PodGet

Podcasts are a huge part of my life. Since, I do commute to work and I like to listen to music while driving podcasts are a life saver. Its also how I get up to date on a great deal of my tech news.

That being said, I am always looking for a new and better way to get these podcasts. I started out using bashpodder. It was a good way to get podcasts but lacked some features. I then went to using graphical tools those were a bust because I wanted something I could schedule and was easy to configure.

Roll in podget. Its very easy and simple to use and does the job I want.

A huge plus is it is already in the debian repos.

Installing is a snap. I run Ubuntu 7.10 so to install podget was simply:

$sudo aptitude install podget

Once installed there is a first time run interaction, which creates ~/.podget .

The ~/.podget file is where all the default configuration files are for podget. Two files are stored there podgetrc and serverlist. Podgetrc is the configuration file for the script. This allows you to adjust were podcasts will be stored where logfiles should be stored and other settings.

NOTE: I had to change up the variable most_recent due to podget downloading all podcasts. This controls how far back podget will try and download by default set to most_recent=0. I set mine to most_recent=2.


The serverlist file is where all the RSS feeds are stored. It is a very simple syntax of . That is correct categories. Which is a feature I really like.

Following the documentation and several sites that had some podget info. on them I set it up in cron.

$ crontab -e

15 04,16 * * * /usr/bin/podget -s

This allows for podget to run at 4:15 and 16:15.

Anyway, here are a few links I found helpful. Enjoy podget.

• Podget
• http://badeggs.org/2005/podget-podcast-grabber/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podget
• http://www.linux.com/articles/60857
  

Review of my Christmas Vacation

Yesterday evening was the conclusion of my vacation travels for 2007, although I am still off until Jan 2. I feel a small recap is in order.

On Dec. 21, my wife and I embarked on a the first two hour journey to my parents house in Western Kentucky. The drive was easy and when we arrived dinner was on the table and waiting. Thank you mom.

On Dec. 22, my wife and I went to my Aunt's house for our Christmas party. We played the usual family games and had discussions on life and politics. This year we had a near birth at the party with my cousin's wife having contractions for a few hours.

On Dec. 23, we journeyed up to Southern Illinois 2 hours away to my wife's parents house. We enjoyed some good meals and watched some movies.

On Dec. 24, still at my wife's parents' house we visited all of my wife's close friends and attended the candle light service.

On Dec. 25, of course we opened presents which is always good. I got several accessories for my Xbox 360, games, new coat, clothes, and tools. The fun began after the present opening. My wife and I were to go back to my parents' house for more presents. We were about 15 mins out of her town, listening to Queen, when we heard the sound, (flup, flup, flup). Feeling my stomach sink down I pulled over into a parking area and sure enough we had a flat tire. It was on the left rear.

After changing the tire and driving slower than usual we arrived at my parents which took 3 hours instead of 2 hours due to driving slower.

On Dec. 26, woke up and went out to get my tire fixed. Couldn't just patch the tire had to get a new tire. Also, had to go to Evansville, IN to get it. 45 min. away.

On Dec. 27, get tire from Evansville and get tire replaced total cost $100.99. Also, went out on the town with wife for some local grub and visiting of friends.

On Dec. 28, hung out all day at the house.

On Dec. 29, my wife and mom left at 11:00 PM on Dec 28 to Bowling Green, KY for my cousin's wife baby was being born. My Dad, brother, and I worked all day on the "cabin" in the woods lifting logs and being men.

Came back on Dec. 30 and reopened presents.

All and all a pretty good but busy vacation. Now I am at home and fixing to start to party with my wife. No going out for New Years trying to save some money.

Few and Far Between

This is one of those I need to post more posts. I know I need to and I pledge to...especially over vacation since I won't have anything else except for presents.

Christmas Time Again

Basically, its Christmas time again. I like this time of year. I especially like the smells, by that I mean the smell of cold air, burning wood, and the warm apple, cinnamon smell. I love that smell. Now that I am a full time worker the best part of this year is the Vacation. I get some sweet days off. Also, all changes come to a hault which is really nice. All in all I am pretty happy with how things are going.