This nifty podcasting mindmap (for lack of a more suitable term) would just about make a suitable replacement for my Podcasting 101 wiki-based presentation. Visually attractive and fully hypertextual. All praises to its creator: The Author-izer.

So it’s time to start thinking about March madness. No, not college basketball, but conference season. Unfortunately, two important conferences have been scheduled at the same time this year: PLA and Computers in Libraries. I can’t imagine that this cross-scheduling will not negatively impact both conferences. I’ve already talked to one vendor who is putting all its eggs in one conference’s basket and skipping the other entirely. And the choice is surprising. In addition, many of the people that I look forward to running into at CiL are spending most of the week at PLA (and this includes a number of non-public librarians).

So I am bit disheartened by the conflict, although extremely excited about heading to D.C. in a few weeks. With thanks to Meredith Farkas and her foresight in starting the unofficial CiL2006 wiki, I see that I will get to meet a number of folks who I’ve only known virtually: Dave Hook, Nicole Engard, Chad Boeninger, Tom Peters, Lori Bell, Alane Wilson, Paul Miller and, of course, Meredith.

[This would be a nice opening for my shameless plug of pbwiki, an excellent free web-based wiki service, which is playing host to the CiL2006 wiki. I must disclaim that this positive commentary will result in extra upload space for me, but I love them nonetheless. Check out the Carnival wiki or my Podcasting101 presentation to see pbwiki in action.]

I will be speaking twice at CiL this year. On Wednesday, I’ll be sharing the stage with Christina Pikas as we discuss “Searching the New Digital Formats.” Christina will be covering blog search (a topic I discussed at Internet Librarian 2004), while I will be discussing the finer points of podcast search. I’ll also be doing a quick podcasting cybertour on Thursday, which will be similar (yet different) to the prerecorded cybertour that I contributed to Internet Librarian 2005. I’d like to think that I’ve earned the right to display the following:

Can’t wait to see you all in D.C.

Update: Have to add Dorothea Salo and Amanda Etches-Johnson to the list of people I look forward to finally meeting in D.C.

P1300105

Originally uploaded by planetneutral.

Big ups to my boy Michael Stephens on his reinvention.

Anali’s got some nifty exhibits waiting for you over at the Carnival of the Infosciences #24. If you podcast and haven’t added yourself to the Podcasting Librarians frappr map, why the heck not?.

Next week’s Carnival returns to …the thoughts are broken… This will mark the third appearance of the Carnival there, making Mark the first three-time Carnival host. A proud distinction indeed. Send your submissions to mark[dot]lindner[at]insightbb[dot]com.

I’ve been getting headaches at night on a regular basis lately. This is an entirely new phenomenon and one with which I am not at all pleased.

I’m testing the hypothesis that these headaches are caused by spending entirely too much time staring at a computer screen. So it’s time to purify.

Step 1: Reduce the pressure to “keep up.”

As of the start of this effort, I had 201 subscribed feeds. Time to make some tough weeding decisions. So goodbye slashdot (one of my very first feeds). Goodbye digg. Goodbye kottke. Goodbye various Netflix blogs. Already down to 163 and dropping. Can’t quite cut the cord on Boing Boing though…yet.

Step 2: Back away from the desk.

We are painting the room where my desk is located. This will require me to shut this computer down and move furniture. It’s a great opportunity to create some separation between myself and the keyboard. I plan to take full advantage.

Step 3: Read more books.

This is long overdue. Reading for me goes in phases and this would be a nice opportunity to get back into it. Maybe I should try large type.

First off, after a mere 13 months of service, my iPod died. None too pleased about that. Gonna make it tough to keep up with all the audio content. Next time, I go with the flash drive and a minimum of moving parts.

Is the world ready for Podcast User (.pdf) magazine? It’s actually not bad, but I’m wondering if they will experience their own form of “podfading.”

Library world is certainly ready for PALINET’s Technology Conversations (podcast feed). Not having a portable media player means I have to be at my computer to check this stuff out (and there is a major backlog there), but I’ll get to it eventually. Can’t wait to hear J.B. Hill on SMS reference.

I’m sure there’s something else I’d meant to talk about here, but it’s not coming to me. Back to the tape-delayed Olympic coverage.

Update: Just noticed that the PALINET podcast feed only has the first episode of the series, although there are already three. Not sure why, but I sent them an email, so I hope the problem will be addressed.

Never one to avoid an opportunity to talk about myself, I will take on the 4 Things meme that Nicole so kindly foisted upon me.

Four jobs I’ve had:

1. Sales Associate
2. Kitchen Manager
3. Assistant Branch Manager
4. Supervisor of Electronic Services

Four movies I can watch over and over:

1. Dazed and Confused
2. This is Spinal Tap
3. Short Cuts
4. Caddyshack

Four places I’ve lived:

1. Burlington, VT
2. Boulder, CO
3. Eugene, OR
4. Champaign, IL (notice a theme?)

Four TV shows I love:

1. Family Guy
2. The O.C. (my guilty pleasure, but aren’t they all?)
3. The Amazing Race
4. Scrubs

Four places I’ve vacationed:

1. Hilton Head
2. Redwoods
3. Alaska
4. Amsterdam

Four of my favorite dishes (I’m excluding desserts here):

1. Tempeh Reuben
2. Philly No-Miss-Steak Sandwich (from the defunct Herbie’s Garden and Juice Bar in Eugene)
3. Veggie Fajitas
4. BBQ Ribs (a nagging vestige from my more carnivorous days)

Four sites I visit daily that might not be totally obvious (sorry Google and Bloglines):

1. listology.com
2. cbs.sportsline.com
3. netflix.com
4. pbwiki.com

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. Firenze
2. Bali (in more favorable political times)
3. In bed
4. Seeing Fiona Apple in concert

Four books (or series) I love:

1. The Magus
2. Jitterbug Perfume
3. Snow Crash
4. Portnoy’s Complaint

Four video games I can play over and over:

1. NHL 2002
2. Baldur’s Gate I and II
3. Web Sudoku
4. JigZone puzzles

And in keeping with precedent, I’m not tagging anyone…so there.

The revelry is in full effect at the Carnival of the Infosciences #23, courtesy of Brian, the Laughing Librarian. Brian really gets around the biblioblogosphere and beyond. And if you haven’t watched the StrongBad cartoon yet, do it right now (choose “technology”).

Next week’s Carnival will be hosted at Grumpator. Brian suggests that there are submission instructions here, but Blogger is down for maintenance, so I can’t confirm at present time.

Have I mentioned that I’m always interested in new hosts?