Listen Up!

Well it looks like I'm going... Sorry, sounds like I'm going to start podcasting shows next year. Just another adventure I keep telling myself in being apart of this huge thing called the Internet.

I've been blogging for a few years know and writing about what ever comes to mind. In fact I've got two blogs, the one hear and then my Gaming/Techie style blog. Yup, I'll actually attempt two Podcasts, one for each of the blogs.

How will it go, I have no clue really, but I plan to jump right in and just go with it. I don't want to really write out a bunch of stuff or script the shows so much, but I'll try to at least put some notes together for each show and then wing it live more or less. Disaster about to happen? Perhaps, you'll need to tune in a listen.

I hope to try and do one a week. Wow, 104 shows in 2008... I must be crazy. I actually plan on keeping them short for now. Really short... short shows at about 10 minutes only to start with. Why so short? I want to make sure I can fill that time for starters. I'd like it to be an addition to my blogs only. Plus I haven't paid for the full version of the software and I'm limited to only 10 minute shows for now. Later in the year I'll see about extending them to a full 30 minute show. Yes after I can afford the full price on the software.

There you have it... I've blogged about it and now I have to do it. I need to be careful about the things I write about and say I'm going to do. Somebody stop me if I say I'm going to go Bungie Jumping... Please somebody stop me if I ever do that. See you all later and yes, you will hear more from me soon.

Once you go Digital, You'll never go Back

There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling the transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image; make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour Starting on February 17, 2009, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind TV Networks to the Outer Limits your homes.

The count down has begun alright and our analog, over the air, TV signals are going away, only to be replaced by digital signals. To learn more about making the switch over you can visit DTVAnswers.Com and find out what is involved. But my first question was, do we need to buy a new TV and like the theme from outer limits says, "There is nothing wrong with your television set."

Actually if you have a Cable provider or Satellite service, you'll be fine and they will send the digital signals to you. The boxes you have in place should already convert the signals for what your needing. Now if you have a new HDtv, then your more and likely going to need an upgrade to get HD signals. But the fact is, you don't have to upgrade to an HDtv, if you don't want to.

Now if you get some programs using an antenna or rabbit ears as some like to call them, then your going to be in trouble and will need a converter box. The boxes are going to cost about $50 to $70 to convert the signal over to your existing TV. Ouch you say? Check out the web address above, they have links on getting a coupon for $40 off, up to two TVs, to help with the cost of making the switch. So if you shop around, then you'll be out about $10, but once again, most of us are on Cable or Satellite and fine.

Now if you want to use this as a reason to go to HDtv... well sorry, its not an option and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I'd like an HDtv in the future and its nice to know that I can get one on my terms and that I'm not forced into. They might control the signals, but I control what I'm going to buy in the end and when I buy.

Merry Techmas

Wow, talk about the ultimate in Xmas gifts this year. So I love tech toys and electronic thingies and anyone that really knows me, knows about my past as a DJ and my love of LPs. What's an LP? Do a search on wikipedia and you should find it right away. Back to my story... a cool item found this year was a USB turntable, one that allows you to hook it up to a regular stereo if you like or use the USB plug to connect it to a computer and capture the music and save as an MP3.

This is what I thought I was about to receive, when I peaked inside the box. I should have known though, I mean why would this item not be in its original box. Then I noticed the words on the turntable... Technics 1200... the top of the line in turntables, used by DJ's worldwide and it was the ultra cool black model. I was speechless and never thought I'd own one of these. My wife and my mother & father in-law gave me an awesome gift and it was only the beginning of things to come.

Actually you could say that my Zune30 really started things off. An awesome gift for my anniversary and a real surprise too, my wife is full of surprises. So I set the turntable up and pull out the old dance albums and its great to hear that music again and it feels like forever since I've played them. I've got a lot of tunes to catch up on, with three huge crates of LPs to pick through. But all of those will have to wait, it's time to head to my side of the family for Techmas.

Ever had one of those Christmases that take you totally by surprise? That is what I felt when I opened the gift from my Dad. The UB802, 8 Channel mixer was a pleasant surprise and something I had on my list as a cool item for making Podcasts with my daughter. I really wasn't expecting this at all. So I tell my Dad thanks and said, "I guess you decided to purchase something off the Internet at last?"

"Something?" was his reply, "Have you opened the big box yet?" Not only did he get me the cool mixer, but the really cool MXL 990 microphone as well. I have the perfect setup for a mini podcast studio now. Granted the turntable is huge and not something I'll carry around as easy, but the rest is perfect and I look forward to learning more about Podcasts and doing some shows with my daughter next year.

It was truly a Merry Techmas for me this year. Check back in 2008 when I launch my various Podshows and we'll see how cool the new toys perform. Til then, Happy New Year to you all.

A Wonderful Life

Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you all, well all that will accept my wishes that is. Wow 2007 has finally come and gone. We've ran from place to place and passed out gifts to the family and friends.

So as I look at everything, I can't help but feel its truly a Wonderful Life for me. I'm blessed with the best wife and two loving daughters. I'm wealthy in family relations too and couldn't ask for anything more.

Year after year I'm asked what I'd like for Christmas and I've really got everything I could ever want. It's my favorite time of the year and time with family is priceless and the best gift I could imagine.

So I'm thankful and blessed... its all I could ever want really. Merry Christmas once again and have a very Happy New Year to you all.

