Giveaway



Giveaway, originally uploaded by Argyle.

If you find me at SxSW and say hello, I’ll be happy to give you this fine, limited-edition Cruftbox can/bottle opener.

Michele made this for me and I’ve got a bagful to give away!

SxSW ]I[

I’m sitting in my hotel room in Austin sipping on a cup of coffee.
This is my 3rd SxSW conference. It’s starting to feel quite familiar.
Last night at Break Bread with Brad I talked with many people, drank beers, and even got into a discussion about metadata, nomenclature, taxonomy, and archival of assets with people that actually knew what I was talking about.
The conference shifts into high gear today with the Keynote kickoff.
If you’re at SxSw, say hello!

Ego Boost II

Yet another event is causing my already huge ego to swell to exceedingly large proportions.
I’ve been interviewed for an InformationWeek article on How five executives got blog religion. With a picture and everything. My mom will be proud…
I don’t think they quite get my point about lunch.
My point about seperating work from my blogging was this: If there is an issue at work that I couldn’t speak of openly at lunch with my staff like personal performance, my frustrations, future plans, it should not be on my personal blog.
Why? Because when I say something in a public realm, whether at work or on my blog, it affects my work relationships and the environment my staff have to operate in daily.
I cannot make my staff or co-workers uncomfortable or upset, just because I have the need to vent in my off-hours. There’s plenty of other stuff to write about and I have plenty of buddies to vent to over the phone when the need arises.
Other than that, an interesting bit on the various ways weblogs are finding roles inside the business world.

Why you should carry a handkerchief

One memory of my childhood that will stick with me always is the sound of my father blowing his nose. He always does it the same way with his handkerchief. Blow, rub nose, put the handkerchief away.
When I was a young man, I thought a handkerchief was for old people, like dentures, Ben-gay, and scotch. I mean really, a handkerchief was kind of a nasty idea and I didn’t have to blow my nose much anyways.
Over time, I came change my view. Like many young men, as I got older, I began to see the wisdom of my father, grandfather, and other men of older generations. By your late 20s, you begin to realize how foolish some of your ideas of your early 20s were about what you would and wouldn’t do in life.
So, for probably the last 10 years, I’ve carried a handkerchief in my back pocket. And you should too.
Before you dismiss the idea, give me a chance to discuss it a bit.
For those that don’t know, a handkerchief is usually a white cotton piece of cloth that is roughly a foot square. There are a few different kinds, like the handkerchief designed to stick out of a suit pocket, but the kind I’m talking about is the simplest kind.


The white cotton is soft and tightly woven to give it some strength. So people like them ironed, but I prefer the soft fold instead.
The main use is for blowing and wiping your nose. This may seem unhygienic, but actually it’s not. When you get out your handkerchief, you will see that it naturally unfolds and you don’t use the outside. You use the inside.
After a day’s use, it goes into the hamper with other clothes to be washed. I have dozens, they are cheap.
Now you young men, especially of the dating age, listen up. The handkerchief is key tool for impressing women. Yes, they will dig it the most. Not only will you appear to be older and wise to the world, you will be prepared for the ultimate smooth move.
It’s not untrue or demeaning to say that women cry, they are more in touch with their emotions than men. A young man will undoubtedly encounter a young women breaking into tears at some point. To score huge numbers of points, have that hanky ready. Offering it to her shows her that you are helpful, prepared, and the other Boy Scout laws. In other words, you are showing yourself to be a gentleman. Women love this kind of thing. Trust me on this.
There a ton of other things you can use a handkerchief for:
1) Blow/wipe nose
2) Dry a women’s tears
3) Cough into to avoid spraying others
4) Bind a wound
5) Cover your mouth from dust
6) Wipe up a mess (very useful as a father of toddlers)
7) Use in a magic trick
8) Tie the corners to make it into a small bag
9) Clean your pocketknife or other tool
10) Wave to get someone’s attention
11) Clean dirt off your hands
12) Wipe lipstick off your face
13) Clean your glasses
14) Use to avoid leaving fingerprints
15) Convince a man to kill his wife
And finally: Wipe sweat from your hard-working brow

Griffin Radioshark

My Griffin Radioshark arrived on Friday and I quickly hooked it up to our Media Server in the front room.


The Radioshark is a FM/AM radio that plugs in via USB to a computer, Mac or PC. I love listening to the radio on the computer and this device is supposed to give me the ability to record shows automatically.
The quality of the unit seems high with a good feel to it. The software came up quickly and in a couple minutes the radio was playing through the speakers nicely.

The software is, well, eh, not my cup of tea. If I’m using a PC give me the standard PC look and if I’m using the Mac give me the standard Mac look. This look leaves me flat.
The app covers the basics of tuning and setting up a recording. There are a few issues like not being able to enter a duration for the recording and having to choose one of the predetermined one. When I record something I like to record a little extra at the beginning and end. With a locked 60 minute record, you can’t do this.
You can easily schedule a recording based on time and station. The Windows version only record in wma (Windows Media) and wav files. Not the end of the world, but I would have paid $5 more to record directly in MP3, saving the hassle of conversion.
The radio reception itself was good but not great. I really want to record Indie 103.1, a Los Angeles station with a weak signal at my house. My car can pick it up, but the Radioshark couldn’t.

