Sometime in spring of last year, Thanks to my friend Dani I got into the show LOST. Lost is some of the best written television currently on the air. It’s romance, action, comedy and mystery brilliantly rolled into one. It’s a captivating show, and the viewing experience is enhanced by sharing theories and just the excitement about the content with other people. I started playing with my itunes and discovered some Podcasts all about Lost. I got all excited and decided to explore. I searched for Grey’s Anatomy, another fave show at the time. I noticed that GSPN came up as the author for podcasts about both shows. I decided to check out these podcasts, and I was blown away. Little did I know I would not only fall in love with podcasts, but that thanks to these two shows, I had just discovered not only three of my favorite podcasters today, but three people I can genuinely call my friends. Cliff Ravenscraft, the executive producer of the Generally Speaking Production Network, His lovely wife, Stephanie Ravenscraft who cohosts the Weekly Lost Podcast with him, and who at that time co hosted the Grey’s Anatomy podcast with Kim Fenolio. These three amazing people where the solid foundation for my love for social media and new media as a whole. I would venture to say that they probably are completely unaware of the impact they had on me then, and on my life ever since.

Thanks to the three of them and their wonderful shows, I fell in love with podcasts. Today, I am an avid podcast listener. I am subscribed to about 40 different podcasts, and I even produce my own show called Geek Is Chic. Since these shows where recorded live, I began to notice familiar faces at the shows and began to interact. Shortly after, I signed up for the micro blogging site Twitter and began to form deeper connections with those I was interacting with during live recordings. Though it may seem mundane, the simple answer to twitter’s question “What are you doing?” opens a door into someone’s life, it lets us see the idiosyncrasies of their day. The perception of anonymity allows us to take of the masks so to speak, look past superficiality, and get to know and love people for who they are.

Stripping away the superfluousness allows us to forge relationships, meaningful and lifelong friendships. Friendships that with time and interaction transcend the computer screen and keyboard. Friends we can text anytime, call up and talk to for hours about nothing, and everything. Friends who we travel hundreds of miles to see. I can honestly say, I would not have it any other way. Don’t get me wrong, I am not in anyway saying that they are replacing my close circle of friends. The friends I have made online are like a piece of the puzzle I never realized was missing.

In April this year, I traveled to New York City for Podcamp NYC. An unconference about the social media movement. I met some incredibly talented and brilliant people people there. It was a rush to be with like minded people, meet listeners of the show, and great friends like Chef Mark who was the most amazing tour guide. This was also where I first met Cliff and Stephanie Ravenscraft. I had an incredible time that I cannot wait to repeat!

Sometime in June when Twitter began to have some serious scalability issues, I began to see word of Plurk popping left and right. I was totally skeptical, I got some private messages asking me to join, but it wasn’t until Kim actually took the time to email me, that I actually decided to follow the Link and actually sign up and add people on the site. I am so glad I did!! The fact is twitter is open to dialogue, but often times you don’t want to be a spammer and have a full out conversation on there. Also its hard to follow the conversation sometimes as others tweets come through in the middle of a conversation. However, the conversational model of plurk, allows for free flowing threaded conversation. It has solidified some of my most significant online relationships.

On plurk I have created incredible relationships with the women of the Plurk Girl Mafia, Melissa, Alison, and Beth. They have been an incredible comic relief and support system for me during the past couple months of my life. This summer has been filled with alot of transitions in my personal life and career, and they have been there to hear me vent, support me in my sometimes insane decisions, or just to make me laugh at some random and inappropriate joke.

The amazing thing is when you have the opportunity to actually meet. To end my birthday month with a bang, I got to travel to meet friends again for the Girls Night In Podcast Meetup. GNI is another show that has a great story behind its creation, and a wonderful community around their it. I got to meet the incredible hosts of show, Jaime, Rachel, who also hosts the Sims2 Challenges podcast, Maggie and Kim! Funny how it all comes full circle? I had gone from a girl wanting to get a LOST fix, to a podcast obsessed freak, who had now met the three people who inspired her love for new media and social networks. The icing on the cake was that at the meetup I also got a change to meet fellow Mafia member Melissa, and some of the other wonderful members of the GNI community.’

