Smoky Lack of Power Sunday

I was looking forward to a quiet Sunday at work. That SO did not happen.


I woke up to the news that there was a fire at Lidcombee station which turned out to destroy the newsagency that I talked about in Erk Pod episode 70. The fire started in the early hours on the morning and there was extensive smoke, fire & water damage to the shop and the surrounding areas. I thought a lot about the amount of time I'd spent in there talking to the guys that run the shop and put myself in their shoes. The shop can be replaced but I'm glad that no one was hurt. There's a lot of work to be done but I know these guys work hard so they'll either decide to get in and get the work done as quick as possible or have a break first and get someone else to clean up. I don't know.


When I got there, the smell of smoke hit me as soon as I left my car. There was devastation inside the shop but in one of the drink fridges, I could still see some labels on the (now smoked flavoured!) Pepsi.


So I went to my meal room where the smell of smoke was quite strong and there were no phones, no running water and no toilets. How anyone could sit in that room for a long period is beyond me but they were.


Then it was time to head west. It was strange for me to head east from home to go to work in the car and then go straight back west in a train and then head back east in the train again.


I had the company of a driver going home and then there were some trainee guards and a guard trainer coming for a ride to learn about the network. I had a pretty uneventful trip west and when I was heading back east, I was zooming along when I heard a big bang and the train told me that there was no power in the overhead wires. No power equals no move once I'd stopped.



So I stopped at a station that I wasn't supposed to (are we equal after the one I missed the other day?) to do some fault finding. I won't bore you with the technical details of what I had to do but I got the train going again and we headed to the next station only to find that I had 1 power car working out of 4.


So I struggled (needless to say) to get to the next station and soon another train came past us on another track (luckily, there was another track available) so we transferred all the passengers (except for one lady who slept through the whole thing!) to the other train and then I worked to repair the train. Again, I won't bore you with the details but I eventually managed to get 2 power cars out of 4 working and I was able to leave to head to Sydney for further checks before it's next run. I left the train in the hands of another driver and the Train Tech and because I was late, I'd missed my next train so it was now time to eat.


After my meal break I was supposed to drive on a line that I haven't been down for a long time so I can't technically drive on that line so someone else did. In that time I met up with BJ and also Arthur who was in my Driver's school who I seem to bump into once every 6 months or so. And to think - if I was doing my roster like I was supposed to, I would not have met up with either bloke! So the longer the day went, the better it got!

Blonde Mullet Flashback

I thought I'd start today's posting with a happy memory. I met up with my mate BJ today at work and after our discussion I thought I'd post these pics all together in the one post. My day ended a lot better than it started but let's think happy thoughts first before I post about the not-so-good stuff that happened.
















Above: Me in 2002 pre-mullet in one of my blonde stages.








































Above 2 Photos - Driver's School, December 2004




















Above - Me, March 2005.




















Above - April 2005 just after waking up one morning. Regrowth!








































Above 2 photos - Xmas Day at work, 2005.

Erk Pod 70 - Show Notes

Erk Pod episode 70 - 69 minutes. Photo: White Water Rafting is on Erk's "to-do" list.

The New Year's Eve Eve Eve Eve edition - Erk Gets McSad

Welcome to Erk Pod episode 70, the final episode of Erk Pod for 2007. HAPPY NEW YEAR!


In this episode:



* Erk & Drue talk about their Xmas and also their plans for New Year's Eve.


* 24 Hour Podcast: segments are being uploaded to the 24 Hour Podcast site. 16 segments have been uploaded so far. My segment is very close to being uploaded. Erk has started to listen to CherieCast which is very inspirational.


* Erk Pod Mini - Erk Pod Mini is a podcast challenge that I have started where I will do a 5 minute podcast every day of 2008. I called it "Erk Pod Mini: 365 days of Erk" then Drue says that 2008 is a leap year and has 366 days! Can Erk restrict himself to 5 minutes? More details


* Blubrry - Erk Pod is now a member of the Blubrry network where podcasters and podcast listeners can get together. This was inspired by the 24 Hr Podcast & Geek News Central.


