On this episode, Laura Grisamore conducts and co-produces a fantastic, superb, super fun, and really conversational interview with me thru Zoom for Episode #323 of the podcast. This is Laura's seventh time on the show.

After our introductions, we divide the interview into four parts:

1. I make some comments on how the podcast has come a really long way over these last two years and Laura mentions some thoughts on that. Laura also brings up how she's been recording quite a few audio interviews for her Project Unincorporated MN project.

2. Laura asks me "If you had a million dollars and you could get any type of audio equipment for your in person interviews, do you have a Wish List?". I answer her question by bringing up one of my favorite quotes "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" and we get into a very in-depth discussion on keeping the items we have for as long as they continue to work properly, how I'm super happy with the Zoom H4n digital recorder/mic we've been using for the In Person interviews since the podcast began eight years ago and that we'll continue using it for as long as it keeps working, and other related things like the items both Laura and I have kept as well as items that we've had to replace (like desktop computers).

3. We start the second half of the interview with Laura asking me if there's been any talk of Ai in my podcast world. I reply by saying i don't worry about Ai or trends. While I do benefit from Ai from time to time for things like autocorrect or helping me enhance pics on social media posts, I make it really clear that I insist on doing things the old-fashioned way as much as possible.

4. How much did you get into Atari and Nintendo during your childhood and teenage years? Laura and I get into an in-depth discussion on our using Atari and Nintendo when we were younger.

5. You recently had your 51st birthday, what did you do for it? I describe what I did for my birthday during the October 18th-19th weekend including the super special day I had at Ledges State Park with Dana Mintzer Leman, Zander Leman, and Robin Bear along with the in person episode we recorded at Ledges for the podcast.

6. Do you have any advice for someone about to turn 50, having just lived your 50th year?

7. For the rest of the podcast, Laura asks me a bunch of "Would You Rather" questions:

a. Would you rather watch only Black and White movies for a year or only animated movies for a year?

b. Would you rather live inside your favorite movie or would you rather have your favorite movie character as your roommate?

c. Would you rather never be able to re-watch a movie or never be able to see new movies?

d. Would you rather watch movies with Director's Commentary every time or random commercials every ten minutes every time?

e. Would you rather have to use dial up Internet forever or flip phones only forever?

f. Would you rather lose all of your photos or all of your music?

g. Would you rather your shoe makes a crunchy leaf sound everywhere you walk or would you rather smell like pumpkin spice forever?

h. Would you rather relive your favorite day or skip your worst day?

i. Would you rather spend the night in a haunted house or would you rather spend the night in a corn maze that never ends?

j. Would you rather have to carve 50 pumpkins or untangle 50 strings of light?

k. Would you rather get lost in a foggy cemetery or in a dark forest?

l. Would you rather have to eat only pumpkin flavored food for a week or would you rather eat candy corn for all meals in one day?

m. What was your favorite Halloween candy when you were a kid?

n. Would you rather have Yoda as your life coach or Dumbledore as your mentor?

8. Did you go to the Iowa State Fair this year?

9. Are you doing anything special for Thanksgiving?

This episode of the podcast was recorded on Tuesday October 28, 2025 and it runs 1 hour and 11 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Oleg Kyrylkovv courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Lisa Krain, and Wendi Roush. Enjoy!