Category: friends

AUDIO books and PODCASTS 2015

On By Rick McIn audiocasts, books, friends, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Seems everyone I know is now listening to audio books and podcasts. 🙂

In the fall of 2014, the medium of podcasting achieved a milestone moment. The podcast Serial – which reinvestigated the 1999 murder of Maryland high school student Hae Min Lee – became the fastest podcast to reach 5 million streams or downloads in iTunes history. Although the success of Serial – a spinoff of WBEZ’s This American Life – clearly represented a new peak in the popularity of podcasts, Pew Research Center data show that the medium has, in fact, been steadily growing its audience …

journalism.org

PJ_15.04.28_FSA-Podcasting

I’m currently subscribed to about 70 podcasts. But truly only listen to about a dozen of those. They are all free via iTunes.

I have about 20 audio books lined up into the future. I pay an average of about $10 for those.

I buy from Amazon – Audible.com.

Audible

The advantages of audio over reading are many. But progress in the switch over has been slower than I would have expected.

Sadly, Apple has mostly bungled podcasts. Their apps have been lousy. Yet the competitors have not dented the importance of iTunes in distribution.

Audible is too dominant in the audio book market. They don’t innovate. They charge too much / title. Yet competitors have not dented the market leader, Amazon.

related – Against all odds, print books are on the rise again in the US

New Years 10km run

On By Rick McIn friends, health & fitnessLeave a comment

Good turn out at Adlard’s party the last night of 2015 – about 32 people and 2 dogs.

charlie

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New Years day 10am tradition. The hung over first run of the year.

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For the first time I actually trained for this. It did me no good. I ran about the same as usual – 1 hour.

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stop logging the Ghost watershed

On By Rick McIn ethics, friends, government, health & fitnessLeave a comment

I signed a Change.org page:

Petitioning Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Honourable and 2 others

Call for an immediate moratorium on logging in the Ghost Watershed.

Ghost watershed

Anna Glaser’s family has a vacation home in the Ghost. Spray Lake Sawmills wants to cut down as many trees as possible. Spray Lake Sawmills is the bad guy. 😦

Here’s Anna’s take on the situation – Ghost Stories

Here are Anna’s family and friends of the Ghost protesting.

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John & Laura in Doha

On By Rick McIn food, friends, travelLeave a comment

After decades of threatening to come visit John & Laura in one of their exotic postings, I finally got to one.

John works for Shell Oil and has travelled the world for work. He, Laura and their kids have lived in a number of oil rich nations.

For the past few years they’ve been living in Qatar. I stayed one night at their home in the Shell Quipco Compound.

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They drove me out into the desert to see one of the few tourist attractions I’d not yet visited, the Zubarah Fort. It’s a new world heritage site.

Zubarah Fort map

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On the way home we tried a new Persian restaurant for lunch. Mixed tasty kabobs. Bread with dipping sauces. Fresh vegies.

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Another night Laura made coconut shrimp.

John and Rick Coconut Shrimp

I wish I could describe it … but all I remember was how much wine we drank. I passed out instantly after falling on the bed.

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Oddly, it briefly rained in Doha. It had rained twice on my in Saudi. Seems I’m a rain maker.

John, Laura and I talked of the future. Hoping to meet up one day for a travel adventure.

visiting Mike Sissons in Madrid

On By Rick McIn Art and beauty, friends, travelLeave a comment

I spent a few days catching up with my long time friend. Staying with his family.

Mike and I hadn’t seen each other in over 20 years.

Having lived and taught in many nations, Mike has settled down. An artist, they live not far from the Prado.

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This kid – Mike’s newphew – has been thrashing me at various games over the weekend. 🙂

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From Madrid I’ll travel southern Spain for a couple of weeks before flying out to Scotland October 18th.

Spanish Banks, Vancouver

On By Rick McIn food, friends, travel1 Comment

One of the great treats of the left coast City is a picnic on the beach.

potato salad

corn salad

Spanish Banks meal

Rocco and Maureen were visiting …

Maureen Rocco

… so I showed up. 🙂

Rick more wine

Rick Spanish Banks

Sunday nights Spanish Banks drum circle.

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Off-leash dogs are welcome here.

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The best photos were taken by Rockin’ Ronnie.