* Erk to the Diary Room - ETTDR is your one source for Big Brother news and commentary by Erk & Drue.


* "Whispers At the Edge" and "The Survival Guide To Writing Fantasy" podcast crossover. Hosts Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine did a cross over where Tee presented an episode of Pip's podcast and vice versa. So you could hear an American presenting a New Zealand podcast and vice versa. It was interesting to get a different point of view but remain true to the format of the podcast. Maybe Tee & Pip will get together in an episode together in 2008! See the Haka that Tee made for the episode here


* Thanks to my mate Richard Jefferies of the "Wasting Time" podcast for telling me what his Xmas weather was and for giving some nice feedback on Drue's co-hosting role. Cheers, mate.


* We have solved the mic issues that we had with Squeak's audio in Erk Pod 66.


* Erk gets caught up in a credit card scam and has a McSad experience with McDonalds & Monster Trucks. Drue explains the process of going through an internal de-tox program.

Welcome to Erk Pod Mini: 365 Days of Erk. Another Erk podcast!

Photo: Erk got very wet while photographing a Fire Cadet competition in 2004.


Erk Pod is a personal podcast produced in Sydney each week that features news, sport, entertainment, music and more. Each episode has Show Notes that you can view on this site which gives you a guide to each episode as well. Also, Show Notes for some episodes feature some content (pictures and/or video) that you can't see on a podcast.


There are two styles of Erk Pod episodes and you can choose to listen to one or both of them here.


If you have limited time, you can listen to Erk Pod Mini: 365 days of Erk. Erk Pod Mini is a new project where Erk decided that you may like a smaller podcast limited to 5 minutes (which will be a challenge in itself!) in length and is released daily (another challenge!). From the 1st of January 2008, the goal is to record and release an episode of Erk Pod Mini daily regardless of where I am and what I am doing. Erk Pod Mini will give you a brief insight into life Erk style, Erk Pod & Erk to the Diary Room episodes.


I have uploaded the introduction episode (episode 0) of Erk Pod Mini and episode 1 will be recorded on January 1, 2008. I also have placed some promos on that feed that I made for various podcasters in November.


However you will probably want to listen to the original format of Erk Pod as well. Erk Pod is produced usually on a weekly basis and runs between 45 and 90 minutes and contains news, entertainment, talking and more. Erk Pod is sometimes serious, sometimes funny, sometimes totally down the wrong track but is always entertaining (WE HOPE!) and is hosted by Erk & new co-host Drue (from episode 65).


You can subscribe to Erk Pod & Erk Pod Mini via this website on the right hand side of this page. iTunes link will be available when it is approved by iTunes.

24 Hour Podcast: segments 1-16 online

The 24 Hour Podcast that was held on the weekend now has 16 segments available for download from the podcast's website here. I will update this message when further segments are available to download. Apart from direct downloads from the website, you can now subscribe to the feed here for the segments listed below.


My segment is nearly due to be online!


The segments available for download so far are:

• Introduction
• Elisabeth Lewin from PodcastingNews.com
• Beach Walks with Rox Darling coming live from a beach in Hawaii!
  
• Cherie Cochrane from CherieCast.com
  
• Matt Hall from John Hopkins Applied Physics Lab talking about the Voyager space program
  
• Geek News Central episode #327 (live)
• Angelo Mandato from Raw Voice talking about podcast statistics
• Susan Bratton from the Association of Downloadable Media & Podcast Network Personal Life Media talking about advertising & marketing in podcasting
• Anna Farmery from the Engaging Brand podcast from the UK
• Jeff Hinz from Rawvoice talking about marketing and promoting your podcast
• Paul Slyvester talks "Podcasting 101"
• Joe DeCarlo talks about his show Technogab Podcast and general info about podcasting
• Ken Crockett from Game Zone Radio talking about console gaming
• The Awful Show gives Todd some comic relief around the halfway mark of the podcast
• Jeffery Powers from the Geekazine podcast
• Jamie Davis from PodcastingNews.com talks about his two podcasts Podmedic & HeadLiner News
• Rick Savoia talks about his podcast The Force Field Podcast
  

