Wow I'm almost famous!

This whole twitter thing is great! I really like it better than any of the other "social networks" out there because it allows Twitterers a chance to spontaneously interact with friends all over the world.

I started Twittering after hearing about it from several of the podcasters to whom I listen on a regular basis... and I signed up. I am Tiggr on Twitter, just as I am on PalTalk and the Pompey Till I Die message board, and sheesh, most who know me online as Tiggr end up calling me that or Tiggs in person too :)

I got my second (yes! second!) mention on the PodcastPaul show yesterday, and I'm chuffed, thrilled and downright humbled. Since I have his feedburner embedded, you should be listening to it right now! (Show 167 the Christmas Show).

Just about at the 16:00 mark, is my famous minute, and a half... and in response to Pauls query, here's a bit about me and why so many people think I'm an ex-pat.

I was born in the wrong country. Now, wait a minute, don't get me wrong. I love America. I bleed Red, White and Blue. I serve my country both domestically and overseas, but I feel a certain affinity with the Brits.

I'm sure it all started over 10 generations ago, when my ancesters were alive: The Breckenridges in Ayrshire, Scotland, the Stevens' in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, the Johns in Pembrokeshire, Wales and the McMorrows in Ireland. My mother's parents spent over 50 years tracing our geneology and trust me, I'm so Anglo-Saxton, I had ancestors fighting on both sides of the American Revolution. That would be the War of Colonial Insurrection if you were on the losing side (joke, really!).

Add to this that my first step-mother was from Kent (Kidbrooke and Sidcup to be exact) and so my pre-teen and teen years were enhances by her British wit and copious relations. I learned to love british comedy and drama through her, and grew up watching Masterpiece Theatre, especially Upstairs Downstairs. We even woke up very very early one morning to watch Princess Anne's wedding to Captain Mark Phillips live. Being on the west coast, it must have been 3 am, sheesh.

OK, this is a really complicated amalgam of bits and pieces of my life... but to add to the formula, I joined a UK chat room on PalTalk back in 2002, in anticipation of a trip to the UK in 2003. I figured a 30 year anniversary revisit was in order, and I wanted to meet some Brits to get an idea of where I wanted to go and what to do. The first time I was there I was 16, and that's a whole nother story...

...so, I met some great friends in the UK in the United Kingdom and Friends chatroom, hosted by my dear friend Paul (in Hull, as opposed to the Paul in London or Birmingham, lol) who has since been my host the three time I've been over in the past 5 years.

Well, Uncle Sam has a twisted sense of humour, and instead of my vacations trip to the UK, he recalled my Navy unit and me to active duty and sent us to a British island, yes... but in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Diego Garcia is not England. Fact. However, there was a handful of Brits, and they became some of my best friends while there. Most weekends (ok, all weekends) I could be found in the Brit Pub, near the wretches corner, sometimes as official timekeepper for the "Drink a Yard and try not to Puke" contest. I still correspond with the Regimental Sergeant Major (now retired) and a Chief Petty Officer from that deployment.

Diego Garcia is a blog in it's own right.

okokokok... too long... too detailed... you might get the picture. More in another blog.

So, I add extraneous "U's" to words like colour, humour etc, support the Portsmouth Football Club (another entire story) and feel the tug from across the pond to return.

The moral of this story is... if you want mates with a great sense of humour, who can have fun watching strange sports like cricket, in pubs with names like The Flying Handbag (Blackpool), sing Sweet Caroline over and over till you think you are Caroline, hang out with the Brits. They will never let you down. Fact.

oh yeah, and...
PLAY UP POMPEY, POMPEY PLAY UP!!!

Podcast, Podcasters and Podcasting

I love gadgets, lets just leave it at that, ok? well... ok I really love gadgets. But, I am not a geek, honestly. I wish I were because then I'd know HTML coding, and understand all the geeky podcasts I've listened to.

Two years ago, I bought my first iPod. I bought a Fourth generation 20gig, photo capable iPod. Yeah, the one that had the national battery recall just AFTER I left for Afghanistan so that I bought a 30gig video as back-up. (or was it the other way around?)

Anyway, I bought my first iPod while on a seven week tour of duty in Egypt. Don't ask me where, as I was in the middle of the Qatar Depression at the time. Google it, it's in the middle of the Egyptian desert somewhere. (and you thought there was no connection to the "travels" part of this blog). I ordered it online, just as Apple was offering a great special... buy the special Hogwarts engraved iPod and the 6 available Harry Potter books on audiobooks and save $50! WOW! That hooked me. I love audiobooks and since I can listen for 7 hours a day at work, they keep us sane at the post office :)

Back to Podcasting: My new iPod was waiting for me when I got home a few weeks later, just in time for my birthday. Unfortunately, I had to confiscate it from my son who had opened the box and already loaded it with HIS music!!

So, now I had an iPod... after doing all the syncing and loading required, I started exploring iTunes and just clicked on things to see what happened. I found the podcast button in the library section, but it was empty. Hrumph. But, soon I found the iTunes Store, and the plethera of podcasts available (not quite so many in late 2005 as now, but still, quite a few).

The first two podcasts I subscribed to were Comedy365 with Sowerby and Luff (http://sowerbyandluff.wordpress.com/), and the World Soccer Daily (http://worldsoccerdaily.myownsiteonline.com/)

Since then, I've subscribed to many different podcasts and currently have over 70 in my iTunes Library. Some seem to have faded, but I'm not ready to drop them. Some I am still listening to back issues/shows/casts of, and will catch up eventually, others I listen to as soon as they drop into my library.

In future blogs, I'll be telling you about the podcasts I listen to, and why they are still on my list. I hope you find new ones to add you YOUR library, and possibly leave a comment about your favorites.