Author: Carl Page 126 of 153

Podcasts I Love

On September 4, 2012

I started listening to podcasts when I would commute into DC everyday on the Metro and I got tired of listening to music everyday.

My love of podcasts is best summed up by Andrew Marvin in his post Talk Show Thoughts.

That’s the beauty of podcasts: you can listen to thoughtful conversations on the topics that you love.

Most of the podcasts I listen to fall under this idea. They’re tech related and I enjoy listening to the people I respect talk about topics that interest me.

There is one notable exception to the list which is a throwback to the old radio dramas. I remember listening to the radio on Sunday nights growing up. My dad, brother and I would be in the car going back and forth between his house and mom’s house where we lived most of the week.

We would listen to GunSmoke among others as the truck rumbled along the gravel road. Somehow, that gravel road and the rumbly old pickup truck added authenticity to the stories we’d hear on the radio.

In that same vein, I love We’re Alive, which is a drama about life after the zombie uprising. It follows a group of survivors and their trials and tribulations with the living and the undead. It’s brilliantly acted and the production quality is top-notch.

I highly recommend it if you enjoy survival stories or zombie fiction.

Can’t Miss Shows

Enough

Patrick Rhone‘s ongoing quest for balance in the form of Enough. He and Myke Hurley ask the question, What is enough for you? He does a “How Bare Is Your Air?” segment where he asks guests if they had a stock 64GB MacBook Air what they would install on it. I have become a devout follower of Patrick Rhone’s. I had the pleasure of meeting him for lunch a couple months ago and having a wonderful conversation over BBQ. He truly is the nicest guy on the internet. He embodies the idea of Enough in all that he does. He is a deep thinker and each episode makes me think about something in a different way than I had before. I am seeking what truly is “Enough” in my own life. I’m not there yet but I don’t think anyone ever truly arrives. It’s a journey, not a destination.

Back to Work

Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin‘s weekly zany talk about working culture, recapturing your time, funny voices and pearls of wisdom. Very long but always worth the listen. The show often goes completely off the rails, and over into the next galaxy and other times is spot on and absolutely world changing. You never know what the next episode will hold but they’re all good in their own way.

Mac Power Users

David Sparks and Katie Floyd dive deep into a topic that matters to Mac Power Users. They also host “Workflows” episodes which dive deep into how people do what they do. The interviews they conduct are excellent they are both very knowledgeable about the Mac and using it to make their lives easier and more productive.

512 Podcast

Stephen Hackett‘s love letter to Mac tech, sometimes old and sometimes new, and journalism. He talks with Myke Hurley and it’s a great listen for the old Mac nerd. Recently, they talked about the entire history of the iPod from start to present and the history of the Apple Display. A little geekier than your usual tech show but very informative and a lovely stroll down Mac memory lane.

Build & Analyze

Hosted by Marco Arment and Dan Benjamin – Don’t let the name fool you into thinking it’s a development show. It’s a show about coffee, parenting, Macs, Instapaper, Coding, Computers, and text editors. There is also talk of development from time to time. I really enjoy Marco and Dan’s talks. It’s replaced a spot in my lineup that Leo Laporte’s used to fill. I think Dan and Marco have a great chemistry and they clock in at less than 2 hours.

Rising Stars & New Arrivals

Mikes on Mics

Mike Vardy and Michael (he whose name must not be spelled) Schechter are like two brothers who are best friends but know exactly what buttons to press and how to playfully incite disagreements. The show covers all sorts of topics about productivity, focus, working with people and working for yourself. There is a segment each show called what are you drinking where they share what beverage they’re enjoying as they talk to each other and to us.

ZenGeek Podcast

Zengeek is a newcomer to the podcasting scene but is quickly becoming a can’t miss show. Andrew Marvin of Quarter-Life Enlightenment and Jeffrey Inscho of StaticMade discuss topics like money, sports and the written word from their diverse backgrounds. The differences in age, background and geography lend themselves to the topics they choose to cover. They choose one topic for the episode and dive deep into it and explore it from their individual perspectives. The resulting conversation is always interesting and constructive. They’re only seven episodes in so start listening now to catch up.

