Welcome to Simple Joe. I’m glad you’re here.

It's Tuesday, and we're visiting Truro, England, for another round of Tuesday's Random Questions! Today I'm talking about the gift I'm most proud of giving, our family vacations together, and what would happen if the internet disappeared for an entire month. I'm also picking one skill I'd love to download directly into my brain, sharing an old family mystery involving a possible fugitive from the French Revolution and a last name that might not be our original family name, and remembering the smell of homemade chili that always makes me feel at home. Along the way, we're celebrating Paul Simon, Sammy Hagar, Jerry Rice, and a few other birthdays, remembering the debut of Paddington Bear and the beginning of commercial cellular service in America, and talking about National M\&M Day. Plus, I've got an update on our Simple Joe plank contest, where a free T-shirt is on the line. I'd love to hear your answers, too!

1. What gift have you given that you were especially proud of?
2. If the internet disappeared for one month, what would change most in your life?
3. If you could download one skill directly into your brain, what would it be?
4. What family mystery would you love to solve?
5. What is one smell from a kitchen that feels like home?

Email me at joe@thesimplejoe.com or send me a text at 513.399.6468. Just say hi, I would love to hear from you.

You can get Simple Joe T-Shirts and other cool stuff at thesimplejoe.com/store

Check out what I'm reading at thesimplejoe.com/reading

If you share the show on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, please use #simplejoeismyfriend; you might get a free t-shirt!

Welcome to Simple Joe. I’m glad you’re here.

On today's episode of Simple Joe, I'm talking about popcorn, caramel corn, movie theater snacks, and one of my biggest regrets involving unlimited popcorn refills. We're checking the weather in São Paulo, Brazil, and Cincinnati, Ohio, celebrating birthdays including Dusty Rhodes and Hugh Jackman, and looking back at Christopher Columbus, the origins of Oktoberfest, and Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. Then it's time for Monday's Interesting Headlines! We've got a missing dog showing up at a police station, a wallet lost for 51 years, another expedition searching for Amelia Earhart's plane, a 61-year-old woman holding a five-hour plank, and a lollipop that could help blind women independently detect pregnancy. Which story should we dig into on Thursday? Text me at 513-399-6468 or email joe@thesimplejoe.com and cast your vote. And I've got another challenge for you: tell me how long you can hold a plank. The listener reporting the longest time gets a free Simple Joe T-shirt!

• Missing dog reunited with owner after showing up at Tampa police station
• Home renovation project leads to discovery of wallet lost for 51 years
• Amelia Earhart expedition heads to Pacific atoll hoping to find her plane
• 61-year-old woman holds 5-hour plank — a new world record — at Huntsman World Senior Games
• This Lollipop Could Help Blind Women Independently Detect Pregnancy

Email me at joe@thesimplejoe.com or send me a text at 513.399.6468. Just say hi, I would love to hear from you.

You can get Simple Joe T-Shirts and other cool stuff at thesimplejoe.com/store

Check out what I'm reading at thesimplejoe.com/reading

If you share the show on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, please use #simplejoeismyfriend; you might get a free t-shirt!

Welcome to Simple Joe. I’m glad you’re here.

Who gets the best version of you? In today's Personal Development Saturday episode of Simple Joe, I'm asking a question I've been wrestling with myself: Why do we sometimes give more patience, kindness, and courtesy to complete strangers than to the people we love most? I share some memories of those not-so-peaceful family drives to church, when frustration filled the car but everybody suddenly became friendly the moment we walked through the church doors. We talk about the difference between being comfortable with someone and taking them for granted, why our closest relationships deserve more attention and encouragement, and how a simple one-day experiment might help us make a change. The big idea? We don't need to impress the people closest to us. We need to invest in them. Plus, we're celebrating birthdays, exploring the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, and talking about angel food cake, chess, and maybe why neckties aren't so good for our brains. I also give a shout-out to my imaginary friend SM2N, whose thoughtful response to my episode about working while on vacation challenged me to reconsider some of my commitments. I'd love to hear your thoughts about today's conversation. Text me at 513-399-6468 or email joe@thesimplejoe.com. And remember, memories are better than stuff.

