Skip to main content

Two-Year Podcast Anniversary

In this episode, Our Two-Year Podcast Anniversary . . .

Welcome to Episode 152 of On the Fly. Believe it or not, we went live on the Anchor platform over two years ago! But there's more to the story.

People still ask, "So, what's your podcast about?" A smidgen of history, a dash of culture - a minute dedicated to making you smile. "It's whatever comes to mind!" But it's much more than that. People undervalue the redemptive power of building a creative life one success at a time. Each episode reflects my experiences and life lessons.

You see, when you're learning, you're growing. However, learning is frittered away until you put that learning into action. And the best way to do that is to share your newly found discoveries with others. When you do - you'll soon realize that you're digging in the richest gold mine in the world; you're creative imagination.

The seed for this project was planted many years ago while listening to the radio program Our Changing World by Earl Nightingale. When challenged with the question, "What would you do if you knew you could not fail?" Without hesitation, Host a radio show.

In 2004 we discovered and began recording podcasts for GIA. The program was titled Inside GIA Education, produced by GIA's course development department, and hosted on Apple's iTunes platform. At that time, Podcasts were revolutionary, on-demand radio programs. We created two episodes a month for over four years. In April of 2012, we began writing a blog to produce content for the On the Fly podcast.

Was it easy? No! It took many years to refine my writing skills, purchase the right equipment for a recording studio, find the right music, and learn to record and edit my program. And - find a way to deliver it.

I'm proud to say; that this podcast became the vehicle to express my voice. The absolute joy of discovering what motivated me. An exciting, rewarding, life-changing experience.

Was it fun? You bet it was! Preparing a weekly production keeps me learning, growing, and encouraging myself to explore just who I am becoming.

My listening friends, I challenge you to go back and explore the many archived episodes. You will be enlightened.

I'm Patrick Ball; thanks for listening. I'll see you in the next episode.

Comments

Most Popular of All Time

Back to School (Without the Triple Lindy)

I hadn’t set foot inside a public library in over thirty years. Last Saturday, when I walked through the sliding doors of the modern County of San Diego branch on Eucalyptus Avenue in Vista, my eyes instinctively scanned the floor for the familiar, comforting sight of varnished oak cabinets and brass pull-handles. Nothing . No card catalog. No little wooden drawers. No rows of index cards typed by someone who presumably had beautiful penmanship and a pension. I walked up to the front desk, looked the librarian dead in the eye, and asked with complete earnestness: "Where’s the card catalog?" She didn’t laugh, though she had every right to. Instead, she offered a warm, dry smile: "We magically had the computer digest it." And just like that, I was enrolled. Not the Rodney Dangerfield kind of back-to-school. No diving board, no loud blazer, no campus party, and thankfully, no need to convince anyone I belonged there. Just an overdue reminder that while I was busy with ...

Beyond Facts-The Deep Dive

✨ In this episode, Beyond Facts: Reimagining School–in the Age of AI . . .   This week's podcast is a bit different; it's another example of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can offer tools to creatively enhance your analytical presentation of information. We took this week's blog and copied it into Gemini with the question, “If a story is to work, it must, on some level, create an illusion of escape and also achieve a goal simultaneously. Does this apply to my blog post that follows?” What's created is not just an analysis of the writing, but an AI-generated discussion produced “On the Fly” - Enjoy! Did you know that the word "school" comes from the ancient Greek word scholē , which originally meant "leisure"? Not a rigid schedule or droning lectures filled with "facts," but free time for thinking and conversation. To the Greeks, learning happened best when life slowed down—when you had room to reflect, to ask questions, and to wrestle ...

Doc Welch - The Country Doctor

In this episode, Doc Welch . . . Many authors have characterized life in rural Illinois over the years. Among the more notables are Edgar Lee Masters, who wrote Spoon River Anthology, Carl Sandburg for his poetry and biography of Abraham Lincoln, and little known to me until recently, my first doctor, whom everyone in town always called Doc Welch - James K. Welch, M.D.  (Feb. 7, 1915, to May 5, 1998) While exploring the microfilm of the Cuba Journal (published from 1884 to 1992), I consistently kept running across articles entitled The Country Doctor. This intrigued me. Doc Welch was a third-generation practicing Country Doctor in Cuba for over 40 years. His father, James William Welch, M.D., practiced medicine in Cuba for more than five decades. His grandfather, James Knox Welch, M.D., settled in Cuba after the Civil War. Cuba, Illinois, is a small, rural farming community in west-central Illinois, where I grew up. Like many small towns, it boasts a central square with a ban...

The Rhythm of the Woodpecker

The morning in Vista often begins under a heavy, gray marine layer that rolls in from the coast, pressing a damp, muffled stillness over the neighborhood. At 4:30 a.m., the driveways are still full. The local commuters are either blissfully unconscious or stumbling blindly toward their showers, clinging desperately to their last shred of peace before the nine-to-five grind claims them for the day. I, on the other hand, am voluntarily wide awake in the dark. When your agenda consists of absolutely nothing, it is critical to get an early start. Inside the house, the quiet is profound, broken only by the sharp, mechanical click of the kettle as it reaches a rolling boil. I stand at the counter, watching the dark ground coffee bloom as hot water hits the French press's stainless steel. The smell is sudden and heavy—a deep, roasted-earth aroma that cuts through the morning fog. I push against the plunger’s gritty resistance, pouring a cup that radiates dark, stinging heat against my pal...