CMD+Space (formerly The Bro Show

When I started this review, this show was still called The Bro Show and starred Myke Hurley and Terry Lucy talking tech news together, often with a guest. The show has had a metamorphosis with Terry stepping down from the show and Myke describing the format as a “late night talk show” and his goal is to move it more in that direction. Tired of rehashing the same news everyone else does, the show was relaunched August 1st with Merlin Mann, who Myke managed to keep fairly on topic, as its first guest. I liked the show before but ever since the relaunch, Myke has been on fire and the show is only getting better and better. Each week Myke sits down and dives into the world and interests of his guests asking interesting questions and exploring their areas of expertise. The show was good and has only gotten better since it became CMD+Space.

Home Work

I don’t work at home but Dave Caolo and Aaron Mahnke talk through a lot of things that not only help the home worker but is solid advice for all people who have to work with teams, battle distractions or have a side project they’re trying to work on from home. The show is valuable every week and Aaron and Dave are a delight to listen to and I look forward to their voices in my headphones.

Systematic

Systematic is Brett Terpstra‘s new show. I feel the man needs no introduction but he is a programmer with AOL, he had written a markdown previewer called Marked, contributes to the Notational Velocity fork called NVAlt, has an array of TextExpander snippets among other things. Brett is a man of many talents and seemingly never sleeps or slows down. He may or may not be a robot. However, when he’s not writing fantastic scripts, developing his own software, contributing and helping out anyone who asks and somehow working to support himself, he has a show now. The show has been excellent. It is still in its infancy but eight episodes in, it has quickly become one of my favorites. Brett is the kind of guy you’d want to hang out with and pick his brain because he knows so much about so many things and is a genuinely nice guy.

Seasonal

The Fantasy Football Guys

I love football season and I run a fantasy football league every year for a few friends. It’s friendly and fun and it gives me something to pay attention to when my home team is having abysmal year. Kevin and Lyle podcast and poke fun at each other each week and answer questions from the community. They’re knowledgeable and always fun and they’ve put the time in watching games and looking at players so I can make smarter moves.

Hidden Gem

Huffduffer is little known but absolutely vital part of my life. Huffduffer will allow you to take any audio from the web and save it for later. This is great for listening to a single episode of a podcast, or for capturing audio from a blog post like an interview you want to listen to later.

Huffduffer allows you to collect these various audio files from across the web and turn them into a podcast by providing an RSS feed. Then, I can take the RSS feed and put it into iTunes and it will download the audio I add to my feed and when I sync my iPhone, it will pull those interviews, single podcast episode, and whatever else I’ve found.

If you enjoy podcasts or want to capture audio for listening to later, you need Huffduffer. And the best part is it’s free.

Huffduffer, the Instapaper for audio.

Vacation Silence

By Carl

On August 15, 2012

In Introspection

The single thing I have enjoyed most on this vacation has been the silence. As I sit here, the only sound I hear is the whirring of the ceiling fan and the light tap tapping of my fingers on the iPhone screen.

Beyond that, there is silence.

Sunset on the beach

Much of this trip has been spent sitting on the beach, listening to the waves crash and nearby children shriek with delight, reading a book.

I’ve sat with my wife side by side on the beach reading. Every. Now and again reaching for a drink in the cooler. Sometimes reaching over to grasp her hand or caress her shoulder and say *I Love You.*

As I eventually getting warm enough to put the book down and venture into the warm ocean waters, I float among the waves, listening to the sounds of the ocean. I’ve not been happier in a long time.

This was a much-needed vacation. And I’ve enjoyed every moment of it. And most of all, I’ve enjoyed the quiet.

The elusive, blissful quiet.

Spectrum

By Carl

On August 14, 2012

In Observations

There are two rules in life I need to remember.

