Archives for January 2012

Going away for the weekend. I do not want to bring my computer. (I have my Kindle Fire after all.) So, should I post or should I not post?

I can set up posts to run while I’m away. Or I could make phone posts on the fly. Or I could just not post.

Here’s the thing. I’ve posted every single day since the very end of October. With this post, I will have posted for all of November, December and January. Do I need to keep posting every day? Should I keep doing it because I’ve been doing it and if I skip some days I’ll lose my momentum?

I just don’t know.

What do you think?

Tonight I recorded my second Lounging with LannaLee episode. Yesterday I recorded the first. When asking people to lounge with me I let them know that it will take an hour from start to finish to record the podcast. A few minutes to get ready, 30 minutes for the show, and a few minutes wrap up. And both times it came in under an hour.

Granted, a bit of prep work went into that. I wrote up some show notes with ideas of what I wanted to talk about. I cobbled together guest bios from online profiles. I knew specifically how I wanted the show to start and end. As part of the getting ready before we recorded, I let my guests (@AlexSteed and @BlackGirlinMain) know what to expect and allowed them to hear how I would introduce them.

My choice of equipment helps too, the recording device I use (the Zoom H2 Handy Portable Stereo Recorder) takes a minute to set up, once I turn it on, it’s ready to go. If I’m at someone else’s house, the device also takes just a moment to put away.

All in all, I am very pleased about how this is going. I’m going to a conference this weekend, and I hope to connect with more people to guest on my show. I’ll be bringing my equipment and it’s good that I can assure potential guests that I would only need an hour.

Like I said: I love it when a plan comes together!

Here is a video of me talking about Lounging with LannaLee. You know you wanna watch it and stuff. You know it.

Also mentioned in video: my tiredness, The Lex and Lanna Show, this blag, and Bureau of Awesome.

Sorry about the face.

Crap. I forgot to blag Saturday. So I’ll do it again, go back in time to post. [Granted, I’ll only be cheating by an hour.] Funny: Watching Back to the Future on tv, very apropos.

A good and frustrating day all at once. Mostly good (the frustrating was over early in the day.)

Too tired to recount all of it, and do you really care? Suffice to say that I’m dealing with car issues (not major, just frustrating) and getting ready for my interviews for the Lounging with LannaLee podcast (which is very good.) The major thing I did was make some chachkis for my guests. Not sharing photos yet, but I hope my guests will think they’re cute.

I have my first interview tomorrow, and although I want to work on getting my head together some more, I think I really need to just go to sleep.

I got nothing people. So here we are. Some kittehs. Just for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And for good measure, some pix of my parent’s cat (why used to be my cat) Loki.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There, that’s better.

I’m a podcast diva. Or should I say Podcast Queen? Without quite realizing it, I’ve built a community of podcasts.

I’ve been talking about Lounging with Lanna Lee, it’s my new thang, but there would be no lounging if there wasn’t a Lex and Lanna Show, which I started with Alexis Lyon back in 2009/2010. And it has been (and still is) a blast to do. But Lex is busy going to school. So we don’t get to cast so much.

I started the Bureau of Awesome with Edmund partly because I missed doing Lex and Lanna so much, party because I had a URL called BureauOfAwesome.com and mostly because my dear husband is a great conversationalist and is wicked smart.

[Note: Tonight Edmund and I recorded a Bureau of Awesome podcast, #06: Kindles and Boskones, Oh My! Dare I say it’s awesome? Yes I do.]

Next up is Lounging with Lanna, where my podcasting empire becomes complete. This weekend I start meeting with people to record their episodes. Very exited about it. It’s kind of a big deal. As the sole “host” I’ll be responsible for making my guests look (sound) good and feel comfortable. That said, if I have fun and they have fun, I’ll be happy.

Not sure if I’m a Podcast Diva or Queen. I think I’m something else. Something cooler than that, some non-gendered name. Podcast Genuis? Eh. I’ll figure it out, never you worry.

	Lounging with LannaLee Lounging with LannaLee is a new weekly audio podcast that’s a face-to-face, half-hour conversation between LannaLee and a fascinating person. Guests will be passionate musicians, activists, geeks, nerds, actors, writers, artists, and business professionals. Launches in March, 2012.
	The Lex and Lanna Show Guerrilla Social Commentary from two feisty Maine women since 2010. Lanna and Lex meet at a Tweetup in Portland, ME; they find they have common interests. And lo! A podcast is born! Join them as they discuss social media, hot trends on the interwebs, presentation, art, feminism, gender and balloon animals. Their Mission, to Subvert Gender Stereotypes!
	Bureau Of Awesome In the Bureau Of Awesome, Edmund and Lanna talk about politics, books, movies, games and the internets. Bi-Weekly since 2011.

So. Lounging with LannaLee prep is in full swing. I have people lined up for interviews, a plan of attack, and now, as you can see to the the left, the first part of my brilliant advertising plan: business cards. [The cards are being printed this week, and I hope I’ll get them before I go away next weekend.]

I also want to have pens and other fun chachkis, but since this is not yet (nor may never be) a money making proposition, I’m going to wait a bit for that.

And lookee here: I have some delightful short video promos for Lounging with LannaLee, recorded by local friends @AlexSteed (from @FoodComaTV), @GRMPYgrl08 and @tinaburnell.

