Geoffrey H Wood

I've been a consumer of podcasts for several years. It started as far back as 2002 when I would download the Bob & Tom Show directly from their website(1) for something fun to listen to at work. I took a bit of hiatus from it for awhile and then picked it up in earnest about 24 months ago.

I now listen to a multitude of podcasts - from comedy, to educational, to sports - because it helps me feel like I'm not wasting any part of my day. I listen in coffee shops, I listen while washing dishes and I listen while in the car.

Last week, I made the jump from simply consuming this audio content to creating it. I teamed up with experienced podcaster Andy Brudtkuhl in Des Moines to create PrairieCast, a weekly discussion of and with entrepreneurs and innovators in Des Moines and on the Silicon Prairie.

We've recorded one episode and are set to record our second one this week. You can find PrairieCast at the link above or subscribe to it through iTunes. Additionally, Andy has a long standing podcast called "Managing the Edge" and he had me on as his guest last Friday. Check out that episode here.

(1)I don't think it was even called podcasting, yet.

My wife and I randomly decided to stop in to Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery on Saturday night for some food and drinks. We’d enjoyed lunch there earlier in the week and so it was top of mind in the typical “where do we want to go” debate.

As an avid Foursquare player, I checked in earlier in the week and when I went to check in this time I noticed a “Special Offer” tag that I didn’t remember from checking in before. It turns out that the good folks at Rock Bottom had decided to offer happy hour pricing all day long to whoever holds the title of Mayor at their location within the Foursquare platform. Upon checking in, this image popped up on my phone:

Sweet! Not my first Mayorship but my first one that actually provided a tangible reward. We stayed for a few drinks and an appetizer and walked out with a bill of less than $15!

I know that a lot of non-user folks don’t see the point of Foursquare but I’ve always found it fun. Now that it’s paying off, I’m all in.

Also, I was quoted in the Des Moines Register about Des Moines businesses using Foursquare. Check it out here.

I don't know the specifics but I'm guessing that I'm not in the target demographic for O, The Oprah Magazine. However, I caught a tweet today that announced that Oprah (or more likely one of her staffers) had decided Iowa (the state) was in fact 1 of the 100 "people, places, ideas, and stuff [the magazine is] loving more than ever."

Iowa clocks in at #32 and is one of three geographic places on the list (we rank behind formerly looted, ransacked and hurricane-devastated Oak Street in New Orleans and ahead of the hydrogen-bombed Bikini Atoll).

32. Iowa 
Legalizing gay marriage in 2009 + producing artisanal charcuterie (try La Quercia's organic prosciutto) + University of Iowa football landing among the top 25 college teams for the fifth time this decade + ranking second on MainStreet.com 's Happiness Index = one seriously happening Hawkeye State. 

Don't get me wrong, it's great for our state to get publicity. I agree that Iowa has improved and I'm in a somewhat unique position to see that since we moved back here last summer after five years living out-of-state. However, I do question their formula they provide above. The legalization of gay marriage is certainly worthy of such a determination (and, in my opinion, should be celebrated) but I question the other three.

Item 2 - Apparrently, we now produce "artisanal charcuterie". I admit, I had no idea what "charcuterie" is but according to the interwebs it's the "branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products". I've never tried La Quercia's prosciutto (nor do I have any idea where in Iowa "La Quercia" is located) but I bet it doesn't hold a candle to Mr. Porkchop on RAGBRAI.

Item 3 - Hawkeye Football. Really? I get it, Hawkeye football is good. I'm not a fan but that's neither here nor there. Quoting their ranking doesn't make a lot of sense since it's the judgement of external sports media (and coaches secretaries). Collegiate sports are divisive in this state; the Hawkeyes are no more the Iowa's team than are the Cyclones and it doesn't make sense to use either.

Item 4 - Mainstreet.com's Happiness Index. I s'pose it's a good thing that this website's subjective combination of "Non-mortgage debt as a % of Annual Income", "unemployment rate" and "foreclosure rate" for our state is more favorable than it is for 48 other states, it doesn't mean anything to me as Iowan.

As I said, cheers to Oprah for recognizing Iowa (although being on the same plain as a hurricane ravaged neighborhood and an American bomb testing location makes me worry about what she formerly thought of us) but next time dig a bit deeper and showcase our true accomplishments.

