Maccast 2023.12.13 - So Long and Thanks for all the Clips

MacCast, Wednesday, December 13th, 2023.

Hey, MacGeeks, it's time for your last MacCast, the show for MacGeeks by MacGeeks.

I'm Adam, and this is a show where we discuss all things Macintosh.

How you doing?

Welcome back.

Yeah, you heard that right.

This is, unfortunately, the end.

And I have to tell you, I don't have really any big plan for this podcast.

This is the first podcast, I think, in 19 years where I don't have show notes.

I have no prep.

I don't think we're really going to get into Mac News hints, tips, or anything like that.

I think what I want to do for this last and final episode of the MacCast is just to have

a conversation with you.

About all the great times that have been over this past 19 years.

And I hope not to lose it, because I'm about to, I think.

It's a little bit bittersweet.

I have been talking to a number of you friends and other people in the community.

As you know, if you heard the last episode of the MacCast, this is the end of the MacCast

after 19 years.

It's the end of the MacCast, but it's not the end of my involvement.

In the Mac community, in Mac podcasting, it's really, and I said this to a friend recently,

it's really a transition.

I am moving on to the next thing.

I've been doing this thing for 19 years, and it's been wonderful and amazing and a crazy

ride.

I've been through a lot of stuff, and maybe we'll talk about a little bit of that in this

episode.

But moving on to join the crew, as I announced in the last episode, over at the MacCast.

At MacGeekGab, so I hope you go subscribe over there, MacGeekGab.com, MacGeekGab on your

favorite podcast app, joining Dave Hamilton and Pilot Pete.

It's going to be a lot of fun.

It's going to be a little bit different for me, less work.

As I mentioned in the previous show, I've been doing this solo for 19 years.

A lot of that came out of necessity back in the early days.

When I started, nobody else was podcasting.

There weren't that many people.

There was no podcasting at the very least, and I didn't know anybody in the Mac community

that I could really do a show with.

So the show started out as something that really I wanted to create for myself.

I had discovered podcasts.

I had a long commute at the time, and I wanted to keep up with Mac news and information and

those sorts of things.

And I thought, wow, wouldn't it be great if there was a podcast that covered that?

And also, back 19 years ago.

I was very involved in Macintosh user groups, and I think user groups were in a very, very

important and integral part of this community, especially in the early days.

I wish they still were an integral part of this community, I think.

But I think with the internet and just the times, they've kind of gone past.

And I thought at the time, podcasts could maybe fill some of that void and create the

sense of community, not just locally, but on a global scale.

That was really the idea.

Behind me starting the Mac cast, and it turned out to be correct, just through luck and

happenstance.

And so here we are 19 years later with this incredible community of folks that I've been

honored and privileged to be able to service almost every week with hints, tips, news,

tricks, all those sorts of things, all the goings-ons in the Apple and Mac community.

And you obviously have been a huge,

huge part of that.

And since the announcement, I've heard from many of you, and I think I wanted to also

in this episode just share some of those thoughts, because I have now received literally hundreds

of emails, and I'm trying to reply to all of them.

I will reply to all of them.

If I haven't gotten back to you yet, rest assured, I will respond at some point.

It's going to take me probably weeks, maybe months to even get through.

But hang in there.

I will get back to you.

All of them.

The sentiment and support has been incredible.

I think I alluded to the fact that some of you might be a little bit upset.

I have not experienced any of that.

I'm happy, very, very happy to say I have had nothing but the most positive, wonderful,

supportive emails from the community.

And I can't tell you how much that means to me, considering the fact that this decision

was something that I think if you heard that again, heard the last Mac cast was something

that I sort of agonized.

I really didn't want to let this community down.

I definitely didn't want to leave podcasting, but I've also reached this point in my life

where there's a number of other things that I want to go do and experience one of them

just spending more time and being more present with my family.

I've been working basically what amounts to three jobs if you include the podcast for

decades now.

And it's time to step back a little bit.

And take a pause and do some other things.

I'm also very much and I guess this is kind of answering some of your questions, because

I think some people are wondering, you know, what else am I doing?

Or what, you know, what am I transitioning into?

So definitely family focus and family time, and just personal time is one of those things.

But the other thing is, I've moved to this community in South Dakota, a big part of that

decision was so that I could get more involved with my community.

So I started doing that.

I've been doing community theater since I got here.

And so I've been acting and doing those things.

That was something that I wanted to pursue in college, I never really got to.

And now is a time where I have an opportunity to do that.

So I'm taking advantage of that.

I'm also restoring pinball machines, I've gotten into pinball machines, I have a 1976

pinball machine that I'm restoring with the help of a local makerspace in my community.

So I'm doing that.

And you know, just wanting to experience.

Other things outside of podcasting.

But again, I didn't want to, one of the things that I agonized over a lot was not wanting

to disconnect from this community, I wanted to keep connected, I wanted to keep going.

And so when I brought this decision up with David Hamilton in a conversation, they had

had a transition over there, and it created this opportunity for me to come in and join

that show.

And that's great, because it's going to involve, yes, some work, but not nearly the amount

of doing kind of a solo podcast.

So I'm able to show up, join that show, contribute, still be part of the community, still be hanging

out with you.

And I hope you find it very, very similar.

So if you're not familiar with the MacGeekGab, I think it comes from a very similar space

that this show comes from.

The one thing that they don't know about is that they don't have a podcast.

The one thing that they don't really cover over there is the news, sort of the news commentary

that I've done on the MacCast, but they definitely do the hints and tips and tricks and try and

help folks out with their computers and their technology problems and questions and stuff

like that.

So I'm going to be bringing my spin and my sort of personality to that show.

