A.Connector

My wife really cracks me up sometimes. While she is an excellent cook, the cooking duties in our house have been falling on my shoulders more and more of late. That’s fine, I love to cook especially for family and friends. That is one of the greatest connections I know, making something and have my family enjoy it.

My wife Anne just called me to let me knew she purchased a chicken(fresh-killed) from the afternoon market close to our house. She wants me to hurry home(not yet 5:00PM where I sit because it’ll take a couple of hours… Hold the phone, a couple of hours in a pressure cooker? She then tells me it’s a good sized chicken and… Well I remind her that using conventional method maybe but pressure cooker expedite the process. Well we each hung up the phone and I quickly search and find this a handy little time chart for all meats and pressure cooker times. I promptly call her back to tell her 18 minutes or so to which she replies, “yeah, but you sure for our brand of pressure cooker?” Well at least it’s the Internet talking now, not just her husband of 18 years.

Go ahead and cook or do something for your family or loved one-these are the connections that make life worth living. Oh yeah, mentioning the “Net” entirely your call.

Lately been having some web spybot issues which my friend and geek guru Hugh Brackett has been helping me with. I have the newest episode of A.Connector ready to upload once my FTP connection gets sorted. I feel it’s the best one yet incorporating listener suggestions and one guest contribution. So hopefully we’ll be good to go soon.

1-click ITunes button up on top-left sideboard, thanks to Rich Palmer for helping with that.

Wow, it doesn’t get better than this. Mark Cuban, one of my favorite bloggers-yes, how many billionaires do you know share their ideas with you on a blog, and good ideas at that? He answers questions posed by Freakonomics (another favorite blog) here.

My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-c7cede2c15faf3060ecce28e11d8ad7a}
If you are of the voting kind, kindly go there and place a vote for A.Connector.

Ok I’m all fired up now. That’s right loaded for bear. Well actually it was reading this wonderful; post of good customer service in the face of difficulty that caused me to reflect on a bad service experience.

When I was in college at the U Of AZ and my grandmother still living in NY(she retired and moved out to Phoenix, AZ not long after), she came to visit one time. That’s great because my Nana(as mentioned in last Cast) was always one of my favorite people.

I was a good travel guide and took her all around to some of Tucson’s best tourist “must see’s”: Like Gates Pass, the Desert Museum, Old Tucson, and the Catalina Foothills.

On one of our stops for food we went to a national seafood chain place that I was not excited about but confident it would be adequate. The food was promptly delivered and of reasonable quality, but I took one bite of my scallops, and felt something that shouldn’t be there. In fact, there was a piece of glass which I promptly removed from my mouth. Of course we called the waiter and asked for him to get the manager.

When the manager came he was apologetic and showed concern asking if I suffered harm in any way. He then offered to replace my dinner and take it off the check. This is where he lost my approval. Why do you say? Well, the way I was raised, the correct thing would be for him to offer the replacement and “comp” the whole table which in this case was only my grandmother and I.

We are talking glass here folks-if I was some sue-happy miscreant I could have easily made a stink and possibly gotten a wad of cash just to leave quietly. How about the demonstration of good will or lack of it in this case. My grandmother saw that piece of glass come out of my mouth. So while comping her meal wouldn’t change that negative impression, it would at least show her that the restaurant took it’s customer’s dining experience very seriously.

The bottom line- we need to realize with out satisfied customers, there will be no “bottom line.”

No rocket science here-two of the giants of technology from the last 30 years. Very enjoyable talk session with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates hosted by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher here.

While I don’t like to perpetuate the echo chamber, I must point out this fine post from Chris Brogan on Community vs. marketplace here. Some good reading and food for thought. Yes, I had a solid connection with it.

Really enjoying Facebook and some of the new contacts over there. Love the way it organizes friends data so I can look over videos, text and pictures they post and leave comments if I want. I’ve been getting a great response from some of the people on my new media resources list and from some that could just as easily be there. I look forward to getting responses and content from the rest of the new media posse-you. All of the people on the list are just normal people that put their pants on one leg at a time and have to go out and work for a living

What makes them exceptional is their drive and determination to connect. Some desire that through connecting in new media they might be able to enter a job or career within new media and for some that might become reality.

What is so exciting to me is that new media allows us to gain a voice where previously that was impossible. No we’re not all going to be Ze Frank’s or Kevin Rose’s but is that the point? Is that what validates one’s thoughts and ideas? I don’t think so. If you have the will I promise you there are people that want to hear what you have to say, the Internet helps you find them.

My mentor Art (A.L.)Williams loved to say, “the only thing special about a big shot is that a big shot is just a little shot that kept on shooting.” This next one’s a gift: “Two little mice fell in a bucket of cream. The first mouse quickly gave up and drowned. The second mouse, wouldn’t quit. He struggled so hard that eventually he churned that cream into butter and crawled out. Gentlemen, as of this moment, I am that second mouse,” from Catch Me if You Can’s Frank Abagnale Sr.(played by Christopher Walken)

So I’m asking, who’s stopping us from shooting again or making cream?

Paul Swansen member of my Facebook A.Connector group was asked to listen to podcast(AC3 in fact) and provide feedback. He took the time and effort to do that very thoroughly and I felt fairly accurately, I might add. Thanks Paul:

Had to listen in two parts last night while driving around. Very weird for a 16 min Podcast.

What worked -

Nice intro and outro.

You’ve got a good voice for the Podcast.
(There are some people that shouldn’t be speaking on Podcasts.)

A good run time.
(I’ve been asked by some others that do Podcasts about the run time of a Podcast. I often spend 8-10 hrs a day in a car, (that’s another story entirely.) The 20-30 min podcast is just right for me I find. I have many more 20-30 minute free periods, than I do 1hr or more time periods. For instance I most often have to listen to any of Leo Laporte’s offerings, Twit etc in multi parts.)

What didn’t work -

Levels of open and close.
(I set the car radio and then had to turn the volume way up when you came on after the opening and the got blasted at the close. Now this might have been the car radio so I’m not fully sure. Being the old Radio DJ/Program Director, levels are important.)

Background music.
(It’s a nice touch and sometimes for me it was a bit distracting. That said, having ambient sound is great for radio or video as long as it compliments what’s going on.)

Questions -
It appears that this is a new venture/project for you. Have you thought of recording a standard open and close done by you or someone else? Having a standard open/close always helps with timing. I’ve always preferred having a second party doing those sort of things. It goes to listening to a radio ad done by on air talent and then having that talent come back on the air live. Something doesn’t sound just right to me.

A.Connector - how about short 2-3 min Skype conversations, comments on your Podcast subject matter, or with A.Connector participants, or people of interest.

Ok, some random ideas and thoughts here. I need some more coffee. I look forward to chatting with you later.

Paul

I hope that others of you will be partners in making this project fly better too

In this episode of A.Connector Cast I talk about Facebook. Mention A.Connector group on there, related discussions. Include some comments/thoughts from group members Shireen and Ted. Talk about early connector influence of my Nana (grandmother) and some of her “sayings.” The connection of feeling welcome.

Connecting with Moshang’s music in the background.