Hello friends! After several months of being down, Talk with Tim is back and ready for action.

Some personal issues as well as a relocation out of state led to the site expiring. Luckily, the great folks at DreamHost were able to help me get setup again. I’ll be writing articles and conducting interviews from the faraway lands of Alaska. Anchorage, Alaska to be exact.

I already have one great local interview in the works…you’re going to love it! In addition to interviews, I will be covering local events and businesses just like I did in Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. From the land of mountains and bountiful wildlife to your computer, stay tuned for more great interviews! Thank you!

Lets recap a few interview highlights from year one of TwT:

• Actress Nathalie Boltt Discusses District 9
• Dallas Jessup Fights Sexual Assault
• Jeff Sharlet On His Bestselling Book – The Family

Enjoy a small taste of the beauty of Anchorage, Alaska…

Thank you for visiting Talk with Tim! My blog is dedicated to interviewing fun and interesting people. Not surprisingly, I’m not the only one out there interviewing people. A variety of blogs conduct interviews that are relevant to their niche. For example, Mike Crimmins from A Daily Shot of Coffee interviewed Eyal Rosen from ROASTe and Yaro Starak chats with Will Hamilton about his online business.

Great interviews and insightful commentary need more exposure. There are a lot of amazing blogs out there, large and small, that interview interesting people or discuss important topics (politics, business, and others). The Compendium of Conversation is a way to highlight some of the best work from around the blogosphere.

The Compendium of Conversation will be a weekly blog carnival that highlights posts featuring interviews or commentary (in text, audio or video). Read more about blog carnivals and the Compendium here.

Submissions for the first edition of The Compendium of Conversation are due Sunday, February 28th, 2010 by 5:00 PM Pacific Standard Time (PST). Submit your article here!

I am also searching for blogs that are interested in hosting the Compendium of Conversation, if you are interested please contact me.

Image by Lin Pernille

Remember the My Zombie Pinup Calendar giveaway I did? Well, the second winner finally received his prize after a long holdup in Customs. His name is Pops Ghostly and he reps Canada for the nerdcore hip hop crowd.

Rhonny from Dollar Bin Horror was the other winner.

Pops Ghostly agreed to send me pictures and he even included a shot of him in his zombie apocalypse gear! (Click Image for Larger View)

Thanks for participating and sending the pictures!

On my Facebook page, I put out a call for cute, funny or interesting pet or animal pictures. My goal was to do a fun, lighthearted post. I was pleasantly surprised by the response and support from my friends! Below you’ll find the cutest pet pics that my friends sent me – plus a few of my own! (Including the thumbnail to the left here.) I hope at least one of these pictures puts a smile on your face! ‘Cause that’s my goal. Have a great day!

I’m open to more submissions…so spread the word and be sure to comment below if you liked the pictures!

Oh! If the picture is too small – click it! – and it will go to the full size image. Enjoy!

One of the two winners of Talk with Tim’s My Zombie Pinup Calendar Contest received her prize!

Rhonny, a blogger at Dollar Bin Horror, was pretty stoked to get her calendar in the mail saying, “Thanks sooooo much! I LOVE it! Here are some pics of it.”

Thank you for the pictures Rhonny! I’m glad you like the calendar! I’d also like to thank My Zombie Pinup for not only being awesome and making a great product but for also sending me calendars to giveaway!

[View with PicLens]

My Zombie Pinup provided me a few copies of their wonderfully gruesome zombie pinup calendar to giveaway! All the comments are in and my selections have been made. I originally intended to just giveaway one copy but I’ve decided to giveaway two.

I appreciate the time everyone took to comment, there were several really good ones!

Contest Winners Are:

• Rhonny Reaper: “Jesus’ cause if you think about it, was the ORIGINAL “Zombie” “Pin Up”.
• Pops G: “There will be no time for Christmas when the zombie apocalypse happens…however when it does…I will stuff it in my own stocking…which will now be a make shift utility pouch…I’ll roll the calendar up around a machete blade as a handle and use it against the horde of undead. God help us all…we have been forsaken.”

Thanks again to everyone who participated! Be sure to check out My Zombie Pinup, the calendar is great and they also have other nice swag!

The lovely undead over at My Zombie Pinup have sent me a few copies of their 2010 My Zombie Pinup Wall Calendar to giveaway! This comment contest will be for one (1) of the three (3) calendars that I have.

So, if you’d like to win a zombie calendar then you need to enter the contest, right?

Enter to Win a 2010 My Zombie Pinup Calendar

* I make no guarantee that if you win the calendar it will arrive to your house in time for Christmas. However, I will mail it out ASAP.

On August 20th, my laptop was KIA. On the 21st, its broken and damaged body was transported to Geek Squad at my local Best Buy for repair or replacement.

Here’s the update:

• 08/21/09 5:38pm Checked In Product has been checked in and is awaiting shipment
• 08/22/09 10:59pm Shipped Product has been shipped from the store to the repair location. Depending on the type of product, shipping may take between two and seven days
• 08/27/09 7:29am Received Product has been received at the repair location and is being assigned to a Geek Squad Agent or a certified technician for repair
• 08/27/09 7:31am In Repair Product has been assigned to a Geek Squad Agent or a certified technician for repair or upgrade
• 09/02/09 9:23am Parts Received Parts have been received and product is being repaired
• 09/02/09 5:43pm Parts Ordered Awaiting arrival of parts ordered from the manufacturer or approved parts supplier for repair. Depending on the supplier, parts arrival may take between three and ten days

I only have a couple things to point out. First, this is taking more than the average of 10 days that the Geek Squad guy told me. Although he did say it could take 14-21 days. Second, if you buy a plan from Geek Squad…get the replacement plan!! I have hardly had any good access to the internet since my laptop passed away. Look at all this time that I haven’t been able to update my site!

I love my HP laptop. It’s quiet, performs great and the specs have satisfied me since 2007 when I bought it. However, Thursday night, shortly after interviewing the blog mastermind – Yaro Starak, my laptop took a deep breath and died. Did it die because it was overwhelmed by the awesomness of interviewing Yaro? Hard to say.

But, I won’t place the blame on him. Yaro’s a cool guy. I’m very grateful for his time and the fact that he even responded to my email! Lucky for me, I had saved the audio file to my external hard drive before the last hurrah.

I don’t know what exactly happened to my laptop.

In any case, I am now at the mercy of the Geek Squad, the orange and black computer repairmen (and women) who occupy a little section of my local Best Buy. Will the money I shelled out for a 3-year extended warranty pay off? Or will they come up short?

I’ll be sure to provide updates as the process carries on and review everything once I have my HP laptop back on my desk. I was quoted 14-21 days but the guy that helped me said their normal turn-around is about 10 days. Here’s hoping! Until then…my computer access is relatively limited.

Image by kmevans.