In this episode we learn that Mr. Biggs. . .

• Is skeptical about inter-species communication.
• Prefers subtle imagery in his musical selections.
• Cautions against overpressure in irrigation systems.
  
• Enjoys healthy competition with youngsters.
  
• Avoids narrowly classifying musicians.
• Is familiar with the concept of double entendres, but not the term.
  

DOWNLOAD SHOW #0023 HERE

In this episode we learn that Mr. Biggs. . .

• Uses unorthodox methods to identify respiratory ailments.
• Reveals the secret to weight loss success.
• Suggests improving one’s appearance to lift spirits.
  
• Presents a variation on a popular Japanese pastime.
  
• Spreads his wisdom in 140 characters or less.
• Feels the financial pinch of today’s down economy.
  

DOWNLOAD SHOW #0022 HERE

The Ask Mr. Biggs Podcast has received two groundswells of attention.  Last April, BoingBoing gave us a mention on their blog, and the rush of new listeners crashed our servers.

After that, and a few donations from generous listeners, we upgraded our infrastructure to withstand the next onslaught…knowing full well it would never happen again.

Then, around New Years Day as far as I can discern, the next bomb hit.

Someone at Apple liked our podcast enough to feature it on the main iTunes Podcast page.

This time around, we fared much better.  The servers never went down, everyone who wanted to download the show was able to.  We got a huge surge in subscribers…almost triple what we had prior to the iTunes exposure.

We are still working on the next episode…all the pieces are there.  We will likely try to record next week.  I’ll try to get this show out as fast as possible to take advantage of the new listenership.  After all, you can’t tell how long it will last.  After the BoingBoing’ing, we lost about 50% of that surge over time, which still left us with far more than we had started with.  Some people are bound to realize that they made a horrible mistake, and cancel their subscriptions after listening.  But I’ll be happy if we keep 50% again.

-cr

Mr. Biggs and Roger -

You guys are hilarious. I literally dl’ed every one of your episodes. Congrats on your new success for making the iTunes front page.

When can we meet up at Whiz Bang’s?

–
Adam Umak
The Legion of Dudes

iTunes Front page? How the hell did that happen?

I assume that there’s some human at Apple that browses the podcast world for suitable shows to feature on their podcast page. But why’d they pick us? Regardless, we’re thrilled. This is the kind of promotion that money can’t buy. I wish I knew who was responsible, so that I could give them a proper thank you. So I guess this will have to do. Thank You, mystery Apple employee!

I wonder how long it will remain there? I’ve never paid attention to such things before. If we’re lucky, maybe it’ll stay through the weekend.

-cr

In this episode we learn that Mr. Biggs. . .

• Places high value on personal appearance.
• Uses acronyms to recall helpful phrases.
• Dislikes being sidetracked by poor memory.
  
• Suggests better living through technology.
  
• Uses creative pricing to draw in customer traffic.
• Doesn’t care for playing video games.
  

DOWNLOAD SHOW #0021 HERE

No major problems in the recording.  However, we now have that feeling we always get after recording - the sinking feeling that it sucked.

But after listening through it a few times, that feeling is starting to wane.  I woke up in the middle of the night last night and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I did some editing.  This episode seems to be coming together quite quickly, as a result.  Why couldn’t I sleep, you ask?  Well, you just try drifting off when you’re plagued with the question, “What would Mr. Biggs choose for his ringtone?”  Luckily, I came up with an answer.  And the editing proceeded.

So, as you wait for the episode to be released…try and answer that question for yourself.  And enjoy the insomnia.

-cr

Those of you who were privy to our special live webcast a few weeks back know what lays ahead.  A whole bunch of drudgery.  But when we’re done…oh what a gem to behold!  A shiny new Biggscast!

We’ll bring back a brief mention of Whizzbangs, as a nod to those of you who said you missed it.  We had slowly begun to eliminate elements we thought didn’t hold any entertainment value to the listeners.  The emails and Whizzbangs mentions were more for our own entertainment than anything else.  But if you want the Whizzbangs…the Whizzbangs you’ll get!

No email in this episode, however.  We feel there’s enough content to keep you entertained.  The George Noory call is especially good.  You can always count on George to provide excellent fodder for our little show.  Let’s just hope he doesn’t pull the plug on our little gravy train.

I kid.  No gravy here.  This is a strictly non-profit endeavour.  The donations we’ve received thus far have paid for the hosting costs, and also a little extra…as you may have noticed.  The website header and podcast logo.

We scraped up enough donations to compensate good Mr. Kyle Hatch for his unbelievable work characterizing Mr. Biggs.  It’s now the logo for the show.  As donations allow, we will be commissioning Kyle to do additional artwork capturing the likenesses of Roger, and eventually, Armondo.  Armondo is the only character who is based on an actual human, however.  I may need to ask him how he feels about that.

Onward to the recording tonight.  I’ll let you know tomorrow how it went.  If all goes well, there should be a new episode up in about a week, or at very least before Christmas.

-cr

**UPDATE***The calls have been prepared (3, as of this posting).  Two of them from Coast to Coast, one from an unnamed popular afternoon drive radio program.

The recording will take place this Thursday evening, barring anything groundshaking.

As usual, no title as of yet.  Hopefully the title will make itself known during the recording of the show.

The episode should be completed about a week or so later.

Subscribe over at Ask Mr. Biggs for handsfree, no-muss, no-fuss notification of when it’s ready!

-cr

Update- Ah, nuts.   Groundshaking event happened after all.  Thursday fell through.  Looking at Monday now.  Shouldn’t effect the release too much.  Sorry.

There’s something special about working on designated holiday days off ’round the station. Besides the delicious holiday pay.

As you’d expect, the place is running on a skeleton crew.  Hardly anybody here.  Downright deserted.  This makes for the perfect surroundings for actually getting work done.

So much of the average day is spent dealing with silly distractions.  On holidays, all that is gone.  It’s serene.  Peaceful, even.

The automatic lighting system in the building is at half-illumination.  The hallways are quiet, with the exception of some distant air monitor speaker somewhere down the hallway.  The cubicals are empty and the office doors are closed.  It a ripe environment for running around pantsless. Or, as I said before…getting real work done.

I was able to get things completed in record time.  What usually takes 3 hours took about one.  Nice.

-cr

I‘m afraid I can’t do that, Clay.

It’s quite simple, really.  I’m sure there’s an obvious way to fix this.  But I’ll be damned if I know what it is.

I format the posts exactly how I want them in the editor.  But when I publish the post, all that formatting is gone.  Why is this?  What am I not getting here?

Help!

-cr