I am in a situation I hate right now. i have lots of audio in the can, lots of ideas for getting some actual episodes out – but no damn time to do it. WTF? Why does it happen like this?

Got poked by friends online asking “Whatever happened to Its A Green Hat?”. I am starting to sound like a broken record – it’s in the works  - really it is.

Enough. I’ve got to get off my ASS and just frickn’ do it!

Rick

Well, not really.

But seriously - I recently had the opportunity to guest host The Canadian Podcast Buffet. It was an open call for hosts for the show on #147 and so I decided I would put my hat in and offer to give back to the Community that I have had the pleasure of being part of for the last couple of years. Next thing I know - I got chosen AND I was paired up with The Scarborough Dude to pull this off. At first - we were BOTH really busy, but by chance I was in Toronto for work and I suggested we meet up for pints and a record of #148 at one of his local watering holes. After some more back and forth - it was a done deal.

You can listen to the episode here if you like - I quite liked pulling it together and editing it up for Bob and Mark. More importantly - I got a chance to really sit and talk with The Dude. We had met two years prior at Podcasters Across Boarders but over the two years since we met - we had probably only talked for maybe 3 hours TOPS before this record. Call it strange or fate - but we just connected and talked and talked some more. I had an amazing time (and the beer and wings were good too) and I made a new close friend.

Now what did The Dude make me do?

He made me realize that I have some great stories to tell and that I should seriously start putting them to the recorder to preserve them. Who cares what for or how it fits - all that shit works itself out. (yes I said SHIT and didn't bleep it - The Dude must be rubbing off on me). It's a matter of who for - and that’s an easy one - for my family and for me. You can come along on the ride if you like - I'll have some sort of structure to the stories - but it's about practicing the craft of storytelling and preserving memories.

So what's in the can? I've got some nice ones of being a Father over the last while - about my kids and whatnot. I've also got a great one about CPB 148 record, meeting The Dude and becoming a "Keeper of The Rock" before it sets off on an important journey.  Lots more to come - if you're interested - pop me into your RSS feed or check back again.  This is going to be a fun journey.

Rick

You know what? i should really start to use this space a little more. you know - like post something once in a while.

I am musing with the idea of actually regularily posting up here - things of interest that are not really work related but still interesting enough as it is. Likewise - it's my area to play with audio and podcast type stuff - so i should get back to that - really I should.  You see I have a wide range of places to post - do I need annother? There's the work blog and the family blog. I opened this URL, mainly because I thought it would complement the podcast I would like to produce - also on a more regular basis. It ultimately comes down to "why"... and "where" I guess.

Do I have deep things I want to share? Is this a "online diary" of stuff I want to put up? is there a reson or a purpose to why I write - other then to practice? Tough call. I read a lot of other bloggers - a lot of them actually are quite good and have interesting theories and ideas that they want to share. On the other hand - there are a lot of people who just write so that they can write and say they have a blog. What makes me want to write things and put them up for others to read and what is the reason i am doing it?

why?

I don't really know right now.

I really don't.

Rick

I've got some stuff on the go - a little busy with work and catching up with family. I did some mental housecleaning a week or so ago (awesome) and combined with with some major decluttering of the house (with the help of the WHOLE family). Very nice indeed.

Have some ideas for recording some stuff. I've been carrying around the recorder for a while now, but not pulling it out over holidays or cottage time. How do I manage to make it a habit, other then just pressing "record". :) Practice, practice, practice - it will become a routine. It won't become a regular occurance, unless you decide to make it a habit, right?

I find this player a little bit of a pain in the butt. it's working now, but it is rather small. Do people really know they can hit play and make it work? I think I might dabble a bit on what options exist to make it happier. hell - I might even extend it and put in Silverlight player instead - just to mix things up a little.

Hey - I just noticed that for the first time, i didn't get an error message when I hit my main page. Strange. Oh yeah - I have to get around to looking at hosting once again. My current provider is "transitioning" to a new one.

Later!

I recorded the audio for this one a week or so ago before heading down east. I thought I was going to have more time to edit it while on the road, but that didn’t happen. I am still playing around with the format and figuring out what makes sense for what I want to do.

I decided to get a little creative – the singing was the audio from Ella and Graces Christmas concert sing-along – I wanted to stick with the Christmas theme.

I recorded episode #1 last night – just in the process of chopping it up and seeing what comes out on the other side. Stay tuned!

I need some good options for music to weave into the podcast for transitions. Any suggestions?

OK - It's finally edited, uploaded and now with this post - published!

My first self recorded, edited, produced and published podcast. It's an "alpha" episode so I can play around with a bunch of things, but I have learned a lot. I've taken clips from when I first decided I wanted to start podcasting up until as recently as a couple of weeks ago and assembled them together. The next episode should not be as long and drawn out (knock on wood).

I am now figuring out how to easily publish it up on the site. I've got a sample flash player that I am trying to use - we'll see how that goes. Then comes feedpublishing. :)

Have a listen, subscribe to the feed and leave me some comments about what you think.

Rick

I have this 3/4 edited episode just sitting there... Obviously I am a little distracted from finishing it.

the hell with it - finishing it this week and posting it. I think I have more of an idea what I want to do with the podcast - but I think I need to get some out there before I can actually call it a podcast, eh?

So what's up (for the handful of people who are reading this)? Family life has gotten a lot more complicated since the summer. Kelli's mother is not well / not expected to recover. I've made it a priority to enable Kelli to be free to do whatever she feels needs to be done while I leverage the support network we thankfully have in place to help with the kids. I'm traveling for work here and there (two major bouts of a week or less each - back to back) so there have been some strains in the family weave. Thank god for friends and family for supporting this - Grampy Mike - you are an earth walking saint.

I honestly believe it takes a village to raise a child - thankfully we have the support of the village and they will have the support from us whenever needed. I am humbled and greatful.

I am… seriously… I am.

I have audacity fired up right now, reviewing my clips that I have collected since PAB 2008 and stitching them together. I don’t know if the “clips” format of putting these pieces together is really going to work for me or not, but what the hell – it’s worth a try, right?

It seems like I can find excuses all around for not putting together a show. Finally I decided – enough is enough.

It will evolve.

I need to find my voice, ask myself why I am doing this and then go with it.

… back to editing…

I really need to get on with it. Seriously. I need to hack together a first attempt at a podcast and get it up there, just to get the first one over with.

I believe I will follow the advice of what Sylvain Grand'Maison said in his PAB 2008 session "some people say make 3 or 4 episodes before publishing - I think that's CRAP". Have a listen to his session - I found it very interesting and I LOVED his approach to presenting.

So... when will it be? What will it be about? honestly I don't know. We'll see. I've been taking snippits of recordings on thoughts I've had since PAB and will stitch them together as an introductory episode.

StayTuned!