Welcome in to the cool grandpa podcast. This is the podcast where we talk to grandfathers, adult grandchildren, and experts in areas of importance to grandfathers. Whether you're a new grandfather, a seasoned pro, or somebody interested in learning about relationships, this is the place for you. So come on in, join us as we learn together, laugh together, and support each other on the cool grandpa podcast. Hi and welcome into the cool grandpa podcast. I'm your host, Greg Payne. This week, we have just a fun episode. This is the 200th episode of the cool grandpa podcast. My guest and the person that's going to do, I guess a takeover of the podcast is Steve Owens from Fascination Street. And Steve is a great friend and a mentor and somebody that's helped me out a lot. Over the four years, it's taken me to get to episode 200. I also want to mention as we get going, we talked a lot about this a little bit, but I do have some merchandise that is now live in the bookstore. So I've got some polo shirts, some hats, a couple of tumblers, mug, I think a coaster or two. So not a lot, but some of these things have just the cool grandpa logo, similar to the polo shirt that I wear that you can see in some of the YouTube videos. And then I've got some other ones too that actually say like one cool grandpa with the logos. So check it out. It's in the bookstore. And you know, if you like something, if you got a grandfather in your life and you want to get them something cool, check out the merchandise. I think this would be a great opportunity to get them something that would recognize them being a cool grandpa. Now, I also want to take an opportunity to definitely thank my wife Karen Mangum for helping me on this journey. You know, we thank her publicly on this. There's also a lot of other people that have helped me out on this journey as well. And you know who you are. And I thank you. The list is way too long. I would be like an Academy Award speech here trying to thank everybody. But for everybody that's been a guest, that's been a mentor, that's been a friend, I really do appreciate everything that you have done to support me, encourage me. And you know, just help me keep moving forward with this cool grandpa podcast and this project and journey that I'm on. So cool kids, without any further ado, let's jump into this very cool conversation with Steve Owens. Hi, and welcome into the cool grandpa podcast. This is our 200th show. And I am super excited to have one of my buddies mentors, Steve Owen, from Fascination Street podcast is on to help me celebrate and have just a fantastic 200th episode today. So thank you, Steve, for taking time out of your day to join me and talk about the cool grandpa podcast. Well, first, Greg, let me say this. You have no idea how many people don't make it to 100, let alone 200. I think I see right behind you over there. You got a little got a little present for your 100th anniversary. Expect something. As we record this, you haven't quite hit 200 yet. So no spoiler alert, expect something cool to show up in the mail here in a couple of weeks, but bro. Oh, my goodness, 200 episodes. First, I mean, I gave you the clap. Well, that sounds weird. I clapped for you at the beginning. But seriously, over the seven years that I've been doing my show, I have, quote unquote, mentor with a small M, you know, lowercase mentored. I have helped some podcasters start up and I thought them struggle through some things. But of all of the podcasters that I have helped, which is probably close to 20, only one got to episode 100. And of those one, can you guess how many got the episode 200? Oh, I hope it's me. You are correct. That is how it works. Awesome. Awesome. You are amazing. Even my wife was so excited that you got to 200. She's like, Oh, my gosh, the cool grandpa. And I was like, yeah. And I and she goes, wait, that's the same guy that he's my grandpa's grandpa, right? And I said, yes, he is that guy. She's like, Oh, my gosh, I love him so much. Now. I hope it's okay with you, Greg. It's gonna be a little bit of a takeover here. Sort of a mashup or a crossover. No, it's just a takeover. I'm taking over your show. No, by all means. Greg pain. The cool grab by himself. I have tons of questions. But first, we're going to go all the way back. We're going to get into the way back machine and we're going to go back to May 2nd, 2020. Everybody. Well, everybody on the planet was mired in COVID. Everybody was suffered from COVID. We're freaking out. We don't know what's going to happen. We don't even know if we're going to see our neighbors again. What did you decide to do? You said, you know what, COVID? You can't stop me. You can't keep a cool grandpa down. I'm going to start my own podcast. Now, I saved a second 2020, but that's when episode two came out. So I have multiple questions. The first one is, dude, where did episode one go? It should be there. It I might have to go back and rerelease that. I don't I don't know. I have to because I was looking for it. And I know that I'm not the smartest kid on the planet, but I am not seeing. Well, hold on. Wait. Yeah, I don't see it anywhere, man. I got I got nothing for episode one. So that means that it came out before May. So your show started. Let's go with April. Yep. Of 2020 during COVID. Now, first of all, what may do you decide you wanted to do a podcast at all, much less one focusing on grandfathers? Well, I thought the best way I could talk to other grandfathers and talk to other people around this topic is if I had a podcast. I think just all in people up and just asking them questions, inviting them to dinner, I'd probably get a lot of yeses. But then also probably get a lot of well, let me check my schedule and I'll get back to you. But I figured with a podcast, people might be a little bit more inclined to say yes. And it would be an absolute fantastic way to keep kind of a documentation of what I'm talking to people about and be able to, you know, mine that for data later or come up with interesting stories down the road. Well, I