Mesh West Vancouver 2011

(12/05/2011)

  

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7:20	Raul:  This liveblogging window should be able to capture all tweets associated with the hashtag #MeshWest Monday December 5, 2011 7:20 Raul

7:21	hummingbird604:  NEW BLOG POST, Mesh West Vancouver 2011 Live-tweetage #MeshWest – http://t.co/8wLURelP [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 hummingbird604

7:21	markevans:  @carl_schmidt Thanks. See you today at #meshwest! [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 markevans

7:21	GusF:  @cathybrowne Will see you at #meshwest later this morning as well. [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 GusF

7:21	joshnilson:  RT @YVRJason: Join me tomorrow @meshcon in Vancouver for my Panel at 10:30. http://t.co/ZwAtcfGq Dec.5th/2011 [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 joshnilson

7:21	CathyBrowne:  Getting ready to head out to #meshwest – excited to see my old friend @markevans again! Hope the pics turn out:-) [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 CathyBrowne

7:21	sponsorshipgirl:  RT @ChrisNieckar: Off to yvr for breakfast. #meshwest [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 sponsorshipgirl

7:21	bsharwood:  Both #nextmedia and #meshwest today. Conference tweets will be in full force today. [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 bsharwood

7:21	ChrisNieckar:  Off to yvr for breakfast. #meshwest [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 ChrisNieckar

7:21	stuartma:  Sad to be missing the #meshwest fun in Vancouver. But I’m there in spirit [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 stuartma

7:21	sponsorshipgirl:  good morning #yvr- it’s #meshwest time- see you in a a few hours! [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 sponsorshipgirl

7:21	lolaurencelle:  @heatherritzer Hey! Just wondering how I can obtain my ticket for meshwest tmr? I haven’t received any info..Thanks! [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 lolaurencelle

7:21	marlisays:  Ready for tomorrow’s Meshwest Social Media Conference & a week of bluebird sunny days coming up! [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 marlisays

7:21	meshcon:  @jona_think Glad to hear you’re attending #meshwest tomorrow! [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 meshcon

7:21	meshcon:  @jeffreyqua Hope to see you at #meshwest tomorrow! [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 meshcon

7:21	jeanettekramer:  Wish I could be at #meshwest tomorrow. [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 jeanettekramer

7:21	arianecdesign:  RT @meshcon: Win an iPad2 by coming to #meshwest tomorrow thanks to help from our friends at Simply.ca: http://t.co/zvTELWX3 [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 arianecdesign

7:21	saidHENRY:  RT @markevans: 12 hours until meshwest in Vancouver. [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 saidHENRY

7:21	jona_think:  Going to mesh west Vancouver tomorrow. Anyone else? #meshwest [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 jona_think

7:21	markevans:  RT @DoreenatDMS: Hey @zite! Here’s to the surge i know you will get tomorrow, tks to #meshwest. Hang on. cc: @markevans [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 markevans

7:21	DoreenatDMS:  Hey @zite! Here’s to the surge i know you will get tomorrow, tks to #meshwest. Hang on. cc: @markevans [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 DoreenatDMS

7:21	markevans:  RT @diannechow: Win an iPad2 by coming to #meshwest tomorrow thanks to help from our friends at Simply.ca: http://t.co/4wiehfyC [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 markevans

7:21	DavidJCDavies:  RT @markevans: Looking forward to @stewartbutterfield’s keynote conversation to kick off #meshwest tomorrow in #yvr – http://t.co/qVqLAdzn [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 DavidJCDavies

7:21	meshcon:  Looking forward to @stewartbutterfield’s keynote conversation to kick off #meshwest tomorrow in #yvr – http://t.co/lRt9cENI [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 meshcon

7:21	lagardeval:  Desjardins is excited to be At #meshwest Vancouver tomorrow [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:21 lagardeval

7:22	alexshipillo:  RT @hummingbird604: RT @markevans: Just an FYI that student tickets to #meshwest in Vancouver on Monday are just $49. http://t.co/VwiPrLGQ [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:22 alexshipillo