The Darkside of MySpace

After less than 24 hours of setting up the MySpace account I got my first message from someone and I asked my wife if Ms. J (as I'll call her) was one of her friends. My wife had sent out a blast to her friends to add me as a friend. She replied NO! and we looked to see what was sent to me. How and where Ms J's friend had found me, I have no clue. The fact remains, this is the type of thing that happens on sites like this. So I post it just as it was written for you to see. The claim is someone is using a friends MySpace account. So here goes the message from Ms J's friend.

Hey do you come here often? I really don't, but couldn't resist checking things out. I'm glad I did. I liked your profile and decided to write you. I'm looking for a nice guy to be friends with at first. Yeah, I want to take it slow. I like being single. I hope you're fine with that. If you want to know more about me, here goes. I'm easy-going, curious and smart. I love reading, watching TV and biking. I'm also darn pretty and love wearing sexy clothes.

I hope you'll want to hook up but if you do, don't reply directly to this message. I'm using my best friend's account, and I don't want her to think you're writing to her. Please use my own e-mail instead: ? at yahoo.

Bye bye and thanks!

Now Ms. J is not suppose to know what is going on. Right! Let's just jump right to it, I really don't know any women that would say, "I'm also darn pretty and love wearing sexy clothes." followed by "I hope you'll want to hook up..." and I'm happy with that and not saying I'm looking for that. I just think its plain sad... I stated I'm married in my profile. I need to go back and add proudly & very happily married, not looking for Hook ups!

Thankfully some of my wife's friends have added me and I'm starting to find a few of my own friends online. It just seems odd that someone would message like that. It's also sad to hear the stories of husbands and wives looking for so called Love here, only to stumble across each others pages. Hello, they wrote a song that applies here, "Looking For Love in all the Wrong Places."

I'd like to think this is the last message I'll get like this, but I'm afraid to say that more & likely this is not the case. My wife and I forming a joint page could be an option to stop this, but I think having our own pages is fine and I like to share stuff like this. Facebook looks better and better every day. I haven't event touched on the real issues I have with MySpace.

Back on topic... Ms. J, I'm sorry your friend is using your account without your knowledge. Now as to the friend, I'm happily married and not looking to hookup, you might think about looking for people that are single. I guess listing I'm married is not enough. Oh and one more thing, the guy Tom that e-mails first at sign up and is added to your friends is real person and the one who built MySpace. Sorry I deleted you at first, I thought you were a bot and didn't want to look like a sap who only has the bot for a friend. No hard feelings I hope.

Social Networking Thang

Everyone is doing it these days... and you can't turn around with out hearing one of the big three it seems. So I've decided to give them all try and see what its all about. My little experiment in social networking on the web or off. Over the next year I'll have my very own Facebook site to keep up with, MySpace page just like everyone and will even use the Twitter site, as best as I can, for someone to know everything I'm doing. So we'll see how well they and I do through out the year with managing and keeping them updated.

Facebook is one that I've started to see more of in the tech circle. It appears to be similar to MySpace, but I'm finding my way around and liking what I've seen so far. In the end, it comes down to friends and contacts. So I have three on that site so far and I'm still learning all the ins and outs of the site. It appears really clean, but I haven't found an easy way to tell someone how to visit my Facebook page.

MySpace, well I've got it now... my wife has told me for the longest time that I should get one and that people will look for me or I can look for people. As of now I have one friend, my wife and I looked for her. How silly this sounds as I write, I looked for my wife on MySpace. She's really not that hard to find, I know where she lives after all. The best thing I can say is the friendly URL is available. But a ton of people must use it, I couldn't even find something close to my name and had to use one of my net user names instead. Take a look at my MySpace page if you like, it will be a slow process as I learn stuff here.

That brings us to Twitter. You know I can't really think that I'm someone that needs to be tracked really. Maybe I got it all wrong, but its a mini blog of sorts and allows you to post tiny messages about things your doing and you can do this from the web or cell phone posts. With twitter you can watch others that Twit or be watched as you Twit. It's tied into my Facebook and MySpace pages already, I've even posted it to the left hand side here. Here's a direct link to my Twitter page.

That's all for now, don't forget to check out my Gaming/Tech blog as well and have fun watching me and all my friends on the Net.

Well I did it!

Well I did it! I wrote a novel... a total of 50,000 plus words to be exact and in 30 days I might add. What to do next... I need to decide on a cover for the book, find and agent, sign with a publisher and make millions in sales and the next two books.


Come on! You didn't think I was serious about all of that, right? Actually now I'm going to take a little break and then I'll crack it open and look at what I've done. It's just a rough draft, but still I'm not going to toss it away. I plan to edit, tweak, rewrite, and even add to it.

I want to finish it out as best as I can and would like to have it all wrapped up by next November and write a sequel to the story. I need to work on the 30 day's of World building exercises, before I start the rewrites too. These will be easier and only take about 20 or 30 minutes out of the day.

The whole thing was a blast and I felt great at what I accomplished. Crazy thing, now that it's over, I feel like I missing something and should be writing more. I do feel that this is the best way, at least for me to approach something like this. You write like mad and just let things flow and and then you can come back and really tweak and fine tune stuff.

Will you anything on the bookshelves, not anytime soon, perhaps a sample at some point. I'd like that, but it will be sometime next year. I'll see what things look like around January, about the time I decide to give it a read and start jotting down some notes. For now, I just want to smile and keep saying, "Dude, you just finished writing your first novel... well at least the first draft."