RSS FeedTime for the ducks to line up
I’m only about 3.5 weeks away from the start of WordCamp. Wow, let me say that again… I’m only 3.5 weeks away from the start of WordCamp. I need to get my shit together!
OK, truthfully, things are all going pretty well. But, that’s been thanks to some things falling in to place quite nicely. Some of that has just been hard work & manual labor, while other parts have been great recommendations by others.
I’m using EventBrite.com for handling the registrations. This turned out to be a stroke of genius. They handle the order taking, they collect all the important information securely, they let you ask additional questions if needed (shirt size, URL, etc…) and they deliver the cash directly to your paypal account. It couldn’t be easier.
After some searching on Google, I found a great deal on lanyards and badge holders at NameTag.com. They shipped my order the following day and it should arrive tomorrow. Sweet.
For the badges themselves, I’m actually still waiting on a piece of artwork from my designer. But, as soon as it arrives, I’m using a printer who I found through Twitter, of all places. Their website is VerticalPrinting.com and you can find Laura on Twitter @VPG_Printing.
Much of the hard work has been made a lot easier by the team over at Palace Station. They’ve really been helpful along the way. Getting the room organized, discount codes and all the extras that come up along the way. Big thanks to Page and Gina!
And finally, lots of help from friends. Doug hooked me up with the contacts for the conference space, Todd is on board to shoot photos and live blog the event, Jeff is in charge of the video and live stream, Brent is taking care of the internet access, my dad is driving in from California to do sound, my sister is coming in from California to help with registration/packet pickup and Dave was kind enough to loan me a projector. I think that’s everybody so far. I’m sure there will be more before the day arrives, but this has already been a great outpouring of assistance and I’m thrilled to have friends and family so eager to help! I hope they realize this is NOT a paying gig. 
I currently have a list of “last minute things” to get done that is on my iPhone and I look at it daily. I’ve been plucking items off the list and I’m feeling pretty good that everything is going to click in to place like a well tuned machine.
If I can get the shirts ordered by Friday, the printing ordered by the middle of next week, I’m going to be in the clear. I think those are the only things outside of my control that are outstanding. Everything else can be done locally. The weekend following Christmas is gonna be a busy one.
See you all there. Right?!?
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Round 1 goes to the server
For the past 5 years (maybe more), I’ve had an eMachines (yes, an eMachines) computer sitting under my desk running Linux and acting as my local development server. It’s doesn’t serve any pages out to the interweb, only to me sitting at my desk. So the performance level has never been an issue. Actually, even to this day the performance has been fantastic. Unfortunately, none of the software on the machine has been updated since it was first installed, so that means I’m running an ancient version of PHP and MySQL. Thanks to a recent upgrade to WordPress, this became an issue.
I invited my Linux Guru friend Todd over for the evening. The initial plan was to upgrade PHP and MySQL on the box. Once Todd had a look at how the machine was set up (Todd did the original setup all those years ago), he concluded that it would be easier to ditch the Mandrake installation that currently existed and upgrade the operating system to Ubuntu. [If it sounds like I'm making some of these words up, I apologize.] Before we could do an upgrade like this, I needed to move all the files and database off the server for safe keeping. Since the PC is so ancient, the speed (or lack there of) of the hard drive really shows. Moving the files ended up taking way longer than we expected. While we were waiting for the files to copy we cooked and ate dinner and with the help of some instructions, I solved the Rubik’s Cube for the first time in my life. While this was a very cool accomplishment, it didn’t change the fact that we had been waiting for more than 2 hours while the data moved from the server to the PC, and it still wasn’t finished.
We finally had to give up and call it a night. We’ve made alternate plans on how we are going to handle the server upgrade, but for now, the server is winning 1-0. I’m not even going to act surprised.
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2009 Project: Photo-a-Day
I enjoy a good challenge. Currently I’m in the middle of my second “30 Day Challenge” with a group of friends who all wanted to push themselves to post to their blog once per day for an entire month. There’s no money on the line and there’s no penalty for missing a day. There’s just the shame and humiliation piled on you from your friends when you miss a day (you know who you are). So far, so good for me. I’m about half way through and going strong. But with the holiday coming up, I fear the tough part is still ahead.
I’m not one to be slowed by merely having too much on my plate. I tend to thrive in these conditions. That could be the only reason why I have decided to create a project that is far larger than simply blogging once a day. That’s child’s play compared to what I plan to try. My goal is to post one new photo every day for the entire year on my photo website, SlackerPhotos.com.
