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Thoughts From The Journey – Colorado, Here I Come!

Stephanie Ravenscraft — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:31:51 +0000

As I sit on the plane heading to Chicago I can’t believe I’m on this journey. Or rather that this adventure is part of my journey.

I first learned about the Captivating Retreat several months ago in an email from Ransomed Heart Ministries. I’d never heard of such a thing before. I remember reading the email thinking “That’s Amazing, I would love to do that.”. But I never believed it would be possible. The cost, the time away, I just didn’t think it was possible.

Through an unexpected spontaneous moment at my kitchen table, my husband offered to send me and my best friend, Sarah. I was Shocked!! Again, I never believed it was possible and now I’m given the chance to share it with Sarah.

A few weeks into planning Sarah realized due to scheduling she would not be able to attend. I struggled with whether I should still go. Could I do this alone? Did
I want to? Through much prayer it became clear that this adventure was meant for me to do alone.

So I sit on this plane missing Sarah, and thinking how this all began. I like so many had lost myself in the hustle of the everyday. The things I love most being wife, mom, friend and business partner had become tasks to get done with my lost focus. I had become a hollow version of myself. Tied together with a smile but coming undone, to steal lyrics from Taylor Swift.

In November God started a work in me that has been leading to this weekend. Breaking me down, exposing my sins and confessing to those who hold me accountable. Taking apart the puzzle that is Stephanie and putting me back together piece by piece. Rearranging the pieces in the correct order make me a beautiful masterpiece for Him.

All leading up to this moment, on this plane, on this adventure to find all that my
God has in store for me.

I have so many emotions right now, excitement, terror, joy, anxiety all at the same time. But as I get closer to Colorado I’m more and more excited to spend this weekend with my Savior, learning more about both of us.

I truly can not wait to share what comes from this adventure with all of you.

512 PABL – Off To The Hospital To Get Checked Out

Cliff Ravenscraft — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:18:44 +0000

Click Here For The Latest – Update #7 – Final Update

Update #1
January 7, 2012 2:40 PM – So here I am. I am sitting in my office/studio and I am packing up my briefcase with all my tech gear for what could be a few hours, days, or potentially weeks at my local hospital.

I don’t mean to alarm anyone by my first post here, but on Thursday morning, I had experienced a twitch/spasm in my left eye. I’ve had these in the past and they were typically due to stress or going extended periods of time without having enough sleep. The thing is, however, that I have been getting plenty of sleep lately and haven’t been experiencing much stress due to the successful steps of adding so much more margin to my life.

By the end of the day, Thursday, the eye spasms continued and I assumed that perhaps I was experiencing some subconscious stress or fear about sharing a MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT about the future of the content here at gspn.tv. If you haven’t yet heard about that, you can read and hear all about that by clicking here.

I wasn’t too worried. I was a bit surprised, but the feedback from the announcement has been 100% positive so far. Sure, some folks have expressed a bit of sadness that some shows were no longer going to be produced, but everyone had shared that they understood the reasons that I had shared and I’d say that well over 99% have shared that they were extremely optimistic about what this means for the content that will continue as we move forward.

I also figured that if my left eye spasms were somehow tied to that stress, that they would go away over night.

However, Friday morning, I woke up and began to work on the various items that I had laid out for myself on my to do list.

I am going to insert here that I forgot to tell you that I had an issue where I slept on my left arm the wrong way. I had a bit of pain in my shoulder when I moved my left arm around. I also figured this would go away.

Back to Friday.. I was sitting here working and I noticed that I started to feel a little bit of “numbness/tingling” from the tips of my fingers up through my arm, in through my shoulder and into the area right behind my left side of my chest cage. It was more like a “sensation.” This didn’t bother me much at all. I thought maybe I had a pinched nerve.

About 11am on Friday, January 6th, I noticed that the left side of my check and lips started to have a numbness sensation as well. Almost as though I was just at the end of having novocaine from a dental visit wearing off. Though, it was very much limited precisely to the left side of my mouth and face.

These were the only symptoms that I had experienced and I was having no problem thinking clearly. In fact, I spent most of the day working on things like my new consulting page on my business website. I didn’t have any issues with dropping facial features, no slurred speech, no headaches, no problem with balance, and no problem writing or understanding human speech.

I didn’t tell Stephanie about this until it had been going on for several hours. Though, I will share that I had experienced other symptoms of things before this and the eye spasms on Thursday. In a future update, I will share more about what I had experienced and why I never shared it with ANYONE.

I had asked Stephanie to simply keep an eye on my through the day yesterday and I promised if I thought it was getting any worse, I would immediately agree to go to the hospital. It never got worse and so I never went to the hospital.

This morning, I woke up feeling no worse that I did yesterday. In fact, I feel just fine. Though I can still tell that there is the “VERY SLIGHTEST SENSATION” on just the left side of my body. It don’t know if I would call it numbness or tingling, but just something that doesn’t feel like it should and it is exactly ONLY ON THE LEFT SIDE of my body.

This afternoon, I reached out to my friend Robert Johnson. I think I knew that I needed someone to tell me to go to the hospital to get checked out. Something that I did not want to do.

Again, in a later post, I will share why I didn’t want to go to the hospital and how those reasons fly right in the face of what I say I believe about God’s provision and the amazing insights that I had recently gained about what I believe God has prepared for me on the journey again.

So… In spite of the fears that I will tell you about in future updates, I am on my way to the hospital to get checked out. I’m praying that it is nothing serious. I will share that I do have fears right now. And I do ask that you will please keep me in your prayers.

I will be very much monitoring and responding to comments left on this post throughout this ordeal. I imagine that this one blog post will end up having well over 1,000 comments before all is said and done. Rather than create new blog posts with updates. I will add further updates below. At the top of the post, I will clearly indicate which post is the latest.

I know that as I share this, those of you in the community would want to know what is happening. I am so thankful for each and every one of you.

I’m off to the hospital now. Just got to get my MacBook Air.

I wonder if I can get Stephanie to stop at Chipotle on our way. – LOL

Update #2
January 7, 2012 5:09 PM – I’m here at the the St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Edgewood, Kentucky. I bet some of you thought I was kidding about stopping at Chipotle. Well, I wasn’t. I decided to drive, so Stephanie and I stopped at Chipotle on our way to the hospital and I had my burrito bowl with white rice, black beans, grilled chicken, tomato salsa, and cheese.

You see, the last time I came to the Emergency room, I was admitted to the hospital and was forced to stay for nine days. This was when I had my gallbladder and appendix removed. During that stay, they didn’t allow me to eat food for six or seven days straight.

After we had Chipotle, I asked Stephanie if she wanted to stop any place else. There is no doubt that I wanted to do anything and everything to avoid the inevitable, ending up here at the ER. I was able talk her into stopping at Starbucks to get her a Chai Tea Latte with Sugar Free Vanilla with Non Fat Milk and no water.

Unfortunately, that only delayed us another ten to fifteen minutes.

Oh wait… I forgot to mention. Before we pulled into Chipotle, I noticed that the van had ticking noise. The oil level was obviously a bit too low. It has a known issue where it spits oil out on one of the spark plugs. So after Chipotle, and before Starbucks, I did stop at a gas station and purchased two quarts of oil, which I then put into the engine.

So, back to my story… After Starbucks, I drove us here to the Emergency Room. I signed myself in, told them my symptoms and they gave me a wristband.

So far, I’ve been taken back to have an EKG ran and now I am sitting here, in the waiting room, for them to have me come back and see a doctor.

That’s it for now.

Depending on where I end up later tonight, I will share with you the reasons why I’ve taken so long to get checked out. Though I’ll quickly share with you the other symptoms that I’d been experiencing since late October, 2011. I don’t know for sure, but I believe they are unrelated to the numbness on one side of my face symptoms that started yesterday morning.

Some of you know, from listening to my various podcasters, that I had another upper respiratory/sinus infection back in October, just before my trip to the West Coast.

Ever since that time, i had been experiencing a pain in my chest area. It was especially bad if I had been working all day, leaning forward, and then stood up. The feeling was as though the bones in my chest area were bruised badly. I thought it was a part of the infection and that it would go away after the antibiotics did their thing.

However, even a few weeks after all my sinus symptoms and such went away, I still had this “bruised chest” feeling. When I started working out at the gym again, on a daily basis, that pain went away. That is unless I had experienced any issue with either gas or heartburn. If I had either of those two things, that bruise feeling in my chest was back.

I had heard so many stories of friends who had gone to the ER with chest pain and were sent home after being told that it was little more than gas. I figured that my bruised chest feeling must be something like that since I had no other symptoms.

The fact is, I’ve needed to get an overall checkup for EVERYTHING for quite some time. But I’ve simply been putting it off for way too long.

Why? Why have I waited for so long? That, I will share in a future update, later this evening.

Update #3
January 8, 2012 12:38 AM – I can not begin to tell you all how thankful I am for all the prayers that you have spoken on my behalf.

In the ER, They ran an EKG, took a chest x-ray, did some blood work, and performed a CAT Scan. The great news is that it is confirmed that I did not have a stroke and all my results from all my tests came back normal.

The doctor made the decision to keep me over night to monitor my heart and to run two more sets of blood work six hours apart from each other.

I can tell you right now that your prayers are working. In the ER, I had one nurse draw my blood and got it on the first stick of the needle. Another nurse had to put an IV needle in my hand and got that in on the first stick of the needle. And the nurse who just left, after taking my blood again, also got it on the first stick of the needle.

I believe I only have to have my blood drawn one more time in the morning around 6am. Please pray that the nurse in the morning with also be able to get what she needs with a single stick of the needle and that I’ll do as well then as I have this evening. Also, please join me in praying that all the results turn out well and that there is absolutely nothing wrong with my heart at all.

I promised you all that I would share with you the details of why I didn’t come to the hospital earlier than I did. Well, I am happy to tell you that I took some time, here in my hospital room, to record episode 512 of Pursuing A Balanced Life. You can listen to this episode by clicking the PLAY BUTTON at the top of this post. It has all the details.

Thank you all so much!

Update #4
January 8, 2012 12:31 PM – Well, I want to first say that the nurse that took my blood this morning also got it on the first stick. Heck, if this streak continues, I may one day be over to get over my fear of needles. Seriously folks, I really appreciate your prayers in this area. I am sooooo feeling all these prayers.

So all my results from my blood work and second EKG came in and I have a clean bill of health on my heart. It is 100% confirmed that I did not have a stroke, no heart attack, and my heart is in really good condition.

This still does not explain the numbness on the left side of my body that I had experienced. By the way, that numbing sensation has gone away and I no longer feel any side effects. It is as if it had never happened. However, the doctor here does want me to stay here and have a consult with a neurologist. There is a good chance that this could happen later this afternoon or early evening. If they decide to order an MRI, I may have to stay her an another night. I’m just hoping if that is the case, they will not need to take any more blood.

I did get my blood work results and I learned that my LDL Cholesterol levels are a bit high. They should be under 100 and mine are currently at 140. I’m going to see if I can’t do some good research and take this into consideration with some dietary changes and see if I change my diet and keep my daily workouts up, if I can’t get that level brought down without medications.

I guess I will be going to Egg White Omelets from now on. I’ll miss my yokes. Here’s the deal. I am at the point where I am willing to do whatever it takes to be healthy. I’m just so thankful that so far, things have all check out fine.

I did ask if I could possibly get checked out and do the neurologist stuff as an outpatient. However, they said that if I stay here, I will get to see one today and if they order an MRI, I’ll get it tomorrow. If I were to do it as outpatient, it would be a few weeks before I get the consult.

So I am just sitting here. Waiting. Thanking God that so far nothing serious has been uncovered. Feeling good that my heart is in good shape.

I’ll post more as I know more. Thank you all again for all your prayers!

Update #5
January 8, 2012 4:53 PM – Time for another quick update. I had my visit with the neurologist and he did suggest that I have an MRI done tomorrow just to be on the safe side. I’ve confirmed that I should not have to have any more blood drawn (I am so thankful for that).

I still have the IV access thing that they put in while I was in the ER. He mentioned that they will use this to put some sort of dye into my blood for the MRI. As long as this IV doesn’t need to be pulled out and redone, I should be able to handle that pretty well.

If the results of my MRI tomorrow are okay I should be free to go home and would need no further followups. I’m praying for clear results from that MRI and that nothing is wrong.

One thing is for sure, I’ve exceeded my $3,000 deductible. Because of my family history and due the fact that I’m 38 years old, I may go ahead and have everything else all checked out through this year. Things like colon and all that fun stuff. However, I think I’ve had as much fun as I want to have here with the medical folks this weekend.

I am simply praying that I can get clean bill of health tomorrow and that I can go home tomorrow and that I don’t have to cancel any of my consulting clients on Tuesday.

I want to send out a special thank you to my friend Mark Mason, from MasonWorld.com, for sending me flowers with the Get Well balloon (Shown in the image above). That was a cool surprise.

My mom, dad, and my brother stopped by to see me this afternoon. It was cool to see them.

I’m excited that Stephanie and the kids are going to come and see me this evening. I’m also excited that they will be bringing some Chipotle. The food here at the Hospital is simply not that great!

I appreciate all your prayers. Please keep them coming for the results of tomorrows MRI.

Thank you so much!

Update #6
January 9, 2012 8:56 AM – So I just returned from having my MRI. That went much smoother than I had expected. I was so thankful to get in as early as I did. I was also thankful that the dye that they had to flush through my blood stream didn’t sting at all. It was simply a cool sensation.

The MRI took about 30 minutes in total and was actually quite relaxing. They had given me the option of the type of music I wanted to listen to and I chose classical. As the machine was making all it’s noises, I simply spent the 30 minutes in prayer, talking with God. In my conversation, I thought of my totally awesome wife, Stephanie and just how thankful I am to have her in my life. Sharing life with her is one my greatest joys. I then spent some time thinking about Meagan, Matthew, and McKenna and just how blessed I am to have these three amazing children.

Oh, by the way, I wanted to share that Stephanie and the kids came by and had dinner with me last night here in my room. It was the highlight of my day. A day or two spent in the hospital can really help you gain a good deal of perspective on life and offer a reminder of just how blessed we are.

Before my MRI had ended, while I was still talking with God, my thoughts went toward my good friend, Barry Morgan, who is currently being treated for a very advanced case of pancreatic cancer. I am trying to keep up with Barry’s journey through his God Is Bigger Than Cancer Facebook Page. I know that that many of you are joining me in praying that my MRI results come back 100% perfect and that I’ll be able to head home with a clean bill of health. Thank you for that.

Regardless of the outcome of my results, I hope that many of you will consider sending some prayers for Barry and his lovely wife, Lynne as they are going through something fear scarier that what I have been going through.

I am hoping that my next update will be full of great news, and possibly even be posted from home. We’ll see.

Update #7 – FINAL UPDATE
January 9, 2012 12:22 PM – Well my friends. It’s been quite a journey. I am happy to tell you that the neurologist reported that my MRI showed that my brain was 100% perfectly normal.

Honestly, with as much prayer that has been offered on my behalf the past two days, I had got to the point where I had expected nothing less. I am so delighted and enthusiastic that I could dance. I wont! But I could! :)

There was “one thing,” however, that the doctor pointed out. She said that they had noticed that I had a “nasal polyp” on my left side, and that there “may have been” one on my other side. She asked me if I had an issue with frequent sinus infections.

OH MY GOODNESS!!! For the past ten or more years of my life (could even be 20), I’ve had between two and five sinus infections each and every single year.

The doctor told me that it sounds like allergies could cause that polyp to flare up which could easily lead to those sinus infections. This could explain how the cigarette smoke at the Podcamp Cincinnati pre-party set off my allergies, which may have caused this polyp to flare up, which may have led to that sinus infection, which led to an upper respiratory infection back in late October.

She asked me if I’ve ever seen an ENT about this. I told her that I never knew that I had it. She said that if these sinus infections have been so bad, they could go in and remove this polyp and it might greatly reduce the number of sinus infections that I have in the future.

If this is true, and this visit to the hospital does nothing more than uncover this, and I get it treated, this would have been worth all the time and trouble spent here this weekend.

The thing is that I also talked with the other neurologist the other day and he explained that I may be able to recover from the “Ulnar Neuropahty” that I had been experiencing in my pinky finger and the left side of my ring finger on my left hand. Turns out that this might simply be from the fact that I have a habit of sleeping on my side or leaning too much onto my elbow while I work throughout the day. I do both every day.

I’ve also uncovered that eating my two egg omelet every day of the week could be leading to this reported high level of LDL Cholesterol. Regardless, I am going to do something about my Cholesterol, without medication.

I feel as though I have a new lease on life. I was already back to my daily routine of physical activity by going to the gym four days a week. This only energizes my efforts in that area and to reaffirm my commitment to healthy eating.

I can’t tell you all how much I am thankful for your prayers.

For all I know, I may have had a heart attack and major stroke and have been completely healed. Though I am more inclined to believe that I had slept on my side with my arm behind my head in such a way that I had a very severe pinched nerve. I believe that the “fears of the unknown” and a great deal of anxiety added to the symptoms that I had experienced.

As I shared in this 512th episode of Pursuing A Balanced Life, I am so thankful that God has broken me free from those fears! I am so thankful that I got all this stuff check out. I am ready to move forward on the journey that is set before me and I am eager to see what all will transpire in 2012!

Thank you! Thank You! Thank You!

Producing Less Good Content To Focus On Producing More Great Content – Podcast Series or Seasons – And Making A Dent In The World!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:54:26 +0000

Producing Less For The Purpose of Greater Production
During the open of last week’s episode of Podcast Answer Man, I hinted that I was considering the thought of producing less shows moving forward. As I share in this episode, the reason is that I want to maximize the value of any of the work that I do, including the various podcasts that I might produce.

So many people have come to me, as a podcast consultant/coach, who are wanting to launch three to five podcasts before the end of their first year in podcasting, without understanding what all goes into the production of a single show. I believe that podcasts are most effective and valuable when they serve a niche audience and when that audience is served extremely well. Leo Laporte echoed this key area of success in the interview I did with him back in November.

To effectively super serve a niche community, I believe that you should be willing to devote a great deal of time, energy, and attention to making every aspect of your production and community environments as valuable and as high a quality as possible. I’ve come to the point where I understand that with all the shows that I currently produce (approximately five to ten a week on average right now), I am producing a lot of really good content. However, I personally feel that, on average, I only produce about two GREAT episodes each week. I’ve determined that this is simply not acceptable when I consider the hopes, dreams, and goals that I have for the future of my podcast network at gspn.tv.

The following are some of the big changes that I’ve decided to make moving forward. I share more details about each of these decisions in this episode.

- I will be ending the Balanced Living Weekly podcast after 83 episodes (final episode pending). This show was started on September 27th, 2009 with Fr. Roderick Vonhogen as my co-host. I will continue to share my pursuit of a balanced life in the Pursuing A Balanced Life podcast.

- My wife, Stephanie, will be Ending the Full Time Mom podcast after 184 episodes (final episode pending). She launched this show on July 14th, 2007. I’m excited to announce that Stephanie will continue to share everything that she would have shared in this podcast in both the Authentic Life Radio and Family From The Heart podcasts.

- I will be ending the Business Tech Weekly podcast after 109 episodes (final episode pending). This show was started on September 8th, 2009 with Andy Traub as my co-host. Andy will continue share his business pursuits on his own Take Permission podcast network. From this point forward, I will bring all of my business technology and business growth experiences here into the Podcast Answer Man podcast and in my Pursuing A Balanced Life podcast.

- I have ended the Social Media Serenity podcast after 119 episodes. This show was started on July 17th, 2009 with Erik J. Fisher as my co-host. From this point forward, I will bring all social media news, updates, and experiences here into the Podcast Answer Man podcast. Beginning next week, I plan to have Erik become my Social Media correspondent for Podcast Answer Man. The thought is that we will try to include a ten minute social media segment each week.

- I am officially ending the Help I Got A Mac podcast after 180 episodes (final episode pending). I had started this podcast when I purchased my first Apple computer, as a means of sharing my experience on this new computing platform. The show was officially re-launched on October 14th, 2007 when Chris Beiting agreed to be co-host the show with me.

- I have ended the Almost Daily Devotional Podcast after 166 episodes. I had launched this podcast back on March 3rd, 2008 with the idea that I would produce three to five 10 minute episodes each week. There were a few times that I had achieved this goal. However, for the most part, the show’s production schedule had been pretty hit or miss throughout the years. I will continue to produce the content that I would have included in the Almost Daily Devotional in my Encouraging Others Through Christ podcast.

- After 124 episodes, I made the decision to re-brand the About The Church podcast. This was only the third podcast that I had ever created for our network and it was launched on April, 23rd, 2006, just four months after I started podcasting. Moving forward, the content for this show will be continue to be produced and on a more consistent basis. The show will known as the Encouraging Others Through Christ podcast.

Am I Leaving The Network Model Behind? NO WAY!
If there is any fear about making so many changes all at once, it is that folks may think that I am abandoning the gspn.tv network/community. This could not be further from the fact!

All of these decisions have been made in order that I can spend less time making good content and MORE TIME making GREAT content. As mentioned above, you can see that I have a plan for the content that would have been provided in each of the shows that are ending, with the exception of Help I Got A Mac, to be included in other existing shows.

Moving forward, there will be a renewed passion and drastic increase in the quality of all of the following main gspn.tv shows as the result of these changes.

- Podcast Answer Man – PodcastAnswerMan.com
- Family From The Heart – FamilyFromTheHeart.com
- Authentic Life Radio – AuthenticLifeRadio.com
- Life, Love, And The Movies – LifeLoveAndTheMovies.com
- Pursuing A Balanced Life – PursuingABalancedLife.com
- Encouraging Others Through Christ – EncouragingOthersThroughChrist.com

Podcast Series or Seasons
Those who have come to enjoy the entertainment podcasts that we produce for gspn.tv can rest assured that we will continue to produce shows like the Hunger Games Fan Podcast, Doctor Who Fan Podcast, Twilight Saga Fan Podcast and the gspn.tv Lost Fan Podcast.

In this episode, I share some thoughts that I’ve have recently related to how I may approach any new podcast launches with a end for the podcast in mind, a podcast series, or with the idea of only producing a certain number of episodes at a time, as a podcast seasons.

Bringing A Final Close To Premium Member Only Site
One year ago, I made the decision to give all the content, that we produce, away free of charge. Previously, we had partial premium model for many of our podcasts known as Plus Membership. As a result, I have been managing two separate websites for all the gspn.tv content since 2008. While we were using this partial premium content model, I would publish all free episodes of all our podcast to our gspn.tv main site while I would post every episode of every podcast on our gspn.tv Plus Member Access Site. This means that since January 2008, every single episode we published, which was about seven to fifteen episodes a week, had to be published to two separate websites.

Effective here in January, 2012, I will no longer be publishing content to the Plus Member Only site. I will leave that site active as an online archive. This old site will contain all of the content that had been produced from December 2005 through the end of 2011. Every episode of every show that we have produced since January of 2011 can be found at http://gspn.tv.

Later today, I will record a short special episode that will be put into every single podcast feed on that Plus Member site explaining what is going on and that those who were subscribe to the “Plus Member Feeds” will want to go and subscribe to the main gspn.tv feeds found on our site or in iTunes. I will point people to http://gspn.tv/shows as a resource to easily find the subscription links they are looking for.

Bottom Line – Making A Dent In The World
The bottom line is that I want to create Entertaining, Educational, Encouraging, and Inspirational content that makes a difference in people’s lives. I want to spend LESS time producing “good” content and I want to spend MORE TIME producing GREAT, can’t live without, content that helps to make positive change in the lives of those who listen.

I believe that I have been called, by God, to be a force of positive change in the world! I believe spending time creating the my own great content, that matters most, and helping thousands of people (other podcasters), around the world, take their shows to the next level, is how I will achieve this calling moving forward.

I hope to make an official announcement, to my Podcast Answer Man Mailing List, about the Podcaster’s Master Mind Group that I’ve been working on for the past two months. Stay turned for more details.

Blue Host Affiliate Signups
Special thanks to the folks behind RoundTablePodcast.com and ArizonaFootballLeague.com for using my Blue Host affiliate link this past week to create their hosting account. As you know, I earn a commission each time someone clicks through my link to sign up with Blue Host. So thank you!

Random Plug of The Week
This week’s random plug of the week goes out to Adam Baker of ManVsDebt.com. Adam’s Man Vs Debt podcast reached the top ten spot in iTunes in the Investing category. This put him right up next to Dave Ramsey and other big time mainstream traditional media guys. I share more thoughts on this in the episode. Congratulations Adam!

PODCAST CONSULTING: I’m available for one on one podcast consulting and coaching. Whether you want someone to get everything set up for you or you just need a little help along the way, I’d love to work with you. I’m able to demonstrate using screen sharing technology during our call which makes it just like I was there sitting next to you at the computer. If you are interested, email me at Cliff@PodcastAnswerMan.com.

PODCAST VIDEO TUTORIALS: I also have a growing list of video tutorials that I have created based up on the the top things my clients have hired me to help them with. See the full list of tutorials by clicking here.

Subscribe To The Podcast Answer Man Podcast:

Please consider ReTweeting the following update to share this episode…

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT: Check out PodcastAnswerMan.com/243 to learn why six shows have been canceled on the gspn.tv network.

— Cliff Ravenscraft (@GSPN) January 6, 2012

How Much Toilette Paper Does It Take To Flood A Cruise Ship?

Cliff Ravenscraft — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:05:32 +0000

Have you ever wondered how much toilette paper it would take to clog up the commode on cruise ship? In this video, you will learn that it takes A LOT!

Recently, I was browsing some photos and videos were stored on a very old external hard drive. This video is from July 17th, 2005. I had won a cruise for two as the reward for selling a “boat load” of insurance the year before.

Unfortunately, McKenna was only three months old at the time and the company’s guidelines would not allow for children to be brought on these incentive cruises. I was so delighted, however, that my best friend, Robert Johnson, was able to join me. I had completely forgot that we recorded this video.

