Hummingbird604.com » wordpress

Redesigning Hummingbird604.com

Raul — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:30:34 +0000

There’s something that needs to change here at Hummingbird604.com

Not sure exactly what, but I have been feeling the need to re-theme my site. This theme was completely customized to my liking by my good friend J. Karen Parker. She fiddled with the CSS to adjust the column width, moved stuff here and there. She made sure that everything looked good (this site has a customized version of the Deviant Art theme).

But right now I think I need to give it a change of look. Not sure why I feel the need to do the re-theming right now, but I know one thing. I’m not going to use TwentyTen. Yes, even though WordPress 3.0 has been released, and even though I could fiddle with Thesis, and I could do a few things here and there, I think I’m going to instead spend some time exploring a few WordPress themes that would make my site look still professional. But not TwentyTen. Why not? Because it’s the generic WordPress.com theme. And that would make my blog exactly the same as the other 20 million blogs hosted on WordPress.com

And I don’t want that

Improvements to my site to increase the bi-directionality and conversation

Raul — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:12:57 +0000

I have previously indicated on my blog that I’m primarily interested in keeping the conversation up and engaging with people. My personal behaviours (engaging with people who follow me on Twitter and with whom I’ve met at tech events) are also indicative of this pattern. However, I had been remiss for the past few months to implement a few changes that would make interaction much easier.

While many excellent bloggers take a substantial amount of time to customize their sites with relative frequency, I am going to admit that I am, for the most part, somewhat reluctant to go into the techie parts of my site. Uploading plugins, activating them, customizing them, changing the theme, personalizing the site, etc. I know that all of these are things we need to do in order to facilitate and maintain good interaction between me as the blog writer and my readers, and amongst the people who read my blog.

The past couple of days, I decided to do some upgrading, and I’ve enhanced the blog with a couple of plugins. First, now all my comments are CommentLuv-enabled. This means that every time you drop a comment on my blog, this WordPress plugin will try and parse your latest post for display. How is this relevant? Well, it gives you as a commentator exposure as the title and link of your most recent blog entry will show directly underneath your comment (therefore creating link-love).

Second, I have enabled a handy contact form so that you don’t have to use your email client to send me a message. The contact form is in my About Me page. Third, I enabled “Subscribe to Comments” which will allow you as the reader to track the conversation that is occurring on the comments section. Finally, I have managed to install a stats package (not that I care that much about stats per se, but they do give me some sense of what people are reading).

Feel free to drop a comment (I am particularly testing these two plugins) on the blog post, and I hope it is useful for you as a reader!

Thank a WordPress Plugin Developer Day (Jan 28th)

Raul — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 01:24:13 +0000

So, I didn’t know that today was Thank a WordPress Plugin Developer Day. Given that three of my friends have developed plugins (Andy Peatling with BuddyPress’ suite of 8 plugins and Dale Mugford/Duane Storey with WPTouch and other stuff), I figured I should post a “Thank you guys!”

Even though my WP-Stats plugin isn’t working, I thank that one too… if, and only if I ever get it working!

Using Twitter and WordPress to create and maintain friendships

Raul — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 00:07:54 +0000

As I tweeted earlier today, my posts for the day are all themed around friendships. I am a very, very blessed man. I am very lucky in that I have amazing people who inspire me every day, who comfort me when I’m down, who can confront me with the truth and tell me right to my face when I’m doing wrong, and who are always happy for my growth and improvement.

Last Friday, I had the privilege of having lunch with Rachel Black, whom I met (not surprisingly) through Anthony Nicalo (and I met both of them through Twitter). Rachel does research on water as well (from an anthropological perspective) and (yes, call me academic geek) it was awesome not only because of Rachel’s personality and charisma, but also because we both got a chance to talk tenure-tracks, publishing research, and potentially collaborating in projects.

I wouldn’t have access to the many wonderful individuals I have in the past year if it hadn’t been for Twitter. I met Melanie Hoyt through Twitter and even though she is in the US now, she’s coming to Vancouver soon and we’ll get to hang out in real life. I keep in touch with Yam, a friend I made here in Vancouver, through Twitter. So, in reality, Twitter has given me an opportunity to build new connections, friendships and to grow them.

So, when I was watching Lorelle’s keynote presentation at WordCamp Whistler (read my liveblog here) I completely understood where she was coming from. I have used social media, and specifically WordPress and Twitter, to create new friendships. And yes, maybe, just maybe, social media may actually help me land my dream job. But that’s another completely different topic.

In closing, yes – I DO know that sometimes I’m noisy on Twitter. But bear in mind that, to me, Twitter is a relationship-building tool. I have tried very hard to keep my @ replies to a bare minimum (I follow 300 people, and I would follow more if I had the actual physical capability to do so – I don’t follow everybody back simply because I can’t not because I don’t want to).

Yes, I have gained a lot from Twitter – I have made NEW FRIENDS. And for that, I am always grateful.

Welcome to the new and improved Hummingbird604.com!