7:22	hummingbird604:  RT @markevans: Just an FYI that student tickets to #meshwest in Vancouver on Monday are just $49. http://t.co/VwiPrLGQ [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:22 hummingbird604

7:22	hummingbird604:  RT @meshcon: One more sleep until #meshwest in #yvr? Got your ticket yet? http://t.co/wnXJAXQW [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:22 hummingbird604

7:22	hummingbird604:  RT @meshcon: Win an iPad2 by coming to #meshwest tomorrow thanks to help from our friends at Simply.ca: http://t.co/etzTMncC [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:22 hummingbird604

7:39	chriswalts:  Who all is going to #MeshWest this morning? [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:39 chriswalts

7:39	Certainlys0cial:  Off to @meshcon today and really looking forward to @janicediner’s presentation. Awesome to see games well-represented too! #meshwest [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:39 Certainlys0cial

8:09	Roxyyo:  Headin’ out to Meshwest Vancouver #meshwest [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 8:09 Roxyyo

9:00	sammacmillan:  Getting my learn on at MeshWest (@ The Salt) http://4sq.com/touwBe [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 9:00 sammacmillan

9:22	tammertron:  Meshwest! (@ Salt Building w/ 2 others) http://4sq.com/w0xbI4 [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 9:22 tammertron

9:24	cs_pritchard:  Listening to @markevans and @stewart kick off meshwest conference #meshcon [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 9:24 cs_pritchard

9:24	byashleigh:  Settling into @meshwest at the Salt building. Looking toward to a thought provoking day! #meshcon [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 9:24 byashleigh

9:26	GusF:  .@stewart speaks @meshwest about startups http://instagr.am/p/XhV4-/ [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 9:26 GusF

9:28	tammertron:  At meshwest, can’t wait to hear more about Glitch @playglitch #meshcon [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 9:28 tammertron

9:28	Asifa604:  Wonder what would have happened if Stewart Butterfield’s online banking idea flew like flickr #meshcon # meshwest [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 9:28 Asifa604

9:37	ChrisNieckar:  Meshwest visitors can try Minigroup free for 6 months. Join this group to get on the comp list. #meshwest http://bit.ly/vRZs7E [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 9:37 ChrisNieckar

9:42	sponsorshipgirl:  RT @ChrisNieckar: Meshwest visitors can try Minigroup free for 6 months. Join this group to get on the comp list. #meshwest http://t.co/ … [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 9:42 sponsorshipgirl

9:45	lolaurencelle:  Waking up this morning with a terribly high fever is not my cup of tea! Hope everyone is enjoying themselves @meshwest [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 9:45 lolaurencelle

9:46	TriciaFallows:  Interesting mini-debate on the entrepreneurial community in Vancouver @meshwest. I agree, it exists – whether born & raised or not #meshcon [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 9:46 TriciaFallows

10:07

Tamsen_Creative:  RT @Asifa604: Wonder what would have happened if Stewart Butterfield’s online banking idea flew like flickr #meshcon # meshwest [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 10:07 Tamsen_Creative

10:08

Jane_Victoria:  Made it to @MeshWest in time for the tail end of the keynote yack with Stewart Butterfield. #YVR [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 10:08 Jane_Victoria

10:46

JordIntegrates:  So late to get to MeshWest… [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 10:46 JordIntegrates

10:46

Asifa604:  Start up panel at # meshwest. Carl Schmidt says Vancouver has the potential to be Silicon Valley north. [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 10:46 Asifa604

10:48

Asifa604:  Jason Bailey calls making money the American dream. What’s the Canadian dream then? # meshwest [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 10:48 Asifa604

11:16

TriciaFallows:  Awesome. @meshwest Jason Bailey’s answer to post secondary schools – can they help start ups? no! Too many bleeps to quote. #meshcon [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 11:16 TriciaFallows