commend that. And I think you're right. People would say, hell, yeah, I like free food. But then they would be like, wait, what are we talking about? Why? Who are you? How'd you get this number? So I guess my next question is, why did you feel the need to connect with people on the grandpa level? Like, I know it's grandpas and grandkids and, you know, all of the things that encompass grandparents, basically, you know, go in both directions, whether you're a grandpa or whether you have a grandpa. And occasionally it has ventured into, you know, the grandmas. But why was this subject so important to you? Why did you think that this needed to be a subject that was talked about? Well, I think on two levels, one, I wanted to be a good grandpa. Like most other people that come into these roles, I've never done this before. I've seen some different examples. But I wanted to hear from people that I thought had successful relationships. We're doing things, what I thought would be really cool to incorporate into what I do with my grandkids. And also, you know, not mess up those relationships. I think sometimes we hear about those stories too of people just miscommunicating, stepping on toes, doing the wrong thing. And I didn't want to do that. The other part of that too is I wanted something that was going to kind of wave the flag a little bit and go, Hey, wait a second. We hear all this great stuff about grandmas, but grandpas in that relationship is special and different. And I think I want to try to celebrate that a little bit, put that out into the world. Just so that grandpas kind of step forward a little bit, if they're hesitant, and then also making sure that people leave some space for grandpas to be involved in that family. I am going to have to push back a little bit. You said you felt like grandpas needed a basically a cheerleader because everybody talks about the impact of grandmas. I have not heard any of this talk of impact on grandmas. Was that a thing that people talk about? People are like, Hey, my grandma this and my grandma that it is. And you would be surprised with how many grandpa or a grandma related podcast or a grandma related articles and journals and everything that are out there. And even some of the things that are around grand parenting tends to be more focused on what grandmas are doing versus grandpas. You're right. I would be surprised. This is all news to me. My father's parents, they passed away. I think I was five one one passed away and six one the other one passed away. So there's not a whole lot of memory there about them. So as far as I can remember that there wasn't a huge impact on either of them in my life, but then my mom's parents. I don't have a whole lot of nice things to say about them. And neither does my sister, I found out recently. So maybe they should have tuned in to your show and got some pointers. Yeah, well, I have to get the DeLorean up to 88 and jump back and start maybe doing a radio program. Oh, yes. Oh, that'd be great. And then you can talk like this. See? Oh, that'd be great. Okay, so we're going to talk about a few things. We're going to probably jump all over the place if that's okay with you. So I asked you why you started a podcast. That's cool. Great. And I asked you why you wanted it to be focused on grandfathers. That's cool too. What did your wife say when you like most wives go, what's a podcast? But what didn't your wife say when you said, Hey, here's what I want to do. I want to start a podcast where I find out how to be and help everybody else find out how to be a cool grandpa. What's your wife's what's your wife's name? My wife's name is Karen Aaron. I just want to say thank you for for propping this guy up and being his cheerleader, because they always say behind a good man. It's a even better woman or whatever. And being a podcaster, it takes a tremendous amount of time way more than people think it does. So thank you, Karen, for sharing your husband with us for these four years, four and a half maybe. Thank you, Karen. This is almost as much your accomplishment achievement day as it is Greg's. No offense, Greg. Karen was absolutely fantastic in supporting me. She listened to me when I was thinking about doing this, when I was reaching out to different people like yourself and and some other folks. And when she, when I got started, I think there was a little bit of like, Well, let's see how long this thing lasts. All right, this is another one of Greg's interests that is going to fizzle out at some point. And she's been really supportive and suggesting people that I reach out to, which most of the time I do. And she's been really great and giving me some feedback, as far as the episodes where it's like, Oh, you should ask this guy this question, or you should ask them that question or some of those types of things, which then I'm able to then incorporate into the next interview, the next episode is like, Oh, yeah, that would be a great question to bring up and ask somebody. It's pretty amazing when you have this undiscovered gym of a cheerleader right there by your side. I mean, you know, she was your cheerleader in life. But when you're starting a podcast, which is, you know, like you said, it could be a willy nilly. Oh, how long is he going to do this for? But to have her right there cheerleading and making suggestions and even recommending people do that that goes so far. I can't tell you how in my, my show, my wife has met and introduced me to and suggested some of the most amazing and fascinating people and almost to a person, they say, yes. And it's, it's really cool to just have, because, you know, I mean, you're coming at this from, you know, being a grandpa and being a grandson, you're coming at it from the male perspective of this thing, and kind of the things that you had intended to talk about or broach on the show. And then she's coming at it from a completely almost uninvolved spectator level. She's like, okay, well, I'm a girl. So I've never been probably never going to be a grandpa. I've never been probably