Podcasts about this august

This August, Emily Lippe competed in her first unsupported ultra-endurance cycling race, the Hoodoo 300. Not only did she set the overall record for the unsupported (nomad) category, but she also beat the record for the women's supported (solo) category with an overall finish time of 21 hours and 11 minutes. In this episode Emily gives us an overview of her training for the race, and details about her race experience. You can read more about Emily's race experience on her blog at misslippes.com/blog

The Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, founded in 2006, built eight youth prisons, or as they are formally called “youth centers.” Two closed in 2012, another in 2016. This August, The Final Five Campaign launched to close the last five youth prisons in Illinois. In this episode, we got insight on how the effort is forming from Olivia Blocker, the campaign’s coordinator, and Ja’Vaune Jackson, a youth advocate who was incarcerated in two of the centers as a minor. They break down why prisons cause irreparable harm to entire communities and what alternatives to youth prisons may look like. thefinal5campaign.com/resources. For more information on how you can support, visit the final5campaign.com/

Over twenty years ago Claire Smith (@brutalclaire) started running, pushing her baby in a buggy in a bid to lose weight. This August, she was back to pushing a baby stroller but this time, it carried everything she needed to run the length of the UK without any support from John'O Groats to Lands End. She certainly has form. This is the endurance athlete who has also completed 20 back to back Ironman distance events. So, if you're about to take on the virtual @londonmarathon today, listen to this for inspiration and proof that no matter, how tough it gets, the mind is an incredible thing. Good job, because in 2021, she plans to take on the incredibly difficult Arch to Arc, riding from Marble Arch to Dover, swimming the Channel and then running to the Arc de Triomphe.

If you haven’t heard of Arlo McKinley yet, you should know he comes with John Prine’s seal of approval. Before Prine’s heartbreaking death this spring, the legendary folk singer handpicked McKinley to join his Oh Boy Records label, an honor granted to only a handful of musicians over the last couple of decades. This August, McKinley released Die Midwestern on the independent label, and his follow-up to 2014’s self-titled debut has been receiving high praise from music media and fans ever since. Before McKinley was releasing sad country ballads on the label of one of his musical heroes though, he was playing in Cincinnati punk and hardcore bands and teaming up with one of his buddies in projects that spanned more than a decade. McKinley recently joined My First Band host Tyler Maas via WiFi to discuss his first exposure to musical performance as a boy in his family’s Bapist church, digging through his dad’s extensive vinyl collection as a kid and forming his first band, Mourning Child, as a teenager. Over the nearly hour-and-a-half-long discussion, McKinley also discussed being recruited to join Breaking Point, a punk rock band that he sang in, as well as how he talked himself into becoming the bassist in Headstall, a hardcore band, before he even knew how to play the instrument. After he left Headstall, McKinley quit performing for a few years and taught himself how to play guitar. A chance conversation with fellow Cincinnati musician Jeremy Pinnell led to McKinley joining a band called Latter Day and then playing with Pinnell for more than a decade in a handful of projects, including a memorable run as an indie folk duo called The Great Depression. Finally, McKinley revealed how he slowly made the transition from Tim Carr, his birth name, to the alter ego performing moniker of Arlo McKinley and how that endeavor has grown beyond his wildest dreams. My First Band is sponsored by Mystery Room Mastering and Lakefront Brewery. The show is edited by Jared Blohm. You can listen to My First Band on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, and wherever else you get podcasts. Music used in this show comes courtesy of Devils Teeth ("The Junction Street Eight Tigers") and Arlo McKinley ("Die Midwestern").

This August, the hosts are "TCB" -- that's Taking Care of Baking -- to tackle some of their remaining #20for20 baking resolutions. Stefin's finishing up the last of August's Quick Bite episodes with a #20for20 baking resolution to create an original Cookie Butter Cupcake.   You can read the full show notes here. Stefin and Andrea will be back together again with feature-length episodes starting September 7, but until then, consider listening to any of the nearly 200 episodes you may have missed. And be sure to tag your summer baking pics @preheatedpod on Instagram. Listeners, we hope our show provides a bit of respite when you need it most. Be well, and thanks for listening! Bake along with Stefin and Andrea in their baking Facebook group, Preheated Baking Podcast Listeners. You can find links to recipes on their baking website www.preheatedpodcast.com, or follow the hosts on Twitter and Instagram, using handle preheatedpod. Listeners, you can always leave the hosts a voice mail at (802) 276-0788.  Join the fun!  Amazon links are affiliate, meaning we earn a few cents from every purchase made through our link.

On Inflection Point, we’ve documented the changes for women between two major milestones here in the US: From right before we thought we’d see our first woman President with Hillary Clinton, to today, when we might see our first VP woman of color, with Kamala Harris. Inflection Point is one of the only nationally syndicated radio shows and one of the first podcasts ever dedicated exclusively to featuring conversations with women about how we build power, what we do with it when we have it, and what still stands in our way. This August, we’re making a change too. Listen to find out more or go to our website for the transcript. Watch the video with photos! In Love and Action, Lauren

#HometownHeroes Im proud of drop this episode with our first hometown hero, Bryson Thompson Sr. I meet Bryson back in 2006 and he’s been such an incredible big brother to me and so many- amd this interview is full of big borther game.  A father, a husband, an, friend, son, brother, Omega Man, Clemson and Georgia State grad, entrepreneur, fellow educator and mental health specialist- Bryson is talking to us about his new title of AUTHOR! This August, his FIRST children’s book “How Angels Are Made” - a tribute in honor of his late great mother who left the earthly realm four years ago, is being released. Two days after her abrupt passing, Bryson pulled out his pen and wrote this  book  in its entirety and didn’t revisit it until 2020. Today Bryson is going to share what gave him the courage to finally get the book into the world, why it’s so important to get a book about grief, loss, and healing into the world for children and their  families, especially black families, and the journey of raising $8k on kickstarter back in may! ! We’re gonna talk marriage,  giving back, life in Little Afriica. Im thankful for great poeple like Bryson who are looking to change the world. Thanls for being a hero Bryson— Im sure Little Africa is proud as I am.  Here’s is the evolutionary story of where Megan has been and where she is headed….. Find Bryson Thompson on social! Instagram: www.instagram.co/brysonthompsonsr Order Your Copy of “How Angels Are Made” Instagram www.instagram.com/howangelsaremade Facebook www.facebook.com/howangelsaremade Website howangelsaremade.com Intro Music: "Geechee Low country" by American Foreign (Produced by ApolloTone) Listen to his full album "7even 7ummers" on Apple Music, Tidal, Google Play, Spotify and more by searching AMERICAN FOREIGN.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 65 °F, and highs today will stay in the mid 80s—a relief from the past month or so. I think we’ll also avoid torrential, continual downpours at least for most of the day. NBC12’s Jim Duncan has a post up about the incredible amount of rain Richmond has seen this summer. This August—which still has 15 days left—is the now the 2nd wettest August ever and the 4th wettest month ever! Also: “It’s notable that since June 1st Richmond has received nearly 23 inches of rain, even with the near drought conditions in early summer. That amount is more than half our typical rain total for an ENTIRE year!” So, yeah, it’s not just you, it has rained a lot.Also, Chesterfieldians, take note: The County has declared emergency water restrictions for residents as “significant flooding caused the temporary shutdown of Chesterfield’s water treatment plant and emergency repairs are needed at the City of Richmond’s Jahnke Road pump station, which supplies water to Chesterfield and portions of Powhatan County. Customers are asked to conserve water for essential use only and immediately stop all irrigation. While emergency restrictions are in place to help reduce demand on the water system, the water is safe to drink.”Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 937↘️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 0↘️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 123↘️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 25, Henrico: 83, and Richmond: 15). Since this pandemic began, 309 people have died in the Richmond region. Today, VCU students head off to their first day of class, and, normally, the first day of fall classes at VCU is one of my favorite days of the year. The Fan and Downtown feels so empty without all of those students hurrying to class and hanging out in pocket parks. Now, though, I just worry about them all and hope they stay safe and virus-free for as long as our institutions of higher learning are open for in-person instruction. That’s not going great for our neighboring states, by the way. UNC has already announced four “clusters” of COVID-19 on campus, which is defined as “five or more cases in close proximity,” and class hasn’t even started yet. They have, however, put together this very informative and public COVID-19 tracking dashboard. I haven’t seen anything like that yet locally, and I think it’d be useful for folks. If you’re interested in the procedures and protocols VCU has put together for their students, you can read through the full list here.The City has set up “nearly 50 locations around the city to pick up disposable surgical face masks free of cost.” Here’s the map of spots, and if you’d like to offer up your institution (some restrictions apply) as a mask distribution location, you can do so using this form.Maybe the aforelinked map could be a useful resource to the assortment of police officers who responded to last night’s Reclamation Teach-In event and apparently weren’t interested in wearing face coverings? I was not there in person, so I don’t know the full details, but these pictures of cops not wearing masks while also disregarding social distance make me feel intensely uncomfortable. I have no idea what the actual guidance is for cops wearing masks while doing their jobs, especially while outside, but dang set an example!Over the weekend some jerks came by and cut down the hand-painted Welcome to Beautiful Marcus-David Peters sign. This was NOT done by the City, the Richmond Police Department, or even the Virginia State Police. The VSP have intentionally left the sign in place previously, and the RPD put out this statement over the weekend: “No city agency was involved - including the RPD. It is illegal to remove signage without permission. Whoever did this may be trying to spark more violence in the City of Richmond.” All signs point to jerks, and, potentially, white supremacist jerks at that.Richmond’s School Board meets today and has a couple of interesting things on their agenda. Make sure you take a look at this PDF updating the Board on the MOU between Richmond Public Schools and the Richmond Police Department. The survey data about staff and student perception of cops in schools (aka School Resource Officers aka SROs) may surprise you. The Board will also continue to work through the reopening plan and will discuss “proposals from the City for support of virtual learning.”The City’s Planning Commission will also meet today to consider Richmond’s own Black Lives Matter mural (PAC 2020–002). The mural would stretch across both lanes of Grace Street between 8th and 9th, right in front of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and the entrance to the Capitol. Each letter would be yellow and 24 feet tall. You can see a rendering in this PDF to get a sense of the scale.I haven’t yet wrapped my head around the General Assembly’s special session which starts tomorrow, but Mel Leonor at the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Jeremey Lazarus at the Richmond Free Press have some details on what lawmakers hope to accomplish. They’ve got coronabills and police reform bills to pass, plus probably a bunch of other stuff that seemed like, in the Before Times, it could wait but now maybe shouldn’t. I look forward to all of the brilliant GA watchers to spin up their thoughts and opinions over the next couple of days.Yesssss a 15-story apartment building could pop up on a Monroe Ward surface-level parking lot, Mike Platania at Richmond BizSense reports. Going from zero to 15-stories is a heckuva improvement—it’s an infinity percent increase! The developer specializes in student housing, so I’m not sure that the larger units—some with four bedrooms—are appropriate for families (which is something I’d like to see built more often). But, again, 171 places for people to live in a spot that currently just stores cars. Also, 67 parking spaces for 171 units is…just 0.39 spaces per unit. Nice.This morning’s longreadThe Plan That Could Give Us Our Lives BackI don’t know that we’ve got what it takes—as a country—to execute this plan to use cheap, less accurate tests to test the mess out of basically everyone all of the time. We can’t even get everyone to wear masks. Still though, this is one possible path forward.Testing is a non-optional problem. Tests permit us to do the most basic task in disease control: Identify the sick, and separate them from the well. When tests are abundant, they can dispel the fear of contagion that has quieted public life. “The only thing that makes a difference in the economy is public health, and the only thing that makes a difference in public health is testing,” Simon Johnson, the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, told us. Optimistic timelines suggest that vaccines won’t be widely available, in the hundreds of millions of doses, until May or June. There will be a transition period in which doctors and health-care workers are vaccinated, but teachers, letter carriers, and police officers are not. We will need better testing then. But we need it now, too.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

This August, the hosts are "TCB" -- that's Taking Care of Baking -- to tackle some of their remaining #20for20 baking resolutions. Stefin's up with the third of five Quick Bite episodes: Short and sweet segments to see you through the dog days of summer. Today, she's working on a Tasty Toponym (a food named after a place): Lake Bled Cream Cake from Slovenia. Creamy, rum-infused custard and sweetened whipped cream are sandwiched between crispy sheets of puff pastry. As good as the real deal? You can read the full show notes here. Stefin and Andrea will be back together again with feature-length episodes starting September 7, but until then, consider listening to any of the nearly 200 episodes you may have missed. And be sure to tag your summer baking pics @preheatedpod on Instagram. Listeners, we hope our show provides a bit of respite when you need it most. Be well, and thanks for listening! Bake along with Stefin and Andrea in their baking Facebook group, Preheated Baking Podcast Listeners. You can find links to recipes on their baking website www.preheatedpodcast.com, or follow the hosts on Twitter and Instagram, using handle preheatedpod. Listeners, you can always leave the hosts a voice mail at (802) 276-0788.  Join the fun!  Amazon links are affiliate, meaning we earn a few cents from every purchase made through our link.

This August, the hosts are "TCB" -- that's Taking Care of Baking -- to tackle some of their remaining #20for20 baking resolutions. This week Andrea's up with the second of the five Quick Bite episodes: Short and sweet segments to see you through the dog days of summer. She's trying her hand at Salami and Herb Star Bread from King Arthur Flour, a beautiful loaf inspired by Listener Jesse. You can read the full show notes here. Stefin and Andrea will be back together again with feature-length episodes starting September 7, but until then, consider listening to any of the nearly 200 episodes you may have missed. And be sure to tag your summer baking pics @preheatedpod on Instagram. Listeners, we hope our show provides a bit of respite when you need it most. Be well, and thanks for listening! Bake along with Stefin and Andrea in their baking Facebook group, Preheated Baking Podcast Listeners. You can find links to recipes on their baking website www.preheatedpodcast.com, or follow the hosts on Twitter and Instagram, using handle preheatedpod. Listeners, you can always leave the hosts a voice mail at (802) 276-0788.  Join the fun!  Amazon links are affiliate, meaning we earn a few cents from every purchase made through our link.

The Hinckley Institute Radio Hour (Original Air Date: October 23, 2019) — Today on the program, we are re-airing a forum on the issue of homelessness in Utah. This August, an eviction crisis looms over the U.S. as 24 million Americans are in danger of losing their housing as enhanced unemployment benefits run out, and eviction moratoriums are […]

This August we’re celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally by going HOG WILD all month long. What that means is we’re watching a bunch of trashy action movies about bikers and motorcycles and then we’re talking about them. First up is a barn burner of schlock cinema starring infamous NFL washout Brian “The Boz” Bosworth and Fox Television’s own Frank Black, Lance Henriksen. It’s 1991’s STONE COLD and it’s live on all the internet things!

This August, the hosts are "TCB" -- that's Taking Care of Baking -- to tackle some of their remaining #20for20 baking resolutions. Stefin's up with the first of the five Quick Bite episodes: Short and sweet segments to see you through the dog days of summer. She's trying her hand at baked yogurt, a cheesecake-like dish she discovered in Prague ... at breakfast time! Will it be delicious any time of day, and from her own kitchen?You can read the full show notes here. Stefin and Andrea will be back together again with feature-length episodes starting September 7, but until then, consider listening to any of the nearly 200 episodes you may have missed. And be sure to tag your summer baking pics @preheatedpod on Instagram. Listeners, we hope our show provides a bit of respite when you need it most. Be well, and thanks for listening! Bake along with Stefin and Andrea in their baking Facebook group, Preheated Baking Podcast Listeners. You can find links to recipes on their baking website www.preheatedpodcast.com, or follow the hosts on Twitter and Instagram, using handle preheatedpod. Listeners, you can always leave the hosts a voice mail at (802) 276-0788.  Join the fun!  Amazon links are affiliate, meaning we earn a few cents from every purchase made through our link.   

Alternative menstrual products are HOT these days... everyone be talking about how the menstrual cup "changed their life"! Really? Stuffing a silicon cup up a bloody gateway sounds more terrifying than life changing! But every girl is different, so how do you figure out what suits you the best? Olivia Cotes-James, founder of LUÜNA Naturals, a sustainable menstrual health company from Hong Kong, breaks it down for us. From spelling out the four stages of the cycle, to the importance of tracking it, and tips on how to use a cup. This August, LUÜNA Naturals is hosting the Vagina Dialogues, ASIA'S FIRST ONLINE FESTIVAL DEDICATED TO US AND OUR VAGINA. Head over to https://www.facebook.com/luuna.naturals/ to sign up now! Have thoughts you'd like to discuss? Reach us at nicole@somethingprivate.fm. 

