Ericast.com Podcast - DWEEB THOUGHTS

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More than usual, this week's episode is a bit... Random? No, it's focused on one topic.  Unstructured?  Well, it has a beginning, middle, and end.  Lame?  Ah!  That might be the right word.

I took the girls to the 2013 Home and Landscape Expo at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis.  It was really fun... but, at its core, it was us wandering around looking at booths and talking to vendors.  Our Aspen Air problems (they're a heating and cooling contractor) were noteworthy, but that's still an issue-in-progress so you'll just have to listen to this podcast for the full scoop... then listen to future ones to see if we ever do get the gift cards that they promised us.

The 2013 Healthy Life Expo was good, too, but nothing too earth-shattering there.  I could make you a list of the vendors I saw and give you mini-reviews of their products, if you'd like?  (I have no idea who made the roasted cocoa beans as a coffee substitute... but I can look that up, because they were really yummy...)

As usual, 206-339-3742 (a.k.a. 206-339-ERIC) is the place to call and leave a message with your thoughts.  Or email me (eric) at ericast.com -- nobody ever emails me, and it's such a lovely old method of communicating.  It's one step beyond Comcast's request that you mail them or SEND A TELEGRAM (no, I'm not kidding!) if you need to communicate with them... but that's a story for a different podcast...

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Switching back to the "deep" side of the Ericast for a moment (maybe for awhile... but at least for one episode... and what a way to kick off 2013, right?) we're asking questions about whether there's a difference between appreciating something, and "maximizing our investment" in it.

Wow.  It doesn't look very deep when you see it there in print, but it gets pretty deep.  Check it out.

More than usual, I'd really love your comments on this one.  Call 206-339-3742 (a.k.a. 206-339-ERIC) or email me (eric) at ericast.com.  Or, catch up with me on Facebook or Twitter or other various venues; you know who I am and where to find me.

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Having coined the term "zeppelinspotting" back in Ericast #173 I now feel a tad odd turning "trainspotting" into two words... but, hey, we're all entitled to botch a podcast title or two in every series, right?  Maybe you could argue that it's really a pun on "Holiday Train", so we're "spotting the Holiday Train" instead of "doing trainspotting on a holiday"... maybe?

This episode talks about "the show I've never been able to make" because I can't score the interview that I really want to have.  So, instead of that, I have two very special guests summarize our experience with the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train as it stopped here in the Twin Cities.

(For those wracking their brains trying to figure out the bulldog reference I made, you want to do some research on Spike and Chester... and just think of me as a "fawning sycophant," as that site phrases it.)

Questions?  Comments?  Train-related thoughts?  Got a caboose in your train of thought and want to talk to a voicemail box in hopes the train starts up again?  (That metaphor needs work...)  Call the listener feedback line at 206-339-3742 (a.k.a. 206-339-ERIC) or email me (eric) at ericast.com

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How do we treat "Christmas" as more than a time for some vacation and a couple gift exchanges with Santa and a manger scene thrown in for decoration?  How do we live it out during the other 364 days of the year?  Here are a couple brief thoughts from Brian Hardin of the Daily Audio Bible and Rob Ketterling of River Valley Church that help to frame how I view my "relationship with Jesus" -- which is one of those freaky Evangelical terms that doesn't make much sense until you sit down and listen to what people do (and don't!) mean by it.

(For what it's worth, Brian's commentary about how we don't talk to our friends had me literally laughing out loud when I first heard it.  He makes a really, really good point...)

Let me know what you think -- as always, 206-339-3742 (a.k.a. 206-339-ERIC) or email me (eric) at ericast.com and share your thoughts and reactions.  Merry Christmas!

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This week, a strangely deep and personal reflection on who I am at the very core of my personality.  Intrigued?  Take a listen!  Then call 206-339-3742 (a.k.a. 206-339-ERIC) and let me know what you think.

Before you do that, you might want to visit www.DweebThoughts.com and listen to some of the technology-related musings there... In case you need a techno-fix that this week's episode doesn't provide.

And if you want to check out the Tusen.Tk site that I mentioned, it's out there too.

And the Simpsons reference is from Season 14, Episode 4:

Chief Wiggum: Ready.

Lisa: Mom! Do something!

Chief Wiggum: Aim.

Marge: I got to stop them from shooting I…I don't... Lisa, don't hate me for this. (Runs on top of a stand)

Chief Wiggum: Continue Aiming. Still aiming.

Be sure to listen all the way to the end of this week's podcast, past the outro, But keep small children away from you when you do. Yikes.

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WE MADE IT!  Episode 200!  Which, I guess, doesn't mean a whole lot (isn't it 100 episodes that's the milestone for syndication of a television show?) but, hey, you gotta celebrate what you can while you can, right?

Birthday greetings to Chad this week.  Why?  Because he's a person.  And people are special.  And it was his birthday.

If you want to know more of the context to that, listen to this week's (short) episode.  And if you want to share your own thoughts, call in at 206-339-3742 a.k.a. 203-339-ERIC or email me (eric) at ericast.com (which people rarely do, so I wonder if that forwarding actually works across all clients and domains; if you've sent me a note and haven't gotten a response, let me know through some other venue so I can troubleshoot that).

Chad already set next week's topic for me.  Do you have any?  Let me know!

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Continuing last week's discussion of EDUCAUSE-related experiences, this time focusing on Denver itself.  The basic thesis, not to spoil the entire episode, is that Denver seems to be a lot like Minneapolis.

I also branch off into all sorts of interesting tangents on diversity, which I think could turn into a fascinating series on culture and leadership and... it's up to you.  Let me know if you've got any topic ideas on that front.  (Sure, the topic is a bit risky... but what's a podcast without some edgy discussion, right?)

Do you have your own exciting (or not-so-exciting) travel experiences to share?  Opinions of the "fly to a conference" routine?  Share!  Call 206-339-3742 (a.k.a. 206-339-ERIC) or email me (eric) at ericast.com

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I'm back from EDUCAUSE in Denver and trying to explain the experience.  That's quite a challenge.  So, I just randomly talk about some related things and ideas.  Would you expect any less from me?  If nothing else, and if you're not motivated enough to Google deeply for the speech I was talking about, be sure to check out the link to Clay Shirky's EDUCAUSE 2012 keynote.

Note that the opening call from Matt in this week's episode might just be the thing that keeps the Ericast going into 2013.  Intrigued yet?

Share your own comments, ideas, objections, etc.  Call 206-339-ERIC (a.k.a. 206-339-3742 for the alphabetically challenged phones out there), or email me (eric) at ericast.com

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I know I've talked about this topic before.  I have.  But I don't think I've done a full-blown episode on it.  If I have... sorry.  Consider it a "clip show" without any of the advantages of saving work by throwing old clips together.

The up-shot?

The best way to make a movement, if you really care, is to courageously follow and show others how to follow.

Full details are at the creator's site of  http://sivers.org/ff (for Derek Sivers' "Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy") and here's an embed of the original video:

(From http://youtu.be/fW8amMCVAJQ)

Thoughts?  Questions?  Ideas?  Call the Listener Feedback Line at 206-339-3742 (a.k.a. 206-339-ERIC) or email me (eric) at ericast.com and let me know what you think!

Still counting down to episode 200...

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I took the chance to grab the girls and head up to Quarry Park, about 90 minutes north of the Twin Cities, so see if it was as cool as I thought it would be.

It was.

Remember to call 206-339-3742 (a.k.a. 206-339-ERIC) to share your thoughts, especially since that number will expire soon if somebody doesn't!

In addition to the podcast, here's a quick video that Candela shot: