Three More Years
June 28, 2001
It’s official. I signed my TechTV contract this evening. It’s been a big day. Sell a house. Buy a house. Sign new deal. I think I’ll go to bed now!
Loading ...They Shoot Show Hosts Don’t They
June 27, 2001
I really owe you guys a post, don’t I? It’s been a week fer crying out loud!
I guess the message boards here on Leoville have been stealing a disproportionate amount of my energies. Leoville Town Square is going great. Thanks to all of you who have participated.
Meanwhile, things are happening on the home front. We go in this morning to sign the papers for our new house. Moving day is the 5th. I’m taking two weeks off (7/4-7/19) to move, unpack, and build a tree house for my kids.
Don’t tell my boss, but we’ve decided not to install cable or a dish in the new house. That’s right - no TV. I think it will be great for the kids. Jennifer and I don’t watch much, anyway. DVDs are fine for us. We’ve been watching the DVDs of the Sopranos first season and LOVING it. I know - we’re a little behind the times. I’m so busy DOING TV I don’t really have time to watch it!
I will be getting a visit from the cable installer, though. I’m told that our neighborhood is wired for cable modems (unrestrained cheering). The catch: there’s no drop within 100 feet of the house, and all our wiring is underground. AT&T tells me it’s at the installer’s discretion whether they’ll dig the trench or pull the cable to get it to the house. The installer is coming the morning of 7/6. He will be met with piles of TechTV swag. We shall see.
After I sign my name 50 times this morning I’m hoping to sign another important document this afternoon. I have the final draft of my TechTV contract in my ink-stained fingers. There are literally only two words that I need to have changed. I’m sure we’ll have a deal by the end of the week. Maybe even today. They’re really little words.
Part of the deal includes three books and three videos. The first book has to be finished by July 25 for publication by the end of the year. That’s right. I have one month to move, build a treehouse, and write a book. (Oh yeah, and do three hours of live TV a day.) I actually believe I can do it all. Now you know why I haven’t posted in a while. I’m going for a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Will he do it? Stay tuned!
Dial-up Dell
June 20, 2001
Hello, Bloggies! I’m writing from Providence, RI using my mom’s new Dell and a 56k modem. I bought her a refurbished Dimension L933r. Great deal and the quality reaffirms my belief in Dell. They just make great, reliable stuff.
Even though it’s “refurbished” I can’t see any signs of prior use. I added a new Ensoniq AudioPCI sound card (it was a corporate PC with no sound) and moved her old Zip drive over. The Dell even had two extra rails clipped in under the bezel for adding drives. I love the no screws case - very easy to get into.
I put Windows 2000 on it so it doesn’t crash on mom, and added all her applications. It’s running very nicely. I’m going to make a Ghost image of the setup so she can restore it if something gets messed up. I’m also putting pcAnywhere on it, so I can dial in and work on it from California if necessary. She was using an old TigerDirect Cyrix 200-based PC with a 1.6 GB drive and 32 MB of RAM. This has a Pentium III 933 with a 20 GB drive and 128 MB of RAM, so it should be a much nicer machine for her.
Things went well in Cherry Hill. We didn’t have to turn anyone away (sorry Eve’s friend. You should have come!) although it was standing room only for the speeches. They expanded the room to double width so I think we seated about 500 people.
The presentations went pretty well considering the difficulties we had getting there. Pat gave his speech after flying all night. To make things worse, when he arrived at the hotel at 9am they had given up his room! Poor guy. But he did great. My plane from Providence to Philly on Saturday night was cancelled due to thunderstorms, so I rented a car and drove the 300 miles. It took about five hours and was surprisingly pleasant. My only mistake was buying a McDonald’s “cappucino” on the way. I don’t know what’s in it, but it ain’t coffee. Tasted more like a hot vanilla milkshake.
I’m not blaming the coffee, but my speech fell apart about halfway through. My train of thought left the track and I couldn’t get it back on. I guess I’ll have to break down and create a Powerpoint presentation just to keep organized. But we had fun and I got some great questions, so it went OK. I prefer dialogue to monologue, anyway. Afterwards Pat and I signed autographs right up until we had to leave for the airport. I think we got everyone.
Abby and Henry and I are having a great time in Providence. We went to the beach yesterday and had clam cakes. Something I haven’t done since I was a kid. Meanwhile Jennifer is at home hard at work packing for the move. We’ll come back to help on Friday. Moving day is July 5!
Burn the Candle, Baby
June 14, 2001
I had a great, but exhausting, time in Chicago. I spent all day Monday and Tuesday teaching cable executives how to burn their own CDs. They were VERY interested. I hope it inspires some of them to put TechTV on their systems!
The hotel did not, as it turns out, have high speed Internet access, so I was blog and boardless for two days. Probably not a bad thing.
I will be off tomorrow (Friday). Patrick is taping segments for a Screen Savers video cassette we’re doing. I do have to work tomorrow, though. Just not on TV. I’m on a panel on Media Product Reviews at the Techmart in Santa Clara. I have to be there by 8:30a, so I have to leave home about 5:30 or 6a. -gack-
Then Saturday the car comes at 4a to pick up the kids and me to fly to Providence. I’m dropping them off there then flying to Philly on one of those scary puddle jumpers for the speech on Sunday. Then it’s back to Providence to spend time with my mom and my sister and her new baby. I’ll be back on The Screen Savers on Monday, June 25.
Speaking of the speech on Sunday, the room only holds 300-400 people and we’ve registered more than 800. They’ve closed registration, but I’m hoping we can figure out a way to accomodate more people. They’re telling people to go ahead and show up at the door on Sunday. I’d bet that’s because many people who register don’t attend. I promise I’ll do my best to talk with everybody, even if we have to meet in the parking lot!
My Bags Are Packed
June 10, 2001
Well I’m off to Chicago for NCTA’s Cable 2001 trade show. I don’t know if I’ll be blogging until I get back. Depends if the hotel has high-speed Internet access. I’m at a Marriott and they usually do these days. If I can get online I’ll post some pictures of me in the TechTV Diner. I’ll be the guy in the trainee cap.
Family portrait
June 10, 2001
The photographer who did all the Blog pictures and my headshots for Access Magazine, Christopher Springmann, offered to take a family picture of us before we moved. He came by last weekend and we just got the shots back. They’re so beautiful, and I’m so proud of my family, I thought I’d share one with you. That’s Jennifer, my wife, with Henry and Abby, my children. There’s a bunny named Johnny Wallet in there somewhere, too.
The Laporte Family, June 3, 2001
He says he’s going to take one as we’re leaving the house, too. We’re moving July 5.
Oven Source
June 9, 2001
So I just spent the day shopping for a stove. We’re remodelling the kitchen in the new house. It’s vintage 1977 and really needs to be updated. Not that I have anything against avocado and almond, mind you.
Only one appliance needs to be replaced, and instead of buying a new stove, we decided to get a refurbished antique. Apparently stoves are the only appliances that aren’t better in the 21st century. They really knew how to make them in the good old days. So off we went to Johnny’s Appliances and Classic Ranges in Sonoma, California. And this is the stove we picked out…
Ain’t it a beaut?
It’s a vintage O’Keefe and Merritt. Johnny says they run rings around the new Viking or Wolf ranges. All the chrome and porcelain has been redone, the gas works reconditioned, the thermostat replaced. It’s really a work of art. The picture doesn’t do it justice. I have to say, I’ve gained a new appreciation of the art of stove manufacture!
Technology comes in all shapes and sizes, I guess.
Don’t Open Attachments Mix
June 8, 2001
Thanks to Rick Mullins who did a really fine mix I’m calling “Don’t Open Attachments.” It’s a 3 meg MP3 using the Leo Soundboard sounds with the Propellerheads “Reason”software. Smooooooth.
Check out Rick’s MP3 site for more of his mixes.
Thanks, Rick!!!
Pat and Leo head to Joisey
June 7, 2001
Finally the details are in on where Patrick and I are appearing on Father’s day.
We’re at Clarion Hotel & Conference Center on Route 70 East in Cherry Hill doing two technology seminars. Pat does The Wired House of 2005 at 11am and I’ll be guessing at The Future of the Internet at 1:30pm.
The speeches are free but you do have to pre-register on the TechLive web site.
I hope we’ll see you there!
Patrick maims a computer
June 6, 2001
I’ve always known that Patrick has a violent streak but these pictures prove it!
Hard drive troubles? No problem! Just bite it!
Pancakes anyone?
There’s nothing more satisfying than taking a sledge hammer to a PC.
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