11:18

Vancity_Now:  Meshwest. Dec 5, 2011, 9:00-4:00 pm. Meshwest is a 1 day event that will explore how the Web is changing the world. http://www.meshwest.ca [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 11:18 Vancity_Now

1:16	meshcon:  @chrisbreikss We’ll get you in touch today with Alicia to arrange the scarf and blanket sponsorship deal for meshwest ’12! LOL [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 1:16 meshcon

1:22	Social_Agency:  Very interesting. @JaniceDiner explains how Walmart is turning FB likes into targeted local sales. @meshcon @meshwest [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 1:22 Social_Agency

2:08	Social_Agency:  What a beautiful day for meshwest! Enjoying all the phenomenal speakers and a gorgeous view from inside the Salt Building. [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 2:08 Social_Agency

7:45	JennLo_:  Great Meshwest conference today. Met some awesome people. #meshwest [via Twitter] Monday December 5, 2011 7:45 JennLo_

9:37	wikads:  Attended MeshWest Vancouver yesterday. Great event, excellent speakers, but a little cold. Would be happy to attend again next year! [via Twitter] Tuesday December 6, 2011 9:37 wikads

10:02

 

 

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The competition focuses on BC contestants in an effort to stimulate local entrepreneurs and partnerships. The companies will pitch their ideas to the council in hopes of making it through to the end to win funding for their enterprises.

The BCIC-New Ventures Competition is open to any B.C. resident, team or business with an innovative technology product or service that has not yet secured significant financing from external investors (i.e. investors other than friends, family and company founders).

• Learn from some of B.C’s best business experts at our business-education seminars
• Network with top professionals in business, law, finance, government and academia
• Improve your business and strategies during each round of competition
• Receive advice and insight from mentors In Round 3
• Present your condensed business plan to a panel of ‘angel’ investors, venture capitalists and industry experts in Round 4

The top 10 finalists were chosen and recently announced by BCIC. These finalists will have the chance to move ahead in the competition and pitch their ideas for a shot at one of the prizes. We look forward to learning more about these companies in the near future.

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One of the great things that I have learned about information technology is that, the more I explore it, the more excited I become with the possibilities it offers for academics like me. Let me explain. Recently, I took a few days off and went up to Whistler to my friend Lisa Thomas-Tench’s family townhouse. Lisa forewarned me that the place wasn’t fitted with wireless internet. I was excited at NOT being online.

You’ll see, whether I am at my downtown office at The Network Hub, working from home or on the road (visiting clients) or at the university, I am ALWAYS online. Given that I have had an iPhone for almost a year now (thanks to my friend Mike Yurechko), I am always able to check my emails, tweets and documents on-the-go.

Except when I am nowhere near a wireless Internet connection.

I purposefully decided NOT to get a data plan because I knew I would be connected ALL THE TIME. I knew that by keeping my iPhone purely able to log on to wireless internet, without having data plan, I would have to learn to be efficient, download all my emails, maybe download my tweets and check them while commuting from Point A to Point B.

During my retreat in Whistler (which was aimed at just focusing on writing a manuscript I am working on with my Mom, who is also an academic), I needed to download a lot of data. But I just didn’t have the time to go visit my friend Tris and borrow an external HDD.

What I did instead, though, was to turn on Gears on both of my browsers (Chrome and Firefox) and allow GMail to operate in offline mode. And it was AMAZING. I was able to catch up on a heck of a lot of emails I needed, read drafts of documents I had sent myself via email, and read drafts of journal articles I had to peer-review. Client work, etc. All available.

Google – you are geniuses.

While it annoys me that YouTube is synchronized with my Gmail account, and it also annoys me that Google.ca/calendar does not exist (only Google.com/Calendar), your tools have really greatly improved my workflow.

Related posts:

1. GMail is down… again! On the dependency on tech tools
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After last week’s blog re-design, I’ve got a lot of positive responses to the new layout, but the header of the blog still kept feeling somewhat … how to put it… STILL NOT ME. Since the new header image was a modification of the standard image in this blog, it didn’t really reflect ME. Rebecca thought about the header for a while and came up with the one that is currently on the blog.