Robert and I had so much fun on that cruise. In fact, the very first video project that I ever produced was done with footage from our time in the Bahamas. The resolution is quite low. But if you are interested, check it out below:

The Coke Bottling Process In 45 Minutes

Cliff Ravenscraft — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 01:11:02 +0000

I just spent the last 45 minutes watching this video. I didn’t intend to spend that 45 minutes watching how coke is bottled, but when I put it on full screen and bumped it up to 1080P resolution, I simply got sucked in. Here’s the video…

As I sit here, I’m asking myself what am I taking away from watching this. A few things struck me. There really is no limit on how large a company can become if you have dreams, goals, and plans and robots are AMAZING and I’m so happy that Matthew enjoys playing with the Lego Mindstorm as much as he does.

Overall, I’m glad I watched it. It’s inspiring to see things that “work.”

So thankful that content like this is available on YouTube and can be shared in blogs like this. If you end up watching it, I’d love to read your comments in the comments section below.

2011 Has Certainly Been The Year of Providence!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:20:22 +0000

Here it is, Saturday, December 31st, 2011. It’s the final day of the year and I had decided I that I was going to take it pretty easy until the kids go back to school this coming Tuesday.

When I came down to my studio, a little after 11am today, the only thing I had planned to do was to sit down and answer as many of the 50 or so emails that are sitting in my email inbox. However, before I started on that task, I decided that I would grab my prayer journal and my pen to quickly write to God, thanking Him for how He worked in 2011, “The Year of Providence.”

I sit here at 3pm and I’ve not responded to a single email. Instead, I spent well over two and a half hours writing eighteen pages of content from my heart as I thought about 2011, The Year of Providence.

About half way through, I realized that I would want to share these thoughts with the gspn.tv community. I wish I had the time to actually go through and type each of these words into actual text so that you could simply read them from this blog post. However, I simply don’t have the time to do that at this point. Instead, I took the time necessary to take a photo of each of the eighteen pages with my iPhone, crop them, and turn them into a pdf document that you can download and read if you so desire.

One thing is for sure, for those of you who have been a part of this community for at least a year, you have certainly witnessed all that God has done to bless this Year of Providence. I hope that, if you read this, that you will be just as inspired as I am by all that God had done on our behalf within a single year. It truly is AMAZING!

If you would like to read this entry from my prayer journal, please right-click here to download the pdf document.

How has God provided for you in 2011? What are some of your goals and dreams for 2012? Feel free to leave any comments in the comments section below.

Want to share this this with others? Consider retweeting the following Twitter status update:

Over 2.5hrs spent recalling just how much this truly has been The Year of Providence. Details here: gspn.tv/confirmed

— Cliff Ravenscraft (@GSPN) December 31, 2011

The Hobbit Movie Trailer

Cliff Ravenscraft — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:08:02 +0000

Unfortunately, I never never read the Hobbit & Lord of The Rings when I was little. However, I did watch the Lord of The Rings movies as they came out and fell in love with them. Stephanie purchased the entire LOTR movie collection with extended scenes for me one year for Christmas.

I simply can’t wait for the Hobbit to come out. Just looking at this trailer, I can already tell it’s going to be amazing!

Test only for Social Media Serenity

Cliff Ravenscraft — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:31:53 +0000

To understand this post, you’ll need to listen to episode 116 of Social Media Serenity.

This is a test only for the Social Media Serenity Podcast. We are doing this live at gspn.tv/live

— Cliff Ravenscraft (@GSPN) December 15, 2011

Putting Some PIZAZZ In The Lunch For Kids!

Stephanie Ravenscraft — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:27:28 +0000

I had been stuck in a lunch rut for, well since I started packing lunches.

Last Spring our family began to be more conscience of the food we put into our bodies. After watching the first couple of episodes of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Season 1 my kids stated that they would never again eat a school lunch.

So we started the lunch packing the only way I know how; sandwich, snack, fruit. Now I would try to make sure there was a protein, dairy and fruit or vegetable, but it soon turned into the same old same old. PB&J, apple and granola bar was the most common because of the cost at the grocery.

Meagan is not a fan of peanut butter or jelly, but she would get PB&N (Peanut Butter Nutella). At first she loved it, saying it’s “Like a Reese cup sandwich, Mom”. But one day she announced “My lunch doesn’t have any PIZAZZ.”

That got me to thinking about a cool “new to me” way of doing lunches I had seen a while back. My friend April had tweeted a link to her blog The Fragrant Hand talking about her own sons lunches. In that post, she linked to Wendolonia.com and I was introduced to Bento boxes for the first time.

I fell in love with the idea immediately!! I would look at the pictures she posted over and over and wish I was packing such attractive, creative lunches for my kids.

I tried for a few months to budget some money to start this new idea for lunch packing. Soon after school was out for the summer and the idea was filed away for a later date. At the beginning of the new school year it was easy for me to fall back into what I knew best. It wasn’t until Meagan’s pizazz comment that I even gave bento style lunches another thought.

After much discussion with Cliff we decided that the initial cost for supplies would be an investment in our kids. Each of the kids picked out their own box and they are excited about this new way of packing lunch. And all the ideas we have as to what to pack in them.

So, one day I packed my first bento lunch. Since McKenna is in half day kindergarten she eats lunch at home and packs a small snack for the afternoon. So this is her snack with several option for her to choose.

I really feel we are on the right track. As Meagan was examining her box she said, “I feel healthier already, because of the size. I know only so much food will fit in here.”

We have been using the boxes for months now and aside from some peer pressure feedback, the kids love it, as do I. We are packing healthy meals that are colorful and creative. And I know I am teaching my kids something so young that it took me so long to learn. Food is fuel for your body, but that doesn’t’ mean it can’t be fun and attractive at the same time.

Another Example of Why We Do What We Do!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:18:34 +0000

I just received permission, from Erica Sigurdsson, to share the following email with you. This email is one of many examples that I receive in my email inbox each day that reminds me of “Why We Do What We Do” here at gspn.tv.

Before you read the email, let me explain what led to this email. As many of you know, podcasting is our full-time career. During the end of 2007, Stephanie and I agreed that we were being called for me to leave my career in insurance to focus more time and energy on the content and community of gspn.tv. We felt led to create content that is entertaining, educational, encouraging, and inspirational.

At http://gspn.tv/plus, we give folks the opportunity to become a “gspn.tv Community Plus Member.” These are the folks who voluntarily contribute, financially, to support the efforts of creating the content that we create and the building the community that we are building.

Many folks, like Erica, contribute on a monthly basis. In the event that I am notified, by PayPal, that a monthly contribution subscription has been canceled, I send a pre-written message to the Plus Member to see if this was something that they had decided to do or if it was something that was done without their knowledge do to a change in banking information within their PayPal account.

I had sent this pre-written message to Erica, and the following is the email that she sent back to me.

Would you believe that we have received over 100 emails with nearly this same exact message? That folks are living DEBT FREE today as the result of Stephanie and I sharing our journey? I thank God each day for giving us the ability to do something that is having a positive impact in people’s lives.

Erica, Congratulations to you and your fiancé! I am so excited that you will be starting off your new life together without the chains of debt wrapped around your necks.

Live Loved! Live Free!

232 Podcast Answer Man – TWiT And LA Meetup Announcement!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:57:28 +0000

Very Important Announcements
Hey folks, I had to release this very special episode to provide a few very time sensitive announcements. Please take a few moments to have a listen to this brief episode to learn what I’ve got planned for my trip to the West Coast.

Here is some important information from the announcements that I made.

GSPN LA Meetup
Friday, November 4th at 7pm PST
RSVP at http://PodcastAnswerMan.com/lameetup

More details about the location of this event will be posted in the Facebook event once I have them. The meetup will almost certainly be close to the LA Convention Center where BlogWorld is being held.

GSPN – TWiT Meetup
Sunday, November 6th at 2:30pm PST
RSVP at http://PodcastAnswerMan.com/twitmeetup

If you are planning to attend this meetup, do be sure that you email Eva@twit.tv to make your reservation for the studio audience of This Week In Tech.

Want to attend BlogWorld LA?
If you want to attend BlogWorld LA, you can use my promo code RAVEN20 to save 20% off the cost of the conference.

Subscribe To The Podcast Answer Man Podcast:

The Way – Life Is About The Journey

Cliff Ravenscraft — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:59:13 +0000

I just received an email invitation to a press screening for this movie:

“The Way” is an inspirational story about family, friends, and the challenges of navigating a complicated world. Martin Sheen plays Tom, an American doctor who comes to France to collect the remains of his adult son (played by Emilio Estevez), who died while walking the Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way of Saint James.

Embarking on the historical pilgrimage to honor his son’s memory, Tom meets other pilgrims from around the world: a Dutchman (Yorick van Wageningen), a Canadian (Deborah Kara Unger) and an Irishman (James Nesbitt). Eventually, Tom discovers the difference between “the life we live and the life we choose.”

THE WAY, written and directed by Emilio Estevez, was filmed along the actual Camino de Santiago.

Coming to Select Theaters on October 7th, Nationwide October 21st.
Follow The Way on Facebook and Twitter for more!

I’ll be sure to share my thoughts on the movie on both Family From The Heart and Life, Love And The Movies.

Authentic Life Radio To Launch September 15th 2011

Cliff Ravenscraft — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:09:45 +0000

The first episode of Authentic Life Radio has already been recorded. On September 15th, be sure to go over to http://AuthenticLifeRadio.com to find out how you can subscribe to Stephanie and Sarah’s new podcast!

Free Movie Preview – The Lamp!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 01:54:55 +0000

Links mentioned in the video above:
- Family From The Heart interview with Tracy – http://gspn.tv/l0x
- The Lamp FREE MOVIE PREVIEW – http://gspn.tv/thelamp (Password = thelamp2011)
- Life Love & The Movies Podcast – http://LifeLoveAndTheMovies.com

My Wife Looks Younger As She Gets Older!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:20:09 +0000

My wife celebrated another birthday yesterday. However, I think it is amazing that she looks younger today than she did in September 2007. For those of you who think I might just be saying that because she’s my wife and I’m trying to earn bonus points, please look at the image below for proof of what I am saying is true!

The Before picture is her Drivers License from September of 2007 and the After picture is her Drivers License from last week, August 2011.

So in the past four years, my wife looks about ten years younger. If you think this is impressive, you should read the blog post she did a while back titled “My Favorite Things About Losing 72 Pounds.” (Link Here)

Video Blog Update – We Have Come So Far!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 02:15:00 +0000

Hey Folks,

It has been so long since I have recorded and published a video blog update. Well, here’s one now:

Update: I think it is important to announce that, a few hours after I had recorded this video and before anyone had seen it, a “very generous” Plus Membership contribution was received in the mail.

This contribution put us back into the position where the contributions since making the decision to make all our content available for free is greater than when we were charging for it.

Stephanie and I are so blessed to be able to do what we do for a living and are so thankful for the support of the content and community of gspn.tv!

Thank you for “Joining The Community!”

Where Does My Help Come From? A Need To Live And Love More!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:52:52 +0000

When I look at where I am in my journey today and see all the steps that brought me to this place, it is impossible to miss the fact that I am not here by mere chance.

I would like to tell you that, because of what I have witnessed in my life, I am a man of devout faith who puts his complete trust in God. However, this is not fully true.

It amazes me that, after all I’ve seen and experienced these past few years, that I still feel an overwhelming need to control my future. Let me give you an example of what I mean.

You see, I pay myself once a month. As I am writing this, it is Wednesday, June 15th, 2011. On the first wednesday in July, I will calculate at all the income that my business has generated from June 1st to June 30th. I will sit down and pay all the bills related to running my business. It is my goal, that once the bills for the business are all paid, that I will have enough left over to pay myself a modest income as well as cover the expenses of the taxes that my business must match.

For the past two years, this goal has been met each and every month, without fail. However, in 2008, when I first launched into podcasting, as my full-time career, this was not the case.

What is amazing to me is that even during a year when we had so much financial trouble and hardship, our every need was met. There was always a way when there seemed to be no way. Doors opened, opportunities came along, and in the end, it all just worked out.

I remember the anxiety that I would feel when I would be sitting here, on the 15th of any given month and wonder to myself, how am I going to pay the bills? Somehow, by the end of that month, there was just enough to meet all the needs.

Today, after several years of experiencing God’s plan unfold before me, and I am blown away by just how much I still lack trust in His ability to provide for my every need.

You see, it’s the 15th of June and if my business didn’t earn another penny between now and the end of this month, I would have enough to meet my goal, on the 1st Wednesday in July, to pay all my business expenses and to pay myself my normal monthly paycheck. This is mostly do to the principles of not spending all that I earn and putting money aside for reinvesting in my business.

However, while I already know, with full certainty, that my paycheck for July is 100% covered, I have full confidence that I will generate enough income, over the next fifteen days, to cover my paycheck for my August due to my third Podcasting A to Z online training course that will begin on July 11th.

With the fact that my wife and I are debt-free, outside of our mortgage, and have a significant start on our “Emergency Fund” in our personal savings, I would think that I would praise God and not have any anxiety about the future.

Things really are unbelievably great right now. I’ve got plans to take my family on an “expenses paid” trip to Disney and then another weekend getaway in the Smokey Mountains that will cost us little to nothing. Certainly no more cost than if we were at home that weekend.

Three years ago, I would like think that I would have been satisfied to know that I am in a place where my business is today, financially. However, here I sit on the 15th of June, 2011 and I find myself tempted to be anxious about where the money for my September paycheck is going to come from.

I still find myself having anxiety about things like anticipated, upcoming, medical and dental costs for our family. While I have made amazing leaps forward in planning more and more margin in my life, I find myself still “wanting to” work, work, and work some more to earn income in advance of these potential future needs.

However, some things have happened in the last thirty six hours that have been a solid reminder to me that God wants me to stop worrying and to have more trust in Him. These past two days have been an amazing reminder to me that God has a plan for me. That I am where I am today because He designed this place for me in my journey. I’m feeling an overwhelming call upon my heart to take time and ENJOY my life, where I am today. To spend more time giving thanks!

In episode 500 of Pursuing A Balanced Life, I talked a bit about these sort of things. I hope, in a future episode of this podcast, to share what has taken place in these past two days. It’s nothing short of God’s guiding hand, consistently opening up new opportunities and connecting me with other people who seem to be a part of the next few steps of my journey to move me forward in His plan for my life.

It’s happened time and time again. I am going about my life and not seemingly doing anything special, but by simply following my heart and my passion, God continues to make all the pieces of the puzzle, known as my life, fit perfectly into place. While I know in my heart that having anxious thoughts are not a required part of the equation for my success, I still struggle with this in my mind.

It is my hope that I will remember this lesson and that for the rest of this day, this week, and this month, that I will be able to simply live and love more!

Psalm 121:1-2 (NIV) I lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Hunger Games Podcast More Popular Than Oprah!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 10:34:47 +0000

Update: Friday, June 10th, 2011
Hey folks, I was just notified that our Hunger Games Fan Podcast has just made it into the top ten of Literature Podcasts in iTunes. We have been so excited about the response from our community over this new podcast. It gives us great joy to know that we inspired hundreds of you to read this amazing story!

ORIGINAL POST: May 16th, 2011

In all fairness to Oprah, the way that iTunes ranks podcasts is favorable to podcasts that have a great deal of “recent activity.” Many of you know that we just launched the Hunger Games Fan Podcast a few weeks ago. The podcast has only been in iTunes for two weeks now and we have already risen through the charts and have ranked 26th out of all podcasts in the “Literature” category, just barely beating out Oprah’s Book Club podcast!

This simply means that within the last several days, our podcast has had more activity than Oprah’s, in iTunes. By activity in iTunes, I mean written reviews, ratings from iTunes users (giving a 5 star rating really boosts the ranking), and simply having people actually click the Subscribe Button from within the iTunes Directory itself.

Why would I even care about our ranking for this new podcast? It’s because our Entertainment podcasts have always been what has provided the largest amount of exposure to the gspn.tv community and our overall network of content. Our LOST, Greys Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and Twilight Podcasts together have brought tens of thousands of new subscribers to gspn.tv over the years.

The Hunger Games podcast is on target to do the same. Getting featured in the “Literature” category is a big deal to a podcast devoted to one of hottest new series of books out there. This will change throughout the days, but right now, if someone were to go to the iTunes Store and then browse through the podcast categories looking for Podcasts in the Arts/Literature section, this is what they would see.

The fact that we are so prominently featured in the “New & Noteworthy” section, along with the initial activity of the gspn.tv community is why we have risen to where we are today. The goal, however, is to get iTunes to really take notice of our new show. So much so that they put us in the “Featured – What’s Hot” Section. The icon for our show won’t be as big. However, being on the the front page for this category of podcasts will be much longer lived than our feature in the “New & Noteworthy.”

So how does iTunes choose who get’s in to the featured What’s Hot section? It’s completely up to them! But I do know that you must have decent artwork and they must see that there is a great deal of general interest in your show.

With all that said, I ask if you have checked out the podcast and like it, please be sure that you are signed into your iTunes account and do one or all of the following three things.

1) Go to the iTunes Page (LINK HERE) and Subscribe to the podcast from iTunes.
2) Click on the number of starts for the rating you think we deserve.
3) Write a sentence or two review of the podcast or our network.

Here’s an image that shows where you would click to do the above three things:

If everyone reading this post were to do the above, we would easily rise to the top 10 podcasts in Literature and if we can hold a spot in the top 50 for a week or more, we could very well get featured by our friends at iTunes for this category.

I feel that it is important to stress that the reason for my desire to do this is to bring more people to an awareness of what we have going on here at gspn.tv. It’s time to invite more people to “Join The Community.!

Here’s a screen grab showing our current standing, as I am writing this post, just above Oprah! Thank you all so much!

BlogWorld NYC Trip Highlights

Cliff Ravenscraft — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 15:44:40 +0000

Hey folks, I had an amazing time at BlogWorld NYC. Of course, one of my favorite things about the trip was hanging out with folks from the gspn.tv community! Here’s a video that shares some of the highlights of my trip with you.

If you are interested, here’s a video of my talk from BlogWorld

For those of you who are on the West Coast, I have great news! I am coming to LA! That’s right, I’ll be speaking at BlogWorld LA in November. I’ll post more details about a gspn.tv meetup in LA and also information on how to save money on Expo tickets in the very near future. Here’s a video interview I did with CEO & Co-Founder of BlogWorld, Rick Calvert.

Thoughtful Harvest Sauce

Cliff Ravenscraft — Tue, 17 May 2011 18:10:35 +0000

In full disclosure, I want to let you know that I have received the products mentioned in this blog post as a gift my good friend, Chef Keith Snow from ThoughtFulHarvest.com.

I want to point out, however, that Keith has not sent these gifts to us so that we would blog about them or mention them in a podcast. You see, Keith is one of my podcast consulting/coaching clients and he originally sent our family a few sample of his premium pasta sauce as a thank you for going above and beyond the call of duty.

We enjoyed the sauces so much that we ended up talking about them on an episode of FamilyFromTheHeart. It’s funny, because after we did that, he sent us another batch of sauces as a way to thank us for the mention on our show, something he did not expect.

Well, recently, I had made mention of Chef Keith in an episode of Podcast Answer Man when interviewing my friends Barry & Lynne Morgan about what they had been able to accomplish through podcasting in such a short period fo time.

Just a few weeks after posting that episode, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a package that contained two jars of pasta sauce and two packages of organic spice blends. I can’t wait to try the spice blends. However, I already know we love the sauces! My favorite is the Sun Dried Tomato & Rosemary and Stephanie’s favorite is the Flame Roasted Red Pepper.

Here’s a photo of this “Thoughtful Gift!”

So why blog about this? First, this is such an easy way to publicly say thank you to Keith for the gift. It’s also a great way to let the gspn.tv community know that another member of our community is following his passion and doing an awesome job at making a living from doing so.

Chef Keith is doing some very cool stuff. If you are interested in learning more about Keith, here are some hand picked links that I’d like to share with you.

- Chef Keith’s YouTube Channel
- Chef Keith’s Audio Podcast
- Get your own jar of sauce!
- HarvestEating.com
- ThoughtfulHarvest.com
- Chef Keith on Twitter
- Chef Keith on Facebook

Never Got Emails Like This In My Insurance Days

Cliff Ravenscraft — Tue, 17 May 2011 02:08:47 +0000

I often tweet about how many emails I receive on a daily basis. Many times, I’m told that I should delegate my email to someone else, to my assistant for instance. However, I could not imagine doing this. Communicating directly with my community and my clients is one of the things that makes me tick. It’s a part of who I am.

It’s actually all the email interactions that I had on a daily basis that made me want to leave my career in insurance to pursue podcasting full-time. But you might ask, what is it about these emails that is so darn important? The answer is simple! It’s the RELATIONSHIPS!

Now, in my 11 years as a property, casualty, life, and health insurance agent, I think I received one “thank you card” from a client who had thanked me for going above and beyond the call of duty, though I did so on a daily basis for those 11 years.

However, in my efforts as a podcaster, I get post cards, greeting cards, hand written letters, and emails on a consistant basis from people who remind me just how important the work that we do with gspn.tv is in the lives of others around the world.

I’ve been given permission to share the following email that just came in two days ago…

Episode 485 of Pursuing A Balanced Life was titled “The Year of Providence Begins!” This email above is a reminder that God is always looking out for us! After I publish this post, I plan to tell Stephanie that we are going out on a special date, just the two of us!

The Year of God’s Providence Continues…. Our lives are so richly blessed by the gspn.tv community! Thank you all so much!

New Business Cards Designed And Ordered!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Sat, 14 May 2011 22:34:08 +0000

Okay, so on my Podcast Answer Man Blog, I shared that I’m am going to be speaking at BlogWorld And New Media Expo the week of May 23rd. This event is quite simply the biggest networking opportunity that I’ve been faced within since launching my business and I’ve been faced with a large number of amazing networking opportunities.

With that said, I’ve decided that this is the perfect time to upgrade my business cards. You see, my business cards that I have today are still sporting a comic avatar from when I was fifty pounds heavier and sporting the old mustache.

I’ve since had a new comic avatar made, which I blogged about here, and so I spent some time creating a new business card that would incorporate this new look. Below is what I came up with.

As you can see, I’ve designed the card to be double sided. On the front, I prominently feature my consulting/coaching work that I do through PodcastAnswerMan.com. I’ve designed the back of the card to introduce folks to what gspn.tv is all about. I knew that some of you would want to try to read the wording from the back of the card, so I’ve embedded the image of the back of the card here.

I finished designing this business card at 2 o’clock this morning. I read through it many times, so I hope that you don’t find any awful typos that can’t simply be overlooked. You see, I need those business cards before I leave for my trip to NYC and I just ordered a box of 1,000 cards from OverNightPrints.com (Affiliate Link). They should be delivered this Wednesday.

So what do you think?

Have You Heard About Twirlr?

Cliff Ravenscraft — Tue, 10 May 2011 17:25:55 +0000

I have to give credit to my friend, And Traub, for alerting me to this video. I saw him post that this video would be “worth a few minutes of my day.” After watching the video about the announcement of “Twirlr,” I find the statement of it’s worth “debatable” but since I’ve already devoted a little time out of my day to watching this video, I figured I’d share it with you to see what your thoughts are….

Adding This To A Place I’d Like To Visit!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Sun, 08 May 2011 21:44:19 +0000

Okay, I have just added a new place that I would like to visit one day. If I ever find myself near Hamburg Germany, I will certainly make some time to visit Miniatur Wunderland.

I just learned about this place from a recent post on Mashable.com. This puts the Duke Energy Annual Train Display in Cincinnati to shame.

Check out this video that explains what you would see at Miniatur Wunderland.

The airport mentioned at the end of this video has been completed. Here’s the video that shows this impressive model of the airport.

Project #MeanEggRush Coming Saturday, May 7th, 2011

Cliff Ravenscraft — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 17:14:07 +0000

Hey folks, Stephanie and I have been working, behind the scenes, on a brand new podcast that we are about ready to launch. We have given this new project the code name #MeanEggRush.

I can tell you that this new podcast is a part of our plans to get back into the production of our entertainment based podcasting. Though, like the Twilight Saga Podcast, this podcast will not be devoted to television show, but will be another podcast devoted to a chapter by chapter review of a popular books series.

I say popular, but the funny thing is that I had never heard of the series prior to Stephanie telling me about it just over a week ago. After doing some investigation and getting over a bit of initial skepticism, I’m happy to announce that we have already started to read the first book of the series and have already recorded the first episode with a second episode to be recorded as early as today.

We both feel like this is going to be a show that a very large percentage of the community will enjoy. If you hate secrets and simply can’t wait until Saturday, May 7th, I have great news. We actually reveal what this secret project is in episode 047 of the Twilight Saga Podcast where we finally got around to recording our review of the final few chapters of Breaking Dawn. That podcast episode will be released on Monday, May 2nd at 5am Eastern Time.

We sincerely hope that the community will climb on board and enjoy this journey with us. Be on the look out for the new show to launch on our site on the 7th!

UPDATE: We released this episode a week early! Check out http://HungerGamesPodcast.com.

Amy Wright – A gspn.tv Community Member Who Will Forever Be In Our Hearts!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 02:48:22 +0000

Folks, I’ve been wondering what I would write in this blog post and as the time comes to type the words, I am at a loss for what to write.

Amy Wright is an amazing woman. Stephanie and I were introduced to Amy through our Lost Podcast not too long after we entered the podcasting world. She was one of the earliest gspn.tv community members, even before we started to call it a community.

Since we’ve been podcasting, we have held several meetups where folks from all over the United States and even parts of Europe have traveled all the way to Northern Kentucky just to get to meet friends that they’ve made in the gspn.tv community face to face for the first time. What many people may not be aware of, is that these meetups got started due to the inspiration of Amy Wright from Chattanooga, Tennessee and another long time friend of the gspn.tv community, Kim Fenolio.

