I’ve given up on the 5am thing for now. It just isn’t going to happen with all the work I need to be doing on The PhiLL(er) and just catching up on my information consumption as well. I know it was one of my goals for the year, but as long as I get in the pattern by my next birthday, I still count it as success. So here’s to 11.5 more months of staying up past midnight and not waking up until 6 am.
Well I managed to get the interview done today. I was pretty nervous at first, but then I finally realized that it doesn’t matter if I sound like a complete dumbass since I am planning on overdubbing my questions to improve the quality. At first I didn’t think it was actually going to happen at all because when I called Joey at 3pm he didn’t answer, but luckily he called back at around 4 and I was able to do it right after work. It actually worked out for the best because work got all crazy.
I’m going to start uploading the audio and then doing my overdubs/edits before putting it up as a podcast. Then will come the fun part of transcribing the thing.
I know that I have said this before on my blog, but one of the few things I do worse than writing is interviewing. I’m not sure if I hate it or that I just realize I’m bad at it or I hate it because I’m bad at it or what, but it definitely isn’t something that I look forward to ever doing. I might admit that I even felt a sense of release after possible interviews with Cex, Steve Burns, and Northern State fell through…a little disappointment on a missed opportunity, but still a definite sense of relief.
So anyway, I decided to bite the bullet again and try my hand at interviewing De Novo Dahl tomorrow. I think part of what made me feel more comfortable about it is that there are some definite question to have about the band. As I covered in my review of Cats & Kittens, the band is a sextet and chose to release a double-disc debut with the second disc being remixes of the first. That’s just something to be curious about right there.
I plan on releasing the interview in podcast format as well as transcribing it. Now it’s time for me to come up with some questions!
Well, I posted my first podcast for The PhiLL(er) early this morning/late last night. Overall I think it’s a success…well I don’t think anyone has downloaded it yet, but it does work so that’s good plus I got it to clock in at exactly 30 minutes.
I spent most of the day helping Yaeka help her mom move so I’m pretty much pooped. I was planning on getting a review done today since it’s been 2 weeks since the last one, but I guess that’ll just end up having to wait.
Tonight Yaeka and I went to the fourth bout of the Rat City Rollergirls. It was the first at their new facility and I have to say that I was impressed. The bouts used to be held in an old roller rink that couldn’t hold too many people and had limited capabilities. This new place, however, was decked out with lighting, projectors, and a much better sound system.
We missed most of the first half due to Yaeka’s work, but the second half was still full of action. Several “fights” broke out between the Derby Liberation Front (DLF) and the Sockit Wenches. The seats were pretty good, but hard, and I managed to get some maybe decent pictures. I’ll be sure to post those, as well pics from the other two bouts we attended soon.
I got one excellent present this year for my birthday and Yaeka actually gave it to me over 3 weeks before my birthday. I wasn’t actually expecting much, but after a quick trip to the mall I finally got some Bose speakers. They aren’t the 901s that I have been dreaming of for a while, but these 301s sound really amazing. I’ve been noticing those little details that were previously missing and now the only thing I could wish for is for neighbors that would be understanding if I felt the need to crank the stereo up. When we were going through the demo at the store these things got really really LOUD.
Here’s the old setup with my parents’ old Kenwood speakers from the 70s. They still worked pretty well, but they were definitely tired.
The unopened box posing in front of its new digs.
Here I am reading the very important documentation that comes with these sorts of things. People actually read manuals and stuff right?
Out comes speaker number one into the world.
Yaeka really wanted an old v. new demo comparison, but in the end I didn’t feel like dealing with any more speaker wire. Also, since we didn’t have a place to put the new speakers, they just had to sit there for a bit.
After a quick run to Home Depot (I actually prefer Lowe’s though), we had some new shelving that allowed for more music storage around the receiver and turntable. Here are the new speakers posing with the stereo and “A” list CDs.
So tell me, what did you get for your birthday?
So I don’t do the New Year’s Resolution thing. I’m not sure if it’s because everyone else does it or because everyone else asks you about them around New Year’s or what, but seeing as how I have just turned 25 and realize that I still have a bit of planning/figuring out in my life, I have decided to start doing Birthday Resolutions. I listed a few out earlier today to Yaeka, but I think I’ve forgotten some of them. I’m sticking to solid measurable goals and may do a recap every month on the 25th.
Personal Goals
Lose 20 lbs
Talk (not just call and leave a message) with my parents at least once a month
Do a better job keeping in touch with everyone (at least one substantive e-mail to five friends every month)
Get at least a 19% cumulative raise over the year
Wake up at 5am everyday (by the end of the year)
One blog post a day (when a computer is available)
One photo blog post a week
The PhiLL(er) Goals
Post at least 67 new music reviews (this will bring the total up to 200)
Post at least 26 podcasts with an ideal goal of 50
Post at least 6 new interviews
Make the site self-sustaining (need to raise $75+)
06/21/2005 Bed Time: about 10 PM
06/22/2005 Wake Up Time: 5:05 AM
While I didn’t actually achieve my 5 am goal, I count this as a success since I made it to the gym. Last time I went (just once) this early the place was super busy, almost as busy as 5 pm (the after work rush), but today it was relatively quiet. If I want to get in a full hour of gym work though, I think I might have to move my wake up time to 4:45 am. We’ll see how I feel about that.
I decided that maybe I’ll start tracking my wake up progress until I get in my routine.
06/21/2005: 5:55am
I’m going to begin a podcast on The PhiLL(er) hopefully this weekend and am not entirely sure how to get the feeds to work properly. This is just a test to see if I can subscribe to my blog feed and have the MP3 file download. The file just says, “This is a test” so don’t download it, it isn’t interesting!
When I get the actual podcast up, I’ll let you know.
Update: That totally didn’t work…ugh!
Update 2: Now it’s working right. I’d just like to take this moment to say that while ourmedia is cool in that you can store and host all your media files there, it still has a lot of bugs to work out.