard, in my relationship with Jesus Christ, yeah, well, Michael Hingson  10:14 and Suzanne, so that's good. Carlos Hidalgo  10:17 Well, so absolutely, 31 years and we're still going. There you go. Michael Hingson  10:21 Well, keep going. That's that's cool. That's great to have that kind of a relationship. It's all too often we don't see a lot of that in marriage, and just people get married without knowing and that leads to all sorts of potential challenges. So it's good to really get to know someone Carlos Hidalgo  10:41 absolutely, yeah, I'm still, still learning, still studying her and learning all I can, after 31 Michael Hingson  10:46 years, and she is too Yes, she is. Carlos Hidalgo  10:49 She does a phenomenal job. Michael Hingson  10:52 So what did you do after college? Carlos Hidalgo  10:56 After college, I actually moved back up here, where I'm at now. Worked for two years for Word of Life, the same group that ran the Bible Institute. So then, actually, unbeknownst to me, i My heart was really at that point, I wanted to go into law enforcement. My father in law was an FBI agent for 30 years. I'd always been intrigued by law enforcement, so I thought going into and getting a job for a few years, cutting my teeth while I filled out a resume. So started working in the office of donor development or advancement, and that was the first time I really started to get any exposure to anything formal, marketing wise. In the meantime, applied to the FBI, never went anywhere. Ended up applying again, never went anywhere at that point. Then we moved to we left here after two years of marriage and having one child. We moved to Michigan for a brief time, and then we went back to down to from Michigan. We went to Dallas, where we lived for 13 years, and I worked while I was still trying to get into law enforcement. I kept getting marketing jobs and companies. So eventually I gave up the dream of law enforcement and just followed what's unfolding and had a pretty good career in two software companies as a director of marketing to cut my teeth and learn what global business was all about do a lot of travel, which helped me career wise wasn't so great home wise or parent wise when you're away from your kids, but it's been my career for 30 plus years. I've had a heck of a career doing it and very grateful for it, but I still still get intrigued at the whole concept of law enforcement, but I'm afraid I'm a little too old at this point to start down that path. Michael Hingson  12:47 How come you kept not getting anywhere with it? Carlos Hidalgo  12:51 Well, I did get to a point where the FBI I took a test when we lived in Dallas, and just they called after said I had scored well, which made me chuckle, thinking back to my college days of test taking, but and then they said, Hey, do you speak Spanish, which I do not, despite my name, which is very Spanish, Carlo. And they said, Okay, well, we'll keep your we'll keep your application on file. Let you know if anything changes. And that was the last I heard. So at that point, I just thought, okay, I can keep pushing this and trying. But again, as things started to unfold in the software world, the jobs that I had took care of my family. They provided well for us. They gave me opportunities to learn new things, try new things, opportunity to, like I said, international business, which I never done before. So at that point, I just thought, you know, I'm kind of seven, eight years into this thing. What does this look like going forward? And then are we going to have to just hit reset in all facets of our lives, financially, where our kids are settled, for me to go into law enforcement. So I abandoned it, and I'm okay with that. I think it would have been a phenomenal career. I would have loved it, like I said. I'm still intrigued by it, I still have great respect for it, but it just wasn't in the cards for me, and I'm okay with that. I think sometimes the way we grow is through the death of a dream. Michael Hingson  14:21 Yeah, I know I've always been intrigued by law and law enforcement, and I know that they're never going to hire me, and now they won't, right, but, but they wouldn't hire me, but I took, actually, some courses in college dealing with police and other things like that, because I was, and still am fascinated by it, and I have a great respect for the law. And I I admire good lawyers who are knowledgeable, who really are in it to deal with the law. And you can tell those from the typical ambulance type chaser who manipulates, but, but. I really appreciate the law. I in my life have had the opportunity to be involved with some efforts of the National Federation of the Blind, where we've gone several times to Washington to meet with congressional types. And so I've met some interesting people, met Ted Kennedy, met Tip O'Neill when he was still speaker, Senator Saugus from Massachusetts and others, and found and through them, got to meet some people who were truly committed to what they were doing. They weren't in it for the power. They were in it to try to really help the country and help their individual constituencies in their states and so on. It's a lot of fun. Carlos Hidalgo  15:47 Oh, I'm sure, I'm sure it was, I that's quite a roster of people you've been able to engage with, and I'm sure, no doubt, influence well. Michael Hingson  15:57 And we were there to talk about legislation that we needed. But I'll never forget first time we went in and we met Paul Tsongas. We talked about what we wanted to talk about, and he said, Well, it's the end of the day. What are you guys doing now? And we said, well, we're just going to go back to the hotel. And he said, You got a few minutes talk to you about Massachusetts. Well, we ended up staying for two hours. It was a lot of fun. Carlos Hidalgo  16:19 Wow, yeah, that is a lot of fun. I had an opportunity a number of years ago to do a tour of the West Wing, which was just phenomenal. So when you get, when you get those opportunities, I don't care what side of the aisle you may sit on or are partial to, the answer is yes, take it, because you learn a whole lot, and it's it gives you a whole new appreciation for our country. Michael Hingson  16:40 Well, 20 years ago, I was invited to come back and meet George W Bush because a congressman I had met was fascinated by my story and the story of my guide dog, Roselle, and he arranged for us to meet George W and we went back. It was supposed to be a brief, like two minute just photo op. This ended up being like a 15 minute conversation, and then it was a lot of fun. And I hope that we inspired him some, and we made a difference. And, you know, that's always a good thing. Carlos Hidalgo  17:13 Yeah, at the end of the day, right there people just like us. They are, I think the and I've heard that a lot about George W is his investment in people where he knew his you know, everybody in the staff that he knew their names, he knew about their families. So it doesn't surprise me that a two minute Meet and Greet was extended a little bit. Michael Hingson  17:34 We kept the Italian Prime Minister waiting while we finished our conversation, as it turns out, that's fine, Carlos Hidalgo  17:42 but it was good. There you go. There's your there, there's your the two truth and the lie icebreaker that they have. You do sometimes. There's, you can work that in, Michael Hingson  17:49 I could work that in, yeah, that would be, yeah, I should do that. Well, it was, but it was, it was, it was very enjoyable to be able to do that. Well. So now, so when did you start your own company? That's been a little while, at least. Carlos Hidalgo  18:04 Yeah, I started my first company that I started, I co founded with my brother. In 2005 I was working at the software company, and I just, I started to just have an edge of, you know, I should start something. I don't know what that looks like. And I remember one time just talking to my wife, and I said, I don't want to be 7580 years old. And think, what if, yeah, and my wife is very practical. And she said, Okay, so go for it, and if it doesn't work, just go get another job. And when she broke it down like that, I just thought, wow. Okay, she, I think she believes in me more than I do. So in 2005 I left the software company and we started a agency. And really, at that point for me, the Yes, I wanted to start my own company and see if I could do it. But the the big driving factor was my at that point, I we had four children, so we have four, and they were all pretty small, and I was traveling all over the country, and I didn't want to miss their childhood. And I remember coming home from trips and hearing conversations or seeing things that that I wasn't a part of, and I thought this, this isn't right. I need to be here. I need to be home. So I went to the software company, asked them what they thought they became my first client, and I did that for from 2005 to just early 2017 when I resigned my position as CEO there just to get my life back and kind of hit the reset button again, but this time, I meant it, so I left, and they're still going. But that was my first foray into entrepreneurship, and I just kept doing it since I started another consultancy, and now this is my third one, and also been part of about two to three other companies that. We launched, but never made it. So I enjoy the whole process. I love it, but, yeah, it's, I don't know. I mean, I will never say never, but the idea of not working for myself seems rather foreign to me. Michael Hingson  20:16 So the first company you had for 12 years, what did that do? Carlos Hidalgo  20:21 We were a mark. Marketing Yeah, we were a marketing services company. So we worked with business to business companies to help them in their demand generation, acquiring new customers and also customer growth. So that's really where a lot of my career has been sent, centered right, helping companies design them strategies, everything from content to technology to developing personas and putting together strategies on how to reach them when they're looking for something to buy that that client offers. Michael Hingson  20:52 Okay, well, that makes sense and certainly a worthy thing to do. So, when did you form your current company, digital exhaust, which is a very clever name, you'll have to tell me about that. Carlos Hidalgo  21:04 Oh yeah, there's a little bit of a story behind that. So I was working in 2022 early 2022 I had an offer to go be the Chief Revenue Officer of another agency, which I my wife and I talked about it, we prayed about it, and I had a really, really close friend of mine who was their chief strategy officer at the time, so the ability to work with him, stay in the industry and work with some really good clients, I jumped at, so I took that role over that role lasted eight months. I won't get into all those details of why? Never, never, really did get a clear answer. The answer I was given, not exactly. The numbers didn't the number. I'll just say the numbers proved otherwise. All that said that came to an end in 2023 I believe. Yeah, yeah, 2023 and so February, 23 so at that point, I was like, Okay, well, what do I do? I can try to go get a job, which I did. Nobody was really interested in, you know, early 50s, guy coming in. So, you know, did the interview thing. And then I just thought, Well, why don't, why don't I just bet on myself again and go for it. So at that point, the my friend who was the chief strategy officer, he had also left, so he and I started talking and thought, why don't we just do this together? You know, services he loves to implement, I love to sell. Let's just see if we can make a run at this. So here we are now. It'll be four years in or three years, I guess, in February or April of 26 and we're still alive to talk about it. And so that's how it came to be. It was really just, I've done this before. There's no security, no more security. I believe in working for somebody else than working for yourself. So bet on yourself and put out your shingle and see what you can make happen. Michael Hingson  23:06 Where did the name digital exhaust come from? That's a clever name. Carlos Hidalgo  23:10 Oh, thank you. We were, we were batting around so many different names, and we just had a thing, I think we had a running Google Sheet, like, let's just throw names up there. And then I was listening to a recording of a vendor that we had done work with in our early days, and he was talking about how you can track the digital movements of someone. And he said, You know, so basically, you know, they're leaving behind their digital exhaust. And he used the term twice. So I called my then partner, Tracy, and I said, Hey, what do you think about the name digital exhaust as a company? And he was like, Oh, I love it. So I said, Well, before we that, we have to call Dan and see if he would be okay. So I did some looking, you know, the whole trademark search, and when I told our partner about it. He said, Oh my word, I love it. He said, Never, never even thought that that could be a name, but if you guys want it, go for it. So we took it and it is, it's, it's, we think it's pretty unique, and it also describes a lot of what we do with customer data to get an understanding of how do you engage with them, where are they, and how are they going to interact with you and your brand? How so well. Again, he was right. I can look at your digital footprint or your digital behavior. I can see what sites you've visited, what web pages you visited, how much time you spend on a product piece, how much content you engage so I can look at all of that behind the scenes. Start to score that if you're an account that I want to go after, or if I'm a lead based sale, that gives me a lot of intelligence on what you're interested in. And then there's ways to kind of, from a insight perspective, determine where you are in that journey, whether it's your four. First time as a purchase, you're a current customer and you're interested in purchasing something else. So it gives us a lot of insight into that, so that I can message you or I also know when should sales place a phone call to you and start that conversation. So that's why we use the term digital exhaust, because, again, it's a lot of what we do and how we use our customer data. Michael Hingson  25:20 Several years ago, I watched a 60 Minutes program, gosh, I don't know it's actually a number of years ago. And one of the segments there was a guy who was on he was a private detective, and what he said was, I can tell more about you than most anyone else can simply by looking at your trash. And in fact, I can't remember if it was Mike Wallace or not. Who was the interviewer, but they went on investigated some trash cans and and this guy could just tell you so much about your entire life just by looking at what was in the trash can. It was really pretty amazing and and I don't mean that in any way as a negative thing, but it's very clever that people have that insight. So I appreciate what you're saying about digital exhaust. It makes perfect sense. Carlos Hidalgo  26:17 Well, good. I'm glad it does. It means we've hit the mark. I'm not I will say this. I'm not going to go through my customers trash, but I am not surprised that if you did how much you could learn about somebody, 100% but Michael Hingson  26:30 you do look at their their digital footprint and so again, and it makes perfect sense that you can learn so much that can help you, help them grow. Yes, absolutely gives incredible insight. You talk about making growth simple, tell me more about what that means. Carlos Hidalgo  26:51 Yeah, you know, I've been in the space a long time, and that really came a couple years ago. We started seeing different models that would come up different frameworks that would come out from different vendors. Started talking, you know, I talked to a lot of chief marketing officers in my role, and over and over, what we saw was just complexity of taking terms that everybody would know and applying a new term or creating a new term to replace the old term, because you wanted to stay edgy. And I finally had a CMO who said to me, this is all so complex. Is there any any organization out there, or any way to just make this simple? And I thought, Gee, I kind of been thinking the same thing, because I see all these talking heads out there on LinkedIn and at these conferences showing these overly complex, overly engineered models, and I'm like, You got to be a PhD to implement that thing. And again, I'm also a pretty simple guy. I don't think growth needs to be all that hard if you know your customer, what they need, when they need it, and why it's important to them. I'm going to be able to sell you quite a bit. I'm also going to be able to be a better marketing, better partner to you, because I'll be the first one to be able to tell you you don't need that, or you need that, but you shouldn't get