This August we kick off the next Homebrewed reading group on James Cone and Black Theology. We will be joined by our lead theological facilitator, Dr. Adam Clark, Associate Professor of Theology at Xavier University. In this episode Adam and I discuss (the Father of Black Theology) James Cone, Black theology, and the present moment. After hearing… Read more about Adam Clark: James Cone was right

Are you a property manager who loves or hates creating systems by leveraging technology? Do you enjoy or dislike doing inspections, dealing with tenant issues, and handling renewals? Have you considered putting processes and people in place to automate your business? Today, I am talking to Paul Kankowski, a real estate investor with more than 200 doors. Paul increased systems to build a better property management business. He describes how he created computer-based processes for his employees to do everything his way, the same way, the right way. You’ll Learn... [03:10] One-man Show: Learn how to get the job done right and then do what you want. [04:41] Paul prefers to create processes and systems to solve problems. [05:29] No Secret Sauce: NARPM speaker/expert on automated processes/systems.  [07:29] Paradise is Possible: People make more money, if they have good systems. [08:39] Fines: Do I charge? Do I not charge? Decision made by process, not employee.  [09:25] Everything that doesn't have a process, Paul deals with until he creates one. [10:52] Manuals and How To Videos: From simple checklists to 195+ steps to follow.  [13:37] First Process: Tackle the one that's losing you the most money. [16:40] Make or Break and Placing Blame: Mistakes are made by processes or people.  [25:40] People as Process: Property management will never be completely automated. [29:30] Retention vs. Growth: Give good customer service and don't let doors leave.  [36:20] Stay in Your Space: Identify what energizes or drains you, then offload them.  Tweetables Mistakes are made when processes are broken or employees skip steps. Be involved in your systems. Know how they're running for your business to run right. Processes are not a secret sauce that everyone has to have a different one.  Why people like systems: They make more money, if they have a good system. Resources PM Systems Conference (Aug. 10-13, 2020, in Las Vegas) AppFolio Asana Process Street Podio Wolfgang Croskey Mark Cunningham Landlord Source Property Meld DGS 80: Automating Your Business with Process Street with Vinay Patankar  DGS 76: Outsourcing Rules for Small, Medium and Large Companies with Todd Breen of VirtuallyinCredible DGS 69: HireSmart Virtual Assistants with Anne Lackey DoorGrowClub Facebook Group DoorGrow on YouTube DoorGrowLive DoorGrow Website Score Quiz DoorGrow Cold Leads Calculator Transcript Jason: Welcome, DoorGrow Hackers, to the DoorGrow Show. If you are a property management entrepreneur that wants to add doors, make a difference, increase revenue, help others, impact lives, and you are interested in growing your business and life, and you are open to doing things a bit differently, then you are a DoorGrow Hacker. DoorGrow Hackers love the opportunities, daily variety, unique challenges, and freedom that property management brings. Many in real estate think you’re crazy for doing it, you think they’re crazy for not because you realize that property management is the ultimate high-trust gateway to real estate deals, relationships, and residual income. At DoorGrow, we are on a mission to transform property management businesses and their owners. We want to transform the industry, eliminate the BS, build awareness, change perception, expand the market, and help the best property management entrepreneurs win. I’m your host, property management growth expert, Jason Hull, the founder and CEO of DoorGrow. Now, let’s get into the show. Today I am hanging out with Paul Kankowski. Welcome to the show, Paul. I'm excited to have you on. I told you in the green room that I was really excited to have you because this is a topic I think everybody would be interested in. Everybody loves this idea of creating systems in the property management business, figuring out how to leverage technology. Before we get into this topic, qualify yourself. Tell everybody about you. You’ve done some really cool things in the property management space connected to this. Introduce yourself. Pau: Hi, my name is Paul Kankowski. I'm out here in Temecula, California, this is Southern California. I have over 200 doors right now. We're not huge, but we have increased our systems in order to make ourselves better. I actually started in education. I was a school principal and a math teacher for 18 years, and I was a real estate investor. I've been a real estate investor for over 20 years. I bought a lot of properties and when the crash happened, I became a flipper. I bought a lot of rental properties and people were doing a really crappy job in my area. Now I actually know a lot of property managers in my area, but back then I didn't. At the time, I just didn't have anyone that could do the job right, so I started taking some NARPM classes and I started using that to manage my own properties. I only cared about managing my own properties and family for the first two or three years, and then I went into that to turn it into a business. Since I've turned into a business, now, I don't want to manage everyday things. I don't want to be doing inspections. I don't want to be doing all the stuff that you have to do as a one-person show. We have eight employees and I've created processes and systems so that they do everything that is done by computer and everything in the same way, I can work on higher-level things, more networking, and doing stuff that is more enjoyable in the industry. Jason: More enjoyable for you, right? Because some entrepreneurs hate that stuff. Paul: Yes. More enjoyable, in the sense, that I don't like doing inspections. I don't do them anymore. I don't like dealing with some tenant issues. I don't like dealing with renewals, but I like everything being done my way. I like it being done well. I like it to be done the same type every way. Before (as you know) I have to get my hands on everything to make sure things are being done, so we are giving the best customer service. Now, we have systems in place, so I know that things are being done the way we state it and ought to just hope that my employees are doing it the right way. Jason: Right. What's cool about Paul, for those watching, is Paul's built this business around himself and what he wants to spend his time doing, versus what most business owners think they should or have to do. You get to do things you enjoy doing on a daily basis, which really is different for every single entrepreneur. Paul: Yeah, it's great. I like doing the processes and systems are working on them, but I can't. I was a math teacher for 12 years, so systems and stuff are like math problems. If you have a problem, how are you going to solve it and how do you solve them the same way each time? It also (I think) a great way for people to hire people that can do it for them, to get it done right, but you have to be involved in your systems. I don't care if you don't like the math portion of it. It's just very important that you know how they're running so that your business will run right. Jason: Right. You can't just stick your head in the sand and throw it at somebody and expect that it's going to be done well. Paul: I agree. Jason: Let's take a step back. Everybody listening to this, I want to point this out, too. You’ve run some conferences related to automation and technology. You've got some things going related to that, you didn't mention that. You're an expert at this. You’ve spoken at NARPM, the Broker-Owner, I think, related to this, or the national conference or something like that. Paul: I spoke at the national conference in San Diego. It was something similar to this. I have had four conferences on systems and I have a systems conference. My next one's in August, that will be our 5th one. This has been really good. It's a small conference, they only allow 50 property managers to go do it. It's a workshop, not a conference, I always like to say, because it's not a bunch of speakers speaking. It's a lot of time you getting down and dirty, actually doing the processes, having fun with property managers, and really getting in conversations. “How is your move out? What's your move out different?” Sitting there and discussing with other people what they're doing and then creating the process on people that have already paved the path to do good process. I find that when you sit there and you work with five or six other people, you learn where your inefficiencies are, what's great about someone else's processes that you can copy. Processes are not this secret sauce that everyone has to have a different one. You can take a good process and you can adapt it to your business. That's what our workshops are about. It's a really great time. They usually sell out in about three to four weeks. I usually have a long waiting list afterward, just because we do keep it small. I don't want to get so big where people can't actually sit and have a conversation with each other. Jason: I like the idea. Let's talk about your business. Let's paint a picture of what's possible or what you see other business owners do that had been in these conferences, some of the people that are plugged in, they've got technology, they're leveraging it. I want to paint a picture of paradise or a possibility for those that are listening because I think a lot of people listening are going, “It sounds so complicated. It's probably not possible. I'm sure what I'm doing is nearly just as good.” What are you noticing in your own business? Maybe in terms of margins, systemization, and staff? Paul: This is the biggest thing and this is why people like systems. You'll make more money if you have a good system. I'll look at HOA. HOA was an issue a year ago. We tackled; we were not doing as good of a job. We were handling every HOA issue as its own individual thing. We weren't getting emails to owners. We were dealing with the HOAs, but we weren't letting the owners know, “Hey, we're dealing with it every week.” I lost a big owner because they thought we weren't dealing with the HOA issue, even though we were, but I lost it because of perception. The perception was they were getting email weekly, so we create a process where the owners get updated every week on the condition of the HOA when the things are going to be resolved. The other things that would make more money, first off, we have owners that are happy. Second, the fines that we’re giving to tenants, they were happening 100% of the time. When it’s not in a set process, a lot of times I'm like, “I'm not going to charge that because it wasn't that big a deal. He left the trash can out.” Well no, it is a big deal and it's a $25 charge. You're going to get a charge no matter what now because it's in the steps. The employee who's doing it doesn't have to make that decision, “Do I charge? Do I not charge? Is this one of those things?” That's a step that might have been missed. We've noticed our revenue—when we have processes—doing really well, it goes up dramatically. I would say HOA fines, we might have a couple of $100 in HOA fines the year before and now, it's thousands of dollars. That's a huge difference because we were not being consistent on the fine. That's a huge thing about the process. The other thing is everything that doesn't have a process, I have to deal with. Here's one that we have not created yet, owners leaving us, and we have to exit them. That’s the next process we’re making in the next two months. Right now, when an owner leaves, I have to do all the work because I don't have a process. I'm afraid that my employees might do it their way. They might make a mistake. They might not take them out of the property mill. I'm going to be paying $2 a month for that door that’s not even active because it's not been deactivated or up fully own and that it's $1.50 a month. All these little things that you think, “It's only $2, only $1.50.” You have 20 doors that you're being charged $2 a month, that’s $40. Over a year, you're looking at $480. You have to have good processes so you don't skip minor steps. You say, “Well, I don’t skip.” If it's not written down, you make mistakes. You might not make mistakes but your employees are going to. They're not bleeding the business day-to-day that they're not going to sleep thinking about the business like you are as the property owner. If you write it down and you have every detail there, not only you're going to make more money, you're also not going to lose money from having money just shot through. Jason: Okay. You were just talking about a process that you haven't yet created, that you're working on right now. When you get into this process of creating a new process, how involved are these? Are these like insane, and they have lots of different steps? You're thinking of every nuance and every detail or are a lot of your processes simple? Paul: When I started, they were really simple. When I started, I was Asana, it was a checklist. It was a checklist and everything was the same and it was fine. It was better than nothing, but it wasn't good. Now, my utilities processes are 195 steps. Jason: Your utilities process. Paul: Are 195 steps. When someone does utility, it's about eight steps for them to finish it because one of the things is every utility is listed and so you put SDG&E, or you put Edison, a different step is going to come up for every single utility. It asks you questions and then Neil, my person has to go through 195 steps, they go through nine steps. They go through SDG&E, then it tells them the phone number to call, who they have to talk to. Sometimes, one of our processes for a little water company we deal with it says, “Talk to Susan,” because Susan's the one in the office that they have to talk to in order to pay this bill because this is [...] water district, and they're just kind of backward, I believe that's the one. It says every detail. There are videos there. If I get a new person on, they can watch a video and the video shows them step-by-step how we do, how we put the invoice in AppFolio, how we do everything. It's a training tool for my new employees. I just had a new employee last week. The first thing we tell them is, “You need to go through Process Street. You need to watch these processes and you need to go through this 20 times,” and then I want you to try it, without me even instructing you and see if you know how to do the process. I'm going to watch you do it. If you know how to do it, then I created a good process. If you watch these videos and go through it 20 times and you still don't have a clue how to do your job, then my process isn't good enough at this stage I'm at right now. You can be as small as just wanting a checklist and having people skip steps, which is fine, but there's more chance for mistakes to being so detailed that it's a training manual for every person that comes on. Jason: I love it. For those listening, you're currently using Process Street. We had Process Street founder, CEO on the show before. It was a great episode. Make sure you go back and listen to that episode where we're talking about Process Street. We use it internally here at DoorGrow. I think it's a great software. Now, if somebody is looking to get started with this, or they're showing up at your conference for the first time, they're one of these 50 people, they've got the deer in the headlights, eyeballs going on, and they're like looking around, they're feeling really inseminated, what is the first process that usually people should tackle? Paul: The one that's losing you the most money. The one that's a hemorrhage point. It’s usually either moving, leasing, those are usually two of the big ones, move out. It's funny, right now, we've changed our compass around a little bit. I'm doing a pre-session on the first day, so we're doing it for four hours, where I'm going to work with a small group (10 people), and we're going to break down your process and build it together for the first four hours. You're right, I have people at all stages of my conference now, I have people that have been to every single one of mine. This August, it will be their 5th time going and I have people that's their first time going. We want to give the difference between those that are first-timers and those that have been to four of them. When I started this systems conference two years ago, it was two years ago last September, I started it because I thought my processes sucked. I hired a speaker to come and speak to us, and he was pretty expensive. This is how this conference has started. I put on Facebook, “Anybody wants to share on the speaker cost, we’ll just meet in Vegas.” We had 10-12 companies there and it just started because 12 of us got together, we split the cost of the speaker, and we went together and hung out. We had such a great time, we found that it was so great just talking with other property managers, that we kind of tweaked it a little bit, and then we’re like, “Okay, we are kind of the speakers because we are in the industry. We know what each other needs.” Now it's all about helping each other. If you go to this, you're going to the four hours (in the beginning where you're going to get that), and then just go and sit with other property managers, see what they're doing, write little notes, and get your checklist. Start as basic as you can. I have one guy that will only use Google. Everything is Google sheets, but he has his steps written down and it works for him. Other people are Asana, other people Process Street. Other people like Wolfgang Croskey, have Podio everything automated. All his emails are sent automatically. Everybody that goes, they're using different software, they're using different things, but their whole goal is to help each other and to make it so that your process will be good. Jason: Yeah. I would imagine one of the best things about being there, talking with other people, seeing and hearing how they do things, you're just going to get ideas, and there's a lot of ways to implement that idea. A process is software-agnostic in general. It's a process. You need certain steps to be done, it can be done by humans, it could be done by technology like Podio, it could be done by whatever, but it needs to be done. You need to know what the vision is so that you can create it. Sometimes, this just comes from getting ideas from other people. “Oh my gosh, that’s a great idea,” and you're doing that in your business. “We should do that too,” and then, “How can we do that with the tools and resources that we're currently using?” Paul: Jason, I would say, to start a good process, the first thing you do is you get every employee that's working on a process on the table. You get a big white sheet of paper and you write down, “What are you doing?” This is our creation of the process. Our process is to get them right. It’ll take about two months. It sounds like a long time, but it's really not because of the process we do to get our processes. We start out by getting all the people involved in the process, and we write down, “What steps are you doing? What do you do?” We don't skip anything. After we get all of the steps down, I send it to someone in my office named David who will sit there and put it into a Process Street with all the bells and whistles, all the changes, and when this is going to happen. We sit there, and we go through it, and I try to break it. I go through every single step and I see where it ran into a problem. That's the very first month. I only work for an hour here and an hour there. I work on for an hour and say, “Hey, this is tweaked,” and “Are we clear?” He fixes that. I look at it and say, “Okay, this is good.” After that, we give it to the person who’s actually going to be doing the job. Their job for the first month is to try to find where the process doesn't work and to either, doing the process to be like, “Oh my gosh, we forgot to put the charge into the tenant,” or whatever it is. If they find something wrong with the process, then I'm going to praise them beyond belief because they broke my process. Breaking my process is a good thing. Throughout the entire year or whenever we have a process, whenever a problem occurs in my company—an HOA gets missed, and we have some major issues with some HOA—we look through the process, and we say, Was it a mistake by the employee, or the mistake by the process?” If it’s a mistake by the process, we fix the process right then, right there and get it right again. If the mistake is by the employee, we show them, “Look here are the steps, what happened? Why did you skip it?” “Oh, I'm sorry. I just skipped this step,” now they know that it was them. It's really easy. In the past when you just have, “ Hey, here's what you do with an employee, you're always blaming the employee,” a lot of times, it is not the employee’s fault, it's your process. Jason: Yeah, that makes sense. A broken process ensures you're going to have a bad employee a lot of times. Paul: I agree. Jason: I'm going to recap, this is what I wrote down. It takes about two months. You're going to first document it, sit down as a team, then you're going to build it, then you're going to break it, then you're going to fix it, then you're going to test it. It sounds like over time, you're going to optimize it based on what feedback you're getting from your team, and what feedback you're getting from clients, tenants, owners, and problems that are coming out. Paul: Exactly and that process is never done because the second something goes wrong in our company, you look at what the process is. If you have a move-in and the move-in is a disaster, it's either the employee or process, and you have to check and find out. It's so easy when you have a good process, to find out where the breakdown occurred. Jason: I think this is an interesting thing to point out because I get a lot of people that come to me, and they're like, “I need the perfect magic owner's manual. Where can I buy that?” or “I need this,” and I tell them, “Every single property management business is so unique, so different. How you want things done is going to be different and no business is ever perfect,” it's never just done. I think a lot of property managers think, “Well, I just need this one thing that I could just strap onto my business and it'll finally be perfect, it’ll finally be done, and I won't have to ever mess with it again.” I think that's just not reality. You’ve got things really well dialed in and you're still working on stuff. Paul: I bought multiple different companies through NARPM that I'm glad I bought them because I did look at them. I can tell you right now, there are some things I bought that I never looked at, we never really did, and it says, “Blank your property manager company name,” it is very, very detailed and stuff like that, but until you sit down, if you buy something, it gives you a basis to start working on your thing, don't think, “Oh, I spent $1000 on this. Now, I can just implement it in my company,” you have a framework. By the time you're done rewriting that, it's going to be 50%-60% different (I think) than what you bought. It's still going to help you. It's still going to help you pay Mark Cunningham, or any of these people, or Landlord Source for something that they have, is going to help you in getting your brain thinking about what you need to do for that role or position, but how Mark Cunningham or Landlord Source do their business is not the same way. I don't do my business the same way as anyone and I get a lot of their information. I look at them and I'm like, “Oh my gosh, it’s really cool how they did that,” but then we might have a different law in California, a different ruling, a different way of doing what we have to. You can't assume that what someone else do you can just implement in your company on day one. Jason: Yeah. For a lot of us, it's easier to create something. Especially, for starting from scratch. If you're a startup, or you're a new property manager, you never documented your processes, sometimes it's helpful to have some resources to look at. It might not even be that great. Sometimes the bad processes with the bad ideas are even better because you can look at that and the contrast from what you know you're doing and what you're reading about, you're like, “Okay, we don't want to do anything like this, and I want to make sure that we avoid these things.” I like the idea that you intensely try to break your processes. Paul: Yeah. The other thing I want to add is, I think automation is amazing, but this is my fear of automation. I will automate a lot of my processes, and they’ll be better automated than it is something that we're going to work on. But any bad process that’s automated, you're not going to see that's a bad process. If you have an email that’s automated going out and says, “Dear tenant’s last name.” Putting the tenant’s last name because you're not actually having any human do it at the beginning, then you're going to be automating that for 70-80 emails that are going to be sending “Dear tenant’s last name.” I think you need to do a process for a while by hand. You need to have an actual human being doing the process, checking the boxes, and making sure it's right, so they could find things that are wrong. When you get a process really good, then your next step is to automate, because yes, it's great to save time and have an email every week go out that tells them about their HOA violation or tells them about the moving processes. I still look at emails every once in a while and I'm like, “Oh my gosh, we forgot to change the wording from this move-in email to this move-in email saying the second week.” If it's automated, it’s going to be automated. Something automated bad is going to be badly automated forever. All I'm saying is that a lot of people want to go from no process to everything being automated, and them not being involved. I don't think that's possible. Wolfgang Croskey, he’s automated, and he does an amazing job, but I don't think he went from not having a process to everything running on its own, and him not involved in it. Jason: No. There was a coaching plan for a good while and I know he didn't start at Podio. I think he was using Process Street and even before that, he was working on stuff. I love the idea. You got to do it manually. A lot of property managers are already doing a lot of things manually. They're doing it that way first. They now need to document it, then they need to figure out, how can we start to systemize this? How can we create consistency? How can we automate this? How can we make sure it's being done the same way every single time and there are checks and balances? That's one of the reasons I like Process Street because you can build a process and that’s one step, and you just paste it in a Word document if you have to. Really, really low level and maybe that's the best you've got. Eventually, you can break it into some multiple steps. Then you can get it into something crazy like you're 100 plus step thing that's got context-sensitive options based on what you pick, and it's going to give you different tasks to do depending on what options you're selecting, and you can get really crazy (if that makes sense). The cool thing about having a process though is you can continually improve it. It can get better over time. That means that you're lowering operational costs, you're lowering drag, you're improving your team member’s ability to accomplish things and win, and get things done. Now, what do you think about the challenge of people as a process? What I mean is, everybody has team members that they need in order to think. If somebody is making decisions, they're planning, they're coming up with ideas. Then you have team members that really are operating like a computer. Their job is just to follow the process. How do you balance this in your own company and determine, is this just anybody on the planet that could just follow this checklist, or they need some customer service skills, and they need to be able to communicate? How do you balance the discrepancy that people have that are fearful of processes because they're like, “I want my clients to be taken care of really well.” Paul: You still have to think. You still have to go through it. You still look and see what's going on. How many of us property owners, managers, et cetera, spend nights thinking about everything we have to do the next day? You write steps down on a sheet of paper before you go to bed and then you try to get it out of your mind so the next day you don't forget it. You're not doing that because you don't want to care about your business or you don’t what I think about it, you're doing it because you don't want to be staying up at 1:00 in the morning, sitting there and trying to think what you need to do. Everything we do in life, if something tells us how to do it, then we can start thinking about things that are higher level. You can take your employees. If you could take a lease renewal process and you can make it so that every single time it's done correctly, it's done right, no one wants to think about it, then there's no stress on these renewals. Now, when something does come up that’s stressful, people that are higher level can think about the things that are higher level. You have a maintenance issue where someone falls off the roof and you're getting sued. You're not going to process for that. Now, instead of you thinking about lease renewals and wasting your time on something that can be automated, something that can be just automatic, you can spend your time on high-level items, and you're going to have employees that need to spend their time with high-level items, so you could spend your time on other high-level items. Probably the management will never be completely automated. There are companies that say, “Oh, we could just automate everything,” no, you can automate a lot of stuff so you can spend your time on the 10% of the stuff that really, really matters, that’s really stressful, and that can't be automated. Jason: We talked about this on the show I think probably several times with different companies, but ultimately, the goal (in my opinion) when it comes to technology, when it comes automation, when it comes to systems, is to take off the plate of yourself and your team members, the stuff that's really redundant, the stuff that could be systemized so that you can focus more on depth. I think that's where property managers are going to be able to compete with the big conglomerates, the big companies that are super tech-based, is that it's going to be about relationships. Property management is a high touch relationship type of business. If process and systems allow you to create a more personal touch, to go deeper, to spend more time communicating more intimately with more depth with tenants, residents, owners, then I think you're creating a business that is going to have significant value, and it's going to have longevity because it’s built on relationships. Ultimately, it's people that are giving you the money. As people, we tend to like humanity, and we tend to like people. Paul: If you're spending, as a business owner, 20 hours a month on something that can be automated or something that can be done by someone at a less level, you have to think of your time as value. When I had 30 doors, I did everything. When I had 50 doors, I was still doing everything. You have to figure out where you value your time. I have five remote employees and I have two employees in my office. People are like, “Oh my gosh, that's a ridiculous amount of employees you have for the number of doors you have.” We’re profitable, and we’re profitable because we're in California, we price ourselves well. It's the customer service level we give our competition. Some of them are missing the mark. They are not giving that customer service, so we are giving it. Someone is not going to leave because of some deep discount or just giving really bad customer service where retention is so huge. I'm seeing so many property managers talk about retention being better than growth because if you are losing 20% or 30% of your doors, all your time and ability is going to just stay even. People are spending $500–$1000 a door to get a new lead, but there are others that walk out the door. My thing is to give really good customer service and don't let those doors leave you. They are going to leave you because they are selling, but don't let them leave you because you are not doing the job right. Jason: I find that with clients. A lot of times, the issue with retention. I agree, retention is a significant thing. The issue with retention is often created during the sales and onboarding so if you can really systemize, automate, and build a really solid process during the sales and onboarding, you've got a really solid sales and onboarding process that really develops a strong relationship, that would carry you for years with some clients. Paul: I agree. Jason: And the trust level is higher even if the communication (later on) is really low. If you created them in the beginning, they are going to trust you and it's going to be a lot stronger. If that's not done effectively during onboarding and sales and isn't created well, there's going to be a lot of uncertainty, a lot of fear. They are going to be questioning everything that you do. You might end up a lot more operational costs related to that, and they are probably not going to stay with you as well. Paul: I agree. We have one person whose new onboarding is their main priority. It's making sure that new owners have a good experience and are treated well, and the onboarding experience is great. Never lose a customer. I think one of the podcasts I heard about that, I read the book. It was a great book. It's about customer service and taking it to the next level.  The thing is people will spend so much money on different things and then don’t answer the phone. If you can have your people working on the process, working on other things, then you answer your phone, you are not going to let that lead that. You just play when it clicks, $30, $20 get away. Processes are huge for your business to me, they are the number one building block.  I don't think everyone on all the boards is always, "How can I grow? How can I grow? How can I grow?" I think growth is important, but if you grow and all of a sudden, you add 100 doors in one year and it was just you, you don't have a process and everything is in your head, then you are going to lose all those doors because you are not going to be able to give. When you had 30 doors, and you go from 30 to 130 and you’re at the customer service, you gave those 30 people. You are not going to be able to give 130 because all of a sudden, then you are hiring someone. They are going to be like, "Well, how do I do it?"  "Well, you just got to listen to my head." No one can read your head. So, even if you are a single person that's by themself, if you want to give a task away, then start working on the process for it as soon you have to give that away. If you are at 50, 60, 70 doors, I would tell those people it's more important for you to start working your processes right now unless you plan just staying at 50 or 60 and never want to grow.  Jason: This is one of the greatest secrets that I coach entrepreneurs when they come into our program. One of the very first things to start them with is helping them get clarity on where they can get leverage the quickest first. It's usually different for everybody. There are some similarities but the way to identify that is usually done through getting clear on where you are actually going. I have them do a time study, then I have them identify which things are energizing them and which things are draining them, then which things are strategic versus tactical. The strategic stuff grows your business, tactical stuff just keeps it going. Most of the process would work by its tactical work. The strategic work is what you are talking about doing in creating a new process. You are like, "We are going to work for this new process for the next two months when we get this dialed-in." That's what grows companies.  If you get to stay in your area of genius, the things you really enjoy doing as a business owner, and you've identified what does are because you are clear on which things are causing you grief and energizing you versus draining you, then you know exactly what to offload. You know what to give to your assistant and different people. We've had different great companies here talking about [...], hire smart VAs, great assistants. We've had companies talking about virtual team members and whatnot. Those are great episodes if you want to listen to those on the DoorGrow Show. We touched a lot on those different ideas. Ultimately, one takeaway you want everybody to get is that everybody can have the property management business that they enjoy, that they love having, and if we built around you and what your unique strengths are, maybe you love the accounting side, maybe you love doing the phone calls, the customer service, connection with people. Maybe you’re a people person, maybe you geek out on systems and process, but you can do whatever you want to do in your business if that's your intention. I think we get stuck sometimes having the business that we think that we need to do like the job that we need to do in the business instead of the business that we want. Paul: I would agree with that 100%. Last year, we grew 80 doors so that's probably the average of what our average. We are averaging between 5 and 10 doors a month. We haven't really started spending money on marketing because I really wanted to first get everything correct and right. One of my property management friends (who is my mastermind guru) calls me once a month and asks me, "Hey, Paul. Did you talk to a tenant this month?" and I'm not allowed to talk to tenants because it was taking time away that I could be doing other high-level things and I need to trust my team to deal with my tenants.  Now, if it gets to a certain level and I have to talk to a tenant, then that's a different call, but I have to make sure that I am actually thinking about when I talk to a tenant. When a tenant calls because they are pissed-off about the fact that we paid the utility bill and make every charge, I have to trust my team’s going to handle it, my team's going to do it, and that I am not going to get involved in it because I find when I get involved in it, then I might do something that wasn't like the process we agreed upon as a team. I even had to, as an owner, that's $25. You are talking for 10 minutes, not worth my time for $25.  I have to be out of it because I will be like, “Yeah, just waive the $25. I don't want to talk to them anymore.” It's really important that no matter who you are, that you follow what you tell your team to follow. A lot of times, you can do it yourself, you made your own decision, but once you make a decision on how you are going to run your process or what your rules are, you have to stick to it company-wide.  I laugh because it's usually us, as the owner, are the worst culprits of not following what we are going to do. The employees do it because a lot of times my employees’ bonuses are based on serving certain goals so if I don't accept anything, they are like, "Man, you are hitting on my bonus. Don't be messing with my goals."  That's something I've learned is just find what you like. Find what you are good at and get a group of property managers around you that can be like a mastermind group that can keep you focused because you need other owners to tell you, "Stop doing that," because your employees won't always tell you exactly what you need to do, what you need to hear.  The other thing is when systems aren't working right. Now, there's a system in there where my employees can say, "Well, you didn't follow the system here." Every person is accountable for checking off what they have to do in the system. When I don't check it off at the end of the week, an email goes out to every person who missed any steps of the system. I have an employee that's checking that. My name is on there. I miss a part of my system and it will list. I never want to be there with three or four items that I missed because that would look really bad. That's another thing, the accountability, I'm not doing the accountability part. I have an employee on Saturday that answers the phones and her job on Saturday if it’s not very busy, is to go through every single process in [...] and write down who hasn't met their deadlines for that process. Jason: Yeah, accountability. Paul: It works really well. None of us wants to see our name on that list, so everybody is getting their stuff done and it's not because I'm going to yell at them, it's because we don't want to be mass emailed to the whole team that you didn't do your job. Jason: It creates a lot of pressure which is a positive thing. That means you don't have to come down on them all the time. There's this lateral pressure, this internal peer pressure in which most employees and team members are recognition-based. That's how they are most motivated rather than financially, so they want to be seen as doing a good job, and they want to be recognized. That's the opposite. There's that pressure, so they want to make sure they avoid that. Paul: Exactly. Jason: It makes sense.  Paul: And we also do our bonuses based on not being recognized. Even my bonuses. Everything is based on getting your job done. What I saw in the past, we didn't have someone that was going through it weekly. We had some process where they’d be open three or four weeks and not being completed yet. Now, it's very rare for the process. It will definitely not be there if you are listed on that one week. If you are listed in the second week for the same one, then you are going to have a conversation with me, then you’re going to me. Our processes are never missed for more than 5–7days, which is huge.  The only thing that I'm still trying to figure out is maintenance because I use Property Meld and I'm still trying to figure out how I can make sure my maintenance team doesn’t get missed. Property Meld does good ways of doing that. That's something I'm currently working on is how on a weekly basis, we can check to make sure none of that's missed.  Everything that you do, you got to find using the software systems that will work to check on the system.  Jason: All right. Paul, I think it has been really fascinating. I think everybody listening got a lot of value out of this. I loved your tips about where to start. Anything else that you throw out there and want to say to anybody before we wrap this up about creating systems in the business? Paul: I just tell them the dates. Our website is pmsystemsconference.com and the dates of our conference will be August 10th through 13th. It's in Las Vegas and it will be in Rio. It is not up yet, we should have it up next week or two. We are still working on it. We just got the rooms and booked everything yesterday. We just booked for August, but it's a really good time. Last time in January, we went ziplining on one of the nights. We also try new fun stuff because if you are working all day, you also want to have fun. There was a time we went bowling one night which is a great time to get together with a small number of property managers and get to know them. I enjoyed it.  People always ask me how long I am going to do it, I'm going to do it until I stop getting fun. When it becomes a job, then I'll stop doing that workshop, but now I go there and it's like seeing a bunch of old friends.  Jason: Cool, love it. All right, Paul, thanks for coming to the DoorGrow show. I appreciate you. Paul: Thank you so much, Jason. You have a wonderful day.  Jason: All right, so check out his website. Check that out. Thanks everybody for tuning in. If you have a moment, make sure to like and subscribe. If you are watching this on YouTube, be sure to like and subscribe. If you are listening to this on a podcast on iTunes, then please leave us a review. We would love it. That would be great. If you are a property management entrepreneur, you are struggling, you are frustrated, you are not sure what you need to do in order to grow, there's a lot of different ways you can approach growth depending on what challenges you are dealing with now. We have solutions for various things here at DoorGrow that we can help you with, please reach out. You can check us out at doorgrow.com, and we will talk to you soon, everybody. Until next time, to our mutual growth. Bye, everyone. You just listened to the DoorGrow Show. We are building a community of the savviest property management entrepreneurs on the planet, in the DoorGrow Club. Join your fellow DoorGrow Hackers at doorgrowclub.com. Listen, everyone is doing the same stuff. SEO, PPC, pay-per-lead, content, social, direct mail, and they still struggle to grow. At DoorGrow, we solve your biggest challenge getting deals and growing your business. Find out more at doorgrow.com. 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This August, a Microsoft subsidiary in Japan experimented with a four-day workweek. The company worked Monday through Thursday as part of a work-life balance project, and the workers received paid leave on Fridays. The results were surprising as the company announced a nearly 40 percent boost in productivity. The figure was determined by comparing sales figures from August 2018. According to the company, the program was part of the 2019 Summer "Work-Life Choice Challenge." The project not only made workers more efficient, but the schedule also lowered electricity costs by 23%.The program was such a success that the company plans to hold a similar event this winter.As part of the move towards efficiency, the company cut meeting times from 60 minutes to 30 minutes and capped attendance at five employees -- no reason to tie up multiple people from the same team. The company also encouraged workers to use group chats rather than email. The news serves as a bit of a promo for Microsoft's Workplace Analytics platform, which takes user data from Office 365 to identify patterns that impact productivity, workforce effectiveness, and employee engagement. This winter, Microsoft Japan is inviting employees to share ideas about how to improve the work-life balance. The program will also partner with MINDS (Millennial Innovation for the Next Diverse Society), a cross-industry collaborative effort in which millennial workers observe modern workplaces to find the "ideal way to work" in 2020. The group will help inform government and economic organizations on millennial working style preferences. The partnership could help fight burnout across the industry, particularly in millennial workers. A 2018 Gallup study found that millennial workers are more likely to burn out at work than older generations. Perhaps the four-day workweek is the key.

