The World of Scott Mindeaux

This DC thing

Well looks like the boys over at the Little Fatty Cast will be hosting a Podcaster Get-Together in my old home (and possible home again) of Washington DC. Archer will also be co-hosting.

Larry and I had talked several weeks ago about meeting up in Washington DC when I told him I’d be there for job interviews in early September. He said he would like to drive up to meet and maybe we’d meetup with some of the other DC podcasters. Well, I can’t afford to take two trips to DC in one month, much less the one I’m already spending for job interviews. I was looking forward to meeting the Larry’s during my trip in early September, but I guess that’s not happening. [frown]

But if you are in the DC area from Septebmer 30 to Oct 2, let the Little Fatties know and they’ll send you info on the get-together.

Archer, you available to meet for dinner in a couple of weeks?

Cardassian Movement in the Badlands

So as a geek, I subscribe to lists notifying me of various things happening around me. So starting very early this morning I started to get a series of alerts about something happening about 100 miles SE of me. A series of 3.0 to 4.4 earthquakes in the vacinity of Obsidian Butte, which is at the Southern tip of the Salton Sea.

Just in the last half hour alone, there have been 6 quakes of around magnitude 4.

Now when I saw the reference to Obsidian Butte, the first thing that came to mind was Cardassian butts!

Per Sandro’s suggestion (he’s such a kewl guy!)
postscript 7:12pm pdt: The Cardassians are a race of beings from the Star Trek world. Within the Cardassian military was an organization known as the Obsidian Order. The Cardassians are a reptile-based lifeform.

In Katrina’s Path

Good evening everyone. It is now Tuesday evening and my head has been trying to wrap my mind around the devestation that has taken place on the Gulf Coast. Nothing prepared me for what I watched, read, saw and listened to all day.

This storm was the 4th strongest storm in recorded history. This storm, for all intent and purposes, has cleared out New Orleans. Of the levys built to keep the water out of the city of New Orleans, two of them broke and essentially flooded more than 80% of the city. Some parts of the city have up to 12 feet of water. There is no power, there is no water, there is nothing. Nothing but floating debris and the weariness of survivors. The US Coast Guard aided in efforts to pull surviving people off of rooftops. In other parts of the state, its just more devestation. Whole chunks of cities were levelled. People were seen standing where their house used to stand and just collaplse on their knees and cry. The Governor of Louisiana said she visited SE Asia where last year’s Tsunami hit and she said that many parts of the Gulf Coast looked like scene from that tragic event.

All day long stories have been piling into the newsrooms of CNN, CBS, ABC and NBC and there was a point, where no two stations were showing the same footage. Scene after scene of a major catastrophe were shown.

I just feel very sad. I sit here watching Nightline and hearing the interviews of survivors of Katrina. I consider myself empathic and I have found myself becoming overwhelmed with emotion.

But you know what else I saw and heard today? The resciliency of the human spirit. These folks looked right into the cameras and said, we will rebuild. They are going to rebuild. Amidst the sorrow and devestation, they have the strength to stay strong and build their futures once again. You look into their eyes and see the determiniation. It was amazing.

I really ask all of you who have taken the time to read my entry tonite to also take the time to visit the Red Cross Website and make a contribution. Give what you can, give to help another person, like yourself, keep their head high and to rebuild. Give to help families transition to a new life somewhere else, or the strength to build a new home….

…to build a new life.

Thank you.

Hanging up my headset?

Hello all, its been very difficult these last few weeks and I’ve losing the drive to continue my podcast. I’m feeling very down about alot of things happening in my life and its hard to pretend to be happy on air, when in my real life, I’m quite sad. The events of the last few months has been very telling and the whole unemployment, moving away from Seattle and DC and the constant reminders from my parents about how I live my life are beginning to take it’s toll.

Many of you have been so kind and have been supportive of the podcast and of me and I’m so very thankful for that. But at the same time, I think I have forgotten WHY I wanted to do this podcast and how I have turned it into something quite different. I wasn’t doing it for me anymore, I was doing it for other people. It was very easy to get off-track. We all took some time to listen to each other’s podcasts at the beginning, but somewhere along the line it started to feel like a contest. I found myself adding sound effects and doing soundbytes and doing sweepers for other shows. Commercializing my personal log. I wholeheartedly support the podcasts that I have had interactions with. Please, please don’t think that my support of your show was anything less than genuine. To this day, there are podcasts that I support regardless of their feelings for me as a person or as a show. Recently there were events that took place in our podcasting community that probably created lines of division that we never thought possible. There were many behind-the-scenes shifts in support of other podcasters and shows. I voiced my initial feelings about those events publicly, in an open forum and then I was accused of changing my stance in lieu of public pressure to shrug it off. You know what? That probably happened. And I don’t think that’s bowing to public pressure, it was MY OWN decision to re-evaluate a volatile situation after taking a step back, taking a deep breath and looking at the situation without the seeded anger that I had initially. I went into listening to the podcast with anger already in my head. I got very passionate, but wasn’t objective. Some of the most life changing events in our lives take place because of passion. I’m not saying that I’m dismissing the passionate feelings others have had about that event. I’m just saying that maybe…maybe…had we listened to that podcast without the initial anger, would we have felt the same way? Possibly. Possibly not. Who knows. But ever since that event, I lost someone who I thought was a friend. You know, someone said to me recently…its ok, you never really knew them “in-person” so it doesn’t count. Oh yes it does count. Some of my most treasured friends started as online friendships that later grew into something more. Without the advent of online chat rooms and BBS’ (yes..I’m showing my age), I may have turned out to be a much different person today. I probably would never have come out to myself or to anyone else. I probably would still be wading in a pool of guilt brought on by my parochial upbringing and I probably would still be an introvert to the nth degree. I probably would not have been able to form my own opinions and learn that its ok to voice them and have open discussion about it. I probably wouldn’t be here typing about it in an open blog.