Raul — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:53:42 +0000

I had been talking about it for months. You had been waiting with baited breath. Everyone was wondering when it would happen. Well, it has happened now! Welcome to the new and improved Hummingbird604.com!

With the outstanding and very capable help of my friend J. Karen Parker, who did the customization of the theme, taught me how to do the FTP’ing and stuff, and helped me fix a number of issues with the self-hosted WP install (otherwise I would have been stuck in .htaccess hell!), I am now able to do way more than I could before (including CSS editing and theme customization, plugins, etc.)

As you may notice, the DevArt theme has been customized to better fit my blog. The hummingbird604 logo that Rebecca kindly customized for my previous theme remains instact. Luckily, this WP.org install allows me to use Javascript, plugins and do a number of things that I wanted to do but was unable to, for a long while.

Thanks a million to Karen for all her help, to everyone who encouraged me to go self-hosted and I hope you enjoy the new layout! Feedback, of course, is always appreciated.

WordCamp San Francisco 2008

Raul — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 04:05:48 +0000

No, I didn’t go to WordCamp San Francisco, but two friends of mine (Duane and Andy) did. As a matter of fact, Andy gave a great presentation on BuddyPress. I didn’t get to see it (obviously), but I know the project, as we’ve talked about it over beers. Duane liveblogged it (not sure if this is your first liveblog, but it was really good!) and apparently they’re now downing beers at the WordCamp SF social (why am I not surprised?). Congratulations to Andy on a good presentation and to Duane for a great liveblog. I’ll see you guys when I get back, and we’ll chat about all things WordPress.

Testing Flickr embedding on WP.com

Raul — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:08:08 +0000

Danny suggested that I could embed Flickr videos, and since I like to do my own stunts, I am going to test whether they work. So, if they DO work, below you’ll find a couple of videos of our dinner at Browns Social House, after the reopening of Future Shop Park Royal.

The blogroll issue

Raul — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 23:30:03 +0000

Hat tip to one of my regular readers, Luc, who reminded me a few weeks ago of why i keep a blogroll. Long story made short, I keep a blogroll mostly because I like to showcase the fine blogs that i don’t link to all the time, but that I DO read all the time. I recognize that my blogroll is going to explode because I read A LOT of blogs, but now that I have an RSS reader very well configured, I really don’t worry that much about having a really long blogroll.

Rebecca had an excellent post up on the value of blogrolls, and I think that she makes a really good point as to why we should have it. It’s kind of impossible to know which blogrolls you are not on. I have noticed I am NOT in the blogroll of some local Vancouver bloggers, and while it doesn’t really bother me all that much, it does bother me when I drive traffic to their site – because I think that reciprocity is key. Have you looked at Derek K. Miller‘s blogroll? At Rebecca Bollwitt‘s? At Tanya Davis‘? At Jonathon Narvey‘s? They’re MASSIVE! These are very fine local bloggers and they link to A LOT OF PEOPLE.

Every so often I think that I should take some of the non-linking local bloggers off my blogroll (e.g. when the blogger in question gets traffic off of my site but I don’t get the same back – remember, I have photographic memory and I retain A LOT of stuff). So far, I have done it only with a couple of them, and I recognize that this may be seen as a petty issue. Since I don’t want to initiate that kind of argument, but also given that it’s my blog, and my blogroll, I think I am very much entitled to do with it whatever I want The same applies to theirs. I just find that the more link love you give, the better. But then again, there are many views on the issue. I am just providing one.

BarCamp Vancouver 2008 is coming up!

Raul — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:38:21 +0000

And if you haven’t signed up, you better get going on this! This is my very first BarCamp (I would have attended last year, but I had just recently begun to read more frequently Rebecca’s blog and I don’t think it registered in my brain that it would be an important event to attend).

Given that I am now in the tech world, and that I have A LOT of friends in tech/social media, it just makes sense for me to participate. This year, I’m part of the organizing committee and I promised to help (I haven’t yet been assigned any specific tasks, but since apparently I’m a master of schmoozing and social networking – not my words, Thomasso‘s! I guess I will be helping with venues or sponsorship or something along those lines).

Rebecca and Duane will be headlining WordCamp (a mini-camp on all things WordPress), which is kind of cool. I am of course sure that by then, I’ll be self-hosted and therefore, if the topic comes up, I can always talk about the transition from the WordPress.com-hosted to self-hosted (a topic that I told Kulpreet I would talk about if there is a BC WordCamp in the future).

So what is BarCamp and why should you attend?

BarCamp is an ad-hoc unconference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees. Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join. When you come, be prepared to share with barcampers. When you leave, be prepared to share it with the world.[BarCamp wiki]

So, save the date (it’s about a week after my birthday, so I will try to include some post-birthday celebrations in here (after the camp is over, of course!)