The aims of the 24 hour podcast included:

• To raise awareness and funds for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program to benefit children in Third World countries to assist in improving their education
• To increase awareness of and participation in podcasting by podcasters and listeners
• To hear if Todd could talk for 24 hours LOL. Indeed he did and some listeners also tuned in for long periods including some who listened/watched live for 18-24 hours.

Erk Pod audio problem solved!

Photos: Erk (top), Drue (middle), Squeak (bottom)


You may remember that Drue joined me as a host from Erk Pod episode 65. I was using an XLR mic and Drue was using an ordinary mic that I purchased during the week. At the time I was using the original mixer which only has one XLR input. Needless to say, Drue's audio wasn't as good as mine for episode 65 but it was still passable.


One of the things that we both noticed was that Drue was moving the mic around as he isn't used to handling one and I didn't think to bring a mic stand. The mic stand that came with the kit was tiny and lightweight.


So between episodes 65 and 66, I went out and got a new mixer with a second XLR mic input and got a new XLR mic for Drue. I also got a heavy desktop mic stand which Drue used. I wanted to get one for me as well but they only had one in stock.




So Saturday came and we recorded Erk Pod episode 66. The new mixer, mic and mic stand really helped (EXCELLENT!) and Drue's sounding even better than he did in episode 65. I've had some good feedback about my new co-host and you wouldn't know that he's had no podcasting or radio experience prior to Erk Pod.


While we were recording on Saturday, Squeak was over at Drue's as well so I gave him a headset and a mic which was the mic that Drue used the previous week. We tested and everything was OK but after we started recording, Squeak's audio went pear shaped so while he contributed, he probably didn't speak as much as he maybe wanted to. Then I thought that maybe I could fix the problem in post-production and while it sounded a bit better, Squeak's audio wasn't as good as Drue's or mine.


I thought that we have to fix the problem now because we may indeed have a third person on from time to time and I'd prefer them to have their own mic rather than sharing Drue's or mine. Then I thought about the new mixer and my original mixer and between then, they have 3 XLR inputs! So last night (Thursday) I did some testing after linking the two mixers together and it worked well. Obviously I'll test it with Drue and whoever the third person is and test levels before the show but I know that it is possible. All I need is another XLR mic and a couple of mic stands and we are set to go!


I continually am learning stuff about the whole process and I hope that you can notice improvements. Obviously I can notice heaps of differences between early episodes and now. I can even notice a lot of changes (and I need to do a lot less post-production!) since recording episode 49 at Squeak's place a couple of months ago.

Erk caught in credit card scam

Picture this......


It is Friday at lunchtime. I have to work later on Friday afternoon then I have the weekend off. I was going to do my Xmas shopping on Saturday. Monday is Xmas Eve and Tuesday is Xmas Day, both of which I was working on.


I'm supervising a tradesman at my house and a call comes in from my bank. The bank tells me that they need to cancel my card. Turns out that someone was arrested by the Police in the US with a heap of credit card numbers in his possession, including mine. The bank said that it was low risk but they wanted to cancel my card. It looks like they caught the guy in time from my point of view because nothing had been done on my account yet.


Lucky for me, most of my bills come out of my bank directly and I put as little as possible on the credit card. I still needed coin though to survive the afternoon, do my Xmas shopping and do day to day things while the banks were closed over Xmas. So the guy from the bank gave me an hour to get to an ATM to get some coin out to do me for a week because with the Xmas holidays and no postal service, the earliest the new card would arrive would be in a week on Friday. If I needed coin in the meantime I could go to the bank but on Xmas Day and Boxing Day, the bank would be closed.


