Episode 3: Halloween (SPOOOKY)

In this episode we wax poetic on the ins and outs of what it means to be us over Halloween

Direct download: http://geekingafterdark.libsyn.com/geeking-after-dark-episode-3-halloween

Show notes:

• No feedback is good feedback...
• Is Halloween just for kids now?
• The stores ruin the holidays for Bart
• Remember when costumes were home-made?
• Pete lived near a costume manufacturer from the 1920's!
• Know what's fun? Haunted houses!
• Pete talks about the Eastern State Penitentiary
• Bart talks about Bradley Farms haunted attraction
• Bart visited the Jekyll and Hyde Club in Times Square
• Pete finds a list of things to do in NYC over Halloween
• Remember Silent Hill?
• We discuss Centralia, the inspiration for Silent Hill
• What family traditions do we have for Halloween? Pete goes to his sister-in-law's for family trick-or-treat
• Bart's family doesn't live near major trick-or-treat routes
• Is there an increasing popularity of Trunk-or-Treat?
• Are people trying to get rid of traditional "Halloween?"
• We're making kids fat!
• Horror movies!
• Pete admits to a fear publicly for the first time
• For parents, closed captioning is our friend
• Indie filmmakers are blossoming with cheaper technology becoming more accessible
• What should you watch for Halloween?
• Bart couldn't remember the Michael J. Fox movie title "Frighteners"
• Pete's going to go Trick or Treating with family while Bart plans on hanging around for the office party
• Bart's hoping Film Riot covers some short horror movies. Follow Triune Films' Ryan Connolly for information about Film Riot and Film State.

Episode 2: NYCC 2013

In this episode we talk about New York Comic Con 2013 and the hordes of geekiness involved.

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/geekingafterdark/Geeking_After_Dark_2.mp3

Show notes:

• There are many steps involved in laying the framework for a podcast
• We talk about how, like in software, there are many things that can make it "seem" to be working when you've actually overlooked steps. Things seem "good enough."
• Pete likens it to Sensu, and open source monitoring framework he's trying to test
• Bart mentions the tagging involved in podcasts to appear correctly in iTunes
• We go over some feedback from the previous show
• We have new microphones!
• We revisit tics
• Bart elaborates on the purpose of the first show being about presentations
• Bart took a trip to Comic-Con
• He spent a day listening to presentations (panels)
• Panel seating is hard!
• Bart hates Teen Wolf because of its fanbase
• Comic-Con has several sections to it
• Artist Alley
• Vendor Floor
• Panel discussions
• Autographs
• Why is Chevy at a comic convention?
• Pete wishes he could tackle Vint Cerf
• Wait, celebrities are people?
• Asia Carrera: Pornstar and Webmaster
• Bart and his wife had their picture taken with John Barrowman and Gareth David Lloyd (sorry for the memory spasm, Mr. Lloyd!)
• Pete had a bad convention experience as a kid...
• Costumes are hard to make work in real life
• Comic-Con is full of camaraderie without judgement for the most part
• Pete likes gun shows
• Comic-Con is a lot of advertising
• There were controversies too
• Don't let applications tie to your social media accounts, kids...
• Sexual harassment spoils events for everyone
• It's about respect for people as people
• Visit the blog! But if you're reading this, you already are!
• Follow us on Twitter! @geekafterdark
• How do we end the show?

Get the Show via the RSS Feed

I was discussing our podcast with a friend and coworker who also has a background in podcasting. He said, "You should make sure the RSS feed is posted where people can find it."

"It's on iTunes," I said.

"Not everyone uses iTunes. One of the first comments we had was asking when our channel would be available on the Xbox store."

"...Xbox has a store with podcasts?"

Well, he had a good point. The show is available directly from the Libsyn RSS feed:

http://geekingafterdark.libsyn.com/rss

We're Live on iTunes!

It's official...Apple has accepted our submission to the iTunes Store podcast listings!

You can search for "Geeking After Dark" in the iTunes store or go directly to the listing using https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/geeking-after-dark/id726408893

Subscribe, listen, and leave comments and feedback here on the blog!

Episode 1: Presentation Skills

In this episode, Bart and Pete wax philosophical on positive presentation qualities and the things we hate about bad presentations.