I am so nervous about this episode, because it's the one featuring me and David. We did this episode together at the end of season 1, and it's called Road Trippin. Last season, we were on a book tour, and it was time for the podcast to come out, and I didn't have anybody to interview. David and I were on the road, so we decided to record a podcast of us just chatting together on our journey. I hated this episode, because I thought it turned out terrible. It turned out that people loved that episode with just me and David. We were talking about fast food before we pulled in and got it, talking, fighting, and just driving.  Since that episode was received so well, we decided that we would do some episodes with just David and I talking. These episodes will be spread out through season 3. For some reason, I'm a nervous wreck about this. I don't know why. We talk all the time. We even do a Facebook Live and Instagram Monday through Friday at 9:00 am. We don't have a clue what we're going to talk about, and we still do fine on that. We're just such different people, and I never know how these things are going to turn out. I wish you listeners could see what this moment looks like.  David is prepared is dressed for the day. He is wearing a button down shirt, nice shoes, and his glasses. He also has drinks in case he gets thirsty during the show and he’s wearing headphones. I'm still in my nightgown with a sweatshirt and cozy socks. This August we celebrated 25 years of marriage. We went to a matinee and Logan's Roadhouse.  David did want to remind me that two years ago, we went to Maui, but I guess the thing that makes me nervous about this episode is just that. The mundane nature of our marriage. We are so normal, and I wonder if people want to hear what we have to share or if they want to hear from couples that have it all figured out. If you remember from a couple of episodes ago, we had Jeff and Beth McCord on to talk about their Enneagram couples course. Today, we talk about the couple’s course, our Enneagram numbers, the direction of the podcast, and we have a little fun.  Show Notes: [07:40] This August we celebrated 25 years of marriage. We went to a matinee and Logan's Roadhouse. David did want to remind me that two years ago, we did go to Maui. [08:15] Melissa's dream vacations are going to Scotland and Ireland. [09:49] We may not have it all together, but we're making progress.  [10:52] We are really diving into Beth and Jeff McCord's Enneagram couple's study. David is a 3 and Melissa is a 7. These two together, when healthy, can be quite dynamic.  [13:59] It's important and eye opening to know and understand each other's Enneagram numbers.  [15:00] There's nothing Remi and her future spouse can go through that we haven't.  [16:32] I began this season talking about my emotional health. David went with me to my counseling session. I thought that was really kind of him. As a 7 that really helped me, but as a 3 I'm surprised he did it.  [18:11] David didn't want to see Melissa hurting, but he wants to look like he has it all together.  [18:51] If you love your spouse dearly, but you feel like you can't get on the same page read Becoming Us. [19:55] These principles can be applied in other relationships, not just marriage.  [23:02] Knowing people's numbers helps make us more compassionate, and we could all use more compassion in our lives.  [26:00] The most offensive word to David is average. Seven's don't talk about the way they feel a lot.  [28:51] Knowing people's number explains why they do things. [31:50] Seven's are known as entertaining optimists who live life big, but have a fear of being limited, bored, or trapped.  [32:28] The core longing is to be taken care of.  [33:06] Melissa didn't feel safe and was unsure of what was next. She needs her world to be stable.  [34:25] We as a society have a long way to go with mental health. Every single person needs to be aware of their mental health.  [37:34] Being aware of our mental health will leave the door open for others who are having problems to talk about it. [39:47] The rest of the season is going to be really great. We'll be talking about addiction, divorce, and there will be sporadic episodes with us talking.  Thanks for joining us on Ordinary People Ordinary Things. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review. Just like your mother taught you. Links and Resources: Podcast Web Page Facebook Page @MsMelissaRadke on Instagram @msmelissaradke on Twitter Autographed Copy of Eat Cake. Be Brave. Eat Cake. Be Brave. Extended Book Trailer Sign Up for Insider Access INK Replacing What Stained You With What Can Change You Home Chef Use code MelissaR80 to get $80 off your first four meals Road Trippin Ennea Your Business Becoming Us Eddie Murphy - Party All the Time (Official Video)

Angela has loved to read since she was a little girl, and she brought that passion into her own home--she has five children who all love to read. In turn, she and her family are bringing that love of reading to people all over the world, as they volunteer for a non-profit organization called Village Book Builders. This August, she went with daughter and son-in-law to Malawi Africa to help finish a library in a small village called Kadzakalowa. In this episode she talks about how she created a culture of reading in her family, and about her trip.    To learn more about Village Book Builders, go to www.villagebookbuilders.org   To read a profile of Angela on HowSheMoms.com, click here.

