Archive for September, 2005

Blame Canada!

Sunday, September 4th, 2005

I arrived in Canada last night via umm, ViaRail, and it's 25 degrees out, with the crickets chirping away and the trains bellowing as they pass. Staying in Ontario with my friends Doug and Greg on a farm; will hopefully venture out later for a looksie...last night was, err, interesting, the first time I've been on a bike for 15 years and it had to be in the dark! Still not collided with any moose (or mounties ;-) yet. The local town is the defintion of Smalltown, CA but seems quite friendly, well everyone knows each other seemingly!

Stayed in Detroit Friday night with my friends Bob and Marty - Marty's been ill but thankfully is better so I'll be back in the US later in the week. They took me to Windor, CA and it was kind of weird - it seemed a little like USA-lite (smaller high-rises and casinos) but much more peaceful and some very expensive looking houses. It's only when I got into the rural parts on the train it started to look more, well, european. And the border guard (who I was expecting to be friendly compared to the frustrating 45-minute wait welcome in Detroit due to the US-Visit programme and the fingerprinting and picture taking - hey welcome to america!) she was quite officious and brusque and asked loads of odd questions.

Interestingly the Canadian Broadcasting Company is on strike, has been for the last 3 weeks over contractual issues...so endless re-runs.

Podcasting Hacks

Thursday, September 1st, 2005

Podcasting Hacks coverMy reading for the flight has arrived - it's the new O'Reilly book Podcasting Hacks. It's amazing who's also been involved in this book - I didn't know until I received a copy that the hacks are written by many of the podcasting community including Brian Ibbot, Michael Geohegan, Craig Pratchett, Phil Torrone, edited by Jack Herrington and forward by Dan Gillmor, and of course for full disclosure a hack #68 on 'How to Make Mashups' from yours truly. :-D

No O'Reilly aren't sponsoring this blog or I'm not under the pay of them, just chuffed that I've actually got my name in print :-D And to be among such esteemed company!