When in doubt, punt

Well, I pondered some of the technical issues that I am having with the podcast, and decided to stop trying to have the best podcast in the world and instead just have a podcast. It kinda goes back to a session I was in at Echo earlier this year when Shawn Wood talked about what he calls "The Excellence Myth." He said that sometimes we worship excellence and not only does it provide us with an idol, but it also keeps us from doing that which is effective. 

So maybe I was spending a little too much time trying to figure out how to efficiently make and enhanced podcast, because it was keeping us from having a podcast at all. And I can always make an enhanced podcast later. I was able to add the sound from a video we played to one of the podcasts, though! I also need to track down once and for all the source of that buzz in the recordings. I'm pretty sure it's the jack through which the computer records the audio, but I'd sure like to get rid of it.

Anyway, we are doing a little bit of a retreat tonight and tomorrow. It's time to plan out '09, and I'm really excited! However, I'm feeling a little under the weather this morning, so I might have a cold while we do this. Also, I'll be away from my friend the interweb until Tuesday night! Whatever will I do without Facebook, MySpace, and the news and blogs I follow? I might even have to (::shudder::) interact with other people! 

Oh well, this is me signing off.

Technobabble, without the cool beats

Well, I'm just a little frustrated. 

I produce a podcast. (You see it there, just to your right, in the column on the side of the page? Check it out!) I didn't realize how much would go into it, so I feel terminally behind in getting episodes online. It's not that it's a huge deal, it's just that I like to do things well and there are some things I'd like to do that I'm running into speed bumps trying to do. For instance, GarageBand won't let me export a podcast with artwork as an MP3 file, only as an AAC file. Why, I don't know. However, I can't upload an AAC file to our hosting service, Podbean. 

Now, I'd like to do all kinds of cool things to enhance the podcast, such as having artwork or certain images or Scriptures appear on an iPod's screen at certain times. However, it wouldn't do me much good to attach those images if I couldn't upload the file to the interweb. 

It's not that I think these things are hard, it's just that I don't have any training for them, so I have to teach myself. I know how to do these things in theory, just not in practice. Anyone who'd like to help would be much appreciated!