Yesterday was one of the most tiring days I’ve had in a long time. It all started at 1:30AM when I got home from the Costa Mesa Beercasting Squad. I had been staying in downtown LA the entire time here in Southern California. It’s my partner’s boyfriend’s place and I’m incredibly grateful.

In any event, there’s absolutely no parking available here. I thought New York was bad, but at least there’s a garage if you really need one. No such luck here. I ended up getting to bed at 2AM. Of course, I had to get up extra early for 2 reasons: 1) to beat getting towed at the meter I was parked on (7AM deadline) and 2) to beat the damned LA traffic.

I don’t know about you, but when I have to be up early I keep waking up to check what time it is. I’ve been doing this for more than a week now. On this occassion I started checking at 3:30 all the way up until 5:30AM when I just gave up, got up, showered and left. I was on the road by 6:15AM.

Fortunately, I missed most of the traffic and landed at the Starbucks near the airport where I figure I would do some work before heading off for my 11:35 flight. So I did my work and headed off to the airport, returned the car, and went to check in. Blasted computer won’t take my card so I head over to the counter to check in. Did I say 11:35 flight? Not the one to Oakland (my destination). 11:35 was indeed the time the flight LANDED! I was too tired to look carefully at 2AM and I just pissed away my flight 2 miles from the airport. Though I was annoyed, I was comforted that I made the mistake and that I had until 7PM to make it to the SF Podcasters Meetup so no sweat.

The kind folks at JetBlue re-booked me on the next flight – at 3:40PM. Of course, I just dropped my car off (the weekly rental that I had another day on). So I went into the Long Beach airport and waited. As life goes, as I am waiting there, I see a familiar face. Turns out one of my best friends from college that I fell out of touch with walks by like nobody’s business. I call him out and we get to spend and hour and a half catching up on things.

Great. That got me till 1PM. I then spent another 45 minutes waiting as the painfully slow Internet connection downloaded the 185 messages that had piled up since I check my mail 3 hours earlier. At about 2:30 or so, we’re rewarded with an announcement that the flight to Long Beach has been delayed until 5PM and won’t arrive until 6:20PM. Wonderful.

At this poinnt, I start to do some serious soul searching. My bags are checked and in that neverland we’re not welcome to see. I’m sitting there, waiting for a once-delayed plane wincing that it might get pushed back again. I’m busy weighing if I want to go now since I have to catch a 6:45AM flight BACK to Long Beach to squeeze in a day of work with my partner before I head home later tonight. I get one call from Pappoe. He says screw it and cancel. Save the credits and come back next month (as I need to). I call Zak by chance (he’s slowly worming his way back from San Diego to catch his 9PM flight home). Zak advises that today seems like a day I was destined to go. He noted that being able to meet with other podcasters and to get the SF node started is worth it. He made sense and I decided to go.

Flight leaves on time (the new time). I land at 6:30 and wait another 20 minutes to claim my bag. By the time I reach the rental car area, it’s already 7PM. Then comes the joy of renting from the cheapest rental car company you can find. I had to wait for ANOTHER shuttle from the rental car depot to their offsite location (that’s 2 shuttles). Finally the guy shows up and he’s kind enough to let me know Im buggared and it could take me an hour from Oakland to get into SF. Fun.

I arrive at the rental office and it’s totally ghetto. In fact, I had to wait for another 10 mniutes while the girl in the back deal with her personal calls – I’m on a clock dammit! Finally, another employee comes in from outside. She brings in 2 other sets of people (who were apparently there first). Long story short, it takes me until 7:46PM to get out of the rental office with my trusty Mercury Sable – yep, living in the lap of luxury.

By some divine miracle, I make it into SF in record time. Not a lick of traffic anywhere. By 8:15PM I am on S. Van Ness (going the wrong direction of course), but heck I am in San Francisco. I eventually turn around and correct my heading. I’m in SF Podcasting Land by 8:40PM.

By 9:15PM I have 2 kits setup and we’re getting people moving around. In total, there was 20 people at the event when I arrived. I managed to get about 14 people to participate (it will all get posted in a week or so). The main group left at 11PM or something, but I stayed back with Anthony and Rodrigo to do a couple more rounds. We stayed until past midnight. Another first, I actually dozed off during one of the Beercasts, haha. It wasn’t for long, but it was funny enough.

I was planning on staying on Anthony’s couch, but it was nearing 1AM and I had to be back in Oakland by 5AM. I made the decision that it would be easier and let me sleep longer if I went back to the rental car depot and just slept in the car. Finally, at 1:30AM (a full 24 hours later), I make it to the parking lot and try to sleep for the next few hours until the airport shuttle starts running again.

This time I made my flight on time. I’m here in the same Starbucks, waiting for traffic to die down so I can head up to Marina Del Rey to get some more work done. I’m tired as hell and I look like shit, but that’s life on the road.

