Yucatan to Florida in 3 days

We took off for a big adventure road trip this week. On Monday morning we were sitting in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. By midnight Wednesday night we were walking in my parent’s door in Florida. We traveled about 2200 miles in that time.

Monday we drove from Merida to Veracruz. The roads are pretty good along that stretch. There are a few places that you have to drive on a two lane road, but certainly not too long. When we got to Veracruz, even though we knew we were just over half way to the border, we felt like we should have gone on just a few more miles. We had some daylight left and could have made it to Cardel. That would have allowed us to leave on Tuesday without still having to drive through Veracruz. Total driving time for Monday was 14 hours.

Tuesday we thought that we should leave about an hour later than we left on Monday. This was due to being further west in the same time zone (I want to avoid driving in the dark as much as possible). We did have plans to get on the road between 6:00 and 6:30. A little delay here and there and we ended up leaving after 7:00. We drove 13 hours to get to the border and then had to work through some paperwork and get to where we were staying. Again about a 14 hour day. The roads are not nearly as nice between Veracruz and Tampico as they were the day before. After you get out of Tampico about an hour then it is a relatively easy (if not a bit boring) trip. We had almost 2 hours of night driving. Not something I want to do if I can absolutely avoid it.

Wednesday we were on the road by 7:30. We stopped to have a real breakfast which slowed us down getting started, but we were thankful for a full meal. We started in McAllen, Texas and drove the 900+ miles to Pensacola in 16.5 hours. That included about an hour and a half adventure while eating and looking for a way to warm up.

With the exception of a need for a heater, we had a wonderfully un-eventful trip. We were eager to be with my parents and friends here in Pensacola. We also will be hearing my favorite guitarist play on Friday night. That is the real reason for making the 5 day trip in 3 days. I wanted to make sure that I had plenty of time buffered in just in case we had problems and got delayed.

The big day

Today was the day that we were having our big event at church. We had been inviting the neighbors from near the church as well as friends and family of our Deaf who regularly attend.

Normally on a Sunday morning we will have between 10 and 17 at church. We have had a high day of 25. Today we were pleased to see 36 people in church with us. 13 of them were first time visitors. It was an exciting day.

We split up the duties between Bill, our co-worker, and myself for the speaking this morning. Bill told about the history and planned future of the ministry. I gave a Gospel message. We had 2 ladies (hearing) accept the Lord today!

After the service we had a meal and sat around and talked for a while. It was just a generally exciting day. We only took 86 pictures, so I will have to dig through them and see if there are any worthy of uploading. I would just do it right now, but the camera has already been packed for a long trip. When we get to our destination I will try to get a couple pictures uploaded.

Podcasting tips

I read a very helpful web page this last week. I wanted to share with you just a bit of what you will see at the site. Here are eleven tips for putting together a podcast as found at KunaLand Productions.

1. A recording made with average quality equipment in a quiet environment will sound better that a recording made with great equipment in a noisy environment.

This will also help in final processing and production. The less extraneous noise you have to work out the more you will enjoy post production and the listeners will be less distracted. I have one podcast that I listen to that sounds like the interviewer is constantly banging the mic around. The interviewee sounds great, but the “controlled environment” of the interviewer needs some work.

2. Try to use a structured format when creating a Podcast. Listeners don’t like bizarre surprises.

Though you don’t have to be totally strict on this, it does really help. There is always the argument that you are not restricted by time nor format in podcasting. While that is true, rarely will you keep your listeners if you start out as a 20 minute structured show and eventually fade into a 1 hour blab fest.

3. Keep your microphone 6-9” away from your mouth and slightly off to one side and you probably won’t need to use a pop-filter. However, if you are using a studio-type condenser microphone you will probably need a pop-filter.

Learn your mic setup. Take some time and get things working well. At the site where these tips come from there are many other instructional type articles that will help you get started in controlling your mic.

4. Recording wav files at greater than a 16-bit depth is a waste of disk drive space. Remember that your show will eventually will be a compressed MP3 file.

Remember that wav files can be huge. While it is true that the better the quality of the original recording will result in a better final MP3, you can hit a point of diminishing returns.

5. Everyone knows that high quality microphone cables are best. However, consider trying the lost cost house brands. You may find that they work well enough and you will save a chunk of money in the process.