I’ll discuss more about the blog re-design in further posts, but instead of telling YOU what the changes are, I’d like you to tell ME – what do you think? If you have met me in person (or even if you haven’t) … does it reflect who I am? Thanks first of all to Rebecca for the hard work in creating the header, and to you my readers for providing the feedback

Related posts:

1. Thoughts on the re-design of my blog’s theme?
2. Congratulations Miss604 on your 4 years!
3. The move from WordPress.com to WordPress.org and self-hosting

I read blogs/news/books/journal articles/papers in a large, overview kind of approach, to help me understand the world. But if I want to use a piece of software, or a platform, my brain kind of shuts-off. It took me all of ten minutes to absorb what Rebecca did for my new theme (e.g. changing the header image, which is as far as WordPress.com will let you go). She showed me how to add text on my sidebar. Visually, it was a piece of cake. Andy helped me fix the centering problem I was having with my photos. It took me all of ten minutes to understand what exactly he had done to help me with a theme that overrides the center tags. Piece of cake. Show me once, I can do it myself. Kulpreet has also been always very helpful on Twitter giving me small bits of advice here and there.

However, the problem with me is that I am very visual when it comes to computers. I don’t like having to read to learn how to use a program or a platform. Show me how to do it. Don’t do it for me, let me do it myself. Do it along with me. So, if I could find someone who has digested the WordPress Codex and just sit down with him or her and get a tutorial (or two or three, however many I needed), then I’d be in WordPress bliss. But I am sure I am not going to get that pipe dream, so I am writing this post to encourage those of you who use WordPress and are in what I call the “intermediate” stages of geekification, to check the Codex.

And to my geeky friends whom I frequently ask questions re: WP – apologies in advance, but I’ll still keep asking you random questions about how to do this or that in WordPress. Hope you don’t mind

Related posts:

1. The CSS customization and going self-hosted “light”
2. Switching to WordPress from another platform: What do you want to hear?
3. The move from WordPress.com to WordPress.org and self-hosting

In my Twitter feed, I saw today a post on Bill C-61 proposed by Minister of Industry Jim Prentice and the lack of transparency and public consultation that surrounds the bill. I am not unfamiliar with this topic, having live-blogged Michael Geist’s lecture recently. Dr. Geist is an expert in Internet and E-Commerce Law at the University of Ottawa (and an absolute pleasure to talk to, by the way).

He is (and I think, rightfully so) worried about the content and provisions of Bill C-61. Geist furthermore makes a really good point here:

“Because in a country that rightly promotes the importance of education, the Canadian DMCA erects new barriers for teachers, students, and schools at every level who now face the prospect of infringement claims if they want to teach using digital media.“[Michael Geist's column, June 13 2008]

As an educator, a policy analyst, a researcher, an academic AND a blogger, I am worried about a bill that would prevent teachers and students from using digital media to advance the knowledge. In this era of the “new normal” (a term coined by Geist that I have adopted now as a philosophy) we have been adopting new technologies and media at an incredibly fast pace. Just as an example, I have been vlogging more recently, as well as highlighting new music, videos, etc.

What is the future of our rights as users of media and are we really doing what is best for the citizens and residents of Canada? That’s a question I am mulling over right now… what do you think?

Related posts:

1. Rejecting Bill C-61 in its current form – The online discussion
2. Tazzu community and Bill C-61 – voice your concerns!
3. Putting back the public in public policy

Those bloggers whom I’ve now met in real life and, particularly those with whom I have hung out enough that I actually consider friends, will know that I actually do care about what they post on their blogs and their tweets. I follow this philosophy with everything. I care more about the person than the job, the blog, the position, etc. I have good friends who are now famous authors, actors, writers and renowned scholars. Yet, I am more interested in how they’re doing (personally) than I am on whether their latest journal article was cited 10,000 times.