never going to be a grandson. But she has her point of view and her perspective, which informs some of the suggestions that she has made and some of the guests that she has, has directed you toward them. I think it makes the show more well rounded. If that makes any sense. Again, thanks, Karen. Yeah, it's been amazing. And honestly, sometimes there might be a little bit of embarrassment because she'll take my business card with the, with all the grandpa stuff on it. And then she'll run up to people and say, Oh, you need to be on the cool grandpa podcast. And you need to do this. And I'm a little bit like, Oh, we're out to dinner. But she sees this grandfather and grandson or granddaughter having this interaction. And she's throwing my business cards out and making introductions for me, which is absolutely fantastic. It is fantastic. And I wish I was in a restaurant where I was watching her do that on your behalf. It would, it would tickle me to no end. What was it that you wanted to accomplish when you started this? I know that that you said that you wanted to kind of, you know, tell some good stories and, and, you know, sort of be a cheerleader for grandfathers. But was there something specific like a specific goal that you had in mind other than that when you started the show? I think what I wanted to do to with the show is not only for myself, but then also be able to go out and possibly talk to other groups, talk to people about like, Hey, there's a resource that's not really being utilized as far as I can see. There's definitely more conversations going on now. But I feel like sometimes grandfathers, like I said, get called out to write checks for birthdays and sign in Christmas cards and things. And people that have had special relationships with grandfathers, that tends to impact them will bar more into their lives than maybe we, we really anticipate. And so being able to go out and talk to people and go, Hey, look, if you're not an involved grandfather, if you're not being intentional about building this relationship, you need to do it because I'm talking to people that are in their 50s, 60s, and plus, they're telling me stories about what really helped them get through middle school when they were 12 years old. And that came from their grandfather in a conversation or an interaction or something. And so it's both saying, Hey, you're important, but then also being able to share the information I've gathered over these episodes to go. And this is a way that you can do it, knowing that everybody's relationships different. It's like, Hey, there's multiple ways to to build that relationship if you don't have it. There is a musician, sometimes called the piano man, sometimes called the entertainer, but usually just called Billy Joel. He put out songs a little years ago, it's called Vienna. Are you familiar with the song? Oh, yeah, I love it. So I heard him on one of his albums, he did sort of a question and answer kind of thing. And somebody asked, what's the story with the her son Vienna? Like, what is that even about? And he explained that he was visiting his father in Vienna. And he saw Billy saw this, this old lady like sweep in the sidewalk. And he said, she was like 85, 90 years old. He said, Dad, like, what's with this old lady? Like, why is she sweeping the sidewalk? Like, why does she even have a job? Like, shouldn't she just be at home relaxing? And his dad said, you know, Billy, we treat old people pretty poorly in America. And, you know, look at that lady, she has a job. She has a purpose she feels needed. She feels, you know, wanted. And that helps people, especially later on when they get a little bit lonely, it helps them give a purpose, you know, it helps a purpose and it helps give them a reason to get out of bed every day. And every time I see a new episode of your show, hit my phone, hit my feed, I think about that statement that Billy Joel said, because what you're doing is you're shining a line on, you know, the grandpas and and what their contributions are in all aspects, whether it's, you know, to their grandkids or even their kids or just being a role model in general. And I think that is really, really cool, what you're doing. And like I said, every time I see a new episode of my feed, that's the first thing I think of besides, you know, I can't, I can't wait to push play, but it's it's always that song. So again, well done. I love it. Do you find or did you find previously, or maybe even now that that that was the case that we kind of just sweep old people into the rug and kind of forget about them and, you know, moving on to bigger and better things. Yeah, I think I think so. And I think to the demographics have changed somewhat, because when I think of my grandfather helping to build a swing set, he seemed really ancient and beat up and old. And some of that is the how many people that were working, factory jobs or were farmers or something along those lines, that's really decreased over time as we've moved into an information technology. Also, how long everybody's living has changed. I think at the turn of the 20th century, it was maybe guys lived into early 50s. And then by the time we're, you know, just turned into the 21st century, I think it's now mid 70s. So that's huge over. Yeah. So over that, you know, period of time, we've gained like 20 something years in longevity. And along with that, that's also influence. And now we're seeing people taking better care of themselves in general. And so we've got a longer period of time to be grandparents and to be grandfathers, especially, we're not necessarily beat up as the greatest generation and the silent generation and the generations before that. So I think the idea that we can have a longer influence has changed things quite a bit. And that sounds about right. I was talking to a guy a couple months ago, and he was explaining that his his great grandmother just passed away. And I was like, you know, your great grandparents, like, who what? Like, I I barely knew my regular grandparents. And this dude's