Recent Transpirings: April 8, 2006

I woke up this morning and thought, "I should get around to making that podcast I've had on the back burner for about 6 months." In a couple hours I had it recorded (actually sounds decent) and published via Libsyn. I've also created a separate blog specifically for the podcast. It's essentially the script that I read during recording, but I didn't think what I would be talking about on this blog and what I would be talking about in the podcast would always match up, so it's an entity unto itself. The new blog's URL is http://PodcastPWS.blogspot.com and the podcast itself is named "A Podcast for People Who Stutter" as opposed to the unbelievable cheesiness of "Fluencycast." You'll notice that the title of this blog is once again "My Stupid Mouth" though the URL will remain http://fluencycast.blogspot.com because it's a pain in the ass to go through the process of changing that.

I want to keep the podcast and accompanying blog as simple as possible. You'll also notice that the smarmy ramblings of the Pat Griffin you know and love is replaced with the "Hello everyone, my name is Patrick and I've created this podcast blah blah..." generic Pat Griffin. The template is stripped down and I want to keep the entries short. This is probably the best way to get this whole thing started. My Stupid Mouth will be the home to the more personal side of how stuttering affects my life (as well as graduate school updates and terribly misguided sports predictions) whereas Podcast PWS will be a more general, professional-sounding journal.

The first podcast recording is about 4 minutes, with a clip of "My Stupid Mouth" by John Mayer as my intro music. It's an introduction to why I've started this and I give a little background about myself. For future episodes I am planning to talk about news in the stuttering world and other issues in short 5-10 minute segments. I'll cover topics like Tiger Woods' 60 Minutes interview, developments of the stuttering medication Pagaclone, and any new therapy techniques I read about. If I used Libsyn properly, they send out all my information and RSS feed to iTunes, Yahoo Podcasts, and other podcast centers automatically and they should be posted in a few days if not sooner. Once they are posted, I will send emails to everyone at the Yahoo groups to try and do some advertising. I'm definitely excited for this now. I've been sitting on this idea for months and after a few false starts, it should be off the ground, only taking me several hours this morning.

So that's the podcast. As for other news, school is going well. I got my first real "A" for an exam after a semester and a half of "B"'s. Unlike last semester I won't be tight-rope-walking the 80-line. This semester has not nearly been as hard as the fall was, but there is much more tedious work, especially for Diagnostics. After several weeks of working to get individual and group projects finished, this next week shouldn't be too bad. I've been bringing my laptop to class for the past month or so and I have to say, I don't know what I did without it. In undergrad there was always "that guy" who brought his computer to class and he was always a nerd who I wanted to punch. Graduate school seems very different in that respect as everyone brings theirs. Sure, I pay attention less, but my notes are neat and I can type a hell of a lot faster than I can write. I get all the notes I need and when I get bored, there is always ESPN.com and MySpace. I tend to zone out in Aural Rehab and Adult Language Disorders (which I would be doing without the computer anyway, at least this way I have something to do) but in Diagnostics I'm too afraid to do anything but raise my hand and pay attention.

I am starting work back at Tatnuck Country Club on Monday (finally), this ending my financial hemorrhage. I definitely didn't think I would spend as much money as I have over the past few months since being laid off, but let's just say that after one paycheck I could double what currently occupies my bank accounts. Scary.

Frankly, I'm getting kind of sick of living in Worcester. As nice as this apartment is, my landlord gets on my nerves (the single most eccentric man I've ever met) and I try to avoid conversation with him at all costs. I don't need to hear how "his constitution is not well" when describing his food poisoning and what to do if I ever get it. Nor do I need to hear about what to do in case "we should meet our demise" when talking if he and his wife die while I'm living here. I don't care. Just ridiculousness when dealing with this guy.

Stuttering lately has been a little below the norm. Ups and downs as usual, but I think the podcast will really help that. Just today I've practiced for the first time in a while and I think the more I focus on the podcast the more motivated I will be to put the effort in more routinely. Especially with presentations coming up and my routine drive to work in the morning, I can get back into a groove.

Enough for now, make sure to check out that other blog and be on the lookout on iTunes if you see my name. Peace.