it from us, and here's why. And so we just started saying, You know what? Let's create with our models. And we have models and we have frameworks, but we want them to be kind of what Apple is, right, really innovative, where you can use it. You don't necessarily have to have someone to guide you through it. And so let's just make it as simple as possible for our clients to grow their companies without these over engineered models, which mostly a lot of them are created to sell stuff. And while we want to sell stuff more, so we want to help customers be better at what they do. And so that's why we say is we want to help you make growth simple, cut through the clutter, get to what matters and move forward. Michael Hingson  28:58 Yeah, which makes a lot of sense. By by any standard, how do you find storytelling comes into what you do and how you interact with customers? Carlos Hidalgo  29:11 Yeah, it's really important in the beginning, right in the beginning stages. Anytime I'm engaging with you, if I'm a consumer and you're a brand, I want to your brand should tell a story about who you are, the value that the customer gets when they're going to interact with you, they're going to use your product, what you stand for. Can they trust you? Trust is huge. Right now. We live in a trust economy. I want to know that if you say something, I can you're going to stand behind it. So all of those things are come through in terms of story. Now, what I've always said is I think that story is important. But when it comes to now, especially in the world I live in business to business, once I get into maybe I want to purchase something for you or purchase your product. Now I. Moves from a story to a dialog because I started, I start need, needing to know, what are you interested in? What are your challenges? What are your needs, what are your pain points? And as you're telling me that I can respond more in a conversation, I can still use parts of the story, but now it's a two way dialog, even in a digital world. So if I can create that, that's fantastic, then you become my customer. And now I still want to keep telling you stories. I want to tell you a story about why you can trust us. I tell you a story about how I interact with you. I tell you a story about how I deliver service and how I help you onboard. So all that bleeds into what we call, you know, what I call the big customer experience, from brand engagement to what I'm buying to now that I become a customer, all of those are experiential factors that we have to consider. Michael Hingson  30:49 Well, yeah, and I think that storytelling is a very significant part of selling and sales, because it's part of what really helps create the trust, because people can see through it, if you're just blowing smoke or playing games. Carlos Hidalgo  31:05 Yes, they can absolutely. And you only get one shot if that's what you're gonna do only, yeah, once I realized that forget it, I'm not coming back, that brand loyalty is away real quick. Michael Hingson  31:16 Yeah. So do you encounter in the interactions that you have with people with a lot of burnout or who are going that way. Carlos Hidalgo  31:25 Oh yeah. It's, it's something that I went through in 2016 it's, it's a, I mean, the World Health Organization, whatever you think about them, they definitely have listed it as a illness or as a condition. So it's something that I've seen. It's something that I've written against quite a bit. I don't think we need to get there, but I also think it is part of the consequence, or the outcome of when we make work center of our universe, and we make work our God, when that's going to happen then, yeah, you're going to experience burnout. And I think burnout comes in different flavors, but I see a lot of people who are going through it, trying to work through it, trudge through it. I heard the term the other day, manage burnout. I don't know why you would want to manage burnout. I think you need to take steps to avoid burnout, to avoid it. Michael Hingson  32:17 Yeah, why is it so many people face it, and are experiencing burnout is because they just deal with work, they don't relax, or what. Carlos Hidalgo  32:27 Well, I think there's a lot, lot in that. I've done a lot of study, and that was the topic of some of the topic of my book that I released in 2019 the UN American dream is, I think we, especially in our Western culture, we have adopted this idea that the busier I am, the more important, the more valuable I am, and so and the reality is, none of us are well wired to go, go, go, go, go. Rest is actually a gift from the Lord. And you know, I think very few of us. But you know, think about the last time you talked to anybody. How are you? Oh, I'm so busy. We love to be busy. We love to have jam packed calendars, because it makes us feel good. The other part of it is when you think about workaholism, you know, that is an addiction. And the only time in my experience, we engage with or become addicted to something, it's when we're trying to avoid something else. And so think our workaholism, which leads to burnout, is right up there with our rising rates of anxiety, of depression, of loneliness, because we have bought a false narrative that if we go, go go, we jam pack our calendars, we work like and work like crazy until we hit some imaginary number or we can call it quits. That's what life is all about. And I just sit there and you know, my number one question to people who are running that race is, how's it working for you? You don't seem really happy right now, you don't seem fulfilled, and you're living on the promise of some day and some days, not a day in the week, right? Michael Hingson  34:03 I People ask me, How are you all the time? And my response is something actually that I borrowed from somebody else. I just say, I'm lovely. Yeah, I get lots of reactions from that. It's kind of cute, but it's great. You know, I I agree with you, there is a there's a need and a time, and it's appropriate to not work all the time. Yes, we we don't ever take time even just to sit and think about what we did today. We don't take time at the end of the day to go in our own brains. How did this work out? How did that work out? Why didn't this work? Why did this work? What could I do to make it better and then listen for answers? It's like praying. So many people, when they pray to God, they pray to Jesus and so on. They spend all their time praying and saying what they want, never realizing God all. And he knows that, yeah, when are you going to start listening for answers and really listening? And that's, that's the challenge that I see so often people don't listen, and the answers are always there. They're in their inner the the inner voice that they can hear if they but practice well. Carlos Hidalgo  35:17 And I think to part of that is you need to be still, right? And we see that in scripture where we're told be still and know that I am God, if I mean there, there. We have so much noise and so much input with our phones and constant, you know, interaction and constant noise. We don't give ourselves the ability to sit and think and process, to just to be still. And that is something that I would say, really, for me, over the last decade, has come into focus of I enjoy my downtime. I enjoy the silence that I it's one of the reasons when I run, I don't run with headphones. In my own little world, in my head, praying, thinking about things. There are times I'll drive in the car without the radio on, just in silence, and I tell people, then they look at me like, I have three heads. Yeah, I'm like, oh, it's I am so much better for it, because I'm no longer living life reactively. I'm able to live life in a way that brings me a lot of peace, a lot of joy, a lot of happiness. And when I work, I work really, really hard, but it's definitely not the center of my universe. Michael Hingson  36:27 I know people think I'm crazy, but I can go days without looking well, not days. I'll go a day. I do it volitionally, but I can go quite a while without looking at text messages, and when I do, their message is there sometimes, but I know that I could actually go for a considerable length of time without needing to carry my phone around. Now, the only reason I do carry it around, I mean, clearly some phone calls can come in and so on, but I use other tools on it that you have access to in other ways. So I use it for those things. But the bottom line is, is that I don't need to have this phone with me to stay in touch with people all the time. So if I carry my phone more often than not, I will be in a hotel room listening to something on the phone and, sure, relaxing, rather than all the other things that one could do with it well. Carlos Hidalgo  37:25 And the number of people that I talked to and research shows this that, you know, the last I saw was over 60% it's the first thing people do when they wake up is they reach over and look at their phone and I say, sit there and say, What is so important that you can't even wait 15 minutes from the time your eyes open. But we've become addicted. We've come addicted to the noise, to the constant, go, go, go. And then, you know, we have a friend of ours last year was just, I'm so busy. I'm so busy. Told my wife, over the next three months, I only have this one day I can do lunch. And then you start realizing, like, Well, really, that's, that's how you want to live your life over the next 90 days, you only have one day. Now, I didn't believe it when I heard that. I don't think they were trying to make excuse, and I don't think lying. I think in their heads, they really had this belief of, oh, I can. I've only got one day out of the next 90, but we've weed ourselves into believing that this is how we should be living life. Yeah, and it's not how I want to live life. I'll work hard, I'll put everything I've got into my clients and my business and things like that, but I don't want to be that strapped. I was that strapped one time, time wise and work wise, and it made me absolutely miserable. Mm, hmm. Michael Hingson  38:45 I know when I wake up in the morning I do reach for my phone right at the beginning. One of the very first things that I do is reach for it to see what the temperature is outside, to see what the temperature is your house, to see whether I want to turn the heater on, you know, but I don't look at messages. I don't need to do that. I'll do it eventually, but, you know, I So, as I say, I use it for other tools, but I use the phone, because that's the tool that's available to me that gives me that information, and it'll help me decide, do I want to turn the heater on, or do I want to turn the air conditioner off? And that's what I do. And then I put the phone down, and I start visiting with the dog and the cat, and we have conversations which is, which is kind of fun, Carlos Hidalgo  39:29 but yeah, you get to enjoy life. Michael Hingson  39:32 I remember, remember the old technology town? Now it's old Blackberry. Oh yeah, the black and Research In Motion. There was one night when Research In Motion lost communications with all of the blackberries, and every BlackBerry went dead, I think, for about 12 hours. But I heard that even during the time when that occurred, people committed suicide because they had no way to look at their blackberries. And. Get information. And I always thought you're that dependent, that you can't cope for a while, especially at night without that information. Carlos Hidalgo  40:09 Come on. Yeah, it's staggering. The number of, again, over 50% of people said that they would be panicked if they want an app without their phones and so and again, I used to, I used to live that way. So I understand it to a degree, but, well, I understand it. Yeah, I also tell people you don't have to live that way, because people i The people I know who live that way, don't seem very content or fulfilled, right, right? Which is really the issue, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely, because we only go, we only get one shot at this life, and I want to make the most of it. Michael Hingson  40:43 Make growth simple. Carlos Hidalgo  40:46 That's right, personal, personal and business wise, right? Michael Hingson  40:49 Personal and business wise. So what is hustle culture? Carlos Hidalgo  40:54 Well, hustle culture has been promoted by a lot of folks, a whole lot more well known that I am, you know, where Kevin O'Leary for Shark Tank, Shark Tank talks about, you got to be willing to work eight days a week, you know, and give everything you've got, you know. Gary Vaynerchuk talks about, you know, go, go, go, go. And, you know, we just see it out there of this, you've got to be willing to go above and beyond. If you want to have success, if you want to make this money, you've got to just make sure you're willing to hustle at all costs, which to me, there's a place for that. As I said, when I'm working I hustle. I work hard. I get in a zone. I kind of block everything out and and there are some weeks where we require over and above it. You know, 16 or a week is is not something that has never been done. But the difference is, there's a couple of differences. Is I'm going to work hard because that's what I'm told to do. In Scripture, it says that with everything you do, do it with all your might and do it to the glory of glory of the Lord. So I'm going to do that. Plus work was one of the first things that God ever created. He told Adam in the garden, I want you to work now, what we also see is that it was cursed when man sinned, and it was part of the curse in the garden. But I do believe work is noble. I believe it's valuable, I believe it has so many things that can teach us. So I'm working. I'm hustling hard when I'm working, but this idea that I need to give everything I have to my business so that I'm successful. Well, what about our relationships? What about our own our last word, too, right? Our own physical health? What about my marriage? All of these things that require work yet, you know, you got a guy like Grant Cardone talking about 95 hour work weeks. That's insanity. Yeah, at what point, you know, so to me, I really believe, and I've had some people who've argued with me over this. If you want to know what the object of your affection is, show me where you're spending the most time and attention. And it's not time or attention, time and attention, right? I cannot. I cannot be, quote, unquote, working, but I can be with my wife, but my brain is working. My brain is thinking about my work, thinking about my business, thinking about my career. So what good is it to her if I'm there or not? Yeah, I'm not investing in that relationship, and that is just as much work as anything else. And I would I would say the rewards are better and the gratification that much deeper. So can work life balance actually be attained? I don't believe in work life balance. I believe in boundaries, and maybe I'm splitting hairs, but when I see that, over 70% of people say that work life balance is unachievable. It tells me it doesn't exist. It's also the only place in our lives where we talk we try to separate work from life. Nobody talks about finance life, business, kids life, business, marriage life, business. But we talk about work life balance. Now I understand we spend a lot of time at work in our modern day culture, but if I can decide that I'm going to put boundaries around the things that matter most to me, so like work, like my relationships, like my physical, mental and emotional health, my spiritual health, and that's how I've started to live life. Is instead of trying to balance everything, I'm going to set boundaries. So what does that look like? Well, the first thing I do in the morning is not check the phone. I get up, I pray. I have coffee with my wife. Sometimes we have really deep conversations. Sometimes we look just let the caffeine kick in and let it wake up, and then we set time in prayer. So every day, pretty much between 815 and 830 I'm at my desk ready to work, but I've put a boundary around that morning time, which allows me to start the time with with my Bible and with my wife from 830 To about 1230 I'm locked in. I am working. There's a boundary around there's a boundary. And then about 1230 to one, about two o'clock, that's my workout. Either go to the gym or I go for a run, come home, make my protein stuff, and then I'm back working again. And so and then when I'm done work, between 530 and six, I shut it down. Work is over, and now it's my personal life again, and whatever that looks like, and some of that is seasonal, because of where I live, in the summer, it'll get stay light till 930 and the winter, it gets dark by 430 there's quite a disparity. But because I have those boundaries, I know that I'm able to bring the best of myself to each of those areas of my life, and that is far easier than balance. And when one of those