He’s Baaaaaaaaaaaaaack…………And this time, with a Mac!

I’ve largely neglected my blog in the last several months. In fact, I haven’t posted since March, 2011!

I’ve decided to get back into the swing of things w/ my blog – all three of you who read this thing deserve nothing less… 

So here’s 9 months of missed life updates in 9 bullet points (in no particular order):

1. Still working as a geek, though now, I have the title of “Platform Manager” tacked onto the existing title – (I had hoped Miraculum Laborat would be a nice compromise from my suggested “Tech God”, but I was given some nonsensical argument about how others might feel compelled to bow in my presence – phooey is you ask me, and yes, I just used “phooey” in a sentence)
2. I got out onto my kayak no less than 15 times! Even rigged the boat into a pretty decent fishing platform, complete w/ the obligatory milk crate and bungee cords…
3. My kids still ROCK – Those who are Facebook friends already know how I gush over them – They both have a firm command over the word “NO” it seems, but fortunately for them – and me – I adore them, so it’s all good.
4. My wife still ROCKS – I mean, she puts up with me after all, right?
5. We went to Cape Cod for vacation, loved it! The kids learned the lyrics to “Knee Deep In The Water”, we splashed in waves, and had fun w/ the cousins from Texas!
6. What’s on tap for Kimball Vaca 2012? The decision has been made, and it’s a GO for DISNEY!!!! Hopefully, with friends!
7. I have officially extended the “Daddy/Daughter Date” concept to now include a “Dude Day” for just the Kimball boys, we even rode on a fire truck together recently!!
8. I decided to drop my PC and go w/ a Mac…………………….yeah, you read that correctly……..

 

So I hear once you go Mac, you never go back. We shall see…….

Oh, and I promise to get better about the updates on a more regular basis

 

Samson Go Mic – Day 2

What a day!

Five podcasts recorded in four hours, followed by another hour presentation on technology.

This really is a pretty sweet gig…

And if any of my readers know of anyone interested in a “Distance Education Specialist” position, let me know.

As for the podcasting, the Samson Go Mic has proven itself to be quite a capable little mic.

For future shows, however, I believe I’ll be going with a larger cardioid mic + pop shield, like say the Yeti, from Blue Microphones. As a quick “oh by the way, you’re recording 5 authors tomorrow” sort of deal, the Samson has done a really nice job.

What I didn’t like was the fairly weak -10db setting. Thinking it would help drown out collateral noise, all it really did was lower the volume of the entire podcast.

More tomorrow when I’m less alseep.

 

Samson Go Mic + EMS Today = Podcast Goodness?

I leave for Baltimore in the morning, to attend EMS Today.

Let me clarify, I am leaving sometime between “I should really go to bed” and “the sun isn’t even up yet??!!!??!!??” to head to Baltimore.

You see, EMS Today is back in town and I’m going to the show to assist our sales force with techno-geek stuff. It’s actually a really good time, spent with good colleagues/friends.

This year though, the Geek Gods are also smiling on me…

In addition to getting to see a few good friends, I’m going to record a few podcasts with our authors and customers. Pretty sweet huh?

I have my trusty Sony voice recorder, but since I’ll have a place to set up my laptop I really want to record direct to my external hard drive through Audacity with a quick post edit in Levelator. For that, I’d need a mic to record with, and let’s face it – my on board mic from Dell sucks.

I picked up the Samson “Go Mic” for just about $60 at Best Buy. It’s a micro condenser that’s USB-powered and packaged in a well thought out clip that attaches neatly to a laptop.  With a choice of cardioid, -10db, or omni polars it’s got a lot of promise packed into its svelte casing.

I’ve only done a few quick tests with it, but the quality is shockingly clear. I am having a hard time noticing a difference between this and the $150 Marshal MXL model I had used previously.

Stay tuned as I’ll post updates on my field testing this weekend.