Tom and I taped podcast #2 this morning and it was not without incident. Sheeesh! First, a little history…

Tom and I don’t live in the same city. Tom and I don’t even live in the same state. Tom and I talk via Skype once a week, each taping our half of the podcast which Tom later flawlessly edits together.

The first podcast we ever did (in April) was preceded by one phone conversation between Tom and me. Didn’t know him. Didn’t have any idea exactly how this whole thing worked. Didn’t have a clue what anyone wanted from me. A listen to it will make this all too clear.

The second podcast was taped with Clint (Audioholics Editor) in the room with Tom. However, throughout that one we apparently just rambled on (I wouldn’t know, I never heard it and neither will you it was so bad.) We strayed off topic so often it was unusable. Tom took the hit for that one (and I let him) for not keeping us on topic.

Before the third attempt, I am given the topics to be discussed beforehand which helps immensely. It went well and was, dare I say, even interesting. Upon listening to it, however, we discover that there is some awful, continual hum coming from my computer or something. Whatever the source, it made it unusable (see the pattern developing here?) and no matter what geek magic Tom applied; he could not make it sound remotely OK. I mean, this is an AV podcast, for heaven’s sake, it should it least sound decent.

Try number four (may I remind you that at this point one, AND ONLY ONE, podcast has made it to the website. And it isn’t even official. It’s called #0.) This one goes off without a hitch. Uploading my side of the podcast is easy (though time consuming) and Tom reports that editing the two sides together is relatively painless. WOO HOO! First official podcast on the site, even though at this point I have logged OVER four hours talking about this crap.

This morning was try number five (which will be the second official podcast if you are counting) and I am full of confidence and energy. J, my husband and resident geek, is out of town and has left me hand written notes on how to launch all needed programs, how to save and upload my half for Tom to later retrieve. Podast itself goes well. Podcast ends. Hell begins.

I hang up with Tom and begin to save and upload. I save the project as “podcast5/16/07” and my computer freaks. I get this error message that will NOT go away. It tells me there is an error. I press “OK.” It tells me there is an error. I press “OK.” I am stuck in an error loop from which I cannot recover. I try all sorts of things and I am still stuck. I look and see if the podcast is in fact saved on my desktop so I can force quit the program. Nope. I see the project, my half of the podcast, I just can’t get to it. Just “error” then “OK” and so on. I am now realizing I am in trouble. Even though technically, this is not my fault, it is sooooo going to be my fault. I call my husband who can’t help without seeing the computer no matter how hard he tries. Plus, he’s walking into a meeting. With much fear and trembling, I call Tom.

He takes it pretty well and immediately launches into geek mode. He is on a PC and I am on a MAC so he is doing the best he can to help me. He goes on the website for the program we are using and cannot find the error message I am reading to him. He then begins the PG13 cursing.

Finally, we decide that I will contact said company describing the error message loop from hell and what I did to get there. A FLESH AND BLOOD TECH SUPPORT PERSON (go figure!) named Gale emails me back relatively quickly. She asks some questions, points out that the “/” I used to name it was most probably the problem, blah, blah, blah. Thank you Gale, but what the hell do I do?

I am SO over this at this point. I don’t do this crap. I married a geek so I would NEVER have to do this crap. I answer her email, promised if she will get me out of this I will NEVER use the “/” key again, and leave the room. I decide to iron and in between every shirt I run upstairs to check and see if All-Knowing Gale has the answer.

As a side note, our fearless leader, Clint, is working on his home improvements and has apparently unplugged his computer, his telephone and any other method of us contacting him. My husband is gone. Tom has done what he can. It is Gale and I now. At this point, I am pretty sure the podcast will consist of Tom talking to himself.

Then I get pissed. I have spent HOURS at this point preparing for and taping and trying to save this ???@?#?@??@ podcast. I come upstairs to check on it. No Gale email yet. And that error message is just taunting me in the middle of my screen. So, I do what any woman without Geek Support, pushed to the edge of reason would do. I go PMS on my machine. I proceed to hit the OK button repeatedly, without stopping every time that stupid error message pops up.

ERROR.

OK.

ERROR.

OK!

ERROR.

OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK! OK!

I know I am being immature. I know I am doing the equivalent of repeatedly pressing the elevator button as if that is going to hurry it along. I know I am basically kicking the Coke machine because it took my quarters and I want my caffeine. I KNOW it won’t help but it sure is making me feel better. Then…

It was like the computer gave up. The error message disappeared. I freeze with my hands in the air as if any sudden movement will make the vulnerable, unsaved podcast sitting on my desktop disappear. Holding my breath, I save it without so much as a single “/.”

Explain that to me. With all the tech and geek support I had, all I had to do was outlast my computer in a game of Chicken. (That information was nowhere to be found on the help page, by the way.)

So, my half of the podcast is uploading. When it is finished, Tom will be able to download it and edit it. And at that point, if anything happens to it, it is SO not my fault.

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