There is an input for an external antenna so I decided to give that a try. I took a standard FM dipole antenna and soldered it into a 1/8th inch audio connector.
For those that don’t know, a FM dipole antenna is specifically made to pick up radio signals and not much else. It’s what we electrical engineers call a tuned quarter-wave antenna.
BTW, I highly recommend those new-fangled butane soldering irons. They are perfect for these quick little jobs around the house.

The antenna worked but I had to get it up pretty high to pick up the signal. After standing in the room holding the Radioshark and the antenna in endless positions, I found that placing it above the curtain rod was optimal and was least offensive to Michele’s sense of how it should look.
The Radioshark was wedged up there and seemed a bit precarious. I couldn’t have it fall down on the girls as they walked by.
I removed the metal based, drilled a hole in it, and was able to attach it to the ceiling, securing it against a tumble.
Summary
Overall, the device works as advertised and most people aren’t going to be listening to weak stations. If you like radio, then the Radioshark is for you. It works, it looks good, and it’s reasonably priced.

2 days and 2 months

Friday I started having problems with my computer and it’s taken two days to straighten it out. No huge loss, but in the file corruption trouble I had, chkdsk saw fit to delete my Outlook pst file.
That means to fix the problem, it deleted my email. The last back-up pst file I had is two months old. Two months of email disappeared in the whir of a hard drive.
I need to start using IMAP.
We had a good weekend and did a few things around the house. Zoe made a bluebird bird house and a bird feeder in class and we hung them today.


I’m proud of my little carpenter!

Make Magazine

I keep hearing about Make Magazine over and over. I get emails about it, see posts about it. There are even pictures of it.
Well, I subscribed to it and they charged my debit card, months ago.
Where the hell is the damn magazine? If they want us geeks to like it, they better send it the hell out. I’m about ready to remove myself from the whole hoopla if it doesn’t materialize soon.
The magazine looks great, but if your readers don’t have it, you will fail.

Ego Boost

A couple weeks ago I was interviewed for a podcast show called G’day World. The show is run by Mick ‘Splatt’ Stanic and Cameron Reilly, to Australian blokes who love podcasting. I meet Mick last year at ETech.
They posted my interview. If you want to hear me blather on for 45 minutes, here’s your chance.
I’m not sure why they wanted to interview me, but I agreed because my ego is growing to an abnormally large size.

What to know about SXSW Interactive

The SXSW conference starts next week. This will be my third trip, so I thought I would share a bit of my experience with others that have not been before.
Introduce Yourself – People are at SXSW because they want to meet people and see new things. Strangely, many of the blogger types that go are introverted types that are a bit shy. Do yourself a favor and say “Hello, I’m So-and-so” to that person you are sitting next to. (Don’t say So-and-so, use your name…) I guarantee that they will be happy to talk to you.
ABC – Always Be Charging – If you bring a laptop, you need to be charging it every single chance you get. No battery lasts long enough. Try to sit near an oulet in the session rooms. Share power outlets with others.
Personal cards – Make up business cards with your name, email, and website info on them to hand out. Bring your regular business cards if you want, but what people really want is a card that ties you to your online persona so they can find you after SXSW.
Shiner Bock – Shiner Bock is a local Texas beer that you find everywhere. Often referred to as simply ‘Shiner’.
Sharpeners – There are no pencil sharpeners at SXSW. People think writing on a pad of paper with a wooden pencil is a bit strange.
The Backchannel – Be aware that there is a backchannel of real-time IRC discussion going on. Probably on irc.freenode.net, probably on #sxsw. The trick is to not make the backchannel into the front channel for you. It can distract you from listening to the speaker/session that you paid to see…
Comment Cards – At the end of sessions, people walk though and hand out comment cards you are supposed to fill out regarding the session you just sat through. It’s strange the first time you see it. It’s not mandatory, so don’t weird out if you don’t fill them out.
Secure connections – Wifi traffic is in the clear and people are sniffing packets all the time. Arrange for secure email, FTP, and if possible, secure browsing while at SXSW. It’s unlikely that a malicious hacker is gunna do bad things, but it’s best to be prepared.
Street Signs – For some reason, downtown Austin has few street signs. Get a map and study it before venturing out.
Hotels – Stay at a hotel in easy walking distance of the convention center. You don ‘t want to drive anywhere after a long night of partying. The word was that the Hampton was the best place to stay due to proximity and internet access. But since the Hampton lacks a bar, there is debate if ‘The Hampton‘ is ‘the new Omni ‘.
Night Events – The best night events are the Fray Cafe, 20×2, and Bruce Sterling ‘s party. Make time for these events. Update: Matt says there is no Fray Cafe this year. Dang that sucks.
Fray Cafe – If you are going to perform, practice beforehand.
Food – Eat food. Austin has a great bar scene. You will be drinking. Don‘t drink on an empty stomach.
Texas BBQ – IMHO, Texas BBQ pales in comparison to BBQ in other areas like Kansas City and Carolina. That chopped beef sandwich stuff just doesn’t cut it, but people will want to eat it for lunch.
Sound People – The people who run sound for the sessions won ‘t leave the sound alone. They love to walk up while people are speaking, twiddle with knobs, and make the room go silent.
Clothing – Bring casual stuff, especially your witty t-shirts, but remember it can get cold and rainy in Austin this time of year. Make sure warm clothes and a good jacket are in your luggage, ready to wear. Last year we got hit with a massive thunderstorm and many SXSWians were soaked to the bone in their wet witty t-shirts.
Update: I forgot to mention that the Annual Kickball Game is on for Saturday morning at 10:30 AM. It’s a lot of fun and you will me lots of good people.