Amy wrote to me and said that she, and her friend Holly Fe de Leon would be willing to make the trip to Northern Kentucky if we were to put together some sort of meetup. Up to that point, I still was not aware of just how meaningful the community of gspn.tv was in people’s lives. However, that first meetup was all I needed to let me know that we had something more than just another podcast going on. We had friends from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee come to that very first meetup!

That afternoon, Saturday, March 17th, 2007, Stephanie and I had the opportunity to sit down to have lunch with Amy, Holly, and Holly’s husband, Gemree. Since this time, Amy has been a constant source of encouragement and support to our entire family and to the entire gspn.tv community.

Over the years, our post office box has received a pretty steady flow of greetings cards, from Amy, for the various seasons and occasionally those came with enclosed gifts as indicated by this email here:

Amy and I have exchanged countless emails over the years and she has always been among the first to write a word of encouragement when we would share any sort of difficult news in one of our podcasts.

When we decided to start the Plus Membership program after making podcasting our full-time career, Amy was among the first people to sign up to support the content and community of gspn.tv. Not only that, but Amy actually sponsored the Plus Membership of another community member for an entire year.

One of the things that I learned about Amy is that she has suffered from Ulcerative Colitis for the past 20 years. It is for this reason that Amy’s been on my prayer list more than any other gspn.tv community member.

Last month, Amy’s doctors suspected that she may have cancer on her ovaries and said they wouldn’t know more until they were able to perform surgery. The surgery was scheduled and all of Amy’s friends eagerly awaited word that the surgery was successful and that any cancer she might have would have been completely removed.

However, our hearts sank as we read a status update on her facebook profile, I believe posted by a family member, that read… “Out of surgery now. The cancer is much greater then they thought. Opened her up took what they had too. Chemo to follow but its incurable.”

Since then, Amy’s been surrounded by friends and family. Friends from the gspn.tv community have sent flowers, posted comments on her facebook profile and have prayed for her daily.

In this photo here, Amy’s friend Holly took the time not just to visit but also to paint her toe nails. I think this photo demonstrates true friendship at it’s core.

About a week and a half ago, I read Amy’s update that stated that she’s been moved to hospice and I had sent an email to her asking if there was anything I could do or say to communicate to the community. I didn’t know what to say and I told her that I hoped my email was not out of line. She wrote back and said… “You are not out of line in any way Cliff! I am still working on getting a full update out there to my twitter/fb and all other friends! I didn’t want you to think I was ignorning ur email! I will get something together by Monday morning!”

So I’ve been waiting for this update to come through so that I would know what to communicate to you, the gspn.tv community. The update came this evening, on Easter Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 8:15pm. Here’s what Amy posted:

So, gspn.tv community, I come before each and every one of you and beg of you to please lift up our dear friend, Amy Wright, that she may continue to feel the presence of God and His arms around her as she awaits the time where she will enter into an eternal presence of the Living God. I also ask that you pray for all of Amy’s friends and family during this very difficult time as well.

If you are a friend of Amy’s on Facebook, you can leave her a comment on her profile by clicking here. If you are not connected with her there, you can send her your love by sending a message on Twitter using @QueenAmy83.

Amy, we love you so much! We all look forward to seeing you again in the biggest gspn.tv meetup ever!

Update: Friday, April 29th 12:16pm
This morning, I received word that Amy has gone home to be with The Lord. Amy will certainly live on in the hearts of all the lives that she has touched in so many wonderful ways. I know that so many of us look forward to the day when we will be reunited with her in Eternity In Christ.

Update, Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011:
Some have asked if there were any way to send a card or note to Amy’s family. I’ve followed up and I’m told that anything that is sent to Grace Baptist Church, sent to the attention of her parents, those cards and notes would get delivered to them. Here’s the address:

Attn: Kathy & Paul Wright
c/o Grace Baptist Church
7815 Shallowford Road
Chattanooga, Tn 37421

Below is a link to other gspn.tv community members who have blogged about how Amy had touched their lives. If you are a gspn.tv community member who has written a blog post about Amy, please email me at Cliff@Ravenscraft.org and I will also link to your blog post here:

- Blog Post From Anne-Sophie Reinhardt
- Blog Post From AlisonL
- Blog Post From AngelSteph
- Blog Post From Geoff Gentry
- Blog Post From Edith Baker

Sponsor For Family From The Heart Major One Day Sale!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 15:49:31 +0000

Hey folks, I just wanted to let everyone know that Mardel.com, our sponsor for Family From The Heart is having a major sale TODAY!

The sale is for 25% off all Bibles, books, software, and kids DVDs and is happening all day today, Saturday, April 23rd.

This sale has been a pretty big hit with the gspn.tv community in the past due to the fact that when you use our promo code “GSPN” in the shopping cart, you get an ADDITIONAL 10% off! To take advantage of this great sale, just head over to http://Mardel.com and be sure to add our promo code “GSPN” into that shopping cart!

Please do feel free to share our promo code with all your friends and family! It’s a great way for them to save some money on these types of purchases and to say thank you to Mardel.com for sponsoring Family From The Heart for three and a half years!

Happy Easter from the Ravenscraft Family!

Soul Surfer Movie Review

Cliff Ravenscraft — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:25:53 +0000

Stephanie and I were given press screening tickets to preview Soul Surfer a few weeks back, before the movie was officially released. In spite of the fact that we had hears many wonderful things about this movie, we didn’t take that opportunity to see the movie due to a schedule conflict.

It wasn’t until I read a review posted by Wayne Joy on our gspn.tv community site that I wanted to go see this movie. The review that Wayne gave was so good that it made it seem worth the $50 it would cost to take our family of five to go to the theater to see this movie.

So was the movie worth it? Check out this video review that Stephanie and I did with the kids:

If you are interested in the technical aspects of the video that we created above, check out this post about the equipment used to make it.

Here are some movie trailers for Soul Surfer:

Sixteen Years Ago – I Met The Woman Who Has Blessed My Life!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:27:39 +0000

As my wife was walking out the door today, something had occurred to me. Today is April 11th. It was on this date, sixteen years ago, that I was first officially introduced to Stephanie as the result of her calling me to ask me if I would go to a school prom with her.

If you want to hear how I shared the story of how we met four years ago, you should listen to the podcast that was then called My Crazy Life episode 092 starting exactly. I recommend that you start at 13minutes and 30 seconds into the episode where this topic begins. I’ll paste an audio player below to allow you to listen to that episode from four years ago.

My Crazy Life Episode 092 – Start at 13:30

Now after that episode was released, Stephanie wanted to share “Her Side of The Story” about how we met. So we fired up the podcasting gear the very next day and recorded episode 093. I’ll paste a player for that episode here as well.

My Crazy Life Episode 093 – Stephanie’s Side of The Story!

The morning after I talked with Stephanie for the very first time, I decided to start a new journal. I’m not going to share all the super cheesy stuff. However, I am going to share some bits and pieces from my journal sixteen years ago.

7:34am Well, today I ma going to begin a new journal. I have not written in what seems like forever now. I have wanted to start back for some time now, but never had a true reason to begin again. What what is the reason now? Well, I guess you could say it is Stephanie Renee Snow…

…Well, I had totally made up my mind. Under any circumstances, the answer was NO! I was not going to take Stephanie to the prom. Well that was the plan until last night when I was on my way out to meet Kirt to play some pool. As I was walking out the door, the phone rang and it was Stephanie.

Our conversation was short but basically she just told me who she was and asked if I would go to the prom with her. And well… I told her some of the issues that I had thought about and that I really didn’t have to time to go into it at the time since I was late getting out the door, as it was, to go meet Kirt. I asked her to call me later and we would talk about it and I would give her a definite answer.

Well, as I left the house, my first though was anger. I was mad that Mandy and Kirt did not listen to me and still had Stephanie call me. But the more I thought about it, I was kind of impressed that Stephanie would have the courage to call me and ask. I think that is what changed my mind.

… I called Stephanie. We talked from 11:15pm to 12:30am. It was amazing. She felt the same way as I did about her dad knowing and the best part is that we have almost everything in common. I actually like her a lot. So who knows? We are going out this Friday night. And next Wednesday, we are going to go get my tux. And we have already made a lot of plans to go out in the future.

I feel there is no doubt that we are going to like each other. There was just too much that seemed to be pulling us together and after we got off the phone late last night. I KNEW that things are looking good!

Since then, I have been thinking about her constantly!

Well there you have it. My first “This Day In History” blog post! It’s fun to look back and see that the thing that caused me to fall in love with her at first is still one of her greatest strengths today.

It’s that courage and boldness to take action on the things she wants that has brought so many wonderful things into our lives. It was this quality in her that convinced me to be bold and courageous enough to quit my career in insurance and the pursue podcasting full-time. I have an AMAZING, COURAGEOUS, BOLD, and BEAUTIFUL WOMAN as my wife!

I thank God every day for bringing Stephanie into my life sixteen years ago!

One Last Thing From That Journal Post…
Here’s one more thing that I thought would be fun to post from that journal regarding our first phone conversation….

We have a lot in common. She is going to be a teacher as well. She wants to teach math though.

You see, when I met Stephanie, I was a History major in college and at the time, I thought that I was going to eventually become a History teacher. However, I had only chosen that major and path because nothing else seemed appealing to me at the time. I simply knew that I wanted to “teach” people. Today, I am very much a “teacher.” I am actually a very well paid teacher/consultant/coach.

However, what stands out to me most about this portion of my old journal is Stephanie’s early desire and dream of becoming a “teacher.” One could argue that Stephanie’s been teaching our children since Meagan was born. I would agree with that statement. However, when it comes to role of providing children with an “education” in the position of a “teacher,” it’s so amazing that sixteen years later, she will officially begin that role as we begin our family’s homeschooling journey this August with Matthew.

I don’t know where this journey will lead us. But one thing I’ve learned over the last sixteen years is that God has amazing plans for our lives and that we simply must trust in Him and enjoy the journey one day at a time.

My New Withings Wifi Enabled Digital Scale

Cliff Ravenscraft — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 22:14:44 +0000

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about my new Withings wifi enabled digital scale (Affiliate Link). As many of you know, I’ve been on a journey of pursuing a more balanced healthy lifestyle for the past year and a half. Since then, I’ve lost approximately 50 pounds. However, I still have quite a ways to go until I get to my goal weight.

The cold winter months made it difficult for me to enjoy my favorite “Intentional Physical Activity” which is walking outside. Now that Spring weather is here and the birds are singing once again, I’ve been hitting the pavement once again.

Until now, I’d been using an old analog scale where the needle bounces all over the place and the actually numbers on the scale are not clearly labeled. Instead, you just get a bunch of notches between numbers like the scale pictured here. This would make it hard to actually see exactly which line the needle was pointing to unless you inspected closer. As I would lean forward, the needle would move. I hated my old scale!

I had heard about the Withings wifi scale a long time ago from Leo Laporte. Leo has actually set up a special Twitter account that is automatically updated with his progress toward his goal every time he steps on the scale. That’s right, he steps on the scale and a Tweet goes out within seconds. You can also set this to post to Facebook as well. I don’t currently have plans to share my weigh ins with Twitter or Facebook, but you never know, I might!

I do, however, have my Withings wifi scale set automatically update my RunKeeper.com account so that my RunKeeper app on my iPhone is always up to date. This allows the application to provide me with more accurate calorie burn numbers when I’m out for my walking and jogging activities.

I also have the scale automatically update my LoseIt.com account. LoseIt.com is where I track all my goals related to physical fitness. This is where I do share my weigh in information with those I’ve added as friends on the LoseIt.com service. All I do is step on the scale, and within seconds, the scale sends my information to my Withings account on their servers and that account INSTANTLY updates both my RunKeeper.com and LoseIt.com accounts. The Withings account can actually sync this data most all of online physical fitness and calorie tracking sites out there.

I knew that I wanted a digital scale. I wanted a scale that would easily be set to “0″ without me trying to fumble around with a hand turned dial every morning. I wanted a scale that would show my weight down to the 10th of a pound.

Previously, if the needle on my old scale pointed to the middle of what “looked like” the “notches” that represented 224 and 225 pounds, I would simply track my weight for that day as 225. However, with my Withings scale, if I weighed in last week at 225.1 and I weigh in today at 224.6, then I can CELEBRATE that I had lost a HALF A POUND! On my analog scale, I would have been bummed to see that I had made no progress, still weighing in at 225 pounds.

The cool things is that the Withings wifi scale also tracks your BMI as well as your body’s fat mass and lean mass weight. Let me explain why I am so excited by this.

Yesterday, I walked/jogged a total of six miles and made excellent choices regarding the foods that I had and ended the day with a pretty decent calorie deficit. When I got on the scale this morning, I was hoping that I would see that I may have dropped as much as one or two tenths of a pound. However, I had gone from 222.2 pounds up to 222.3 pounds. I had gained a total of one tenth of a pound.

Though I so excited when I opened up my Withings iPhone Application (which is free by the way) to find that I had gone from 67.2 pounds of fat down to 65.5 pounds of fat. This means that I LOST 1.7 pounds of fat and my lean body mass increased by 1.8 pounds, netting an overall weight gain of one tenth of a pound. Do you see how having this additional information can be motivational?

I love my new scale. If you are interested in purchasing a Withings Wifi Enabled Scale, you can click on any of the highlighted links where the name of the scale is mentioned. These are affiliate links to the scale on Amazon and gspn.tv will earn a small commission from each person who uses any of these links to purchase.

Video Footage From The No More Mondays Cruise

Cliff Ravenscraft — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 22:47:33 +0000

Words can not begin to express how much fun our entire family had on Dan Miller’s No More Mondays Cruise. It took us three years to get to the place where we could afford to do something like this.

In hindsight, this trip was a major investment in, not only our business, but our family as well. Over the course of eleven days, this journey changed the dynamics of our family and provided life lessons that could only be experienced hands on, rather than being read about in a book.

The following footage is about 21 minutes in length. A majority of the photography and video footage was done by our three children who are ages 11, 9, and 5. Please keep this in mind when you encounter portions of the video that may not be as steady as you would like.

Please feel free to leave comments for the kids in the comments section below. They will be reading your posts as you leave them and may even respond.

Update: Here’s another video done Joel Boggess and his wife, Dr. Pei Kang from http://4pointscoaching.com.

Why I’m Glad That Cell Phones Have Great Video Cameras!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 17:20:54 +0000

I really enjoyed watching this short little video on YouTube.

If you listen closely, you can hear the captain say…

“Folks, the space shuttle is going off the right side of the aircraft right now. Those of you on the right side of the aircraft, you can see the space shuttle. People on the left side of the aircraft, you can probably see people on the right side of the aircraft looking at the space shuttle.”

026 Community Voice – Andy Lehman

Cliff Ravenscraft — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 09:00:01 +0000

In this episode of the Community Voice Podcast, I interview Andy Lehman, husband, father of three, podcaster, and geocacher.

You can find Andy’s geocaching podcast at http://geocachingpodcast.com. You can also find his Becoming A Better Dad podcast at http://betterdadpodcast.com.

Of course, we encourage you to leave Andy a comment on his online community profile at http://goo.gl/By2sT.

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025 Community Voice – Community Conference Call January 2011

Cliff Ravenscraft — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 18:22:15 +0000

This episode of the Community Voice Podcast is the recording for our first gspn.tv Community Conference Call for 2011. The main topic of the call is our goals and plans for 2011. We plan to have these community calls once a month. To see a list of scheduled gspn.tv community events, be sure to check out http://gspncommunity.com/events.

In this call, we talked with the following people:
Jenn Davis – http://goo.gl/67Q7w
Byron Friday – http://goo.gl/q2skw
Edith Baker – http://goo.gl/CoT3p
Rob Williams – http://goo.gl/nfiOy
David Doufour – http://goo.gl/MIKa9
Maggie Mack – http://goo.gl/b248T
Kylie Mac – http://goo.gl/LMdQ1
Mike aka MediaCastGuy – http://goo.gl/xReUu
Kim Landwehr – http://goo.gl/UMF4H
Bruce Turner – http://goo.gl/XP32b
Karen Richard – No Link Yet. :)

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159 Almost Daily Devotional – Reading The Word of God Word Daily

Cliff Ravenscraft — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:27:39 +0000

Benefits I’ve Noticed From Reading God’s Word Daily
In this episode of the Almost Daily Devotional, I share my thoughts on what it’s been like to actually wake up early every single morning and make reading God’s Word the first thing I do each day, for an entire month.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND that I’m not sharing this information to show off on just how spiritual I am. In fact, in the episode, I openly admit that I’ve neglected spending time alone with God a majority of my Christian life.

What Reading God’s Word Daily Hasn’t Done For Me:

It hasn’t magically overhauled my prayer life.
It hasn’t magically taken away all my fears and anxiety over God’s provision.
It hasn’t magically fixed my schedule.
It hasn’t magically given me self discipline to stay focused on work tasks and to get in my daily physical activity.
Reading God’s Word Daily for one month does have it’s benefits, but I want to point out that simply reading God’s Word daily for on month isn’t going to fix every aspect of our life.

What Reading God’s Word Daily Has Done For Me:

It’s helping to reignite a desire to have a more fervent prayer life.
It’s helped remind me that I NEED TO not be so fearful and anxious and that I Should Trust God’s provision for my every need. (Matthew 6:33)
It’s helped me discover that I don’t have enough margin in my schedule and is inspiring me to make necessary changes.
It’s helped me to realize that I need to be more disciplined and focused. I want to be a good steward of the resource of time that God has given me.
It’s helped me to put God first and to see just how far out of whack my priorities have been.
It’s helped give me a desire to spend more time with my wife and kids and less time working on my business. (I’m a workaholic)
I am LESS stressed than I was before.
I’m more easy going.
I am more reverent and respectful of God.
I am more aware of God’s ever-presence.
I’ve been able to resist sins that used to easily entangle me.

Tips on what has helped me in reading God’s Word Daily:

I tried reading from a different translation that was different from what I use when I study the Bible.
I didn’t get too hung up on the things that I didn’t understand.
I didn’t follow a “Bible Reading Plan” though I’m not against them.
I started reading in Romans and went through Revelations
I then started John, and then will read Matthew, Mark, Luke, & Acts

Verses that help encourage the reading of God’s Word:

Psalm 119:11 – I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
John 8:31-32 – Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Joshua 1:8 – Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
Matthew 4:4 – ‘People do not live by bread alone,but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’
Romans 15:4 – And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 – All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

If you enjoy this content, would you consider supporting the content and community of gspn.tv by becoming a gspn.tv Plus Member? Visit http://gspn.tv/plus for details.

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Interview With Candace Cameron Bure, Author of Reshaping It All

Stephanie Ravenscraft — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 23:45:07 +0000

Update: Click Here For Interview
Okay, so I am so excited about the news that I am about to share with you. Many of you know that I am reading Reshaping It All by Candace Cameron Bure and it is completely “reshaping” my life. The principles that she lists in her book are not just for weight-loss. They can be applied to any goal or change you want to achieve.

Here are some of the ways the book is changing my life. First, I am remembering that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I am being reminded that when I put Him first and seek to fill my spirit with His word and teachings that my desires (especially those for food) will come in line with His desires for my life.

On Friday Feb 4th at 5pm Cliff and I have the incredible honor of interviewing Candance on a special episode of Family From the Heart. Once again we owe a debt of gratitude to our sponsor, Mardel.com.

We will not be recording Family From the Heart during our normal time slot on Thursday time slot this week. We will be broadcasting the interview live on our site at http://gspn.tv/live, this Friday, at 5 pm est.

I know that several ladies from our community have been inspired to purchase this book based upon the things that I’ve shared. As you’re reading the book this week, if you come up with any questions or comments that you would like to communicate to Candace, I would like to invite you to call them in to our voicemail feedback hotline at 859-795-4067. Please try to keep questions and comments to 60 seconds or less. We will attempt to include as many of the community’s calls as possible.

We hope you’ll be able to join us as we broadcast the interview live. If you are planning to attend, please let us know by giving us your RSVP on the gspn.tv community site.

Thank you!
Stephanie

024 Community Voice – James Dibben

Cliff Ravenscraft — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:07:53 +0000

In this episode we introduce you to James Dibben. James and his wife have been married for 20 years. They have four daughters. James shares a unique story about how he and his wife grew their family.

James entered into the world of podcasting with his own podcasting network that can be found at http://Bluecollarradionetwork.com.

I hope that everyone comes away encouraged by our conversation with James, as you hear his story of the ups and downs that his family has faced, you can still hear the confidence and joy in his voice and in his words. Be sure take a movement and say hello to James on the gspn.tv community site at http://goo.gl/RcAWA.

Right-Click Here To Download The MP3

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156 Almost Daily Devotional – The Ted Williams Story

Cliff Ravenscraft — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:11:58 +0000

The Ted Williams Story
By now, most people who would listen to this episode of the Almost Daily Devotional have heard about the Ted Williams story.

The original video: http://goo.gl/3itKO
The Interview Video: http://goo.gl/Pfqrd

From the streets of Columbus to baring witness to the year of providence. I love seeing God at work in the life of Ted Williams and I hope that you will join me in praying that he will be able to remain faithful in seeking God first in everything.

Are you acknowledging God Daily?
I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God.” (Luke 12:8 NIV)

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (Matthew 6:33)

Right-Click Here To Download

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Expect Obstacles And Do Not Worry About Tomorrow

Stephanie Ravenscraft — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 20:15:10 +0000

We all have things we want….the desires of our heart. Whether that be the daily schedule going smoothly, not yelling at the kids, getting a workout in or remembering to speak my husbands love language. Or on a bigger scale….losing weight, becoming a blogger or proving that you can be successful without a college degree.

We all have that list of wants and it is inevitable that we will hit obstacles along the way. It is how we deal with those obstacles that will determine our outcome.

I am finding that expecting obstacles is a great way to deal with them. Now I don’t walk around with a “waiting for the shoe to drop” mentality. But I do expect that things are going to pop up sometimes. Snow days, birthday cake, writers block, anything that distracts me from my goal.

This post for example, I was getting so caught up in saying something important that I was overlooking just being honest. I don’t have all the answers and I don’t need to.

So here is what I am learning on this journey that is my life. I have a plan or I’m making a plan to reach my goals. I am breaking my goals down into step by step actions to get me to completion. I expect successes and failures along the way, thankful for the failures that will teach me and grow my character.

And above all else, I know that His mercies are new every morning. My Lord has created a fresh start for me each day. Every morning I can put my feet on the floor knowing that I am starting new.

I find it so exciting and thrilling that it’s completely acceptable to end the day recording my successes and failures, knowing that tomorrow is a new day. A clean slate. Not letting myself get caught up in the “what ifs” of tomorrow. Scripture tells me “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34).

–
Join the community at http://gspncommunity.com

155 Almost Daily Devotional – The Value of Community

Cliff Ravenscraft — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:38:46 +0000

The following are excerpts from Dan Miller’s book “The Rudder of The Day.” The quoted material is used by permission.

Dan’s Podcast – http://www.48days.com/listen
Buy The Book – http://amzn.to/fw00GD

One of our primary needs as human beings is to feel the support of those around us. Ideally, that will mean we are nurtured and encouraged by our nuclear family at first and then by an ever-widening circle of relatives, friends, teachers, etc. Without that support, we tend to be less and less willing to try new things or go down non-traditional paths. Too frequently the gifted artist does not hear, “I really think you can do it” but rather, “You know artists dont’ make any money” or something to that effect. …

Not having someone to lean on, adding other’s fear to his own, the next Bill gates or Thomas Edison settles into the twilight world of could-have-beens and regrets. Without encouragement during the many falls, a baby would never learn to walk. Most business people “fail” 3-4 times before they ultimately find the right business and methods for their success. …

Without the sounding board of and encouragement from those around us, we will gravitate toward very minimal accomplishment. Lack of support leads to minimal effectiveness. That’s why one of the most important characteristics of very successful people is that they spend time with people who are performing at the level at which they want to perform. Find those people in your own life and watch your success soar.

Ecclesiastes 4:10 “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!”

Are you looking for relationships with people who will be a source of encouragement to you? I would highly recommend that you consider “Joining The Community” of gspn.tv and start building relationships with the folks that you can find at http://gspncommunity.com.

Right-Click Here To Download

If you enjoy this content, would you consider supporting the content and community of gspn.tv by becoming a gspn.tv Plus Member? Visit http://gspn.tv/plus for details.

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023 Community Voice – Chanda Stegall

Cliff Ravenscraft — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 00:40:00 +0000

Chanda has been a gspn.tv Plus Member since November 24th, 2008. Join Stephanie and I as we get to know a little bit more about Chanda. Be sure to check out out her business website at http://fcscreations.com. You can also connect with Chanda on the gspn.tv online community site by visting her profile page at http://goo.gl/y0Ihh

Right-Click Here To Download The MP3

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154 Almost Daily Devotional – Social Media Marketing Tips From The Bible

Cliff Ravenscraft — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:40:36 +0000

In this episode, I share two verses from scripture that, if were were to live them out daily, would radically improve all aspects of our lives.

As a podcast and new media consultant, I’ve noticed that a lot of people are interested in reproducing much of the success that I’ve had in building a loyal community around the podcast content that I’ve created.

The problem with a lot of social media marketing is that there is often too much marketing involved and not really enough social. Many people attempt to reconcile this with a “formula” feeling as though if they spend enough time interacting with folks, by simply joining the conversation, then they can then expect results from the marketing aspects of the equation.

The problem is that most of these formulas leave out a major variable. The variable that is often overlooked is the motive behind the desire to be social. If you are giving for the purpose of getting something in return, it is not likely that you’ll receive the same benefits that I’ve personally achieve in social media. You’d be using a different formula.

There’s nothing wrong with marketing, even in social media. There is nothing wrong with earning a leaving from the work that you do and promoting it. I’ve certainly pushed the boundaries at times of what is “too much” marketing. Each time, though, my core community keeps me in check and I get back to the heart of the matter.

If you do plan to market anything to the folks that you are in relationship with. Please consider taking the following scripture references into account when creating your formula for success.