This August 2019 Science Café features a presentation and community conversation titled, The Importance of Childhood Vaccines: What They Are and Why Your Child Needs Them. Our guest presenters are: Dr. Joseph Barbieri, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Dr. Anna Huppler, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, both at the Medical College of Wisconsin

Welcome to part 2 of The Three Most Important Things in Life: A Year In Review. As we discussed in last week’s podcast, there are 3 things that satan will attack the most: your walk with God, your relationships, and your health. This week, we are focusing on health. When life is difficult, it’s tempting to abandon healthy living. We may succumb to fast food, skip workouts, or give in to other unhealthy “shortcuts.” But if we do, even temporarily, it will be harder to get back on track. How can you stay healthy in a busy season? This August, we discovered how truly hectic life could become. In fact, we feel like we lived 5 years in the space of one month! But we stayed on track with all the important things including our health. How did we do it? As Mama Z loves to say, Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance! This week, we discuss the 7 buckets that are vital for good health and how to improve and move forward in all of those areas as best you can. We’ll share tips on how we kept healthy this summer even on our busiest days. Are you ready to protect your health from getting derailed by busyness, difficulties or the schemes of the enemy? Then join us for today’s podcast! EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: Topic intro and what’s in our diffuser (3:42) Reviews – and tell us what you think (8:25) Our crazy summer & wrapping up relationship tips (20:48) 7 buckets that are vital for good health (22:21) Natural remedies & the benefits of magnesium (26:42) Purify your water and air (40:08) The importance of exercise and sleep (51:13) Why are we talking about this? (59:27) Natural living tip and episode wrap (65:43)

This August, the pair went sub-4 days on the WRHR, a terrific 100 mile traverse of the Wind River Range in Wyoming. "I was into backpacking and climbing, then discovered trail running and loved the lightweight freedom ... I'm fascinated by how far the human body can go, and how much you can see and experience." This is one of the finest routes of its kind in the world, designed to replicate the Sierra High Route: Stay as high as possible, with scrambling but no technical climbing. Just like the SHR is parallel and above and much harder than the JMT, the WRHR is off-trail and above the Highline Trail. "Maybe we ran 10 or 15 miles - fast-packing - it's an endurance mission." Note: One week after Sara and Emma, their Overall FKT was bested by Skyler Williams, then 3 weeks after that David Ayala took it down again - https://fastestknowntime.com/route/wind-river-high-route-wy Sara's website/blog: https://bivytales.com Skurka's description and route guide: https://andrewskurka.com/adventures/wind-river-high-route/

We’ve got some exciting news this month. There’s a new member of the Generation.Mom family. That’s right, Jenn’s baby boy, Gavin was born this August. Jenn will be out for maternity leave so for this month’s bonus episode, I brought on a past guest, Carly Kenihan to help me with the monthly roundup. This August we had the opportunity to sit down and chat with some great mamas to hear their thoughts on motherhood. Guests included Susie Allison, Andrea Madril, Dr. Lauren Noel, Amy Dunkel and Katie Saffert. We’ll go through our rapid-fire questions, along with a rapid-fire question from Carly. We’ll also discuss August’s episodes and what we enjoyed hearing about from each guest. What’s In This Episode: Carly joining in as a guest host while Jenn is on maternity leave Moving to San Diego and what Carly has been up to  Rebranding her business Carly and Lara’s motherhood confession Products that are saving their lives right now as mothers Their current mom crushes  The mom hacks they’re using Struggling with teaching kids to share Figuring out how to set boundaries and the pressure of when to have another baby Taking time to have fun as a mom and having other people open up to her about their own difficulties Their current mom juice Encouraging kids through play-based learning with Susie Allison The differences with play-based learning and direct-instruction Preparing yourself for postpartum with Andrea Madril Why we need to shift the conversation after childbirth from baby to mother Understanding how hormones work in our health and fertility with Dr. Lauren Noel Why everyone should get their hormones tested regularly  Creating community in motherhood with Katie Saffert Why it’s essential to disconnect from life and work as a busy entrepreneur Sharing more voices of inspiring mothers with Amy Dunkel Why she started a creative business and podcast alongside motherhood

