Reminded once again that I have a face for radio

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.

The Slanket

I was browsing Jeff Balke’s blog and caught his post about a thing called a “Slanket”

From the Slanket web site:

The Slanket is a Gigantic fleece blanket with loose, oversized sleeves so you never feel constricted and you have total control of how to use them, while staying toasty. The Slanket is made of a thick and warm 310 gsm fleece that feels very soft on the skin. The slanket is great on a couch, a chair, in a hammock, on your bed or anywhere else you care to take it.

What a revolutionary idea!

This has to be the most exciting development in blanket technology since the invention of the electric blanket.

I contacted the folks who make The Slanket about getting my hands on one to review for Technology Bytes and they quickly and kindly obliged me with a forest green Slanket.

There’s nothing Cynthia likes more than being warm and comfortable. She gets a modest amount of use out of her electric blanket which I got her for Christmas in 2001 and I figured she would be the best arbitor of the pros and cons of this new technology.

Here you can see Cynthia with The Slanket browsing her favorite web site, Amazon.com.

As you can see, The Slanket allows her to spend our life savings on more books while she remains toasty warm and snug as a bug in a rug.

Cynthia is a Slanket convert and, as of this writing, refuses to return The Slanket to me.

Ah well, we’ll just consider it an early anniversary present.

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.

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.

Geek Gathering – Nov 2006

phliKtid

With all the fuss of fundraising and prepping to go to Austin this weekend we really didn’t hype the Geek Gathering all that much.

Still we managed an excellent turn out.

Russell Holliman of MobilePodcast.org who has been tangling with Apple over the name of his company, Podast Ready, found some time to join us. Always a treat. Plus he promised some swag after modeling the new company shirt for us.

Russell Holliman

We also saw Lambo and Sketkar of Astrocast.net fame make an appearance.

Lambo and Sketkar

All in all, a great evening. I had to cut and run to get home and get some sleep before heading to Austin for the Celtic Festival this weekend. More on that later.

Geek Gathering

Last Friday’s Geek Gathering was a near miss for me. I completely spaced and almost forgot to attend the very event I organized. It’s not the heat, it’s the senility.

I arrived fashionably late to Tropioca to find a few gathered geeks. Groovehouse, KD5, Barrett and a few others scattered about. Glad to see it going on without me.

After a bit phliKtid showed followed shortly by Jamie who was on her cell phone and apparently being asked a technical question. Groovehouse and phliKtid came to her rescue with an Internet connected laptop.

There was much keyboard clacking and tongues clucking as information was relayed via the phone to Jamie to Groovehouse and phliKtid and then input into the computer. Answers were found and relayed back via the computer to human to phone to human interface.

Success!

I’m glad I managed to show up as we had a special guest come and hang out with us.

Long time friend, Fish fan and award winning Houston blogger Charles Kuffner of Off The Kuff fame.

It appears that technology and politics mix quite nicely over dessert and bubble tea.