I raced to the ATM and got some coin. I did my Xmas shopping and because I've been working, I haven't had much chance to spend a lot of coin for most of this week. Under the circumstances, that isn't a bad thing.


Now it is Friday and the day that I was told that my credit card was due to arrive. I am sweating for the postman (or is it Mail Delivery Person?), to arrive. We don't get mail on weekends. Monday is New Year's Eve and Australia Post are treating that as a Picnic Day/Public Holiday so there will be no mail. New Year's Day is on Tuesday and that is a Public Holiday as well so if I don't get it today, the earliest I could get the card is Wednesday next week!


I do know that I can go to the bank for luckily for me, the bank is close by. However for a lot of people, the bank is not in the same town so they have to travel. I'll survive but it is a pain in the backside for sure and could not happen at the worse time of the year!

Being Artistic At Work

Sometimes when I am at work I get inspired photographically to get some images. I must stress that the work gets done and has to come first. Safety is paramount and work related stuff always gets done. Most of the time, the photos would be taken while stopped at stations or while waiting for trains. Now it is VERY easy with my Nokia N95 mobile phone which has a 5 megapixel camera included.

Boxing Day Monster Trucks!

On the evening of Boxing Day (Boxing Night?), my mum and I went to Fairfield Showground to watch some Monster Trucks. It was my first time to the venue as an adult so I had no idea what it was like.


I'd been wanting to see Monster Trucks before but usually when they have been at Parramatta City Raceway (PCR), I'd been working or otherwise engaged.


It took ages to find a parking space and there was a pretty large crowd. If you weren't prepared to pay extra for a grandstand, you had to try your best to get a good view. This was unlike PCR where you can sit in stadium style seating at no extra charge and everyone can see easily.



As you can see on the picture on the left, the crowd was pretty big. This is the northern half of the crowd but doesn't show the crowd on the southern side, the grandstand or on the infield.


As you can also see, most of the crowd is standing to try and see anything because apart from the grandstand and a couple of other areas, it is pretty flat.




There was one monster truck and a tank driving around giving rides to people. There was a long line for the monster truck especially.


Loading the people into the back of the monster truck reminded me of putting people onto a plane.







This monster truck was basically running the whole time I was there. I wish I could say the same for the other monster trucks. There were long periods where various minibikes were running around and stunt cycles (which were cool) but most people probably wanted to see the monster trucks.


And don't get me started on the theory of having fireworks in the daylight and then later deciding to delay things 20 minutes until it got dark to let fireworks off?

There was also a Jet Van which I'd seen before but it was cool. I thought though they were lucky not to set alight some obstacles and a lighting trailer!


Where I go to see the Monster Trucks again (and to be able to see them properly!), I'd definately do it again at PCR or a similar stadium or the Entertainment Centre. Speaking of PCR, there is a Demo Derby on Saturday night! WOO HOO! And I'm not working! Double WOO HOO!

Xmas Day 2007, Erk Style

Working in an industry such as mine, you have to be prepared to work on days like public holidays when you don't really want to work. For most people, especially people with kids or large families, you would rather have the day off if you could. But for me, I don't really mind either way. So I reported for work as rostered on Xmas Day and I thought I'd have a bit of fun and let some photos tell the story.



The drive in the Forester on the way to and from work was easy. On the way to work there was a lot less traffic on the road but by the time I was driving home, there was a bit more traffic as people presumably moved around from house to house.


Despite double demerit points and the possibility of people drink driving, I did not see a single Police car in either direction on traffic duties.




Fortunately for me, I was not doing super duper early mornings like I did on the same day two years ago so I didn't get to see trains in the shed nor get them ready for service.


I noticed that this shed was nearly empty (unlike the time of this photo) but in the next few days, they will want to have a good look at the trains prior to New Years Eve as we can't afford to have broken trains sitting in depots that night.




I didn't need to get a train ready nor was I "Mr Shed" so there was no need to walk around the yard. Once the trains left in the morning it would have been a pretty quiet day in the yard.