Writing through chronic illness and other challenges, with Karen Lock KolpThis writing thing often feels hard. A common text among the three of us (Jess, Sarina and KJ) goes like this: OW OW OW OWOWOWOW. Our brains hurt. But for this week’s guest, Karen Lock Kolp, it’s more than that. Because of a rare tendon condition, Karen does all her writing and online work—and we do mean all—using her voice. That means that when it comes to both dictation and writing through big challenges, she’s a pro, and her advice in this episode was solid gold on both counts.Episode links and a transcript follow—but first, a preview of the #WritersTopFive that will be dropping into #AmWriting supporter inboxes on Monday, September 2, 2019: Top 5 Things to Remember When Writing is REALLY Hard. Not joined that club yet? You’ll want to get on that. Support the podcast you love AND get weekly #WriterTopFives with actionable advice you can use for just $7 a month. As always, this episode (and every episode) will appear for all subscribers in your usual podcast listening places, totally free as the #AmWriting Podcast has always been. This shownotes email is free, too, so please—forward it to a friend, and if you haven’t already, join our email list and be on top of it with the shownotes and a transcript every time there’s a new episode. To support the podcast and help it stay free, subscribe to our weekly #WritersTopFive email.LINKS FROM THE PODCASTThe Solopreneur Hour with Michael O'Neal Joanna Penn's The Creative PennKaren's Dictation Software Choices: Dragon Dictation, Chrome Browser, Dragon's Transcription Button.MouseGrid video on YouTube: How to Use the Dragon MouseGrid (as it turns out, it’s focused on navigating in Facebook with Dragon, but still a great video)It's a Long Way to the Top, AC/DC#AmReading (Watching, Listening)Karen: Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, Caroline Criado PerezThe Purloined Paperweight, P.G. Wodehouse Grown-Up Anger: The Connected Mysteries of Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, and the Calumet Massacre of 1913, Daniel WolffKJ: The Bookish Life of Nina Hill, Abbi WaxmanJess: God Land: A Story of Faith, Loss, and Renewal in Middle America, Lyz Lenz (Hear Lyz on the podcast here.) #FaveIndieBookstoreJeff Kinney's An UnLikely Story in Plainville, MAKaren Lock Kolp is the author of Positive Discipline Ninja Tactics: Key Tools to Handle Every Temper Tantrum, Keep Your Cool, and Enjoy Life with Your Young Child and 10 Secrets Happy Parents Know: How to Stop the Chaos, Bring Out Your Child’s Good Behavior, and Truly Enjoy Family Time (Your Child Explained). Find out more at Karen's website: We Turned Out Okay. Listen to her podcast here. Her popular episode Positive Discipline Ninja Tactics is here. This episode was sponsored by Author Accelerator, the book coaching program that helps you get your work DONE. Visit https://www.authoraccelerator.com/amwritingfor details, special offers and Jennie Nash’s Inside-Outline template.Find more about Jess here, and about KJ here.If you enjoyed this episode, we suggest you check out Marginally, a podcast about writing, work and friendship.Transcript (We use an AI service for transcription, and while we do clean it up a bit, some errors are the price of admission here. We hope it’s still helpful.)KJ:                                00:01                Howdy writers and listeners. August is basically over. September is here and this is the very last time I can invite you to join us in Bar Harbor, Maine for the Find Your Book, Find Your Mojo retreat from September 12th through 15th of 2019. It's a fantastic chance to get some one on one time for your project with me or Author Accelerator founder Jenny Nash, and then dig in with all your might in a gorgeous setting surrounded by your fellow #AmWriting word nerds, including Serena Bowen, who's going to talk about indie versus traditional publishing. There will be bonding, there will be writing, and knitting and artistic renderings of words of the year and all kinds of festivities and I for one can't wait. Find all the details@authoraccelerator.com/am writing.KJ:                                00:55                Go ahead. This is the part where I stare blankly at the microphone and try to remember what I was supposed to be doing.Jess:                             00:59                All right, let's start over.KJ:                                01:01                Awkward pause. I'm going to rustle some papers.Jess:                             01:04                Okay.KJ:                                01:04                Now one, two, three. Hey, I'm KJ Dell'Antonia.Jess:                             01:13                And I'm Jess Lahey.KJ:                                01:15                And this is #AmWriting with Jess and KJ. #AmWriting is our weekly podcast about all things writing, be they fiction, nonfiction, some bizarre intertwined creation, short stories, proposals, essays, long pieces, short pieces. And most of all, the one thing we always are is the podcast about getting the work done.Jess:                             01:46                And I'm Jess Lahey. I'm the author of the Gift of Failure and a forthcoming book about preventing substance abuse in kids. And you can find my work at the New York Times and the Washington Post and recently at Air Mail, which is a new venture by Graydon Carter of Vanity Fair. And that was kind of fun to write for someone new.KJ:                                02:06                I am KJ Dell'Antonia. I'm the author of How To Be a Happier Parent and the former lead editor and writer of the Motherlode blog at the New York Times where I am still a contributor. I'm having a freelancing break while I work on what will be my second novel and my first novel, The Chicken Sisters will be out next year.Jess:                             02:24                So exciting.KJ:                                02:26                That's who we are. That's why you should listen to us. Today, we have a guest that I think you are also going to want to listen to. I want to welcome Karen Lock Kolp. She is a child development expert and a parenting coach with a podcast, a thriving online community, and she is the independently published author of 10 Secrets Happy Parents Know. But we are not going to talk about anything parenty because what we are gonna talk about is getting all that work done because Karen is also a woman who lives with chronic illness. She has a tendon disorder that she'll describe to you later, but it has made her an expert in the use of her voice, both as a podcaster and in dictating her writing, which I know you're all going to want to hear about. And it's also made her an expert at keeping her butt in the chair sometimes whether she wants to or not, and getting her work done anyway, even when it's really, really hard. And that's why you're here. So thank you so much for joining us.Karen:                          03:28                Oh, thank you. It's really wonderful to be here. This is very exciting for me. Your podcast is one of my favorites. It is one of the few that survived my recent digital reset. Yours was one of the few that I brought back in because it's incredibly valuable.Jess:                             03:51                Oh, that's so nice. We survived a purge. That's so exciting.KJ:                                03:56                I purged lately too, although I partly purged just because I get so frustrated with the iTunes podcast app and switched and then once I switched I realized I hadn't brought everything with me and some of it I didn't miss.Jess:                             04:08                I had that moment where iTunes said, you seem to have not downloaded this in awhile. Do you still want to listen? And I thought about it and I said, well, no, actually I'm done.Karen:                          04:20                That's really cool. I did that.KJ:                                04:22                So Karen, so what I really want to talk about today is the specifics of writing with chronic illness, but also more on a general note, just the challenges of writing when it's hard. I think that we all have times when we feel like this is impossible and you have written through moments that I think most of us would define as actually impossible. So, start by telling us where you stand and how this started for you.Karen:                          04:56                Wow. It's, it's quite a story. So, actually first of all, I think I just want to say that I was well into writing my second book before I would dare to call myself a writer. So there's that as well. I was like, I'm a podcaster, I'm not a writer. You know what I mean?KJ:                                05:14                Yeah, no, we all have that. Yeah. I mean it's always, well, I wrote for the New York Times, but only online, you know Nobody, none of us thinks we're a real writer yet. Yeah, except maybe Salmon Rushdie, he thinks he's a real writer.Karen:                          05:34                Thinks he's a writer. Yeah, exactly. A real writer. I was midway through the second book and I was like, I said to somebody, Oh, I'm a writer. And I was like, wait a minute, I actually am a writer. I'm like, that's pretty cool. For me, it all started eight years ago, more than eight years ago now, I contracted a tendon disorder. And the way that I did it was I got a gastric disease called diverticulitis, which I would not wish on my worst enemy. And I took some (this is the nearest that my doctors and I can figure out) I took a really strong course of antibiotics to get rid of it. And they had a thing in them called fluoroquinolones. And since that started, since I went down this rabbit hole, it's been discovered that fluoroquinolones cause tendon problems largely in kids, but caused these problems anyway. And the rheumatologist told me, probably four or five years in that like I'm one of the lucky few who it stuck around for it. There's like a third of people who get this that they get it and get better right away. And then there's a third who sort of get it and it sticks around for a couple of years. And then I'm one of the ones who's, you know, it's gone on for a really long time.KJ:                                06:42                That's just annoying.Karen:                          06:45                I mean, isn't it?KJ:                                06:48                The truth is that in a single hand card game, odds don't matter and it’s either going to stay or it's not and if it stays those odds just make you mad.Karen:                          06:57                Yeah. And I, I, it took me a long time to get here, but I, I would say that what I've done is I've kind of gone through a real metamorphosis, you know, before I was a caterpillar and then this was my chrysalis and now I'm a butterfly. Like I truly understand the meaning of differently abled in a way I never, ever did before. For the first couple of years, the focus was really on my legs. I lost almost complete use of one leg in particular (my right leg) because of some of the tendons in it. And then there was a sort of very long rehab. But while I was going through that, I needed a wheelchair. Whenever I left the house it was a mess. And when that got better, then my thumb tendon started to go. And I'm still basically really still recovering from that. The legs are much better than the upper body. So all my writing is done online, and I do it with a speech recognition software. But, I want to even go further back than that, if it's okay.KJ:                                08:04                Yeah.Karen:                          08:05                Because I, the whole reason that I started to do anything is because I wanted, it sounds, it may sound silly, but I wanted to give a TED talk. I was, I remember watching TED talks and loving them and laughing at them. Like I couldn't move, I was stranded in a chair. And I remember thinking, you know what I could do, I could do a TED talk in a wheelchair. I want to do a TED talk. And so what, I, I haven't done one yet, I'm still hoping to, but this whole thing started because I was like, well, I want to do that. So my husband especially helped me try to figure out like, how could you do that, because at the same time as I wanted that I was also feeling incredibly useless and a total burden at home. We had two young kids and I couldn't be the house wife, and I couldn't be the cook. And I couldn't be the laundry and I couldn't be the chauffeur. So I really was feeling very down, like not quite suicidal, but if you got hit by a bus it wouldn't be a problem kind of thing. I had to learn first that there is value in me even if I can't use my hands or my legs. Once I learned that, my family was like, we need you, we need you to be the brains, which is how we define it around here. Then I could sort of look outwards from that. And that was when I really decided, I think I want to do a TED talk. And that has led to so much cool stuff. And even if it's not ever a TED talk, I'm so happy.KJ:                                09:33                Well, I mean, you know, it's kind of cool that it started from that, right? And, and it remains as a goal, but now you have, you know, you have so many other goals that you have achieved in the meantime.Karen:                          09:54                That's a very good thing to know. I mean, I, it's nice to have that validation, you know.KJ:                                10:01                Yeah.Karen:                          10:02                Thank you.KJ:                                10:02                I almost don't even know where to go from that, but so you've picked a topic and you took it from there. It's sort of hard to list all the things that you have, but you have this thriving online community, you have a coaching business, you have a lot going on now. What came first?Karen:                          10:28                So first came the podcast and that came about in a really interesting way too, because my husband wanted me to have an iPhone. So part of my problem, part of the hands per happened because I was doing too much texting on a phone that had those nine buttons, you know what I mean, where you'd have to like cycle through the number one to get to a and all those sorts of things. And that really blew up with the thumb tendons and my husband's like, okay, we're gonna get you an iPhone because it's playschool. You won't ever have to worry about like anything. You know, there's no, you don't have to choose between apps. Like it's just, it's there for you, there's no worries with an iPhone, which my family has since they've gotten Androids and there are times where they want to throw them out the window, you know what I mean? But I still have an iPhone because I need it. And that was when I really first discovered podcasts and one of my favorite podcasts was done by an entrepreneur who teaches other people how to start an online business. And I really wanted to start an online business.KJ:                                11:34                You need to name the podcast, by the way.Karen:                          11:37                Oh, that podcast is called The Solopreneur Hour podcast with Michael O'Neal. So I got into his podcast and I started trying to do something. I made a horrible, horrible website with my husband's help that I'm so glad it's gone, basically. Because I just needed to start and I knew I wanted to do something for parents of young children. I have a master's degree in early childhood education, I've got a bachelor's in human development and family relations, I've got nine years as a preschool teacher in an industry standard, state of the art, absolutely wonderful town-run preschool program. The town I grew up in actually. And I wanted to help parents cause I couldn't be in the classroom anymore, so maybe I could, you know, I could at least help them that way. So, I'm developing this pretty awful website and I'm doing it listening to Michael O'Neal's show. And I wrote to him at one point to basically say thank you because what he was doing was making me feel like I could do this, like this was attainable by me. And I explained my tendon condition and he read my letter on the air and he gifted me three months in his coaching program. I just want to take a moment to send up a silent thank you to him because I don't know what I would've done if I hadn't had him. But I mean, what, he's just a wonderful guy.KJ:                                13:08                Say a thank you to you because if you didn't reach out, do you know exactly when he would've come and knocked on your door if you hadn't written that letter? Never.Karen:                          13:17                Exactly.KJ:                                13:19                Yeah. You know, we often are like, yeah, I was really lucky because, but you made your luck.Karen:                          13:24                Yeah, that's very true. And I remember the feeling of like, this is really happening. Like, Oh my gosh. And his real jam, the thing he's really good at helping people figure out is what's your brand. And so we went through, as I said, he took one look at my goofy website that I had been working on and he was like, Oh, you know, this isn't going to fly. Yes, not this. Exactly. And then we spent, I would say probably a good part of those first three months coming up with the concept and the brand. And I, I will never forget the day after trying three or four, you know, names, when I said to him, you know, what I've been really thinking about and pushing around is the idea of a podcast called we turned out okay. And he was like, that's it. He goes, that's it. And then he goes, you know what your tagline is? It's the modern parent's guide to old school parenting. I was like, yes. And it was just so much fun. So the whole process was fun and like he made it fun and he made me feel like I could do this, you know? Whereas at home I was sort of getting a little bit of like, are you sure? Do you really want to take this on? This is a lot for somebody with, you know, with the conditions and the problems that you've got. And it was so motivating and such fun to be in that program, so I'm grateful to him. Very grateful.KJ:                                14:43                Well, and it's cool that it came about that he offered that to you, but this is also sort of a moment to recognize that getting some coaching can be super helpful. I think a lot of us are really reluctant to spend money on our dreams and, and also we have this feeling that if we were really capable, if we could really do it, we could do it on our own.Karen:                          15:08                Exactly.KJ:                                15:10                If I were a real writer, I wouldn't need an editor's help. If I were a real entrepreneur, I wouldn't need a coach to guide me through finding my brand. And that is, that's just, that's just not true. We all need to learn where we're going and getting in with an expert can can cut your time in half, it can inspire you, it can help you see exactly what you saw, which was that it might not look to people on the outside like you were ready to do this, but you wanted to prioritize it. I think that's cool, too.Karen:                          15:45                Yeah. So that's how I got started. That's a really long story for how I got started.KJ:                                15:51                Okay. We accept long stories. So at this point, you're podcasting and then you must at some point have sort of decided, well, I need some blog, I need some writing to go with this podcast. Let us know how you figured out how to do that, especially given that you were gonna need to dictate.Karen:                          16:15                So I think one of the, one of the things that a lot of people overlook I guess or don't want to hear maybe, is that you've got to start it before you know what it is. You have to start it before it's fully formed. And I started the podcast in 2014 or 2015, it's just over four years old. So 290 episodes in, in four years and counting. I got to maybe like 56 or 57 and I did an episode called Positive Discipline Ninja Tactics and people went nuts for it. Like I started to get emails from people and that got downloaded more than any other episode I'd ever done. People really responded to the idea that, wait a minute, there are these little Ninja tactics I can do to make my home life better? It's super easy, but things that I know as an early childhood professional that maybe, a parent who's not, wouldn't know, you know what I mean? So things like, how to make no sound like yes was one of those first Ninja Tactics. What I did from that was I decided to write a book called Positive Discipline Ninja Tactics. And I wanted to be able to talk about it in written form as well. You know, there's this idea you should have an email list. I've been taking a lot of time to try and figure out what my email list is going to be and I've gotten to 2019 and I figured it out and I love it. And people again are really responding to it. It's a weekly newsletter now, where I always get to vary it. But, I started it as, Hey, if you want to get notified when Positive Discipline Ninja Tactics is available, then I'll put you on this email list and you can find out and that really grew from there. For me it's been a lot of experimentation and exploring my burnout rate. So I used to do a six episodes in a month. And I realized that after the second year that that was not working for me. It was too much. I couldn't concentrate on my coaching clients if I was spending that much time on the podcast. Instead, I started doing these biweekly live members only calls for the people in my community. And, and if I did that twice a month instead of this extra podcast, I suddenly, I wasn't burned out anymore. I was focusing my energies in the right place because the people in the community could then say to me, here's my question about this. And I could go, Oh my God, people who listen to the podcast need to hear about that too. So I'm serving my clients first and then being able to bring these cool things to the listeners.KJ:                                19:08                Right.Karen:                          19:09                So, then I started listening to Joanna Penn, the Creative Penn podcast. And I started to sort of reframe myself as not just as a podcaster, but as an author as well. And what she does is so cool because she's all about like write books that are really professional and well written and fantastic at giving good advice and keep writing them. And I was like, you know what, that's something I could do. And so I've been working on that.KJ:                                19:43                So wait, wait. You're saying that's something I could do, but you don't type.Karen:                          19:50                No, I don't type, exactly.KJ:                                19:53                First of all, we want to know how you actually do it, but how did you get over that mental block of, you know, I'm going to write, but not with a pen, not with a keyboard, and not with a pencil.Jess:                             20:07                I'm especially waiting to hear about that because I have tried.KJ:                                20:11                We want the mental block first, then we want the tools.Jess:                             20:15                I just can't. I've tried so hard, so I'm dying to hear how you do all the dictation.Karen:                          20:20                Can I just say that it was not without many temper tantrums? I mean, I think this is necessity as the mother of invention. There was no way for me to do this without the speech recognition software. So I had to form a truce with the speech recognition software. So for me over these years now I've spent, I don't know if I've gotten my 10,000 hours in or not yet, but I would say probably. But the way that I got there was by doing it. So, I work much better if I can read something that is printed. So, my husband printed out the entire user manual for speech recognition software. So I was learning the commands - because there are these interesting commands that you can use. So you can tell it to click here, you can tell it to click save, you can bring up a mouse grid. I think if you guys are looking for the tool that has been a lifesaver for me. It's this idea of a mouse grid. So I want you to envision your computer screen and you say the words mouse grid. And what happens is a grid of nine blocks comes up on your screen. Say I want to click something in the lower left corner, that that happens to be the number seven. So I would say seven. And then the mouse grid would reappear, but the whole mouse grid is now where the number seven used to be. And so it's a little more focused now in that corner.KJ:                                21:57                And where do you get something like that?Karen:                          22:00                Where do you get the mouse grid?KJ:                                22:02                Yeah.Karen:                          22:02                Well, I use Dragon Speech Recognition software, so it's a component of that. But I'll tell you, I learned how to use that properly by watching the most beautiful and just heartbreaking video on YouTube. I mean you think you've got problems, right? And then you Google how to use the Dragon mouse grid and the person describing it to you is a person who not only has lost the use of his arms and legs, but also has speech difficulties and they are describing to you how to use this mouse grid and then they are using the mouse grid. By the time he gets to the small enough place in the grid in this video, I am crying. I mean my thought was if somebody like that can not only do that, but teach me how to do it, there is nothing that will stop me. Like what a good, incredibly good example of someone who's making it work no matter what, you know?KJ:                                22:56                Wow. All right, we're going to find that. We're going to link it.Karen:                          22:58                So, the mouse grid is a huge tool. I've discovered that Dragon plays very well with Chrome and not very well with Firefox, for example. So there have been times where I have felt like I was drowning and that I just couldn't get a breath. I wish I had a better description. Like, I will sit down and I'll be like, alright, I'm going to write a blog post and I use the speech recognition software to open Google Chrome and then I use it to navigate. to the inside of my website, not the outside pages everybody sees, but the sort of private admin pages and I get to the correct post.KJ:                                23:56                And you're doing all that using the Dragon Dictate?Karen:                          23:59                I am, yeah.KJ:                                24:00                So we think of Dragon Dictate as something that lets you dictate a story, but you can sort of basically set it up to run your whole...Karen:                          24:09                You can, yeah. You can use their voice commands for all of this. But what I've learned to be more patient with what used to kill me so bad was I would get three quarters of the way through that process and then I would open the dictation box, but sometimes Dragon can't see and doesn't know what you're trying to do. I don't know how else to describe it - it won't write anything. You'll say something and it will say, we can't recognize that speech or something and you're just like ugh. So I would get all the way to that point and then the app would crash or something like that. Talk about temper tantrums! But I just kept playing the song It's a Long Way to the Top by AC DC. I kept thinking to myself, there's no other way. Like it's either this or you go throw yourself in front of a train, like what's it gonna be here honey? And, I knew I wasn't going to do that, so I was gonna have to keep doing this basically. Does that make sense?KJ:                                25:15                Oh yeah, no, it totally, it totally makes sense. So now you're writing a book via Dragon Dictation and all of the challenges that that entails and then you're editing it the same way.Karen:                          25:33                I am. And, and I have learned - this was such a breakthrough for me. So, say if I'm going to write the title of a chapter and have Dragon sort of recognize it, I can now make a recording for my podcast, get my microphone out and my headphones and stuff like that. And I can say the following. So, here's the title of my book that dragon will recognize. OK. are you ready?KJ:                                26:04                Yeah.Karen:                          26:05                Cap educating cap. Happy cap kids, colon numeral nine cap ways to cap help cap your cap, child cap, learn cap to cap and joy cap learning, something like that. I can't remember it exactly, but I'm, that's the book I'm working on right now.KJ:                                26:19                So, you're fluent in, you're fluent in punctuation.Jess:                             26:24                There really is a whole other language.Karen:                          26:26                It's a whole other language. But what's neat is you can get into the flow of it in a recording sense. So like I can record 15 minutes of language that sounds like that. And, and I can, there's a transcribe button in Dragon and it will take that and put it on paper but legibly so that it can be read. It just says educating happy kids. Nine ways to help your child learn what they need to know. And it's like such a mirror every time this, every time I see this appearing, I'm just like, yay!KJ:                                26:59                I need to quickly hop in and apologize for only naming your most recent book cause I knew that you had more. But in the intro I, for whatever reason just threw out the first one. We will be listing them all.Karen:                          27:10                Oh, thank you. No worries. I mean, I appreciated that you listed any of them. I mean this is the one that I'm currently working on, so this is the one that my brain is like really thinking about. So I just today, today I sent it off to my editor for final revisions, so yay.Jess:                             27:31                It was funny when you said the thing about how if you want to do this thing badly enough, you can figure it out. But when we were interviewing Shane recently about the fact that he uses his two thumbs to type entire books on his iPhone and Oh my gosh, you know, KJ and I used to have a segment in the show called Ow It Hurts, but it was always like it hurts. Like, Oh, I don't really want to write this, but not like I have to write an entire book with my two thumbs. If Shane Burcaw can write three books with his thumbs, I think I can figure out the intricacies of how to use dictation software.Karen:                          28:17                If you want to, if it's a real goal of yours. I think a lot of times that I would not be a podcaster or an author without the tendon disorder. Like I was, I was too invested in my own life. I guess. I remember sort of having this yearning, like I remember being 38 about a decade ago and just saying to my husband, like, you know what, isn't there anything else? I mean, I love you and I love the kids, but isn't there anything else? I think had I not gotten the tendon disorder and, and had all of that other stuff kind of stripped away from me, I'm not sure that I would've had the guts even to try something different. Even now I will walk into a Christmas tree shops and I get tired, so I often need to find a seat so you'll find me sitting on the bird seed. This happened just recently. I was in line of Joann Fabrics and the line was so long that I literally sat down on the floor and crossed my legs and apologized to everybody around me and said, this is just what I have to do. I mean, once you've been through things like that, those are really socially embarrassing situations and it's like, well, I can do anything if I can do this.Jess:                             29:36                I just am fascinated. I've never, I'm fascinated. My brain is stuck on the line that I wouldn't be a writer without my tendon disorder. I think, you know, the thing, the very thing that makes that more difficult for you is the thing that made it happen. And I find that really wonderful and fascinating and complicated.Karen:                          29:54                Yeah. Thank you for recognizing it. When I think metamorphosis, that's really what I think of. And I came to our conversation today with a couple of points that I wanted to make sure to cover. If anyone is trying to work in difficult circumstances that, that I thought they might want to know, this is what's worked for me and the first one is to just own it, to say to yourself, this is what I want to do. Like it can be so easy for us to get caught up in I've got to get dinner on the table and I've got all these duties that we have in our day and there can be some guilt around backing away from work or family and saying, I'm taking this time to do this thing that I really want to do. And for me that had to come first.KJ:                                30:44                Yeah. I mean, if, if you are in a situation where you have limited resources, be there physical or mental to put them into this thing that at that moment is only for you is really hard. You know, it's very easy to say to yourself, well, you know, if I'm going to have like an hour of, of like sort of on time today because I'm suffering from exhaustion or because I get physically tired, I should put that into my kids' school meeting or dinner or you know, something. So I think that's really important.Karen:                          31:21                Yeah. That's what's worked for me. I remember lying in bed one morning just before I wrote to Michael O'Neal, just before I started to like come up with this website. And I remember lying in bed one day and every day I had been thinking, you got to get busy living or get busy dying, which is from a movie, it might be from the Shawshank Redemption. I literally would lie in bed going, are you going to get up now cause you got to get busy living or get busy dying. And on this particular day I sat up in bed and I said out loud, I am doing this and I'm not even sure that I knew what this was yet. But like it was this idea of I am breaking free of the sort of constraints. Whether they are because I feel guilty that I can't do very much or because like my time really ought to be spent on this other thing. And I was basically like, I got no hands. So like I'm going to do this, whatever it is.KJ:                                32:21                I was just going to say, okay fine. If you can get your mental head around it. And it also sounded like you had had partner support, which is great, but sometimes we have to go on without it.Karen:                          32:34                Yup. Yup. Yup. It was huge. So Ben used to say to me, he's actually the producer of my show. And what's funny is he has a day job, he goes off to work every day and that doesn't have anything to do with audio. But he went to school for sound engineering and his friends from college are people who work on the Today Show or who have won Grammy's and stuff like that. And he basically decided that his life was going to take a different path, but we used to joke, we'd pass a radio station in the car and I'd be like, Hey, let's move here and I'll be the talent and you can be the producer. And like that's kind of what's happened, which is so interesting. So he gets to feed his audio soul a little bit. He gets to geek out over, you know, making the show sound great and like all the cool, you know, little audio things that he couldn't do before. So support is really important. But I will say this, too. Ben is the one who, he was like, he used to say like, we need to get you with your friends because you're so much happier when you're like with people. He would say, I've seen you come alive today. We went to a party or something and cause it's just so hard to be sitting alone and you know, only feeling like you can't do stuff. So, when I said to him, I think I'd like to try starting a a business, he was like, yes, please. I'm glad because you need something to do with your mind. So he was always very, very supportive from the beginning. I didn't think to put that on the list, but I think that's probably pretty important.KJ:                                34:05                Well, it's, it's hard to be the partner because you can think to yourself, you know, if I were in that position, I would do such and such. Well, and first of all, you don't know what you would do, but secondly, you can't actually do it. So, you know, you can look at your partner and see, well I, she really needs to get out there and, and do stuff with her friends. But it's not like he can pack you into the car.Karen:                          34:25                Yeah, exactly.KJ:                                34:28                To be them too. All right, well what comes next?Karen:                          34:29                Alright. So next for me was the idea of just starting small, like small habits have won the day for me. When I first started, and even sometimes now, I have a version of your open the document, you know what I mean? And I always felt like, so if you've got 5% use of your hands, what can you dedicate that 5% to? And sometimes it was twirling spaghetti and that was all I had, you know. But if I've got 15 minutes, if I can take the next 15 minutes and dedicated to writing something like, and then I don't do anything else for the rest of the day, that's fine. I put one foot in front of the other today. I took one step. So really small habits that you do repeatedly. The next thing I think, cause you can say to yourself like, it's too big. I can't, I just can't. But, but if you try to break it down to like the smallest step, the step, the step that you feel like, okay, I can do that, I will do that. And then you're done for the day and you come back to it the next day. So small habits are fun and good. The next one that comes up for me is celebrate the wins. Even the tiny ones like - so actually, I've been writing a fictional book one minute at a time, which I know sounds crazy, but it worked for Neil Gaiman so I feel like it's gonna work for me.KJ:                                35:57                It's really the only way to do it. It's just a question of whether they're consecutive minutes or not.Karen:                          36:02                Yes, exactly. I just don't have the time to commit to even 15 minutes a day of fiction writing, but I can open a notebook and it's actually, it's hand strengthening practice too is how I look at it. I can open a notebook and I can write a sentence. And what I've been taken to is I'll write a full sentence and then I'll make the next sentence be like the beginning of the next sentence. So the next day when I come back, I've got a writing prompt basically. And I have found that it's enough to keep this story alive for me. Like, so I had the idea for the novel and I did a lot of work around who's who, what's the main character dealing with? I have a dear friend who lives in Maine and the property next to her dream property has been taken over by a jerky landlord who insists on bringing like people from away who shoot off guns and bring bands in and they're raising a family. And so I'm writing this to give her some hope, basically. I've been having a ball with it, one minute at a time. So that's one of my one minute, like that's one of my tiny habits. I can't do more than that. So that's what I do. And when I do it, I celebrate that win, like I did this today. Yes.KJ:                                37:20                Yes. All right. Keep going. Do you have time to?Karen:                          37:25                I got two more, two more. I think my most important resource is energy. When my energy level is gone, it is gone and I have to go to sleep for eight hours to get it back. So, I tend to work in projects and the way I think of it is like I'll do so quarterly, I'll look at this each quarter anew and my project for the first month of the quarter is recording the podcast episodes and getting those show notes done so that for the whole quarter. So now I've got two other months that I can keep writing or I can do other cool stuff. This August we're gonna have a staycation. So I get to do that because I planned in July for August. So I'll get that project completed and then work on the next project. So, for this quarter it's been educating happy kids has been really my next project. That and rest.KJ:                                38:24                That's your next book, right?Karen:                          38:25                Yup. That's my next book. I have found that is a really great way to manage my energy level because I can see progress as I'm working through a bigger project. For me that really, really works. It may not work for everyone. Some people might like to sort of get a little bit of something done every day repeatedly, but I like to be able to say, okay, that project is finished and now I can move on to the next one. So I've been doing that. And then the last one, and this is probably the most important one, is the idea of trying again tomorrow. So like if today is a blowout, if you cannot do it, if, if everything has gone wrong today, you still have the choice to get up and try again tomorrow.KJ:                                39:11                Cool. Yeah, no, that's, that's great. I love it.Jess:                             39:14                We've also observed in the past, this happens to me with writing and it happens to me with teaching that some of my very worst teaching and writing days have been followed by some of my best. So that's a good reminder for me that no matter how crappy things go on one day it can turn around completely the next.Karen:                          39:33                Yup. Yup. And as I think as a part of all of this, there's this idea of support.Speaker 3:                    39:39                Like we talked about that a little bit with my husband, right? But you guys are such a support for me. The #AmWriting Facebook group is one of the only places I go on Facebook. I go there and I go into the group of We Turned Out Okay listeners that I have developed over there,KJ:                                39:55                It is the only place I go.Jess:                             39:57                It's literally true. KJ and I, what we did was we made it so that the group is our bookmark for Facebook. So if you're going to go on Facebook, you have to go there.Karen:                          40:07                No way.Jess:                             40:08                Yeah.KJ:                                40:09                You can, that you could have two bookmarks, one for our group and one for your group and then you never have to risk being caught up in something