boundaries needs to move, I get to have a conversation. Hey, I've got a call tonight overseas. Or do we have anything? Are we good if I take this call at 730 at night? So I take the call at 730 at night, but I have that discussion, and it's it takes more effort to move a boundary, takes very little effort to get knocked off balance. Michael Hingson  46:05 Yeah, and I think that makes perfect sense. I know for me, when Karen was here, we we enjoyed breakfast and we enjoyed dinner, and I think there's a lot of value in that. Now, I was always the earlier riser, but partly because I worked for companies that kind of required that. That is to say I worked, for example, when I lived in the east for California companies. So I ended up being there later. But when I worked in the West, calling the east, I had to be in work by six, because that's what I needed to do. But we agreed on that, and I hear exactly what you're saying. The fact of the matter is that you've got to really make some decisions, but if you're in a relationship, then you both have to agree and make the decisions together, which is what really should happen 100% Carlos Hidalgo  46:58 and those boundaries will change. I mean my boundaries now that I'm an empty nester, you know, had I lived this way 15 years ago, would have looked far different because I still had children at home. And so the boundaries can shift and change. But to your point, you have to talk about that. And what I have come to believe is that if I'm making those decisions in regards to my business, my job, my career, and I'm not having the conversation with my significant other, then I'm not I'm not sacrificing anything. I'm just selfish. And yet, what we see is, Oh, you got to sacrifice for your business. I've said to couples before, if you and your wife believe and want to say, hey, we want to go build this thing and we want to go sell it so we know the next five years we're hardly going to see each other, and we're both on board with that, and this is what we want. Go in peace. I think you're nuts, but Go in peace, but still, you made the decision together. That's right, and that's the difference. And I find that a lot of people do not do that, and I also think it adds to the stress and the loneliness and the anxiety and the depression is because we're chasing something that is so fleeting, and no matter what Empire we may build professionally, we can't take it with us, right? Michael Hingson  48:13 And that's something that I wish more people would truly realize. It would make for a much happier world. Carlos Hidalgo  48:21 It would. But the unfortunate part is, until the pain and consequence of how you're living outweighs the fear of change, most likely you're never going to do anything different, right? 48:31 So tell me, Carlos Hidalgo  48:32 oh, go ahead. No. Oh, okay, tell me about the Michael Hingson  48:36 title of the book, the UN American Dream. Where did that come from? And why did you name the book that, why was that the title? And so on, Carlos Hidalgo  48:42 yeah, and so in 2016 is when I informed the company that I had started with my brother 11 years earlier that I was stepping down. Didn't really know what that looked like. I literally just one day, through the help of a friend and God's good grace, decided that it was time for me to go. And so the way they wanted to handle it in end of the year, and I think this was like end of October ish, when I made that decision, they said, You know what, let's not announce anything. We don't want our clients to get spooked in q4 so let's wait until the turn of the the new year. So that was into 2017 so I made a post, and I published it in February, 2017 about why I was leaving the company, some of the things that I was learning along the way. And what surprised me was the phone calls and emails I got from colleagues who said, Hey, I just read your post. Can we talk? I'm kind of thinking about the same thing. I'm miserable. And it was one email in particular that still stands out, where he said, I'm miserable. I started to think like, wow, okay, this, this is not just me. My circumstances were different. But this seems to be a problem, so I started to just do some research on our obsession with work, the number of hours we work, this idea of balance and hustle culture. Really immersed myself in it, and I thought this isn't what Truslow Adams meant when he coined the term the American dream. We're killing ourselves for what like, for What's the objective here to just add another zero to my bank account. So as I started to do that research, I saw myself and a lot of that same story, and the mistakes I made and how I was, you know, I had put my business first all the things that we've talked about. And I thought, Man, this is really quite un American, really, because we say we're the land of the free and the home of the brave, but we're not free if we're slaves to our company or our jobs or our careers. So I thought, You know what? I think what we're doing to ourselves is un American, and we're chasing the UN American dream, and that's how I came up with the title, Michael Hingson  51:05 who have been some of your greatest influencers? Carlos Hidalgo  51:09 Wow, I have had a lot. Obviously, my parents have been huge influences in my life. My mom is a fierce prayer warrior, and so I fervently believe I would not be where I'm at today if it wasn't for her and her faithfulness and that and my dad is it has been in marketing and sales and advertising. So learned a lot from him, just in life, and then also in business. There's a gentleman who lives up the street who is kind of like a second dad to me, it's an interesting relationship, because his son is also my best friend, but gentleman by the name of Keith Vander wheel who is salt of the earth, wise, just a wise, wise man has loved me, has when needed, given me a swift kick in the rear end, and just really helped keep keep me focused, and been one of these guys that I can go to, and it's a little about almost 20 years older than I am, so he's one that has seen more and done more. So I'm thankful for that. And then I am very fortunate to have about three or four very, very dear, dear friends, close friends, I mentioned one, Keith's son, who spur me on to greater things, encourage me when necessary, rebuke me and help me. And then I would say, more than anything, my wife, I learned stuff from her each and every day, her steadfastness, Her Grace, her strength of character, she is absolutely the strongest person I know, and has been the biggest influence in my life. Michael Hingson  52:45 I when I was in college, did radio, and I've always liked comedy. I've always liked trying to be a little bit flip and so on, yep. But I will tell you that my wife constantly amazed me. She was pretty much a lot more straight faced and straight laced than i But when she came out with a zinger, it came out of left field, and you never saw coming. She was amazing. Clearly, she observed me a whole lot more than I thought she did, right? Carlos Hidalgo  53:18 And what a gift that is to have. My wife and I were just, we went out for brunch today, with it being the holiday, and I just, I told her, I said, I just love how much we laugh. Yeah, what a gift that is to have in your marriage. We're just laughing together and laughing at each other in a way that's not demeaning, but appreciates our differences. And you know, we can tease each other and enjoy it and know it comes from a place of love, yeah. Michael Hingson  53:42 How do we deal with the epidemic of loneliness in our lives and in our world? Carlos Hidalgo  53:48 Wow, that's a great question. It's first of all, I think it's heartbreaking. I see this especially with men. And statistics would show that that men especially struggle with loneliness. I think number one is we have to come to the realization we were not meant to live in isolation. We are communal beings. God created us to live in community, and we need to step into that. And part of that is letting your guard down and being vulnerable and letting people know where you struggle. Now I'm not talking about wearing your heart on your sleeve and walking right every stranger and spilling, but those closest of relationships, and I can say, you know, for me, when I isolated, that's when I became the worst form of myself and went to places I never thought I would go. And so I think loneliness, first of all, get off social media and your phone, because that's not a connection. No, your friends, all of your 1000s of friends on Facebook, are not true friends. They're people, you know, but they're not people that are going to walk with you through some of the hardest times of your lives, and so find those. Group, find that community, whether it's your church, whether it's a small group that you take part in, whether it's people at your work, but really start to invest in those relationships and bring as much to it as you're expecting them to. And for me, it became just with those closest relationships. I'm an open book. I'm not going to BS. I'm going to talk about what's on my heart, what I'm struggling with, what my victories are, what my low points are. And for me, that starts with my spouse. As I mentioned, I've got three other men in my life that are around my age that I can confide in, be open with, and it's the most freeing, wonderful thing, and it's their relationships that I cherish, and I think that's how we end this cycle of loneliness. But I think a lot of people have been duped. Well, I'm on I've got a bunch of friends online, yeah, you know, put the phone down, get off your social media platform and go be human and interact with other people. Michael Hingson  56:01 It gets back to the same thing we talked about earlier. There's a whole big difference between head knowledge and really knowing. And the friends who are truly your friends are people who you know and who know you and that you can truly be honest with and who will be honest with you. And that is not something that you get from all those Facebook friends. Otherwise, you're being awfully silly, right? Carlos Hidalgo  56:23 And I also think we have to get out of this idea in our culture that if I don't affirm you, I somehow don't like you anymore, this idea that tolerance and love are the same thing. Some of my closest friends have been some of the ones that have come to me and said, Hey, here's what we've observed, and we're sure you don't like that about you, and you know this needs to change. And I love that. I love that I friends who will call my stuff and a wife who will say to me, this isn't the best you like what's going on here? I need that in my life, because if all I want to do is have people pat me on the back and affirm me. I'm going to get entitled pretty quick. Yeah, and that doesn't help at all. Right? How do we bring civil discourse to our society? We're in an environment and in a world where we just don't appreciate or have conversations anymore. How do we deal with that? Well, I think a couple of things. First of all, I think we have to get back to an appreciation for and a respect for human life and humanity in general. Michael, I'm sure if you and I spent a few hours together, we would eventually land on a topic that we don't just that we don't agree on. I can be okay with that, and because if I'm open to say, Hey, Michael is a human being. He's smart. He's overcome incredible odds in his life, and maybe if I listen, I can learn something. Doesn't mean I'm going to come to your side of the the position, but I can at least learn something. But I think systematically, over decades, we've been denigrating the the value of human life. I mean, how many millions of babies have we aborted in this country? You know, your your own story, your parents were told, hey, just put him in a home. He's not going to amount to anything because of his blindness. That's insanity, you know. So today, instead of civil discourse, if I don't like you, I berate you online, I make something up about you, or I kill you. And right so and to tell you how far we've gone, not only does that happen, but then we're gonna have people who celebrate in the murder of whether it's an insurance CEO or a Charlie Kirk, or anybody, and I just sit there and say, Okay, we've we've gotten so far right civil discourse. And so I think number one is just a respect and a value for human life, which we have a lot of work to do there. And then number two, again, back to what I said, this idea that if I disagree with you, I somehow don't love you anymore. And the example I use is this idea of, well, you need we need more tolerance and affirmation. There was a time Michael where my behavior within our marriage just was unacceptable. I mean, I was cheating on my wife, and once she found out she still loved me, but she couldn't tolerate the behavior for reasons that I think I need to explain. So at that point, you say, All right, well, how do those two things work together? If I had kept doing what I was doing, I know for 100% she would have loved me till the day she died, but she died, but she wouldn't have been able to stay with me, because you can't tolerate that behavior. She's supposed to affirm that. And so this idea that because I quote, unquote, love you, I affirm you, I actually make the case that if I love you, I'm going to help you be the best form of yourself, which sometimes means disagreeing with you and pointing things out in your life. That are unhealthy, that's fair. So I think we have to get back to that place of we can have disagreement, still have respect for each other. We can disagree vehemently and still do it respectfully, right? And then at the end of the day, I can respect your position because of who you are as a person, and that you know, giving you the benefit of the doubt. This is a well thought out position. And so, okay, great. We agree to disagree. We can still be friends, yeah? Michael Hingson  1:00:27 And we might learn something, or at least be put on a path where we think about it, and we may discover that, oh, that person's right, correct, yeah, which is Carlos Hidalgo  1:00:36 cool, yeah, and it's not that hard. And again, no, do your do your homework. Know what the real issues are, and stop reading headlines on social media. Michael Hingson  1:00:46 Yeah, really, get away from that. What else should we know about you? Carlos Hidalgo  1:00:50 Well, I'm the father of four amazing kids spread all over the country, ages 30 to 20. He'll be 24 in 10 days, and then an amazing daughter in law, soon to be daughter in law, my second son is engaged, gets married next year. I love the outdoors, anything outside. And I would say, if I want your audience to remember anything, it's that what Jesus Christ has done in my life has been nothing short of amazing. And like I said at the beginning, this is my operating system, and it's who I am and my reason for being in each and every day. And I sit here and I just am in awe of the life I get to live. So I'm very, very thankful and very, very humbled by it all. Michael Hingson  1:01:36 If people want to reach out to you and maybe explore working with your company, using your company to help them. How do they do that? Carlos Hidalgo  1:01:43 Yeah, you can email me at Carlos at Digital exhaust.co it's not.com so make sure it.co's or I won't get it. So you can shoot me an email visit our website, which is digital exhaust.co or looked me up on LinkedIn, just Carlos adalgo, H, I, D, A, L, G, O, right. That is correct. Yeah. I appreciate you getting the name right on the introduction. So thank you for that. I worked at it well. Michael Hingson  1:02:12 I want to thank you for being here. This has been wonderful. And as I tell people all the time, if I'm not learning at least as much as anybody else on this podcast, and I'm not doing my job well, which means I do need to listen and think about it. And I appreciate all the insights that you gave us today, and I appreciate all of you being here and being with Carlos and me. Love to get your thoughts. Please reach out to Carlos. Please email me at Michael H i, at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, but most of all, wherever you're listening or watching the pod podcast, please give us a five star review and a rating. We love that. We love your your input, please. Of course, I want it always to be positive, but I'll take whatever you send because we we value that. And for all of you and Carlos, you as well, if you know anyone else who ought to be a guest on the podcast. We'd love it if you'd let us know we're always looking to meet more people to help show that we're all more unstoppable than we think we are. And with that, I want to thank you again, Carlos, for being here. This has been absolutely fun. Carlos Hidalgo  1:03:13 Michael, thank you so much. I've really enjoyed it. Michael Hingson  1:03:20 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m