talking about his great grandparents. He's like, Oh, yeah, like, we would go hang out all the time. And I was just like, what? So that makes sense that, you know, since since we're not having to work so hard. And and direly, right? We're gonna be grandparents and we're gonna be hanging out for a while. Do you think you accomplished what you were trying to get out of this? Like, do you think that you have nailed your goal? Like, are you done? 200? That's it? We're done. He did it. He did it. Everybody. That's it. It's over. Well, not quite ready to turn the lights out yet on the program. I do think that I have achieved what I was setting out to. I've made a number of, I don't know, alliances and friendships with people in the grandparenting space, and in the grandparenting community. I've been able to talk to people different experts that I've had on as repeat guests before that are from some fairly prestigious institutions. And so I feel like on that level, I've kind of hit what I wanted to hit. But I think there's still some more room to go. And there's some areas that I might even be able to dive a little deeper in. Oh, sweet. I don't want to ask what they are because I don't want to spoil everybody. You know, when you were talking about how grandparents are living longer and in some cases, getting younger. It reminds me that there was a TV show back in the late 70s, early 80s. It was called Sanford in the Sun. Are you familiar with the show? Yeah. Well, I bet you didn't know this. How old are you right now? I am 54. You are five or six, maybe seven years older than Red Fox was when he started that show as old as he looked in that show. He wasn't even 50 yet when he started that show, which blew me away. And also aunt B from the Andy Griffith show. She was like 40. Yeah. She looked like she was 100. She was like 40. And one last thing which nobody will care about. The television program Golden Girls, the oldest one, Estelle Getty, who played Be Arthur's mother, right? Yeah, she was the youngest person in the cast. Yeah. Yeah. What? So everybody's getting younger to your point. So that means they're going to be grandparents for a lot longer than, you know, maybe our grandparents or grandparents. And so I think it's great that you are putting out there. I mean, this is this episode is not going to help anybody. But you've got 199 episodes that are going to help people become better grandparents. And I think you're doing the Lord's work, dude. There should be an award for that. Not like a not like an Indian statue. I'm sorry, Native American statue, nothing like that. But like, there should be a Peabody or a piece a lot. There should be something that you get for all of your good works. Dude, you need like a Red Cross trophy. That'd be awesome. Well, and I hope it comes with a large check because that was one of the disillusionments with starting the podcast is that I thought within the first 15, 20 shows, I would be making like $10,000 an episode or something. I'm going to have to stop you right there. You're not it. I might have missed the forms. Yeah, you know what? You passed that line. There was a line when you were walking over to to get to get your podcasting shingle. As it were, you walk right past that line. Yeah, it is not financial rewarding almost at all, especially at the beginning. If it ever does become financial rewarding, congratulations to to both of the people who have made that happen. But I feel and you know now, I mean, you're 200 episodes deep, you know that the gratification is it comes from within it's it's from a job well done. And it's from, you know, be in the men's that you have shown yourself to be for these four and a half years. Okay, do you have a favorite episode or a favorite guest? Oh, good question. You've had so many. Yeah, I think there would be ones that are different for different reasons. So one that was, I think almost about a year ago, with Cynthia Covey Haller. And she had written and co wrote the last book with Stephen Covey, which was live life in Crescendo. And that was that I love that one because that whole book and what she was putting forward was definitely like, Hey, just because you kind of start to hit your middle age years, that doesn't mean you just kick back and start watching jeopardy. It's, you know, get involved, get get busy, get doing something. And it's not just for the individual to do something, but also because our impact can be greater, whether it's with grandkids or a community or whatnot. So I thought that was a great book. And I thought that she had a lot of great information to hopefully inspire people to get moving. Another ones that I've liked to do hold on one second. This young lady is Cynthia Covey Haller. Did you say that was about a year ago? Yes. You ready for me to blow your mind? Okay. It was six months ago. No way. It was March 23rd of 2020, March 8th of 2024. Check you out net net crazy. Anytime does that? Yeah. Who's next? Who else you get? I think some of the experts that were around, like youth and adolescent issues, interviewed gentleman right now, my mind's going blank. So he'll probably kick me in the shins. But a gentleman that works with adolescents, addictions, I've kind of had him on once a year, because there's an update from Michigan from the University of Michigan that goes through a big survey of middle school and high school kids about, Hey, what are you doing? What are you taking? How often are you doing this? And I find that's important for grandparents and even parents to know what's going on in the schools. What's what are your kids getting exposed to that you may not know about? And then being able to, you know, educate us because we came from the generation of like teaching chonk, man, it was like, you know, some guys smoking weed behind the high school. And that was kind of for the most part, what we knew that and then Miami vice kicked in. So, you know, it was that and then it was running cocaine out of Miami. You know, and there's so much different stuff going on now with whether it's THC