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We're arrived at the end of The Middle. This is the eleventh episode, and it is the finale. It's longer than normal, and vulgar language is used (in mostly fun taste!), and I really hope you like it. It's called "Pressing 'Go'."I don't think I can adequately explain how much this show, and your listenership, has meant to me in the last seven months. I didn't expect to have an audience for an amateur, drifting podcast, but - surprise! - you listened. I am so grateful. Thank you. I hope you got something out of listening. I hope you know that my way is only one way to go through life. You can do whatever you want. Seriously! Do whatever it is that makes you happy. Just remember to be thoughtful and kind along the way. I think this show has a longer shelf life than just these seven months. It's just a feeling I get when I listen back to the interviews in these 11 episodes. So, if you know someone who is getting interested in podcasts, please share The Middle with them. I've been so happy to hear from strangers and also from people who I haven't talked to in a while. I'd like that to continue.The iTunes link is here, as always, and you can find the show on a myriad of other platforms - Stitcher, Soundcloud, and Overcast (my personal favorite).Lastly, I need to thank everyone who has leant their voice and their heart to this show - John Wernecke, Tanner Smith, Lindsay Ratowsky, Annelyse Giovannitti, Matt Archibald, Matt Barnes, Ryan Hohman, Mike Bonner, Robbii Guliano, Anne Li, Maria Maggio, and my family, whose support is the electricity in my brain wiring and the blood running through my veins. Thank you for being such a wonderful audience. Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you. Thank you.

Anne Li is a talented, budding journalist and a great friend. I've seen her earn opportunities because of her work, including a wonderful internship this fall with NPR in Washington D.C and I'm very proud to know her.I've visited her at Northwestern University in Evanston, where she's a senior and is a part of the Knight Lab. We've talked a lot about journalism and its place in the world, but in this episode, we chat about her, a history nerd, going back to D.C., how finding purpose is different as an adult, what she wants from this new internship, and plenty more.This is the penultimate episode of The Middle. The next time you hear from me, it will be on the finale, which looks like it will be a bit longer than normal. If you'd like to subscribe so The Middle comes to your phone or computer automatically, the show is available on iTunes, Overcast, Stitcher, TuneIn, Mixcloud, and a few more places. I'd also recommend listening from the beginning, from episode one, if you have the time.If you're an iTunes subscriber and have a few spare minutes, give the show a rating - it helps. Thanks for listening!

This is one episode I've wanted to produce since I started the show six months ago. Robbii Guliano and I are travel partners and wildly great friends, driving and flying around the country at a moment's notice, sleeping on couches. The picture above is from our annual trip to the Ashland, Ohio, July 4 wiffleball tournament, in which we've only ever won one game.In this episode, he picks the music and we - from the roof of his downtown Cleveland apartment - talk about his trek through law school, how he avoids taking himself too seriously, and, later on after we'd gone inside, the value of travel to a fulfilling life. Just in the past two years, we've gone to San Diego and Los Angeles, New York twice, Chicago many times, Newport, Rhode Island, and we embarked on an epic college football trip - five games in four states in five days. We've learned a lot and met many people and made many new experiences and new friends.There's one more episode left before the finale. If you'd like to subscribe so The Middle comes to your phone or computer automatically, the show is available on iTunes, Overcast, Stitcher, TuneIn, Mixcloud, and a few more places. I'd also recommend listening from the beginning, if you have the time.If you're an iTunes subscriber and have a few spare minutes, give the show a rating - it helps. Thanks for listening.

Mike Bonner covers Mississippi State University sports for the Jackson Clarion-Ledger in Starkville, Mississippi, which is far from Boston, Massachusetts, his hometown. He and I haven't seen each other in more than two years since we worked together for a few months in Iowa, but we talk constantly because this is 2015 and managing that is increasingly easy. But when we were both somehow invited to the same wedding, we wasted no time catching up. In this episode, one of my absolute favorites of the season so far, Mike and I talk about making peace with the past, how technology can sustain relationships, and how he became a groomsman at the aforementioned wedding without ever having met the groom.There are more episodes left (!!!) before the finale. If you'd like to subscribe so The Middle comes to your phone or computer automatically, the show is available on iTunes, Overcast, Stitcher, TuneIn, Mixcloud, and a few more places. I'd also recommend listening from the beginning, if you have the time.If you're an iTunes subscriber and have a few spare minutes, give the show a rating - it really helps me out. Thanks for listening.

