Talking Traffic

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
–J.R.R. Tolkien

I read The Lord of the Rings at an impressionable age. This particular poem is one of the ones that stuck with me. It’s generally applicable to almost any situation that involves inconstancy or motion or change.

Today marks the third anniversary of the first podcast published on Talking Traffic. I thought about doing a retrospective of some sort via the podcast but decided it wasn’t worth your time. So, here is me marking the moment. I hope you’ve been enjoying reading and listening here.

Look what I did on Friday:

So, for your edification, I gave my presentation again, to my microphone at home. I was going to record the actual presentation, but there were technical difficulties.

Look for it at Midnight!

Lest you think I’m doing nothing with Talking Traffic here is a wordle comprising every word from every episode.

I compiled all the episodes into one document recently and just now thought, “I wonder what the wordle looks like?”

Topics: Metacast, Where we’re going?

 

 Episode 29.5 - Metacast [6:27m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Welcome to anyone who is here via Podcastle. I hope you enjoy your stay. Check out my lineup of traffic podcasts at iTunes or by doing a search here on podcast.

Alas, Monday has come and gone. No podcast. My listeners are going to start to think I don’t care. But, I do care.

Update: Episode 26 is roughed and needs to be vetted and recorded. Further Update: Ironman training is kicking my butt. There’s not much time left in the evenings for anything besides spending time with my wife and making dinner. I expect that I’ll get used to this level of physical output in a few weeks but for now if I don’t get the podcast done on the weekend, it’ll probably have to wait ’til the next one.

Hey there everybody!

Yes, I’m still podcasting. Yes, there’s more Talking Traffic coming! No, I have no good excuse.

Although if you care to know the reason, it’s because of hardware envy.

Through several editions of Talking Traffic, I became dissatisfied with the sound quality I was getting from my microphone setup. There were some transient popping noises that were inescapable due to the equipment I was using (Logitech Headset). As both myself and my wife are podcasting, plus I’ve been asked a couple times to record for Podcastle, we decided that the move to a more professional arrangement was called for.

Thus began 8 weeks of really annoying activity. The upshot of this annoyance is that I couldn’t get any of the audio interfaces I was buying to hook up to my computer and work. In case you’re in the market for a Presonus Firebox, do not believe the standard “plug and play” crap. For some people, it works just fine, but for others, including myself, it’s an interminable fight with hardware incompatibilities that you don’t learn about until searching through the forums. So far, most of the help from Presonus has been in the form of “try this and tell me if it works” which I find a pain.

So, I’m giving up on the Firebox. Anyone want to buy it? It’s in perfectly good shape, but my computers don’t like it.

For now, I’m borrowing another I/O from a friend, so I can state with confidence¹ that there will be podcast this weekend. I’m thinking that Transportation Finance, in the context of the economic crash, is a good topic.