stuff and vaping or whatever that grandparents and parents need to be aware of that. And then also being interviewed and talking to people at the clay center for young healthy minds, and talked a few times with them about the anxiety and depression and in some of the things that hit kids and how it hits kids, just so that, like I said, that that is grandparents and parents were better armed and understand what's going on. But there's also the science behind it. So it's not just, oh, so and so got expelled from school. And so therefore, there's this huge epidemic of whatever is going on. It's like, well, that might not be the case. So having a couple of those experts and then also just the grandfathers, the the grandchildren, especially the granddaughters seem to have really interesting stories. And maybe that's because they're kind of I'm hearing what a granddaughter that reaction is versus what I've known as a grandson. And some of that has been where grandfathers and again, go back to kind of the farming is where, you know, these 12 year old girls were expected to go out and sling haybells along with brothers and cousins and everybody else and do some difficult things where as they were going into middle school and high school, it was like, Hey, I can do hard, both physical things and then just mentally taxing things. I mean, it's not fun slinging haybells in the heat, or disking a field with all the dust and everything else, but being able to be able to go Alice trusted with a big old tractor to go disk a field or go do some different things. And what that means to those, those people. Real quick, I just want to give a shout out to that addiction specialist you mentioned, I think it's them as Richard Capriola. Yes, Rick. That's him. Yeah, tell me more about the clay center. For those who may be not familiar so much with it. Yeah, Jean Bernstein is somebody he's both a grandfather as well as runs that that youth center. And that's attached to Massachusetts General Hospital. They've got a relationship there. And what they do is they both work in a clinical settings as well as being able to do some research and gather research right for publications. And the last time I had him on, we were talking about the surgeon general had come out a couple of years ago at this point with recommendations and kind of an alert saying, Hey, look, teen loneliness is absolutely huge. And it's an epidemic. And it's actually been started and been growing since the mid 70s. And so what I talked with Jean about was what grandfathers can do? How do we get involved? How do we help kids? How do we maybe pull parents aside and say, Hey, look, I'm seeing something here. You might want to check it out, follow up as a grandfather. This conversation would be happening. Yeah, it would be like, you know, it's not like I'm pulling my neighbor aside. This is me like pulling my kid aside and saying, Hey, you're a kid. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Hey, you know, I've been hanging out with the grandson granddaughter. Here's a couple of things I'm seeing, you know, and because parents don't always see everything because it's a day in day out interaction. So there's little changes. There's little things. Sometimes grandparents come into it having had a break for a few months or few weeks or whatever. And you might see a difference in behavior that the parents, because it's such a slow movement may have missed. Gotcha. Wow. Well, thanks to Clay Center. Yeah. Do you think that this is a little bit maybe off topic? But do you think that maybe COVID exacerbated that particular loneliness situation in teenagers? I think so. And it may have fed into something that was already going on. Certainly, from what I learned about it was that this has been an issue that's been growing since the mid 70s. And so it hasn't been suddenly smartphones and suddenly COVID and suddenly these things. A lot of those can exacerbate what's going on. Certainly. And I think with COVID, especially depending on the state, the area, the jurisdictions and things like that, how long kids were out of school, not allowed to be in gyms, not allowed to play sports, whatever that is, that that certainly led, I think, to enhancing that sense of isolation. A lot of them have gotcha. Do you have merch? Right now, I mean, I see I'm interrupt you. I see you wearing a cool grandpa polo. But do you have merch that's available for other like-minded individuals? I am in the process of getting some setup. So I'm using just from behind the scenes, I'm using Spotify, or not Spotify, everything's a phy. Printify to create some mugs, create some polo shirts, some t-shirts that I'll be able to start put out onto the website. So if folks like the logo, they like what they see, and they want to be a cool grandpa, or they want to give something to a cool grandpa, I am in planning to have that out shortly. Now your logo has a big fat bushy beard and a mustache, we'll say go to you, one might say, but you do not seem to have one at all. So what's going on there, buddy? Basically, when I try to grow a beard now, it has a lot more white in it than I want. And so the wife definitely thinks it's on the sexier side. So Karen is definitely a pro beard and even longer hair would be nice for her. But I'm a little bit more of like, I don't mind being mistaken for somebody that might be like 45 48 versus 54 35 38. Yeah, I got you. Now, I don't know if listeners of your show are aware, but on October 16 of 2023, I really felt like it's been further away than that. But October 16 2023, none other than you yourself, Greg Payne, the cool grandpa was a guest on my show. Now, first, I want to apologize. Because why did it take me three years to get you on my show? I don't know what is wrong with me. I'm a terrible, terrible person. But that was a great episode. I get a lot of good feedback on it. And even back then, almost a whole year ago, I says to you, I says, Greg, you don't look old enough to be a grandfather. And people who aren't familiar, they can go back and listen to