What prompted me to actually write this post was that today our little online community was rocked by a really hard day, and what I saw was simply marvelous. Last night a tornado touched down where Kim lives. Thankfully, she and her family are fine, but they are obviously dealing with with the aftermath of the storm. It was remarkable to see how from the second that Kim sent tweets and plurks about the green sky and sirens, a floury of concern erupted. Even from people who have not even met her in person! As she shared her story, the beauty of the compassion and genuine concern for her and family was moving.

The day was coming to an end, I was heading home, when I get a frantic call from my mom. She was putting away dishes, a dish broke, and she sliced her hand. She was scared because she couldn’t get the bleeding to stop. My first instinct, after making the most ilegal u-turn of my life, was to use ping.fm to update my social networks. I had spent the better part of my day worrying, and watching the concern for my friend in Indiana, and although my situation was no where near as serious, or life altering, I was now on the receiving end of that concern. I got so many at replies and comments and all sorts of well wishes for my mom, that it really made the panic induced from all that blood, and the waiting for her to be taken care of that much more bearable. I want to again thank everyone who sent well wishes for my mom and every single person who has opened up to me, and forged a relationship online with me. I thank God every day that you all are in my life! I can’t name every single one of you, but you know who you are … and I truly do appreciate and love you guys.

Ooodles of love,
your friend Andrea

One of the coolest things by far that I have done this year is go to Podcamp NYC.

It was an amazing experience for a myriad of reason. For one, I absolutely love New York City. I got the opportunity to catch up with my great friend Lisa who now lives in Maryland because she came up to NYC and spent the weekend with me, and even attended Podcamp. God Bless her for putting up with my nerdy ways. I also got the opportunity to meet some of my favorite podcasters : Cliff and Steph from GSPN.tv , CC Chapman from the Advance Guard, and our amazing New York City tour Guide Chef MarkCulinary Media Network.
(Thanks to Mark for being such a great host!) from the

Thursday was amazing, even from the madness that ensued early on. Upon checking into the hotel I left to grab a quick bite to eat. An older lady got run over right in front of the hotel. After all that, I finished unpacking and headed for Times Square. The lights where calling my name. I could not be in New York City and not see a Broadway play. I saw my favorite, RENT. I had third row seats, and thanks to the little lottery thing, I got a pretty sweet deal on them! I’m very glad I got to see it again before it goes off broadway. Nothing like Rent on Broadway. After that I went to the coolest Apple Store EVER, the fifth avenue store. Gah! It was mind blowing to see it at night. It has got to be the coolest glass box anywhere.

Woke up early Friday to head over to Podcamp. As I headed for the crosswalk with Lisa, in the middle of all the city commotion, I heard a familiar voice. It was Mark, I turned around and screamed “Mark!!” and two seconds later Cliff and Steph came up right behind him. It was hilarious that I would find them not by spotting them in the crowd, but by recognizing Mark’s voice. It made me realize just how much these podcasters have transcended my ipod and become bona fide friends. After this we became like the 5 musketeers and did podcamp and our evenings out together. We ate lunch at Chipotle, because we all love it, and after an afternoon of sessions we went to the the official podcamp party at ReBar, which makes a mean Pineapple and Malibu, after that we headed to Super Fine right across the street in Dumbo, for one of many more amazing meals with the group. What made it interesting was to be in a place with such like minded people. People who love to produce content, reach their audience, and just carve their spot in the new media playground. The coolest thing was coming back to the Hotel to find Matthew Ebel, my favorite safe artist playing the piano in the lobby, and taking song requests. He was so down to earth and sweet, and was the icing on the cake of a pretty great night!

Saturday we got a little bit of a later start as the sessions began at 10. The first highlight of the day was to meet Sharon and Christine, who are also part of the wonderful GSPN community AND listen to my show! It was delightful to meet them at the first session, and to get to spend time with them throughout the weekend. Later that afternoon, I headed to a session about politics, and the plus was that I got to meet CC Chapman! Politics and podcasting, now that’s my sweet spot. CC was super nice and friendly and very charming for putting up with my excitement in meeting him. After reconvening at the hotel, we decided to go La Halles, Anthony Bourdain’s former restaurant. After dinner, we headed to a very moving experience at Ground Zero. It was moving to the see the fire house right across the street, and to see not only the big hole in the ground, but the big gap in the NYC skyline.