At any rate, I was scanning recent blog posts and came across Darren Barefoot’s post on his feelings on Twitter. I left a massive comment on his blog and I still feel sort of guilty about it, so I just figured I’d post something somewhat funny and related to Twitter.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT5yCnEr8kQ&hl=en]

Rebecca alerted me about this episode of CSI on a comment she left on one of my posts. In this episode, the CSI team is reviewing the Twitter account of a dead victim who (apparently, haven’t seen the episode) was in the midst of a love triangle. Video courtesy of YouTube.

I am not sure if there is or not a lot of exciting stuff on my tweets, but I can guarantee that at least, there will be links to my new blog posts.

Related posts:

1. Twitter has officially become mainstream – my civilian friends know all about Twitter
2. New to Twitter? Use a Twitter client
3. Twitter and the bi-directionality of Web 2.0

However, as time has gone by, and I’ve embraced blogging more (and as it has become part of my current lifestyle), I have clued in that ‘the new normal’ for geeks is exactly the same ‘new normal’ for me (and everyone else). Yes, I know I refuse to be sucked into technology and I am happy about it. JT has a running joke that he always has the techie gadgets about four years before I do. My current TV? It’s a gift from AF and DM. Not a flat screen, nor an LCD panel. But I love it and it’s served me well. My current DVD player? A gift from my brother. Don’t own a Blu-Ray nor do I care to do so. Cell phone? I lost it a few months ago (yes, I am going to get a one whenever I get around to it, don’t worry!). And even when I had a cell phone, it was pretty basic. The new phone I’m going to buy is pretty basic too. I don’t own an iPhone, and until about a couple of years ago, had very little understanding of podcasting, Second Life, viral marketing, crowdsourcing and all that jazz. So, for me to be immersed in the techno-geek sphere is a new form of seeing the world… and quite frankly, I like it.

In his lecture, Geist described numerous examples of what Geist calls “the new normal” (Michael – if you are reading this, feel free to correct me where appropriate). Amongst the ones that resonated the most with me are:
- Using Facebook, YouTube and other tools to reach broader audiences.
- The emergence of open-access journals.
- Real-time publishing of up-to-date, online information.
- The rise of the “citizen journalism” phenomenon.
- Creative Commons and a new culture of openly sharing knowledge, information and art.
- The evolution of access to government information and privacy laws.

I could go on for pages, and pages, and I think I am going to use this first post to re-think Geist’s ideas more. But there are two points I want to pick on that are relevant.

The first one: online privacy. I have talked about this with bloggers, techno-geek friends and non-blogger friends alike. I have refused to publish my last name online except for a very small number of people, and although I post photos on my blog and on Flickr, I try very hard to keep the personal ones restricted to very few people. Other bloggers post their photos online, and some of those photos may include me in the picture. Maybe I will do the same in the (not so far) future (that is, posting photos of myself), but for now, this is the level of comfort I have. I am sure other bloggers have snapped pictures with me, and generally speaking, I don’t mind if said pictures are posted. But I kind of like thinking that I have some degree of privacy. Although after reading more about the whole Facebook debacle (where some Vancouver-based techno-geek guy was able to access even Mark Zuckerberg’s personal albums) I am somewhat skeptical about privacy. But I think this is one of the collateral elements of “the new normal”: accepting that the boundaries and limits of your privacy aren’t set exactly where you want them set. And understanding that you can set new boundaries and terms that are perfectly compatible with “the new normal”.

For example, my former students know very well that I have not joined Facebook. I have asked them to e-mail me instead to let me know what they are up to (as opposed to reading about it on FB’s Mini-Feed). Having them e-mail me gives our interaction (between the student and myself) a much more personal feel. All of my good friends know that I have refused to join FB, yet they are always willing to e-mail me separately to inform me of a certain party they’d like me to attend.