Philippians 2:2-4 (New Living Translation)
…Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

1 Thessalonians 2:5 (New Living Translation)
…we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money!

I pray that this thought will be helpful in wrapping your mind about what’s most important in social media. RELATIONSHIPS!

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Plus Membership Changes As of January 2011

Cliff Ravenscraft — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 15:02:38 +0000

Dear Friends,

What started out as a hobby in December of 2005 has radically changed our lives and the lives of many people around the world. Back then, we would have never dreamed we would be where we are today. One thing is for certain, Stephanie and I have felt the calling to share our lives online in a very authentic way in an effort to bring entertainment, education, inspiration, and encouragement to anyone who would listen.

As the amount of content that we felt led to share grew, we found that the community around the content grew as well. We knew that there were two main things that we wanted to do with gspn.tv. First, we wanted to continue to provide high quality, consistent content people could count on. Second, we wanted to build a community where Stephanie and I are directly involved with those who listen to our shows as well as provide multiple tools and opportunities for our community to connect to each other based upon shared passions.

In January of 2008, Stephanie and I took a huge leap of faith by making the decision for me to leave my career in insurance behind so that we could pursue podcasting and new media work full time as a career. So many wonderful things have happened since then. We are especially grateful for the additional co-hosts that have joined us and allowed us to extend the range of our content that we produce. And we are most excited about the growth of the gspn.tv community and the amazing stories of true friendships have been built and are being built.

From March of 2008 through December 2010, gspn.tv Plus Membership was designed in such a way that many of our shows offered one episode per month that was available to everyone for free, and those who had become a gspn.tv Plus Member, by paying $10/month, had access to special rss feeds and a website that provided every episode of every podcast that we produced.

On January 10th, 2011, I published Episode 486 of Pursuing A Balanced Life that explained why I felt a very strong urge to make every episode, of every show we produce, available to everyone in the world for free. I would strongly urge you to listen to that episode to hear the full story of how Plus Membership got started and how it turned into what it is today.

So what is Plus Membership Today?
Plus Membership is all about supporting the entertaining, educational, encouraging, and inspirational content that is produced on a weekly basis. It is also all about “Joining The Community.” By this, we mean to invite you to connect with other people, from around the world, who share your same passions, to build authentic friendships that make a positive difference in your life.

What are the Benefits of Becoming A Plus Members & Joining The Community?

The good feeling that comes with knowing that you’re supporting the entertaining, educational, encouraging, and inspirational content that we produce here at gspn.tv and that your support makes it possible for us to make every episode, of every podcast available, to everyone, free of charge.

You are given access to the gspn.tv online community found at gspncommunity.com, a place where you can establish and build amazing friendships with other folks around shared passions.

Monthly Plus Member conference calls. These conference calls will vary in topic and will be interactive, giving you the ability to participate both in a live chat room as well as the ability to call in and participate in the discussion. For those who are not able to attend these calls live, the recordings will be made available in a section on the gspn.tv online community website.

As a gspn.tv Plus Member, you’ll have access to the complete podcast archives going all the way back to December of 2005.

Plus members will also receive a discount on the gspn.tv community meetups.

gspn.tv Plus Members have the opportunity to be introduced to the community via an interview on the Community Voice Podcast.

How Much Does Plus Membership Cost?
That’s completely up to you! It has been the support of our Plus Members that has allowed us to devote the time and resources necessary to produce all the content that we’ve produced and to provide rich environments for community growth.

From this point forward, the cost of Plus Membership will be completely up to our Plus Members! The recommended contribution is $10 per month. However, there are options for lower and higher monthly contributions. There is also an option to make a one-time contribution of any sized amount as often as you desire. Technically speaking, you could become a gspn.tv Plus Member for a low as a single $1 contribution.

You see, at the heart of the matter, we do not want to hinder anyone from being able to fully participate in the gspn.tv community. If you make a financial contribution of any amount, you ARE a gspn.tv Plus Member…. FOR LIFE!

That’s right! Your Plus Membership DOES NOT Expire! Let’s say that you contributed $10 per month for eight months two years ago but then had to stop for whatever reason. We want you to know that your contributions for those eight months were extremely valuable to us and that contribution allowed us to produce content and grow this community during that period of time as a result. For this, we are very thankful!

Note: Monthly recurring contributions are set up through paypal. One-time contributions can be made by credit card or via PayPal. If neither of these options work for you, please email me at Cliff@Ravenscraft.org to discuss other payment options.

To make a one-time contribution of any amount, please use this button:

Do You Still Have Questions About Plus Membership?
If you still have any sort of questions, please check out our gspn.tv Plus Membership FAQ page!

Check out what some of our existing Plus Members are saying below:

Audio Testimonials

Jenny H. from Rochester, New York

Chrstine Peel-Malkoff, New York, NY

Darrell Darnell – Oklahoma City, OK

Murphy from Louisiana

Mary from Minnesota

Anne T. from Germany

Richi, Gessertshausen, Germany

Aaron Benedict, Brooklyn, NY

Willie Gillis, Memphis, TN

Karen Richard, Worcester, MA

Chris Oatley – Los Angeles, CA

Wayne Henderson – Southern California

Michaela Walsh – Melbourne Australia

Jaime from Burbank, Califonia

Tessa Lowe – England, UK (A Humorous Approach!)

Michelle From Texas

Michael Dean

Written Testimonials

Cliff and Stephanie,

Murphy and I wanted to thank you for your advice on Dave Ramsey. We are on week 5 of Financial Peace University at a local church and we already have our $1,000 baby emergency fund and we have paid off one credit card.

We still have a long way to go, but you have inspired us to get our finances in line and become debt free!

Mary Martin

Hi Cliff,
Couldn’t wait till 2010!! So I went ahead and got my plus membership n boy am I having fun with all the wonderful content that you provide….it was worth the investment!! I’m still waiting for the edirol to arrive in the mail n am drooling over the PR-40!! I still haven’t added any furniture to the office so the echo is killing me..who knows I might just end up recording in my closet! lol
TC n God Bless
Fahad

As for my deciding to become a plus member …. I stumbled across your LOST podcast a few months ago and fell in love with it. So I subscribed to that. Then I had to research what you guys were all about because you mentioned some other podcasts that you guys do. I was thrilled when I discovered that not only were you guys LOST fans, but Christians, too! So I started listening (and also subsribed) to the almost daily devotional. Love that, too, btw!

Anyway, I feel like I can just never get enough, and I figured since this is your life, your livlihood in fact, and $10 a month is not too much to give to someone who gives so much….
So thats the short of it.

Looking forward to hearing more from you guys!

Marie H.

It’s impossible to think of how greatly you have influenced my life. I learned podcasting from you for crying out loud. You and Steph are a constant support and encouragement and I thank God for giving you to us. Your deep wisdom, your contagious enthusiasm, your irrevocable faith and genuine love for all of us are just a few of the remarkable qualities of you and your lovely wife. Thanks for demonstrating good parenting for those of us who may not have had such good parents, for demonstrating faith in trials, for demonstrating strength and fidelity in marriage. Thanks for building all of this on a foundation of love for people and for your community here. You are fuel for our creative fires. I only hope we can be the same for you. God bless the Ravenscrafts!

-Chris Oatley

Cliff,

I have been thinking about becoming a gspn Plus Member for a while and today I finally took the step and love getting every episode of “my” podcasts.. ;o) Also 10$ a month is really not that much for all the entertainment I get. I started listening to the Grey’s podcast for quite some time ago. Now I am also subscribing to the Private Practice, Lost and Full Time Mom podcast and who knows, maybe I will find time to add even more podcasts to listen to while driving to and from work. I am not able to attend the live sessions as I live in Denmark and usually are sleeping while you are recording, but I enjoy listening to them afterwards.

Thank you for doing what you do and keep up the good work.

-Kjersti N

…As listeners we also feel that we are co-creating the shows. After my first feedback on About The Church, I was astonished how you not only discussed my questions quite openly and authentically, but also took the conversation forward for at least the next 5 weeks, still essentially following the line of questioning I’d initiated. I actually felt like I’d set the agenda for over a month of podcasting, with personal responses and encouragement from two compassionate men of my own generation. And moreover, I felt like I’d had an impact on your lives as well. If that’s not going to persuade me to support your business financially, I don’t know what is.

-Tess L.

Dearest Cliff and Stephanie;

I think I have spoken to you about how I have gotten my son Conor into Lost. Well, in the beginning of the summer I downloaded all of the previous Lost Podcasts so Conor could listen and I could keep up to speed. In the morning he puts my I-pod on our Bose docking station and we listen while I make our breakfast.

This morning we listened to the show where you talked about a listener in Hong Kong who probably speaks “hong kongese”. Stephanie then dead panned “Um, that would be Chinese Mr. World Traveler.” Well, Conor and I were laughing soo hard. Conor was laughing such a deep right from the toes laughter.

It reminded me of when he was a little boy and we used to tickle him. Thank-you Cliff and Stephanie!

Once again your podcasts have brought me such joy, and happiness. I just don’t know what I would do without you!!!

When I pray tonight know that I will be praying to keep your family in my life forever. I must get to KY one of these days!!!!

Karen

HI Cliff, I heard you a couple of months back when you were a guest on the App Show. I decided to check out gspn.tv, and am now listening to Almost Daily Devotional, About the Church, and Family from the Heart. I appreciate what you are doing and have been blessed because of it. Becoming a plus member is the least that I can do, and at only $10 a month, how can I not, that is a bargain, it’s 2 coffees a month. Anyways, I really appreciate what you are doing, keep up the great work, and may God continue you bless you and your family and everything that you do.

Mitchell B

Hi Cliff & Stephanie,

I wanted to say thank you for the wonderful podcasts that you have put out for us to hear. They are so inspiring for me. Your words have helped me during very difficult times in my life. You have inspired me to be a better steward of the money that God has provided for my family. You have inspired me to want to just be who I am and let God work with in me.

There is so much more that you two have done for me, and I can’t even put it into words. There is a special place in my heart for both of you, and I continue to keep you in my daily prayer life. Thank you for inspiring me in working out, eating right, and finding a community of wonderful people. You are truly blessed with what you are doing, and I do believe that you are doing what God is calling you to do because you are changing lives, like mine.

Thank you again,

Jenn Davis

Hi Cliff,

I am writing to you as a grateful GSPN Plus member who wants to say thank you for inspiring me to pursue my passion. I have been a plus member since almost the beginning of plus membership and was listening to many of your podcasts before that. I listened to you on your journey to quit insurance and pursue your passion, and I hold so much respect and admiration for you for being able to do this. It has inspired me to pursue my passion.

My passion is dogs, and it always has been. I have been involved in dog rescue, walking, and training most of my life and it is what I love to do. In June, I graduated college with a Psychology degree and had many of those what am I going to do with my life moments. I had not gone away for College, I lived at home with my family in New York City, and I am very close to my mom and sister. When I graduated, I knew I wanted to go into dog training and dog rescue, but I was scared. Many people told me I would not make money doing this, I should go to graduate school and pursue human psychology, but that is not what I wanted to do. What I wanted to do was take a 6 week course in San Francisco, CA, at the SF SPCA Academy for dog trainers, which is widely respected as the best dog training school in the country, but is also known as extremely hard and intensive. After filling out some lengthy applications, I was accepted to the program, but unsure if I wanted to go. It would mean leaving my mom, sister, and dogs for the longest period of time I had every been away from home, and it was an expensive course that would use up most of my savings. But dogs are my passion, and this is what I wanted to do, so I did it. I have done very well and tomorrow will graduate with honors. I have learned so much and had a great time, and have learned that I certainly can now pursue my passion. My mom is coming here tomorrow for my graduation and we will then spend the weekend exploring SF, I can’t wait to see her even though I’ve had such a great time. I plan to come back out here in a few months to do an internship program.

So I just wanted to thank you for inspiring me to pursue my passion and follow what I love. I figured if you can do it, I can too. I love your podcasts and don’t know what I would do without them, I need something to listen to while walking the 2 miles to and from the Academy as well as for my usual hour each morning at the gym. Congrats on your motivation to get healthy as well. I am a bit of a health fanatic and a runner, and I love that you have decided to pursue a healthy life. I fully support all of your efforts with eating healthy and walking and I love that you never say you are on a diet- you have changed your way of life, which is how it should be. While I don’t usually have time to participate in live shows or on message boards, don’t spend much time on the computer at all other than quick e-mail and loading podcasts on my ipod, know that I am listening and being inspired. Keep pursuing your passion and keep getting healthy!

Thanks for doing what you do,
Melissa

022 Community Voice – Jonathan Nation

Cliff Ravenscraft — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 23:24:33 +0000

The community voice is back and I am delighted to relaunch it by introducing you to Jonathan Nation. In this episode you’ll learn how I met Jonathan and how we’ve developed an pretty amazing friendship over the past three years. I count it a privilege to know and have Jonathan, and his wife Helen, as friends.

My favorite part of the Community Voice Podcast is that I get to introduce you to other wonderful folks in the community. You see, Jonathan has been a part of the gspn.tv community for years. Now, the next time you see him online, you’ll be able to know who you’re chatting with.

Links To Discover More About Jonathan:
http://JonathanNation.com
http://JonathanNation.com/twitter
JonathanNation.com/fb
http://AllyNation.com
http://StartingCube.com

Right-Click Here To Download The MP3

Thanks For Subscribing To The Community Voice Podcast:

486 PABL – The Future of gspn.tv Plus Membership?

Cliff Ravenscraft — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 02:26:59 +0000

Well friends, it seems that I’ve been facing one major decision after the other. In this episode, I am finally at a place where I feel that I can comfortably share what has been on my mind as it relates to the future of gspn.tv Plus Membership.

This show is exactly one hour in length. I recognize that not everyone out there has an interest in the regular content of the Pursuing A Balanced Life Podcast. However, I want to encourage everyone out there, if you enjoy any of our gspn.tv shows and want to know about some major changes that are just ahead for our community, you should listen to this episode.

After you get a chance to listen, feel free to leave a comment here on this post! You can provide audio feedback for the podcast by calling the voice mail feedback line directly at 859-795-4067. You can also email an audio file to feedback@gspn.tv.

Don’t forget to tweet about your pursuit of a balanced life, joining us in the #PABL campaign.

Right-Click Here To Download MP3 Version of this Free Episode

Subscribe To Pursuing A Balanced Life Podcast – Free Feed:

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My Favorite Things about Losing 72 pounds

Stephanie Ravenscraft — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 17:26:37 +0000

When I first thought about writing this blog, I thought it would be ten things. I just couldn’t think of three more, although I’m sure they are there. So, in no particular order, my 7 favorite things of having lost 72 pounds.

1. The way my kids see me.
I love knowing that my kids see me as healthy. I remember as a kid being so worried about my mom because she smokes or my dad knowing he is overweight. And honestly I still do. So to have taken this worry away from my kids means the world to me.

The first time they referred to my old self as “fat mom”, they were concerned about getting into trouble. We have a strict no “put down” rule in our house. But it made me realize that that is what they thought. And they were delighted that I was not fat anymore. So with sensitivity to those around us that are still overweight, I gave my kids permission to call my old self “fat mom”.

It helps me remember that I don’t want to be that again and one of the reason I lost weight to begin with was to be there for my kids. I asked each of them this morning what their favorite part about me not being “fat mom” anymore is and here are their responses.

Matthew – I don’t walk as slow anymore and I can run and play, which I couldn’t do before.
Meagan – She can borrow my shirts.
McKenna- I don’t look like a watermelon anymore.

I love my kids and pray that I am able to instill healthy views of food into them and that they never struggle with obesity.

2. Buying a size 6 and SKINNY Jeans!!!!!
Really do I need to say more. At my biggest I wore a size 18, or squeezed myself into a 16 in denial that I needed bigger pants. I have been dressing to hide my body since I was 17. It feels so good to be able to dress the trendy look.

3. Tying my shoes.
Now here is where you can say it’s the small things that matter. I always put my foot on a chair to tie my shoes. Bending over would make me dizzy or was just uncomfortable because my belly was in the way. The first time I bent over to tie my shoes was a milestone for me.

4. Borrowing Clothes from friends, Or rather a friend.
I don’t go around asking others for clothes. In October I had the oppurtunity to go to Columbus to visit my friend Alison and to attend an Ohio State football game. Now for weeks I had been meaning to get to the store and pick up a t-shirt I could wear to the game. But living in KY everything over here is a certain shade of blue. Several times Alison offered for me to borrow something of hers but I was stuck on buying my own. I never did make it to the store and left for Columbus without an OSU shirt. Saturday morning came, Alison gave me a shirt and I was a little nervous putting it on. Funny how retraining our brain can take so long. Well, I borrowed a shirt from my “tall, thin” friend and wore those OSU colors proudly all day. It was a great day of football and friendship.

5. Hearing my husband say “You’re Beautiful” and BELIEVING it.
Feeling beautiful is something that all women struggle with no matter their size. So I have always just gave a shrug or a laugh whenever Cliff says I’m beautiful. For a long time I just thought it was because “that what a husband should say”. But knowing that he says it because he feels it and believing him because I feel it myself are something I would not want to trade. No matter how many Rice Krispie Treats you offer me. ;)

6. The Standard Bath Towel
Several years ago my mother in-law gave Cliff and I some of those over sized bath towels. That’s what I have used since then and still do at home. On one of our trips to the TN lake house I just grabbed the towel off the counter not thinking about it. I dried off, wrapped the towel around myself and tucked it at the top, just like at home. By the time I made it to our room to get dressed I realized “This is a standard size towel.” I was so excited that I walked around in that towel for an hour.

7. The day my mom didn’t recognize me.
Now this may sound bad and give a horrible impression of my mom. So let me start by saying my mom lives an hour away, works full time and I still have a sister at home. We don’t see each other as often as we would like.

We were meeting at a store to go shopping. She arrived first and was in line with my sisters waiting for the store to open. I walked right up to them and they continued with their conversation. To not interrupt I waited until they finished to say hello.

When I spoke the shock on mom’s face was priceless. She was near tears, although I’m not sure if it was not knowing who I was or for my changed appearance. She hadn’t seen me in about 3 months and in that time I had changed my hair color and lost 15 more pounds.

It was a great moment. It will be quite some time before I let her live down not recognizing her own daughter.

If I can do it, you can too!
So there they are, I have lost 72 lbs as of today and I am so happy to have made this journey. It was very difficult at times but I think back over this list and realize every moment was worth it. I love telling others that they can do it, you just have to believe that you can. And let me tell you if I can you can!!!!

Join Cliff & Stephanie on the No More Mondays Cruise!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 17:23:35 +0000

UPDATE: We have already gone on the cruise and here are some videos:

Words can not begin to express how much fun our entire family had on Dan Miller’s No More Mondays Cruise. It took us three years to get to the place where we could afford to do something like this.

In hindsight, this trip was a major investment in, not only our business, but our family as well. Over the course of eleven days, this journey changed the dynamics of our family and provided life lessons that could only be experienced hands on, rather than being read about in a book.

The following footage is about 21 minutes in length. A majority of the photography and video footage was done by our three children who are ages 11, 9, and 5. Please keep this in mind when you encounter portions of the video that may not be as steady as you would like.

Please feel free to leave comments for the kids in the comments section below. They will be reading your posts as you leave them and may even respond.

Update: Here’s another video done Joel Boggess and his wife, Dr. Pei Kang from http://4pointscoaching.com.

Not sure what to do for Valentine’s Day? There is nothing more romantic than exotic beaches and a beautiful cruise where you are pampered and get to indulge in some of the best culinary experiences you could imagine. Add to that, world-famous speakers and a business tax write-off and you are having the ultimate vacation!

February 13-20, 2011

This cruise was put together by Dan Miller, author of 48 Days To The Work You Love and No More Mondays. Dan has been one of Cliff’s greatest sources of inspiration when it comes to the mindset of doing what you love for a living. You can check out Cliff’s entire series of podcast episodes that he did back when he first read 48 Days To The Work You Love. You can also hear an episode where Cliff shared how one of his dreams came true, when Dan not only became a client, but also a friend.

On this cruise, you’ll get the pleasure of visiting not one, but three gorgeous ports – San Juan, Puerto Rico, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, and Phillipsburg, St. Maarten.

The Celebrity Solstice:
We’ll be traveling aboard the Celebrity Solstice, a beautiful ship with it’s meticulous attention to detail that elevates service to new heights of pampering. I’ve been told that you’ll have a stateroom attendant who greets you by name, a server who remembers your love of Pinot Noir, and a freshly manicured half-acre grass lawn — the only one at sea.

Click Play on the audio player below to hear where we had Dan Miller as our guest on a recent episode of Family From The Heart. We introduce Dan in the episode at about 12 minutes and 30 seconds into the recording if you want to forward right to that part.

Our Cruise Intinerary

Sunday, Feb. 13 – Depart Fort Lauderdale, FL — Embarkation 4:30pm

6:00 pm – Dinner
8:00 – 9:30 pm – No More Mondays Introductions and get acquainted

Monday, Feb. 14 – At Sea

9:30 am – David and Paula Foster – How to Juggle all the Demands of Marriage, Family, and Work, and do it Really, Really Well

It’s hard to balance the many irons we all have in our fires. David and Paula will share their personal experience on how to manage it all without it just managing you.

11:30 – Lunch
1:30 – 3:30 – Dan and Joanne – Valentine’s Celebrations!
3:30 – 6:00 – Open Networking and Sharing

Tuesday, Feb. 15

11:30 – Lunch
2:00pm-10:00pm – San Juan, Puerto Rico

Wednesday, Feb. 16

8:00am-6:00pm – Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

Thursday, Feb. 17

8:00am-6:00pm – Philipsburg, St. Maarten

Friday, Feb. 18 – At Sea

9:30 – Cliff Ravenscraft – Building a Brand Online through Social Media

Cliff will share his story of how a hobby related to a favorite tv show turned into a worldwide ministry, a massive online community, and spun off a profitable consulting/coaching business. In this session, you will learn how tools like a blog, an audio podcast, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other social networking outlets can help you build a brand without boundaries. Have you ever wanted to make a positive change in the world with what you do? Cliff will share how he’s doing just that through social Media.

10:30 – Joel Boggess – Embracing Your Uniqueness

We are all uniquely wired with individual personality styles. Learn how to explore and accentuate your strengths and better understand and address your weak areas. Learn how to communicate with other personality styles in a way that complements your own.

Is your business life a reflection of your gifts, your passions, your dreams? What would it look like if it was? Joel recommends you take the 48 Days profile or Strengths Finder assessment (or both) before the cruise for a fun and empowering learning session.

11:30 – Lunch
1:30 – West Conner – How feeling great and looking fit will get you more business

When you are unhappy in your own skin, it pours out into all other areas of your life – your relationships and even your business. Discover how, when you are at the top of your game, your business will be more likely to thrive as well.

2:30 – Pierce Marrs – Why all success is “Selling”

A lot of people have told me that selling is one of their greatest fears, right up there with

public speaking. We all are selling in some form or fashion. Selling is sometimes referred

to as “shared enthusiasm” or “the art of persuasion”.

Let’s take a few moments and look at how you can better share YOUR enthusiasm with

the world!

3:30 – 6:00 – Open Networking and Sharing

Saturday, Feb. 19 – At Sea

11:30 – Lunch
1:30 – Dan & Joanne Miller - The No More Mondays lifestyle

Life doesn’t have to be about the dreaded work-week. How do we change our perspectives so we have life balance and actually have passion surrounding what we do for a living? Join Dan and Joanne and discuss this in depth–what’s worked for them and how to make things work for you.

3:30 – 6:00 – Open Networking and Sharing

Sunday, Feb. 20 – Arrive Fort Lauderdale, FL—Disembark 7:00am

You will have plenty of unscheduled time to mingle and create your own unique cruising experience. We’ll explore a group tour of San Juan on our first port stop. Speaker presentations will provide a lot of variety. But we want you to know this is your cruise – all presentations are optional. You simply choose what is meaningful for you. We are not scheduling any evening presentations as the cruise ship will provide great entertainment. Speakers or any cruisers may organize additional workshops or discussion groups. While dinner seating will be assigned, you may request any move that can be arranged. Cruises are very flexible and we can personalize it any way we wish. If you want to experience a particular event or port tour and would like to be with others in our group we’ll help you arrange that.

But What About The Kids?

Great news! There are a lot of accommodations for children! In fact, Cliff and Stephanie are bringing all three of their children, Megan (11), Matthew (9), and McKenna (5).

You can click here to see the “summer camps” they have called the Fun Factory. It’s free of charge!!!

You sign up on the first day and get an orientation–you can drop kids in and out of the program at any time, and it runs from 9am-10pm. The kids are divided by age and play age-appropriate activities.

Additionally, they have a “slumber party” program from 10pm-12am for $6/hr/kid. On the last day they do a “parent’s night out” pizza party.

Additionally, they have babysitting on board for all ages–so even the kids under 3 can be cared for (in order to leave them in the camp, they must be 3+ and potty trained). For all the diaper kiddos, you pay $6/hr/kid and can drop off any time in the group childcare area. OR, you can get a babysitting pass for the full week–which means that basically you have a nanny at your beck and call anytime you need it in your stateroom for the full week—and it’s $75-$125.

As for kid pricing, you have to pay for a bed for every person–even if they are 6 months old (over 6 months pregnant or under 6 month old children are not allowed on board, period). Pricing is $180/child. So, you’d need to have a room with the same number of beds per child.

But I’m not married!

No problem at all! There are plenty of single folks that that will be attending the No More Mondays Cruise. In fact, I just received a note that said that our contact person, in Dan organization, is even working to help those who are interested in sharing a room with someone else to save on expenses.

How Do I Get Signed Up?

If you are interested in joining us on this amazing cruise. Please send an email to Cliff AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Just send your email to Cliff@Ravenscraft.org with Cruise in the subject line!

We hope to see you there!

My Thoughts About The Country Strong Movie

Cliff Ravenscraft — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:36:09 +0000

Last night, Stephanie and I saw the press screening for the Country Song movie with Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw. This can best be described as a romantic country music drama.

