How to Be Awesome at Podcasting

I have really cool friends.

Seriously, if I were to take you on a tour of just the friends I have on Facebook, I'd point out the ones who are musicians, teachers, doctors, parents, dentists, authors, movie directors, bee keepers, farmers, police and military personnel, political activists, bloggers, world travelers, Olympic hopefuls, and so many more.

One day, one of my really cool friends, Rebecca Johnson, who happens to work in television and does her own podcasts on the side, asked if anyone would be interested in helping her out with a series she was working on.  Of course, I said yes.

It's called Operation Cobra Podcast, and it is a discussion podcast about ABC's television show, Once Upon a Time.

This is awesome enough in and of itself.  I love that show, although I can't listen to the podcast right now because Netflix only has season one right now, and I'm trying to avoid spoilers.  Still, it's very cool.

Well, this summer, while the show is off air, my friend Rebecca, who I still call Bacca, and always will because that's what we called her in high school, is doing a series of radio dramas highlighting some of the more obscure fairy tales out there.  These are the crazy, creepy fairy tales that made the name Grimm synonymous with words like grisly and dark.

That's where we came in!

She gave me a couple of fairy tales to choose from, and honestly, I picked the one that was the least likely to give me nightmares.  At least, no one dies in it.  She came over one evening with all her awesome gear, and after Cricket had gone to bed, we totally recorded a radio drama in our living room!

Doesn't that look like so much fun?!  And it was!  We were able to read through the entire thing in one take, and then just go through and make a few adjustments for sound quality.  We even got to do a little Foley work!

This was lots of fun because we got to be super dramatic and cheesy and get in character.  Brian played two parts and Bacca did the naration.  Of course, she also took it back and did all the editing and everything else needed to make it sound truly awesome.

The best part is, she just posted our episode this week!  I'm cutting this post short so that you can go over there and check it out.  It's awesome!

Operation Cobra Podcast

Tag Team of Awesome--Kasey

I am so happy today to have a guest post written by my awesome friend and college roommate, Kasey Johnson.  Kasey and her family recently bought a house in LA and remodeled it before they moved in, which turned out to be quite an ordeal.  Her first piece of advice deals with the dreaded wallpaper removal process.

How to Be Awesome at Wallpaper Removal
by Kasey Johnson

Step 1: Pray

You should begin by asking the Lord to give you a forgiving heart toward the previous owners. During this process, you will be tempted to call down curses upon them, their progeny, their livestock and their manservants, but resist. Furthermore, you will need to arm yourself with the full armor of God, because this is a battle the likes of which has not been seen since Mordor. Satan was the creator of wallpaper - he did not leave this task to one of his mere minions. No no, the Prince of Darkness himself is responsible, so you are going to need all the help you can get.

Before--with wallpaper

Step 2: Seek out the weapons of mercy at Home Depot

You will need:
- a wallpaper scorer (a little round thing with razors inside)
- wallpaper removal stuff (liquid or concentrate)
- a commercial steamer (it's like $25 a day and I guarantee you will tear out your eyeballs without it)
- plastic putty knives (less likely to gouge the wall, although wall gouging is an unfortunate inevitability)

Step 3: Pray again

Just to be safe.

Step 4: Score the wallpaper

Remember, this is a battle. Do not merely run the tool over the wall lightly. You should scrub, HARD, as though you are trying to erase the stain of sin from your soul. Go over it and over it in a circular motion - you will notice the little holes being torn in the paper. This is to allow the wallpaper removal stuff to soak better.

Step 5: Spray the wallpaper removal stuff

Douse the wall with this stuff. You want the paper to be WET. Once it begins to dry, do it again. And maybe again. Oh, what the heck, do it again.

Step 6: Use the magical steamer of salvation

I cannot tell you how many hours (okay, well it was at least 10) we wasted trying to scrape off the wallpaper after step 5 with little success. The magical steamer of salvation saved our sanity. Simply run it over the walls to further soak the paper, and then take the plastic putty knife and peel up the paper. At this point it should come right up. However...

Step 7: Curse wallpaper

It was our experience that even after all these steps, sometimes only the top layer of the wallpaper came off. You may still have the backing of the wallpaper on the walls. If the walls feel soft at all, this is the case.

Step 8: Wet the backing and scrape again

If you still have the back of the wallpaper in places on the wall, all it will take at this point is a SOAKING WET sponge. Wet the wall (like, squeeze the sponge on it), possibly twice, and then it should come off pretty easily with the plastic putty knife.

Wallpaper successfully removed.

Step 9: Pray again

Thank the Lord that you survived that process and ask Him to give you the wisdom to never install wallpaper, or buy a house with wallpaper again.