So was it all worth it? Hell’s yeah. I met a bunch of the folks I read and hear. I met with people I had met previously but not seen for some time. I left behind one Beercasting Kit with Anthony – he’s going to lead the Beercasting efforts in San Francisco from now on. I’ve booked a tentative date with Rodrigo for the Miami Beercasting Squad (in about 3 weeks).

What else could I ask for in 24 hours?

Well the hammer is about to drop on the mechanic scam situation, and, believe it or not, I’m somehow losing this battle. I need your help if you can assist. Let me give you all an update on the flow.

About two weeks ago, yes it’s been more than a month now that I have not had my truck, I had an attorney send a letter over to Brownfeld. The letter stated quite simply that Brownfeld Auto had violated the law in two places (performing unauthorized work and destruction of property). Brownfeld promptly responded to the fax and noted that “that punk kid” was lieing. He claims that I came in to his office on a Saturday and gave him authorization. Let’s look at the calendar for a second:

Thursday, Feb 17 – Vehicle Dropped Off

Friday, Feb 18 – Called to request a tow – Alan in Florida

Saturday, Feb 19 – I’m waiting, Alan’s sunning – no chance we met

Monday, Feb 21 – I call to find out he “fixed” my transmission, Visit with Witness 1 where Alan admits he made the mistake

Wednesday, Feb 22 – Snow Storm

Thursday, Feb 23 – I visit with Witness 2 where Alan admits he made the mistake

Which Saturday was that again? There was ONLY ONE Saturday and he said the work was done before that anyway (not to mention he wasn’t in town).

In any event, he then threatened to put a Mechanic’s Lien. I have no idea what that is really, but it’s something like a note on my vehicle that would prevent me from selling it or something like that. The amount is equal to the price he thinks he’s owed.

So then I had another attorney look into the matter. I transcribed for his associate what happened, as well as pointing to my previous post on the matter. The outlook was pretty grim. The tact that they were taking, and I assume this to be a legal point of view, is that my vehicle was stolen and I need to be compensated for the full value.

In the end, it came down to a hard realization that if I don’t pay this fool, I would have to post bond and then the vehicle could be held in impound for an unknown period of time. My other option is to be financially raped and abused, pay this guy, and then sue him afterwards.

Which brings me to today. I got a call from Alan today to inform me that the car is going up for auction next week if things are not resolved. Eexcuse my language, but WHAT THE FUCK?

Let me get this straight. I drop my car off with a problem. The problem is diagnosed. The vehicle is fixed without my permission. I contest that charge. My vehicle is up for auction.

What’s wrong with this picture?

In any event, this is my last call for help or support in any form. If you know anyone at the Better Business Bureau, the DMV, the NYPD, lawyers or reporters.. let me know.. or send them a link to this post.

Thanks in advance,
Greg

Quick reminder that the San Diego Beercasting Squad will be meeting for the first time tonight, Monday March 21, at 7PM at the Karl Strauss Brew Company in downtown San Diego.

If you’re in the area, definitely stop by and have a beer and some banter.

Well it’s been more work than anyone will ever want to bother with (except the looney at the keyboard) but I’ve managed to UPS myself out to California in one place and arranged with the help of some wonderful folks or 4 different Beercasts in 4 different cities.

If you like to drink, talk or code I hope to see you out at one of these places! Here are the details:

• Long Beach, CA – Sunday, March 20 (4:00PM – 7:00PM)
  Iguana Kelleys, catering by ExtremePizza.com at the Pike
  RSVP NOW!

• San Diego, CA – Monday, March 21 (7:00PM – 10:00PM)
  Karl Strauss Brewing Company, Downtown San Diego
  RSVP NOW!

• Costa Mesa, CA – Tuesday, March 22 (7:00PM – 10:00PM)
  Karl Strauss Brewing Company, Costa Mesa
  RSVP NOW!

• San Francisco, CA – Wednesday, March 23 (7:00PM – 10:00PM)
  Tommy’s Joynt
  RSVP NOW!

When I first visited Vancouver, I was quite amazed with both the people and the location. Both really were hard to compare to many of the places I have been and seen.

One of the best things to come from that part of the tour was meeting some great new friends that were not only loyal to the Geek Gods but also partial to the fun and fancy of Beercasting. I wish I wasn’t so tired right now or I would list them all with links (hi Kris, Darren, John, and certainly Gill).

Which brings me to this post. I’m quite proud to alert you all of the first International Beercast that’s organized via the SparkCasting Company – the division of the SparkCard Company that deals with *casting related activities.

Thursday night, my ally on the West, Kris Krug will be organizing and hosting the second episode of the Vancouver Beercasting Squad.

Here’s the details:

Subeez Café
891 Homer Street
Vancouver,
Telephone: 604 687-6107

If you are local to the area, give it a try, you might like it ;)

When I was in college, I was forced to take a number of statistics classes towards my degree. I’ve always been quite interested in the numbers behind the madness but also disconcerted with the way that they are often misapplied.

