The Mason Minute

There are many controversial issues in the world right now. And vaccines are definitely included in that polarizing list of subjects. That fact hasn’t stopped Stanford researchers from working on a new vaccine. This nasal spray vaccine could protect against coughs, colds, and flu, as well as bacterial lung infections and perhaps allergies. We’re a long way from seeing it happen, as testing in lab mice is still going on, but this is a totally different way for vaccines to work. For hundreds of years, vaccines typically fought one thing and one thing only, which is why there were...

We all have different reasons to look forward to the weekend. And I often think it has to do with where we are in life that determines why we’re looking forward to it. When you’re younger, you’re just looking forward to getting a day off. Later, perhaps going out on a date, to a concert, or just to hang with friends. Then you get older, and you'll look forward to having time to travel, relax, or even sleep late. I think I’ve reached the point in life where sleeping late is the highlight of the weekend. If you d...

Do you still have a printer along with your home computer? Or perhaps I should ask if you even have a home computer anymore? I got my first printer, a dot-matrix model, back in 1989. And while it was fun to have access to that technology at home, the cost for ribbons and ink kept rising. Over the years, I’ve gone from dot matrix to inkjet. But sadly, the expensive printer I have now is out of ink. It dried up a long time ago. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t use the equipment for a few ye...

As I said yesterday, when discussing the sad hours, any day that you can learn something is a good day. Well, I hit the motherlode by learning two things in the same article. First, the sad hours, and then about cognitive shuffling. For those who have trouble falling asleep or, in my case, getting back to sleep, cognitive shuffling might help. We all have problems sleeping throughout our lives, and many factors contribute to it. Like many, I find that the cause of my sleep issues isn't always the same. But maybe this doctor is onto something… Click Here To Su...

I’ve often discussed my goal to learn something new every day. It doesn’t matter how big or how small, I just love learning, anything. The other day, I was reading an article about sleep, and I learned two things. It was two for the price of one. First, I learned about the sad hours. Now, perhaps for some, they’re like, " Have you been living under a rock? The sad hours happen between 1 and 5 AM, and it’s the time when many people, for lack of a better word, feel sadness, anxiety, stress, and other negative emotions. And those em...

I remember back in 1995 when the Internet popped into everyone's stream of consciousness. Everyone was trying to figure out how to use it and what they could do with it. People were still trying to understand browsers. Well, it didn’t really happen overnight. That perception reminds me of what we’re experiencing with artificial intelligence right now. AI has gone mainstream in just a short time. But for many, it’s still confusing. Most don’t know which tool to use, and when. I’ve been involved with AI for five years, and now use it almost every day at work. A...

Whenever someone finds out I produce a podcast, they ask me to describe it. And if you've listenedto the Mason Minute for any length of time, you know it’s not easy to explain. There’s no single topic or theme. It’s just my view of the world. Well, this week, someone has finally explained the podcast perfectly. The company that hosts my audio files, Blubrry, has named me their podcaster of the month. I’m not sure why, but I’m truly honored. And while they asked for a quick bio and a couple of lines describing the podcast, t...

I’m getting up on my soapbox today, but don’t think this is some old man rant, because it’s not. This is the problem I’ve had most of my life. I talked about this briefly yesterday in my Road Warrior video blog. I realize products change all the time, but I get the feeling that companies don’t want to tell us when this happens, for fear we’ll switch to another product. The face wash I use every day has a new formula. It looks different. It feels different. It smells different. I know have a similar issu...

I’m not someone who’s often accused of having trust issues. And I guess, that’s something I should be proud of. When you’ve been in a relationship as long as I have, you typically don’t think of things like that. Now, perhaps in my younger days, there was a time or two when it was questioned, but that was long ago. But the other day, I found myself in a situation that tested my trust. And, in complete honesty, I called myself out. This had nothing to do with another person; it actually might be considered irrational...

It’s Valentine’s Day, a day that celebrates love and romance. And with that, you normally think of special songs, like love songs. For some reason, I often think of the Love Boat theme from the old TV show. It talks about love, that’s exciting and new. My love is not so new, and to me, that’s actually a good thing. Sure, when love is new, there is some excitement, but as time goes on and love changes, it becomes something more special. Perhaps not as romantic or passionate, but the feelings are much more intense. They're deep. An...

