Watch out brother trucker

No Darn Trucks

Naturally a big rig was parked right next to this sign in Petaluma.

TWiT Central

TWiT Central
Originally uploaded by Leo Laporte.

Someone asked me what my podcast setup looks like. It's pretty simple. That's a Mackie Onyx 1620 mixer on the right. It's connected to the PC on the left via the optional Firewire I/O card. Skype is running on the PC. I feed the PC my audio from my Heil Sound PR-40 mic via the mixer's firewire out, and record the Skype audio and my audio on a Marantz Solid State recorder (the PMD-660) on the far right. Then I edit the podcast with Audition 1.5 (I upgraded to 2.0 but it was terrible so I went back to 1.5) and post it. I also do my KFI radio show from the same place. You can see part of the Zephyr XStream ISDN Codec I use to connect to the station on the far right. I wanted to memorialize this because I've rented a second office across the way and I'm moving in there in a couple of weeks. I hope to have a little better setup over there. At least I'll have more room! Pete and Scott from Apple are coming up to visit me Friday. I told them I didn't have the fanciest setup - they said "that's good. We want to see how little is required to podcast." I'd better dust before they come!

I was recording episode two of FLOSS Weekly when I snapped this shot. (Don't tell Chris!)

Leo at Grand Canyon

Leo at Grand Canyon
Originally uploaded by Leo Laporte.

We were so fortunate to have clear weather. It had snowed the week before and there were gale force winds the day before we arrived.

This is about as clear a day as you can get at the Canyon, although a nearby controlled burn created a touch of haze. The far edge is about 10 miles away. We could see Mt. Thompson - which is 100 miles off - very clearly.

The canyon is so dramatically beautiful that even when you're there it's kind of hard to absorb. It is truly humbling.

Conserving the Past

Conserving the Past
Originally uploaded by Leo Laporte.

BCE Place in Toronto.

This is with my camera phone so the quality isn't great - but I couldn't resist the juxtaposition of this old building embedded inside a modern atrium.

To me this is the epitome of modern Toronto.

Worlds Tallest Building

Worlds Tallest Building
Originally uploaded by Leo Laporte.

Pop Quiz: Where is the world's tallest structure? Hint: it's not New York City or Kuala Lumpur.