It’s pretty much a done deal. I’m working on a new design to my site. To actually announce this and have it come to light are too completely different things. If I had all the time in the world, I could do this in a matter of days. Ok, that might be pushing it ever so slightly, but I could probably do it if I gave no precedence to anything else such as getting out of the apartment from time to time.

There are other, more pressing things going on right now that truly take precedence. Rebecca would have my head on a platter if I didn’t make it known that I understand this quite greatly. In a short matter of weeks, some of my family will be here for my wedding. Yes, my wedding. The Reverend Don Deeley will be flying in from Pittsburgh, Muffin and Bill! meeting up with David Duke in Seattle (where he lives now, I might add) to make the car ride up for the event. Planning, plotting, deciding, thinking, discussing, and lots of other things to get into place before the day. The day which is just weeks away now. Combine that with my online endeavors and there just isn’t a whole lot of time for anything else.

I’ve had a flood of thoughts coming from the Vancouver podcaster meet up on Friday. It was so surreal to be around such an incredible group of individuals, all with their own insights of what he or she wants to do with this new medium. From making money to just having fun, there are so many elements about podcasting that you cannot have one theory about. It’s kind of like life; it is what you make of it.

I’m growing a little tired of Blogger everyday (not to mention that it completely deleted the podcast I uploaded last night from my feed). There is something inside of me that is ready to move away from the way I have constructed this site, but the work I have put into it combined with a complete overhaul is gathering in my head. There are so many elements to consider with what to do, more so with my picture gallery. So much of my site is custom built, and that’s no big deal to some people. I’m just a tad rusty with my web programming skills, but that itself is something that gives me this urge to get my hands dirty and go nuts. There are other pressing matters right now, so I have a few weeks to mull it over. Think of this as a summer project.

Last night we ventured to a little bar downtown to meet Vancouverites that are either interested in podcasting or are already doing such things. There was probably more people there that were interested than there were actually doing podcasts, but it was a pretty incredible night. I think for the most part, people who are comfortable and knowledgeable with blogging want to transpose those talents into the podcasting world. Everyone at the meet up last night were amazing people, and I’m really glad I had a chance to meet who I did. Lots of really great conversation and tons of enthusiasm for podcasting. What more could a person like myself ask for?

I am far from considering myself an expert about this, but I had a really great time talking to people about ideas, concerns, and questions, giving the best feedback that I could. The beauty of podcasting truly is that anyone can do this. From the most simple, archaic, and horribly sounding podcast to the slick and suave ones. Feeds, file formats, bit rates, and bandwidth are the most basic concerns that need to be addressed early. The one point that I cannot stress enough is that no one is a pro the moment they start producing something. Your idea grows, defines itself, and becomes a focus of an audience, no matter where that is or the size. Mistakes will happen, and you can only learn from them to make you better for the future.

In my endeavors with everything, three main types of people stick out to me. There are the folks who are really knowledgeable and enthusiastic about technology who really want to be apart of this new avenue of media, but are unsure how to go about doing it in terms of recording equipment and programming. Then the class of people that have this great idea, want to go forth with it, but that step of “going live” is a bit confusing because there are so many elements to consider; they need some more clarity before anything happens. Finally, the perfectionist. Either they want everything to be in place before they start doing a podcast, or they already think they know everything there is to know about podcasting. It’s that last type of enthusiast that can make the wide eyed newbie feel even more intimidated about starting up in the first place.

Whatever you do, no matter what it is, let it be something you are comfortable with doing on a consistent basis. Find your formula, stick to it, and your audience will follow. At the same time, think of your audience as a community. Use their feedback as a guide with where you want to go. Once you discover that people are actually listening to or watching what you are doing, everything starts to change. The constant that remains the same? Have fun.

Will I ever make a career with my podcast? Who knows? What I have learned and experimented with will help where I take my talents to next. That was my biggest piece of advice last night. The more you play, learn, and experiment, the better podcaster you are going to become.

We need to have more of these gatherings. I had a damn good time!