So where does this leave things? I don’t know. My first priority right now, has to be finding employment. The last three-four months has been very hard for me. I have not experienced this kind of rejection before. Taking a sabbatical from my I.T. life to pursue my passion for the culinary arts was a very risky move. Another action I probably would never even consider had I not found my “inner voice”. And although it has been hard, I don’t think I would have regretted making that move. The experiences that I have collected personally and professionally during my culinary adventure are ones that I will treasure for a lifetime. But current perspective employers in the IT field, think I have suffered a massive case of amnesia and that I cannot possibly do any kind of IT work. What a bunch of bunk. I mean, I’m sorry to say that, but I’m just as capable as I ever was. Sure I might me a bit rusty, but given a chance, I think that any employer would be proud to have me on thier staff. I’m dedicated, passionate and I can be stubborn too. Mixed traits of someone who is willing to learn about himself and of others. So maybe its also time to apply that same stubbornness and dedication back into the “World of Scott Mindeuax 2k5″. There may be some frequent pauses between shows, but I’ll try to get something out at least weekly. So if you don’t see a podcast from me in a while, don’t forget to check out my written blog.

Thanks again to everyone who has been a listener and friend and allowing me to put my feelings on the air and on “paper”.

National Queer Weather Forecast – August 28, 2005

This is your National Queer Weather for the week of August 28, 2005. Katrina makes landfall, slightly cooler temps for the Northeast, while the Southwest ushes into the 110s. Good weather for the Upper Midwest and rain and flooding conditions for the Ohio/Tennessee valleys towards the middle of the week.

Get your weekly weather update for the following podcasts:

Podcastique – Worcester, MA
The Jasons – Ithaca, NY
Oh My Pod and The Cousins Queer – Philadelphia, PA
ArcherRadio – Washington, DC
Starcast Podcast – Greensboro, NC
Little Fatty Cast and The Cousins Queer – Charleston, SC
The Daily Hough – Atlanta, GA
MikeyPod on the Bayou – Houston, TX
My Gay Life and Feast of Fools – Chicago, IL
Lucky Bitch Radio – Minneapolis, MN
The Nowhereman and Fox and the City – Phoenix, AZ
World of Scott Mindeaux 2k5 – Southern California
vhold.net and DaddyQuake - San Francisco, CA
iHiker – Seattle, WA

Podcast: Download

Bear Kamp last night

Ok….I had a date with KC again. For those of you who don’t remember, I met KC last week for my first date with him. Tonite was date #2. Now…most of you are saying, why would you go to a club for a date. Well, I have never been to Bear Kamp which is hosted at Fire Island 2 in Long Beach. It sounded interesting and KC was also interested in going. I met KC at 11pm after a “disco nap”. Now, the “new” Fire Island 2 is a space in the Marina Pacific Hotel in Long Beach at the entrance to Belmont Shores. It is Fire Island “2″ because there used to be a Fire Island bar that was closed a year or so ago and replaced by a Walgreens. The owner has been looking for a new space and he struck a deal with the hotel.

The space is big. Roomy, nice outdoor area for the smokers. In Cali, you can’t smoke in restaurants, clubs or bars. You have to provide an outside smoking area. The outdoor area wraps around the building. It’s nice to go outside and since we are near the beach, its generally cool air.

KC and I coordinated our outfits – shorts, dark blue t-shirts. We got in line, paid our covers and I got a cute bear paw stamped on my wrist. As we walked in, one of two dance floors were crowded with guys. Bears, jocks, twinks, bear admirers, chubs – all sorts of guys here. Not alot of women around. We headed straight for the back bar and got in line for a beer. KC surprised me and asked me if I wanted a shot of Tequila. Oh yeah! I’m all about Tequila shots. The rest of the night we walked around. Me being the wall-flower that I am, or as I like to say I’m the wallpaper…I stood at the side of the dance floors watching everyone get their groove on. KC went on the floor a few times, but I was too shy to get out there. It wasn’t until a few hours and 4 beers later that I got on the floor with him. I had fun.

We left the bar around 1:45. I was super hungry and in search for food. KC had a longer commute than I and he was headed home. After a good night kiss in the parking lot, we parted ways. On the way to my car I caught two guys heavily engaged in “activities” in the back seat of their car. [smile]