Educational and Emerging Technologies is proud to present our first webinar and podcast for the 2019 -2020 school year. This August installment is titled, “Where to find EdTech Resources in the ESC Ecosystem.” This installment is a short pre-recorded video rather than a live webinar to allow faculty to watch it when possible during this busy time of the year. We focused on answering the four most common questions we get from faculty at the start of the new school year: 1. how to request a Moodle shell [0:52], 2. how to find who is your local Ed tech and the tools and platforms we support [2:18], 3. where to located our webinar and podcast calendar, RSVP forms and past recordings [3:27], and 4. how to navigate and utilize our services using the Service Desk website [5:35]. Feel free to navigate directly to the topic you need by fast forwarding to the time stamp shown.

This episode kicks off The Side Hustle Summer Series! This August, I’m doing a series all about side hustling and breaking down: How to not let fear cripple you when you’re starting your side hustle  How to build the foundation of your business even when it’s still a side hustle  Everything I learned about balancing my side hustle with my 9 to 5How to market your side hustle for FREE when you’re just getting started How to finance your side hustle before it’s making Money (AND how to start monetizing) In this kickoff episode, I get open and vulnerable about my journey from side hustle to a profitable business and talk about the disparaging thoughts I used to tell myself. I was so afraid of people thinking I was a failure because I didn’t secure a job offer after earning my Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Michigan. I eventually learned that fear was holding me back, instead of helping me grow. I hope that sharing my thoughts and how I reframed them helps you change your thinking and kickstart your side hustle.     Click here to grab your free recap!  I’m excited about this series! New episodes drop every single Wednesday!  Listen on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Stitcher  This episode is brought to you by: Skillshare Skillshare is offering Side Hustle Pro listeners 2 months of unlimited Skillshare classes for FREE. To sign up, go to Skillshare.com/sidehustlepro  Links mentioned in this episode SideHustlePro.co Management Leaders For Tomorrow (MLT)  Click here to subscribe via RSS feed (non-iTunes feed): http://sidehustlepro.libsyn.com/rss Announcements If you’re looking for a community of supportive side hustlers who are all working to take our businesses to the next level, join us here: http://sidehustlepro.co/facebook Social Media Info Side Hustle Pro – @sidehustlepro #SideHustlePro

Chicago Plant Friends! We are having a FREE BAGR listener meet up THIS Saturday August 3rd from 10 am - Noon at Sprout Home Chicago!     RSVP Here! https://app.getoccasion.com/p/n/M8FrfGb2   Season 4 of Bloom and Grow Radio Podcast is hitting the airwaves later THIS August, Plant Friends! Get excited!

This August at the AVMA Convention in Washington, D.C., the AVMA delegates will meet to cast their votes for the next AVMA President-elect. Dr. Doug Kratt is hoping to win that election. Join Dr.’s Jenifer and Jason Chatfield as they press the good Dr. Kratt on big issues facing veterinarians and the industry as a whole. What ARE the big issues that Dr. Kratt will prioritize once elected? Better yet, can Dr. Jason get Dr. Kratt to share any embarrassing stories about Dr. Jenifer from their time together in the AVMA Future Leader program?! Have a listen…see how red her face might turn! More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - In Other News…AVMA Elections Are Approaching! Get to Know Dr. Doug Kratt on Pet Life Radio.

This August bank holiday, churches from across the country will come together for 'The Gathering'.  Christchurch will be there. And to help you find out more, here's Pete in the car with Jonathan Thomas, Steve Levy and Neil Tallamy.  Watch the whole film and find out more at TheGathering2019.co.uk  

We sit down with Jon Van Dyke, an ultramarathon runner, and his wife Brianna, to talk about what makes a person want to run 100 miles, what that is like for a family, and how running has helped him with recovery from addiction. Jon got sober three years ago. He knew all aspects of his life needed to change and that it was time to make some new habits. He joined a local running group and realized that there were a lot of kindred spirits in the community. Besides finding a group of people to help him as he made his journey into sobriety, he also found the inspiration to challenge himself. This August, Jon finished the Run Rabbit Run 100 mile race in Steamboat Springs, CO. We discuss his training, how the commitment of running 12-14 or more hours per week affected his family, what completing this run meant to him and those who love him. This was a truly heartwarming and inspiring story of family and overcoming obstacles in life. Prepare to be inspired and maybe lace up those running shoes!