Home shopping channels have been a TV craze for decades. But it looks like the remaining players will be filing for bankruptcy shortly. QVC and HSN's days are numbered thanks to the Internet. They can’t survive. I remember friends who were obsessed with the home shopping channels back in the 80s. They would watch for hours and hours on end. Now that we can shop for anything online, there really is no point to TV shopping channels. In my lifetime, we’ve gone from downtown shopping districts to shopping centers to enclosed shopping malls. And then from TV shopping to t...

The NFL unofficially wrapped up the season yesterday. Sure, the big game was on Sunday, but yesterday the Seattle Seahawks had their Super Bowl parade. But many people throughout the area weren’t able to celebrate. The city of Seattle announced that any student missing school yesterday would be issued an unexcused absence. And while I understand the school system taking the hard line, I’m sure there are many disappointed children. For the last few years, the cities of Kansas City and Philadelphia have looked the other way when students miss school on the day of their parade. I’m no e...

There’s a TikTok video that looks to be going viral. Now that happens often, but the one thing that stood out to me was a video from a father of three here in Nashville. I read about the video online. His premise is that he’s no longer welcome at fast food restaurants like McDonald’s and Taco Bell. He feels restaurants are discouraging indoor dining and are encouraging you to use DoorDash or the drive-through window. Heel pines for the days when McDonald’s was fun like it was in his youth. And I understand his frustration. A lot has...

Long before it was a movie, Groundhog Day always made me chuckle. It’s silly to think that so many people could be upset by whether a rodent sees their shadow or not. And of course, last week, when Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, for some reason, that means six more weeks of winter. Now we all know the season technically lasts six more weeks. But at this point, everybody is tired of snow, or in our case, ice. Most Winters aren’t horrible here in Nashville, but we seem to have one storm of some kind each and every year...

When people ask me how I like my job, I tell them I’ve never worked harder in my life. My careers in radio and the music business could be intense, sometimes frantic, but with both, there was always a lot of downtime. You wouldn’t think that working for an advertising agency would be quite as demanding. But it is. I go nonstop for eight hours a day, and by the time I get home, I’m tired. I grab my dinner, try to relax a bit, and then try to put the daily podcast together. But I find many n...

You know what day it is. It’s the day of that big Bad Bunny concert. I guess "concert" isn’t the right word; perhaps I should say ‘performance'. Bad Bunny, who almost everybody in the world knows, is performing the halftime show at this year's Super Bowl. While I’m not a fan of his music, I have no problem with him performing. In fact, I rarely pay attention to the halftime show anyway. I know for some people it’s a big part of the event. The Super Bowl is more than just a football game. For some, it’s all a...

Let me pose a question. Are nostalgia and history exclusive of one another? No, I’m not talking about feeling nostalgic, I’m talking about nostalgia, the love of things that are old. If people love nostalgia, do they also love history? I don’t know the answer, but I do know that most people who don’t like history aren’t fond of looking back. I love nostalgia. I love old pictures. I love stories of nearly anything from back in the day. I loved history as a subject in school and always enjoyed delving into it in depth to learn m...

Do you ever have a situation where you think the issue is probably more in your mind than it is in reality? Let me explain. For some reason, our house feels colder when it’s 40° outside than when it’s 20° outside. And it’s not like we’re changing the thermostat. During the winter months, we keep our house consistently at 66°. But I find the house feels colder when it’s 40 outside than when it’s 20. Technically, the thermostat reads 66°, just like it should, but it doesn’t feel the same. I like to think that because the heat pump isn’t running when...

When you think of wildlife, you don’t often think of Nashville. Okay, perhaps you think of the wildlife that’s happening on Lower Broadway, but Nashville isn’t known as a rural area. But, as I can attest, we still have lots of animals within the city limits. Within just a few miles of my house, many families of deer, a few coyotes, and even some water buffalo on a nearby farm that do escape every now and then. But I learned just the other day, February is the most dangerous month for wildlife. Because of the weather, the daylig...

One of my old bosses used to say that nobody likes change except for a wet baby. I always knew what he meant and agreed, to a point. One thing I’ve realized is that most change is a slow process. It happens behind the scenes when we’re not paying attention. When we notice, the change seems abrupt. The way we watch sports on television is changing. I should say it’s constantly changing. The regional sports network FanDuel Sports has announced it will shut down in a few months. People are upset because most live team sports are now he...