I had planned to take care of laundry today, but the toilet has seemed to sprung a leak. I’m at home taking care of other things in the meantime. There’s plenty to do right now, that’s for sure. I’m sneaking in what I can right now to make this post while getting those things taken care of as well as finishing off the coffee I made for myself today. French press is pretty great, but that last cup, of the two and half that I made today, always has that not so good ending. That mucky stuff at the bottom? I’ve learned to avoid that. More so for the reason that if I do ingest that, I get uber hyped up on caffeine.

Out of all the days in January, it has rained in Vancouver for 29 of them. Incredible.

I guess I didn’t have as much time today as I thought.

I took my first SkyTrain alone today. It was the scariest experience, but something I had never done before. While Rebecca went to her cousin’s baby shower, I came back downtown from Surrey. Heidi and Frank’s new baby girl is adorable, might I add. She’s just a matter of weeks old. Tiny, tiny, little thing, but a cutie none the less.

Back to the SkyTrain, it’s hard to get lost on when you are riding it. I mean, for a good portion of both lines that are currently running, it’s all above ground. You always have a good point of reference with where you are along the line. This is vastly different from the New York subways. That’s a counting game plus a visual check of each station as you go down the tunnels of Manhattan. Each time I went there, I was able to adapt to the system faster than the last visit.

The drawback of the SkyTrain is that there really are not enough lines in the area around Vancouver. That might sound whiny of me, but the potential of a line going all the way into West Vancouver seems like an efficient idea in my mind. Right now, you can take a SeaBus across the inlet to get over to North Vancouver, but even the communities around the inlet would be served nicely by another line. At the same time, I just love the idea of clean, mass transit. And trains.

Buses and boats are good, but something like the SkyTrain offers efficiency that can far surpass the other two options. It’s not just about fossil fuels either. Take today for example. A good portion of highway one was closed due to an accident on our way out to Surrey this morning. Luckily it was on the other side of the freeway, heading back into Vancouver, but the traffic back up was horrendous. And that’s just on a Saturday! Coming back on the train this afternoon, the radio still said to expect delays, but I was back home in 45 minutes. That’s pretty hard to beat. It nearly makes me want to never own a car.

The rain last night fell sideways. I ventured to meet Rebecca after work for some retail extravaganza only to find that not only were my toes soaking wet, but so were my thighs, all the way up to my chest. I wasn’t soaked, but this is the first time the that rain had been this way. It wasn’t a downpour either. The winds were kicking up from the waterfront and playing with the light rain. Back in Iowa, I’m used to these types of rains, but I have yet to be stuck in a good downpour that can soak you in a matter of seconds. On top of that, I haven’t seen a flash of lightning since I landed here.

I’ve been caught up in the last few nights watching an amazing documentary about Auschwitz. It’s not the greatest of all topics to mention or even talk about, but for the longest time, I’ve been deeply intrigued by this dark period in human history. I think a lot of it stems to my fascination with psychology. I had always been incredibly interested about the way humans think and operate on a cognitive level. Why it is that we make the decision we do. That connection of your brain saying to your arm that you want to pick up your fork and eat your dinner. Taking that to the level of this madness that took over a generation of people to do the things they did.

The conditioning that went into this ugly era is unimaginable. I know it’s an old idea to be rehashed, but even time I stop to think about it, the thought confounds me. These stories and images are rough for anyone to endure, and Rebecca made me aware that she lacks the stomach to watch these documentaries while eat a monster of a veggie sandwich I made her the other night. It’s far from an easy subject to watch over dinner. I keep finding myself drawn into the stories. Every time, I’m reminded of the fright I had walking past the ovens at Dachau, but that experience doesn’t stop me from wanting to learn more avenues of those who went through these horrible events first hand. Every story adds to more and more about the whole ordeal. It’s not over-saturation. I just want to know more.

Have you ever sat down with someone in your family such as your grandparents? They tell you stories about the way things were long before you even existed. If you can take a moment to keep your eyes from closing and letting sleep take over you in the midst of one of these moments, this is what I am talking about. First hand accounts of people who have been through periods in history. Information that, if you don’t take the time to absorb, will pass you by when you are not paying attention.

What is more scary are those who say that these things never happened. That all of it is a lie. A made up tale to make people sympathetic to those who were persecuted in these atrocities. Iran has a leader who made such a claim just weeks ago. What’s more frightening? The documentaries that I just watched or the modern day anti-semitism?