The fun part is that when this was recorded (in September 2011), I had not yet finished my plans for what I wanted to do with this podcast project. So here is what they are saying about LannaLee and LannaLee.com.

I had one thing I need to accomplish today. Guess what it was. Yup. Laundry.

You see, the thing about laundry is that it’s not too difficult to do, but, because we rent and we don’t have a washer/dryer, we are required to go to the laundromat. Even the laundromat isn’t too bad. Within one-and-a-half/two hours you can do several loads of laundry. What the real issue with going to the laundromat is a) getting up the gumption to put the laundry in baskets or bags, and b) getting those baskets and bags out to the car, and c) going to the laundromat.

Laundry bags are easier. We live on the second floor and, when we’re ready we throw the laundry bags down the stairwell. Very satisfying. I totally recommend it. [Note: first make sure there is nothing breakable in the way.]

Then there’s the “hand wash”. These are all my delicate and work shirts I wash separately and do not put in the dryer. That way, the clothes last longer. I used to wash these clothes by hand and wring them out, wrapped in a towel. Now we use a separate washer on the gentle cycle. And put them on a drying rack in the living room when we get home.

And then there is the laundromat. Not only is it usually grey and dank and smells like musty feet; while there you run the risk of encountering a creepy laundry person. You know what I mean about the creepy laundry person, (CLP for short), don’t you? The CLP takes many guises, but often he or she will stare at you while you’re folding your undies, bring you into awkward and unwelcome conversations, or both. The CLP might smell or have crazy hair. If you see the creepy laundry person, do not engage. I repeat, do not engage. It may not end well.

However.

Today there was no creepy laundry person at the laundromat. Everyone seemed fairly normal. And I wondered if there was a rule that all laundromats had to have a CLP, and if so, what did it mean that I didn’t see any CLPs at the laundromat today. Did it mean that, by process of elimination, I was now the creepy laundry person? Is there a continuum of CLP, and the most creepy person always wins CLP status?

Sometimes it’s best not to keep asking yourself questions.

Regardless, I did laundry today. It is done. Now I am home and all is fine. No creepy laundry person to see here, folks!

Well, last night was a Tweetup and tonight Edmund and I went out again to help a friend celebrate her birthday – with some of her Twitter friends. It was a surprise party for Shay Stewart-Bouley, or as she is known on her blog, Black Girl In Maine [Twitter: @blackgirlinmain]. So kind of like two TweetUps in one, although this one was a bit more intimate. Shay’s real-life friend (@serenebabe) set it up with a few direct messages [A private twitter conversation] and we were good to go.

We met at Kon in Portland. Edmund called me and let me know that @stinkymuttdsgns and AJ [@DiragoUndaunted] were running late, and that we should get a table.

@Gennyfer was there first. She sent me the following text message:

Textaoke time. Allll by myself!!!! Don’t wannaaaa beeee allll by mayselfffff..,,

[Yes. She really is that awesome.]

I arrived second. Within a few minutes Edmund arrived, then @stinkymuttdsgns and AJ and then we had a party. A little after 7, the birthday girl arrived with @serenebabe and we talked and laughed and ate too much food and laughed and talked and before I knew it, it was after 10. Time flies when you’re having fun.

Now I am home and basking in the joy of the moment. A wonderful evening with friends, some who met in person for the first time tonight.

Spent my evening updating the Lounging with LannaLee site. Going to start approaching guests soon. Nervous about that. [So if I ask you to be a guest, say yes, okay?]

As a matter of course, I’ve been thinking about my podcast philosophy. Namely, what is it? With today’s technology I have many options I could use to record a podcast remotely, but I chose an in-person format. To that end, I use a portable recording device, (the Zoom H2 Handy Portable Stereo Recorder), it takes two AA batteries and uses an SD card to store the data. It’s designed for musicians to use for rehearsals, and can record from either 2 or 4 directions. It’s small and light and it makes it so I don’t have to lug my computer around. I can record a podcast anywhere.

In 2009 I was a guest on a podcast called Word on The Tweet, which was hosted by Jeff Parsons and Fred Abaroa. They recorded it using Skype. All the guests logged in and connected to Jeff’s Skype account, he recorded it and mixed it, and published it soon afterward. While there was a lively discussion, I couldn’t help but to feel disconnected from the other guests. That said, I was hooked. I thought “I could do a podcast!” So I did.

Since then, I started two podcasts. Each was with a co-host. I asked Alexis Lyon to collaborate with me on The Lex and Lanna Show because we had so many things in common and because we had great conversations. And because she is super cool. The Bureau of Awesome podcast came about because I had purchased the URL and didn’t know what to do about it. My husband, Edmund Charles Davis-Quinn, and I had talked about doing a podcast together, and finally decided why not just do it.

My Ultimate goal was to do my own show. Here’s the thing: I collect all these cool friends and acquaintances and I feel they should all get to know each other. So that’s what I’m going to do.

The allure to podcast hosting for me is the personal interaction I have with my co-hosts and guests. It’s that magic that happens when two or more people are in the room and looking at each other. In this day of remote this and remote that, I prefer the connection that happens when you’re live, communicating openly, and belly laughing. I hope to catch that magic in my new venture, Lounging with LannaLee.