1. A wall calendar---to keep track of my progress. You can find these at any Office Max or Office Depot.

  2. A smartphone---to make follow up and confirmation calls, and simply keep time. I used mine to check bus times, in addition to all the others.



3. The voice recorder on any smartphone---which I used to record all the interviews, and later uploaded to Sound Cloud.

  4. A lapel mic to make it convenient for owners to attach to their shirts. I picked these up at Frys Electronics, an electronics store in my neighborhood. Best Buy should have something similar.



5. A Kanex Y-Splitter cable ( you plug your lapel mic and the owner's into yours.) Makes it convenient for me and the owner. Again, I got these at Frys Electronics.

 


6. My laptop---to write posts, edit audio in Audacity ( a free software to edit audio, music, and podcasts), and do online research.

7. Snipping tool (a software you can download)---to cut sections of a computer screen to make a point in an article. A free tool you can download online.



8. Camera on your phone---to take photos of shops and owners ( with permission, of course)




9. Sound Cloud account, or any other audio file hosting service. Sound Cloud is free for the first 3 hours, and then $6.00 for 6 hours per month.  
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