The story is about country singer named Kelly Canter (Played by Gwyneth Paltrow) and a young female country artist named Chiles Stanton (Played by Leighton Meester) who desires to get her break at having her own country music career.

Wikipedia stats that the filmaker, Shana Feste, has said that Paltrow’s character was inspired by pop singer Britney Spears.

In the movie, there is a young and rising singer-songwriter named Beau Hutton (Played by Garrett Hedlund) who becomes involved in a relationship with the fallen country music star, Kelly Canter while she is in rehab. The two end up going on a tour to resurrect her career. Complications arise from romantic entanglements and old demons threaten to derail them all, including Kelly’s husband/manager, James Canter (Played by Tim McGraw).

Here’s the movie’s official trailer:

First off, let me tell you that I AM NOT a fan of country music AT ALL! I used to say that I “HATE” country music. However, today, I’d simply say that I don’t very much care for about 95% of what is called country music today.

This movie included several themes that I don’t particularly like, such as extra marital affairs, pre-marital sex, drug and alcohol abuse, and some offensive language. However, in spite of these themes and it’s focus on the country music, there was “something” about this movie that captivated my heart for the story that was being told.

I loved the acting performance of all four main stars, mentioned above. This is the second movie I’ve seen that featured Tim McGraw as an actor. I must say, I really like him in movies and hope to see him featured in more of them in the future. If you haven’t seen The Blind Side, you should!

I don’t want to spoil the movie for anyone. But I will tell you that I actually teared up at least two times during the movie.

I will also tell you that tell you that I actually enjoyed most of the country music in the movie. (Shh.. Don’t tell my wife!). In fact, if Garrett Hedlund were a real country music artist, I’d probably buy one of his albums. There were SEVERAL songs that he sang in the movie that I liked simply because of his voice. Looking at the Country Strong Motion Picture Soundtrack, I see that they only feature one of his songs from the movie titled “Chances Are” which is pretty good.

The other two songs on that soundtrack that I think are worth checking out are “Words I Couldn’t Say” by Leighton Meester, and “Country Strong” by Gwyneth Paltrow.”

Would I recommend that others go see this movie? I don’t know. Though I can say that I’m glad that I saw it. When it comes out on DVD, I think I’d be willing to watch it again, just for the music! I can’t believe I just typed that!

How Many Of These Do I Need See Before It Sinks In?

Cliff Ravenscraft — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 21:54:31 +0000

Folks, I have to admit that I driven my car while reading a text message or email. I’ve even sent tweets while I drive. I’ve never felt as though I’ve been in any danger while doing so. However, I see videos like these and it causes me to think. Wow! I really should stop looking at my phone while I drive. Part of me thinks, I’ve got a lot of experience under my belt. I have a pretty good feel for where my car is and what is going on around me as bring my phone up to a certain spot as I’m driving down the road. I don’t feel I ever give my phone more attention than I ever did when I used to change the car radio station or to quickly glance down at the clock to see what time it was while driving.

The thing is that I know I wouldn’t want my children to do this when they start driving. The deal is that I am setting an example for my children, and I’m not sure I want to send the message of “Do what I say, not as I do here.” Who knows, perhaps today will be the day that I decide to no longer glance at any sort of messages on my phone while my vehicle is moving. I wonder if either of the following two videos impact you the way they do me.

WARNING: While the following video is a “produced fictional account” the video is very GRAPHIC IN NATURE. I would avoid watching the following video with young children around!!!

THE DIGITAL STORY OF NATIVITY – ( or Christmas 2.0 )

Cliff Ravenscraft — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 16:22:29 +0000

My good friend Richard from the UK sent me a link to this very creative Christmas video on YouTube. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Here’s another one that CoreyCharette sent me on Twitter. I like the one above better. However, this is along similar lines.

Celebrating FIVE YEARS of Podcasting!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:46:41 +0000

Hey folks, do you have 3 minutes and 44 seconds to spare? If so, I’d like to share this video announcement with you!

If you can join us at http://gspn.tv/live tomorrow, during any of our live shows, we would love to see you in the chat room. If you can make it at 2pm Eastern Time, for Family From The Heart, I hope to spend most of that episode celebrating what gspn.tv has come to mean to us all. Feel free to call in any voice mail comments that you want at 859-795-4067.

Thank you for the past five years! Can’t wait to see what the future holds!

Why Is gspn.tv Loading So Slowly? – Godaddy November 2010

Cliff Ravenscraft — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 18:29:17 +0000

Scroll To The Bottom of this Post for the 11/14/2010 Update!

You may have noticed that the gspn.tv site has been experiencing very high page load times. First, I want to apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you. Second, I’d like to explain what is going on.

I still use Godaddy.com for hosting of gspn.tv, the community forum, all Plus Member access information, as well has a LOT of other sites. A while back, I created a new hosting account it BlueHost. I LOVE BLUEHOST! Both PodcastAnswerMan.com and http://VirtualAssistantPodcast.com are running on my BlueHost Account. You can read all about why I switched those accounts to a new hosting provider by READING THIS BLOG POST.

Now, there is only one reason I have not changed all these other sites over to BlueHost up to this point. That reason is TIME! I can’t simply move just one site at a time. I’d have to merge more than 13 websites over to the new hosting account all at the same time because they all run off of the main gspn.tv directory. I’ve been tempted to do this many times, even though it would take me approximately 12 to 15 hours straight to accomplish. In fact, I’m nearly at the point of considering this again now.

Here’s an old forum post from one of my previous considerations: LINK HERE

Here’s what is going on right now. On Thursday, October 28th, I received the following email from GoDaddy.

Date: Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 3:15 AM
Subject: Hosting Migration Notification
To: cliff@ravenscraft.org

******************************************************************
HOSTING MIGRATION NOTIFICATION
******************************************************************

Dear Cliff Ravenscraft,

As part of a continuing effort to provide the highest
quality service for our valued customers, your hosting account,
gspn.tv, will be migrated to a new server in 24 hours.

If you are using external DNS servers or your domain was created
under a separate customer number than your hosting account, then
you may need to modify your DNS setup with your new IP address:
208.109.14.115. You will need to log in to your domain account
and manually update the “A Record” for your domain.

Please note that your control panel will be unavailable for 24-48
hours. We also recommend that you do not make any changes to your
hosting plan during this migration process. We appreciate your
patience in this matter.

If you encounter any problems, please contact Customer Support:

+ Online Support:

https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/support.asp?tab=…

+ Email: mailto:support@godaddy.com
+ Phone: (480) 505-8877

Sincerely,
GoDaddy.com, Inc.

As soon as they put me on the new hosting server, the site immediately began to experience painfully slow load time. I actually gave it a few days before complaining and I sent the following email to the support department on Tuesday, November 2nd.

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Cliff Ravenscraft and my hosting account was just transferred to
a new server there at GoDaddy. Starting this morning, I’ve been
experiencing extremely long load times on my site. Prior to this, my site
had been loading PERFECTLY for MONTHS without much fail. Can you please
investigated.

You send me the following message, just this past week:

Hosting Migration Notification

I was was not shocked to get the following response…. Because this is typical of GoDaddy.com.

Dear Cliff Ravenscraft,

Thank you for contacting customer support.

Your site does appear to be loading a bit slow. However, we were able to do some diagnostics on your server and did not find any issue. Furthermore, the static elements of your pages (images) load quickly when requested directly in a browser.

You can make modifications to your site that improve performance. Some of these changes are easy to manage while others might take some time to figure out.

Here are four things you can do to speed up your site:

GZIP Compression
Smaller pages load faster, regardless of your Internet connection speed. You can make your pages smaller by compressing them with GZIP. For more information about GZIP and our hosting, see Compressing Web Pages for Faster Load Times.

Image Sizes
If you use HTML to make large images small, a site visitor still needs to download the larger version. If you need a small image, don’t use HTML to do itâ€”shrink it in an image-editing program instead.

Scripting
You can edit to say more with less. A good programmer does the same thing with code. If the code on your site is inefficient, it impacts your site’s performance. There isn’t a quick fix for bloated code, but if you’re using GZIP and you’ve reduced your image sizes, analyze your code to make your site even faster. One way to make a database-driven site faster is to use a database index to improve the speed of data retrieval.

CSS
Cascading style sheets are great for formatting the look and feel of your website. If your style sheet contains a lot of styles that aren’t being used, you are forcing browsers to download things they don’t need. If you’re trying to maximize performance, trim your CSS files and remove anything that’s unnecessary.

You may also consider switching to a server with Grid Technology. In order to do this you will need to cancel your current account, purchase a Web Hosting* plan and set it up.

*NOTE:Before visiting this link you may need to clear your browsers cache and cookies.

Canceling your hosting account will delete all of your Web site files that you have stored on our servers. Be sure that you have copies of any files you want to keep before you cancel your account.

To Cancel Your Hosting Account:
Log in to your Account Manager.
In the My Products section, select Hosting.
Click the checkbox next to the hosting account you want to cancel.
Click the Cancel Account button above your account list.
In the Cancel Hosting Account section on the right, click Save Changes.

Once canceled, you may setup your hosting account and aliased domain names accordingly.

(Directions to set up a new account were here!)

If you decide to purchase a Web Hosting account, please respond to this email so we may move the available credit from your canceled hosting plan to the Web Hosting account once it has been set up.

If we can assist you further in this matter please let us know.

Sincerely,
Jesse P
Online Support Team

So I responded with the following email:

Seriously,

This is all I get, a note that says I can cancel my account or do something to optimize my site?

I am telling you, my site was SUPER FAST until you moved me to this new server. It is this new server that is the issue. I have been a loyal GoDaddy customer for FIVE YEARS. I know my site. I know nothing has changed, except that your company switched me to a new server. Last week, my site was AMAZINGLY FAST and this week, on the new server, I get these extremely slow load times.

Look into my pas;, I know what I’m talking about. It’s not just my WordPress site, it’s my forum, it’s everything running on this server.

Please bump this up to level three support and move me to a different server.

PLEASE!!! I am begging you!

Cliff

To which they responded with…..

Dear Cliff,

Thank you for your reply. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. The issue you have been experiencing with your hosting account is being worked on by our technicians. Service will return to normal as soon as possible. Unfortunately, we are unable to give a specific time frame for this resolution. We appreciate your patience and understanding in this matter and we apologize for any inconvenience.

Please let us know if we can assist you in any other way.

Best Regards,
Thad P.
Online Support Team

I GAVE THEM THREE DAYS BEFORE SENDING THIS NOTE!!!!

I’ve been very patient. It’s been THREE DAYS since you sent this email.
I’m still experiencing extremely slow load times.

Please move me back to my old server or a new one.

Cliff

And then they responded with this…..

Dear Cliff,

We need the URL and steps needed to be able to duplicate the issue you are having. At this time I can not duplicate this issue with the information provided. If this issue is time of day related, please call in while the issue is happening so we can determine the cause of the issue. Our telephone support staff is available 24/7 at 480-505-8877. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Please let us know if we can assist you in any other way.

Sincerely,

Paul P.
Online Support Team

So Here is where I am at:

-My site was loading PERFECTLY FOR MONTHS!!!

-They email me to tell me they are putting me onto a new server

-My site is switched to a new server

-My site now takes between 10 to 45 seconds to load each page

-I email Godaddy support and they tell me to cancel my hosting account & start a more expensive one.

-I tell them that that this is an issue with their server and ask for next level of support

-They admit that there is an issue and they are working on it

-I wait three days and check in to see how they are doing on my issue

-They deny that there is any issue at all.

SERIOUSLY? I mean come on… READ THE PRIOR NOTES!

So I just sent the following response.

I have created the following video for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B24q5NHsna0

it will demonstrate my issue.

Cliff

Here’s The Video:

Well, I’ll come back here and post updates as they come in. Though each update will take me at least five to ten minutes due to page load times. :(

Folks, use BlueHost!

Update: 11/6/2010 1:47am

I just received the following message…

Dear Cliff J. Ravenscraft,

Thank you for your response regarding this matter. We have reviewed the server your site is hosted at this time and we did not find any issues with the server. Currently we see that the site is loading within a few second. As you are using a shared hosting account, there may be times where there may be spikes in the server usage may cause temporary slowness with your site.

Please let us know if we can help you in any other way.

Sincerely,

Gary P.
Online Support Team

So I wrote back with this…

Dear Gary P,

You are absolutely correct. I just now checked my site, immediately after your email came in. You wrote… “Currently we see that the site is loading within a few second.”

I would like to point out to you that if you look back in the records of this incident report, that your support department initial response was unacceptable to me. The first thing your department said to me was there was poor coding or scripting issues on my site. You gave me one of the longest emails I’ve received in a long time that told me ways that I might want to consider optimizing my site and then ended that email by telling me how I could CANCEL my hosting account, WHICH WOULD CAUSE ME TO LOSE ALL MY DATA ON YOUR SEVERS, and sign up for a new, more expensive account.

Wow… what if I would have spent the last four days working on all those suggestions? And here, as you can see, without me changing anything at all, my site is loading within a few short seconds per page load.

Next, your email said to me…. “As you are using a shared hosting account, there may be times where there may be spikes in the server usage may cause temporary slowness with your site.”

My response to this is question…. “Are you telling me that FORTY FIVE SECOND PAGE LOADS ARE TYPICAL on your shared servers where there are spikes in server usage? Seriously?

If this is the case, why have I not had this issue over the past FIVE YEARS that I have had my account with you, with the exception of three occasions in the past when your servers were clearly having hardware failures that took me between two days and two weeks to convince you of?

Each time, in the past, your 3rd tier support moved me to a new server and ALL MY ISSUES DISAPPEARED and I never had a single issue with slow page loads, even when there were spikes in traffic.

Please go back and read this entire support ticket from the beginning. You will see that this happened THE VERY MINUTE that your company switched my site over to a new server. Sure, my site is loading within a few seconds right now. But if over the weekend, the slow page loads return, I fully expect to be put onto a different server.

I would appreciate your help in the matter.

Cliff

Update, Monday November 8th, 2010

Well on Saturday I received the following email in my Inbox.

Dear Cliff J. Ravenscraft,

Thank you for your reply.

We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused. Your site should not experience 45 second load times while it is hosted on our servers, however, in a shared hosting environment there can be times where another user on the server is over-utilizing the resources which can cause latency on your site. We do monitor the performance of our servers 24/7, and when this situation occurs, our network administrators correct the problem as swiftly as possible to return the server to normal functionality.

Please note that you are on our Legacy hosting environment, and we do recommend that you upgrade to our Grid hosting environment for increased performance. Our Grid environment uses the resources of multiple servers to host your site, so any spike which is impacting the performance of one particular server would have a lessened impact on your site’s load times in our Grid environment. There is no cost increase to upgrade to our Grid environment. For more information, see Web Hosting Powered by the Grid Frequently Asked Questions.
NOTE: When migrating to a Grid-based hosting account, you cannot switch your hosting account’s operating system. However, after the account migrates, you can switch it.

To Upgrade to Grid-Based Hosting

Log in to your Account Manager.

From the Products section, click Web Hosting.

Click the domain name you want to use.

Go to the Edit Account Details tab.

From the Plan menu, select the new plan you want to use. Grid-based hosting accounts are labeled “[Plan type] [Operating system] Web” â€” for example, Deluxe Linux Web.

Click Save Changes.

Complete any necessary purchases.

Please let us know if we can help you in any other way.

Sincerely,
David P.
Online Support Team

I responded this morning with the following note.

David P., Thanks so much for your message. I’m glad that someone over there agrees that there should never be a time when my site takes 45 seconds to load, as demonstrated in the YouTube video that I created for your video department and shared in my previous correspondence on this support ticket.

The idea of upgrading to your grid environment sounds appealing. My question is this. Do you guys simply transfer all my data and SQL databases over to this new environment? And if the cost is the same? Why not just switch me over? I don’t mind going through the steps you outlined in this response. However, I just want to confirm that I do not need to re-upload and reconfigure all my SQL Databases, etc. Please confirm that my account will suffer no downtime while you make such a switch and that all my sites and their data will be transferred and seeming appear to have no change to the outside world and I’ll go follow those steps this evening.

Thanks

Cliff

Update 11/9/2010 12:42pm.

Overnight, I received the following response from GoDaddy.

Dear Cliff,

Thank you for your reply. All of your data will be automatically transferred to the new server when you elect to upgrade to grid hosting. The cost will be the same. We are unable to make these changes on your behalf. You will need to follow the instructions in the previous response. You will not need to upload and reconfigure your databases.

Please know that while your site may not be affected, your Hosting Control Center may be down for 24 – 72 hours while the transition takes place.

Please do not access your account through FTP while the transition takes place.

Please let us know if we can help you in any other way.

Sincerely,

Christian P.
Online Support Team

In response to that message, I’m going to try to find some time in my schedule to make a PHONE CALL to GoDaddy Support and confirm that the above statement is true. Meanwhile, I’m going to download a backup of my FTP folder and see if I can’t grab backups of my databases.

Let’s see if they can’t make this a seamless process.

Update 11/9/2010 11:09pm

This is the last straw! I called GoDaddy to confirm that I could switch to Grid Hosting without losing ANY DATA at all and that it would be a seamless transition just as Christian P had stated above. The phone support tech confirmed that this was the case.

So I followed the instructions just as listed above and with the Godaddy Phone Rep assuring me that I was taking all the proper steps.

Then, when I went to save the changes, I get the following error!

That’s right! My account is not eligible for this “seamless” transfer.

All I wanted, from the beginning, was my account to be taken off the server that they just put me on a week and a half a go. In the few years I”ve been with GoDaddy, they have done this for me over and over again, ONLY AFTER FIGHTING WITH THEM VIGOROUSLY FOR DAYS/WEEKS EACH TIME!

Here I am again. I’m told that there is NOTHING they can do for me except for having me copy all of my server side info to my own hard drive, cancel my current account, and then start a fresh new account and re-upload all my data.

I’m sorry, but that’s just a load of BULL CRAP! If I could only get someone in LEVEL THREE SUPPORT TO HEAR MY CRY FOR HELP, they could simply move me to a different server and all my slowness issues would disappear.

I mean, if I’m going to take all my data and have to put it on a new account, I’m going to do that with another host for sure.

I’m just so TICKED OFF RIGHT NOW THAT I CAN HARDLY SEE STRAIGHT!

I KNOW FOR A FACT that they can just move me to another shared server.

Remember, that’s how it all started… They sent me this email on October 28th….

As part of a continuing effort to provide the highest quality service for our valued customers, your hosting account,
gspn.tv, will be migrated to a new server in 24 hours.

If you are using external DNS servers or your domain was created under a separate customer number than your hosting account, then
you may need to modify your DNS setup with your new IP address: 208.109.14.115. You will need to log in to your domain account
and manually update the “A Record” for your domain.

Please note that your control panel will be unavailable for 24-48 hours. We also recommend that you do not make any changes to your
hosting plan during this migration process. We appreciate your patience in this matter.

My site was WORKING PERFECTLY before they did that. It’s been 8 to 45 second page loads as soon as I was put on the sever found at 208.109.14.115.

WHY ON EARTH WILL NOBODY AT GODADDY HELP ME JUST TO Simply move to a different server than this one? I know it will solve my problem! It’s worked every other time in the past.

I AM ANGRY!

VERY VERY ANGRY!!!!!

UPDATE: 11/10/2010 7:47am

After updating this blog post with the previous update. I went ahead and copied and pasted the above update and sent it as a SLIGHTLY MODIFIED email response to GoDaddy Support.

This is what they came back with this morning….

Dear Cliff,

Your recent correspondence has been escalated to the Office of the President for further review and follow up.

Our office would appreciate the opportunity to speak with you regarding this matter to ensure any concerns you may have are properly addressed. Please feel free to contact our office at 480-505-****, Monday-Friday 7AM-7PM and Saturday-Sunday 7AM-4PM MST (Arizona). Alternatively, if you prefer please let us know a good time and number to reach you during these hours so we may schedule a call back.

We thank you for your understanding and look forward to speaking with you.

Kindest regards,

Corey Slocum

Well it appears that I have a “special phone number” that I can call there at GoDaddy. It seems that “someone” will be expecting my call. This is interesting. Not only that, but this is the “first” time that this has occurred. In the past, there were at least two other incidents where I was EXACTLY WHERE I AM TODAY or TWO STEPS BEYOND THIS, and each of those times, they simply moved me to a new server and my page load woes went away.

Now, two unique things happened differently on my end this time.

1) I put out a VERY PUBLIC Twitter Post, that also syndicated out to Facebook & LinkedIn. It said….

I HATE, LOATHE, ABHOR, DESPISE, & DETEST @Godaddy! Updates made at the bottom of this post: http://gspn.tv/godaddy112010 #GoingToBedAngry!

The folks who manage the GoDaddy’s social media must have got a little concerned when they saw that this message was retweeted a few times. In total, that status update, with a link to this very slow loading blog post, had exposure to more than 100,000 people.

GoDaddy’s Twitter department responded with this…..

@GSPN Can you please DM us your current incident # ? Love to get this resolved & handled by the right dept. for you cc: @nlcast @erikjfisher

I did send a DM to @GoDaddy with my incident number and told them I simply want to be moved off the server that I was put onto on October 28th.

2) The second thing that I think happened differently this time was that I got one of those GoDaddy Support Followup Surveys that asked if my most recent call to support had solved my issue and asked if I would recommend GoDaddy to my friends or family. I’ll just let you guess how I answered those two questions.

Just after those two questions was the ability to provide additional feedback regarding my overall satisfaction with GoDaddy support.

Unfortunately, I forgot to copy that response for posting here. However, it was very much like the update just prior to this one.

So it seems that I have the ability to talk to a whole new department at GoDaddy today. I do plan to call. I am certain that if I can just get someone who has any authority at all over there, that they can get me off this horrible server and my site page loads will return to normal speeds.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
At this point, regardless of what GoDaddy does or does not do, I have already blocked out ALL Monday afternoon and evening to transfer all my sites off of GoDaddy’s servers and over to my BlueHost Account.

I received a generous offer from one of our gspn.tv community members to help me through this progress, someone who has a great deal of experience in migrating sites like mine between hosting companies. So one way or another, I hope to have this and all my sites back to running at optimum speeds by Tuesday of next week.

UPDATE: Sunday, November 14th, 2010

As I am typing this, I am VERY HAPPY to tell you that I am posting this update from my BLUEHOST HOSTING ACCOUNT. After TWO AND A HALF WEEKS of 8 to 45 second page loads and a countless number of phone calls and email exchanges with GoDaddy Support, I finally decided that enough is enough.

I want to point out, again, that this extremely long post is NOT the first time what you are reading about in this blog post has happened to me with GoDaddy. However, I can not begin to tell you what great joy it gives me to be able to say that THIS IS THE LAST TIME EVER that I will ever deal with GoDaddy support related to the hosting of any of the sites that I own.

I am very thankful to Jorge Cisneros has been a loyal member of the gspn.tv community and is now my friend for life. Jorge generously offered to assist me through the entire process of migrating all of my sites from GoDaddy’s servers over to my Blue Host hosing account.

I spent between several hours downloading all of my data from the GoDaddy server and uploading all that data to the BlueHost server. All of this had been done prior to today, Sunday, November 14th, 2010.

Today, at 3pm Eastern Time, I fired up my GoTo Meeting and connected with Jorge via Skype. We spent the next four and a half hours exporting SQL databases, configuring .php files, creating new databases, importing backed up data, creating addon domains, forwarding dns records, etc, etc, etc.

And here I am now, at 8:05pm ET telling the world that my sites are now FREE from the chains of GoDaddy hosting forever!

I am now going to thank God for my friend Jorge and spend the rest of the evening enjoying my family.

Life Is Good!

UPDATE: Saturday, April 30th, 2011

I just not thought to come and post an update here. So I got everything moved over to BlueHost back in November of last year. Things were great for a few months. However, I started to experience outages with BlueHost’s shared hosting services.

It became obvious to me that I could no longer rely on any sort of “shared hosting” services due to the fact that I am actually running an online business where people pay hundreds of dollars to access training materials that they purchase from http://PodcastAnswerMan.com/help.

I don’t have enough time to write out the entire story of what I did next, but I did share that entire story in episode 196 of Podcast Answer Man. I’ll paste an audio player with the file if you would prefer to listen to it from this post:

It has been been nearly three months since I made the switch to a VPS server with ServInt Hosting and I have not experience any down time on my site AT ALL. Nothing. Not even five minutes!

Let’s hope and pray it continues to be this way.

What Can An 11 Year Old Possibly Know About Anything?

Cliff Ravenscraft — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:00:52 +0000

Birke Baehr in a young boy who gave an amazing talk titled “What’s Wrong With Our Food System? And How Can We Make A Difference?” This talk was given at an event called TEDx Next Generation Asheville. If you have been following Stephanie and I long enough, you know that we have been doing a great deal to live a more healthy and balanced life. This message is spot on!

What Are You Drinking?

Cliff Ravenscraft — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 23:57:26 +0000

Do you know how much sugar is in a single 20oz soda? If not, check out this video:

Featured On Watch.tv

Cliff Ravenscraft — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:04:14 +0000

Watch.tv is a blog ran by Tom Correia and was created to promote people who are actively building a brand with the .tv domain name. Yesterday, they released a short portion of an interview they did with me a few months back. I’m not not sure if they have plans to release the full length interview or not. Here’s what they did release:

Click Here For The Original Post From Watch.tv

By Far The Single Best Scene In The Social Network Movie!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 02:56:52 +0000

Stephanie gave our full review of The Social Network movie in episode 130 of Family From The Heart. While this is certainly not a family friendly movie, I absolutely loved this movie. So much so that I have already seen the movie twice in the theaters. As an web entrepreneur, I found this movie to be quite inspirational.

I am so excited to learn that The Social Network Movie has a YouTube channel and the site allows me to embed the following seen here in our blog. This is the single best scene the movie In my opinion.

