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NaBloPoMo #5 Time Shifting our Entertainment

Over the summer our family decided to bite the bullet and sign up for premium TV content . We have been a no cable family for about 8 years. Paying for high speed internet was a no-brainer, but to pay for a bunch of nothing on TV? Forget it!

That was until we discovered the wonder of having premium content and a DVR or Digital Video ecorder for the uninitiated. It has changed television watching for us. For the most part TV watching is a one way conversation akin to how a conference or seminar works. The TV or speaker does the talking and we as the audience sit in a stupor listening.

If watching TV is like being in a seminar or conference. Then watching TV with a DVR is like an UnConference. Conversations abound! With the DVR we are free to pause the action to discuss what just happened, rewind the action to see it again and again and again (very handy with sports programming). Or even better you are able to fast forward through those pesky commercials.

We’re also able to pursue our interests outside of the house without ever worrying about missing anything. I have a friend who drives his wife batty on Sunday evenings because he rushes her family visits because he doesn’t want to miss a moment of his favorite program. Imagine if they had a DVR? He could stay at the in-laws all night long secure in the knowledge that his favorite program will be waiting for him.

Our television watching has never been so conversational as it is now. We stop and discuss everything! Now I’m not encouraging you to spend the day watching TV, but if you’re going to do it then I highly recommend using a DVR.

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NaBloPoMo #4 – Lazy Sundays and Football

Like most folks I enjoy a nice lazy Sunday. A day to rest, enjoy, chill, relax, kick-back….you get the drift. However during the Fall I also enjoy watching football.

What?! A girl who likes watching football?!

Yep, and I even understand the plays, penalties and can discuss play clock management. I grew up in the Rio Grande Valley. A place steeped in Dallas Cowboy football. This was when they were America’s Team back in the glory days of the ’70’s.

I was what you might call a tomboy and had plenty of boy cousins to play cops and robbers with or was that cowboys and indians? I could play a mean game of marbles and the boys didn’t count me out in chess or any game for that matter. So football or the understanding of football was a given.

Let’s fast forward a few years.  Our family moved to a different city where football or conversations about football weren’t as common. I grew up and my tomboy days were but distant memories. I married a man who could care less about the sport and that was fine by me. One year we were given tickets to a game and had such a great time! My husband was amazed I knew so much about the sport. It was the beginning of what is now a fun thing we do together. Watch football on Sundays.

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NaBloPoMo Post #3

Today, I had the opportunity to hang out with my fellow Podcasters at our monthly gathering. Topics covered included PodCamp SA, January State of the Podcasting Union, New Online Web Tools and some general chatter.

As much as I hang out with my fellow podcasters online, it’s always great to connect with them in person. If you’re in the San Antonio/Central Texas area feel free to connect with us on the message boards  or check out some of our past shows on SA Podcasters.

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NaPodPoMo Day 3 – Community

With Podcamp AZ happening today I talk about Community online and in real life

*UPDATE* 11.04.07  I realized today that in my haste to post day 3 before heading out of town for my sons football game, I posted a repeat of the day 2 audio. I’ll get you were wondering why my post titled “Community” was talking about my nano. Goes to show that mistakes can and will happen when things are done in a rush. I’ve now posted the correct audio for your amusement.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Android | RSS

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NaBloPoMo Post #2

So there was this time at PodCamp…….

Yeah, it’s time for some PodCamp goodness in the fair state of Arizona. The good folks a couple of states over are having their 1st Podcamp and interestingly enough it’s called PodCampAZ

They’ve got a sweet logo

They’ve got T-Shirts:

They’ve got a schedule

They’ve got a location: The University of Advanced Technology

Now all they need is YOU!

If you are anywhere near PodCamp Arizona and are intrested in Podcasting, New Media, Social Media and want to get to know the Movers & Shakers in your neck of the woods be sure and attend this Inaugural event. I can guarantee you’ll not only learn cool stuff but you’ll meet cool people and most of all you’ll have FUN! You’ll kick yourself if you don’t go and be so glad you did.

It’s not too late to participate in the fun that is PodCamp.

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NBPM #1 – NaPodPoMo & NaBloPoMo

You may be wondering, “Just what the heck are NaPodPoMo & NaBloPoMo?”

A foreign language? Like say….Pig Latin?

No. Nothing as fancy as that.

NaPodPoMo stands for National Podcast Post Month and NaBloPoMo stands for National Blog Post Month.

Both of these are based off of the very popular NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month which kicks off today, November 1st. It lasts for 30 days and ends at 11:59pm on November 30th. The premise is to write a 50,000 word novel over the course of the 30 days. It doesn’t have to be pretty or even good. As a matter of fact FAQ Reason #2 states, “Aiming low is the best way to succeed.” I do have a few books I’d like to belt out, but they all happen to be non-fiction so that counted me out.

In my continued search I found out there was also a NaBloPoMo happening at the same time. Post every day to your blog for 30 days. Once again the idea is to just get it out there.

So I said to myself, “Hey, I have a blog.

“Hey, I’ve been wanting to post to it more.”

“Hey, I think I’m gonna do it!”

So I signed up. I figure it’ll be a great way to find my blogging voice and by participating I’ll also end up with what I hope will be some kick ass blog posts. Whereas now I’ve only got a handful. Who knows after all is said and done maybe I’ll keep up the daily postings. And THAT would be great!

When I find something cool I tell my online buddies about it, too. I posted it to the SA Podcasters message board. The conversation continued on Twitter
with a joke that it would be too hard to do something like that in the Pod-O-Sphere.  The more I thought about it the more I wanted to do a podcast version. I wondered if there was already a group that I could join. My search turned up empty for podcasts but I did come across a NaVloPoMo or National Video Blog Post Month event. Wow! Vloggers were in on the fun, too? That clinched it for me. On Monday afternoon I jumped in and created the NaPodPoMo site on Ning.com

You see although I have a couple of podcasts in existance, there is a part of me that would like to post more shows more often. Due to the nature of the existing shows it’s not possible to do at this time. So what better way to get into practice of creating shows on a daily basis than NaPodPoMo? Since it doesn’t have to be pretty or amazing I’m free to experiment, be as creative as I want to be and use new tools to make this happen. I plan on using Utterz, BTR, my iRiver, my Phone, Jott to help augment my microphone and keyboard.

Since the premise of both events is focused on the DOING of a blog post and the DOING of a podcast, I think they go hand in hand.  So I’m diving in with both feet DOING both NaBloPoMo & NaPodPoMo.

Personally I’m looking forward to the challenge.