(Mar 10, 2026) Officials say they're keeping a close eye on the region's rivers as warm temperatures cause rapid snowmelt in the Adirondacks; there's growing momentum across Northern New York around tackling affordable housing for the local workforce; we'll talk with a former editor of Adirondack Life Magazine about his new Cold War spy novel inspired by the 1980 Winter Olympics.

Nate visits with Bethany Adams to talk about the release of her new book, "Unsupported," which is out now. Nate is joined by co-host Rich Turnbull for this episode, recorded at Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown. One of the most well-known climbers in the Adirondacks, Adams holds more than 100 FKT records across the region's toughest terrain. In "Unsupported," she tells the story of attempting to hike all 46 Adirondack High Peaks in one continuous effort while chasing the fastest known finishing time. She is very open in this interview, sharing what she was going through in her personal life and how it helped her push toward a challenge that once seemed impossible. A Cherry Valley native who now lives in Lake Placid, she also talks about how her love for outdoor adventure began while growing up in the woods and fields around her family farm. 

Welcome to Episode 211 of Inside The Line: The Catskill Mountains Podcast! This week, Shawn Connolly — better known as thelongislandhiker — joins us to talk about taking the leap and hiking the Appalachian Trail. We dig into the full experience: the highs, the lows, the gear, and the mindset it takes to finally say “screw it” and just go. We also get into a head-scratching story about a hiker who somehow managed to need two rescues in under a year in the Adirondacks, and we wrap things up closer to home with a chat about new trail developments at Ahokan High Point. Equal parts inspiration, reality check, and classic trail talk.Make sure to subscribe on your favorite platform, share the show, donate if you feel like it… or just keep tuning in. I'm just grateful you're here. And as always... VOLUNTEER!!!!Links for the Podcast: https://linktr.ee/ISLCatskillsPodcast, Donate a coffee to support the show! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ITLCatskills, Like to be a sponsor or monthly supporter of the show? Go here! - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ITLCatskills/membershipThanks to the sponsors of the show: Outdoor chronicles photography - https://www.outdoorchroniclesphotography.com/, Trailbound Project - https://www.trailboundproject.com/, Camp Catskill - https://campcatskill.co/, Another Summit - https://www.guardianrevival.org/programs/another-summitLinks: Rangers Interview, AT trail information, Far Out App, Volunteer Opportunities: Trailhead stewards for 3500 Club -https://www.catskill3500club.org/trailhead-stewardship, Catskills Trail Crew - https://www.nynjtc.org/trailcrew/catskills-trail-crew, NYNJTC Volunteering - https://www.nynjtc.org/catskills, Catskill Center - https://catskillcenter.org/, Catskill Mountain Club - https://catskillmountainclub.org/about-us/, Catskill Mountainkeeper - https://www.catskillmountainkeeper.org/ Post Hike Brews and Bites -  Any Local Brewery#AT #appalachiantrail #thruhiker #AT2025 #catskillmountains #hudsonvalley #hudsonvalleyhiking #NYC #history #husdonvalley #hikingNY #kaaterskill #bluehole #catskillhiking #visitcatskills #catskillstrails #catskillmountains #3500 #catskills #catskillpark #catskillshiker #catskillmountainsnewyork #hiking #catskill3500club #catskill3500 #hikethecatskills #hikehudson