So I signed on, checked what I was doing and then headed off in my car for my first train.








My first stop was at a service station to get a drink. I knew that not a lot of shops would be open today but the majority of the service stations would be. Then I remembered that I needed batteries in my radio so I picked them up at the service station as well. I did have batteries with me but they weren't the right size for my radio!














I had some time to wait at Clyde for my first train to Carlingford. I sent and received some text messages and spoke to Leigh before he was due to go on air at noon. I was due to do three trips on the shuttle service between Clyde & Carlingford.


Needless to say, there was not many people around. I could see the trains to and from the west, the south and the city. The trains going to/from the south seemed busier than the west trains. Maybe there are more people travelling south who do not celebrate Xmas so it was a normal day for them.


When the train arrives at Clyde, there is a bit of a wait before it departs for Carlingford so I had some down time. So I thought I'd take advantage of a quiet day and read last month's Ralph magazine.


Prior to 12 noon, it was a good chance to listen to some podcasts as well. I am gradually catching up on stuff as many shows go off air for Xmas/New Year (and also summer here in Australia).


The temperature was pleasant enough with a lot of cloud but still in the 20's/70's so it wasn't a really hot day for Xmas. It wasn't the picture perfect postcard day that I thought it might be (or tourists were hoping for) but it was warmer than the -4 degrees that my American podcast buddy Richard Jefferies reported to me later from Chicago.


Soon enough it was 12 noon and my mate Leigh (now aka Erk's Voice Over Guy) was starting his 6 hour Xmas Day special on the radio. Had he been on an FM station I could have listened to the whole thing easily but because he works for an AM station, the reception wasn't the best on my trains with all of the electrical interference around.


I did my best though, finding the best place to put the radio (see photo) on my first train but on my second train that has even more electrical interference, it was almost impossible to listen so I went back to my iPod.


Thank you for the shout-out as well, Voice Over Guy! :)





I even found a bit of time for a pole dancing shot at the end of the line at Carlingford. Believe it or not, I can pole dance although I'm no expert!



So far so good. I'm having a relaxing day at this point and there are no hassles. I wish every day was like this.


My next problem was to find something to eat. I was due to eat at Clyde but at that time of day on a normal weekend there is nothing open so I normally go somewhere else anyway. But being Xmas Day, I could not rely on my normal places. I did not feel like going to McDonalds at Auburn after the Xmas Eve incident (it was open, though!).




My first stop was the McDonalds & KFC at Rose Hill. They are located next to each other so if one is closed, the other might be open. They were both closed. Then I thought of Lidcombee but I knew from previous experience that it would be useless so I thought I'd try Auburn.


Auburn is a multi-cultural place so I thought there might be something open. I was right. There are obviously a lot of people who don't celebrate Xmas in Auburn as there was a range of shops open including a furniture shop, an interweb cafe but more importantly, a kebab shop. I'll definately keep Auburn in mind for the next public holiday I work!







Meal completed, it was time to head west to Penrith. I had a Tangara train and it was impossible to listen to Leigh so I listened to Soccergirl instead on my iPod.


I had a nice quick trip out west and it felt strange heading to my own turf for Xmas on a train. While I travel through the area every day to and from work, I rarely catch or drive a train west.


By this stage of the afternoon there were some more people out and about.

I got to Penrith which is my home town. Ironically I was about 5 minutes drive from home but because I was working, I was about 2 hours away from home. Here I am posing in front of one of many trains who (unlike me) had the day off.


Despite the day being a lot quieter than normal, we still run to a weekend timetable in case people want to travel. Some bus companies for instance run a special Xmas Day holiday where the services are halved or not run at all. As an aside, in London there are no Underground (tube), Overground (rail) or long distance train services, very limited bus service and no ferries either. One could imagine the uproar if that happened here!


All that was left for my work day was to drive my last train and then I headed home. Fortunately I was able to enjoy Xmas Dinner with my mum. Afterwards, I felt like I was going into a turkey coma.


