Podcasting has taken over my brain. I’m currently working on three major projects, all podcast-related. The first is an update to my ebook, Take Control of Podcasting on the Mac. I’m updating the book for new versions of the software covered in the book while adding a few new ones and dropping Audacity, which I can no longer in good conscience recommend to beginners or even intermediate podcasters. We’re aiming for an August release to coincide with my second major project.

I am preparing my talk at the New Media Expo in Las Vegas for mid-August. I’ll be sharing the podium with Ed Vawter and we’ll be covering GarageBand ’08 and podcasting and the use of audio filters/plug-ins in podcasting. I have my hotel reservation and plane tickets and even got a ticket to Coverville500 so I can see Doctor Floyd live (Jack’s favorite show) and Jonathan Coulton. I’m very excited. Originally, we were all going to go but we decided to save our pennies to take Jack to Disney World so it’ll be just me attending. Still, I’ve never been to Vegas so I’m excited about this trip.

Finally, I am preparing a new podcast called Our Stories. The premise is that everyone has a good story in them (at least one) and I want to capture and present these stories. This is hardly a new idea. There are shades of This American Life in here but the intent is to simply let people present their stories with only limited prompting from me. This is both fun and very scary as going up to strangers to chat them up for something like this is well outside my comfort zone. And, I must admit, that’s part of my motivation for doing this: to challenge and stretch myself.

Tags: Podcasting, writing, keynote

If this is my midlife crisis, I'll take it. I've been having a strong burst of creative energy over the last few months which has been slowly building. I've purchased a new, updated copy of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and the associated work book, I bought a guitar and software to help me learn to play (and boy do my fingers hurt!), I've started podcasting again (new episode last night!) and I even went out and bought a mixer and microphone to take my podcasting to a new level, and I am starting a new podcast (even registered a domain and have started work on the website for it as well as the plan for the show). This last project is one I've actually wanted to do for a few years now and am finally getting around to. I'll post more about it when I am ready to go public. I need another month or so of setup and preparation (yes, it's not just a sit down, turn on GarageBand and start talking, this one requires some planning and effort).

I am not sure where all of this creativity is coming from. But I'm glad it's here and it's happening. I actually think NaNoWriMo is the likely root cause. By forcing myself to do that, I discovered just how far I can go if I apply myself. And I realized that sometimes you just have to stop making excuses and sit down and get to work. And my whole life philosophy has shifted thanks to that happy discovery. Now I am making the time to do the things I truly love and it feels amazing. I cannot recommend it enough.

Tags: Podcasting, music, guitar, Creativity

After a a hiatus of more than a year, I'm finally back on the podcasting wagon again with a new episode of Take Control of Podcasting on the Mac, the companion podcast to my ebook of the same name. I'm doing something fun with the newly revitalized show. I am going to be building a home studio for myself including buying new audio hardware, creating a better acoustic space, learning more about audio plugins so I can produce better sound, and experimenting with new hardware. But rather than just doing this and producing a new show with the better technology, I am going to podcast the process. I will talk about my research, what I have found, what I am looking at, solicit opinions, interview other podcasters and slowly add in the changes so people can see how the show improves (or at least evolves) over time. In this way, we all learn together. At least, that's the plan. This process will be a nice lead-in to our presentation at the New Media Expo this summer as well.

I have to be honest: it felt good to do a show. There's a reason I took up this hobby in the first place. It's nice to be reminded of that and have a chance to play again.

Tags: Podcasting

Ed Vawter and I will be co-presenting at the New Media Expo in Las Vegas this summer. Our session is entitled GarageBand '08 and Practical Podcast Plugins: Enhancing Your Podcast. I'm very excited to be getting back out there again. After running two podcasts, writing an article and a book, I let podcasting fall by the wayside and have done little to keep up with it. But all of that is changing. With this expo coming up and because I let my own interests take a back seat to all of our family drama in 2007, I am finally getting back out there. As a result, I am actually planning on going much farther than I'd gone before. I will be outfitting a home studio, getting new audio equipment, exploring plugins (beyond the basics I've always used), experimenting with new software, and even working on sound proofing materials to improve my recording space. What will be fun is that I plan on podcasting the entire process so my listeners will learn as I learn.