That is the whole gist of my blog post – I have learned to adapt to “the new normal”, yet I still set my own personal boundaries around what I am comfortable doing and what I am not. I took a stance with respect to FB and all of my friends have respected that stance and the boundaries that it has established it. In doing so, they are also making choices about how they relate to me, and they choose to establish communication through other means (such as e-mail invites to parties and/or updates on what is going on with their lives). Many of them, as a matter of fact, call me and/or organize meetings over coffee to catch up.

The second point I wanted to touch upon (and I better do this quickly as I am fading fast, I’m physically and mentally exhausted – have been battling a headache/migraine all day) was the use of Facebook, SEO and all that jazz to reach broader audiences. I am not going to lie. Do I enjoy the fact that my readership has increased a heck of a lot? Yes, I do, I love it. Would I be thrilled if my readership was that of Rebecca Bollwitt, Darren Barefoot or Stephen Rees, to give you a few examples? Hmmm… Maybe, maybe not. (Side note – Truth be told, I really don’t know how many people read my blog. I usually rely on BlogStats, and not sure really how to get a better number – and yes, for the record, I do love it when people read my blog, and comment on it).

Don’t get me wrong, I *love* being read. I *love* sharing my thoughts and ideas. And I *love* commenting on other bloggers’ sites. But my worry sometimes (not ALL the time) is that with growing readership, I feel that I have a bigger responsibility to my readers. What if I am caught on a day off and I blog some sort of incoherent blurb? What if I decide to just post a music review? I wonder… will readers stop coming to visit my blog? And is that something that would make me sad? I still wonder…

So, yes – I am tempted to use these tools to reach broader audiences (I even signed on to Twitter) but only to the extent that I feel that my privacy is still protected. Of course, I am pretty sure that if I tweet (post a short micro-blog update online), everybody in the blogosphere will know what I am up to. And *that* level of openness I am comfortable with. I have no problem tweeting that I have a migraine (I have had one all day long). Heck, I will not even feel uncomfortable tweeting that I am having brunch at the Nice Cafe on Main and 8th Avenue and asking whether any local bloggers/users of Twitter would like to join. That is just fine. Again, this is a sign of my own adaptation to the “new normal”. For me, “the new normal” will most likely include posting short updates of what I am up to on Twitter.

You may ask yourselves “well, how is Twittering that different from Facebooking?“. I don’t have the answer to that question just yet. I haven’t tweeted enough. I’ll let you in a few weeks/months if the whole Twitter mumbo-jumbo has worked for me.

Final remarks – even as a non-geek, I was completely enthralled by Michael Geist’s lecture. Besides, he’s very pleasant to chat with. No wonder why geeks like him so much. And it was really fun to guest-live-blog for Rebecca.

Related posts:

1. Michael Geist on “E-Publishing and the Law” guest liveblogging
2. New friends online: Adapting to the “new normal”
3. Living my life as an open book: The Living Library Project at UBC’s @ikblc

So, it seems as though, unless I can find a way to make Blogger speak to WordPress and link the trackbacks, I will be switching to WP any time soon. I’m sort of worried about the amount of time I’ll have to spend cleaning up my entries, but at the same time, I do want my readership to increase, and it’ll be hard to do unless I switch to WP.

Related posts:

1. Testing the waters I: From Blogger to WordPress
2. The move from WordPress.com to WordPress.org and self-hosting
3. The WordPress Codex – Refusing to read :-)

While the definition remains quite loose, I would say that geeks have particular technical skills in a specific field. For example, I am very lucky to have in my life an information technology geek. He is quite competent with computers and is usually the one to whom I run with questions as stupid as “so which webcam do you think I should buy?” or “how the hell do I recharge my iPod?“. Yeah, that’s me. The non-computer geek. J often jokes that I’m about five years behind in regards to technology (I don’t own a plasma TV, for one, and my cell phone is as basic as you can imagine! – no camera, no data transmission capabilities, etc.)

That being said, I think I could say I’m an enviro geek. I am more than happy to engage in long-winded discussions on climate change, pollution, the state of our world’s sustainability, etc. One time, I had a 39 oC- fever and had just flown to Germany to attend a conference. I sat through 4 and a half hours (non-stop) of talks on environmental affairs, and I didn’t even twitch in my seat. That’s a sign of passion, and I am very passionate about sustainability. I guess that also makes me an enviro geek.

