I am a geek – Page 5 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Reminded once again that I have a face for radio

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I got an e-mail from my friend over at ABC13.COM. He wanted to know if I was available to be interviewed by Jeff Ehling who’s the consumer reporter for the local ABC affiliate here in Houston. They were doing a piece on the proper way to delete data and dispose of old computers.

Unlike certain “experts”, I don’t make a lot of television appearances. I love doing radio, but when it comes to putting my face in the spotlight I get a very nervous. Still, I am always looking to promote what I do in my capacity as producer and host of Technology Bytes so I agreed.

Jeff did a great job of putting me at ease and asked some very good questions which I was able to answer without much hesitation.

Judging by the smiles I must have been cracking some jokes to ease my tension. I’m like a deer in the headlights when there’s a video camera aimed at me.

Watching a TV reporter has always been fascinating to me. Live interactive radio is what I am good at. Producing canned pieces for later airplay is not one of my strengths. Here you see Jeff doing a teaser piece to promote the story. It’s that thing they play before the commercial break to keep you from changing the channel.

Jay Lee in HD. Looks like I made a good choice wearing the blue shirt and my new glasses look great.

The beard could sure use a trim, though.

Cruising with Vista

So I fielded my first Windows Vista Q&A for my Helpline Blog over at the Houston Chronicle.

It’s pretty lightweight but still, it marks a new era in my computer support time-line. I’m sure it’s the first of many, many more to come.

You can read it here if you’re so inclined.

Those who enjoy vintage American automobiles or know about my Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme should be sure to click the link at the very end of the article.

The geeks, they gathered

Laurence (isfullofcrap.com) Simon, Kojo (the architect) Idrissa, Dwight Silverman and KD5 enjoy some technology, bubble tea, food and conversation at the February Geek Gathering

The first Friday of the month is always reserved for “The Geek Gathering.” It’s an informal gathering of the participants and listeners of my show, Technology Bytes.

Basically I just invite anyone who is listening to the show to meet up at Tropioca for a few hours of general hanging out.

Over the years it been a real neat experience. Some Fridays there’s not very many people, other Fridays we get a huge crowd.

This past Friday we had a great turn out which included Kojo back from China and an old friend I haven’t seen in 20 years who is now working for Russell Holliman and Podcast Ready. Small world.

One very cool aspect of doing radio for over 20 years is that I tend to run into old friends and acquaintances I’ve lost touch with over my lifetime. It’s like having a permanent P.O. box (that happens to be broadcasting at thousands of watts). There may be a ton of Jay Lees in the world, but only one at KPFT so it’s a good bet it’s me if you happen to be looking.

More pictures of this geek gathering (as well as past gatherings) can be found in the gallery over at geekradio.com if your interested.

Hello, Houston. This is Odyssey. We’re glad to see you

Upgrade complete

Mark time: Jan 5th, 2007 2:25 pm
Total upgrade time: 2hr:25m

System specs:

AMD Athlon 64 2.2 GHz
ATI RADEON Xpress 200
1 gig of RAM
200 gig HD

Soooooooooooooooooooooo pretty!

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more

I am now going to upgrade my computer from Windows XP Pro to the release version of Windows Vista.

May God have mercy on my soul…

Mark time: Jan. 5th, 2007 @ 12:00 pm (high noon, how appropriate)

See you on the other side.

I report, you decide!

Found a link to the video!

Fair and Balanced

Got an e-mail last night from Ned Hibbard over at the local Fox affiliate. They were doing a piece on the discovery of the Quicktime vulnerability that’s getting a little “buzz” as we kick of the Month of Apple Bugs.

He wanted to know if he could send a camera guy over to the radio station during my show. The idea was to record us on air in hopes of getting a sound bite to use in a story they were putting together for the evening news about the vulnerability.

Not being one who turns down a chance for free publicity, I agreed.

They did end up using several seconds of video they shot. It wasn’t an Emmy award winning performance by any means. Still, it’s good promo for the show. Especially since they got the name of the show right, unlike the previous story I did for the NBC affiliate last August.

The hero of 3700 Main

In my time I have saved the computer at the Continental Club on a few occasions and bailed out Thomas over at Sig’s Lagoon. It’s my contribution to the “scene”, I suppose.

This week I got a call from the proprietress of Taco’s-A-Go-Go. Seems their PC was misbehaving and needed some tender loving nerd care. I was surprised to get the call since I had never given them my number. I assume it was acquired via my friend Nick or someone else who had access to my digits. I said I would have a look the next time I was in the area.

With the new 9/80 schedule I had this Friday off and felt I could afford the lack of sleep and headed off to go see Beetle perform their usual Thursday night happy hour gig at the Continental. Since Taco’s-A-Go-Go is right next door I popped in to have a look at their ailing PC. Turns out the wireless adapter driver was in need of a re-install. I had it up and running in about 10-15 minutes. No big deal.

Enjoyed the Beetle show, as always. After they were done playing I was talking to Jim and he suggested heading over to a party at “Bongo” Jane’s place.

I was of a mixed mind about the whole thing. I know Jane and I knew I would know some of the people there and Jim was just so darn insistent about it I headed on over. Glad I did. I saw some old friends I had not seen in over 15 or so years and just enjoyed hanging out.

Jane’s place is quite interesting. She has the best entertainment center you can imagine. It’s a sound stage right in the main living room. Jane has a lot of musician friends and they were coming and going from the stage all night.

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Sorry to say, I don’t know this singer’s name. She was performing with Steve Candelari on the drums and Aaron Loesch of Jug O’ Lighnin fame on guitar.