So there's my Xmas Day!

Podcasting around Australia, part 1

After my discussion on the 24 Hour Podcast on the weekend, I saw an article on Geek News Central based on an article by The Age (think Melbourne's version of the Sydney Boring Herald) which talks about the acceptance of podcasting in Australia. The Age article here.


My view of Australian podcasting is that it is very much dominated by traditional media outlets, both TV and radio stations. If I was to look into the Australian iTunes store under podcasts right now, I can comfortably predict that it will be dominated by programs not created by podcast presenters.


Leaving out the video podcasts that I have no experience in watching, the radio station podcasts in particular tend to be a highlights show of a particular program. For instance on Triple M, I listen to "The Shebang" (breakfast) and "Spoonman" (late night) to quote two examples. Each program is on air for 3 hours and you can listen to a normal radio, stream live from the Triple M website or download a podcast. Out of the 3 hours of content, Spoonman averages between 20 and 40 minutes per podcast and The Shebang averages around 40 minutes.


The commercial networks will hide behind the fact that "we can not play music on podcasts for copyright reasons" but they are quite happy to stream online live. Of course, Triple M is a music station so you would expect Triple M to be music dominated.


Occasionally on The Shebang, the management of Triple M let hosts Marty Sheargold and Fifi Box pick the music instead of playing the station's playlist. For some reason when this happens, the average 40 minute podcast drops down to 20 minutes if you are lucky because "Marty and Fifi picked the music but we can't play it on a podcast." Does that mean that Marty and Fifi talked less that day and did less segments and played more music?


As a shiftworker, I rarely listen to radio now since I have become involved in podcasting as both a listener and a producer. I like the ability to listen to what I want when I want it and also to listen to the show minus music, ads, news, traffic reports etc. I find that I'd rather listen to a podcast from The Shebang rather than the live version even on the rare occasions that I could listen to them live.


However, music radio stations are not the only ones podcasting. While I can't comment on the ABC based content, podcasting is seemingly not high on the agenda of the two major commercial talk networks Macquaire & Southern Cross. Based on my home market of Sydney, you may be lucky to hear 10-20 minutes of a 3 hour talk program. While our talk programs do feature the occasional song, there are not as many songs as on the music stations. The one shining light so far that I have found is the "Chip for Brains" segment about technology on 2GB on Thursday nights at 10pm as a part of the Brian Wilshire program. Out of an hour's content live on air, an average podcast lasts for 40 minutes.


Radio stations in Australia have seemingly not picked up on the LBC model in London where you can get a "free sample" of a program that lasts for about 20 minutes. However the difference here is that via LBC, you can pay to hear the entire program minus news, traffic reports and ads. Based on a 3 hour program, the 20 minutes in the free version jumps to between 2 and 2 and a half hours. For this, you can pay as little as 2 pounds per month for all LBC shows on a 6 month subscription (which is what I have). I am not sure if Australian stations will go down this path, however.


Before I move to other podcast content here in Australia in part 2, here is today's top podcasts in Australia based on the Australian iTunes store's listing. These listings rarely seem to change.


Where possible, I'll list the origin of these podcasts.

• 1: The Chaser (ABC) - TV program
  
• 2: Summer Heights High (ABC) - TV program
• 3: Thank God You're Here (10) - TV program
• 4: Family Guy (Fox) - TV program
• 5: Best of You Tube - internet
• 6: The Simpsons (10/Fox) - TV program
• 7: Ricky Gervais - comedian
• 8: Hamish & Andy (Austereo) - Radio program
• 9: Happy Tree Friends
• 10: High School Musical 2 - Movie
• 11: Enough Rope (ABC) - TV program
• 12: American Dad - TV program
• 13: National Geographic video
• 14: Triple J: new music podcast - Radio
• 15: War on Everything Chaser - parody based on a TV program
• 16: Scrubs - TV program
• 17: Ministry of Sound - Music
• 18: Sex Tips @ Entercourse TV
  
• 19: Rove Love (10) - TV program
• 20: Comedy Central Stand Up Comedy - TV
• 21: Get This (Austereo) - axed radio program
• 22: Global Service (BBC) - radio program
• 23: Extras (HBC)
• 24: Discovery Channel Video - based on TV programs
• 25: Australian Mac World Weekly
  

This illustrates perfectly my point - Australian podcasting is dominated at the top of the iTunes tree by programs that are not true podcasts but there is hope that I will talk about in part 2 of this article.