Sunday was relaxed, checked out, and headed to the gspn.tv meetup. But before brunch I had to make one last stop at the Apple Store, I just had to get that Apple TV! I had brunch and had to part ways with the musketeers rather early because I had to head back to reality, back to Miami. At least my flight was amazing, and not delayed. It has been hectic since my return home, but I wouldn’t change a minute of my New York and Podcamp experience for anything in the world!

I want to again thank Chef Mark for being such an amazing guide to the city, for finding such great places to eat, and just overall taking care of us all. I want to thank Cliff and Steph for sharing your New York experience with me, thanks for spending most of your time in NYC with me. It was my pleasure to meet you guys in person. I also want to thank Lisa for making the long drive into the city, and for putting up with widgets, rss feeds, and twitter talk all weekend.
I also want to say how great it was to meet Sharon and Christine at Podcamp. I look forward to interacting with you guys online!

New York City is always amazing, and this particular trip was spectacular for several reasons. Not only did I get to catch up with an old friend, but I also met some of the friends I have made through podcasting and new media. It was a much different trip to New York than any I have ever taken before. Podcamp was very cool, largely in part to its unconference style. It was a perfect balance of organization and spontaneity. The sessions where inspirational, educational, and well balanced. I think everyone that went got something out of them, and learned something new. The new media spirit, the constant flash of cameras and clicks of keys made the perfect soundtrack to the wonderful spirit of an amazing conference. I encourage everyone to attend a Podcamp close by, it will make you think of all the wonderful things that you can do possibly do with the content you make. Let the podcamps be your bridge to new media!!!

I’ll be posting my pictures from my trip to flickr and facebook … so keep an eye out for those!

Enjoy

Love,
Andrea

PS
Post to come soon about my AMAZING Podcamp NYC experience

Mobile post sent by iandrea using Utterz.  Replies.  mp3
]]> http://iandrea.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/75/feed/ 0 iandrea http://iandrea.wordpress.com/2008/03/13/twitter/ http://iandrea.wordpress.com/2008/03/13/twitter/#comments Thu, 13 Mar 2008 03:16:00 +0000 iandrea http://iandrea.wordpress.com/2008/03/13/twitter/ Continue reading →]]> I love the world of new media, I think that social networks, podcasting and all the other oodles of fun things online are an amazing way to connect with friends, and to meet amazing new people. One of the best ways I found to do so is twitter, a microblogging service. I can’t do Twitter justice.

I figured that I would share this video that explains twitter in plain english.

Now that you see the video, I hope you’ll sign up!

Once you do make sure to add me: iAndrea

I am not asking you to vote Hillary, although she is clearly who I support. I am simply asking you to be open, do your own research, and look past what has has been bias media coverage. If you want a different perspective be sure to check out the young people who are supporting Hillary Clinton, men, woman, of all backgrounds and ethnicities at Hillary Speaks for Me

I wholeheartedly welcome a discussion of differences between candidates, but all done with respect. There is no need to be disrespectful, hurtful, or just a bad sport. I encourage you to
get involved, and be a registered and informed voter.

Enjoy ….

Reality Desktop – video powered by Metacafe

Tweet Me …
Pownce Me

shooting us an email contact@geekischic.org

leaving your lovely voices on our listener line (305)693-2290

Mobile post sent by iandrea using Utterz.  Replies.
]]> http://iandrea.wordpress.com/2008/03/08/geek-is-chic-episode-5/feed/ 0 iandrea http://iandrea.wordpress.com/2008/03/01/70/ http://iandrea.wordpress.com/2008/03/01/70/#comments Sat, 01 Mar 2008 14:41:00 +0000 iandrea http://iandrea.wordpress.com/2008/03/01/70/ ]]>

Mobile post sent by iandrea using Utterz.  Replies.  mp3
]]> http://iandrea.wordpress.com/2008/03/01/70/feed/ 0 iandrea