The Winter Olympics are almost here. They begin in a couple of days, with curling among the first events. I’m not the biggest Olympic fan, but I do keep track of what’s going on. One thing I wondered about recently is why some sports, like figure skating, wait until the last minute to announce the Olympic participants. The figure skaters who will represent the US were announced a couple of weeks ago. To me, that seems like very short notice. I’ve never been a world-class athlete, but I'd want more time to get focused. I would think that w...

Yesterday, I was listening to a playlist on Spotify. And one of my favorite country songs, that many have forgotten, was on the playlist. It was Steve Earle’s ‘I Ain’t Ever Satisfied'.  And naturally, it got me to thinking. As Americans, or for that matter, even as humans, is satisfaction possible? I’ve always viewed myself as a perfectionist. That’s both good and bad. One of the bad parts is that even when something goes well, I’m never totally satisfied. I’m always looking for ways to improve, to make it better. Is this just a problem here in...

I often see jokes on social media, talking about people wearing pajamas when they shop at places like Walmart. Now, I will admit it’s not actually a place where people dress up to be seen. But often times, the people you see there may be wearing what they sleep in, but it’s not necessarily pajamas. But the other day, when we were shopping there, I saw at least two people wearing full winter pajamas as they pushed their shopping cart down the aisle. The meme had come to life. It was apparent that those people didn’t care. Perhap...

I finally got a haircut yesterday. I know it shouldn’t be a big deal, but just finding the time in my schedule is often a challenge. There’s one thing that’s fascinated me about getting haircuts for a long time. And that’s the difference between a barbershop and a beauty salon. While very different, they’re actually very similar in vibe. Does that make sense? Now, I get my haircut at one of those chain locations that caters to both men and women. And the salon talk is kind of a cross between a barbershop and a beauty sal...

The truth is a funny thing. And I don’t mean funny, ha ha. I mean, funny as in peculiar. Right now, we live in trying times. Many people believe the truth doesn’t exist. They believe what they want to believe, and don’t care what anyone else thinks. But sometimes, it’s absolute. It’s been a challenging week here in Nashville. With a severe ice storm over the weekend, many people are still without power, now six days later. Everyone wants answers. And the reality, for many, is that there are no answers yet. Obviously, they don’t like that...

Experts say you can tell a lot about a person by how cluttered their life is. For some, it’s a cluttered office or a messy car. I’m guilty of the former, but not the latter. I don’t know why, but I’ve never liked trash in my car. You’ll never find empty cans or fast food bags on my floorboards. I don’t wash my car often enough, but I keep the interior pretty clean. The city of Hilton Head, SC, has announced a new law that goes into effect next month and fines people for having too m...

I finally decided to venture out yesterday and brave the remnants of the ice storm that is still crippling Nashville. Since I can work from home, I haven’t left the house since last Thursday. But I had a regularly scheduled doctor's appointment to get to. Many of the roads were much better than I expected. As expected, it was a little bit rough getting out of our neighborhood, but one thing that shocked me was the number of cars on the road and the speed at which they were driving. I have years of experience with ice and snow, an...

Recently, the government changed the famed food pyramid, which guides us on where to focus our diet. I can’t tell you how many times in my life they’ve tweaked this pyramid. Some of it is common sense, and some of it is political. It always has been that way. Now it looks like protein is more important than it has been recently. I wonder if this change in the food pyramid has also prompted some restaurants to introduce new menu items. Have you seen the commercials from Subway and Chipotle promoting their protein options? Perhaps they’re tied to thi...

Being featured on the national news can be both a blessing and a curse. Nashville is often featured nationally. Sometimes it’s good, but often the news is negative. Yesterday, we made the news for the number of power outages we had on Sunday. The storm that blanketed the US didn’t hit as hard initially. We only got a couple of inches of snow, but the ice that followed didn’t make things any better. It didn’t seem like much ice, but it was just enough to take down trees and powerlines and cause tremendous headaches for our power co...

I know this is a silly question, but when you’re making Campbell’s Tomato Soup, what liquid do you use as instructed on the can? Some people use a full can of water, others, a full can of milk, and then some half-and-half. I’ve actually done all three options throughout the years. My preference is a full can of milk, but I can’t do that anymore since I don’t process the dairy as well as I used to. Many just use water, but to me, the flavor is lacking when you go that route. Recently, I’ve gone to t...