(Mar 6, 2026) Jen Denny's novel "Calculated Risk" follows an Assistant Park Ranger who uses her survival skills to make it out of the mountains in one piece

Drawn by local legend, four friends venture deep into the Adirondacks in search of the Hollow Men. When the forest begins to whisper back, what they find is a hunger older than flesh. Written By: Robbie HyneNarrated By: Patrick LuwisCollection Theme"Among Us": Stories about Aliens, Skinwalkers & Other InvadersOTHER CREDITS:Podcast Created, Produced & Edited by: Robbie HyneIntro & Outro Music by: Noah JamesPodcast Key Artwork by: Brendan Haley (insta: @haleydoodledo)Episode Artwork by: Robbie HyneFind and support our sponsors at: fableandfolly.com/partnersSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

March 4, 2026- Adirondack Explorer reporter Gwen Craig explains how the state made it difficult for a nonprofit in the Adirondacks to utilize a grant for a land purchase and four years later they're looking to unload the property as a result.

(Mar 4, 2026) Next year, the Adirondack Experience museum in Blue Mountain Lake will debut a new permanent exhibit dedicated to the Adirondacks' Black history. We visit the museum and hear from the curator working to bring the show to life. Also: A New York state lawmaker wants to ease the state's liquor laws during the upcoming FIFA World Cup.

(Mar 3, 2026) We take a closer look at the candidates' sources of funding as the race for the 21st congressional district seat heats up; a dog team in the Adirondacks offers rides on frozen Mirror Lake in Lake Placid; and we talk with Kitty O'Neil about how biosolids and PFAS affect farms. 

(Mar 2, 2026) The Saranac Lake school board voted last week to close Bloomingdale elementary, a decision that one board member called "profound and painful;" Utility bills are soaring for many in the North Country, and State Assemblyman Michael Cashman met with seniors in Plattsburgh who are asking for relief; we have a conversation with a married couple in the Adirondacks who are responsible for building dozens of breathtaking set designs for theater, opera and television shows.

(Mar 2, 2026) Saranac Lake is mourning the planned closure of an elementary school in a decision a district board member called "profound and painful." It comes amidst a long-term trend of declining student enrollment across the Adirondacks. Also: State lawmakers are advancing a package of immigration bills with new urgency after a blind refugee detained by federal agents was found dead last week in Buffalo.

In honor of Women's History Month, we're revisiting a conversation that still resonates: our interview with Peggy Lynn and Sandra Weber, co-authors of Breaking Trail: Remarkable Women of the Adirondacks.For generations, Adirondack history has centered on guides, industrialists, conservationists, and explorers — most of them men. But women were here all along. They were lumber camp cooks and lobbyists, poets and reformers, business leaders and environmental advocates. They shaped communities, protected wild lands, founded institutions, and quietly transformed the culture of the North Country.This updated edition of Breaking Trail brings their stories back into the light — and invites all of us to ask: whose stories are still waiting to be told?What you'll hear in this episodeHow Peggy and Sandy first realized Adirondack women's stories were missing from the historical recordWhy now was the right time to bring Breaking Trail back for a new generationThe creative partnership behind the book — and how songwriting helped shape the storytellingThe mystery of Esther Mountain and the elusive Esther CombsLumber camp cooks, 18-hour days, and women who could go from hip boots to ball gownsThe legacy of women like Grace Hudowalski and Inez Milholland — now honored with High PeaksWhy women's history belongs in the mainstream narrative, not on the sidelinesResources:Notable women mentioned in this episode include Emily Russell, Anne LaBastille, Mary Brown, Margaret Emerson, Alice Patton Green, Lydia Martin Smith, Mother Johnson, Nellie Staves, Esther Combs, Grace Hudowalski, Inez Milholland, Joan Payne, Fran Yardley, Betsy Folwell, and Barbara McMartin.Breaking Trail: Remarkable Women of the Adirondacks – available from Purple Mountain PressJohn Brown Farm State Historic Site (Lake Placid)Adirondack Experience: The Museum on Blue Mountain LakePaul Smith's CollegeProduced by NOVA

(Feb 27, 2026) Following President Trump's State of the Union address this week, we're checking in on how people around the North Country feel about the president a year into his second term; we talk with a worker in the Adirondacks' hospitality and marketing industry about why it's not just pushing paperwork; and the consistently cold temperatures bode well for Lake Placid's annual ‘Ice Out' fundraiser. 

(Feb 27, 2026) Christopher Shaw, a novelist from Vermont, drew on his time in the Adirondacks for the Cold War caper, "The Manager."

(Feb 24, 2026) The Essex County Land Bank was established just three years ago in hopes of alleviating a growing affordable housing crisis; New York state lawmakers and leaders are hyper-focused on addressing hunger at the state level after federal funding cuts to food assistance programs; a bookseller in the Adirondacks shares a few recommendations from regional writers; and Catherine tries to stump Monica in a sound quiz.

(Feb 24, 2026) The Essex County Land Bank was established just three years ago in hopes of alleviating a growing housing crisis in the eastern Adirondacks. We take a look at what a land bank is, and how any community can rack up some wins for affordable housing by starting its own. Also: The ICE immigrant detention center in Batavia is over capacity and at its highest population in months.

On this week's episode of The Catered Quiz, music writer Grace Spelman joins the show to answer questions about The Beatles and 30 Rock. We also talk about Beyoncé, The Music Man and The Adirondacks. Subscribe to the Grace Spelman Music Project! Check out her most recent post about Songs Where The Vocalist Gives Instructions To The Band. And be sure to watch Grace's viral video from 2020.  

What's really happening behind the kitchen doors of an Adirondack restaurant in the dead of winter?In this episode of ADK Talks, we welcome back Chef Billy Trudsoe of Lizzie Keays in Warrensburg for an honest, energetic, and eye-opening conversation about restaurant life in the Adirondacks.We jokingly dubbed this one “Kitchen Confidential: Adirondack Edition,” and Billy delivers. From skeleton crews and shoulder seasons to garlic loyalty and watermelon obsessions, he pulls back the curtain on what it truly takes to survive—and thrive—as a chef and small business owner just minutes off the Northway.We also dive into his global travels (hello, Bali), his ever-expanding “Mad Flavor” brand, restaurant collaborations across the region, and why supporting local businesses isn't just a slogan—it's survival.What you'll hear in this episodeWhat winter really looks like for Adirondack restaurants—and why patience from diners matters  How Billy's travels to Bali influence dishes like his spicy Bali stir fry  Why old-school dining touches (bread service, palate cleansers, lingering meals) still matter  The economics of seasonal businesses in a summer-driven region  Behind the scenes of the “Battle of the Billy's” local restaurant challenges  Why garlic is non-negotiable in Billy's kitchen  Resources:Lizzie Keays Restaurant   Follow Billy Trudsoe on Instagram: @adkchef Season 21 of Hell's Kitchen ft Billy Trudose Email us your restaurant suggestions or questions: info@adktaste.comProduced by NOVA

