Author Archives: Steve Mays

“10 Survival Tools for the Digital Age”

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Professor Kristin Cherry teaches a beginning Radio course at Central Methodist University in Fayette, MO, and was kind enough to invite me come talk about… radio. I didn’t know what to say about “radio” so I made a list (“10 Survival Tools for the Digital Age”) of things I was pretty sure they already knew about. They didn’t. [Just click a slide to see the next one] The photo below was taken just as my presentation peaked.

I don’t have the opportunity to spend a lot of time around young people but I’ve come to believe they are no more web savvy than the population at large. They’re great at texting and know the ends and outs of Facebook… but very few are creating media or exploring.

In my group of about 25 students, only one had uploaded a video to YouTube and that was for a class assignment. Twitter, UStream, flickr? Never heard of them.

I tried to convey the idea that these –and similar tools– will be useful no matter what they do after college. What I forgot (it was a very long time ago) was that they had very little interest in next semester, let alone The Rest of Their Lives.

The instructors (and the administration!) were incredibly gracious hosts and the campus is really pretty. As always, I got much more out of this experience than the students. More on that in a future post. [Wikipedia entry for “film strip”]

My first iPhone

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It’s done. After a little agonizing and a little nagging, I bought an iPhone. Lisa, the AT&T rep couldn’t believe I didn’t have a mobile number I wanted to keep. She spoke very slowly as she asked me if I had an iTunes account and explained that Safari would be my browser.

Chuck came in while Lisa was showing me how to turn the iPhone on and off. He’s a serious road warrior who is giving up his beloved Blackberry for the iPhone. We are similarly motivated: our clients –and the world– are increasingly mobile. I need to be there and the iPhone is the state of the art.

Obviously, I’ll chronicle my mobile journey here in coming weeks and months.

Tour of the old Missouri State Penitentiary

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I spent a chilly two hours this morning touring the old Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. The prison was decommissioned in 2004, replaced by a new facility east of the city. I took a similar tour several years ago when the prison was still being used. Not sure which was more interesting. I was lucky to get in on this one, since they don’t do tours. Thanks to Jeff City Mayor John Landwehr for making it happen.


The old facility is rich in history and our guides –Charlie Brzuchalski and Mark Schreiber– shared one fascinating fact and story after another. It was the oldest prison west of the Mississippi (opened the same year the Battle of the Alamo was fought?) and, at one time, was the largest prison in the world, with 5,200 inmates. Former inmates include James Earl Ray, Pretty Boy Floyd, Sonny Liston and Stagger Lee. Plans for the old prison and grounds include redevelopment and restoration.

I’ll be posting some photos here in coming days but you can check out the flickr set and slideshow now. Titles and captions to come.

UPDATE: Mark Schreiber is the author of “Somewhere in time : 170 year history of Missouri Corrections.”

Got a Room? Inauguration Is a Windfall

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“How much is it worth to someone who is coming to town for President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration in January and needs a place to stay? One three-bedroom house in suburban Virginia is said to have gone for $57,000 for inauguration week. A week at a four-bedroom in suburban Maryland was listed at $60,000, though that, like other offerings, may be wishful thinking.” — NYTimes.com.

Get Me Out of Here

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Planet Nelson points us to getmooh.com, an automated service designed to help you escape a variety of situation by "…calling you automatically on your phone at a pre-specified time and playing you a recording which will either instruct you on what to say to elude your tormentor(s), or which will simply give a convincing sense of you being on an important call."

Wouldn't this make a great iPhone app? Simply program the phone to call at specified time… or you could simply reach in your pocket, press a button … and get the call 5 min later

Thanksgiving with Henry

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DALLAS, TX: Becky is making her mother’s chestnut stuffing recipe.  She had Chris scoring the chestnuts before roasting (actually baking).  Chris cut his thumb (as it turns out not seriously).  Then Becky over roasts the chestnuts so when she takes them out of the oven, one explodes into her eye while she’s holding the hot pan (no permanent damage to the eye).  I tried to take the pan from her but the rag I have doesn’t completely cover the pan, so I burned my finger. My finger still hurts.  This better be good dressing is all I can say.  We miss you here. — Barb

Henry and Lorna invited me to join them and their family for dinner. All the TG basics, topped of with Lorna’s special pecan-with-just-a-little-rum pie. Yum. It was a very pro-Obama crowd so there were toasts to the new president. Sammy and Pete were clearly thankful to be part of the Domke family. Here’s Petey in post-dinner repose.

No “yappy dogs” for Obama

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One more from the Barbara Walters interview:

WALTERS: I have one final, very important question. I, Mrs. Obama, I sent you a picture of my dog, Cha Cha
MICHELLE OBAMA: Uh-huh.
WALTERS: Who is a Havanese, and a very perfect dog, and
BARACK OBAMA: Cha Cha?
WALTERS: Cha Cha. Cha Cha is a dog, he's a Havanese, he's from Havana… name is "Cha-cha-cha."
BARACK OBAMA: Cha-cha-cha.
WALTERS: Yeah. (overlap)
BARACK OBAMA What is a Havanese?
WALTERS: Oh, it's like a little.. it's like a little terrier. And they're non-allergenic, and they're the sweetest dogs in the world.
BARACK OBAMA: But, but it's a… it's like a little yappy dog.
WALTERS: Yeah, you don't want (overlap)
MICHELLE OBAMA: Don't criticize.
BARACK OBAMA: Yeah, it like sits in your lap and things?
MICHELLE OBAMA: (Overlap) Yes, it's a cute dog. (Laughs)
BARACK OBAMA: It sounds kind of like a… a girly dog.
MICHELLE OBAMA: We're girls. We have a house full of girls.
WALTERS: We know…  we… what about whatever you were saying?
MICHELLE OBAMA: (Laughs)
BARACK OBAMA: Well, well, we're gonna have a big, rambunctious dog.