As a lifelong Louisiana resident, with a dad who served in the U.S. Army, it probably wouldn’t surprise you a bit to know that I was raised with guns in the house. More than a few, in fact. My dad’s job in the Army and later National Guard was as a Firearms Instructor. In fact, he taught people how to properly instruct others on firearms safety. As his oldest child, he practiced his instruction on me, to the point where I could have taught the safety class at about age five. Read more

Sometimes I’m just overwhelmed by how much the internet, specifically search engines, has changed our lives. A few nights ago, my lovely wife and I were watching one of our favorite British cop shows, “Inspector George Gently,” on Amazon Prime. (I highly recommend it – GREAT show!). Read more

I’m about to turn 61 years old. I can tell you, as a cancer survivor (bone cancer in my 20s), I seldom considered that I might still be around at this age, but I am thrilled to be here. I don’t feel my age every day, but every now and then … Read more

My brilliant youngest daughter is almost finished her doctoral program. She is so smart and so focused, even at 25 years old, she sometimes just blows me away. She finished high school and college early and is just flat-out smarter than me! Since I can’t really counsel her on her studies (many days I have no idea what she’s talking about 😊), when we talk, I like to focus on things she doesn’t have time for, like her own state of mind and outlook for her life. Read more

Note from Mike: It’s been a while since I brought my Straight Talk audience one of these videos. Today, I’m introducing someone we at Blue Cross consider a Thought Leader. To us, a thought leader is a person who is working to solve problems in health care and health insurance and leading innovations. Read more

One dear love in my life is what my wife calls my “tractor time.” Our house sits on about an acre of land, which creates quite a few mowing opportunities during the year. Each year, I mow the full lawn around 25 times at about an hour each. Read more