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Matthew Good made a guest contribution to the Tyee today and mentioned Rebecca as being one of his top five, favorite blogs that he reads. As cool as that is, I also got mentioned and linked in the post, riding on the coattails that is Miss604. Of course, I say that sarcastically, but if you read both of our respective blogs, I’m just as much of a fan of hers as you are. 
Very cool stuff and many thanks to Mr. Good for the link love.
I have a really good friend who did something even more crazy than my relocation to Vancouver. Paul one upped me and trekked to Alaska last fall, just as winter was setting in. The one thing he constantly says is how incredibly beautiful it is there, and I think that says a lot for him to say that without experiencing summer yet.
He seems to have a good gig up there, helping coordinate things at the Alaska Teen Media Institute. Paul took his radio producing talents and shares his creative expertise with the kids he works with. That might make some of you worry, but I think he’s got a handle on things.
This piece by one of his students nabbing an interview with the band OK Go is pretty good. I always wonder what it’s like to grow up in the great white north, especially where it’s much more north and whiter than Vancouver. Yes, I know that usually implies Canada, but Alaska seems more like another world to me than Canada ever has. Still, it’s on my lists of places in the world that I want to visit for the simple sake of saying I’ve been there, and I’d consider living there if they keep giving land away as if it’s the 1800′s.
I got an email sometime ago from Andy Stoll. He’s a friend of my from my days at the University of Iowa. While I toiled away at KRUI, he did more constructive things, like be president of the student government or raise money for children with cancer. He even did a bunch of stuff for the school and Iowa City after he graduated. You can’t keep the guy down.
We also co-hosted, along with Chris Linn, a weekly community affairs talk show on KRUI for a little over a year. “It’s like Entertainment Tonight on a ten dollar budget” and “It’s like David Letterman, but not as funny” were our slogans. And boy did we live up to the hype. Odd thing was, there was this guy that I kept running into at various music shows in Iowa City that was the biggest fan of our program. He could recite those slogans by heart, and this was three years after the fact. Charming, but weird.
Back to Andy, and to exemplify the fact that you can’t keep this guy down, he’s on a round the world adventure. The reason? Just to see as much of it as he can.
You can check out No Boundries.org as he documents his venture. He left the Midwest in August and has spent most of the time at this point in China and Japan. We’ve emailed back and forth a little bit, and my hope is to get him on the podcast to talk about some of his experiences.
He’s been a little relaxed on posting updates, so hopefully this will inspire him to post more often. There has also been a challenge issued to me by Andy to make some comments about tips or things that I have learned about blogging. I’ll get to that soon, but here is a public challenge back to Andy to blog more about traveling around the world.
I have a friend who works at Chicago Public Radio that clued me into something that is happening there. SecretRadioProject.com doesn’t give a whole lot of details, and the information that I was getting from Paul left me with more questions than answers. That’s just because I started throwing out some technical questions, and he isn’t the most technical type of guy.
Chicago will soon be home to a new radio station that is unlike anything you’ve ever heard before.
It’s a creative free-for-all, with no shows and no stuffy time slots. Engaging hosts guide you through the day – whether you stop in for an hour or a quick coffee break.
Every time you tune in, you’ll hear something new and surprising – music, interviews, shout outs, essays and more. All with a local bent and an unmistakably Chicago voice.
And the best part: this radio comes from you. You’re the creator, deejay, producer and editor.
Give us your take on what’s happening in your neighborhood. Share your deepest thoughts, confessions and opinions about your world. Upload audio to our website and tune in as we play it for all of Chicago and the world to hear.
It’s two-way radio: an ongoing conversation with Chicago. Radio of, by and for us all. [secretradioproject]
Paul also added something to the effect that it will be all new content with a YouTube like archive, uploaded from anyone and everyone. This won’t be tied to NPR but will be very tied to the Chicago metro area. However, this will be a service of Chicago Public Radio.
It’s very interesting to hear about, and Paul went offline before I could IM anymore answers out of him. Regardless, the scope of the project is daunting. Radio is in desperate need of rethinking how to exist within a world of changing media. This could be the best experiment I have seen yet to try and do just that.
What can I say? It’s been an incredible weekend of birthday happiness.
There was Snow Patrol on Thursday night(which I have yet to make my review post about yet), dinner with my Canadian family on Friday, Mexican food with my Canadian friends on Saturday, and the Canucks vs. Ducks at GM place tonight. I’ve said it a lot already, but you only turn twenty-eight once, right?
There are so many thanks that need to go out to so many people. So many good times were had over the period of four days, not to mention the cards, gifts, and alcohol, consumed or given as presents, from everyone.
Just before the puck dropped tonight at GM Place, my parents called me on my cell. It was a moment of true analogy. The beer we had just purchased was foam all the way to the brim and slightly spilling over as my folks wished me a happy birthday. That’s what today had climaxed to, and I don’t think it could have gotten better than that, not to mention that the Canucks preveiled, 4-3 in a shootout.
As I write this, The Reverend Don Deeley is making his way through his weekly radio show at WYEP in Pittsburgh, dedicating a good portion of the selections my way, all for my birthday. He emailed me to give me a heads up, thinking I wouldn’t be listening, but I’ve been streaming in from the beginning. That means a lot, and I thank you so much, Don. Anytime I can take over airwaves through the use of my voice or a barrage of song requests, I’m so there.
I also want to mention thanks to some fellow bloggers for extending some birthday wishes. J.J. from the Canucks Hockey Blog met up with us ahead of the game tonight, providing me with another, frosty beverage for my other hand. Yvonne sent in an email as well as getting a voicemail from Uncle Weed. Even the woman who cuts my hair called me, but Minoo was more concerned about how Rebecca liked the coloring of her hair after there were some issues with getting that all done.
Most importantly, Rebecca has made this an amazing birthday. This has been the first time that we’ve been able to be together for it, and she has made it more incredible than I could have ever imagined. Everything you could probably imagine about her being a wonderful person is true, but I have that and a lot more with everyday that goes by.
Thanks to everyone. Just because your name isn’t on here and the exact contribution to this weekend isn’t listed, that doesn’t mean that it’s insignificant. There’s just so much, and I’ll keep those for myself. Memories are always the best gift that can be given.
Hi, my name is John Bollwitt. I'm an engineer with CHUM Radio Vancouver and co-founder of sixty4media. I'm a small town boy from Iowa who has been living in Vancouver, B.C. since 2005 and enjoy hockey, technology, photography, and staying fit. |
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