There is a reason good cables cost more, but there is also a point where they can become ridiculously expensive. The best thing to do when looking for a cable is take your microphone and recorder to the store with you and test the cable before you buy it. Not all cables are created equal.

6. Compressing your Podcast to 64 Kbps, joint stereo offers the best compromise between file size and sound quality.

Play around with this and experiment on your own. You will be able to hear a poor quality MP3 compression after editing your show. You start to know how the file should sound. If the quality is bad, back off of the compression. If it is still pretty good, then experiment with higher compression rates. There is no reason to put out a 192 kbps stereo MP3 when your show is a single person talking about the joys of living in the Yucatán.

7. Theme music will make your Podcast sound more professional but don’t forget to only use royalty free music.

There are some great places to get theme music. Or you can create your own with tools like Garage Band.

8. Professional broadcasters always edit their pre-recorded shows. If you want to sound professional, do the same.

Edit. Please. Listen to your content and try to decide if it moves the podcast along, or if the information is un-necessary. If it can be cut…cut it. Good audio is just like good writing. Rarely is the first draft the best you can do. Judiciously cut out fluff.

9. Whenever possible, use a microphone stand or boom to hold your microphone.

Try not to touch your mic. If you are doing an interview, hold the mic yourself, do not pass it to the interview subject. You can introduce too much noise. You can also control where the mic is placed in relationship to the speaker.

10. Edit your program using headphones, ear buds or monitor type speakers. Computer speakers are notoriously inaccurate when it comes to sound reproduction.

You will be better able to hear noises that need to be edited out. If you assume that many of your listeners are using headphones/ear buds while listening to your show, you will want to make sure it sounds good in that environment.

11. Compelling content trumps fancy equipment every time.

If you are excited about your content, your audience will be too. If you are not interested in what you have to say, neither will they.

Again, check out Dr. Mike’s site. There are many other good tips and tricks for putting together your own show.

Gone to work

painting the churchYou can always tell when I am having to do real work…there are fewer posts on the blog.

The last few weeks have been tied up with some exciting projects. One of the biggest has been some improvements we are making at our church building. We painted early in January, both inside and out. We were helped by a group of college age young people. They did the bulk of the work. The final touches were put on by our co-worker and me.

We also built a platform. Since we are a Deaf church it is hard to be on the same level as the church people. You can never stand for any announcements or singing because no one beyond the first row can see the speaker. Our new platform is only 8-3/4″ off of floor level, but it makes all the difference.

The way we built it was put down a series of concrete blocks and laid a 3/4″ sheet of wood on the blocks. To keep the MDF wood from sliding we put some thick shelf liner between the bricks and the MDF. This has the added benefit of leveling out the inconsistencies in the concrete blocks. Tonight we put an aluminum edge on the platform so that we don’t bang up the front edge of the boards. It is about 12’X6′. Since the back wall has an angle to it, we had to be creative in getting it to all fit.

We have also put up new curtains in the main sanctuary and in the bathroom. The curtains in the bathroom do not serve to hide the sunlight. There is no outside wall. Rather, we use the curtains to cordon off a section of the room that we are using for storage. It dresses up the room and hides all the junk.

There have been a few other improvements that we have done, but those are the big ones.

This weekend we have been promoting a special day where we want to show off our new wares. We will have a special service in which we give the history of the church as well as a Bible message. Then we will sit around and enjoy lasagna and Coke.

January Goals Report

My two goals that I will be reporting on this year are my goals to run 1000 miles and to read 800 pages a month.

Running 1000 Miles
I ran 19 days out of the month, therefore I did not run 12 days. That means I ran 2 days and took off one as an average. I did not take more than 2 days off in a row during the month and I did not run more than 3 days in a row.

I ran 91.2 miles for the month. I needed to run 84.7 miles during the month. That means I ended the month 6.5 miles ahead of schedule.

Reading 800 Pages Per Month
I read a total of 1345 pages in 8 different books. This was helped by our trip out of town. We spent quite a bit of time just reading.

Because of the way I have decided to do the reading this year, it will not be cumulative. Meaning that if I go over my goal, like I did in January, those extra pages do not go towards the next month. I have to reach the 800 page goal each month.