So hopefully that will help that grow.

And I hope you do consider going over there and subscribing.

And I definitely...

respect and would love your honest feedback.

There's an opportunity to maybe bring some changes to that show.

So if you have things that you think would make it better, or make it resonate more with

you, please let me know about that.

Send me emails.

MacCast at gmail.com is still a great email to reach me.

You can also reach me at Adam at MacGeekGab.com now.

So there's many, many ways to get ahold of me.

And I'll see you there.

Bye.

I look forward to your comments and your contributions, but yeah.

So this show has been absolutely amazing.

It's been, as I mentioned earlier, a huge, huge honor, a huge, huge privilege to be able

to have the opportunity to just bring this content to you each and every week.

And believe me, that honor is not lost on me, that privilege.

This community is absolutely amazing.

And again, just based on the emails and the feedback that I've received from you, I want

to play a couple of those for you now.

And I think there's no better place to start with a big contributor to the show.

You've heard his voice before.

And I was very honored and very privileged to get this voicemail from listener Gary.

Hey, Adam, Gary, I just heard your news.

I am totally in support of a decision.

It's a decision to move forward.

I think after 18 years, that is a lot to be doing anything.

I myself, you know, I'm making a transition after 18 years in doing something different,

trying something new, going back to school, trying a different job.

It's just a time for a change.

And I know it's not easy to move forward.

And it sounded like that decision that you had was a challenging one.

That's something you've talked about or thought about for a while.

And I do enjoy the Mac cast.

I can't remember.

I don't remember how many years it has been, but it's been a while that I've listened.

It's one of my favorite ones to listen to.

I think it's because you've always had your own personal take.

You've always had your own personal take on it.

There weren't any additional co-hosts.

It was well structured with, you know, news and feedback, tips and tricks changed a little

bit over the years, but mostly the same.

I know that the different ones have been slower to come in.

You know, I think I reached out once before and you were, you know, just doing some things,

family move.

I just wanted to send a message saying thank you for all the years.

For all the years and really appreciate the Mac cast.

I'm sure you're going to get a ton of mail with people reaching out.

So thank you for that.

And I look forward to hearing you on Mac geek cab.

Hey Gary, thank you so, so much.

I have to say from me and all of the Mac cast community definitely appreciated you being

part of this community.

You contributed so much over the years.

We've heard your voice many, many times, and I thank you for all those contributions and

I thank you for your continued support as I transition into the next big thing.

And I think that's, again, I think that's kind of where I'm at with this right now is

that this really is not, it's the end of this show, right?

And that's a significant thing.

I don't want to detract from that.

But it's definitely a.

Yeah.

Moving on period, a transition period into something different, something completely

new.

You know, there is one more thing and that thing is my transition into a new part of

this community.

And it's definitely going to be different.

It's not going to be the same and you know, that's always kind of a difficult thing, but

it also can be a sort of rebirth.

I think it could be a new beginning of something different.

And I am very excited about it.

I am very, very much looking forward to it.

And like I said, the number of supportive emails and things that I've received from

this community are just.

Overwhelming is not the word it is inspiring, I guess is probably the correct word for it.

So I really do appreciate all of the kind words of support that have been sent to my

inbox over the past couple of weeks.

It's been absolutely incredible and I want to just thank you.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart from that.

I thank you.

My family.

Thanks you.

And I'm really looking forward to the next thing.

I also got a another voicemail from a long time member of the community, actually a Mac

cast member zero in sort of honor of the whole Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak thing when I launched

the Patreon.

It was several years ago.

This guy was the very, very first one to sign up and it's my very good friend, not only

from the Mac cast community, but actually in real life, Barry.

And here's what Barry had to say.

Hey Adam, it's Barry in Chicago and San Francisco.

Just want to say thank you so much for all the wonderful years of Mac cast.

You have been such a pillar of the community, someone I always looked up to and you've taught

me so much over the years.

Good luck in your new role, working with the Mac geek cab and hope to keep in touch.

Thanks again for all these wonderful years.

Thank you, Barry.

You know, I love you, man.

And we will be around.

We will see each other again and I'll see many of you again.

I know another great thing that has been about this community is that over the years, even

though it's changed a lot, we've had a lot of opportunities to get together.

I've hung out.

I've met many of you.

I've talked to many of you in person, and I have to say this community has the most

wonderful, amazing, geeky, nerdy, wonderful people I think that I have ever met.

And again, that was a big part of why I want to continue to be part of and involved with

this community because you are amazing and absolutely, absolutely love it.

So I don't know that I have a whole lot more to say.

It's a little bit bittersweet.

I hope you've enjoyed it.

And I hope you've enjoyed being a part of the community.

I hope you've enjoyed being a part of this community.

And I hope you've enjoyed the fact that you've been a part of the community for so long.

I want to say one last thing I want to say.

Thank you for being here today.

I hope you enjoyed this episode.

I think we have some more episodes to come.

I'm going to save some time for you to take a few minutes to watch the rest of the episodes.

And I know there's many many more episodes that are not the Mac cast to come but and I

look forward to producing those.

But for this sort of generation, this point in time, this is going to be it.

This is going to say be the the the goodbye I guess kind of a long goodbye.

But again, I appreciate you all look forward to your continued support and you know, thank

the, uh, the, the goodbye, I guess, kind of a long goodbye. But, uh, again, I appreciate you all

look forward to your continued support and, uh, you know, thank you for, for absolutely for

everything. So this is me kind of closing out the Mac cast for the last time. Normally I would say

talk to you all again real soon. Uh, I will just in a different place. So again,

thank you so much and, uh, take care.