So, this is going to be a fun year for me as I reconnect with a hobby I enjoy and prepare to speak in Las Vegas in August.

If you are interested in attending the expo, please register via this link. It will benefit me down the road, even a little.

Tags: Podcasting, Speaking

I’m finally getting better. About a week after I turned 40 I felt an all-too-familiar pain. Back in 2006 I had a kidney stone and for one day, I was in agony. When I felt it again I knew immediately what it was. And I got very upset, not because of the pain, but because it was Jack’s 8th birthday and I didn’t want to take away from it with all that I knew I would go through over the day. So, I put on a smile and dealt with it as I got him off to school. Afterwards I turned to Ann and told her what was going on and we began our day-long trip to the doctor’s office, to the pharmacy, to the place to get a CT scan. At 5 to 9 at night, we even managed to make it to the polls to vote in our primary before I had Ann drop me at the Emergency Room (on my doctor’s recommendation) where I spent the night on a morphine drip.

I spent the next two weeks in varying states of pain and finally the stone passed last night (though it hasn’t hurt in over a week -- it had left the confines of my ureter and entered my bladder) and it only hurt for a very brief, very intense moment as it came out.

Of course, now I have a wicked bad cold which is annoying. But aside from that I finally feel life returning to my otherwise battered body. I had no idea how constant pain can just wear you down (which is probably why I caught the cold in the first place -- I usually have a rock-solid immune system). So, long story short: kidney stone bad but I see the light at the end of the tunnel now.

In other news, I have the following items to share:

• Endless Ocean for Wii rocks. Jack and I both love the zen-simplicity of just swimming around and checking out the gorgeous scenary.
• Easter’s been fun so far. Mr. Bunny left Jack a nice clue-trail around the house leading to a basket and some toys in the dryer. We also went to church and then to a friend’s house where, among other things, we got to watch three little boys dance to Kraftwerk’s “The Robots”
• I’m going to be presenting at a conference this summer, I’ll have a real post about this soon. But the short version is that it’s about podcasting so I have to get off my butt and get back to podcasting so I have some practical and current experience. I’ve decided to take my game to the next level and will be investing in some real equipment. More on this later.
• A friend gave Jack “Heroscape” for his birthday. I’m really enjoying it. Not sure how much Jack likes it yet. He’s far more obsessed with his Bakugan ball things (which appear to be THE hot toy right now. He bought some on Thursday with his birthday money and when I... I mean, the Easter Bunny... went to get some yesterday, they were all sold out. I must admit, they are pretty cool.
• I’m very sad about Arthur C. Clarke. I just re-read 2001 and am now re-reating 2010. I will then re-read 2061 and maybe even buy a copy of 3001 and read that.
• My friend Jon gifted me in iTunes MIKA, Life in Cartoon Motion and it is in heavy rotation now. My God I love it. It’s the second coming of Freddy Mercury.

I think that’s enough for now. I want to get back to my book...

Tags: Sci-fi, Podcasting, Wii

My review of WireTap Studio has been published and is up on TidBITS' website. I really enjoyed playing with this tool and as much as I am huge fanboy of Rogue Amoeba's products, I have to admit that they've been leapfrogged by Ambrosia. Of course, that means that the next releases of Fission and Audio Hijack Pro will both be very exciting as I have no doubt that they will, in turn, leapfrog Ambrosia.

I would love to start producing podcasts again, especially my long dormant Take Control of Podcasting Podcast. What I lack is a studio (I had to move my desk into the back of the kitchen for many reasons -- right near an old, noisy refrigerator) and every day my aging 1.25GHz PowerBook G4 just seems slower and less able... we're going to get a new, hot stuff iMac soon and when we do, I fully expect to go a little crazy on that and other projects. So, I'm itching to do more with these audio tools but don't feel I really can just yet.

For now, I'm content to digitize old cassette tapes and clean up the audio as best I can.

Tags: writing, tidbits, mac, audio, Podcasting