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/geekingafterdark/Geeking_After_Dark_1.mp3

Podcast Summary

• Bart and Pete introduce themselves and explain that everyone should love their podcast.
• Just a couple of dorks at a technology company.  Very, very stream of consciousness.
• We don't feel like we have fantastic presentation skills, but we know what makes other presentations suck.
• A Technology expert does not a good presenter make...
• Be careful to not bullshit when you're presenting to your peers -- they'll know when you're faking it.
• Um, yeah.  Fillers.  Everyone hates them.  Why do we do those verbal tics, anyway?
• TED-talk quadcopters have balls.  Pete almost broke out laughing while trying to explain about balls on quadcopters.
• Bart has a hyperactive filler detector. "umumumumumum"
• Bill Clinton has one critic: Pete.  He hates Clinton's  "EXPLOSIVE inhale of breath."
• Whenever Chelsea Clinton talks, Bart believes she's talking directly to him.
• Pete goes into pseudoscience and compares public speaking to a computer doing memory retrieval.  He also wishes he could read from a script and not sound like he's reading from a script.
• You should record yourself and listen to yourself.
• Your presentation always goes faster when you're practicing it.  You will spend more time presenting than you did in your practice round.
• Review your post-game footage.  Learn what you've messed up and work to fix it.  Be your own best critic.
• Pete only got two surveys returned from his presentation.  He's not sure if most of the people in his presentation at LOPSA-East were asleep.  Fill out those presentations, people!
• Steve Jobs was an awesome presenter.
• Technical presentations by technical people can sometimes be a shitshow.  You want to make sure your presentation is quality, as if you're giving a testimony at congress.
• Practice with the equipment you'll be using to make sure your technical delivery is as good as your information delivery.
• Bring all of your adapters.  ALL OF THEM.  You never know what you're plugging your PC into when you're at an "away game."
• Test the equipment you'll be presenting on as soon as possible!  Making your crowd wait is totally unprofessional.
• If you're going to "phone it in"  please don't wear your company's swag.  As a result, Pete is going to wear quora tee shirts everywhere.
• Occasionally conferences have afterparties/Birds-of-a-Feather session that involve ice cream and beer.  We find out that Pete goes just for the beer.
• Business networking is another form of presentation -- you have an image to present, not necessarily a technical message.  Don't be a drunk idiot or a "brogrammer."
• Does one bad apple really spoil the bunch?  Behave yourself lest people think your company has a culture of hiring dicks.
• Don't hide behind the podium -- be mobile!  Adam Moskowitz, Tom Limoncelli, Bryan Cantrill are all great at giving presentations and they're all mobile speakers, they move around a lot.
• Bart and Pete realize they're really good at bullshitting for 30 minutes on a microphone.
• Pete says "shit" for the second time on the podcast.  Sorry, virgin ears!
• Bart has a takeaway action item of coming up with an awesome intro and outro.
• Bart takes a swipe at dubstep and the next thing you know, Pete's talking about twerking like Miley Cyrus.
• Bart: "Be careful out there!"
• Pete: "Have a wonderful day!"

Things referred to in the post

• Raffaelo D. Andrea "The Astounding Athletic Power of Quadcopters" -- http://www.ted.com/talks/raffaello_d_andrea_the_astounding_athletic_power_of_quadcopters.html
• "Be careful out there" is actually from Hill Street Blues, not Hawaii Five-O.
• Bryan Cantrill from Sun.  Not Bryan Carrol.  Sorry, Mr. Cantrill!
• It might sound Pete is dumping on LOPSA-East's technology group by talking about "projectors of dubious parentage."  This is just a hypothetical example, Pete had zero trouble with his A/V at LOPSA-East and that's because there are kickass volunteers who make it go awesome.

Coming Soon!

Behold the awesomeness of Geeking After Dark, a podcast where two tech geeks talk about whatever pops into their heads and spills into their microphones!

Okay, it's not actually up yet. But we'll be posting something soon. And when we do, it'll be awesome. Maybe not unicorn toots and rainbows awesome, but awesome enough to be worth posting. And I'm not just saying that because I've seen what else is on the Internet. I'm fairly sure it'll be at least three times better than comments you find on YouTube.