In the past I tried a photo-a-day project and failed after just one month. The reason it failed is because I was going about it the wrong way. I was trying to take a new photo each day. This quickly turned in to a rush at the end of the day to take a photo that wasn’t horrible. Each time I posted one of the photos I felt worse about the project, so finally I just stopped. This project should be easier to accomplish as my goal is to POST a photo-a-day. I’ve taken several thousand photos over the past year and I’ll be able to pre-schedule photos to post on the site each day. I believe this will give me the leeway I need to be able to succeed with this project.
I recently gave SlackerPhotos.com a make-over with a new template. I removed some of the photos that I had posted before and it’s all set for it’s re-launch on January 1st. Subscribe to the RSS feed to receive a new photo each day. And, if I miss a day, feel free to mock me in whichever way you deem appropriate.
Do you have any project plans for 2009?
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How to properly pre-launch a show
Several months back NBC announced that Jimmy Fallon would be taking over hosting duties for Conan O’Brien once Conan replaces Jay Leno next year on the Tonight Show. He’s just a kid (35) compared to O’Brien (45) and Leno (58) and although I don’t watch a lot of late night talk shows, I’m definitely interested to see what Jimmy brings to the table, or desk, I guess.
Earlier tonight I saw a tweet scroll by that was a response to @jimmyfallon. Usually when I see a celeb’s name as part of a twitter account, I’ll visit the profile page to see what’s what. I like to try to figure out if it’s really the celeb doing the tweeting, or if it’s some marketing guy. Not that I mind the ‘marketing guy’ angle, I just like to see how they are using social media. Regardless, what I found on Jimmy’s profile page was a link to LateNightWithJimmyFallon.com, and this is where the fun begins.
On the site Jimmy is doing a daily video blog. The first few have been a behind the scenes look at the studio where the show will be taped, meet the announcer and the first installment of “Ask Jimmy“; a weekly segment where he’ll answer questions sent in by the community. If you record a video asking your question and send it in, there’s a chance you’re going to end up being part of the segment. I’m looking forward to more episodes of Ask Jimmy.
It’s great to see a show taking advantage of social media. And take advantage they are. Aside from Jimmy personally twittering, check out this post where they list 18 ways to connect with Jimmy online. Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, MySpace, etc… As I’m writing this, Jimmy has over 3500 followers on twitter, 879 friends on Facebook and 3300 friends on Myspace. By interacting with the audience before there’s even a show to watch, Jimmy’s going to build a buzz for the show that will be far greater than if they went with the usual commercial onslaught in every popular TV show on NBC during the month leading up to Jimmy’s debut on the show.
Congrats to NBC and Jimmy Fallon for realizing the benefits of social media.
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Get one thing done
As you may already know, I’m in the process of organizing a conference called WordCamp:Las Vegas. It’s less than a month away now so it’s really starting to become Crunch Time! All those things I knew I had to get done before the show didn’t seem like that big of a deal a few months ago when I started this journey. However, as the event draws near, it’s time to do like the jolly guy from the North Pole is doing right now; make a list and check it twice!
Last night while I had some down time, I started brainstorming. I wanted to work on a list of items I’m going to need for the conference that aren’t the big obvious things (like chairs, a stage, a microphone, etc…). I decided that the best way to do this was going to be on the iPhone using an app called Toodledo. Each time I would think of a new item I needed to get, I’d create a new task for it. By the time I was done I realized I have some work to do. And some of it I need to get done soon!
This morning I opened up Toodledo to double-check the list. When I first saw all the tasks staring back at me with their due dates and importance level (most say HIGH), it was a little overwhelming. I quickly closed the app and went back in to my shell of denial and headed off to work. Luckily, on my lunch break I came to my senses. I opened up the app again and took a quick look and found exactly what I was looking for. A simple task on the list that could be done with minimal effort. I quickly hit the Internet, did a search on Google, found 3 stores selling the product I needed. I found the store that had the item that best fit my needs and had the best price and I placed the order. I opened up Toodledo again and checked the item off the list. With that check mark went a sizable amount of stress.
When staring at the entire list of things to do, it can be overwhelming. When looking at any of the tasks on the list, none are to challenging and likely need only a few minutes attention each. Getting just one thing done of my list helped reinforce that fact.
I feel better already.
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