It Is Not As Serious As You Might Think!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 21:36:01 +0000

There is no doubt that several hundred people are wondering what on Earth has happened that I would send out the following tweet.

I am afraid that it would not be appropriate for me to share the full story with you. However, because so many of you responded with things like “@GSPN it must’ve been really bad to cancel your shows. I hope your kids are okay,” I figured I should explain that this may not be as serious as you might think.

Of course, when I sent out that message it went to just over 3,000 people on Twitter, nearly 2,000 people on Facebook, and a few hundred people on LinkedIn. Probably not the most professional thing for me to do.

However, as my status update stated, I had received an email that pretty much cut straight to my heart. It wasn’t one of those emails with unsolicited critical feedback from an angry listener that we podcasters sometimes get. I would have preferred such an email.

No this came from a friend, and not just any friend. I had done something to let this friend down for which they had every right to be upset with me about. In addition, my friend communicated that I failed to meet some previous expectations that were never communicated to me.

Again, it’s not appropriate that I share any further details with you. Please know that I don’t put out status updates like that just to gain attention. And I certainly don’t want to be “the boy who cried wolf.” While nothing extremely serious had happened in the grand scheme of things, I had a very deep emotional response to the words that were written to me in this email.

I did what I knew in my heart that I should do. I was too emotional, at that moment in time, to continue recording the remaining shows for the day, so I canceled them and immediately sought out the opportunity to talk with this friend, one on one.

We both clearly communicated what was on our hearts and minds and we both shared some frustrations. In the end, we both shared heartfelt apologies and due to this communication, I’ve simply come away with a bit of a bruised ego and a better understanding of how to avoid this sort of misunderstanding from happening in the future.

So my friends, I’m very sorry if my status update alarmed you. I am very thankful for the amount of prayers and thoughts that were poured out for me immediately after I sent that. While this was nothing life threatening, this was a very emotional event for me and I appreciate that you all care!

Thank You!

How Do We Produce So Many Shows?

Cliff Ravenscraft — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 16:47:25 +0000

Over the past year, we have increased the number of episodes that we produce each week for the Generally Speaking Production Network. From January of this year through October 1st, we have already produced 419 individual podcast episodes.

Of course, our desire is that every single episode we produce is of the highest audio quality possible and that the content is always Entertaining, Educational, Encouraging, and Inspirational. I would personally say that approximately 400 of the 419 episodes produced this year would meet that criteria.

Yes, there are some episodes that we have produced where I feel we would have been better off had we not released them at all. I’m thinking of one particular interview that totally bombed and a handful of tv show fan podcasts that we had recorded from our couch instead of the studio.

Our Live show Thursdays have been an amazing success. Each Thursday, our chat room averages between 25 to 65 people in the chat room at any given point during our live shows with a total average of about 1,500 individuals joining the community chat each week. This is AWESOME and I thank each and every one of you who make this community what it is! This is not to belittle the contributions of those who are not able to join us live on Thursdays. Your voice mails, comments on the show notes, emails, interaction in the community forum, etc. are just as high up on my list of things I’m excited about.

Many people ask me how I am able to produce so many shows in a single day, every week, and keep the quality of the content as consistent as we do. I will tell you that a great deal of this is due to the co-hosts that I have chosen for the various shows that we produce.

Stephanie brings a lot to the table with the various stories and insights that she shares on each of shows that she is a part of.

On Help I Got A Mac, Chris Beiting comes to the show with all he’s learned by following his favorite Apple related news sites. Not to mention that Chris is a wonderful resource to answer almost every question that is called in by both new and somewhat experienced Mac users. For those who may not know this, Chris is not just an average Apple Fan Boy, but he’s also a former Apple Store Mac Genius.

Erik Fisher is paid by his full-time employer to stay on top of the latest happenings in the world of Social Media and he always has some great stories to share about Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other various social networking sites. Listeners of the Social Media Serenity Podcast benefit from Erik’s research.

Andy Traub is extremely passionate about technology tools that help businesses and spends a great portion of every week researching these topics as a part of his full-time career in helping businesses in this area. Each week, he shares his newest technology findings in the Business Tech Weekly Podcast.

Father Roderick and I are both passionate about our journey of living a healthy, balanced life and our friendship and desire to encourage one another each week is what make the Biggest Loser Podcast so appealing to those who don’t even watch the show.

The Virtual Assistnat Podcast is a fun show to produce because I get to share my own personal journey in having a Virtual Assistant, which has totally transformed my business. In fact, each week, all these podcasts are posted by Andrea, my assistant. The best part is that if I run out of things to talk about on this show, I often delegate the task of coming up with topics for this podcast to her. She also arranges for a majority of the interviews that I do on the show.

There is one podcast that I produce that I doubt I’ll ever run out of things to talk about. The Podcast Answer Man Podcast holds a special place in my heart as podcasting is one of my greatest passions in life. I eat, breathe, drink, and sleep in the world of Podcasting and have done so for the past five years.

So when people ask me how I keep the content quality at such a high level when producing so many shows every week, I could sum up all of the above with a single word, “PASSION!” I make sure that every show is packed full of passion and zeal for the topic being discussed. Passion is what drives us to spend our days and weeks staying on top of the topics for which we podcast about. When there is sufficient passion, there is never a lack of things to discuss.

Boston Trip Part 2 â€“ Man I Love This City! #PCB5

Cliff Ravenscraft — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 14:52:10 +0000

This blog post is part 2 of our coverage of our Podcamp Boston 5 trip. Click here to view part 1. Our trip to Boston met and exceeded our expectations. Special thanks to DivineOffice.org for making this trip possible for Stephanie and I.

The second day of Podcamp was great. People were a little more warmed up to the idea of introducing themselves to each other, it seemed that there was a great deal more networking and relationship building happening. This is the main purpose of my wanting to come to this event.

Our friend, and my co-host for Social Media Serenity, Erik Fisher, gave a talk during the first session of the day. I recorded audio of his full session which has been released as episode 60 of Social Media Serenity.

If you want to get a feel for what he spoke about, I recorded the following video on my iPhone. Please Note: Audio dropped about 8 minutes into the video. I think I may have put my thumb right over the mic. I’m very sorry about that. However, you can get the audio of the entire session by clicking here.

During our lunch break, Stephanie and I recorded another one of our YouTube video updates. You may not want to watch this video if you have had anything to eat within the last twenty or so minutes. It’s not the steadiest camera shot. :)

After the second full day of Podcamp sessions, Stephanie was completely wore out. She suggested that we grab some dinner together and that, if I wanted to, I could go into town and record a soundseeing tour of the city on my own.

One of my favorite things about visiting cities like Boston is the subway. I actually look for reasons to take the subway to get from one place to another within the city. It’s just a great deal more fun and efficient than driving everywhere.

Have you every played a game of Whac A Mole before? It’s a game you typically find at an arcade and you are given a rubber mallet and there are several holes where moles will randomly pop up and the goal is to whack the mole before he goes back underground.

I decided to record a soundseeing episode of Pursuing A Balanced Life, where Erik Fisher and I play a fun game that I made up called Boston Whac A Mole. I had this idea that we would get on the subway trains and randomly, without any rhyme or reason, choose to pop up above ground to look around that portion of Boston.

Early in the episode, I mentioned that this episode may not be all that exciting and that it might not be very entertaining content. However, by the end of the episode, I felt as though this may have been a better sound seeing tour of Boston than I had actually planned it ahead of time.

If anything, it demonstrates just how many wonderful things can be found just wondering around the streets and subway stations of Boston.

Somewhere near the end of our journey, we ran into Dan Blakeslee. You can check out his website here. Dan is a musician playing some really great music in the Park Street Red Line station.

After attending the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Blakeslee ventured to Boston. He toiled with his acoustic in the smoke-laden subways before slowly rolling his influences (Leonard Cohen, Red House Painters, The Smiths, Jeff Buckley, Vic Chestnut, Radiohead, Tom Waits and Johnny Cash) into his own eclectic blend of music with chameleon-like appeal.

I enjoyed his music so much that I went over and purchased one of his CD’s. He may have inspired me to fire up the recording for another episode of Musically Challenged.

You can listen to this episode by clicking this play button:

You Can Subscribe To Pursuing A Balanced Life Podcast – Free Feed:

gspn.tv Plus Members Get Every Episode Using The Plus Feed Generator.

It’s now Friday, October 1st and I’ve been back home for a few days. Looking back, the trip went by so fast. We met so many wonderful people and I look forward to keeping in touch with as many of them as possible.

The one thing that shocked me was the number of people who attended who had very little understanding of podcasting at all. I recall Podcamp Boston 2 being more of a coming together of people who were already heavily invested in new media. This time around, a majority of the people attending were people who had interest in investigating the idea of getting into new media for the first time. Had I known this, I would have given a much different talk.

Even with that, the event went really well, was held at a great venue (Microsoft New Englad Reseach & Development Center). And yes, they do call it the NERD Center! We look forward to the opportunity to visit the great city of Boston again.

If you have enjoyed the these blog posts, the photos, the videos, the tweets, the sound seeing tour, and even the live streaming that we did while we were there, please know that this entire trip was made possible by the generous support of DivineOffice.org. If you have just a minute, please CLICK HERE to LEAVE A COMMENT Thanking Them!

Boston Trip Part 1 – Text, Photos, And A Video #PCB5

Cliff Ravenscraft — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 03:10:09 +0000

As most of you know by now, Stephanie and I are currently enjoying the wonderful city of Boston. We are here on an all expenses paid basis thanks to the very generous sponsorship of DivineOffice.org.

We flew out of Cincinnati early Friday morning and flew into the Washington Dulles Airport, where we had a very short layover. It was just long enough to get from one terminal to the next. However, Stephanie did manage to catch some streaming content from Netflix on her iPhone while we were in line to board the plane as you an see in the following photo.

After catching our connecting flight, we arrived in Boston Logan Airport around 2pm. We traveled extremely light, so we didn’t have to wait for any checked bags. We simply hopped on to an airport shuttle bus to get to the subway station.

One of my favorite things about both New York City and Boston are their subway systems. I don’t know what it is that fascinates me so much. I guess that it doesn’t matter how large these cities are, you can pretty much get anywhere you want to go without the need to take a cab or drive a car.

We took the Blue Line to Government Center. We hadn’t had had lunch yet, so we decided to surface from the subway system to see if we could find a place to eat. We pretty much ended up eating at the closest place we could find, which was the Kinsale Irish Pub. We ordered and shared the Fish & Chips there. It wasn’t that good! If you ever eat at this place, I’d certainly suggest something else from the menu.

Next, we took the Red Line to Cambridge, which is where we are staying. More about where we are staying at this end of the post, where I have a cool night photo of our hotel

After dropping our bags off at the hotel, sitting back and relaxing for a bit, we met up with our great friend, Erik Fisher. Erik is also my co-host for our Social Media Serenity Podcast.

We took the Red Line to Park Street and walked through Boston Common and then through the Boston City Garden.

After enjoying the park, we decided that we had all worked up a good appetite and I had told them how much I enjoyed a place that I had eaten at when I was here with the CNMC. More about that in just a moment.

On our way toward the Boston Faneuil Hall Market area, we passed a store that had some unique art in the window. Check out the creative way they found to use old cassette tapes.

Okay, so this next photo is of a street sign. Rather than me explaining its significance. We decided that we wanted to quiz the community. We are wondering how long it will take, in the comments section of this post, to explain the significance of the road sign in the following photo.

Stephanie wore here flip flops and after approximately four miles of walking, they started to hurt the top part of her foot. Luckily, just as she had just spoken up about the pain she was experiencing, we passed a Payless Shoe Store where she was able to pick up a new pair of gym shoes. Good thing too, we’re doing a lot of walking here!

This next photo is probably one of the coolest buildings I’ve ever seen. Here’s a photo of what it looked like at night.

Here’s what this building looks like during in the daylight!

Have you ever seen the following depiction of the Boston Massacre by Paul Revere?

Here’s a photo of Erik in this exact spot….

And well, you guessed it, here’s a photo of Stephanie and I on the exact spot where the Boston Massacre took place.

On our way to the restaurant, I asked Stephanie if she had remembered to call our friend Karen. This is Stephanie on the phone talking with her.

So when I came here a few weeks back for the CNMC, we had dinner at the Kingfish Hall restaurant. It was so good that I decided that I had to take Stephanie there.

Located in the heart of Bostonâ€™s historic Faneuil Hall, Kingfish Hall is chef and restaurateur Todd Englishâ€™s seafood dining concept. The extensive menu features New England classics as well as a handpicked daily selection of fresh, local, coldwater shellfish and sushi selections plus daily specials.

After dinner, we ran into a vender selling ball caps. This is something Stephanie likes to collect when we travel. Here’s the Boston hat she picked.

Next, we walked down to the Boston Harbor, which is absolutely beautiful at night. And at daytime too, for that matter. Here’s a statue of Christopher Columbus that we came across.

Next, we wondered the streets of Boston, looking for ice cream and I took this random photo of Boston at night.

After several hours of walking, we walked 6.6 miles total, we decided that it was time to call it a night. We headed back to our hotel in Cambridge. The Kendall Hotel is an AMAZING hotel and I strongly urge you to stay here if you ever visit Boston. It’s only one block away from the Kendal subsway station.

The bed was extremely comfortable and we had a great night sleep. We woke up bright and early on Saturday, September 25th and headed out to attend Day 1 of Podcamp. The following is a YouTube video I created as we were walking there.

The following photo was taken by our friend Stephen Cross, a long time member of the gspn.tv community. In front of us is a Microsoft Surface table. Every single person who saw it commented that it looked like a giant iPad. Though, I will point out that this device predates the iPad by a few years.

I gave my session at 3pm today. Though there was an issue where the session before me had rearranged the tables in such a way that would not have worked for my session. Nobody put the tables back to the original configuration.

This caused me to personally move every table and chair back into place as people where rushing into the room rather than getting my tech gear set up for my presentation. After finishing the room setup, it was time to start my session and I was now hot and my heart rate was quite elevated from all the hurried motion.

Add to this the fact that the room was very small and that it was packed so full that it was standing room only which made the room hot and stuffy, which is not good for mental clarity.

Then, I had an issue getting a YouTube video to pre-load for my presentation, which I should have just ignored and went on without worrying about it. However, for some reason, I had in my mind that it was so important to a point that I wanted to make that I let it remain on my mind through the whole presentation.

The video never did load and I am quite sure that this was the worst speaking session I’ve ever done. Now many people told me that they really enjoyed the session and I noticed that one of the folks in the room tweeted out several quotes from my session that made me feel as though, if you were listening, you should have been able to pull out those valuable points.

Here’s an example of some things that Morriss Partee tweeted….

These tweets really helped put my mind at ease. I suppose my session wasn’t a total failure. However, it was definitely not my finest hour!

After the first full day of sessions, we came back to the hotel to freshen up and then headed downtown for the official Podcamp Party. We did a little mingling and networking there. After the party, we came back to the hotel where I am now writing this post.

We are having a really great time. Stephanie and I are so blessed to get to experience this wonderful city together. The kids are doing great back at home. Stephanie is now fast asleep and I’m thinking about venturing out, into the night, to see if I can track down a Diet Coke.

If you have just a minute, would you please go to http://gspn.tv/divineoffice and leave a comment on that post thanking Dane and the folks a Divine Office for making this trip possible for us! I can’t tell you how much of a blessing it is to experience this event, together, with Stephanie!

Click Here For Part 2 of our Boston Trip Blogging!

Mardel Renews Contract To Sponsor Family From The Heart!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 22:33:18 +0000

Folks, I am so excited to announce that Mardel, Inc. has agreed to renew the sponsorship of Family From The Heart for an additional six months. This makes a total of three years that they have been sponsoring our content! If you haven’t done so in a while, please check out Mardel.com/gspn and see our list of recommended products. Please be sure to use promo code “GSPN” in the shopping cart to get your 10% off and so they know that you thank them their sponsorship!

Of course, this would not be possible if you guys, the gspn.tv Community, were not placing a lot of orders every month! Thank you guys so much!

How To Subscribe To A Podcast With iTunes

Cliff Ravenscraft — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 22:06:45 +0000

I know that not everyone who listenes to our podcasts owns an iPod. Furthermore, I know that not everyone in the gspn.tv community knows how to subscribe to a podcast.

Did you know that you can subscribe to podcasts using iTunes even if you don’t have an iPod or an iPhone? Best of all, it’s free and you can get all new episodes of your favorite podcasts delivered to your computer automatically, without having to go to individual websites.

For those who do have an iPod or an iPhone, getting podcasts onto your portable device is amazing with iTunes and you can take your favorite shows with you, wherever you go.

This blog post is here because I regularly receive emails that say something like this email that came in today… “Just got an ipod touch the other day… no more toys for awhile…. and downloaded the Divine office onto it… need to get to your podcasts as well… all in good time.. Itunes was tricky to learn how to use… there are no clear cut directions anywhere… dratt… How do I get to your podcasts?”

For those of you who would like to know how to use iTunes to subscribe to a podcast, I created the following video. If you are a gspn.tv Plus Member, then you will want to visit the Plus Feed Generator Page that has a video explaining how to subscribe the the Plus Member Feeds.

Another Hacker Attack – Thursday, September 21st

Cliff Ravenscraft — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 01:07:46 +0000

Hey folks, I’m very excited to be back to blogging, as I mentioned in a previous post. I do want to point out that do still have this issue where I have two blogs that I’ll be operating. I’ve decided that any time I have a topic that is going to be of a technical nature that would appeal to my podcast consulting/coaching clients, I’m going to blog about on my business website at PodcastAnswerMan.com. If I feel that such a topic would be of interest to the overall gspn.tv community as a whole, then I’d simply come here on the gspn.tv Community Blog and put a short note about the post with a link to the full story.

This just so happens to be one of those topics. On Friday evening, we suffered from a pretty severe hacker attack on the gspn.tv website. Today, I woke up with a large number of emails explaining that out sites were down once again. To read about the full story, click here.

Instapaper Word Docs & PDFs On My Kindle 3

Cliff Ravenscraft — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 16:32:45 +0000

As if I needed another reason to love my Kindle 3, I just confirmed that Instapaper (What Is Instapaper?) works great on the Kindle 3′s web browser. After a quick Google search, I found THIS BLOG POST that describes how you can actually have your instapaper articles sent directly to your Kindle device. Now, the blog post warns that Amazon charges for delivery. However, I’m not sure about this. I have the wifi only model and it appears that they may not charge you if it’s not going over their 3G service. Can anyone confirm this?

At any rate, I found that if I simply go to my bookmark that I set in the Kindle’s browser for my Instapaper account, I can easily read the content that I have marked for later reading. Now I suppose if I set up the wireless delivery, I could actually use the Kindle’s read-to-me feature. However, I wonder if it would maintain web links. I have yet to try this.

Yesterday, I actually consumed and entire book. The book was Stripped Down by my friends Tony & Alisa DiLorenzo. I was blessed to receive a preview copy of their book prior to publishing in a .doc format. I’ve been meaning to read the book for some time now.

I had to decided to go out for a long walk (5.72 miles) while listening to the audio version of the book and following along with the text as I was walking. To do this, I was playing the audio version from my iPhone, listening with my earbuds, and I had taken the .doc format and emailed it as an attachment to my Kindle 3. It worked perfectly! I love the Kindle! Oh, and I love the Stripped Down book as well. If you are married, you should click here to get a copy for yourself!

Being the total geek that I am, I tested out sending a .pdf document that I had to the device as well. This didn’t seem to go as well as I had hoped. However, I found that if I used the word “convert” in the subject line, when emailing the file to my device, then Amazon would convert the .pdf file to the Kindle format. This works better on some pdfs than others, but still pretty cool.

Yep, each day, I’m more and more happy with my Kindle 3. This should be my last post about the Kindle for a while. If you decide to purchase a Kindle 3, please use my affiliate link at http://gspn.tv/Kindle.

Why Did I Buy A Kindle 3 When I Already Had An iPad?

Cliff Ravenscraft — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 21:25:08 +0000

Pretty much everyone that knows me, knows that I am a total gadget geek! It doesn’t seem too long ago that I was trying to explain to everyone why I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the new iPad when they come out.

I had explained to everyone that the main purpose that I wanted to purchase the iPad was for it’s e-book functionality and that anything else that it could do would simply be a bonus. Why is it that, after several months of being a VERY HAPPY iPad user, I found myself with a strong desire to purchase the new Amazon Kindle 3 E-Book Reader?

I have found myself drawn to the Kindle 3 device, over the past few weeks, each time that I found myself on the Amazon.com website. Those who listened to Business Tech Weekly Episode 48 got to actually witness the impulse purchase of this device as we were recording the show.

Later that same day, Stephanie and I were recording Family From The Heart Episode 127, where you can hear Stephanie’s reaction to my purchase of the Kindle 3 without talking with her first about it.

So the big question is why did I purchase the Kindle 3 even though I already had my iPad? This video explains some of my justification for this decision:

So there you go. Now you know some of the reasons why I felt that this would be a good purchase for me. The next big question everyone has been asking me is “How do you like it?” Well, I was very concerned at first. The menu navigation of the Kindle 3 was very foreign to me. However, once I figured out how to do some of the most important, key functions that I wanted, I then began to see this device for what it is and IT IS AWESOME.

Here is a video I recorded showing you some of the things I had to figure out and get used to:

Now Consumer Reports did a wonderful video comparing the iPad to the Kindle. If you are in the market for an eBook Reader and have been trying to decide between an iPad and a Kindle 3, I’d encourage to you watch this video. (My final thoughts are posted after this video)

Now in the video above, they are featuring an older, more expensive Kindle model. I purchased my Kindle 3 reader for only $139 and the device can go nearly a month without the need to recharge.

My favorite line from the Consumer Reports video is where they one guy admits that the Kindle sucks for just about everything except reading books. I would have to agree with that statement. However, I would simply argue that the Kindle 3 is a device that is designed to do ONE THING and to do that ONE THING AWESOMELY.

I totally Love my Kindle 3 eBook Reader! After I figured out the navigation of the menu system, how to do highlights and add notes, how to use the “read to me feature,” and all that other stuff, I then was finally albe to use the device to actually read a book.

The iPad does an okay job with eBooks. However, it can’t hold a candle to the crisp text and light weight of the Kindle 3. I’m so glad that I got it!

If you were to decide to purchase one for yourelf, please consider using THIS AFFILIATE LINK to make your purchase. I encourage your questions and feedback in the comments section below.

WordPress Malware Issue On Thousands of GoDaddy Hosted Sites!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 00:17:33 +0000

As many of you know, I’ve been working on a massive redesign of my blog for the past week. In fact, I’ve spent pretty much all day today on some final touches.

This afternoon, I noticed a strange warning pop up when I went in to preview a change that I made. My browser that gave me a warning that said that there was malware on my site. Being that I’m on a Mac, I was not too concerned about this. However, knowing that thousands of people visit my site every day with Windows based computers, I became very concerned.

I began to get reports from other folks saying they were getting similar issues. I had not been able to reproduce the errors on my computer, but when I loaded gspn.tv from my iPad, I got the following:

You can see, from the image on the right, when my site is loaded, there is some code that causes your browser to forward to another site that has this malware on it. When forwarded to this other site, it pretends to be a part of the windows operating system, running virus scanning program. Obviously that can’t be right on the iPad.

I immediately turned to my friends online and found out that it’s not just my site, but thousands of WordPress sites hosted on GoDaddy.com. In fact, when I found that out, I checked several other sites that I host and found that at least five of my different WordPress sites all have this same issue.

It was Mike Hirst @hirstmusic that pointed me to THIS NEWS STORY about the GoDaddy Attack. Thank you Mike!

And it was @BloggerTip on Twitter who pointed me to this potential fix. Thank you Blogger Tip! (Man I wish brands like this had a name in their Bio section on Twitter)

It is currently 8:43pm ET and I am just now doing a backup of my gspn.tv website before I go trying to fix this.

I’ll update THIS POST as I progress.

Update: 9:11pm ET 9/17/2010
So I believe that gspn.tv is now completely free from this Malware threat. However, I still have several other sites to clean. Here are some things that I will share that hopefully will help others dealing with this issue or that may help me, in the future, if this were to happen again.

I was able to easily identify whether or not my site had been hacked by looking at the source code of the html. At the very bottom, just before the tag, I saw a script that pointed to “myblindstudioinfoonline.com/11(dot)php” as shown in this image:

After the FTP backup of my site was complete, I opened up each of the .php files in my root director and found that every single file had a line of code inserted at the very top, as shown in this image:

Now, I had downloaded the script file that I found on THIS SITE. However, I didn’t want to test it out on my gspn.tv site to see if it worked, so I manually deleted that line of code out of 24 .php files and re-uploaded those to my site. I had looked in the wp-admin, wp-content, and wp-includes to check and see if any .php files had been corrupted there. I did not see any such code, so I have left those alone.

After uploading all the cleaned .php files to my root directory, which overwrote all the infected files, I notice that my site no longer has the malicious script just before the tag. I believe that we’re all free and clear now.

Now I have to just clean the all my other WordPress installations on GoDaddy.com.

Update: 9:58pm ET 9/17/2010
Well, I got brave and used that fixfiles.php script that I found on this site. I installed it in my /ravenscraft sub-directory and ran it. It actually found that all the .php files in that folder had been infected, but it also searched and found infected .php files in several of the plugins in the /wp-plugins folder and a lot of the .php files in the wp-themes folder as well.

Now, if you can follow along here. I also have a WordPress installation in a sub-directory of the /ravenscraft sub-directory called /oldblog. When I ran this script in /ravenscraft, it also fixed all the files in /ravenscraft/oldblog as well.

Now that I knew the script worked, and knowing it actually found that tainted code in so many of the other wp-content sub folders, I figured I’d go ahead and run this script in the gspn.tv root directory. It didn’t work! The reason is that there were WAY TOO MANY directories and sub-directories for it to search and the browser kept timing out before it could return a response.