either that or listen to all 200 episodes of Greg show and find out how he became a grandfather when he looks like he's 12. But that's neither here nor there. You told me about the merch. You told me about some of your favorite guests, which is hard. That's that's a big deal. That's hard, especially since you're up 200 episodes now, man, is only going to get harder to pick your favorite child. Do you have a dream guest? Like, who is somebody that you if if guests lists were bucket lists, who's on your guests buckets lists? Well, I will tell you one that I'm not going to get now was Jimmy Buffett. And the reason for that is ever since I started listening to his music, he's got this song Captain and the kid. And it's about his grandfather. And it's about his relationship with that grandfather. But having that relationship with a grandfather that used to sell ships that used to do all these things. And then that grandfather aged out and is now raking leaves and grandma's backyard. But he wants to be out on the ocean. He wants to do that stuff. And then it goes into the grandfather died. And so I did reach out to his folks. And at least I made it through the first first layer, where it was like, Hey, Greg, this sounds like a great idea with, you know, we're going to pass it up the food chain and see what's going on. And, you know, I suspect that as his help was getting bad and interview requests comes in and things like that, it just wasn't going to work out. So he's one that I would have loved to talk about that experience that he had with his grandfather. The one that I think right now that I'd like to hear get on is Chris Paul, the former NBA player, wrote a book called 61. And that book in some of the foundation work that he does is in memory of his grandfather that helped raise him and was kind of a pillar in the community. And he's a guy that I think I'd really like to get in contact with and have him on to learn more about that relationship. Interesting. I was completely unaware of this. How did you find out about it? So one of those connections I was telling you about is his grandparents, Grandpa, she united out of White Plains, New York. And they had him at one of their activities come in and give a presentation. And some of those folks had alerted me like, Hey, Greg, have you heard of this and everything that Chris Paul's doing? And so he's somebody that I've reached out to even wrote a formal letter over to his foundation going, Hey, I'd love to have him on here. Here's me like you wrote a letter with a pen and paper. Yeah, it's signed it to how did you get it there? I put a stamp on a what? There's a if you're saying stamps, there's e stamps. This is a real stamp. A real actual tangible. How weird was that? Did it feel weird? It did. But then I also thought to like, this might be a better way to get in. Somebody's going to receive it at least somebody at the foundation, open it up, and it's either going to get passed on or or whatever. But it probably have maybe a slightly better chance with a physical letter than just another email flying in. Although most people have been responsive to the email requests. Very cool. How do you how do you find your guests? Some of these I'm just finding out through connections. Once I started getting, I think probably I don't know how many episodes in it was definitely asking people like, Hey, who should I get in contact with that you think would be a great guest and has a great message to share or I might be doing some research on a particular topic. And then I, you know, just off the Google thing and then sending off an email going, Hey, I'd love to talk about men's mental health. Are you willing to come on the cool grandpa podcast and talk about that? Cool. And so far, that's been pretty successful for you. Yeah, overall, most people have been saying yeah. Is there anybody who's told you to take a flying leap? You don't have to give names. Is there anybody who's like, no, bro, what are you crazy? A couple, but they've been super, super nice and cool about it. And one was President Jimmy Carter. And that was probably a year into this. So before he went into hospice and everything else, and knew that he had retired, but it was like, Hey, he would be a guy that would be cool to talk to about a family about being a grandfather. And then also former president Bush wrote him which led to the first one of the second one, second one, GW, Jr. Mm hmm. And their folks were really nice. And came back and said, Hey, just, it's not going to fit into a schedule. Wow, look at your region for the stars. That's pretty impressive. I want to talk about a thing that you did. Okay. Oh, my grandpa's grandpa. You wrote a children's book. It is called my grandpa's grandpa. I love this book. But thank you. I think you know how much I love this book. We've talked about it a lot. I have given this book away to so many people. Grab my grandpa's grandpa. Where is it available? First of all, working people get it. It is on Amazon. And it is also on my website, the cool Grandpa podcast. I come. Yeah, dot com and dot us, that you are a grandpa. Why did you write this children's book? My grandpa's grandpa. I don't want to spoil the story. It's almost some would say in the title. But why did you feel the need to write this book? My grandpa's grandpa. Well, I thought it would be interesting from the standpoint of having this idea that as grandfathers, we tend to have about 100 years of family knowledge stored up in us from when we were little kids and hearing our grandparents stories to what we can pass on to really? Where did you find that out? Oh, that was just that's just me. That's just my my own guess, because with my grandfather being born less 19 is 19 18 19 19 to today, that's you know, and understanding his stories and even my grandma's stories and stuff like that. That's that's like almost 100 years. Oh, wow, just having that stored up, right? You know, I don't know every little thing. But I think if we think about it, a lot of us have that kind of a family knowledge. And