That's Matt Barnes, next to cult hero sports guy Gus Johnson. Matt is the focus of this episode of The Middle.He and I met in 2009 when he so courteously complimented my two-minute segment on live TV. It was my first time on live television, and I was nervous, so when he went out of his way to write me a message, it amplified my adrenaline and meant a lot. He was a big deal to a lot of us Ohio University graduates and certainly still is.Matt works as a TV sports reporter in Columbus, Ohio, telling stories about Olympians and national champion football teams and Super Bowls and plenty of others. Recently, he told the story of Zach Farmer, a 21-year-old Ohio State baseball pitcher who was given a terminal cancer diagnosis. It's a tough story, but it shows Matt's professionalism and talent, which he's had since far before he and I met.He's been featured in national commercial campaigns, he's been on billboards, he's won plenty of awards...so, as I normally do, I asked, "what's next?" He told me he doesn't look at "next" the same way I do. He's good now, content, comfortable, and I admire the hell out of that. It's something I haven't yet figured out.We talk about expectations and how he stays level, and then we make some jokes and meander through lots of topics. It's a fun one.There are three episodes left before the finale. So, if you'd like to subscribe so The Middle comes to your phone or computer automatically, the show is available on iTunes, Overcast, Stitcher, TuneIn, Mixcloud, and a few more places. I'd also recommend listening from the beginning, if you have the time.If you're an iTunes subscriber and have a few spare minutes, give the show a rating - it really helps me out. Thanks for listening.

This is something different. A few notes: There are some curse words in this episode. Enjoy them. Or don't. Your call.Also, you might want to plug in some headphones for the best listening experience.Thanks to Matt Barnes, Ryan Hohman, and the vulgar, hilarious Maria Maggio for lending their voices to the show this time. The most recent episode of The Middle is with terrific, fun guy Matt Archibald. All the episodes are available here on the show page, on iTunes, and on, like, every other podcast service in the world.

That picture above is of my friend Arch (Matt Archibald) at the Arch in St. Louis. As you can probably tell, he's great. The pun wasn't lost on him that day.He and I are part of a group that shares common characteristics. Those traits - we're always laughing, little things don't bother us, etc. - are what make us friends. No one embodies the "Fun Guy Spirit" more than Arch. He works as a video producer (while wearing many other hats) for the University of Oklahoma's athletic department, and when the Sooners came to Columbus for March Madness, we chatted in the stands before he went down to the sidelines.He talked about what it's like to have an audience for his work and how he's finding work/life balance. It's a great conversation, so I got out of the way and let it breathe.Arch - as he's wont to do - has started a quintessential Fun Guy venture. He's started a Tumblr where he's writing about the new things he's doing in 2015 - 52 new things in 52 weeks. It's a perfect idea, and I can't wait to see what he does next.All the episodes of The Middle are available on iTunes, Overcast, Stitcher, TuneIn, Mixcloud, and a few more places. If you're an iTunes subscriber and have a few spare minutes, give the show a rating - it really helps me out. Thanks for listening!Subscribe to the email newsletter!

We all know people who just get us. No matter what's going on, you understand what's going on in the other person's brain, and what that person is feeling, and how they really are. For me, Annelyse Giovannitti is one of those people. We've been friends since seventh grade, and little has stood in our way since.In the third full episode of the show, Annelyse gets me a little wine-tipsy, talks about a few years teaching at a primarily black school in Jacksonville, and then her and I swap stories about our grandparents. Finally, can men and women have meaningful friendships?The first episodes of The Middle are available on iTunes, Overcast, Stitcher, TuneIn, Mixcloud, and a few more places. If you're an iTunes subscriber and have a few spare minutes, give the show a rating - it really helps me out. Thanks for listening!Subscribe to the email newsletter!

I've already mentioned her a few times, so it's about time I talked to Lindsay Ratowsky. The Californian turned New Yorker is the creator of Fifty Coffees, the site that sparked the idea for this podcast. Her site - where she interviews the creatives in her life and blogs about who they are and what she learns from them - was named one of the best 35 personal portfolios on the web.Aside from her site, Lindsay and I talked about her amateur photography, about having intimate conversations with friends in public places, and about what she's working on now (it's the coolest story about how far a good conversation can go).Oh, also: I'm calling this episode "2.5" only because in between the hefty in-person interviews, which I can turn into longer shows, I'm going to include shorter episodes like this one. Turns out I like to talk to people. Who knew? So, more of these are coming in the near future. The minis might just be set in karaoke bars or basketball arenas, too. The show is available everywhere. No joke! Stitcher, iTunes, Overcast, Soundcloud, TuneIn...I just put it all over. And! If you could give the show a quick rating on iTunes, I would really appreciate it! Thanks so much for listening.Subscribe to the email newsletter!

Subscribe to the email newsletter!Behind the lens of that camera, Tanner Smith is an original. He's caring, interesting, quirky, weird, intelligent, and he's my best friend. In this episode, he and I talk about the concept of home, and comfort, and contentedness, and how our priorities have changed since we lived together for three years in college.I also talked briefly to Lindsay Ratowski, the creator of the Fifty Coffees site that inspired me to start this show. The full interview with her will be available as a mini-episode in the coming weeks.The first two episodes of The Middle are available on iTunes (!!!) and should be on Overcast, too, if you listen to shows on that wonderful app. Thanks for listening!

In the pilot episode of The Middle, I explain the idea for the show and avoid being hit by that big fern branch.Then, my first guest is John Wernecke. He and I talk about his recent, big decision, and about comedy, ambition, and being two white guys.Sign up for the email newsletter, which means you'll get an email when I publish new episodes. The show is available on iTunes (!!), and will be on Stitcher and Overcast soon.