1. There will always be people better than me at everything.

2. There will always be people who marvel at what I do and swear they can never be as good.

We are all in the middle of what we know and what we do. There will always be people on both sides of us.

I look up to amazing designers and photographers, writers and thinkers. And others look up to me in the same way.

Knowledge is a spectrum, not an absolute.

Church

By Carl

On August 12, 2012

In Observations

I grew up without religion.
No, that’s not right.
I grew up with church as part of my life.
It is a place my brother and I would get drug off to early Sunday mornings. We would sit and listen to tales of horrible things done to people thousands of years ago.
We would be warned of the fire and brimstone raining down upon us if we were not good people.

We were subjected to the small town evangelism and politics of church-going. Church didn’t mean anything to me growing up.

It was something to do. It was a place to go. It was something that was expected and required but seemed to hold little value to my life.

It was a history class for events from thousands of years ago.

Ever since having joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ¹ and being baptized (again) I have thought about my relationship to God and Religion and people of religious faith.

These are three very different things.

Religion is something you grow into.

It is not something you’re born with. It is something you’re either raised with or not. You may be raised in it and reject it later on or raised without it and find your way to it later in life.

However, I think it’s something everyone needs to come to terms with for themselves. Everyone has a belief system. Everyone has faith in something.
Coming to terms with what my beliefs were was the first step to finding a path either closer to or further from religion.
There are thousands of people who will tell you what to think and what to believe and how to act. But it’s all nonsense. It means nothing if it’s not your own belief.

Religion and faith is personal. It’s a one-on-one relationship. There is no room for a third party. There is no room for anyone else.

(Totally going for the longest named Christian faith I could find.) ↩

Jury Duty – Or How I Nearly Served On a Jury For a Multiple Rape & Sexual Abuse Case

By Carl

On August 2, 2012

In Introspection

This was originally written May 21, 2012. I wrote a lot of notes into a paper journal I’ve since lost. Thankfully, I typed up the notes before I lost it and this has sat in my drafts folder and got overlooked until today.

I got called into Jury Duty today. I was juror number 29 of the 376 people who were called in today. Today was mostly a blur and I wrote some notes in a notepad as I was sitting in the courtroom being selected (or ultimately not selected) for service as a juror on this criminal trial.

It was a long day, that was for sure. From what I remember, I parked around 8am and found my way through the rain to the Judicial Center around 8:10 or so and got through security and up to the 4th floor where the Jury Lounge was.

I was delighted to see the room was not completely full and the chairs were spaced well apart so my knees would not be bumping up against the person in front of me. There were some power plugs and wi-fi was available. There were vending machines for some much-needed caffeine in the back of the room and there was a space for laptops so people could work on tables and not have to sit with their computers on their laps.

The entire time I was there, we were thanked for our service and our patience and they understand how coming to jury duty is a big inconvenience for all of us and takes us away from our jobs and lives and daily schedules.

We sat in the room until around 10am when we were called in a large batch to the criminal trial juror selection. This lasted until nearly 1pm. I understand why jury selection takes so long.

There were a series of questions asked of us including:
* If we knew the accused, legal teams, judge, or anyone on the perspective witness list.
* If English is your Second Language, do you feel you’d have any problems understanding the proceedings?
* Do you have any formal legal training or have you or your direct family work in law-enforcement or legal positions?
* There was a couple of questions about repressed memories
* There were questions about if we felt we could render an impartial decision based on the case at hand, which was a multiple rape and sexual abuse case.

There were many more questions, some which required a simple conversation between the judge and juror and others which required a trip to the bench, surrounded by the various lawyers for the sake of privacy.

I was nearly selected for the jury.
I was seated in the jury box, I was going to be Juror number 7. I was in the chair, I had my number Juror 29 called and both the prosecution and defense had replied to “Seat the Juror” which means they didn’t object. So there I was, as I watched others selected to my right and left be excused, mostly by the defense, I was readying myself for the trial.