some some have more some have less. But I thought the idea of being able to pass on some of that information. But then also with the way that kids ask questions about like, Hey, did you have this when you grew up? You know, like, Hey, did you, you know, what smartphone did you have when you were 12 years old? And it's like, smartphones weren't a thing when I was 12 years old. Let me tell you what was going on. You know, that sort of thing where it's being able to share those those insights and try to tie in the two generations, right? What's going on with the grandson? And then what's his world like? And then trying to figure out, okay, so what's the relationship to what my grandfather might have been going through? Either at the same time or just in general? Um, for those eagle eye viewers who saw me texting just now, I wasn't I wasn't being rude. I was actually texting Greg. And so the last time we talked in an official capacity, like whatever back in October on my show, when we talked about my grandpa's grandpa, you had mentioned that there might be some, um, some more stories in that, in that same series. Uh, is that still a thing that's happening? Is there, has that happened that I missed it? No, I've been starting to put those stories together. These are kids books, so they're not, you know, huge novels or anything else. But, uh, one is the next, the next oldest grandchild, her name's Nora. And the idea of Nora and grandpa's big adventure. Uh, oh, something along that line of, of like us going off and having a big adventure together and doing that, that was a test and you failed. So I'm pretty sure that when you were on my show, um, I feel like this is my idea that I pitched you, but I might be just remembering myself in a more grandiose fashion than I should. Maybe you pitched it to me. I don't remember, but so my grandpa's grandpa, that would be, you know, like if your grandkid is reading this, and this would be like your grandfather that, right, that they're talking about. I'm pretty sure that we talked about my grandpa's grandma. Yeah. And my grandma's grandpa and my grandma's grandma. Where's all this at? Come on, bro. What are you doing? You got a little series here. I do want to do that. Uh, my grandpa's grandma. I do want to do that one because breaking news here. Uh, so it turns out my grandmother was working as a, uh, shoe sells woman in Beverly Hills and Cesar Romero, the great, sexy Cesar Romero Joker, the Joker, the Joker himself. Uh, back in the day was hitting on my grandma and was asking my grandma out. I don't know if that's going to be a story for children. No, no, no, but it's just that it's adding it's, it's, uh, it's, I wanted to bring something a little fascinating to the podcast. That sounds really cool. I like that. Um, oh my gosh, you know what, you can just email me that story. That sounds awesome. But also, okay, so your wife, Karen, she's grandma, right, to your grandpa? Yes. Well, she also has a grandparent's two of each one could argue. So my grandpa's, oh, and I think we even talked about like my grandpa's other grandpa, right? Because you had two of them. Yep. Come on, dude. You're killing me with this. I mean, it's been, I think that's it's been almost a year and you still don't have 11 more books out. What's going on? I'm dragging my feet on this. Um, oh my gosh. Hey, uh, so what do you think is the future of the cool grandpa podcast? What do you see? I know like when you go to a job interview with, they say, where do you see yourself in 12 years? I don't care about that. I care about where you see yourself in five years. I want to know where you see the podcast in one year. Are you going to make it to 300? I know you want to do it in one year, but are you going to make it to 300? I'm not sure. At this point, I'm kind of playing it, uh, by year and seeing what's going on. Um, I'd like to. And like I said, I'd really like to be able to get to be kind of the source for, for grandfather information, you know, whether it's going to be faith based stuff or it's going to be just fun wacky stuff or it's going to be kind of heavy information type stuff, whatever that is, really kind of use it as maybe a spoke for either with some other organizations, some other folks, or even just some other activities that I'm going to end up doing. So you're, it sounds like you're a little on the fence about whether you're going to get to 300, but I'm going to go ahead and promise everybody listening and everybody watching Greg will get to 300. I brought this, that's a promise from Steve Owens that Greg will do a hundred more shows. Um, the world needs what you're doing. Uh, especially I feel like it. I don't feel like these times are getting any easier or any better. We might be sort of just whittling into decay, but what you're doing is, you know, it's, it's kind of helping stave that off a little bit and, um, think you're going to keep doing it. It's too cool. You're too cool. You're too grandpa. Wait a minute. My grandpa's grandpa. It's available. Did we say Amazon and on the white website? Yep. And where can people find? I mean, I know that people are listening to your show right now. So they obviously found it, but if they happen to be sharing this episode with somebody else, or if they have to be watching on YouTube, where can they find the rest of your show? Where's your show? Like, where is it? I'd say broadcast. Where can they find your show? Whether it's audio or video? Uh, Apple and Spotify, most of the major podcast applications that are out there. And then also the website has links to all the episodes as well. So cool dash grandpa dot us or dot com. Uh, we'll take you there and then you can do it. Is it both? It's both. I've got the dot com forwarding over to the dot us. Gotcha. And what if somebody was looking for that mysterious episode one? Where would they find that? Is that on your website? I think it's on the website. I I'll have to go back and check that one. And just a quick synopsis on that one was I interviewed, uh, buddy of mine, uh, Dean Nelson, and