So I went in and ran the script on each of the sub-directories of gspn.tv, including the wp-admin, wp-content, wp-includes, /plugins, /themes, etc, etc. I just wanted to make sure. For some reason, my main WordPress install didn’t get any corrupted files in the gspn.tv wp-content folders. However, other WordPress installations did get them in the other folders.

One last note is that I had two installations that didn’t get infected at all. They were just as out there as the other WordPress installations. However, I believe the difference there was that they didn’t have any content or much links from other sites that would cause these “test sites” to show up in search engine results. Hmmm.

Oh well. I’m exhausted now. At least I can sleep good tonight knowing that our community can browse all our sites without getting tricked into installing Malware.

I’m so thankful that http://PodcastAnswerMan.com & http://VirtualAssistantPodcast.com were not affected. Both of those sites run on my BlueHost Hosting account. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND BLUEHOST! I’d switch gspn.tv and all my other sites over if it weren’t so much work. If this happens again, I may go through the trouble anyway!

A Return To Regular Blogging?

Cliff Ravenscraft — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 20:39:10 +0000

This image, to the left, is a screen capture of one of my earliest blog posts. Anyone recognize that brand name?

Most people who know me online, found about me as the result of my efforts in podcasting. What you may not know is that prior to podcasting, I was a pretty avid blogger.

My earliest blog posts date back to April of 1998, a year before the term “blog” was coined. Back then, I was hand coding and updating static html pages.

In fact, It was the increased traffic and interaction that I received, on posts like this, that made me think that someone might be interested if I were to produce a podcast.

After only a few months of podcasting, I found myself blogging less and less. Of course my adoption of Facebook and Twitter even further distracted me from my blogging efforts.

I’m happy to announce that I am renewing my efforts in blogging. First and foremost, I’m going to be doing my best to increase the quality of the show notes for each of the shows that I produce. This can be difficult at times due to the number of podcasts that I produce on a weekly basis. However, I hope you will notice, and perhaps already have noticed, my efforts in providing more valuable show notes.

With the redesign of the gspn.tv website, I’ve decided to shut down the separate PursuingABalancedLife.com website. If you go to that address, you’ll notice that it actually takes you to the category for the Pursuing A Balanced Life podcast which will certainly continue. The whole reason that I had decided to create a separate page for that podcast was so that i could have an outlet for my personal blogging. I did occasionally post a blog on that site.

Moving forward, a majority of all my blogging efforts will be done here in the gspn.tv Community Blog. Our friend Carole will continue to post the gspn.tv Weekly Round up as well. And I am really hoping that you will see an occasional blog post from Stephanie as well. Who knows, in time, we may even invite a guest blogger from the community to share some valuable insights as well.

What do you think? Are you interested in a blog here on the gspn.tv site? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Biggest Loser Podcast Moves To Live Show Thursdays! – VA Podcast Moves To Later In The Day!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 17:25:13 +0000

I am very excited to announce that the Biggest Loser Fan Podcast, that I produce with Father Roderick each week, is now moving to Thursdays at 12 Noon Eastern Time.

This is exciting news for two reasons.

First off, Thursday is the day that I have traditionally set aside to do the recording of a majority of our scheduled podcasts. Until now, I’ve had to block out an additional block of time each Friday to record the Biggest Loser Podcast. Moving the BL Podcast to Thursday completely frees up my Friday for any other project or event that I might want to participate in.

The other main reason for my excitement is that a much larger number of folks within the gspn.tv community will be able to experience my friendship with Father Roderick on a weekly basis.

The best time that worked for both Father Roderick and myself was 12 Noon Eastern Time. This means that the Virtual Assistant Podcast is now moving to 3:30pm ET.

Each Thursday, during our live shows, we have an average of 35 to 50 people in the chat room at any one time. Throughout the day, we have an average of 1,800 people who stop in to say hi and interact with other members of the gspn.tv community.

If you have not yet joined us during a live recording of a podcast, we would love to you take a look at the Thursday schedule and come join the community chat room during one of the shows.

500 OTS – Welcome To On The Screen With Cliff And Stephanie

Cliff Ravenscraft — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 21:33:53 +0000

In this episode, Stephanie and I unveil a new direction for our tv based entertainment podcasts. As you will hear in this episode, we feel this approach is going to allow us to continue to provide just as much content devoted to our long time favorite tv shows. At the same time, we feel that this is going to open up the opportunity to share our reactions to any other content that may make its way to our tv screen without the need to launch yet another podcast.

Each episode of On The Screen With Cliff & Stephanie will be limited to discussion of a single tv show. We want to avoid talking about several tv shows in a single podcast because some folks want to hear what we have to say about the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy but haven’t yet had the opportunity to watch this week’s Desperate Housewives. Each episode of “OTS” will be clearly labeled with the name of the show and which episode is covered.

What if you only want to listen to our initial reactions to a certain show? We gave this a great deal of thought. Our current podcasts devoted to Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Doctor Who, etc. will continue to have their own RSS Feeds and iTunes Listings. If you only want our coverage on those shows, simply subscribe to those feeds and you’ll only get “OTS” episodes that are devoted to those shows. Though, these shows will carry the new “OTS” branding. For example, the Weekly Lost Podcast will now be the “LOST EDITION of the On The Screen Podcast With Cliff & Stephanie.”

As we move forward, if we devote at least five episodes of “OTS” to a tv show, we will go through the steps of creating a podcast feed just for that show and it will also get it’s own iTunes listing.

The On The Screen Podcast will be a Plus Member Podcast. This means that those subscribed to the “free rss feed” will received random episodes of OTS every month. gspn.tv Plus Members will receive every episode of this and all other podcasts that we produce here at gspn.tv. Here at gspn.tv we produce a minimum of seven podcast episodes per week. During tv season, we have been known to produce as many as 20 in a single week.

We are looking forward to this new approach to our tv entertainment podcasting and hope that you enjoy all the additional content that will occur as a result.

Right – Click Here To Download

Thanks For Subscribing To The On The Screen Podcast:

Plus Members Subscribe Using Plus Feed Generator.

Our Trip To Podcamp Boston 5 Sponsored In Full By DivineOffice.org!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 00:08:09 +0000

Special thanks to Dane Falkner from DivineOffice.org for making it possible for both Stephanie and myself to attend Podcamp Boston 5 on an all expenses paid basis.

About The Church Podcast 118

I invited Dane Falkner and Greg Pedroza from DivineOffice.org to join me for episode 118 of the About The Church Podcast to discuss the liturgy of the hours. I admittedly had little understanding of this spiritual discipline.

Divine Office Readers:
Chriss Sharer
Dane Falkner
Denise Winters
Greg Pedroza
Mary Jo Ahlin

Divine Office Cantors:
Melinda Kirigin-Voss (aka The Chantress)
Vince Clark

The liturgy of the hours are always available for free from the DivineOffice.org website. However, it is the funds from the sale of the iPhone/iPad application that helps financially support the ministry. Please note that the Divine Office application is a universal application that will work both on your iPhone and your iPad. Best part is that you purchase the application once and the content is refreshed daily without any ongoing costs. Click here to purchase the Divine Office in the iTunes App Store.

Sneak Peak at Disney’s TINKER BELL and the GREAT FAIRY RESCUE

Cliff Ravenscraft — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:48:30 +0000

What would you do if you met a fairy? Witness the historic moment when Tinker Bell first meets a human being, and itâ€™s not who you think.

Years before meeting Wendy and the Lost Boys, Tinker Bell met Lizzy, a little girl with a steadfast belief in the power of pixie dust and the magic land of fairies. During the fairiesâ€™ summer visit to the flowering meadows of England, two very different worlds unite for the first time and Tink develops a special bond with a curious child in need of a friend. As her fellow fairies launch a daring rescue, Tinker Bell takes a huge risk, putting her own safety and the future of all fairykind in jeopardy.

Experience Disneyâ€™s astonishing all-new movie about the true power of faith and friendship. Bursting with excitement and imagination, Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue is magical entertainment for the whole family. You might even learn to fly.

Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue releases as a Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and Movie Download on Tuesday, September 21. The film features the voices of Mae Whitman as Tinker Bell, Pamela Adlon as Vidia, Kristin Chenoweth as Rosetta, Lucy Liu as Silvermist, Raven Symone as Iridessa, Lauren Mote as Lizzy and Michael Sheen as Dr. Griffith (Lizzyâ€™s Father).

In celebration of the beginning of Summer and the celebration of Summer Solstice, the Fairies of Pixie Hollow are sharing a special fly-by â€˜sneak peekâ€™ of their latest adventure, TINKER BELL and the GREAT FAIRY RESCUE. This particular clip showcases the first time Tinker Bell meets a human for the first time â€“ an 8-year old girl named Lizzy. Lizzy discovers that her dream to meet a fairy has come true, that Tinker Bell speaks in jingles, and that fairies canâ€™t fly in the rain. Itâ€™s a very cute piece that showcases the beginning of a very unique friendship.

gspn.tv Weekly Round Up 6/17/10

Cliff Ravenscraft — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 02:31:29 +0000

Hi gspn.tv Fans! This is Carole from the Community here again bringing you the Weekly Round Up. Of special note this week are the Lost Season finale podcasts Part 1 and 2. Â Cliff and Stephanie have the luxury of taking their time in this two-parter to include tons of listener feedback and more of their thoughts on the final episode.Â (I know,Â I know – Stephanie was right that it WAS all about the relationships, but for me it WAS about the mystery too, and I still feel disappointed we didn’t get more answers.Â So sue me, LOL.) There are two other special podcasts of note this week, but more about those in a minute…Â

Right now, here’s what rolled out on the GSPN feed in the last week – go get ‘em while they’re hot:

+ denotes podcast released for Plus Members only

+ Help iGot a Mac 122 - IPhone 4

Virtual Assistant Podcast 009 – Tech Tools to Help You Collaborate With Your VA Part 3

In this episode, Cliff gives some thoughts on training your VA on workflows when it seems that it would just be easier to do the job yourself. Cliff also shares his thoughts on ways that a Virtual Assistant would be helpful to a road warrior sales person.Â Also in this episode, Cliff continues his series on technology tools that help you collaborate with your virtual assistant.

Products Mentioned:
Google Voice
Outliner for the iPad
Screenflow
Camtasia

+ Full Time Mom 128 – Five Year Friend Cycle

Podcast Answer Man 163 – Stop Expecting Overnight Success

In this episode, Cliff covers the following items:
* What are Cliff’s thoughts on Podcasterâ€™s Liability Insurance?
* Would you like him to arrange for a teleseminar with an entertainment lawyer?
* Should it take two weeks to get listed in iTunes?
* Where are those video training products that Cliff keeps talking about?
* Jason Friedâ€™s book Rework.

Discuss podcasting with other listeners in the Podcast Answer Man section of the gspn.tv Community Forum.

Family From the Heart 113 – Coming to a Town Near You

In this episode, Cliff and Stephanie share some feedback of folks who are trying to sell them on their own home towns as a new place to grow roots for their family. Also, they share some more feedback from the community on the topic of Higher Education and Organic Foods. There are a few other conversations that popped up during the recording of this episode. The show ended on the topic of finances and budgeting.

Special thanks to the folks at Mardel.com! Please shop with them when looking for Christian books, music, dvds, and more. PLEASE BE SURE TO ENTER PROMO CODE â€œgspnâ€ in the shopping cart so that they will see that you came to their site as a result of their sponsorship with us! You will receive an additional 10% off your entire order when you use our promo code!

Weekly Lost Podcast 260 – Finale Review Part 1

This is part 1 of 2 of Cliff and Stephanie’s community review of the finale of LOST. While this is their review of â€œThe Endâ€ of Lost, this is not the end of the Lost Podcast of gspn.tv. They want to encourage you to remain subscribed to the LOST Podcast Feed. While they wont be producing shows on a â€œWeeklyâ€ basis any longer, they do hope to release a new episode of their Lost Podcast on a monthly basis. Of course, they would love to invite you check out some of their other shows at http://gspn.tv/shows.

Weekly Lost Podcast 261 – Finale Review Part 2

This is part 2 of 2 of Cliff and Stephanie’s community review of the finale of LOST.Â You can still give them a call on their listener line. Itâ€™s open and ready for your call 24hrs a day. The number is 859-795-4067

Business Tech Weekly 036 – Mind Mapping and Spending Money

In this episode, Cliff and Andy discuss the concept of â€œMind Mappingâ€ and spending money on your business.

Gaming with Matt 005 – Wii, DSi and iPad Games

Biggest Loser 031 – Losing it With Jillian Episode 1

In this episode, Cliff and Fr. Roderick and share their thoughts about the first episode of Losing It With Jillian. Also, they both share some pretty significant setbacks that they had recently experienced when stepping onto the scale.

Pursuing a Balanced Life 469 – Digital Prayer Journal

In this episode, Cliff shares some brief thoughts on his history of keeping a prayer journal. He explains what he means when he says that he keeps a prayer journal. Cliff explains why he decided to do this, why he quit doing it for a very long time, and why he’s decided to start again and how Cliff currently plans to do it.

World According to Meagan 003 – This Episode Sponsored by God?

And thatâ€™s a wrap for last week!

If youâ€™d like to to get the Community Blog posts delivered to your email box so youâ€™re sure not to miss a thing, you can click here to subscribe: Community Blog Posts via Email

And donâ€™t forget â€“ GSPN is broadcasting live all day on Thursday – join in! http://gspn.tv/live/

So, fellow listeners, wanna hear a couple of future podcasters in the making?Â Â There’s a new, long awaited “World According to Meagan” podcast out this week plus a new “Gaming With Matt” episode as well (these are Cliff & Stephanie’s kids!).Â I haven’t had a chance to listen yet, but don’t you feel compelled to see what the second generation of gspn.tv podcasters have to say?Â :-)

See you next week! Carole

If you’d like to know more about me, here’s my personal blog: Carole’s Thoughtful Spot

gspn.tv Weekly Round Up 6/10/10

Cliff Ravenscraft — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 02:27:21 +0000

Hi gspn.tv Fans! This is Carole from the Community here again bringing you the Weekly Round Up. Of special note this week is the MultiTasking episode of Business Tech Weekly (this happens to be a Plus Member only episode, FYI).Â Now you might think that if you don’t own a business or aren’t a business person that this podcast isn’t relevant to you, but I beg to differ.Â I am a stay at home mom and though I’m not in the “business world” I often find useful nuggets of information in the Business Tech Weekly podcast, as is the case in this week’s episode where Cliff and Andy talk about multitasking.Â I may not have a career right now, but I’ve got plenty of commitments, tasks and emails I juggle and have to keep track of.Â Cliff and Andy discuss ways of using technology (and common sense) to multitask.Â So if you don’t normally listen to this show, give it a try!Â (If you’re not a Plus Member, then I encourage you to try some of the free episodes Cliff often releases.)Â I listen to it often (in between watching the soaps and eating bon bons – ’cause that’s all we stay at home moms do, right? LOL!).

Right now, here’s what rolled out on the GSPN feed in the last week – go get ‘em while they’re hot:

+ denotes podcast released for Plus Members only

+ Help iGot a Mac 121 – ATT Ends Unlimited iPad Data Plan

+ Social Media Serenity 043 – Twitter Contest Marketing and More

Family From the Heart 112 – Roots Can Grow Anywhere

In this episode, Cliff and Stephanie share more thoughts on the idea of picking up their roots and moving the family to a new location. Also in this episode, they had some feedback that suggested that our feelings that they shared about higher education last week were wrong. Also in this episode, they shared some thoughts on how to determine if a decision is their will or Godâ€™s will.

About the Church 114 – Stand Up and Agree

In this episode of About The Church, Cliff and DG do something they have never done before. They actually stood up during the entire recording of the episode. Not only that, but they had a great deal of fun generally speaking about the church. If you want to know what it is that DG & Cliff actually agree on, theologically, in this episode, youâ€™ll just have to listen to find out.

Full Time Mom 127 – When You Just Need Privacy

In this episode, Stephanie shares the following items:
â€¢ First day of Summer vacation has arrived.
â€¢ Plans for a weekly trip to the Library
â€¢ Beginning of the Summer Bridge Activity books.
â€¢ Wedding Right Repair Plans
â€¢ Breakfast at Nannyâ€™s
â€¢ Finding value in the profession of being a mom.

Podcast Answer Man 162 – How to End an Interview and More

In this episode, Cliff covers the following items:
â€¢ Andy L. Called in to tell us about the Smart 404 WordPress Plugin.
â€¢ Thoughts on how to end an interview.
â€¢ SoundByte Cart Software for Audio Clips
â€¢ Erik called to ask if it is possible for Cliff to track states on his Plus Member Podcasts
â€¢ Andy asked Cliff for his initial thoughts on the Zoom H1 recorder which Cliff will have a demo unit of soon.

+ Business Tech Weekly 035 – Thoughts on MultiTasking

Biggest Loser 030 – Hiatus Podcast Planning Episode

In this episode, Cliff and Fr. Roderick share an update on what has been going on in their own journey over the past two weeks. Also, they share some thoughts on what they would like to do with the Biggest Loser Fan Podcast during the summer hiatus. The good news is that the show is going to continue on a weekly basis. They certainly hope that youâ€™ll continue to listen on a weekly basis and participate in the show by calling them with your own thoughts on living a more balanced and healthy life. Why not call right now? The phone number is 859-795-4067

Pursuing a Balanced Life 468 – Why Choose Failure if Success is an Option?

In this episode, Cliff gets back out in the neighborhood for another walkcast. He shares what has been going on the past two weeks as it relates to his pursuit of a balanced life. He shares what the scale showed when he stepped on it yesterday. Cliff also shares a few areas where he’s experienced a great deal of success outside of health and fitness.

Lastly, attention Lost Fans! Join Cliff and Stephanie Friday, June 11th at 9pm eastern time for the community review of the Lost Series Finale.Â They want your feedback!Â Call them on their listener line – itâ€™s open and ready for your call 24hrs a day. The number is 859-795-4067.

And thatâ€™s a wrap for last week!

If youâ€™d like to to get the Community Blog posts delivered to your email box so youâ€™re sure not to miss a thing, you can click here to subscribe: Community Blog Posts via Email

And donâ€™t forget â€“ GSPN is broadcasting live all day on Thursday – join in! http://gspn.tv/live/

So, one final tidbit from the Business Tech Weekly episode I was talking about – in the show they share a funny article that tells you what type of person you are based on the email address that you have. I think it was actually somewhat accurate – my main email address is a Gmail address, and it had me pegged right on.Â Take a listen and see what your email address says about you! And if you’re not a Plus member, why not consider it?Â Click here to find out more –>Â Plus Membership

See you next week! Carole

If you’d like to know more about me, here’s my personal blog: Carole’s Thoughtful Spot

gspn.tv Weekly Round Up 6/3/10

Cliff Ravenscraft — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 03:15:47 +0000

Hi gspn.tv Fans! This is Carole from the Community here again bringing you the Weekly Round Up. Of special note this week is the Podcast Answer Man episode where the tables are turned and Cliff is interviewed by Dan Miller (author ofÂ “48 Days to the Work You Love”).Â Also, make sure to catch the Family From the Heart episode – Cliff and Stephanie tell the story of their wedding day – it’s classic!

Right now, here’s what rolled out on the GSPN feed in the last week – go get ‘em while they’re hot:

+ denotes podcast released for Plus Members only

Podcast Answer Man 161 – Interviewed by Dan Miller

This week, the tables are turned as Cliff is the one being interviewed.Â It was just December of 2009 when Cliff released his interview with Dan Miller here on Podcast Answer Man. Since that time, Dan has become not only one of his clients, but also a really good friend.

This interview is from when Dan paid Cliff one of the highest honors as he positioned him in front of his community on a member only teleseminar. He was kind enough to allow Cliff to share this interview with you here in this weekâ€™s Podcast Answer Man.Â You can find Dan Millerâ€™s podcast at 48Days.com.

+ Help iGot a Mac 120 – Apple Now Worth More Than Microsoft

+ Social Media Serenity 042 - Getting Paid to Check In

Family From the Heart 111 – Higher Education Thoughts and Wedding Day

In this episode, Cliff and Stephanie share some of their thoughts on whether or not a college education is required to be successful and whether or not it should be something they push their children into. They also answer a question about what their Wedding Day was like.

+ Full Time Mom 126 – A Jumbled Mess in My Head

About the Church 113 – Zombie Christians

In this episode, DG and Cliff play a little catch up after going two weeks without doing a podcast together. They also talk about the state of DGâ€™s search for employment and some of the issues that he is facing when working with the church. Finally, Cliff shares an encouraging experience he had with the online worship at NorthlandChurch.net.

Business Tech Weekly 024 – Quality Communication With Customers

In this episode, Cliff and Andy discuss different features that they have recently found useful in Google Labs. Andy gives his thoughts on using gist.com. Finally, Andy shares some thoughts on how to have quality communication with your customers. Call Them Today: Do you have a question about a technology that could help you in your business? Do you have a comment you want to share? Call their voice mail listener feedback hotline. Itâ€™s available 24hrs a day, 7 days a week by calling 859-795-4067.

Biggest Loser 029 – Season 9 Finale Thoughts

In this episode, Cliff does the show solo. While Cliff was correct in that Fr. Roderick had decided to take the rest of the week off from podcasting, this was not the reason Fr. Roderick did not show up for todayâ€™s recording. What happened was that Fr. Roderick thought that they had agreed to do a show next Friday since they already did a show this week for the Biggest Loser Podcast.Â Oh well. Here is Cliff’s attempt to fly solo today, giving his thoughts on the finale of season 9 and getting caught up to date with some of the community feedback that has come in. Enjoy!

Pursuing a Balanced Life 467 – Blessings Beyond Imagination

In this episode, Cliff shares some exciting thoughts about the Lost series finale event. He shares an exciting story about how he was interviewed by Dan Miller. He shares about a recent field trip that he went on with his daughter. Cliff gets caught up on all your voice feedback. And finally, Cliff is out the door to have a three day vacation with his family.

Virtual Assistant Podcast 008 – Tech Tools To Help You Collaborate With Your VA Part 2

In this episode, Cliff shares some exciting events that happened in his business as the result of the hard work of his own Virtual Assistant. He also shared thoughts on three more tech tools that could help you in your collaboration with your virtual assistant. The tools mentioned were GoToMeeting.com, LogMeIn.com, and Tungle.com. To wrap up the show, Cliff shares some really exciting feedback from listeners who are experiencing some amazing results in their business as the direct result of using a virtual assistant after being inspired by this podcast.Â Special thanks to Contemporary VA for sponsoring this podcast.

And thatâ€™s a wrap for last week!

If youâ€™d like to to get the Community Blog posts delivered to your email box so youâ€™re sure not to miss a thing, you can click here to subscribe: Community Blog Posts via Email

And donâ€™t forget â€“ GSPN is broadcasting live all day on Thursday – join in! http://gspn.tv/live/

So, fellow gspn.tv listeners, it is revealed in the Family From the Heart episode that there likely exists a photo of Cliff doing the “YMCA” from his wedding day.Â Don’t you think he owes it to us, his loyal and steadfast fans, to post that picture?Â And while he’s at it, don’t we all want to see Cliff and Stephanie’s wedding photo too?Â Tell Cliff and Stephanie you want to see those photos!Â :-D

See you next week! Carole

If you’d like to know more about me, here’s my personal blog: Carole’s Thoughtful Spot

gspn.tv Weekly Round Up 5/27/10

Cliff Ravenscraft — Thu, 27 May 2010 01:46:00 +0000

Hi GSPN Fans! This is Carole from the Community here again bringing you the weekly round up. I was going to talk about my thoughts on the Lost finale, but I think I want to reserve my final judgment on that until I have a little more time to think about it, and listen to what others think (call the gspn.tv listener line and throw in YOUR two cents – 859-795-4067).Â However I will tell you *my* initial reaction: I feel kinda cheated. But, maybe that will change….Â So, as I said, rather than go on any more about Lost, instead I’m going to tell you a funny thing about the cat we recently adopted.Â Well, I will in a minute…

Right now, here’s what rolled out on the GSPN feed in the last week – go get ‘em while they’re hot:

+ denotes podcast released for Plus Members only

+ Help i Got a Mac 119 – My Mac Only Experience

+ Social Media Serenity 041 – The Stuff We Were Once Excited About

Podcast Answer man 160 – Interview With Rob Walch From Libsyn and Wizzard Media

In this episode, Cliff has a conversation with Rob Walch about the recent transition of Libsyn users to the new Libsyn Three system. The conversation actually led to some very insightful information in the area of knowing how you can instantly overwrite a file that you may want to replace.Â Also, Cliff ended the show talking more about some additional comments that Leo Leporte has shared related to the medium of podcasting.

Discuss podcasting with other listeners in the Podcast Answer Man section of the gspn.tv Community Forum!

Family From the Heart 110 – Visualizing the Future

In this episode, Stephanie and Cliff share a little bit about what has been going on with their family and an update on their decision or thoughts on moving outside of their current home town. They also shared an amazing email that they received from their friend Emma.

Greys Anatomy 070 – Season Six Finale

Cliff and Stephanie discuss their thoughts on the season six finale.

Weekly Lost Podcast 258 – What They Died For Review

In this episode, Stephanie and Cliff are joined by several gspn.tv community members in the studio to provide some additional thoughts related to Season 6 Episode 16, â€œWhat They Died For IR.â€

Weekly Lost Podcast 259 – Series Finale Initial Reaction

In this episode, Stephanie and Cliff are joined by die hard lost fans from around the world as they celebrated the series finale of Lost at a viewing party that they threw in Northern Kentucky.

Cliff and Stephanie will be devoting two episodes to taking your feedback related to the series finale. Donâ€™t forget to give them a call on their listener line. Itâ€™s open and ready for your call 24hrs a day. The number is 859-795-4067

Biggest Loser 028 – Interview With Ali Vincent

In this episode, Cliff and Father Roderick interview Ali Vincent. Ali was the winner of season 5 and the first female who achieved the title of Biggest Loser. It is impossible to listen to this episode and not be energized by Aliâ€™s positive outlook on life. Cliff and Father Roderick hope that you enjoy Aliâ€™s insights as much as they did.