Erk Pod Boxing Day Update

G'day everyone. I hope that you all had a good Xmas Day. I spent a relatively relaxing and easy day at work. Photos soon!


Anyhoo just prior to Xmas, I did some more work on the Erk Pod and Erk to the Diary Room (ETTDR) sites and for your information:

• I have joined a new podcasting networking site called Blubrry where podcasters and listeners can get together and interact. This was a direct result of listening to Geek News Central and taking part in the 24 Hour Podcast. By becoming more involved in podcasting communities and having the shows available to a wider audience, the shows will continue to improve and grow.
  
• On both sites, it is now possible for you to subscribe to either feed (or both!) using iTunes, Microsoft Zune or any other player that requires a podcast RSS feed.
• You can easily switch between sites by clicking on the blue button in the under the host information on both sites.
  
• Host info changed.
• I have completed my initial look at my first lot of 2008 Big Brother (Australia) auditionees and this information is on ETTDR.
  

Erk Gets McAngry!

What a day Christmas Eve turned out to be! I went to work wearing the Santa hat (see left) and even got a compliment from a male passenger and various smiles and waves. I'll be repeating the effort tomorrow for Christmas Day. There is at least one other driver that I saw today wearing a Santa hat as well. I thought that I might as well get into the spirit!



Anyhoo after an eventful day, I decided to get some food on my way home from work after having a "meal in a machine" at Campbelltown. For a big area, there are no shops across the road from the station and it is a far walk to some shops if you only have a short meal break or if the shops are even open.







So as you could imagine, I was hungry and wanted some quick and easy food and McDonalds at Auburn is a handy stop on the way home. I was talking on the phone with my co-host and friend Drue when I pulled up at the Drive Thru speaker. I doubt if he didn't hear the conversation for himself that he would have believed it. I thought I'd start with a bit of humour seeing as though I was wearing the Santa hat. I wish I was recording this!


The conversation basically goes like this:


Window 1: Can I take your order?

Me: Ho! Ho! Ho! Can I please have 20 Mc Nuggets with no sauce?

Window 1: Sorry?

Me: Can I please have 20 McNuggets with no sauce?

Window 1: You want coffee?

Me: No, I want 20 McNuggets with sauce.

Window 1: 20 McNuggets, no sauce. Anything else?

Me: A large Chocolate Shake and large fries

(lucky for me, they have a screen confirming your order)

Window 1: Anything else?

Me: And some carrots for the reindeer

Window 1: Sorry?

Me: Don't worry about it, it was a joke.


So I get told to go around to Window 1 and I pay my coin and get wished a Merry Xmas. Then I get to window 2.


Window 2: I'm sorry but the shake machine isn't working.

Me: Can I have my money back that I paid for my shake please?

Window 2: No you can't as it is a part of a combo.

Me: No it isn't. 20 McNuggets, a shake and fries is not a combo. If you can't give me my shake I want the money back that I paid for it.

Window 2: Do you want a Coke instead?

Me: No I don't. I want my money back for the shake.

Window 2: You can't. It is a combo. You have to have a drink.

Me: No it isn't and I want a shake or nothing. I want to see your supervisor.

(waiting)

Random Maccas Guy: G'day mate, how are you going?

Me: I might be wearing a Santa hat but I'm not happy.

(Random Maccas guy walks away)

(Supervisor looks INSIDE restaurant for angry customer and starts to walk away when I call her over).

Supervisor: What happened?