talked to him about what it was like to start having, uh, granddaughters because he came from having all boys. Well, uh, three boys and a girl. Um, and so he knew how to really interact with the boys. And then I was talking to him about what's it like now having a bunch of little granddaughters that you're having to interact with. And so that was a great episode. Fantastic. Well, I'm sure everybody was on the edge of their seat looking and waiting for episode one to come out. That sounds weird. Welcome to episode 200. We're all still waiting for the first episode. Well, Greg, um, look, I know this is your show, but I have to ask this. This is what I say on my show, but is there anything we didn't talk about or I didn't ask you about that you specifically wanted to talk about today? Like did we cover the big bits? I think we covered the big bits. Um, I think the one thing I would say is that, uh, I really appreciate you for being one of the mentors, uh, the introductions that you've made for me have been great. The advice you've given me has been great. Uh, people that want to get into podcasting thinking like what we were joking about that you're going to hit 10 K and in revenue within the first 30 episodes. You can't do that. You got to come at it with a little bit of a punk rock attitude of, you've got a mic, you got a system and you're just going out there and you're doing it. And, uh, if money comes your way, that's great, but don't expect it. Yeah, I think it was the great, um, Mahappaganday. I think he said, uh, be the change you want to see in the world. And so as far as podcasting, just be, be the podcast you want to hear, right? Like do this for, for yourself, but also for what you think is missing, right? Which is why people usually start, hopefully that's why they start them. It's not for the money. A lot of people start and they want to be Joe Rogan in six months. It's never going to happen or should it? Um, but I think that those are, those are wonderful words. Um, you know, don't go into this with the expectation that you're about to be rich. I think that's the biggest contributing factor for why people normally don't even get 200 episodes. A little backstory. Uh, I was the first fascination street podcast, but I wasn't the only one I might be now, but, uh, I think I had been doing this about a year when I found out there was like three or four other podcast called fascination street and, uh, they're all gone. Uh, nobody, I'm telling you nobody gets to 100 almost almost nobody gets to 100. So, um, you're doing great. You're killing it. Uh, uh, here's to 100 more. I, uh, I'm expecting I'm counting on 100 more. I expect 100 more out of you, young man. Um, and I just, it brings me such joy every time I see an episode hit my phone every single time. It makes it brings a smile to my face. I really enjoy seeing what you're doing and who you're doing it with. And you're doing a little world's work, man. You're making the world a better place. And, um, but that's pretty special. Nobody does that these days. It's awesome. Thanks. Thanks. So kudos to you kudos to episode two. Andre my man. I can't believe it's already 200. I can't believe it's already been four years. Yeah, that's the part that blows me away. Like, uh, wow. Just wow. I did it at the beginning. I'm gonna do it now too. I backed away so I didn't blow out anybody's ear drums, but right. Well done, dude. Hats off. If I was wearing one, I'd take it off. Um, I'm very proud of you. That sounds really silly. And I don't know vain on my part, but I'm very proud of what you have accomplished and the fact that you're still doing it. Your, um, your amount of your word and your integrity knows no bounds. So well done, sir. And seriously, everybody could get this book. I know, I know he probably talks about this book more than you want. But guess what? I don't, I don't talk about it more than you want. Go get this book. My grandpa's grandpa. This book is amazing. And I'm also expecting more books in that series, sir. Okay. Um, well, listeners, uh, huh, all the cool kids. What do you call your listeners? I know you're the cool grandpa. What do you call your listeners? Um, I haven't thought of any kind of cool name for them yet. Well, it's just got to be the cool kids, right? The cool kids. I love that. Because that encompasses the parents and the, and the grandkids and, hell, that encompasses the grandparents. Everybody was a kid. Yeah. I'm glad I'm thinking about the cool kids. Yeah. Fine. My listeners are street walkers that came from a guest. I loved it. I kept it. And I'm giving, I'm giving you cool kids. All right, cool kids. That's what you got to do. Okay. Cool kids like that. Greg, I, I turn your show back over to you, man, tell everybody what's up and where they can find you and all the things I've been Steve Owens from Fascinations Street. Thank you. I, I'm so honored that I got to do this with you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Oh, you're welcome in folks. Cool kids. What we'll do is in the show notes for this episode, I'm going to put the links to my conversation with Steve on in here so you can go back and listen to that. And then I will also see if I can dig out episode number one, the super secret episode. And maybe I'll put a link into the show notes as well for episode one. And you can hear maybe hopefully the improvement from that first show into this show. So, you know, I'm going to say goodbye to Steve. And I hope to talk to everybody and remember until next time, stay cool. Thank you for listening to the cool grandpa podcast. If you've enjoyed this episode, please do me a favor and share it with a friend. That's the best way you can help us to expand our community, as well as get the news out about how valuable grandpas are in the lives of those kids. If you'd like to leave me a comment or shoot me a potential topic for this podcast, please go to www.cool-grandpa.us, look for the comments tab, fill it out, hit submit, it's as easy as that. Until next time, remember to stay cool. [Music]
