Saturday, August 22, 2015

Milestones

Yesterday, this blog hit the 10,000 pageview mark, in just under a year of publication. I don't really know if that's a lot for a blog in general, but it sure seems like a lot to me. I hope you guys are enjoying this, and if there are any fellow rocket n00bs out there reading this, I hope you've picked up a few tips and maybe learned a few things.

. . .

A while back, I dropped a hint of something to come that I was pretty excited about.

I am a podcast junky. I listen constantly, and have a lot of favorites. High production ones, like Radiolab, interview shows, like The Nerdist, and comedy stuff, like The Dead Author's Podcast. Since I mostly walk to work, and work early in the morning, it's how I get from home to the workplace while keeping myself entertained.

About a year ago, I looked on iTunes to see if there were any rocketry-related podcasts. At the time, there were none that related to the kind of rocketry I do - amateur, hobby, DIY rocketry. I did find the Space Rocket History podcast, which I've listened to from the beginning, and which is fascinating - it's a history of space exploration, done by a guy in North Carolina. As of this writing, he's working his way through the Apollo program.

I've always wanted to start a podcast, to put something out there. In Bloomington, Indiana, there is a large comedy scene, and I knew a lot of people with their own podcasts*. But what would it be about? I couldn't think of any subject I'd talk about, so I let it go.

Once I got started in rocketry, I briefly considered starting a rocketry podcast. But I'm just one person. Nobody else I knew was that into it. Chad and I would go out launching from time to time, but I had nobody to talk shop with, and the idea of one person talking, alone, without anybody to bounce ideas off of sounded like a boring podcast indeed. So I started this blog.

Months later, I discovered The Rocketry Show, with two guys calling themselves CG and Gheem.


It was only about three episodes in when I found it, and I subscribed and started listening to it whenever a new episode came out.

A while back, I got a message on my Facebook page from CG - asking if I'd be interested in being on the podcast. I gotta admit, I had actually thought about this before! For me, it was like the rocketry version of imagining yourself as an actor or comedian on Letterman or Conan. I thought, "Man, it would be great to get really good at this, and write a cool blog, and maybe I'd get to talk to the Rocketry Show guys some time!"

I jumped at the chance.

Then, after it was over, I thought, I don't know if anything I said was usable! I've done radio before, but rambled a lot, couldn't hear myself over my own headphones... And besides, a lot of people listening to the Rocketry Show are advanced rocketeers! I write a blog that's essentially for n00bs... Will they get anything out of hearing me on the show? I wondered.

And then I didn't think about it for a while - just concentrated on moving to Boston and then back to writing the blog.

Today, I was listening to the latest episode - Part 2 of the LDRS34 coverage. (For n00bs, LDRS is one of the largest rocketry events of the year, focusing largely - but not exclusively - on high power launches. It stands for Large and Dangerous Rocket Ships. It happened in Potter, NY, just a few days before I was set to pass that way, and man, I wish I could have been there!)

Guys, I think I'm gonna be on The Rocketry Show next week! CG and Gheem did a little teaser about it, and they said some really nice things about my blog on the show.

Anyway, I hope I can bring some stuff for n00bs to the show without boring the more experienced guys. I'll let you know when the show is up. And thanks for reading - I hope you've found it valuable. Writing this blog has helped me a lot.

Like my Facebook page for blog updates.

*BTW: If you want to check out a few of my friends' comedy podcasts, subscribe to Strangers On This Road, by Mat Alano Martin (a hardworking comic who, if you don't know him yet, you will) and History Bluffs, with David Britton and Bob Nugent, plus a ton of comedian guests.

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