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Skype Gives You Free Calls To the U.S. & Canada

As I type this, I am talking to my sister-in-law, Wendy, back in Iowa. Skype is my hero today. They are offering free calls to the U.S. and Canada until the end of 2006. It’s pretty simple and works very well. I’ve only had some slight problems, but I called not only my brother’s house, but Rebecca at work, my mom, Paul back at the radio station, and my buddy Heath.

Heath was the only one not on a landline, but the cellphone conversation worked out really well. I used my podcast setup for a mic and headphones for the conversations. Mom said I sounded slightly tinny. Matt said that he could tell it was digital, but the overall quality was good. Paul is excited to use it for broadcast and personal uses.

You have to pay extra to get the ability to have people phone into your computer, but I think this is a great feature. I haven’t talked to Heath and Qi Qi since I left Iowa. However, the only draw back is what comes up on the caller I.D.; my mom and Heath almost didn’t answer the phone because the display came up as “unknown”.

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RadioZoom Episode #92

Recorded and published today, episode #92 is ready for your downloading needs.

British Columbia is the focus of this six song episode. Keeping up with my promise of putting out a music filled edition of RadioZoom around the 15th of every month, I did my best to bring you artists from the Vancouver, B.C. area. Suggestions and submissions for future episodes are always welcome.

radiozoom.net

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High Crime for High Gas Prices

There has been a couple of crimes lately involving people attempting to steal gasoline around the lower mainland. One was a total gas and dash on the edge of Surrey, almost into Delta. That station attendent was sent to the hospital and the suspect is yet to be found. Of course, this comes on the heels of another incident last year where the attendent was dragged to death trying to stop another person pulling a gas and dash.

Last night was a theft that you would only hear about in the movies. $2,200 worth of diesel lifted from an underground tank in the middle of the night. They are saying that a theft of that porportion would need a 5-10 ton truck just to haul the barrels of fuel away.

It’s incredible, but with gas prices making their way upwards, it’s like people are robbing banks. This could just be the beginning of a trend, and I’d like to not believe that.

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Does Anyone Really Care?

Barry BondsI guess it would be fairly incorrect to ask if anyone cares that Barry Bonds is about to surpass Babe Ruth’s home run record. It’s obvious that people around the world are paying attention. I would doubt that they are waiting on the edge of their seats though.

And obviously, I care enough to mention this. But it is such an after thought. When Ichiro was going for his record of hits in a season, I was scanning the headlines and catching all the sports highlights that I could. Sosa and McGuire? The same thing. That was exciting. Bonds isn’t.

Is it the whole steroids thing? I think that’s pretty spot on. And I can’t say thank you enough to Juan Pierre of the Cubs for snagging the homer away from him last night.  Holy crap that was awesome.  Bonds is too much of a diva for my liking.  And being that Chicago is on a losing skid as is, I’d really like to see him not hit that mark against the Cubbies.

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I Wanna Be a Hockey DJ

I don’t know anything about the rules and regulations of what can or can’t be played during those brief times when play is stopped during a game, but I wanna be a hockey DJ.  I want to pick what songs are going to be played when there is that tiny moment of no action happening on the ice.

I know that there is a lot of debate among hockey fans that say the organ should reign supreme in the rink.  I’m not here to argue against that idea.  I actually dig the concept.  But have you caught some of the crap that gets played?  Especially in the states?!  You really expect Kelly Clarkson to get the crowd, yet alone the players, really fired up for the ensuing face off?

I would have to say that getting a gig like this would be a dream job.  One of those all-time, top five types of jobs.  Of course, if I were picking the playlist, I know I would get people asking who the hell I was playing.  I’m the type of DJ that plays music according to the situation.  Playing tunes for the sake of people knowing the music is difficult for me, but I’m not saying I wouldn’t play by those rules either.

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Not Exactly What I’d Do At a Stop Sign

Sniff!

Street art[wiki] is interesting(thanks to Don pointing out this fact to me during his time here). I never made too much of an effort to stop and appreciate it until recently. However, I’m not sure what this is or was apart off. This was on the street at a stop sign in the west end. Simple randomness or more?

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Iowa City is a Smart City

Kiplinger’s Personal Finance has published their list of “50 Smart Places to Live” in the U.S. and listed Iowa City, IA at #10.

…we asked hundreds of you for the criteria you’d use to pick a place to call home. You told us you wanted good value in home prices and a reasonable cost of living — not surprising, considering that choosing a place to live is one of the biggest financial decisions you’ll ever make — combined with a great quality of life. [article]

Iowa City was and still is my choice of places to live when it comes to my home state. The cost of living is getting to be a tad of the nutty side. Rent in the downtown area seems to go up almost every year even with new apartment complexes going up all over the city.

Compared to a lot of larger communities in Iowa, IC has a great arts and music scene for my taste. Rebecca and I were talking about it the other night. I’ll forever cherish my many nights of whiskey and live music at Gabes, but it’s not a place for the faint of heart. Still, there’s a lot more to it than that. I’ve thought to myself quite often that Vancouver is what Iowa City would be like on steroids.

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CBC Radio One Book Club with David Suzuki

During the recording session at the CBC studios in Vancouver, BC with David SuzukiTo follow-up on the previous post about going to this event, it’s really hard to sum up the whole experience. Rebecca posted something yesterday while it was still fresh in our memories, and I probably should have done something similar to give you the best account of the nearly two hours we spent in the same room as David Suzuki[wiki].

He is a remarkable man. He’s more personable than you would think, but there is an obvious sense that he is a very busy man with a lot on his mind and just as much, if not more, to do. Even with the David Suzuki Foundation, he pounds the pavement to spread the message of numerous causes in the world. For a man of his age, he is in shape, healthy, and doing what he loves to do.

I left the CBC building in Vancouver feeling very empowered. For what reason, I was really unsure. Suzuki has that effect on you. He doesn’t butter up the situation. There are some serious, evironmental issues in this world that makes me wonder how a guy like this sleeps at night. These issues blow my mind everytime I think about it, but being a victim of popular culture, I’ve conditioned myself to occupy those concerns with other things that pale in comparison. Continue reading “CBC Radio One Book Club with David Suzuki”

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CBC Radio Podcast Expansion

I know I’m coming in late to the party, but the CBC expanded their podcast content last week. A large number of popular programs from CBC Radio One can now be subscribed to via their website at cbc.ca/podcasting, or through iTunes.

Programming will include the “best of” editions from The Current, Dispatches, Definitely Not the Opera, Ideas, Outfront, and As It Happens, plus highlight packages of regionally-based radio programs. [podcastingnews.com]

As It Happens has the best opening theme. Makes me totally want to rock out.