Intro Hi everyone and welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, parents, librarians, and anyone who wants to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love.  I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a teacher, a mom, and battling a cold this afternoon! So if I sound a little...off - that is why! This is episode #68 and Today I’m answering some questions about trends in middle grade and sharing with you some fabulous 2019 titles to look forward to this year! Q&A - Trends in Middle Grade Fiction Last month, my husband asked me some questions about trends in middle grade fiction. He teaches a class at Seton Hall all about trends in genre fiction and wanted some input on middle grade. So I thought I would share my responses with you. And I would be very curious about what YOU would answer. What genres or subgenres do you believe are the hottest right now? Well, it’s a format and not a genre but graphic novel memoirs like Hey Kiddo, Real Friends, and Be Prepared are still really popular. And also graphic novel adaptations of classics (like Anne of Green Gables) and popular novels (like Wings of Fire or Percy Jackson).  And again, not genre, but I see more books that are based on the core experiences of the writer. Those novels that draw on the real-life backgrounds of the authors like Kelly Yang’s Front Desk, Tami Charles’ Like Vanessa, and Supriya Kellar’s Ahimsa.  They’re not memoirs but they are books rooted in a very personal experience. To authors, I’d say - take those things that make you unique, that make you a bit quirky, that set you apart from most other people - and write THAT story. Like Kelly Yang taking the experiences of her family coming from China and running motels to write Front Desk. Jarrett Krosoczka writing the critically acclaimed graphic novel memoir Hey Kiddo about his life living with his grandparents after his mom lost custody of him due to drug addiction. Crack that door open and invite us inside. What genres or subgenres do you believe are passé or overexposed? I don’t know…. I do wonder how long the unicorn and narwhal craze will last but that seems to live more in picture books than middle grade. Magical realism - or rather realistic fiction with a magical twist - doesn’t seem to be slowing down. You know - anything can be new and fresh with the right spin.  And also, authors from marginalized backgrounds are still underrepresented in just about every genre so those are stories that will likely have new points of view. I thought I was totally over zombie stories but Dread Nation popped up and whoa!!  I’ve never read a zombie story like THAT before!   If you had to predict, what genre or subgenre do you think is primed to be the next Big Thing in the next year or so? I would say stories about immigrants, refugees, and the unique experiences of marginalized groups (especially by #ownvoices authors) will continue to be popular. Over the last couple of years we’ve seen an explosion of critically acclaimed middle grade stories like Alan Gratz’s Refugee, Jacqueline Woodson’s Harbor Me, and Escape from Aleppo by N.H. Senzai among many more. We also have more and more books coming out that tell stories of police violence in developmentally appropriate ways like Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes and Blended by Sharon Draper.  I’m also really excited about a new crop of middle grade #MeToo stories on the horizon like So Done by Paula Chase and the upcoming Barbara Dee novel Maybe He Just Likes You.   Any comments about where you see genre fiction heading? In middle grade, like everywhere else,  #ownvoices books are still underrepresented  - everyone has a unique story to tell or a unique POV to offer.  EVERYONE. So my advice to authors, take the spark of your unique life experiences and let that burn throughout your story.  My advice to educators - scour those shelves to find a wider variety of books. Also - if you write for a YA/MG audience, librarians and educators are more and more eager to the ditch the old canon and form partnerships with authors. Look for opportunities like #KidsNeedMentors or reach out to your local schools and libraries.   Book Talk - Most Anticipated Middle Grade Books of 2019   The last couple of episodes were all about looking back on some of the best that middle grade had to offer in 2018. (If you missed those, go check out episodes #66 and #67.)  But today is all about looking forward into the new year. Last year, when I did our Most Anticipated MG of 2018, I went chronologically by month. But this year I’m going about it a little differently and discussing the new releases by category.     First, we’ll chat about the new graphic novels coming up in 2019. And then we’ll talk about new releases from authors who debuted in 2018 and 2017 and see what they’re up to now. After that, I’ll give you a peek at some of the 2019 debut middle grade authors.  Then we’ll see what new books are coming out in favorite series and what sequels we have to look forward to. And finally, we’ll finish up with the 2019 releases from more established authors.   So, buckle up and get ready to add to your wish list. And remember - no need to go hunting for a pen and paper. You can find every book mentioned AND a picture of the available covers AND a link to pre-order them right on the Books Between post for this episode, #69, at MGBookVillage.com.  I’ve got your back, I know you’re busy, so it’s all right there for you. And as I’ve said before, I’ve come to really love pre-ordering - it helps out favorite authors and it’s like a little surprise to your future self.   Before we jump in, just remember that this is just a sampling of all the incredible books coming out this year. I’ll add some links to some other great resources in the show notes and on the website where you can find more complete listings of titles to browse through and the MGBookVillage website has a great release calendar so that’s one to bookmark for sure.   https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/111975.Middle_Grade_Novels_of_2019 http://novelnineteens.com/books/middle-grade-books https://mgbookvillage.org/2018releasedates/ http://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2018/12/19-2019-middle-grade-books-to-have-on-your-radar/ https://www.readbrightly.com/middle-grade-books-2019/ https://www.bookish.com/articles/must-read-childrens-books-winter-2019/ http://www.popgoesthereader.com/target-audience-middle-grade/70-middle-grade-novels-i-cant-wait-to-read-in-2019/   Also - publication dates do occasionally change, so just be aware of that.   Alright, get your Goodreads tab open, or your library website pulled up, or your Amazon/Indiebound shopping cart ready, or ….. print out the show notes and bring it to your favorite local bookstore!   Alright - let’s get to it! The 2019 Graphic Novels This January, Lincoln Peirce, the author of Big Nate, has a new graphic/illustrated novel series set in the middle ages called Max and the Midknights that looks really, really cute. Also out on January 8th is Click by Kayla Miller - the story of 5th grader Olive who is having some trouble finding where she “clicks” in middle school. The sequel, called Camp, is being released this April so fans won’t have to wait long for the next one. A fantasy graphic novel that Mel Schuit recommended that I check out is The Chancellor and the Citadel by Maria Capelle Frantz so that’s on my radar now - and yours! Thank you, Mel! On January 29th another Hilo is coming our way! Hilo 5: Then Everything Went Wrong. And on that same day the 5th Bird & Squirrel is coming out called All Tangled Up. One graphic novel adaptation that has really piqued my interest is Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: A Modern Retelling of Little Women by Rey Tercerio and illustrator Bre Indigo. The classic is reimagined as a blended family living in modern-day New York City. I don’t think I’ve ever hit “pre-order” faster and will be eagerly stalking my delivery person on February 5th for that one! My mailbox is going to be brimming on February 5th because I also HAD to preorder New Kid by Jerry Craft!  It’s about seventh grader Jordan Banks who loves drawing cartoons and dreams of going to art school. But his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school instead, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade. Looks amazing!!  90-Second Newbery was singing its praises on Twitter last night and said this about it: “The amazing graphic novel New Kid by @JerryCraft should definitely be on everyone's tbr list and it has a full-cast (and all-star cast) audiobook released at the same time….perfect for rich, nuanced convos abt race, class, identity, school systems, how we share books, code switching, starting new school, just so much!”   So, yeah… I’ll just wait here for a bit while you hit pause and go order that! We also get  the second Wings of Fire graphic novel, The Lost Heir, on February 26th AND the second Mr. Wolf’s Class book called Mystery Club. And a heads up that the graphic novel of The Hidden Kingdom (Wings of Fire Book 3) is out in October 2019. For those Minecraft fans in your life, this March we get another Diary of an 8-Bit Warrior graphic novel - Forging Destiny. And for older middle grade kids - maybe 11 or 12 and up -  look for the new graphic novel adaptations of The Iliad and The Odyssey this March as well. And fans of Terri Libenson’s Invisible Emmie and Positively Izzie will want to get their hands on Just Jaime - coming out May7th. There were lots of smiles among my students today when I told them that news! Bad Guys #9 - The Bad Guys in the Big Bad Wolf is out June 25th.  Perfect launch for a fun summer read. This August brings us Best Friends, the sequel to Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham’s Real Friends -  out on August 27th. And have you seen the cover? It’s Shannon at the top of a rollercoaster with this vibrant purple background. Love it, love it, love it! And Dog Man fans (like my daughter) will be psyched this August because we are getting Dog Man #7: For Whom the Ball Rolls! The seventh graphic novel adaptation of the Baby-sitters Club, Boy Crazy Stacey, illustrated by Gale Carrigan, will be out September 3rd. That’s one of those no-brainer preorders for my classroom library. Also - I was interested to hear that R.J. Palacio is publishing her first graphic novel Wonder story this fall called White Bird. This one is Julian’s grandmother’s story about her life as a young Jewish girl hidden away by a family in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. So be on the lookout for that one September 3rd as well. You want another don’t-even-have-to-think-about-it-just-preorder-it graphic novel? Guts - the long-awaited new Raina Telgemeier graphic memoir is out September 17th!! September also brings the latest from Tillie Walden - Are You Listening.  The peeks I’ve seen of that online look incredible, so that one is definitely on my radar this fall. And then….….. Drumroll please…… Mighty Jack and Zita the Spacegirl!! Ahhhh!!  I knew it! That last page in Mighty Jack and the Goblin King was just too good not to be followed up with a joint adventure. Yay! Jen Wang -  author of last year’s hit, The Prince & the Dressmaker, has a new graphic novel coming out in September called  Stargazing. This one draws on her personal experiences and is the story of two friends - Moon and Christine. And this November we’ll get The Midwinter Witch - the third and final book in the trilogy that includes The Witch Boy and The Hidden Witch. And - wow, I’m just going to start saving up now for September because the graphic novel adaptation of Kwame Alexander’s The Crossover is also coming out on September 24th!  It’s going to be a pancakes and ramen noodles for dinner kind of a month if I want to keep up with all these awesome books coming out!  (And I haven’t even gotten past the graphic novels!) And…. I think, maybe, possibly.. that Amulet #9 (the final one of the series) will be released late this year. But I can’t find much info on it. No title, no date, no synopsis - nada! So, I’m cautiously optimistic that it will arrive in 2019. Finally - another graphic novel to be on the lookout for later in 2019 is Twins by author Varian Johnson who you may know from The Parker Inheritance and illustrator Shannon Wright. The publication date isn’t yet announced, but apparently it’s about twin sisters struggling to figure out individual identities in middle school and it’s based on Johnson’s own childhood experiences as a twin. New Releases from 2017 / 2018 Debut Authors   Early February brings us the second in Anna Meriano’s Love, Sugar, Magic series called A Sprinkle of Spirits and oh is that cover gorgeous! And definitely snag a copy of the sequel to Jarrett Lerner’s EngiNerds - Revenge of the EngiNerds out on February 19th. It is EVEN FUNNIER than the first one. And that’s saying something! Another book I’m looking forward to is Jen Petro-Roy’s Good Enough - about a young girl with an eating disorder. Game of Stars by Sayantani DasGupta - the follow up to The Serpent’s Secret is out on February 26th. And the end of February also brings us Bone Hollow  by Skeleton Tree author Kim Ventrella. Also be on the lookout for The Hunt for the Mad Wolf’s Daughter by Diane Magras on March 5th. That sequel is getting rave reviews so it’s definitely one to add to your library. Alyson Gerber, author of Braced, will have a new novel out called Focused. It’s about a middle school girl who loves chess and has been recently diagnosed with ADHD. Definitely a book a lot of my students will be able to connect with! In the last week of April we get the sequel to Roshani Chokshi’s Aru Shah and the End of Time called Aru Shah and Song of Death This April brings us the second novel from Rebecca Donnelly called The Friendship Lie. One book I’m excited to dip into this spring is Up for Air by Laurie Morrison. You might know her from last year’s Every Shiny Thing. From the author of 2017’s The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora and 2018’s Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish comes Each Tiny Spark. This is Pablo Cartaya’s third MG novel and this one features a young girl, a father recently returned from deployment, and… welding. So look for that one in August. And The Cryptid Keeper, the sequel to Lija Fisher’s 2018 The Cryptid Catcher is out this August as is Melissa Sarno’s A Swirl of Ocean. In September comes the sequel to Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling. It’s called Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus and follows Aven’s adventures as she heads into high school. At first I thought that might put it in the YA category, but from what I can tell, it’s still middle grade. This fall we’ll also be treated to Abby Cooper’s third novel - Friend or Fiction. Just like Sticks and Stones and Bubbles, this one is also magical realism. It’s about a girl named Jade. In the pages of her notebook, she writes all about Zoe--the most amazing best friend anyone could dream of. But when pretend Zoe appears in real life thanks to a magical experiment gone right, Jade isn't so sure if she likes sharing her imaginary friend with the real world.   Another treat in store for you this fall is the third novel by Elly Swartz - Give and Take. This book is about 12 year-old Maggie whose grandmother’s recent death has triggered her to start hoarding things under her bed. 2019 Debut Authors   So - I’ll just say right now that I could have had an ENTIRE show just dedicated to the amazing middle grade debuts coming our way this year but at some point, I had to cut myself off.  So - I’ll include a link to the Novel19s website where you find many more middle grade debuts and discover some of your new favorite authors.   The Whisperers is Greg Howard’s middle grade debut and one that has really caught my eye. Just listen to this description: “Eleven-year-old Riley believes in the whispers, magical fairies that will grant you wishes if you leave them tributes. Riley has a lot of wishes. He wishes bullies at school would stop picking on him. He wishes Dylan, his 8th grade crush, liked him, and Riley wishes he would stop wetting the bed. But most of all, Riley wishes for his mom to come back home.” Oooo…. This one is out January 15th. If you are looking for a new book for younger middle grade readers - something along the lines of Ramona Quimby or Stella Diaz - check out Meena Meets Her Match by Karla Manternatch. One book that keeps popping up into my radar is the middle grade debut of Padma Venkatraman called The Bridge Home about four children who discover strength and grit and family while dealing with homelessness. That one comes out Feb 5th so be on the lookout for that one. Another debut that I have been dying to read is The Simple Art of Flying by Cory Leonardo!  Let me just read you the teaser: “Born in a dismal room in a pet store, Alastair the African grey parrot dreams of escape to bluer skies. He’d like nothing more than to fly away to a palm tree with his beloved sister, Aggie. But when Aggie is purchased by twelve-year-old Fritz, and Alastair is adopted by elderly dance-enthusiast and pie-baker Albertina Plopky, the future looks ready to crash-land.”  My step-mother had parrots when I was growing up, so this one in particular I really am interested in reading! So I’ll be checking my mailbox for that one on February 12th. Another debut I am excited to read this year is Joshua Levy’s Seventh Grade vs. the Galaxy! Since one of my goals this year is to introduce my students to more science fiction, a story about a school on a spaceship orbiting Jupiter would be perfect! On March 12 we get Lisa Moore Ramée’s debut A Good Kind of Trouble about a girl who just wants to follow the rules. And sometime this spring we get rather the opposite in Bernice Buttman, Model Citizen by Niki Lenz. This one is about a “bully” who ends up living with her aunt who is a nun and tries to turn over a new leaf. This March is the debut of Julia Nobel with The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane about a girl who gets shipped off to a British boarding school and finds a box of medallions that might just be connected to the disappearance of her father. A graphic novel debut coming in March that looks fabulous is Red Panda & Moon Bear by Jarod Roselló. It’s about two Latinx kids who defend their neighborhood from threats both natural and supernatural. And in late April is the first book in a new MG detective series called Kazu Jones and the Denver Dognappers by Shauna Holyoak and a time-traveling action adventure that will transport readers to ancient Egypt called Jagger Jones & the Mummy’s Ankh by Malayna Evans. Hurricane Season by debut author Nicole Melleby comes out May 7th and oh how do I want to read this novel!  On a recent #MGLitChat focused on the 2019 debut authors, the moderator asked, “What do you hope young readers take away from your book?”  And Nicole Melleby said the following, “ I want them to take away that they’re not alone, that they’re seen, that mental illness is hard but manageable, and that love may have its limits, but help comes in all shapes and sizes. Also that Van Gogh was a brilliant man.”  After reading Vincent & Theo last summer - uhhh…. gimme that book!! Another great middle grade debut to look for on May 7th is Just South of Home by Karen Stong which is described as Blackish meets Goosebumps. The story follows a rule-abiding girl who must team up with her trouble making cousin, goofy younger brother, and his best friend to unravel a mysterious haunting in their tiny Southern town. Also coming this spring is a book that I immediately knew I wanted to read. It’s called Planet Earth is Blue by Nicole Panteleakos. (So, I was pretty much ALREADY sold by the Bowie reference.) The book follows Nova, an autistic, nonverbal, space-obsessed 12-year-old who is awaiting the Challenger shuttle launch and the return of her big sister, Bridget, as she struggles to be understood by her new foster family.  I was a 4th grader when The Challenger Disaster happened and vividly remember watching it happen live on tv, so I am really interested to see how that plays out in this book. Another debut to look for early this summer is All of Me by Chris Baron - a novel in verse about a 13 year old boy who is dealing with a big move, struggles in his parents’ marriage, and his own body image issues. So… if you are a close listener, you have probably figured out that I’m a sucker for books involving baking or cooking.  Maybe that’s why Midsummer’s Mayhem by Rajani LaRocca just leapt out at me when I stumbled across it last month. This is a contemporary-fantasy retelling of A Midsummer Night’s Dream about an 11 year old Indian American girl whose father is a food writer and whose mother is a successful businesswoman. But when she adds some rather…. unusual (and maybe magical?) ingredients to her baking, things get out of hand. So look for that one on June 4th. And if your kids are looking for a fun spooky read this summer, Ollie Oxley and the Ghost comes out on June 18th and looks really cute. It’s about a boy who moves to California and ends up becoming friends with a ghost from the Gold Rush era. Ghost Squad by Claribel Ortega is another paranormal middle grade coming this September and it’s described as Coco meets Stranger Things. So, uh… yeah...gimme that for sure! Also coming out this September is The Light in the Lake by Sarah Baughman - a book about a young girl who finds herself caught between her love of science and her late twin brother's belief in magic. Sequels and Favorite Series This January 29th we’re getting two awesome books: a 4th in the Crime Biters series - Fangs for Everything AND I Survived the Battle of D-Day, 1944 by Lauren Tarshis.  And watching out for another I Survived book in September called I Survived the Great Molasses Flood, 1919. Also in 2019 we are getting not one but TWO new Babysitting Nightmares books! The Phantom Hour this January 29th and The Twilight Curse on August 20th. February 5th brings another Stick Dog book - Stick Dog Gets the Tacos AND the third Frazzled book by Booki Vivat! This one is called Minor Incidents and Absolute Uncertainties. I just love her titles! In late February kids will be getting book 4 in the DC Comics Secret Hero Society - Science Fair Crisis! Lion Down by Stuart Gibb is out on February 26th. The second in his FunJungle series and the follow up to Panda-monium.) In March comes book five in The School for Good & Evil series: A Crystal of Time , a new Emily Windsnap novel called Emily Windsnap and The Pirate Prince, and another in the Fairy Tale Reform School series called Wished. In March we also get a seventh Jedi Academy Book called Revenge of the Sis. This one starts a new storyline and is written by Amy Ignatow with Jarret Krosoczka illustrating. And an as yet untitled 8th Jedi Academy novel is scheduled for September 2019. AND I’m really excited for the third BAT book: Bat and the End of Everything by Elana K. Arnold.  My daughter’s 4th grade class read the first book and they - of course! - fell hard for this series! Jeff Kinney fans will be excited about Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid - a book told from Rowley’s point of view that is out this April. And that month also brings us another Unicorn Rescue Society novel - The Chupacabras of the Rio Grande. And my 9 year old is going to be thrilled when I tell her that Katherine Applegate’s sequel to The Endling is coming out May 7th. It’s called Endling: The First and is already in my cart. The second book in Laura Ruby’s York series - The Clockwork Ghost is also headed our way this May and so is Another Fenway & Hattie book - In the Wild! Natalie Lloyd’s sequel to The Problim Children - Carnival Catastrophe is due to be out June 25th. And not quite a sequel but more of a spin-off, is Dough Boys by Paula Chase - author of 2018’s So Done. Characters Simp and Rollie are the leads in this novel told in two voices. Also - Karina Yan Glaser’s third Vanderbeekers novel is coming this September - The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue! And finally - just announced this morning - is Kate DiCamillo’s new novel coming September 24th - Beverly, Right Here. And if you guessed that this is the Beverly from Raymie Nightingale - then you are correct!  So now each of the three girls will have their own novel. By the way - if you haven’t seen it yet, the cover by Amy June Bates is stunning!!     2019 New Releases from Established Authors   First up here is the book I am devouring right now - The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart which just came out on January 8th. And oh…. does this book live up to its hype! Brace yourself to hear lots more about this one later! Also out this January is a book my friend Sandy has been raving about - The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, U.S.A by Coretta Scott King honor nominee Brenda Woods. So I definitely need to add that one to my TBR list. This January readers will get a new Gordon Korman novel - Unteachables AND a new Andrew Clements novel - The Friendship War. January also brings us the first book in the really incredible Rick Riordan Presents Imprint - Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee. This is a space opera about thirteen-year-old Min, who comes from a long line of fox spirits. (By the way - if you have kids who love Rick Riordan’s novels or who love adventure books with a dash of humor and myth - then check out his Imprint site. I’ll include a link in the show notes so you can check them all out. From those lucky enough to read advanced copies, I haven’t heard anything but praise.) Pink Hair and Other Terrible Ideas by Andrea Pyros is one to watch out for this February. And another upper middle grade February release that caught my attention is a joint novel told in letters by Counting by 7s author Holly Goldberg Sloan and The Interestings author Meg Wolitzer. It’s called To Night Owl from Dogfish and it’s about two very different 12 year-old girls named Averie and Bett who are sent off to the same sleepaway camp in order to bond after their single dads fall in love with each other. February also bring us another novel by Anne Urso (author of the critically acclaimed The Real Boy) This novel, The Lost Girl, is about identical twins Lark and Iris.   On March 5th we get another Lisa Graff novel called Far Away about a girl, CJ, whose aunt is a psychic medium who claims that she carries messages from the dead. And I’m really psyched for We’re Not From Here by Tapper Twins author Geoff Rodkey. This novel is also out March 5th and is about refugees from planet Earth who need to find a new home on a faraway planet. I had the opportunity to read an ARC of this one and it’s quirky and hilarious… and timely. Definitely add this one to your pre orders. March also brings us another Rick Riordan Present’s book called Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez. I’ve been hearing lots of great buzz about this one, so I’ll definitely need to pre-order a copy. On March 19th we get a new Kevin Henkes novel called Sweeping Up the Heart and this one is the story of the spring break that changes seventh-grader Amelia Albright’s life forever. In late March Natalie Lloyd fans will be treated to Over the Moon - a story about twelve-year-old Mallie who lives in a mining town where boys leave school at 12 to work in the mines, and girls leave to work as servants for the wealthy. But of course with that quintessentially Lloyd magic interwoven. And another Cynthia Lord book is coming out this March! She is the author of Rules and A Handful of Stars. This one is titled Because of the Rabbit and is about a young girl who starts public school for the first time after being homeschooled. Where the Heart Is by Jo Knowles is coming out April 2nd and a really interesting looking book called Summer of a Thousand Pies by Margaret Dilloway will be released April 16th. It’s about a girl who has to save her aunt’s pie shop. I think this one would be  a winner for kids who enjoy shows like The Great British Baking Show. In early May, we get to read Lynda Mullaly Hunt’s next novel, Shouting at the Rain about a girl named Delsie who lives with her grandmother, loves tracking weather, and who starts to wish for a more “regular” family and life. You can’t go wrong with the author of Fish in a Tree and One for the Murphys so… just pop this one in your cart now! And another novel that is getting all kinds of early buzz is the latest from K.A. Reynolds called Spinner of Dreams. It’s being called “inventive, empathetic, and strange in all the best ways.”  Plus - it has a really otherworldly cover that I just want to stare at... And finally - I know you all have heard me rave about this one before - but Barbara Dee’s Maybe He Just Likes You is going to be AMAZING!  My students and I got the chance to read the first chapter and we were all already hooked. But let me give you a little taste from the teaser: “For seventh grader Mila, it starts with an unwanted hug on the school blacktop. The next day, it’s another hug. A smirk. Comments. It all feels…weird. According to her friend Zara, Mila is being immature, overreacting. Doesn’t she know what flirting looks like? They don’t understand why Mila is making such a big deal about the boys’ attention. When Mila is finally pushed too far, she realizes she can’t battle this on her own–and finds help in some unexpected places.” I can’t WAIT!!   Phew!!  Alright - I am both energized and - I gotta be honest - a little daunted! But - I am reminding myself and I hope you’ll remember too that it’s not about a mad dash to read all of these books. But to give you a taste of what’s to come so you can match readers with books they might like and get them excited about new releases.   I hope you have a wonderful year reading and I would love to know - what are the books that you and your students are most looking forward to in 2019?   You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or jump into the conversation on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.      Closing   Thank you so much for joining me this week.  You can find an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org.   And, if you have an extra minute this week, reviews on iTunes or Stitcher are much appreciated.   Books Between is a proud member of the Lady Pod Squad and the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com   Talk with you soon!  Bye!  

Steve Running from the University of Montana helped to invent the field of large-area, quantitative ecology. Steve was also my MS and PhD advisor – a role that doubtless was the most fulfilling of his career. This August, Steve celebrates his retirement with a reunion of lab members and close colleagues — a reunion that […]

This episode is straight out of the vault. Chris had the absolute privilege of chatting with Terminal / Oh Sleeper / As Cities Burn bassist Lucas Starr about the many musical projects he was a part of. This August, Lucas was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and he sadly passed away last week. We hope that this conversation, recorded in February of this year, will honor his memory. https://www.lucasfuneralhomes.com/obituaries/Lucas-Starr/#!/Obituary 

At age 31, astrophysicist Gene Parker, now 91, mathematically described what we now call the "solar wind." This August, NASA launched the Parker Solar Probe -- the first mission named after a living person -- to study the Sun and solar wind, seeking to solve a sixty-year-old mystery.

One country that symbolised the crisis of the last 10 years was Greece. Its insolvency embarked the country on a long regime of bail-outs and austerity. This August, Greece officially emerged from the crisis, with the OECD forecasting GDP growth again. So, did the austerity work? The former Greek finance minister and co-founder of the Democracy in Europe Movement (DiEM) remains unconvinced. Mr Varoufakis was a guest at the OECD’s “10 years after the crisis” conference. Host: Clara Young Producer: Robin Allison Davis and Borja Ortuzar For more information go to: www.oecd.org/economy/ www.oecd-ilibrary.org/economics *Disclaimer: Our podcasters may express personal views and opinion, which do not necessarily reflect the official views of the OECD or its member countries.

More exclusive vegan-world news from Kris and our team as we report back on our national ice cream tour, our success in getting kangaroo meat off the shelves at a national chain, and our 2nd Day of Action protests against Tesco sparked by the horrific conditions of Hogwood 'horror' farm which supplies the supermarket. In this episode: Viva Festivals are coming soon to Birmingham and Brighton Interviews from our big Vegan Camp Out featuring Dr Neal Barnard and US speaker and psychologist Melanie Joy PhD our 2nd wave of "Day of Action" protests against Tesco's continued refusal to stop taking supplies from Hogwood 'horror' farm a success as Pets At Home finally stops stocking dog food that contains kangaroo meat what the Summer-loving public thought of the treats on offer from our awesomely tasty 7 Day vegan Ice Cream Van tour music from Macka B. Melanie Joy, PhD, is a Harvard-educated psychologist, celebrated speaker, organizational consultant, trainer, and relationship coach. She is the author of the award-winning book "Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism", as well as "Strategic Action for Animals" and "Beyond Beliefs: A Guide to Improving Relationships and Communication for Vegans, Vegetarians, and Meat Eaters". Neal Barnard, M.D., F.A.C.C., is an adjunct associate professor of medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C., president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and founder of Barnard Medical Center.As president of the Physicians Committee, Dr. Barnard leads programs advocating for preventive medicine, good nutrition, and higher ethical standards in research. He hosts four PBS television programs on nutrition and health and is frequently called on by news programs to discuss issues related to nutrition and research. This August saw the annual Official Animal Rights March founded by UK animal rights organisation Surge. The Official Animal Rights March is an annual march founded by UK animal rights organisation Surge. The march began in London in 2016 with 2,500 vegans and in 2017 the march doubled to 5,000 vegans marching in London for animal liberation. Our Viva!licious ice cream van tour was extremely successful! The positive atmosphere and incentive of free ice cream enabled us to speak to members of the public who would not normally be as receptive to conversations about veganism. The tour launched in Cardiff on 31 July and continued to Blackpool, Leeds, Southend-On-Sea, Margate, Brighton and finally London. In every city we had an overwhelmingly positive and high response. Throughout each three hour event we had queues of 15 – 20 metres of people waiting to try vegan ice cream. Because the kangaroo meat industry is one of the most brutal and violent in the world, consumers are unwittingly buying into the largest slaughter of land-based wildlife in history. That's why Viva! is pleased to have scored another victory in our long-standing kangaroo campaign as companion animal supplies retailer Pets at Home has discontinued the sale of dog treats that contain kangaroo meat. Viva! contacted Pets at Home after an animal advocate reported seeing kangaroo meat dog treats on sale. Pets at Home CEO Peter Pritchard responded positively, confirming that as the treats do not meet their ethical standards, they would discontinue sales. The music in this episode is by Macka-B,  one of the UK's leading dancehall reggae toasters and patron of the Vegan Society. You can hear this podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and on lots of other apps and websites. Spread the word! Don't forget to share us on Facebook and Twitter! GET THIS FREE PODCAST AUTOMATICALLY ON THE FIRST DAY OF EVERY MONTH. . 

