brewery33

St. Baldrick’s Day Massacre

Today was potentially a big day for philanthropy in Stockton. During my daily lurk of the Siders blog I came across the young Lincoln high school student that stood before City Council offering the opportunity to help children that have cancer merely by shaving your head. The poor student got the political treatment and walked away with a meager offer from vice mayor Kathy Miller to hold the clippers, rather than get scalped for charity.

This event gave me the idea to ask my current favorite City Council member (due to her presence in the playground we nerds know as Twitter) @susanEggman if she was game to shave her head. My initial tweet to her was in complete jest and I actually was waiting for some of the faithful to say that I was acting like a bully again and to stop being so rude. Side note, I have found that sarcasm and jokes tend to not translate so well in the written word.

Much to my surprise @susanEggman accepted the challenge but added a caveat, raise 5 thousand dollars. It’s basically a political trump card. It puts me in a position, which began as a common chide, of now becoming a fund raiser for a cause that while is very worthy, doesn’t really fire me up enough to take even more of what little precious time that I have with my family, away from them.

I have received a lot of support from the Twitter community from Stockton and abroad encouraging the pursuit of the goal (thank you by the way), but much to the displeasure of the crowd I will have to bow out. Let’s say politics have won this round. While in a perfect world I would love to drop everything and raise the 5 thousand dollars that it would take to have @susanEggman shave her head, not only embarrass her, but more importantly provide the funds to whatever children’s cancer society that Lincoln High school is benefitting, I must swallow my pride and accept defeat.

I am still game to get my head shaved, and invite fellow Stockton Tweeps to do the same, as long as it doesn’t cost any money. With my stupid start up and educational pilgrimage, I really have very little cash to spare. The only tangible thing of value that I could give to benefit the research of children’s cancer at this point is my dignity by allowing my locks to taken.

Feel free if you are a philanthropist in search of a cause, to take this episode of Parks and Recreation and run with it. It will not be considered poaching and you will be assured run in the paper and possibly TV coverage. It has some legs, but will take a lot of energy to meet the goal, especially in this recession. I hate pussing out, but through many battles and wild stunts I have learned to fold my hand. Thank you Kenny Rogers. Now excuse me while I go to write a check that the City Council is making me do, because I do business in an Enterprise Zone.

Politics 1, @brewery33 -100, Lincoln High School St. Baldrick’s Day complete win, because lots of people are talking about your event. Keep it philanthropic.

Why @podcaststockton will win

@podcastStockton is a pillar of the tech community in Stockton, and San Joaquin County for that matter. I have been marginally entertained with the caliber of guests that @pghMatt has been able to secure for the podcasting faithful to listen to. I say marginally, because truthfully I really don’t care much for the human interest story unless it involves tech in some manner. Whether I like all the features or not, I must commend @podcastStockton for their contribution to this dichotomy we refer to as Stockton, as I sit here and pound out criticism of a positive thing. Reason #666 that blogging is evil.

My use of the adjective “marginally” might sound to some as a diss to a homey. Well it’s not, it’s my viewpoint. I must say though that since episode 17 has come out, @podcastStockton has moved from a sometimes listen bench warmer to the sixth man. Why? There are many reasons. So many in fact that I was relegated to boil them down to the four listed below, or force you to suffer through 1000+ words essentially flattering my humble compadre @pghmatt. You can thank me by telling your friends to listen to @podcaststockton.

Without further adieu here is why the format change and move in relevance to the listenership is going to ensure that @podcastStockton will win.

1. The entrance of co-host @rjvillagomez

At first I was skeptical of @pghmatt and his choice to include @rjvillagomez on the show. Up until this point, @rjvillagomez is only known to me through his VSN (of which I had never heard of until @pghmatt enlightened me) and my voyeuristic encounter with his critically acclaimed 24-hour Rantathon on justin.tv. So to say the least my expectations were pretty low. After a listen to his inaugural performance I was pleasantly surprised. The show will benefit from the outlook of another passionate and charismatic voice. Not that @pghmatt is boring, but it is nice to have the back and forth of two different points of view. Most great heroes have sidekicks, Batman and Robin, Lilo and Stitch, Bert and Ernie, The Lone Ranger and Tonto. Now the world has @pghmatt and @rjvillagomez that make the dynamic production @podcastStockton.

2. The features were tech centric

I listen to podcasts because most peeps that make podcasts are tech nerds just like me. Sure there are probably some rose gardeners, or pogo stick enthusiasts that produce a podcast, but at the base of the issue, the production requires some tech savvy. Most podcasts are at least mildly related to tech. This is where episode 17 was a huge win. First we have the interview with local blogger @slickDiaz. Dude is an active member that peeps in the tech community are rather intrigued by. Also the dynamic duo took a bite out of @googleWave. Now this is a post in itself, but it brought this new and largely mysterious tech to the table. We had the Tweet-Up story, that was pretty felatious, but a tech story none the less. @CVBWes and his report of local happenings is hugely appreciated, not to mention it is great platform to pump his site in which he attempts to bridge our digital divide. (seriously props to @CVBWes and his team) Kudos to @podcaststockton for the tech theme. I suggest you do more tech, or at least include a tech feature that addresses something tech that is relevant to our little community.

3. Bumpers with local tech peeps

Enough said, love the production value.

4. More features, with the new team of reporters.

With the addition of @rjvillagomez the show stands to cover more ground and benefit the listeners with rich content, more often. Maybe @pghmatt is sitting on a little bureau of community media. Let’s see if he can take the #stir concept that was hatched on Twitter and run with it. @podcaststockton could turn into the 60 minutes of hyper-local media coverage. I smell a little conglomerate in the future.

Bottom line, props to the @podcaststockton team. Look forward to the evolution of the show. So far, I give you thumbs up.