Listen to SM2N's episode on Spotify

Email me at joe@thesimplejoe.com or send me a text at 513.399.6468. Just say hi, I would love to hear from you.

You can get Simple Joe T-Shirts and other cool stuff at thesimplejoe.com/store

Check out what I'm reading at thesimplejoe.com/reading

If you share the show on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, please use #simplejoeismyfriend; you might get a free t-shirt!

Welcome to Simple Joe. I’m glad you’re here.

A Segway tour I spotted while on vacation got me thinking about all the great ideas we gave up on. You know, those inventions, products, and experiences that actually existed, that people bought and used, and then somehow just disappeared. This Friday, I'm counting down my Top 10 Great Ideas We Gave Up On, and some of these are absolutely fascinating. We're talking about forgotten technology, unusual transportation, clever inventions, and experiences that seemed like the future until the world moved on without them. Some probably deserved to disappear, but others make me wonder why we haven't given them another chance. And my number one choice? I'd love to see somebody figure out how to bring that experience back. Along the way, we've got birthdays, a little Cincinnati Reds history, some unusual celebrations, and the usual Simple Joe detours. What great idea do you wish somebody would bring back? Text me at 513-399-6468 or email joe@thesimplejoe.com. I'd love to hear what I missed!

Email me at joe@thesimplejoe.com or send me a text at 513.399.6468. Just say hi, I would love to hear from you.

You can get Simple Joe T-Shirts and other cool stuff at thesimplejoe.com/store

Check out what I'm reading at thesimplejoe.com/reading

If you share the show on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, please use #simplejoeismyfriend; you might get a free t-shirt!

Welcome to Simple Joe. I’m glad you’re here.

In this episode of Simple Joe, I’m digging into one of the strangest stories I’ve seen in a while: the weird trash Yellowstone geologists retrieve from geysers, hot springs, and other hydrothermal areas. We’re talking about more than 20,000 pieces of trash this year, including hundreds of hats, AirPods, retainers, fake fingernails, toys, Pokémon cards, an Uno card, hotel key cards, and even a tiny copy of The Vampire Diaries. Some of it gets blown or dropped in accidentally, but coins, rocks, and other objects can actually interfere with these delicate thermal features, and Morning Glory Pool is a great example of how debris can change what happens below the surface.

The whole thing got me thinking about that awful feeling when you drop something somewhere you can see it but absolutely cannot reach it, including a friend who lost a phone from a roller coaster and a recent stop at a pier restaurant where the spaces between the boards are apparently just wide enough to swallow a credit card.

Along the way, I also talk about Paul Hogan, R. L. Stine, Sigourney Weaver, Matt Damon, Bruno Mars, the Great Chicago Fire, the first enclosed shopping mall, National Pierogi Day, World Octopus Day, and a pair of cowboy boots I’ve owned for about 35 years and even wore when I got married.

I also spend a little time on World Dyslexia Day and how sometimes simply understanding why something has always been difficult can give us a little peace and help us figure out how to work around it.

If you’ve ever dropped or lost something in a place where you knew it was gone for good, I’d love to hear the story.

Email me at joe@thesimplejoe.com or send me a text at 513.399.6468. Just say hi, I would love to hear from you.

You can get Simple Joe T-Shirts and other cool stuff at thesimplejoe.com/store

Check out what I'm reading at thesimplejoe.com/reading

If you share the show on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, please use #simplejoeismyfriend; you might get a free t-shirt!

Welcome to Simple Joe. I’m glad you’re here.

In this Wildcard Wednesday episode of Simple Joe, I’m asking you to prove me wrong: is it okay to work a little bit while you’re on vacation? I just got back from vacation, and while I recorded Simple Joe every day, I don’t really think of the podcast as work because it’s something I genuinely enjoy and a creative outlet for me. The harder question is what happens when I open the laptop for “just 45 minutes,” check email, answer a few questions, and convince myself that staying connected actually helps me relax. We look at research on psychological detachment from work, the importance of real recovery time, and the uncomfortable possibility that sometimes I’m checking in because I want people to notice that I’m still engaged. That gets even more complicated because I’m a leader who tells my own team to disconnect completely when they’re on vacation. I talk through boundaries, why we work when we’re supposedly off, whether helping a coworker is really so different from helping a friend, and whether a little intentional work can coexist with a real vacation. I’m still not sure there’s a perfect answer, but I do know this: if I believe the people who work for me deserve a real vacation, maybe I need to give myself permission to take one too.