I was preparing myself for a trial which was scheduled to last 6 days. I was readying myself to figure out the work situation and how I would be paid and how I would file my time sheet… And most importantly, how I was about to be bombarded with 6 days of testimony and evidence about the rape and sexual abuse of two young girls back in the late 70s before I was even born.

Then, for reasons beyond my knowledge, the prosecution asked that Juror 29 be excused. And with that, the judge said, Thank you Juror 29 for your service. Please gather your belongings and check in with the Jury Office.

And that was it. My short time as a juror was over. It was exciting and nerve-wracking. I will never know why the prosecution decided to let me go. The only information they had on me was my age, address, vocation, and obviously my race and my physical characteristics. I don’t know what they saw which apparently they thought would work against them, or for the defense, or maybe they were just trying to get to someone further down the line they liked better.

I will never know and I am going to stop thinking about it after today. But all in all, it was a long but good day. It was really interesting to see how the jury selection process worked. It was interesting to see how the trials are setup and how jurors are selected.

It is a very important process that deserves the time and attention paid to it.
It did strike me as interesting that the accused was present in the court room with his defense team. I don’t know what I expected but all the potential jurors got to see him and I imagine that was part of what the legal teams were looking for as they called the roll and went through the series of questions.

Now on to my random notes from the day…

Stipend is $15 per day and $50 per day for the 6th day or a trial and longer.
I had already done the math that I might receive $125 for my 6-day trial service, if I had been selected.
Bring a paper book or a magazine for sitting in the court room. Electronics are allowed in the jury lounge but not in the court room so a book would have been nice as I waited for the various people to approach the bench to answer the selection of questions.
Eat a good breakfast. The summons read that I was to appear in the jury room no later than 8:30am and by the time I was finished, it was 1pm. We were given a couple breaks during the morning wait and even during the questions in the court room we had the choice to use the restroom or slip our to the water fountains but it was still a long day and I don’t know how much longer it would have been if I had been selected and kept on the jury. It’s so much easier to concentrate when your stomach is not growling.
Pack a snack or a drink to keep in the lounge since I was called early in the day but there’s the chance I would have sat in that room from 8:30 until 4:30 with an hour break for lunch around noon. It would have been nice to have some snacks or a soda to sip on as I passed the hours.
Allow at least 15 minutes to get through security. I was there a little early and I am glad for it. They tell you to allow time for security but there was only one entrance and one set of X-Ray Scanner and Metal Detector so even the 20 or so people who were there, it took awhile to process everyone.
Wear pants that don’t require a belt to stay up. I wear a belt with my pants and I had to remove it as part of the security screening and send it through the metal detector. My pants were fine but it would be embarrassing to have to hold my pants up and walk through security.
Bring non-noise-canceling headphones. I was enjoying a podcast this morning in the jury lounge but I needed to make sure I heard the announcement when we were going through orientation and being called out to report to a court room. The audio made the morning wait far more pleasant but I didn’t want to risk missing anything. I used the standard white Apple ear buds and they worked just fine.
376 people were summoned to be perspective jurors today and only around 200-250 people showed up. It was interesting how many people did not report to the court house. There are all sorts of reasons but it means a lot more of us were called out to this criminal trial to get the large pool they needed to choose from.
I opted not to bring a bag. I just had my umbrella, iPad and a Mountain Dew in my hands this morning. It would have made it a little easier to pick up and move from the lounge to the court room and back and then to the car with a bag. I would have had less to carry and somewhere to place some snacks or a drink instead of carrying it. My pockets were full and I had to empty them to go through the security line as well which is always a pain.
I should have brought a phone charger. I was down to about 50% battery when I was called into the court room at 10 or 10:30 when I had to turn the phone off. But if I had sat in the lounge all day, I would have had a dead phone and been wishing for a charger for the afternoon.

All in all, it was an eye-opening and exciting day. I was sort of jealous of the high numbered people who I thought had nearly no chance at being selected. But I was also happy with my low number of 29 because I thought I might get to serve on a jury which would have been really interesting.

And I almost got my chance.
Almost…