I think (and I don’t believe I’m that wrong) that many people equate bloggers with geeks, and admittedly, I can see how many bloggers may have great technical skills (web savvy for example). But I would argue that not every blogger is geeky. I, for one, couldn’t backtrack to save my life until Rebecca (aka Miss604) told me that sometimes, trackbacks don’t work between Blogger and WordPress. Yeah, sadly, I’m not that good when it comes to platforms, and so on.

I’d be interested in hearing your opinions on the topic. As I had mentioned before, I feel as though I belong to a community of bloggers, and I wonder if this community thinks of themselves as geeks.

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However, it was Rebecca who encouraged me to Blogathon (I chose the charity, A Loving Spoonful, but basically she gave me the gentle push to join in Blogathoning). She has also provided some really useful, techie, geeky advice and even invited me to be a guest blogger on her own blog, which was a great honour (and a lot of fun, I might add).

Rebecca has also challenged me to think about relevant issues, including the ethics of blogging (and photo credits), the divide between mainstream media and bloggers, and at times, about fun stuff such as “do we need Starbucks at Skytrain stations?”. Here is a toast to her four years of blogging, and to many more to come.

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2. Third Tuesday Meetup – Media sponsor is Miss604.com
3. Book signing w @miss604 at @LondonDrugs

I also really like the fact that it can do double-sided (not automatically as other Laserjets used to be able to do, but still it does allow me to save paper AND it’s not as complicated as you may think). I have been able to print full articles (2 in 1 pages) and envelopes. Pretty near, I tell you.

I know that Darren Barefoot did extend an invitation to other local bloggers and I should’ve taken him up on the offer, but honestly I am not printing a lot of beautiful color pages. Although come to think about it, I’m now thinking what I want to print… hehe maybe I’ll just have to ask (nicely) Rebecca or Tanya to print some stuff for me.

Ooops… don’t you hate it when a good idea comes to you like, weeks after you should’ve implemented it? I now think I recall what I needed to print in color and I can’t as I don’t have a color printer. Darn it!

Related posts:

1. My blog, in my readers’ words
2. Why Does The Wind? (Tracey Thorn)

Related posts:

1. Stupid decision-making in Translink?
2. Upcoming events – Skytrain Security Unconference
3. Oh, my neighbours…

a). It was really hot and sunny. I wore a black t-shirt. Bad idea.
b). The concert was held outdoors was outdoors and no seating (chairs) was available. Note to self – bring along a mat or a towel.
c). The weather was really hot and sunny (again). Note to self – bring running shorts, t-shirt, sunscreen, cold water or other drink.

So in conclusion, next time I do an outdoor concert, I’ll come prepared. After a really cool rumba performance by Rumba Calzada (they played Guajira and a few other tunes that I’ve danced to before with my salsa partners). It was a really great experience.

We stayed for about an hour then dinner at La Bodega, which was unbelievably awesome. True to my Spanish roots I went for the typical patatas bravas, chorizo, albondigas, montaditos de cerdo… Ah, good times were had by all!

Related posts:

1. It’s all about the equipment – Winter edition
2. It’s all about the equipment – installment 3
3. Equipment, rain and charity

In order to keep in touch with my family, I signed on to an e-mail account more than 11 years ago. I started using online messaging systems (aka Microsoft MSN, or Yahoo! Messenger) a few years later, still with the purpose of keeping in touch with my family and more recently, my friends. For a while there, I even wondered why my family would keep calling me over the phone (from the US, Mexico or Spain) if we could communicate over the Internet. Truth be told, after a few years, I have realized that I enjoy phone conversations much better.

Related posts:

1. The Friction of Distance by Jonathan Taggart – theArtworkHub exhibit at The Network Hub
2. So long, good weather
3. Out of commission: Welcome back, migraine! Long time no see.