Me: I paid for a shake at the first window and I get here and I get told that the machine isn't working so I can't get a shake and I can't get my money back.

(Supervisor walks to machine, gets shake)

Supervisor: The machine was being cleaned so you couldn't have got your shake.

Me: I understand that but I couldn't have got my shake and I wanted my money back.

Supervisor: You would have got your money back.

(Supervisor walks off after handing Erk a shake. Erk is still waiting for the rest of his food)

Me: I was told that I could not get my money back because the meal (details meal again!) is a combo and it isn't. I was offered a Coke but I do not want a Coke but I wanted a shake. I've got my shake now but if I didn't get it, I wanted the coin that I paid back.

(more time passes, Erk looks in his rear view mirror to see cars banked up)


Then someone asked me to move to the waiting bay which I did to await my food after never being told there was a wait on the food. A McWorker comes out a few minutes later with my food with no apology or anything and I drive off. Needless to say I am not happy and I will be emailing McDonalds HQ with a complaint.


I tell my mum this story and then she tells me that a photo of me wearing my sunglasses fell down today and co-incidentialy I was wearing my sunglasses all day which I haven't done for a while!

24 Hour Podcast update

The 24 Hour Podcast that was held on the weekend now has 13 segments available for download from the podcast's website here. I will update this message when further segments are available to download. Apart from direct downloads from the website, you can now subscribe to the feed here for the segments listed below.


The segments available for download so far are:

• Introduction
• Elisabeth Lewin from PodcastingNews.com
• Beach Walks with Rox Darling coming live from a beach in Hawaii!
  
• Cherie Cochrane from CherieCast.com
  
• Matt Hall from John Hopkins Applied Physics Lab talking about the Voyager space program
  
• Geek News Central episode #327 (live)
• Angelo Mandato from Raw Voice talking about podcast statistics
• Susan Bratton from the Association of Downloadable Media & Podcast Network Personal Life Media talking about advertising & marketing in podcasting
• Anna Framery from the Engaging Brand podcast from the UK
• Jeff Hinz from Rawvoice talking about marketing and promoting your podcast
• Paul Slyvester talks "Podcasting 101"
• Joe DeCarlo talks about his show Technogab Podcast and general info about podcasting
• Ken Crockett from Game Zone Radio talking about console gaming
• The Awful Show gives Todd some comic relief around the halfway mark of the podcast

The aims of the 24 hour podcast included:

• To raise awareness and funds for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program to benefit children in Third World countries to assist in improving their education
• To increase awareness of and participation in podcasting by podcasters and listeners
• To hear if Todd could talk for 24 hours LOL. Indeed he did and some listeners also tuned in for long periods including some who listened/watched live for 18-24 hours.
  

The long and the short of ......... Erk's Backyard

It is summer here at Erk HQ but the weather for a lot of December was tropical - high humidty, mid to high temperatures but also rain in the afternoon. We need the rain here in Australia so we shouldn't complain and I'm not. However, it did make it difficult to keep my back lawn under control.


On one of my days off, I decided to start mowing the lawn relatively early to avoid the afternoon heat and/or storms. That plan worked OK until it started to rain. The next chance I got to mow the lawn again after a few days of rain etc, I got halfway through the lawn and then the mower broke down with the lawn half mowed!


So the mower was in the repair shop for a week and a half and the rain and humidity continued. The photo here was taken from near my carport. The longest grass in places was up to near my knees and was in areas that I didn't get to before the mower broke down. In the background there is Snow White & several dwarfs that can hardly be seen. So I investigated several options while the mower was being serviced including hiring a ride on mower (I've always wanted one!) and getting a guy in to mow it. The prices of the ride on was too expensive so in the end, I got a mower guy in.



It normally takes me about an hour and a half maximum to mow the back and front lawn. On this occasion, it took 3 guys a total of 90 minutes each to get it to the start you can see here in the second shot. Now you can see Snow White and her dwarfs! In fact, I slept through the whole thing! Best $70 I ever spent!