My favorite gift this Christmas

Several years ago in graduate school, I came to Indiana University as a graduate student.
Deciding to make an investment in my educational future by purchasing a new computer. I had been using a VERY old Apple Macintosh. So, I bought a new "Power Mac" or whatever it was called. Shortly (like less than a year) after that, I started working with Annie Lang. She was (and is) a hardcore PC user and was somewhat reluctant to try to integrate system.

So, in 1995 I also became a PC user and--in all honesty--found them much more in-line with the type of work I like to do.

So, for the last two years or so I have struggled with PC-based portable music systems...primarily using my Palm pilot to listen to podcasts and music that I downloaded from Rhapsody. The trouble with Rhapsody was that darn licensing agreements made music that I thought I had just downloaded would not play. Very frustrating!!

And all around me were people using their ipods and raving about them. And, the huge market share that Apple was able to establish in the category. But, I couldn't bring myself to even much investigate an Apple product. I was a snobby PC user.

So, my absolute favorite Christmas gift this year was my ipod Nano.
It is the COOLEST thing. So convenient, and small, and light. And all the music plays without the annoying messages saying that I don't have the proper licensing agreement.

And on the itunes store site there are more podcasts than I'll know what to do with.

Great gift (from my inlaws...THANKS) and great design.

Merry Christmas

It's been hard to find time to post, but I want to wish all you regular visitors to my blog a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. My in-laws are here visiting, and my son had a terrible cold with fever...so I've been unable to find time to post much. Still, I did find time to change the colors of my blog page. And, in a moment of vanity, put a bigger picture of myself on this front page!

Richard Carlson Dies

Eight years ago I was dealing with a lot of stress in my life: finishing a dissertation, hoping to be able to find my first academic job, then finding it and having it be in the deep south--a culture that I thought might be difficult to adjust to, having to take my wife from a job she loved in Bloomington to Alabama, having to prepare for a my first academic position (new teaching preparations, new rules, new students, new responsibilities).

All of this came back to me this morning when I read that the author Richard Carlson had passed away at the very young age of 45.

Carlson wrote two books that I picked up eight years ago which certainly helped me through that very difficult time in my life.

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff...and It's All Small Stuff and Don't Sweat the Small Stuff at Work each provided me with a 5 minute respite at the beginning of every day. To a certain extent, I owe a bit of my sanity to Carlson and I thank him for his publications. In fact, I took them off my bookshelf today and will periodically remind myself of some of his best suggestions like:

*** Develop you Compassion
*** Remind YOurself that When You Die, Your "In Basket" Won't Be Empty
[ironic, as Carlson had a heart attack while going to a TV appearance
*** Let others have the Glory
*** Choose your battles wisely
*** Nurture a plant

And from the at Work book:

*** Don't Sweat the Bureaucracy
*** Remember the Motto, "You Catch More Flies with Honey"
*** Never, Ever Backstab
*** Learn to Say No without Guilt
*** Forgive Yourself, You're Human
*** Remember to Appreciate the People You Work With

Thanks Richard.

Great Radio Website

Check out this website for just about EVERYTHING you'd want to know about public radio stations in the US.

PublicRadioFan.com

I'm particularly excited about their podcast directory...which pretty much ensure that I can always find something to listen to.

I love Tivo

As the holidays approach, I'm reminded of the wonderful Christmas gift my inlaws gave me several years ago...a Tivo system

I never miss a program I want to see. I can indulge "binges"...like when I want to satisfy a Law and Order fix, I just tell it to record that show whenever it's on.

And, I like the fact that I can fast forward. Fast forward past replays and stupid stats that the NFL networks have to show me while the teams get set for the next play. And yes, I love to skip past commercials. There are occassionally ones that I will stop for (although doing so drives my wife crazy). The Aflac duck is one that my kids make me watch over and over. I like the Radio Shack 'red chair' ad where the guy admits to his girlfriend that he doesn't have a clue about all the cell phone plans and features ("What exactly is blue tooth?").

This morning I read this article, though, which makes me realize that I wouldn't want to be TIVO's CEO.

New Departmental Homepage

My thanks go to Jim Krause and the other members of the Department's Web Page committee for the design changes to the "front door" to our department.

If you are a high school student or IU undergrad looking for a major, Telecommunications is a great way to prepare you for a world that will be more and more media dependent.

If you don't believe me, check out this recent study:
Teens and Media are a Full-Time Job


Check out the new Department of Telecommunications page here.

Comments now un-moderated

I too enjoy getting comments from people on my blog.
It's possible, of course, that no-one has anything to say in response.

Or....

It could be as Sam Bradley suggested, that comments go down when they are "moderated" comments. In other words, people who visit this blog may want instant gratification of seeing their comments posted right away, rather than having it submitted to one of my email accounts in order for me to act as gatekeeper.

Okay, I'll try that...the comments are now back to being UN moderated.

Publicly called out

Usually my friend (and IU Telecomm. alum) Sam Bradley emails me personally when he thinks it's been too long since I've posted to my blog. Then, I feel guilty and start posting again for a few days...only to then be inundated by the tasks in my life and once again begin slacking off.

Sam tells me that his ability to update his blog regularly comes from his past experience as a newspaper reporter...where he had to write daily whether he wanted to or not.

I have never worked as a writer...that is, at a job where my entire expectation was to produce written text...and therefore the discipline to write on the blog daily is absent. Heck, the discipline to write on my research for publication is missing!

But, this time Sam has announced his desire for more content to the world!

And, he's right. I should post more because I do know that people are reading this. They comment to me in passing here at IU Telecomm. with topics I have posted. Or someone who I wouldn't expect it from calls me "The Audio Prof".

And, I have plenty of stuff that I want to write about, too.

So, for Sam who wants personal stuff--
Today I spent the morning in my son's preschool class. Although I sometimes initially begrudge the time that his school makes us donate (3 periods a semester) to being parent volunteers...all that disappears when I actually get in there and see all the curiosity and wonder that these 3-4 year olds have. Max and I played with rubber bugs in the red sand the teachers had put in the sand table. Of course...the sand was only red to me. Each time I called it red sand, a different pre-schooler corrected me with ANOTHER color ("no, it's orange sand" said one boy early on; later in the morning, Max said "no, the sand is brown."; even later still when I called it red sand...I was corrected yet again by a boy who said it was 'shiny brown').

Max and I also played with magnets and had a wonderful time together preparing the snack for the students while they were outside.


Now, for those of you who want industry stuff, check out this service which I first learned about at Mark Ramsey's blog .

Radio Sherpa is a peek at what is happening in Boston radio.
Want to know what's on the air at the country station? Just scroll across the simulated dial. Then, if you like what you see click on it and go to the web stream of the station.
As far as I can tell, it's not real-time updated yet...but might be soon.

A very interesting idea that apparently they want to spread it to more cities than just Boston .

See it here:

http://www.radiosherpa.com/