In this episode, we explore the impacts of extreme cold weather on wild turkey populations.    Resources: Acorn production post (DrDisturbance IG) Austin, D. E., & DeGraff, L. W. (1975). Winter survival of wild turkeys in the southern Adirondacks. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 1975, 55-60. Brooke, J. M., et al. (2019). Effects of fertilization and crown release on white oak (Quercus alba) masting and acorn quality. Forest Ecology and Management, 433, 305-312. Gonnerman, M., et al. (2023). Dynamic winter weather moderates movement and resource selection of wild turkeys at high‐latitude range limits. Ecological Applications, 33(1), e2734. Gray, B. T., & Prince, H. H. (1988). Basal metabolism and energetic cost of thermoregulation in wild turkeys. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 133-137. Haroldson, K. J. (1995). Energy requirements for winter survival of wild turkeys. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 1995, 9-14.  Lashley, M. A., et al. (2009). Masting characteristics of white oak: implications for management. In In: Proc. Annu. Conf. Southeast. Association Fish and Wildl. Agencies. 63: 21-26. (Vol. 63, pp. 21-26). Lashley, M. A., et al. (2025). Decreased female survival may explain wild turkey decline. bioRxiv, 2025-05. Lavoie, M., et al.  (2017). Winter and summer weather modulate the demography of wild turkeys at the northern edge of the species distribution. Population Ecology, 59(3), 239-249. Lavoie, M., et al. (2025). Wildlife Management and Climate Change: How to Adapt Harvest Rates of Wild Turkey According to Extreme Weather Events. Environmental Management, 1-13. Porter, W. F., et al. (1983). Effects of winter conditions on reproduction in a northern wild turkey population. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 281-290. Seminar: Wild Turkey Management Academy   Our lab is primarily funded by donations. If you would like to help support our work, please donate here: http://UFgive.to/UFGameLab   Don't miss out on a chance to win a custom Benelli Super Black Eagle 3! This 28-gauge shotgun features a 28' barrel, 3" chamber, and is exclusively dipped in Mossy Oak Full Foliage not available to the public. Enter the online raffle below for a shot at owning this one-of-a-kind gun! This is literally a one-of-one collectable item. https://e.givesmart.com/events/Nqy/   We've launched our second online wild turkey course  ! Enroll in  Wild Turkey Manager: Biology, History & Habitat to learn about the principal biology, mating, behavior, food selection, human dimensions, hunter interactions, and historical context of wild turkeys. This course is accredited by the Society of American Foresters as a Category 2 course worth 7 Continuing Forestry Education credits. Participants can also earn up to 5 CEUs in Category I of The Wildlife Society's Certified Wildlife Biologist Program. Enroll now: https://tinyurl.com/WildTurkeyManagerBio   Be sure to check out our first comprehensive online wild turkey course featuring experts across multiple institutions that specialize in habitat management and population management for wild turkeys. Earn up to 20.5 CFE hours! Enroll Now!    Dr. Marcus Lashley @DrDisturbance, Publications Dr. Will Gulsby @dr_will_gulsby, Publications Turkeys for Tomorrow @turkeysfortomorrow  UF Game Lab @ufgamelab, YouTube   Want to help wild turkey conservation? Please take our quick survey to take part in our research!   Do you have a topic you'd like us to cover? Leave us a review or send us an email at wildturkeyscience@gmail.com!   Watch these podcasts on YouTube   Please help us by taking our (quick) listener survey - Thank you!    Check out the DrDisturbance YouTube channel! DrDisturbance YouTube   Want to help support the podcast? Our friends at Grounded Brand have an option to donate directly to Wild Turkey Science at checkout. Thank you in advance for your support!   Leave a podcast rating for a chance to win free gear!   This podcast is made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow, a grassroots organization dedicated to the wild turkey. To learn more about TFT, go to turkeysfortomorrow.org.    Music by Artlist.io Produced & edited by Charlotte Nowak

Feb. 20, 2026- Kevin Bolan, a physician assistant practicing in the Adirondacks and legislative chair for the New York State Society of PAs, makes the case for the governor's plan to let physician assistants work with less oversight.

(Feb 20, 2026) The APA approved plans for a new housing development in Lake Placid at its meeting yesterday; Black lawmakers and other lawmakers of color in Albany are highlighting key priorities, like more education funding, affordable housing and progress on issues like sentencing reform; and John Warren checks trail conditions in the Adirondacks ahead of a snowy weekend.

Today, on the Hudson Mohawk Magazine, First, Mark Dunlea speaks with Laura Wheelock of the Public Utility Law Project. Then, Willie Terry interviews Shawn Young at All Of Us: Reclaim MLK Day 2026. Later on, Lennox Apudo discusses the importance of celebrating Black History Month with Georgenna Jones of Redemption Christian Academy. After that, Sean Bernyk interviews Charles Clark III about Brenda Valentine and the upcoming museum exhibit “The Black Experience in the Adirondacks.” Finally, Ellie Irons speaks with Danielle Peláez about seed keeping ahead of the upcoming seed swap.

"The Black Experience in the Adirondacks" exhibition will include the story of Brenda Valentine and her connection to The Great Adirondack Moose Festival. Curator Charles Clark III speaks with Sean Bernyk about Brenda Valentine's connection to the Adirondacks. "The Black Experience in the Adirondacks" will be an interactive exhibition at the Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, coming in 2027. Charles Clark III will be at The Sanctuary for Independent Media to present about how your objects help to tell the full story of Black life in the Adirondacks with collections on February 18 and 28. https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/black-experiences-in-the-adirondacks/ https://www.theadkx.org/exhibitions/black-experience-in-the-adiondacks/

Show Notes:Emilie is a an AMGA/IFMGA Mountain Guide but she likes lots of things that have nothing to do with mountains: cats, true crime podcasts, and books about early Arctic exploration to name a few. When she is guiding, she's a generalist and finds equal enjoyment on sunny rock climbs, steep ice, and snowy slopes. If she's not home in Salt Lake City, UT, she likes traveling the world….the more unusual the place, the better!Emilie's Links:http://www.emiliedrinkwater.comEpisode Intro:Dear listeners of the Female Guides Requested Podcast, welcome back. This is your host Ting Ting from Las Vegas. Today I am joined by a veteran of the guiding world, Emilie Drinkwater. With over 25 years of experience, Emilie's career has taken her from the rugged ice of the Adirondacks to pioneering leadership programs for women in Afghanistan. As an IFMGA-certified guide and a member of the AMGA instructor team, she brings a wealth of knowledge on what it means to make guiding a lifelong profession.In this episode, we dive into her transition from the Northeast to the West, the cultural complexities of guiding abroad, and a recent, harrowing health scare that changed her perspective on the risks we take in the mountains. Let's get into the conversation with Emilie Drinkwater.Quotes:On her start in guiding: “I literally begged my way into a job guiding people… Guiding's kind of my only marketable skill at this point. So luckily I like it and I have no plans of stopping anytime soon.”On being a female guide: “I love the title of your podcast because my whole career is like I have these opportunities because a female guide has been requested. And I'm often in a place where I'm… a bit of a rarity.”On the reality of the profession: “Guiding it's a good career for extroverted people, which I'm not. And so, yeah, any job, it's most of the time it's great, but there's definitely times where I'm tired or stressed or have a little feeling of burnout.”On the value of instruction: “I always learn from students… every single program I learned something new and I'm like, ‘Wow, I can't believe I've never seen or heard that before.'”On guiding in Afghanistan: “When we think of terrorists and Taliban… the majority of people in Afghanistan are just generous and kind and they're poor. They don't have money, it's a tough place to live.”On the guide's mindset during a health crisis: “As guides we are really used to being uncomfortable all the time… our tolerance level may be dangerously high. And that is something I've learned is I need to say something sooner if I'm not feeling good.”On finding the right partner: “A perfect partner is somebody who compliments you… somebody that you're on the same page with—they'll support you, but also you have a similar enough skill set.”On the definition of success: “Success begins with a willingness to try… because I think if you tried something you probably learned a lot from it… the success comes in trying and learning from each bit of it.”

(Feb 18, 2026) There are some schools in the North Country that take their kids outside almost all day, in any weather. We meet a young teacher who says she's found her calling in a forest kindergarten in the Adirondacks. Also: Two North Country high school girls hockey teams are heading to the state frozen four tournament.

Today, on the Hudson Mohawk Magazine, First, Hundreds rallied on Tin Cup Day urging Governor Kathy Hochul to tax the wealthy to address New York's affordability crisis. Mark Dunlea sits down with Campaign Director Brahvan Ranga to learn more. Then, Sean Bernyk tells about "The Black Experience in the Adirondacks" an interactive exhibition coming to the Sanctuary. Later on, Shirley Chen talks with NYU Alumni Jason about his family traditions for the Chinese Lunar New Year. After that, Justin Hurley talks about the organization Food not Bombs. Finally, This week, Thom Francis welcomes Jason Baldinger to the mic. He shared his poetry at the Fish Market in Troy. Hosts: Richard Sleeper and Caelan McPherson Engineer:Caelan McPherson

"The Black Experience in the Adirondacks" exhibition will include the story of Roland Brown, a Tuskegee Airman, and his connection to a WWII flight jacket. Curator Charles Clark III speaks with Sean Bernyk about Roland Brown's connection to the Adirondacks. "The Black Experience in the Adirondacks" will be an interactive exhibition at the Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, coming in 2027. Charles Clark III will be at The Sanctuary for Independent Media to present about how your objects help to tell the full story of Black life in the Adirondacks with collections on February 18 and 28. https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/black-experiences-in-the-adirondacks/ https://www.theadkx.org/exhibitions/black-experience-in-the-adiondacks/