Welcome to my “2018 Listener Favorites” Series! This August, I’m delighted to bring you the top four, most downloaded episodes of the 31 shows we’ve published since the start of the podcast (January 4, 2018). “And now people realize that it doesn’t matter if you work inside a company, you have your own job or you’re a solopreneur. You need to offer something that’s unique and valuable, and that is based in who you are.” - William Arruda Personal branding is something we hear about often when it applies to entrepreneurs and online business owners, but it’s also something that employees in the corporate world, as well as job seekers, should be aware of and hone consciously and powerfully. Often people think they should be hiding what makes them different (what we’re calling here their “quirks”) when in fact these traits and characteristics are what’s most fascinating, unique and memorable about them. When it comes to personal branding and working your quirks, today’s expert guest on Finding Brave is the go-to source for top-level, expert information and strategies. Referred to as “The Personal Branding Guru” by Entrepreneur magazine, William Arruda has been credited with turning the concept of personal branding into a global industry. A corporate branding veteran, William is the founder and President of Reach, the global leader in personal branding with representatives in 49 countries and products that have been used by more than a million people. He has the distinct privilege of having delivered more personal branding keynotes to more people in more places than anyone else on earth. American Express, Google, Gucci, IBM, J&J, LinkedIn, Pepsi and Target are just a few in a long list of his clients. As a thought-leader, William is a spokesperson on personal branding and social media. He has appeared on BBC TV, the Discovery Channel and NPR and he’s been featured in 1,000+ publications. He’s the bestselling author of the definitive books on executive branding, Ditch. Dare. Do! and Career Distinction and he writes a regular column for Forbes. This episode with William Arruda will encourage and inspire you to infuse everything you do with the parts of you that make you truly unique and different. And you’ll begin to understand why your uniqueness is so important to the world. To learn more about today's guest, visit: http://williamarruda.com/ http://www.reachpersonalbranding.com/ http://careerblast.tv/ 

This August 2018 Throwback Theater has the Desperados diving into 1984's Tron as Jason, Jon, Curtiss, and Joseph re-examine this classic.

You get the idea...   This August, Thanks for Riding celebrates 5 years of outtakes we call episodes.  Yay!   released August 26th, 2018

Would you attempt the Three Peaks challenge? This August, eleven volunteers from Healthy For Men’s publishing company, The River Group, attempted climbing Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England, and Mt Snowden in Wales all within 25 hours to celebrate River’s 25th anniversary.   The team raised money for the Katie Piper Foundation, Demelza Hospice, and The Dogs Trust. In this special episode, four members of the River team discuss the highs and lows of one of the UK’s most gruelling challenges. Involved are HFM editor Tom Rowley, Naomi Macphail, Kalil Irving, and Julian Sinclair. You can still donate to these three causes here This episode is in partnership with Bounce Foods Written and directed by Tom Rowley and Andy GreeningAudio engineered and edited by Andy GreeningSpecial thanks to Naomi Macphail, Kalil Irving, and Julian SinclairPodcast artwork by Matt Ford and Andy GreeningHealthy For Men theme song by Premium Beats Healthy For Men Podumentary is by Healthy For Men magazine which is published by River Group Content Limited 2018

Welcome to my “2018 Listener Favorites” Series! This August, I’m delighted to bring you the top four, most downloaded episodes of the 31 shows we’ve published since the start of the podcast (January 4, 2018). “It’s very important that we not try to continually adapt to extroverts. It is the time for introverts. Let me just say, each one of us has that within us, so it’s in all of our best interests to tap into some of those strengths.” - Jennifer Kahnweiler On today’s Finding Brave, we’ll be discussing the powerful leadership qualities of introverts, and the challenges they undoubtedly face -- and can overcome successfully -- in their organizations. Our guest today is a unique expert in the field and study of introverts in that she is not an introvert herself, but a champion for them. Jennifer B. Kahnweiler, PhD, Certified Speaking Professional, is an author and global speaker hailed as a “champion for introverts.” Her bestselling books The Introverted Leader, Quiet Influence, and The Genius of Opposites have been translated into 16 languages and have helped introverts throughout the world expand their leadership capacity. Jennifer deepened her knowledge and appreciation for introverts through her work as a learning and development professional contributing to leading organizations like General Electric, FreddieMac, NASA, Turner Broadcasting, the US Centers for Disease Control, and the American Management Association. Jennifer has been invited to deliver keynote speeches and seminars in Australia, Vietnam, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, and Paraguay. Her presentations include her characteristic humor, poignant stories, and practical tools. She has also been featured in Fortune, Forbes, Time Magazine, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. Join us as Jennifer shares revealing new content, tools and what she has learned about introverted leadership in the last decade, as we now witness what she refers to as “the rise of the introverts.” To learn more about today's guest, visit: http://jenniferkahnweiler.com/

Welcome to my “2018 Listener Favorites” Series! This August, I’m delighted to bring you the top four, most downloaded episodes of the 31 shows we’ve published since the start of the podcast (January 4, 2018). “People who come to me, who can’t speak up, or they’re being disrespected, or they can’t make decisions, or they can’t tell their boss ‘no this doesn’t work’, it comes from childhood. How we are trained in childhood, the culture of the ecosystem that we are raised in, and how we are treated when we try to speak up for ourselves, or when we even think we want to speak up for ourselves. Everything about that is within you now, unless you’ve done the work to revise it, and heal it, and change it.” - Kathy Caprino Speaking up for ourselves and standing up for what’s right is a deep challenge that I hear about from people literally every day of the week. Why do we struggle so deeply with speaking up? And what steps can we take today to begin to empower ourselves to say what needs to be said, effectively and authoritatively, even when we feel we can’t? In today’s episode of Finding Brave, you’ll hear my own personal story of challenge and trauma from my childhood that carried through to my corporate career (and beyond) and impacted my ability to speak up for myself. And we’ll explore the very real and damaging consequences of not speaking your truth. Being able to speak up effectively for yourself is entwined with our self-worth, self-confidence, esteem, bravery, boundaries, what you learned as a child and in your family, what you experienced when you did speak up, and much more. I share how emotional manipulation and narcissism impacts your ability to advocate for yourself, as well as the 7 essential steps to take to speak up assertively and effectively, especially when you feel you can’t.

Intro Hi everyone and welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, librarians, parents, and anyone who loves middle grade books!  My goal is to help you connect kids between 8-12 with fantastic reads and share inspiring conversations with the authors and educators who make that magic happen. I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a mom for the past 11 years, a teacher for the past 17 years, and a fan of flavored seltzer for the past two months. Either I have been oblivious to it or suddenly there is a plethora of sparkling waters and seltzer available everywhere! Including some tasty hard seltzers for those inclined. And during a hot, sticky summer - a frigid, fizzy can of black cherry seltzer poured over a full glass of ice is just about the best thing ever.  Cheers! This is episode #57 and today I am giving you a quick first impression of three new books, and sharing a conversation with Paula Chase - author of So Done. One super quick announcement - set yourself a reminder for Monday nights at 9pm EST so you never miss the #MGBookChat Twitter chat!  We have some really great topics coming up like creating a classroom community through books, ending gendered labels, and how teachers and public librarians can support each other. Book Bites First up is a brand new segment I am calling Book Bites - where I will give you a quick sampling of a few books. And share first lines and first impressions from reading the first chapter. This week I am previewing The Phantom Tower by Keir Graff, The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden by Karina Yan Glaser, and Scream Site by Justina Ireland. The first novel I want to talk about is The Phantom Tower by Keir Graff. You may know him from his other middle grade novel The Matchstick Castle. This book is described as magic, mischief, and mystery colliding in a thrilling adventure. It’s about 12 year old identical twin brothers who move into a mysterious apartment building and discover a portal to a parallel dimension. First lines: The first time I saw Brunhild Towers was the day we moved in. Even though it wasn’t that long ago, I saw a lot of things differently back then, I thought old people were boring. I thought learning history was a good way to fall asleep. I thought dying was simple. You probably noticed I said Towers, not Tower. Pay attention and I’ll explain everything. First impressions: The first thing I noticed when I opened the pages - a map! The first chapter was fast-paced and fun but didn’t make you feel lost. You definitely get enough background info to help orient you to the characters and the tone with lots of touches of humor. The story is written in 1st person and told by one of the twins - Colm. The first chapter reminded me a bit of Peculiar Incident on Shady Street, so if you have kids who like that novel or The Explorers or The Mysterious Benedict Society, The Phantom Tower would be a good book to introduce them to next. Next up is the sequel to a beloved middle grade novel - Karina Yan Glaser’s The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden. In this story - the Vanderbeeker kids band together to do something nice for their upstairs neighbors (Miss Josie & Mr. Jeet) who are going through a tough time. And in classic Vanderbeeker fashion, the five kids make an elaborate plan to convert the abandoned (and possibly haunted) lot next to the church into the gorgeous community garden that Miss Josie has always wanted.   First lines: “This is the most boring summer in the whole history of the world,” nine year-old Oliver Vanderbeeker announced. He was wearing basketball shorts and a faded blue T-shirt, and his hair was sticking out in every direction.” First impressions: Well - Oliver doesn’t stay bored for long!  And oh how I loved jumping back into the sweet Vanderbeeker banter! The premise of this novel reminds me a bit of the book Seedfolks, and I’m curious how they solve the water problem here…. Along with all the other obstacles I am sure they will encounter!   I love the Vanderbeekers, and I know so many of you do as well - and apparently we are not alone. Because Amy Poehler’s production company has optioned the rights to The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street!  Ahhhh! And I know, I know - that doesn’t mean it’s going to hit the screen next year, but I’m still so excited and so happy for Karina. If you want to hear her talk about the first Vanderbeekers novel, check out episode 46. And finally, I wanted to check out Scream Site by Justina Ireland. She’s the author of the YA novel Dread Nation among other books. This novel features 14 year-old Sabrina Sebastian who wants to be an investigative reporter so she’s digging into this popular website where people post scary videos hoping to go viral. And she starts to think that maybe some of the videos are real - and then someone very close to her goes missing. First lines: “So, what do you think? Should I go with ‘Taco Tuesday is a Day Made of Lies’ or ‘Football Team Organizes Book Drive for Local Library’? Those are my two best stories, and I’ve narrowed it down to them. I think. I’m actually not sure.” Sabrina Sebastian leaned back in her chair and waited for her best friend, Evenlyn Chao, to respond.” First impressions: Number one - the cover is awesome. It’s a gorgeous blue with the shadows of trees looming over a young girl’s silhouette as she faces what looks like an abandoned ferris wheel lit from behind by a full moon. Already - I’m drawn in. And the first chapter leads me to think that there is going to be some interesting and timely discussion about social media and journalism. Scream Site is marketed as YA,  but I’ve read in several places that it’s really geared toward more of an upper middle grade audience. Probably wouldn’t include it in my 5th grade classroom, but if you have strong readers in 6th grade and up - this would be a great book for kids who like mysteries and kids who are drawn to internet rumors and hoaxes and those paranormal YouTube videos. This August be on the lookout for The Phantom Tower and Scream Site. Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden will be headed our way September 25th. Paula Chase - Interview Outline Our special guest today is author Paula Chase. Her debut middle grade novel, So Done, comes out tomorrow. It’s about best friends Tai and Mila who are somewhat awkwardly back together after a summer spent apart from each other. And each is wondering if they can salvage their friendship from the secrets and pressures of middle school and crushes and tryouts and memories that have started to loom in their lives.  I loved getting a chance to chat with Paula about her novel, being a dance mom, and the importance of books with authentic stories and authentic voices. Take a listen… So Done Your middle grade debut, So Done, is coming out tomorrow! For our listeners who have not yet read the novel, can you tell us a bit about it? Would you mind reading a favorite passage? From the very first pages, I had a huge smile on my face because I was so happy to be reading a book that sounds like some of my students when they are talking to each other. You have this special knack for voice - whatever that “it” is - you’ve got it!   What is your secret for for capturing those voices? I think I heard you mention that there was some back and forth with your editor about the vocabulary you used in the novel. Can you talk a little about that? One of things that I loved about So Done were scenes about dance. I’ve heard you mention that your daughter is a dancer.   How much did you draw on her experiences to write this story? Nicknames (as opposed to “government names”) are an important part of the story.   Did you have a nickname? Are you more like Tai or more like Mila? **BONUS SPOILER SECTION: Paula and I discuss the ending of the novel, and if you’d like to hear that conversation, I moved that part of the recording to after the end credits of today’s episode at the 40:14 mark. Your Writing Life Your previous series was young adult. Did you decide from the outset that So Done would be middle grade or did it evolve in that direction? If you can talk about it….. what are you working on now? Your Reading Life One of the goals of this podcast is to help educators and librarians and parents inspire kids to read more and connect them with amazing books.  Did you have a special teacher or librarian who helped foster your reading life as a child? What were some of your most influential reads as a child? So - what ARE your thoughts about “dessert” books? What have you been reading lately that you’ve liked? Links: Paula’s website - http://paulachasehyman.com Paula on Twitter Books & Authors We Chatted About: Mildred Taylor Judy Blume Dread Nation (Justina Ireland) The Belles (Dhonielle Clayton) Ghost Boys (Jewell Parker Rhodes) Breakout (Kate Messner) Parker Inheritance (Varian Johnson) Closing Alright, that wraps up our show this week! If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between. Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well. Thanks and see you soon!  Bye!  

This August 2018s episode special guest is Ste Salkeld from Grasping Nettles. This episode covers a wide range of subjects from parking tickets to G. G. Allin and James Gunn getting fired from the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and how everyone should really chill out. Also in the episode; Andy remembers a song, Dave goes full 'old man', Doc defends his lack of driving, Ryan makes plans for the cats in the alley and Ste explains some aspects of parenthood. Song featured is Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe by Whale. Intro is The Brouhaha by Beastie Boys

Welcome to my “2018 Listener Favorites” Series! This August, I’m delighted to bring you the top four, most downloaded episodes of the 31 shows we’ve published since the start of the podcast (January 4, 2018). Today’s show was the inaugural episode, and in it, I share my deeply personal story about how I embarked on “Finding Brave” in my own life, and why mustering more bravery and courage is a vital endeavor for men and women around the world who want to live the highest version of themselves and reach their highest, most joyful potential. I define #FINDINGBRAVE as this: Recognizing — and courageously leveraging — what you’re made of as a human and spiritual being, and mustering the commitment, passion and courage to draw on all that you are to create the life you dream of, through the fear and the pain. And I offer 10 essential ways to find brave in your life, with specific tips to get moving on your brave path.

This August host April Dinwoodie welcomes another member of the extended family of adoption, creative powerhouse Rock Wilk.  Rock is an award-winning performance artist, writer, composer, musician and adopted person. April and Rock share an in depth conversation about growing up adopted and the many many layers of beauty and complexity that comes with it.    

Jaxon doesn't eat the puss. This episode is brought to you by Erotic Boudoir presents The Art of Bondage Part 2. This August 11, Erotic Boudoir (IG: @Erotic_Boudoir) brings you another BDSM and Shibari rope tying demonstration by the amazing Sir Dashington (@eroticropesbydash). To purchase tickets search "Erotic Boudoir" on Eventbrite. For more info on the show, search Erotic Boudoir on your favorite social media platform. You don't want to miss this show! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/sexwithstrangersagrownfolkspodcast/support

In May of this year, the gardening world – specifically the ecologically based gardening world – lost one of it’s great leaders, Beth Chatto. This August her gardens and educational trust are hosting a symposium to honor her life and her work. On Cultivating Place this week we hear more about the woman and her legacy – join us! For photos visit cultivatingplace.com. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher.

This August, lawyers from around the country will come to Chicago for the ABA Annual Meeting. Wondering whether to make the trip yourself? In this special bonus episode of Asked and Answered, we’re joined by ABA President Hilarie Bass and Marty Balogh of the Meetings and Travel Department to discuss the new offerings, event highlights and local attractions attendees should be sure to check out in the ABA’s hometown from Aug. 2-7.

This August, lawyers from around the country will come to Chicago for the ABA Annual Meeting. Wondering whether to make the trip yourself? In this special bonus episode of Asked and Answered, we’re joined by ABA President Hilarie Bass and Marty Balogh of the Meetings and Travel Department to discuss the new offerings, event highlights and local attractions attendees should be sure to check out in the ABA’s hometown from Aug. 2-7.

This August expect some changes to third party Twitter clients that prevent real time notifications and background refreshes from happening. This won't break Twitter, but will make it a little more inconvenient to use. It seems that Twitter really wants you to use their front end client. Is this any different from any other ecosystem lock-in such as Apple? || Let's continue our discussion! Follow me on Twitter and Instagram at @dexter_johnson and visit http://DexJohnsPC.com to stay on top of my latest posts. Share this podcast with a friend!