We're only a few weeks in 2010 but it seems like alumni of SyFy's now defunct Battlestar Galatica series are all over Fox programming this year. In both regular and guest roles so far I've noticed the following (apparently they cast in pairs):

24 (series regulars)

• Katee Sackhoff, formerly Starbuck, is now Dana Walsh
• Callum Keith Rennie, formerly the Cylon Leoben, is now Vladimir Laitanan

 Human Target (guest roles)

• Alessandro Juilani, formerly Lt. Gaeta, is now some bit character.
• Tricia Helfer, formerly the Cylon Number Six in all her incarnations, is also some bit character. 

On the subject of Human Target, which I first noticed boasted two David E. Kelley "Boston..." alumni in Boston Legal's Mark Valley and Boston Public's Chi McBride, I've watched two episodes and I think that I'm over it. Critic Tim Goodman, who I pay attention to, seems to like it so it's possible I'll come back to it at some point in the future if he presents a compelling enough argument.

 Last night the Minnesota Vikings lost the NFC championship in overtime to the New Orleans Saints. Thus end what has been a more enjoyable season that many of us Vikes fans could have imagined back in August.

The loss is certainly disappointing and it personally ranks in between the 1998 NFC championship (played in January 1999) loss and the 2000 NFC championship loss. The 1998 loss will live in infamy amongst fans, as the 15-1 team that both set scoring records and was flawless from the kicking perspective all season long(1) until a missed 38 yarder left the Vikings on the low side of the 30-27 final score. It was so bad that it made it's way into a subplot on the CBS Show "How I Met Your Mother" in 2008 (see image below). The 2000 game was a debacle with a less talented Vikings team losing 41-0 on the road at the New York Giants, which was embarrassing but not gut wrenching like the 1998 and 2009 losses.


Brett Favre
The big story line for the Vikes this year was obviously Brett Favre, the hero of the rival Packers who upset them last year when he tried to become a Viking but instead wound up a Jet and infuriated them this year when he did become a Viking (and was damn good at it, perhaps having his best season ever).

As a fan, I wasn’t sold on Favre at first. I had trouble getting excited to root for a guy that I always hated as a Packer(2) and Favre was one guy in particular that I disliked for the attention that he received from the commentators and media. Having no other choice (he is our quarterback, after all) I finally bought in the San Francisco game in Week 3 where, for the first time as a Viking, he lead one of his famous come-from-behind 2 minute drives ending with a touchdown to a receiver that no one even knew was on the roster(3).

Loss to Saints
As I mentioned before, the overtime 31-28 loss to the Saints last night was gut-wrenching. The Saints had been the number one team in the NFC all season long and the sports prognosticators that I listen to(4) gave the Vikings no chance. The venue, the Louisiana Superdome, was supposedly the toughest place to play and the Vikes had not looked good on the road in hostile atmospheres outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

However, the Vikes looked pretty darn good. I’m a homer but it certainly felt like the Vikings outplayed the Saints – only they kept turning the ball over which was ultimately the deciding factor. In fact, they turned it over 5 times! And the Saints gameplan was obviously to take Favre out (which they almost did) which was legal but felt dirty. The Saints racked up 3 unsportsmanlike penalties and a few others that looked like they should have been called.

Many people will blame Favre for this loss, who had two interceptions including one with 15 seconds to play while the Vikes were in position for a long (very long) field goal to win the game.

Personally, I have trouble with that thinking, I’m more frustrated with Pro-Bowl running back Adrian Peterson who has fumbled all year long and did so when the Vikes were in a position to score just before half.

I’m not exactly sure why I don’t blame Favre for last night’s loss. It could be that after this weekend I’m emotionally numb on the sports front(5 ) or more likely it’s the fact that the gritty, old man known for his Wrangler jeans and inability to make a decision has actually won me over. I knew that for all the good that came with Favre, so came the bad and that terribly inopportune pick was just part of the bad and we need to game plan around it (we did not) or to put it another way: live by the Favre, die by the Favre.

(1)Vikes kicker Gary Anderson converted all 35 of his field goal attempts and all 59 of his extra point attempts becoming the first kicker in NFL history with a 100% conversion rate in a season. (2) And vice versa, when Vikings that I love, such as Randy Moss, go to other teams I still want them to do well – even when I hate their team, like I do the Patriots. (3) Greg Lewis, a free agent signed a few weeks earlier and was active in his first game. (4)Bill Simmons, ESPN’s Sports Guy & his ilk (5)I sat through Cyclones loss to Kansas on Saturday which ended with that stupid Rock-Chalk chant reverberating inside our gym.