A View from the Stacks: My Very Last Entry on Podcasting…

…until the next time I blog about podcasting (so maybe two weeks).

When I last left you all, I had just finished telling my story of woe regarding the process of recording our very first podcast here at King  County Law Library.

I am happy to announce that we have made great strides since that last blog entry.  So great, in fact, that we may even reach out target time goal of pushing out a show by the end of September.  Actually, I feel confident in the fact that we will reach our time goal, barring laryngitis of the entire staff or somebody stealing the microphone from our workplace and living out their American Idol dreams at home.  Not only do we have a very solid idea of what we want to talk about in our first show, but we have also figured out, with minimal profanity used, how to record ourselves and convert those files into MP3 files.  In fact, I know we are on the road to success because we have even come to agreement on the most vital aspect of the entire project: a title.

If you think back to the last time you wrote something, did you struggle with the title?  If so, capture that feeling of struggle and amplify it with the fact that you have to convince 7 other people that whatever title you come up with is a good title.  This situation is similar to what happened here in the library.  Not that we had knock-down, drag-out fights over the title, but there were some very strong opinions as to what worked and as to what definitely did not work (I still think An Earful for the Esquires was brilliant and will someday be recognized as such).

In fact, choosing a title was almost as difficult as choosing some music to fill time and create transitions throughout our show.  I was and still am surprised about the fact that these details are the ones that cause the most conversation.  I thought for sure that content development would be a key conversation, but the actual substance of the show is proving to be easy to develop (or at least not controversial.  However, I have been told that lovingly mentioning my favorite brands of beer in a shameless attempt to get free beer is not allowed).  By the end of this last week, we had enough ideas floating around for quite a few programs.  However, we are still not sure on the music and may end up having to draw the name of a song out of a hat.

Oh, and if you are curious, the title is Sidebar.  And Rick gets all the credit form coming up with it.

P.S.  In an effort to boost my beer street-cred, I just want to let you all know that we are now entering that special time of year when breweries begin brewing the best beer of the year, pumpkin ale.  If you have not tried it, don’t be scared.  Imagine everything good about beer and everything tasty about pumpkin pie and mix them together.  And if you live somewhere that does not have pumpkin ale, well…fall is always a nice time for a road-trip.

Editor's Note: Is it just me or do you also get thirsty every time Stina says "beer"?

If you can't to make it to Seattle to hoist a stein of Stina's Pumpkin Ale, I recommend you head for Schafly's in St. Louis. Schafly's will feature its Pumpkin Ale at its annual "Hops in the City" on September 16, 2006 at the Schafly Tap Room. Hurry up and purchase your tickets online.

Of course the best way to drink beer, almost any beer, is in a "I (heart) my law library" stein. And I just happen to know where you can buy one! [JH]