In this episode, we explore the impacts of extreme cold weather on wild turkey populations.    Resources:   Acorn production post (DrDisturbance IG)   Austin, D. E., & DeGraff, L. W. (1975). Winter survival of wild turkeys in the southern Adirondacks. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 1975, 55-60.   Brooke, J. M., et al. (2019). Effects of fertilization and crown release on white oak (Quercus alba) masting and acorn quality. Forest Ecology and Management, 433, 305-312.   Gonnerman, M., et al. (2023). Dynamic winter weather moderates movement and resource selection of wild turkeys at high‐latitude range limits. Ecological Applications, 33(1), e2734.   Gray, B. T., & Prince, H. H. (1988). Basal metabolism and energetic cost of thermoregulation in wild turkeys. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 133-137.   Haroldson, K. J. (1995). Energy requirements for winter survival of wild turkeys. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 1995, 9-14.   Lashley, M. A., et al. (2009). Masting characteristics of white oak: implications for management. In In: Proc. Annu. Conf. Southeast. Association Fish and Wildl. Agencies. 63: 21-26. (Vol. 63, pp. 21-26).   Lashley, M. A., et al. (2025). Decreased female survival may explain wild turkey decline. bioRxiv, 2025-05.   Lavoie, M., et al.  (2017). Winter and summer weather modulate the demography of wild turkeys at the northern edge of the species distribution. Population Ecology, 59(3), 239-249.   Lavoie, M., et al. (2025). Wildlife Management and Climate Change: How to Adapt Harvest Rates of Wild Turkey According to Extreme Weather Events. Environmental Management, 1-13.   Porter, W. F., et al. (1983). Effects of winter conditions on reproduction in a northern wild turkey population. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 281-290.   Seminar: Wild Turkey Management Academy   Our lab is primarily funded by donations. If you would like to help support our work, please donate here: http://UFgive.to/UFGameLab   Don't miss out on a chance to win a custom Benelli Super Black Eagle 3! This 28-gauge shotgun features a 28' barrel, 3" chamber, and is exclusively dipped in Mossy Oak Full Foliage not available to the public. Enter the online raffle below for a shot at owning this one-of-a-kind gun! This is literally a one-of-one collectable item. https://e.givesmart.com/events/Nqy/   We've launched our second online wild turkey course  ! Enroll in  Wild Turkey Manager: Biology, History & Habitat to learn about the principal biology, mating, behavior, food selection, human dimensions, hunter interactions, and historical context of wild turkeys. This course is accredited by the Society of American Foresters as a Category 2 course worth 7 Continuing Forestry Education credits. Participants can also earn up to 5 CEUs in Category I of The Wildlife Society's Certified Wildlife Biologist Program. Enroll now: https://tinyurl.com/WildTurkeyManagerBio   Be sure to check out our first comprehensive online wild turkey course featuring experts across multiple institutions that specialize in habitat management and population management for wild turkeys. Earn up to 20.5 CFE hours! Enroll Now!    Dr. Marcus Lashley @DrDisturbance, Publications Dr. Will Gulsby @dr_will_gulsby, Publications Turkeys for Tomorrow @turkeysfortomorrow  UF Game Lab @ufgamelab, YouTube   Want to help wild turkey conservation? Please take our quick survey to take part in our research!   Do you have a topic you'd like us to cover? Leave us a review or send us an email at wildturkeyscience@gmail.com!   Watch these podcasts on YouTube   Please help us by taking our (quick) listener survey - Thank you!    Check out the DrDisturbance YouTube channel! DrDisturbance YouTube   Want to help support the podcast? Our friends at Grounded Brand have an option to donate directly to Wild Turkey Science at checkout. Thank you in advance for your support!   Leave a podcast rating for a chance to win free gear!   This podcast is made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow, a grassroots organization dedicated to the wild turkey. To learn more about TFT, go to turkeysfortomorrow.org.    Music by Artlist.io Produced & edited by Charlotte Nowak  

On this special episode of Hudson Mohawk Magazine, we focus on Black history, more specifically, archiving the Black experience in the Adirondacks. The Sanctuary for Independent Media is collaborating with The Adirondack Experience and their upcoming exhibition "The Black Experience in the Adirondacks," with curator Charles Clark III. This special features interviews with Clark, first with the Sanctuary's Sina Basila Hickey and then with Hudson Mohawk Magazine producer Sean Bernyk.

First, Mark Dunlea brings us coverage on Governor Hochul's proposed budget and its effects on health care coverage for New Yorkers Then, Sean Bernyk speaks with the curator of The Black Experience in the Adirondacks about Dewey Brown ahead of his inclusion in the upcoming exhibition Later on, Sina Basila Hickey speaks with Design Duo “Fun Stuff” about their new design studio in south troy After that, we'll have a piece on the effect of road salt on the environment Finally, we'll have a piece on how the effects of the winter months effect the homeless But first, here are the headlines. Co-Hosts: Richard Sleeper, Ember | Producer: Jacob Boston

The Olympics Sessions is a 3-part mini-series exploring the Winter Olympic legacy here in Lake Placid, NY—home of the 1932 and 1980 Olympic Winter Games.They wanted real, authentic winter, and the Adirondacks delivered real, authentic winter.Tired of physically struggling on your hikes? Looking for help to improve your your fitness for hiking? Here are 2 ways I can help you do that:1.) Work with James 1-on-1 (online)Apply to work with directy with James 1-on-1 in his Seek To Do More program where he'll help you build the right kind of strength & conditioning for better hiking adventures, along with the nutrition and daily habits needed to support long term transformation. Book a call with James to see if it's the right fit for you HEREwww.seektodomore.com 2.) Join the next GREAT RANGE ATHLETE Team training programA 6-week online fitness program to help you imporve your strength and endurance for hiking mountains. Train alongside a likeminded team of fellow hikers who will give you the support, guidance, and accountability you need to succeed.Over 200 hikers worldwide have joined the Great Range Athlete team program with great sucesss from first time hikers to multi-round Adirondack 46'ers and everywhere inbetween. Plus, enjoy an Adirondack group hike at the end of the program with your coach and teammatesJoin the next team HEREwww.GreatRangeAthlete.comFollow on Instagram & Facebook:@46of46podcast@jamesappleton46Get my Adirondack hiking books:1.) The Adirondack 46 in 18 Hikes: The Complete Guide to Hiking the High Peaks 2.) Adirondack Campfire Stories: Tales and Folklore from Inside the Blue Line3.) Pick up my digital eBook "From 1-to-46" instantly HEREVisit my websites:www.46OUTDOORS.comwww.46OF46.com

Adam and Greg catch up with special guests Kyle Lavallee, Ian McKendry, & Dawson Daigle. Hear their stories and more.

On a snowy Black Friday in November 2024, a 22-year-old experienced hiker from Quebec set out alone to climb one of the most remote peaks in New York's Adirondack Mountains—a challenging 18-mile journey he expected to complete in a single day. When he didn't return as planned, what followed was one of the most extensive search operations in Adirondack history, involving dozens of elite forest rangers battling brutal winter conditions for over a week. This is the story of Leo Dufour, a university student studying to become a teacher who had already conquered 32 of the legendary 46 High Peaks, and the extraordinary efforts to find him in a wilderness that doesn't always give up its secrets. It's a reminder that even the most prepared among us are never more than one wrong turn away from the unforgiving power of the mountains. 00:00 Introduction to Disaster Strikes 00:42 Leo Dufour's Quest in the Adirondacks 03:00 The Challenge of Allen Mountain 07:09 The Search and Rescue Efforts 12:47 The Aftermath and Lessons Learned 24:37 Conclusion and Final Thoughts Listen AD FREE: Support our podcast at patreaon: http://patreon.com/TheCruxTrueSurvivalPodcast Email us! thecruxsurvival@gmail.com Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thecruxpodcast/ Get schooled by Julie in outdoor wilderness medicine! https://www.headwatersfieldmedicine.com/ References: "New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Statement on Recovery of Missing Canadian Hiker Leo DuFour." DEC Press Release, May 10, 2025. "Update: State Police seeking the public's assistance in locating a missing hiker in the town of Newcomb." NYS Police Press Release, December 2024. Lynch, Mike. "Remains of missing Canadian hiker found." Adirondack Explorer, May 2025. Lynch, Mike. "Missing hiker: What we know so far, as search enters 5th day." Adirondack Explorer, January 22, 2025. Lynch, Mike. "Search for Canadian hiker shifts to recovery." Adirondack Explorer, March 28, 2025. "DEC: Body of missing hiker Leo DuFour found May 10 off Mt. Allen Mountain trail." The Adirondack Almanack, May 12, 2025. "Due to treacherous conditions, search for Leo DuFour transitioned to recovery mission." The Adirondack Almanack, December 10, 2024. "Extensive search underway in the Adirondacks for missing Canadian hiker." NCPR News, December 4, 2024. "Rangers had to divert resources during Allen Mt. search to rescue solo searcher." NCPR News, December 10, 2024. "DEC: No signs of missing hiker Thursday." Adirondack Daily Enterprise, December 5, 2024. "Hikers find body of missing person on Allen Mountain." My NBC5, May 2025. "Body of Missing Hiker Is Found 5 Months After He Vanished in the Adirondacks." The New York Times, May 29, 2025. The Globe and Mail (Canada): "U.S. authorities find body of missing Quebec hiker in New York state's Adirondacks." May 11, 2025. Advnture: Clarke, Julia. "Body of 22-year-old Canadian hiker found 5 months after vanishing on snowy Adirondacks mountain." May 2025. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

"The Black Experience in the Adirondacks" exhibition will include the story of Dewey Brown, the first known African-American member of the Professional Golfers' Association of America and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. Curator Charles Clark III speaks with Sean Bernyk about Dewy Brown's connection to the Adirondacks. "The Black Experience in the Adirondacks" will be an interactive exhibition at the Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, coming in 2027. Charles Clark III will be at The Sanctuary for Independent Media to present about how your objects help to tell the full story of Black life in the Adirondacks with collections on February 18 and 28. https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/black-experiences-in-the-adirondacks/ https://www.theadkx.org/exhibitions/black-experience-in-the-adiondacks/

(Feb 11, 2026) The Winter Games are well underway in Milan and Cortina. We check in with former NCPR reporter Brian Mann, who's covering the Olympics for NPR. Also: we remember Margot Ernst, a major philanthropist in the Adirondacks and for public radio. She died Sunday at the age of 80.

(Feb 9, 2026) A new state proposal could change how people with disabilities experience the Adirondack wilderness; Democratic state lawmakers are pushing the New York for All legislation, an alternative to the bill to limit federal immigration agents' authority; and the Twitchell Lake Association in the southern Adirondacks has spent months compiling the lake's social, natural, and even legal history, and are publishing it all on a new website.

(Feb 9, 2026) A new state proposal could change how people with disabilities experience the Adirondack wilderness. It's forcing officials to weigh accessibility goals against concerns over motorized vehicle use on protected lands. Also: We have an update on North Country luge athletes competing in the Winter Games in Italy.