Earlier this week, the TV weather people started waving red flags, telling us that severe weather was on the way. It could be snow, ice, or a combination of both. They just didn’t know. But still, we wait. As I learned a long time ago, you can never predict when these weather events will start. Originally, the severe weather was supposed to come through on Friday, but it kept getting pushed back. We’re still waiting to figure out what’s going to happen, but here in Tennessee, we're really just waiting to find out how bad it’s going to...

Please don’t be concerned with the title of today’s podcast. I promise there is nothing political about this. It actually has to do with a meme that is circulating on social media. I have a feeling it’s more about getting people to engage with a post than it really has any significant value. This meme always starts with the phrase, 'Most Americans'. And there are numerous versions. It always has some stat that involves something that we do or don’t do. And every time I see it, I wonder where they got this information. It can be about...

I understand a lot is going on in our world these days. But I haven’t seen any news stories about this, and that surprises me. A few months back, I had an issue with a package taking three weeks to get from my accountant to my mailbox. It’s just 2 miles away. And Nashville‘s main post office is directly between our two locations. But it’s not just me. I have friends who didn’t get their Christmas packages in time for the holidays. Plus, my parents sent my sister a holiday package that didn’t reach her until last w...

The mood here in Nashville has shifted over the last couple of days. You can feel the panic as the weather people tell us we could see severe weather over the weekend. Sure, TV meteorologists love to incite panic. I usually don’t pay any attention to these things. Still, when I saw news online yesterday about Atlanta preparing for severe winter weather, I knew we had the potential for the same. We expect not only several inches of snow but also ice. While I don’t enjoy the snow, I can deal with it. But when we start getting ice...

Over the last few months, I’ve talked more about sports than I usually do. Here in the US, it’s big business. And it has been for years, but the metrics keep growing. The price of winning in professional or college sports grows exponentially. Yesterday, I woke up to the news that the Buffalo Bills had fired their head coach. After nearly a decade of winning seasons, it still wasn’t enough. He didn’t make it to the Super Bowl, let alone win the Super Bowl, and that was unacceptable. Our winning has always been important; today, there are no e...

Today is Dolly Parton‘s birthday. It’s her 80th. And the governor has proclaimed that it’s Dolly Parton Day. That makes some people very happy, and it’s rubbed others the wrong way. Because it’s also a federal holiday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And of course, this is getting political. Some in Tennessee would rather we celebrate Dolly Parton every year rather than MLK. Many wonder whether this was made political on purpose or by coincidence. It’s sad that the world still has to make a federal holiday into an argument about race relations. The question was...

For most of us, the first time we eat cheese, it’s usually bright orange in color and wrapped in plastic, and not really cheese. After that, most of us encounter it coming out of a green cylinder that we shake over pasta. Many of us call it Parmesan cheese, but representatives from the Parmesan region in Italy want to change that. Because they feel that’s not an accurate representation of Parmigiano-Reggiano. In Europe, the only cheese called Parmesan comes from that specific region. But here in the US, we take liberties with the term. And their worldwide marketing grou...

On Thursday, Verizon Wireless users suffered a nearly day-long outage in many parts of the country. Sadly, it’s not the first outage for a major cell phone service. I understand that technology is constantly changing and improving, but at some point, we have to face reality. Many people can’t afford one, let alone another outage. So much of our life has become cell phone and Internet-dependent. And a while ago, the services were considered luxuries; they’re necessities. There needs to be systems in place to prevent outages like this. These are not just personal tools; they are busine...

It may seem simple, but I know a few people who wish we’d go back to the old days when we had just four or five television stations to watch. Those days are long gone, and that’s both good and bad. We do have a lot of choices these days, and for many, the question is straightforward: cable or streaming? For the last few decades, cable television was one of our only options. But the costs continue to rise every year. In the last few years, streaming services have debuted, and while many people prefer cord-cutting, the fact that...

If you’re a college sports fan, for decades, you’ve likely followed the story of whether to pay the athletes. Of course, everything changed just a couple of years ago, and now student athletes can sometimes be paid up to half a million per year to play a sport. Of course, the majority of those players are men and played football or basketball. But the effect of this money has changed the two primary sports in different ways. Basketball players rarely stay in college, let alone the same college for more than a year. In football, some players move from...