The start of my podcast career

One of my "hobbies", I suppose you could say, is cars. I don't own anything exotic or work on them in my spare time, but I do spend a lot of time reading about them. I also listen to some podcasts like Vinny's Garage.
Vinny has a segment of the show called "Take it or Leave it" where he discusses various cars or trucks with people (usually his friends or relatives) and they decide whether they think they would buy this car or not.
A few weeks ago he asked for listeners who wanted to be on the TIOLI segment, so I wrote him this email:

Why I should be on take it or leave it:

I have risen above my humble beginnings, growing up in NYC with no car (My parents don't even have driver's licenses!) to become a gearhead.

I have 22 RSS feeds labeled "Cars" on Google Reader.

I stand as a staunch bastion against the rising tide of anti-minivan sentiment. It's the practicality, stupid. However, I still live in the hope that Renault will put their F1 powered Espace minivan into production. ( http://www.supercars.net/cars/1672.html) I could carry my
three kids and all their stuff and they would never be late for school
again. (OK, I could compromise with a Magnum SRT, but where's my Town and Country SRT?)

Since I am from New York City, I have an opinion on
everything (it's the law) and I am usually right. However, since I have lived in the South (GA) for many years, I am very polite about my intellectual superiority.

I went to art school, but I also went to engineering school. So I've got that whole right-brain/left-brain thing going for me.

I could go on and on, but really, what's the point? Looking forward to
working with you. :)

... with the result being we wound up doing the show. It's posted on his site as show #17, if you have a burning urge to listen.

Boy, do I hate hearing my recorded voice. Not to mention, unless you're a professional speaker, everybody always has those verbal tics which, when you listen to yourself, are very annoying. (I seem to say "exactly" a lot, among other things.) I do display a geek-level knowledge of horsepower and curb weights, though. Chicks dig that.

We talked about "crossovers", which are vehicles that are supposed to bridge the gap between cars and SUVs, but they're not wagons or minvans (heaven forbid!). I don't have much patience for this kind of car, because it seems to be driven by people's insecurities, even more than most car decisions. People who need the space of a wagon or a minvan, but want to think they are more outdoorsy or fun than that. Yeah, sure. To me they are just wagons that get shitty mileage and tip over easily. Or big tall minvans that use 10% more gas and have 20% less space.

It did seem to go fairly well though, and who knows, maybe I'll get a chance to do it again some time.