Email me at joe@thesimplejoe.com or send me a text at 513.399.6468. Just say hi, I would love to hear from you.

You can get Simple Joe T-Shirts and other cool stuff at thesimplejoe.com/store

Check out what I'm reading at thesimplejoe.com/reading

If you share the show on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, please use #simplejoeismyfriend; you might get a free t-shirt!

Welcome to Simple Joe. I’m glad you’re here.

In today’s Simple Joe, I start with the wild story of Daniel Boone’s 14-year-old daughter Jemima being kidnapped in 1776 and leaving clues through the wilderness that helped her father find and rescue her. From there, we check in on Melbourne, Australia, celebrate birthdays including wrestling legend Bruno Sammartino, Super Soaker inventor Lonnie Johnson, Tony Dungy, Elisabeth Shue, and Trevor Lawrence, and look back at the first widely recognized robbery of a moving train, the founding of the American Library Association, and the launch of Instagram. We also celebrate National Taco Day, National Noodle Day, World Cerebral Palsy Day, and National Badger Day before getting into Tuesday’s Random Questions. Along the way, I talk about why I wish I had started saving money much younger, what I learned from buying a bar and grill in my twenties, the infamous Christmas gravy burn my kids and I still laugh about, a couple of strange body-measurement facts that have been stuck in my head for years, and why I think what often looks like confidence is really bravery. I also come back to one of the biggest financial lessons I’ve learned: be careful who you trust with your money, do your due diligence, and remember that sometimes the most expensive lessons are the ones that stick with you the longest.

Tuesday’s Random Questions

• What is the best advice you ignored?
• What is your funniest cooking failure?
• What completely random fact has stayed in your brain for years?
• What is something people often misunderstand about confidence?
• What is the best financial lesson you learned the hard way?

Email me at joe@thesimplejoe.com or send me a text at 513.399.6468. Just say hi, I would love to hear from you.

You can get Simple Joe T-Shirts and other cool stuff at thesimplejoe.com/store

Check out what I'm reading at thesimplejoe.com/reading

If you share the show on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, please use #simplejoeismyfriend; you might get a free t-shirt!

Welcome to Simple Joe. I’m glad you’re here.

I’m back home in Cincinnati after vacation, running on a little post-vacation exhaustion but happy to be behind the microphone again. Today we check the weather in West Milford, New Jersey, celebrate a huge list of October 5 birthdays including Ray Kroc, Steve Miller, Brian Johnson, Bernie Mac, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Mario Lemieux, Kate Winslet, Jesse Eisenberg, and Travis Kelce, and look back at the Beatles releasing “Love Me Do,” the debut of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and the beginning of PBS. We also recognize Rhode Island Day, National Child Health Day, World Meningitis Day, World Teachers’ Day, and World Space Week. That last one hits especially close to home after I got to witness two SpaceX launches during vacation, including an incredible nighttime launch visible from Daytona Beach. Then it’s Monday’s Interesting Headlines, with weird discoveries in Yellowstone geysers, a towering charitable stack of canned goods, skydivers coming to the aid of plane-crash victims, Venus flytrap-inspired robotics, and SpaceX launching three rockets in a single day. Pick the story you want me to explore for Thursday and let me know by text or email.

• “The weird trash that Yellowstone geologists retrieve from geysers”
• “Tower of canned goods sets unofficial record to mark Hunger Action Day”
• “These skydivers parachuted 3,000 feet to help people in a plane crash”
• “Venus flytrap-inspired robot hand material senses objects and grasps them under light”
• “SpaceX flies three rockets in one day, including a record trip to the station”

Email me at joe@thesimplejoe.com or send me a text at 513.399.6468. Just say hi, I would love to hear from you.

You can get Simple Joe T-Shirts and other cool stuff at thesimplejoe.com/store

Check out what I'm reading at thesimplejoe.com/reading

If you share the show on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, please use #simplejoeismyfriend; you might get a free t-shirt!