"The Black Experience in the Adirondacks" exhibition will include the story of Fulton Fryar, a young singer who was housed in Fulton Fryar's Closet. Curator Charles Clark III speaks with Sean Bernyk about Fulton Fryar's connection to the Adirondacks. "The Black Experience in the Adirondacks" will be an interactive exhibition at the Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, coming in 2027. Charles Clark III will be at The Sanctuary for Independent Media to present about how your objects help to tell the full story of Black life in the Adirondacks with collections on February 18 and 28. https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/black-experiences-in-the-adirondacks/ https://www.theadkx.org/exhibitions/black-experience-in-the-adiondacks/

Curator Charles Clark III is reaching out to the community for archives connecting Black people and their stories to the Adirondacks for an upcoming exhibition. "The Black Experience in the Adirondacks" will be an interactive exhibition at the Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, coming in 2027. Charles Clark III will be at the Sanctuary to present about how your objects help to tell the full story of Black life in the Adirondacks with collections on February 18 and 28. He spoke with Sina Basila Hickey. https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/black-experiences-in-the-adirondacks/

"The Black Experience in the Adirondacks" exhibition will include the story of Dr. Alice Paden Green, well known for her social justice and racial equality work. She grew up in the Adirondacks, the subject of her memoir "Outsider: Stories of Growing Up Black in the Adirondacks." Curator Charles Clark III speaks with Sean Bernyk about Dr. Alice Green in connection to the Adirondacks. "The Black Experience in the Adirondacks" will be an interactive exhibition at the Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, coming in 2027. Charles Clark III will be at The Sanctuary for Independent Media to present about how your objects help to tell the full story of Black life in the Adirondacks with collections on February 18 and 28. https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/black-experiences-in-the-adirondacks/ https://www.theadkx.org/exhibitions/black-experience-in-the-adiondacks/

This week I'm talking with Rachel Finn and we discuss the Adirondacks, voluntary beatdowns capming stories, first meetings and all of that is before I even remember to actually start the show. We also discuss her start to fishing, Alaska, horses, Winslow Homer, and so much more.

This week, we are reflecting on a major milestone hitting 100,000 followers on Instagram after the success of Jack's kickoff to visiting all 102 towns in the Adirondacks. Also: a post-diner predicament that we do NOT agree on, the pursuit of going 32 soups deep, our review on the new songs from Noah Kahan and Harry Styles, a game of Roast or Toast and more.EPISODE NOTES:Sides of the bed (0:20)Nobody Asked Me, But… (2:58)100K followers on Instagram

Moore says writing is mostly labor, but "2% of the time, usually at the very beginning of a book and the very end of a book, it feels like flying." She's also the author of ‘Long Bright River,' which was adapted into a series on Peacock starring Amanda Seyfried. Her latest bestseller, ‘The God of the Woods' centers on a missing girl at a summer camp in the Adirondacks. Moore spoke with contributor Dave Davies about her writing process and adapting her work for TV. Also, John Powers reviews the thriller series ‘Hijack' and ‘The Night Manager,' both of which are returning for their second seasons.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Preston writes "This experience happened during an autumn fishing trip for brook trout in one of the most isolated regions of the Adirondack Mountains. To reach this area is no small task. First, you have to cross a reservoir by boat an eight mile ride across water that itself lies nearly forty miles from the nearest town. Once across, you reach the trailhead. From there, the route winds past a series of ponds deeper into the wilderness. The first leg is a 1.2 mile hike to the first lake. From there, you can either hike around it or paddle straight across. My fishing partner and I use Kevlar/carbon-fiber canoes light enough to carry, so if weather allows, we paddle the lake instead. That lake is roughly two miles long. After taking out on the far side, the trail continues another 1.5 miles into the Five Ponds Wilderness. At the second lake, the trail turns north and becomes more of a bushwhack through old-growth timber, with mountains rising on both sides. That stretch is another two miles, heading deeper into the wilderness until you finally reach the destination lake. This area is considered one of the three most isolated locations in the entire Adirondack Park relative to civilization. It's an absolutely stunning place completely secluded, ringed by mountains, with water that looks glacial and holds trophy class brook trout. It's truly one of my favorite places on Earth. We arrived around mid-morning on the first day and immediately started fishing. We caught plenty of fish, and everything felt normal. As evening approached, we gathered firewood, set up our tents, cooked dinner, and sat around talking. At one point, I stood up and did a Bigfoot call followed by a loud tree knock. It was something we used to do as a joke in less remote areas to mess with other campers. My buddy laughed, and we turned in for the night. Sometime in the middle of the night, we were jolted awake by the sound of a large tree falling not far from camp. It scared the hell out of us. The night was completely calm no wind at all. What struck us immediately was the silence. No peeper frogs. No wood frogs. No loons on the lake. No breeze. Just absolute stillness. It felt wrong. We stayed in our tents until around 4:30 a.m., when we were awakened again this time by a rhythmic pounding, like something repeatedly striking a tree. The hits were forceful, evenly spaced, about every three seconds. It continued steadily until after sunrise, coming from the direction of the trailhead. We tried to rationalize it. I suggested a woodpecker, though I didn't believe it. Then I floated the idea that maybe two moose were sparring since it was close to the rut but neither of us bought that either. The consistency and power of the blows didn't feel natural. It also made us rethink the fallen tree from earlier. I wondered if it could've been a beaver, since they're nocturnal and nearby ponds were close but none of it fully added up. We eventually got moving, launched the canoes, and spent the day fishing. We practice catch and release unless a fish is mortally wounded, which unfortunately happened that day. We kept that fish, cooked it for dinner, then went back out on the water until dark. As we paddled back to camp at twilight, I noticed what looked like a dark shape partially concealed behind a massive old-growth pine that leaned out over the lake. It was nearly night, and the woods were pitch black but whatever this was appeared darker than the surrounding darkness. I chalked it up to my imagination and kept paddling. Later, as we were getting ready to crawl into our tents, I noticed lights hovering over the lake. I'd seen these before on a few occasions. There was one main light above the water, and smaller lights would split off from it, drifting away on either side. Eventually, the main light dimmed, and the smaller lights faded out entirely. I'll be honest I'm terrified of aliens, and having seen unexplained things before, I was already on edge. Lying in my tent, I suddenly felt heavy thuds on the ground. I yelled to Casey and grabbed my headlamp, assuming a black bear had wandered into camp. When I stepped out, I found a snowshoe hare at my feet. This was the largest hare I've ever seen and it showed absolutely no fear. It hopped right up to me and just sat there, right next to my boots. We couldn't understand why a wild animal would act that way. It was as if it was seeking shelter. The hare stayed by the fire with us like it was an old friend. Eventually, I went back to my tent and left it there by the fire. Later that night, another tree fell nearby. We lay in our tents talking quietly about it before eventually drifting off. Once again, near dawn, the tree pounding started same cadence, same duration continuing until the sun came up. That day, we headed to the north end of the lake, where a massive dome-shaped mountain rises with cliffs and sweeping views. That end of the lake acts like a natural amphitheater. Casey decided to hike the mountain to try to get cell service and check the weather for our departure. The climb is brutal you have to crawl on your hands and feet for much of it. The mountain rises about 3,000 feet, with sections that feel nearly vertical. On the back side is an exposed cliff overlooking other ponds, and that's where you can sometimes get fleeting reception. While Casey was climbing and calling his wife, I stayed behind fishing along the opposite shoreline, parallel to the mountain. At one point, I saw trees moving on the slope and assumed it was him. I yelled out his nickname. "Is that you, Poop?!" What answered me was one of the most nerve wracking sounds I've ever heard a blood-curdling scream that sounded like a woman being murdered, assaulted, and losing a child all at once. I know that sounds extreme, but it's the only way I can describe it. Worse still, whatever made that sound was moving fast crashing through trees and running across terrain so steep we'd had to crawl up it earlier. The scream shook me to my core. I was convinced Casey was dying. I gathered myself and paddled hard toward the sound, yelling his name. No response. Eventually, he came down the mountain. I confronted him, telling him not to mess around like that I thought he was in serious trouble. He looked at me completely confused and said, "What the hell are you talking about?" He told me he'd been on the far side of the mountain facing another pond. He heard something faint but assumed I'd hooked a big brook trout or was yelling in excitement. That night was deeply unsettling. The woods felt wrong unnaturally silent. It sounded like people talking at the far end of the pond, always just out of earshot, followed by faint, distant screams throughout the night. Morning couldn't come fast enough. We woke again to the same rhythmic tree pounding. This time, I decided to investigate. I headed toward the sound, crossing a creek and climbing a nearby hill. As soon as I reached the area where I believed it was coming from, it stopped instantly. That was it. I packed up my gear and canoe, and we got out of there. About a half mile down the trail on our way out, we passed through a muddy stretch between two hills. In the middle of the mud pit about twenty feet long and twelve feet wide was a single, distinct footprint. It looked as if something had stepped straight down into the mud from the hillside and climbed back out the other side. I took a video, which I later lost when I misplaced the SD card, but I did save a screenshot that I still have. Inside the print was a mature beech leaf typically three to five inches long placing the track somewhere between twelve and fifteen inches in length. I don't know what was going on out there. I've spent my entire life in the woods, often solo, and had been to that lake many times before without issue. I've only returned once since, in 2018. Other hardcore backcountry anglers I know have mentioned strange feelings in that area, though nothing as intense. This wasn't the only odd experience I've had in that wilderness either. Another incident occurred even deeper in the Five Ponds Wilderness among untouched old growth forest stranger still. You couldn't pay me to hike the one way, eleven plus miles back in there again. Something is going on in that section of the Adirondacks. I've heard stories from others that only reinforce that feeling. As a final oddity, on our way out that day, Casey and I ran into two armed military personnel carrying AR-style rifles. They were friendly, walked us back toward their camp, showed us around, and then escorted us partway before we continued to our vehicle. The whole experience was strange, start to finish and it's stayed with me ever since."