And thatâ€™s a wrap for last week!

If youâ€™d like to to get the Community Blog posts delivered to your email box so youâ€™re sure not to miss a thing, you can click here to subscribe: Community Blog Posts via Email

And donâ€™t forget â€“ GSPN is broadcasting live all day on Thursday – join in! http://gspn.tv/live/

So, as I mentioned, we recently adopted a cat.Â She’s a seven year old Siamese and her name is Angel.Â Being a Siamese, she is very sleek and graceful, and can jump to amazing heights.Â She is also very fast.Â My husband and I were laying in bed watching the Lost finale the other night, and one minute we’re sniffing back tears over Sawyer and Juliet, the next minute all of a sudden out of nowhere, Angel comes racing in and leaps onto the bed, landing on us at like, forty miles an hour! She’s a crazy kitty, but we love her.Â Angel does other things that are a mystery to us sometimes, but it’s not about figuring out the mysteries, it’s about our relationships, right?Â Ha ha…Â (Sorry, I’m poking fun at “Lost”…)

Do you have any pets with funny quirks?Â Leave me a comment and tell me!

See you next week! Carole

If you’d like to know more about me, here’s my personal blog: Carole’s Thoughtful Spot

gspn.tv Weekly Round Up 5/20/10

Cliff Ravenscraft — Thu, 20 May 2010 03:44:02 +0000

Hi GSPN Fans! This is Carole from the Community here again bringing you the weekly round up. For those of you that are Lost fans, this is a big week for us.Â The long, anticipated finale is nearly here!Â I really, really wish I could to go Cliff and Stephanie’s party (info and tickets here), but since I can’t, I’m still planning a fun way to watch the last episode.Â More about that in a minute…

Right now, here’s what rolled out on the GSPN feed in the last week – go get ‘em while they’re hot:

+ denotes podcast released for Plus Members only

Help iGot a Mac 118 – Why You Should Jailbreak Your iPad?

In the episode we cover the following items:

* Another iPhone Next Gen Leaked!
* Steam Gaming System Is Out!
* Dragonâ€™s Lair is on sales for 99 cents
* Android is outselling the iPhone
* AT&T has iPhone Exclusivity till 2012
* Why You Should Jailbreak The iPad

* CLICK HERE for info on how to install sync multiple Google Apps Calendars to your iPad.

We want to invite you to give us a call with your Mac related questions! Call us at 859-795-4067 or send an audio file with your question.

Social Media Serenity 040 – The Effect of Retweets on Branding

Items Covered In This Episode:
* A Twitter Bug That Allowed You To Force Others To Follow You
* If you delete an outgoing DM, it takes it away from the other uses DM Inbox
* The Effects of Retweeting On Branding
* Twitter Business Center
* Twitter Allows Embedded Tweets
* Ning.comâ€™s new pricing!

Family From the Heart 109 – Forward Momentum Again

In this episode, Cliff and Stephanie share how they have been able to get back on track with their intentional physical activity. They also share more about their search for healthy foods and answer a few listener questions.

Links mentioned in this episode:
* http://LocalDirt.com
* Organic Food Buying Cheat Sheet
* Mardel.com/gspn

Special thanks to the folks at Mardel.com! Please shop with them when looking for Christian books, music, dvds, and more, AND REMEMBER TO ENTER PROMO CODE â€œgspnâ€ in the shopping cart so that they will see that you came to their site as a result of their sponsorship with us! You will receive an additional 10% off your entire order when you use our promo code!

Full Time Mom 125 – How Mother’s Day Turned Out

In this episode, Stephanie shares how her Motherâ€™s Day ended up turning out and also goes through a bit of community feedback.

Podcast Answer Man 159 – Is Libsyn Going to Insert Ads in Your Podcasts?

In this episode, Cliff discussed the following items:
* http://Mardel.com/gspn
* Is Libsyn going to automatically insert ads into your podcast?
* Cliff’s thoughts on recording interviews into separate tracks.
* Walterâ€™s thoughts on Blogging And Podcasting.

Business Tech Weekly 033 – Facebook Fan Pages and GMail Updates

In this episode, we cover the following topics:
* GMail Drag And Drop Images
* Message Sneak Peak
* Google Talk Badge
* Google Talks Trash To Microsoft
* Thoughts on Facebook Fan Pages

Biggest Loser Podcast 027 – Results of Setting Big Goals!

In this episode, Cliff and Father Roderick share some thoughts from week 17 of the Biggest Loser. Last week, they set some extremely radical goals for their own weight loss journeys. In this episode, they share what they were able to accomplish in only seven days. Listen to find out the results and their thoughts on how they did what they did.

Weekly Lost Podcast 256 – Across the Sea Review

In this episode, Stephanie and Cliff share the community review of Season 6 Episode 15, â€œAcross The Sea.â€Â Donâ€™t forget to give us a call on our listener line. Itâ€™s open and ready for your call 24hrs a day. The number is 859-795-4067

Desperate Housewives 045 – I Guess This Means Goodbye

In this episode, Cliff and Stephanie discuss their thoughts on the final episode of season six of Desperate Housewives titled â€œI Guess This Means Goodbye.â€

Virtual Assistant Podcast 007 – Tech Tools to Help You collaborate With Your VA Part 1

In this episode, Cliff shares some voice feedback from Jay Carter. He shared some thoughts on how having a virtual assistant could be beneficial to those who have been diagnosed with ADHD. He also had a thought that becoming a virtual assistant could be a great choice for those who have disabilities that have stood in the way of them obtaining a traditional job.

The main focus of this episode has been for Cliff to share tech tools that can be useful in collaborating with your virtual assistant.

The tools he shared in this episode:
* Google Calendar
* Google Docs & Spreadsheets
* Google Mail / Gmail
* Google Apps For Businesses

CLIFF FOUND THE SIGN UP FOR THE FREE VERSION OF GOOGLE APPS! CLICK HERE!!!

Also, in this episode, Cliff shares the failed attempt to use his virtual assistant to delegate a task that should have been pretty simple.Â For those of you who are still in the process of trying to figure out what to delegate, Cliff suggests taking a notebook and logging every single task that you do over the course of a few days. Then, review that list and highlight anything you believe that someone else could be trained to do for you.

Special thanks to Contemporary VA for sponsoring this podcast.

Pursing A Balanced Life 466 – Two Weeks in the Life of Cliff Ravenscraft

In this episode, Cliff shares a bunch of random audio updates that he had recorded over the course of the past few weeks. While putting this episode together, it helped remind him that while things are really crazy right now, he’s actually managed to lead a relatively balanced life over the past few weeks. He hopes you enjoy!

Weekly Lost Podcast 257 – What They Died For Initial Reaction

In this episode, Stephanie and Cliff give their initial reaction of Season 6 Episode 16, â€œWhat They Died Forâ€.

Donâ€™t forget to give us a call on our listener line. Itâ€™s open and ready for your call 24hrs a day. The number is 859-795-4067.Â And be sure to RSVP for the LOST Series Finale Party!

And thatâ€™s a wrap for last week!

If youâ€™d like to to get the Community Blog posts delivered to your email box so youâ€™re sure not to miss a thing, you can click here to subscribe: Community Blog Posts via Email

And donâ€™t forget â€“ GSPN is broadcasting live all day on Thursday – join in! http://gspn.tv/live/

So, since I can’t go to Cliff and Stephanie’s big Lost finale party, I am going to make Dharma labels for all our food for the evening – Dharma beer, Dharma chips, Dharma popcorn, etc.Â Also, we will only refer to each other usingÂ nicknames that Sawyer has come up with.

So for those of you who are Lost fans, I hope the finale is all we hope it will be and more.Â For those of you who are NOT Lost fans, I’m sure you’re also counting the days until it’s over so you don’t have to hear about it any more!Â LOL!

See you next week!Â “Jinbo”

If you’d like to know more about me, here’s my personal blog: Carole’s Thoughtful Spot

Lost Podcast Documentary Coming Soon!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Tue, 18 May 2010 17:55:45 +0000

Back in March of this year, Stephanie and I were visited by Alex aka @AudiblyLost. He was putting together a video documentary on the Lost Podcasting Community. I’m not sure exactly when the full documentary will be released. However, here’s the trailer for the show that was just released today.

When the full movie is online, I’ll be sure to let everyone know!

Subscribe To The Podcast Answer Man Podcast:

Plus Members Subscribe Using Plus Feed Generator.

gspn.tv Weekly Round Up 5/13/10

Cliff Ravenscraft — Thu, 13 May 2010 04:31:08 +0000

Hi GSPN Fans! This is Carole from the Community here again bringing you the weekly round up. I notice that Cliff and Stephanie have been talking quite a bit lately about organic food, and that’s something that’s been on my mind also, ever since I saw Food Inc. (I highly recommend this very eye-opening documentary).Â But like Cliff and Stephanie, I struggle with the cost of “going organic”.Â It’s just too expensive to buy everything organic…but where do you start?Â Cliff and Stephanie talk about this a bit in the most recent Family From the Heart episode, and as for me, I have chosen my first “baby step”.Â More about that in a minute…

Right now, here’s what rolled out on the GSPN feed in the last week – go get ‘em while they’re hot:

+ denotes podcast released for Plus Members only

+ Social Media Serenity 039 – More on Facebook Privacy Issues

+ Help iGot a Mac 117 – iSuck

Family From the Heart 108 – Social Guidelines for Our Children

In this episode, Cliff and Stephanie share some social media guidelines that they have with their children. These items include the following:

* Twitter Account must be set to private and followers are approved by mom and dad.
* You must never share the city you live in.
* You must never share what school you go to.
* You must never share school or sports team mascots, team names, etc.
* You must never use your teacherâ€™s names or friends last names.
* No computer in the kids rooms
* Time limits on computer access
* Computer usage is only allowed in the presence of mom and dad.
* Boundaries on YouTube Viewing

Other Links mentioned in this episode:
Nutrition Diva Episode on Organic Foods To Buy
Alton Brown Video On Canned Tomatoes

+ Full Time Mom 124 – Be Thankful for Mom

This is a very touching and heartfelt episode.Â Stephanie really opens up about some of the important women in her life.Â Even though the episode ends, in Stephanie’s words, with “ugly crying, with snot and everything” – she has a lot of feelings I think a lot of us can relate to.

About the Church 112 – God Gets Graphic

In the About The Church Podcast, Cliff Ravenscraft and DG Hollums discuss random topics on a weekly basis regarding the Christian Faith.

Business Tech Weekly 032 – Tech Tools and Collaboration

In this episode, we cover the following topics:
* Skype To Add 5 Way Video Conferencing
* MailChimp Reduced Monthly Fee By 1/2 for those with 501 to 1,000 subscribers
* Xmarks Lets You Open Synced Tabs from Any Browser
* Discussion about the benefits of collaboration

Call Us Today: Do you have a question about a technology that could help you in your business? Do you have a comment you want to share? Call our voice mail listener feedback hotline. Itâ€™s available 24hrs a day, 7 days a week by calling 859-795-4067.

Biggest Loser 026 – Food Temptations and a Major Challenge

In this episode, Cliff and Father Roderick recap the past few episodes of The Biggest Loser, and share several pieces of audio feedback from the Biggest Loser Fan Podcast Community.

Links: Follow Cliff Ravenscraft on Twitter, Follow Fr. Roderick on Twitter

Weekly Lost Podcast 254 – Neil Hopkins Interview

In this episode, Stephanie and Cliff share the community reaction to Season 6 Episode 14, â€œThe Candidate.â€ Also, in this episode, they interview Neil Hopkins, the actor who plays Liam Pace.

Desperate Housewives 044 – The Ballad of Booth

In this episode, Cliff and Stephanie discuss their thoughts on the most recent episode of Desperate Housewives titled â€œThe Ballad of Booth.â€

Pursuing a Balanced Life 465 – What is the Wise Thing to Do?

In this episode, Cliff shares a major goal that he has set for himself.Â He responded to a few pieces of audio feedback, including a very interesting one from our friend Anne regarding pursuing your passion as a career.

The following are the PABL Challenge Final Results:

These are the top 8, that posted every week:

Richi 246pts
anneso87 243pts
FredFromLongIsland 234pts
Maggie/ilea02 233pts
grace513 232pts
Sharon 199pts
Angelb791 179pts
remblem 165pts

During the 20 week period (16 official), there were 300+ posts and 14,000+ views.

After you get a chance to listen, feel free to leave a comment on the blog! You can help motivate Cliff and inspire others by providing your audio feedback for the podcast. Call the voice mail feedback line directly at 859-795-4067. You can also email an audio file to feedback@gspn.tv.

Virtual Assistant Podcast 006 – How do I decide What to Delegate to My VA?

In this episode, Cliff shares with you that you may already have experience with what it might be like to hire a virtual assistant and not even know it. Cliff answered a call from Lee who wanted to know how to go about finding a Virtual Assistant.

Weekly Lost podcast 255 – Across the Sea Initial Reaction

In this episode, Stephanie and Cliff share their initial reaction to Season 6 Episode 15, â€œAcross The Sea.â€

Be sure to RSVP for the LOST Series Finale Party!

Donâ€™t forget to give them a call on their listener line. Itâ€™s open and ready for your call 24hrs a day. The number is 859-795-4067.

And thatâ€™s a wrap for last week!

If youâ€™d like to to get the Community Blog posts delivered to your email box so youâ€™re sure not to miss a thing, you can click here to subscribe: Community Blog Posts via Email

And donâ€™t forget â€“ GSPN is broadcasting live all day on Thursday – join in! http://gspn.tv/live/

So, as far as *our* first step in “going organic”, I decided to go with organic milk.Â This sounds very silly, but when I watched Food Inc. with my daughter, one of the things that stuck out for her was that in the clip from the Stonyfield Farm (organic) farm, the cows were “happy” – they could go out in the sunshine and eat grass.Â So I decided to buy organic milk and my daughter says she likes it because it’s from “the happy cows”.Â Well, silly as it may be, at least she’s getting a positive mindset about organic food.Â :-)Â As my next “baby step” I’m going to look at the “dirty dozen” foods (the 12 fruits and veggies considered to have the most pesticide residue).

What do you think about organic food?Â Leave me a comment and tell me!

See you next week! Carole

If you’d like to know more about me, here’s my personal blog: Carole’s Thoughtful Spot

gspn.tv Weekly Round Up 5/6/10

Cliff Ravenscraft — Thu, 06 May 2010 02:28:34 +0000

Hi GSPN Fans! This is Carole from the Community here again bringing you the weekly round up. I’m back to mowing the lawn again on a regular basis now that spring is truly here (with even a hint of summer here in the northeast!) and that means extra time to listen to gspn.tv podcasts!Â And trust me, listening to podcasts makes mowing go soooo much faster!Â (Makes vacuuming go faster too – you should try it. :-)Â In fact, I am going to mow the lawn tomorrow…and I hope I don’t find anything like what I found last week when I mowed the lawn…but more about that in a minute…

Right now, here’s what rolled out on the GSPN feed in the last week – go get ‘em while they’re hot:

+ denotes podcast released for Plus Members only

+ Help iGot a Mac 116 – Weight Loss for an iPad

+ Social Media Serenity 038 – Is Facebook Evil?

Family From the Heart 107 – Going Organic?

Links Mentioned In This Episode:
Love And War by John Eldridge
Blokus Game
Family Games On Mardel!

+ Full Time Mom 123 – Boundaries that Protect Immediate Family

About the Church 111 – The Lawn Mower Episode

Podcast Answer Man 157 – Libsyn Three Media Hosting Transition

In this episode, Cliff shares quite a bit about his experience with the transition that Libsyn just did on his accounts moving him to a new server and a new system that they have called â€œLibsyn Three.â€

Cliff also shared that he received an email from MailChimp.com this week saying they were cutting his monthly bill in half! This makes Cliff like them a ton more than he already did!

Mary called in because iTunes moved the â€œConvert To MP3â€³ link on her. For those looking for this option, highlight your file in iTunes and then click on the â€œAdvanced Menuâ€ and youâ€™ll see it there!

Wayne Henderson called in and told us about the Vericorder Mini Mic for the iPhone/iPad.

Finally, Cliff ends the episode by sharing his favorite podcast moment of the week from ConnieAndSheilaTalk.com.

Biggest Loser 025 – Interview with Pete Thomas

In this episode, Cliff and Father Roderick have the privilege of talking with Pete Thomas from season 2 of the Biggest Loser. Pete wanted to come on to the Biggest Loser Podcast to talk about the Healthy Weight Match Up Challenge where you could work as a team with some friends in an effort to lose weight and have a chance at winning $10,000. For more details, please click here.

In the interview, Pete shares his thoughts as to what the â€œSecret Sauceâ€ is on why people are so effective at losing weight while on the Biggest Loser Ranch. The best part is that when you hear the secret sauce, youâ€™ll see that you can easily apply this to your own situation at home.

If you would like to follow Peteâ€™s continued journey, Cliff included links to Pete’s Blog, Twitter Profile, and Facebook Profile below. Be sure to thank him for coming onto the Biggest Loser Podcast!

Check out Peteâ€™s Blog at WinningMan.com
Follow @PeteThomas on Twitter
Connect With Pete Thomas on Facebook

+ Desperate Housewives 043 – Epiphany and a Little Night Music

Pursuing a Balanced Life 464 – My First 5K

In this episode, Cliff shares a challenge that @ErikJFisher made to him. He also then shares his experience running his very first 5K run on a treadmill.

Weekly Lost Podcast 253 – The Candidate Initial Reaction

Be sure to RSVP for the LOST Series Finale Party!

In this episode, Stephanie and Cliff share the community reaction to Season 6 Episode 14, â€œThe Candidate.â€

Virtual Assistant Podcast 005 – Mike and Natalie from the Philippines

Cliff went back and forth on whether or not to release this episode for three reasons. First is due to the fact that it was only two weeks ago when he covered the topic of off shore virtual assistants in the Philippines. However, he believes talking to the folks who actually work as a virtual assistant from the Philippines offers a completely different perspective on the matter.

The second reason is due to the audio quality – they had to deal with a pretty bad connection. Cliff did his best to minimize the poor audio quality.

The final reason why he had second thoughts about releasing this episode was due to the fact that it clearly shows just how much of a naive American that he has been in his adult life. He hopes that this episode will help others, with an American centric worldview, to have a broader perspective on other peoples and cultures in the world.

Podcast Answer Man 158 – How Podcasting Can be Great for Businesses

In this episode, Cliff talks with Dr. Joseph Valenzi from TalkToTheDentist.com. Joe came to Cliff back in September of last year wanting to launch a podcast about dentistry. After some consultation with him, Cliff had convinced him of the advantages of including his podcast on his main dentistry website rather than launching the podcast on a site of its own. More than six months later, he has now produced 23 podcast episodes and is in a position to share how producing a podcast has benefited his local business.

And thatâ€™s a wrap for last week!

If youâ€™d like to to get the Community Blog posts delivered to your email box so youâ€™re sure not to miss a thing, you can click here to subscribe: Community Blog Posts via Email

And donâ€™t forget â€“ GSPN is broadcasting live all day on Thursday – join in! http://gspn.tv/live/

Quite a nice selection of podcasts for lawn mowing last week, huh?Â :-DÂ Anyway, it takes me about three hours to mow because we have quite a bit of property.Â Part of our yard stretches pretty far down a hill, then levels off by a creek.Â Last week when I mowed there, there was a dead coyote carcass laying in the grass! It was fresh enough that it stunk to high heavens! Let’s hope I don’t find any “surprises” tomorrow.Â (I don’t even want to think about what animal killed the coyote, yikes!)

Have you ever found anything strange when you were mowing your lawn?Â Do you like to listen to Cliff and Stephanie while you mow the lawn too? Leave me a comment and tell me!

See you next week!Â Carole :-)

If you’d like to know more about me, here’s my personal blog: Carole’s Thoughtful Spot

gspn.tv Weekly Round Up 4/29/10

Cliff Ravenscraft — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:40:11 +0000

Hi GSPN Fans! This is Carole from the Community here again bringing you the weekly round up. Lately I’ve come down with a fever.Â No, not a fever as in a high temperature in medical terms.Â And no, not a fever that can only be cured with more cowbell…Â No, it’s another kind of a fever, which I’ll tell you about in a minute…

Right now, here’s what rolled out on the GSPN feed in the last week – go get ‘em while they’re hot:

+ denotes podcast released for Plus Members only

+ Help iGot a Mac 115 – Leaked iPhone 4G and Offline iPad Uses

+ Social Media Serenity 037 – Facebook Domination

Family From the Heart 106 – Earth Day and Summer Bridge Activities

Links To The Summer Bridge Products Mentioned In This Episode:
Summer Bridge from Pre K to K
Summer Bridge from K to 1st
Summer Bridge from 1st to 2nd
Summer Bridge from 2nd to 3rd
Summer Bridge from 3rd to 4th
Summer Bridge from 4th to 5th
Summer Bridge from 5th to 6th

+ Full Time Mom 122 - Feeling More Like Myself

Podcast Answer Man 156 – Social Media Icons

In this episode, Cliff answers a call from Jim who wanted to know how he goes about recording his walkcast episodes of Pursuing A Balanced Life podcast.

Here are some links mentioned in this episode:
http://iconspedia.com/
http://www.iconfinder.com/
Coach Radio Interview

About the Church 110 – What Do Mormons Believe

In this episode, Cliff and DG are joined by DGâ€™s wife, Tiffany. A few weeks ago, someone called in and asked about what Mormons believe and what the differences were between protestant Christianity and what Mormons believe. Tiffany shares a unique perspective on this topic.

This was really very interesting – I hope Cliff shares any feedback he gets on this episode.Â I thought I pretty much knew what Mormons believe, but there was a lot I didn’t know.

Business Tech Weekly 031 – Top Ten Tech Tools for New Businesses

In this episode, Cliff and Andy share their top ten tech tools that a new web based business should have.

Items mentioned in this episode:
* Google Suite â€“ Google Mail, Calendar, & Docs
* Quickbooks
* DropBox
* Mac Computer
* Skype
* WordPress Website
* HootSuite.com
* MyFax.com
* Tungle
* Smart Phone

Call Them Today: Do you have a question about a technology that could help you in your business? Do you have a comment you want to share? Call the voice mail listener feedback hotline. Itâ€™s available 24hrs a day, 7 days a week by calling 859-795-4067.

Virtual Assistant Podcast 003 – Is a VA a Good Fit for a Pastor?

In this third episode of the Virtual Assistant Podcast, Cliff answers a question from Troy, in Kentucky, who wanted to know if he could hire a Virtual Assistant for a one off project rather than having a VA on a monthly retainer with a minimum number of hours like Cliff has set up with Andrea, who is his virtual assistant.

Also, in this episode, Cliff shares an email that he received from his friend, Joe, who is a Pastor. He asked two questions. First, as a pastor, would it be possible to hire a virtual assistant to help with project and team management in a ministry setting? If so, what are some things that he should consider? Joeâ€™s second question was about whether or not a virtual assistant could help in the life management aspects of being a pastor.

Doctor Who 019 – The Eleventh Hour

In this episode, Cliff and Stephanie discuss their thoughts on Matt Smith as the new doctor and their thoughts on the first episode of Season 5 of the new series titled â€œThe Eleventh Hour.â€

Weekly Lost Podcast 252 – Mirror Mirror

In this episode, Stephanie and Cliff share the community reaction to Season 6 Episode 13, â€œThe Last Recruit.â€

Pursuing a Balanced Life 463 – Community Feedback Episode

In this episode, Cliff gives a little update on his health. However, the majority of this episode is full of audio feedback from Evan, Wayne, Jenn, Fred, Kim, Lee, and Mary.

Twilight Saga Podcast 029 - Eclipse Chapters 21 – End

In this episode, Cliff and Stephanie cover chapter 21 through the end of the book of Eclipse.Â They welcome your thoughts related to the Twilight Saga. Please take a moment and leave them some feedback on their voice mail feedback hotline at 859-795-4067.

Doctor Who 020 – The Beast Below

In this episode, Cliff and Stephanie discuss The Beast Below.

Virtual Assistant Podcast 004 – Heather Villa From Contemporary VA

In this fourth episode of the Virtual Assistant Podcast, Cliff has the privilege of interviewing Heather Villa from Contemporary VA. As you know CVA is our sponsor for this podcast. Heatherâ€™s desire was not for this to be a commercial for their services, even though they are the sponsor. However, Cliff certainly wanted to have Heather share the options that are available from CVA as he really thinks that many people from the gspn.tv community would benefit from the same things he has benefited from by using the services they have to offer.

And thatâ€™s a wrap for last week!

If youâ€™d like to to get the Community Blog posts delivered to your email box so youâ€™re sure not to miss a thing, you can click here to subscribe: Community Blog Posts via Email

And donâ€™t forget â€“ GSPN is broadcasting live all day on Thursday – join in! http://gspn.tv/live/

So, as I mentioned, I’ve come down with a fever…..baseball fever! I live in NY so there are two teams to root for – the Yankees or the Mets.Â You might wonder why I didn’t say the Yankees AND the Mets.Â Well it’s because for some reason I don’t understand, it seems that whichever one you like, you have to hate the other.Â (I actually like both teams, but don’t tell anyone that.)Â Anyway, I primarily root for the Mets who have had an absolutely “amazin” turnaround in the last 10 games.Â For some reason, this year I feel compelled to watch or listen to nearly every game – don’t know I why I have the fever so bad this year.Â Maybe the winter was too long, LOL!

Do you have baseball fever?Â Do you know why you can’t like both teams that are from your state or region (or is that just a NY thing)?Â Leave me a comment and tell me!

See you next week! Carole

If you’d like to know more about me, here’s my personal blog: Carole’s Thoughtful Spot

Community Meetup In A Few Short Weeks!

Cliff Ravenscraft — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 03:40:03 +0000

Please take just a few moments to hear about the upcoming gspn.tv Community Meetup! For more details, please visit http://gspn.tv/LostParty.