My professors at the time were all quite adamant about the power of statistics. Of course, they also cautioned us as to the perils of having those statistics used against you. For essentially any case, you can use the same set of numbers to prove just about anything – even the thing you think you are disproving.

Many years later when I formed Metricals and was dealing with statistics on a daily basis, the truth was no more apparent. I had found a great book, “How to Lie With Statistics” for my partners to get a quick primer on what the “business” end was like.

Today I came across a great example of the problem with statistics. Seems the folks have done their survey of bloggers once again and are presenting the results. Here’s a blurb that quotes their research:

BlogAds’ second annual survey of blog readers showed the blog audience getting a bit older, a little richer a tad more female. Most interestingly, the survey showed that the blog audience contains a very disproportionate number of influentials, that minority that drives the opinions of the majority. The audience is almost twice as likely to subscribe to Adbusters than to AdAge, but it isn’t as monomaniacally liberal as some people would paint it.

[...]

The recent fad of podcasting appears to be much overblown, with this very early adopter audience indicating almost no one actually listens to the audio readings of commentary. Three percent said they listened to one podcast per week. Two percent said they listened to a couple. The people indicating they listened to more than that were two few to make a blip on the graph.

Source: Marketing Vox, “‘Influentials’ Disproportionately Read Blogs, Podcasting Turns out to Be Overhyped”

Is that a surprise to anyone? Podcasting’s been on the block something like 7 months and both the creation and consumption processes are more elaborate/complicated. So here’s the flip side of the missive:

“In just 7 short months, the Podcasting movement has taken hold and is already starting to gain traction, even culling interest from the legions of bloggers-turned-audiophiles. As technology and tools come online that simplify and streamline the process of creating podcasts, it’s no doubt there will be tremendous growth. Looking back to the age old battle between paper and radio, we can surely expect a more entrenched dogfight in the months and years to come.”

But what the heck, I’m biased ;)

For anyone out there looking for a little freelance gig, I’ve got one. I’m completing a quick site for a client and I don’t want anything to do with the XHTML :) If you’ve got the skills, shoot me a quick e-mail (greg AT socialtwister DOT com).

I’v got a Photoshop layout done. The site will require a CSS hover menu for the navigation. There are 2 templates (front page and content page). Timeline is very short.

If interested, let me know.

Yesterday, we held the funeral for my grandmother. I had wanted to write earlier, just to say goodbye, but it seems that when someone passes time seems to stand still in a way that I’ve never seen elsewhere.

Ma passed away on Saturday, March 5th at 12:20PM. She lived a full life spanning just over 88 years, all of which we’re grateful for. Though many people referred to her as “ma”, she was indeed one of rocks that I relied on throughout my life.

I often think back to just how much she save me. When I was first born, my parents were new immigrants and quite poor. They left me in the care of some neighbors who took what they could afford. Unfortunately for me, these people shouldn’t have been left with children. I was subjected to not only neglect and verbal abuse, but also physical abuse. I was literally scared for my life (as my mom recounts the story now).

And so is how Ma came into my life. She left her home in Guyana in 1977 to come to take care of her grandson (I think she had only seen me once). She literally saved my life. Though that was a terrible experience, I’m grateful that the result was her being here. Ma was the only grandparent I had alive and had it not been for that event, she most likely would have stayed in Guyana her whole life and I never would have known her.

So now she’s gone and surely looking down from heaven. I just want to say thank you for the life you let me have with you. I love you and will miss you dearly.

Goodbye ma.

Internet Dating Much More Successful Than Thought

# 94 per cent of those surveyed saw their ‘e-partner’ again after first meeting them, and the relationships lasted for an average of at least seven months, with 18 per cent of them lasting over a year.

# men online were significantly more likely to be committed to the relationship than women and were more dependent on their ‘e-partner’.

# the more the couple engaged in simultaneous online chat before meeting rather than simply e-mailing one another, the more they were found to depend on one another emotionally and the more they understood one another.

# those who exchanged gifts before meeting had a more committed and deeper relationship.

# the more the couple talked on the telephone before they met, the deeper the relationship.

I did a quick interview yesterday with the San Antonio Express about the Beercast^TM I did early in February. Here’s a quote from the article:

The real appeal of podcasting is that it lets people eavesdrop on conversations they normally wouldn’t hear, said Greg Narain, 30, founder of a podcast focused on beer and based in Newark, N.J.

A few weeks ago, Narain did a “beercast” from the Flying Saucer pub in San Antonio. Since January, he has visited 15 cities to conduct barroom conversations.

Narain, a software programmer, pays for the trips out of his own pocket and often sleeps on friends’ couches during his travels. But he expects to get sponsorships from brewers and others interested in creating a social network from beer talk.

Source: MySA.com, “Podcasts providing a new way to reach the masses”

Of course, there’s one small correction, for the record – Beercasting has nothing to do with talk about beer.