For episode 300, I asked for questions about the podcast and me. I got a response with many good questions, and I’ll be answering them in this episode.
Then I go on to answer questions about me that I didn’t get asked but that I thought might be interesting to you.
Mentioned links:
Episode 15: Decoding DC, Romney’s Taxes, and Some Speech is More Free Than Others
Episode 22: Listener Feedback – Calling Me Out on Ban Ki Moon
Geocaching
What’s neXt?
Show transcript
For this special episode, I had said that I was going to revisit some past episodes and update you on the people and policies from those stories. But you know what? That takes a long time, so I’m going to put off that idea for later, maybe episode 400. I also put out a request for you to ask me some questions about me or the show. I got one listener to take me up on that, and they are some good questions she asked. You’ll hear those, plus my wife had a good ideas to expand on that and answer some other questions I didn’t get asked. I figured I’d make this episode one where you get to know this guy behind the mic a little more. It should come as no surprise that, for this special episode, the time limit will go out the window. So here we go.
Listener Barb is a long-time listener to the podcast, and I’ve actually met her once when she and a bunch of other podcasters from the Golden Spiral Media network came down my way. She sent me some good questions to think about and answer.
First question: When you began Consider This, did you expect to hit episode 300? Well, I hoped I’d at least get past episode 100, so when I started naming the podcast files I left 3 digits for the episode number. But 300? Well, I think a better question would be did I expect to be still doing this 8 years later. If you’d asked me back when I started this I would have said, “No.” I wanted to have some staying power, but I didn’t think I’d still be at it for this long. This is basically my creative outlet so I’m sticking with it.
But a lot has changed during those 8 years, and I don’t just mean politically. Some of you know (and now all of you will) that I have Multiple Sclerosis. I’ve had it since 1986, but I had the kind that would come and go. Later I started having the progressive kind that’s been taking out my legs. In 2012, I could still go downstairs to my office, produce the podcast, and get back upstairs. Since then I went to using a cane to get around, these days I use a walker (and the office was moved upstairs), and in a few weeks I’m getting fitted for a motorized wheelchair for when I’m out and about. Fortunately, podcasting is a hobby that you can do entirely seated if you want to. So yes, changes.
The next question from Barb is what story has surprised you the most over the years? That’s an easy one, actually. Of all the events and stories I’ve mentioned, the one that got an actual surprised reaction from me was the election of Donald Trump as President. I believed the polls that said Hillary Clinton was a guaranteed the win that night. Trump was my last choice in the Republican primary, and yet he beat Clinton against all odds. The next morning I asked, “What have we done?” This was a guy that spoke conservative values, but really hadn’t demonstrated them before. I had no idea what the next 4 years would bring. I will say that I was both pleasantly surprised at how he’s governed while being unpleasantly dismayed at his personality and his tweets. So yes, surprised.
Next up,