WordCamp Fraser Valley – The aftermath

Raul — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:10:24 +0000

After a really long and exhausting day (I had only 3.5 hours of sleep), I am at home, it’s past midnight on Thursday already and I really shouldn’t be blogging, but I should be sleeping. However, I think I need to take a few minutes to take stock of WordCamp, and ask my readers and the participants to give us feedback. Normally, I would also take some time to mention all the wonderful people I met and send them some link love (I did indeed lose the bet to Jodi), but I am really exhausted, so you’ll have to forgive me for that.

We are our worst critics and I think some of us who presented felt that we could have done a better job. Let me say that this is completely natural. With the exception of John Chow, who seems like he’s done dozens of these presentations and he is a natural, I think that we all thought we did an ok job but we wish we had done better. The funny thing is that the feedback that we all got was that our presentations were great. And you know, since the people who told us that were actually the audience, we should pat ourselves in the back.

I want to take a minute to thank Gary AND his team for superb organization (I saw Brady Valentino there as well, I am assuming as a volunteer). It was a real delight to share this experience with all of you, and the chocolates were definitely a very nice and classy touch. You guys did a great job. All of this work as well as that of Rastin, Jenn, Ash and Teresa when the first WordCamp Vancouver happened, only comes to show that we are indeed a great WordPress community. Gary and his team put together WordCamp Fraser Valley, Rastin and his team put together WordCamp Vancouver, now who is going to take the baton and organize WordCamp British Columbia or WordCamp Canada? Inquiring minds want to know…

Thanks to a wonderful audience as well. You guys were simply awesome, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people. Everyone was supportive, friendly and I am delighted that people came and introduced themselves to me.

Those of you who attended but did not have a chance to talk to us, I would really appreciate it if you left a comment on my blog regarding what you thought of the presentations. I’m going to speak to you as I would to my own students – just when you provide your feedback, be constructive and remember that we are human beings with feelings and that we did all of this in a total volunteer manner and we are not making money out of this.

We came and spoke because we are passionate about blogging, about the WordPress platform, and about sharing this with the larger community. I think I can speak for my fellow presenters when I say that this, same as WordCamp Vancouver, was a really wonderful experience. Thank you all. To my fellow presenters: Rebecca, Kulpreet, John, Gary – your work inspires me and I’m grateful to have shared this experience.

Also, thanks are due to Andy for recording pretty much all of my talk on my Flip camera and being such a good sport taking photos and videos (while I was busy giving my presentations). Thanks to Gregg for saving me with the battieries! Tyler, Gregg, Liam, Jodi, Dale, Lorraine, Ryan, Tom, and everyone whom I might have missed but I saw at WordCamp, thank you all.

Switching to WordPress from another platform: What do you want to hear?

Raul — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:13:30 +0000

I’m a bit of a keener (surprise, surprise!). I had my PowerPoint slides for Word Camp Fraser Valley (which is taking place tomorrow, Wednesday July 16th, from 6-9pm) prepared since last week. I know what you’re going to say and yes, I always sat at the front of the class, and yes my notes were written in very neat handwriting, and my distillation towers were designed with different color pens, and I was probably the only chemical engineer in my undergrad who chose to do his homework instead of going out and drink heavily (actually, I did my homework in between dance classes, language classes, going out with my friends, training for competitive volleyball, and martial arts).

But I digress… so the point is, even though I’ve already written my presentation, I would like to ask – if you are considering WordPress as a blogging platform, and/or are considering a switch from Blogger or (dare I say) Movable Type to WP – what kind of things would YOU be interested in hearing about?

In my presentation, basically, I’m going to tell you how I switched from Blogger to WordPress (after MUCH peer pressure) and the results I got from the platform switch-over. But I’m sure you have LOTS of questions that could help me prepare (this is like preparing for a final exam!), and I’d love to hear from you.

I have a standing bet with Jodi, and I have promised her that I will buy her a Dr. Pepper if, after hearing all the presentations at WordCamp, she is not convinced of switching from Movable Type to WordPress. I’m bringing the Dr. Pepper just in case. I have faith in my abilities and those of the fabulous team of bloggers and techies who will be presenting tomorrow, but JUST in case, I’m going to err on the side of caution

Accepting suggestions for my 1000th post

Raul — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:10:28 +0000

I’ve been polishing the presentation for Fraser Valley WordCamp and in the process, I’ve come to realize that I am REALLY close to 1000 posts on WordPress (I lost 132 posts in the importing process, which was kind of awful, but oh well). Since I’m at 922 (this post included), I have been thinking of organizing a MargaritaCamp + NachoCamp + GinCamp to celebrate my 1000 posts.

At my current writing rate, I estimate that’s going to fall somewhere around the week of Blogathon, so I might have a middle of the week RaulCamp (or simply combine it with the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup!) because, after all, it’s all about me (inside joke, you’ll have to see the t-shirt to know what I’m talking about).

So, I’m opening the floor for suggestions for my 1000th post. I was actually thinking of holding it at a wifi-enabled site (like the Blackwater Cafe) or a bar so that we can celebrate the actual moment of pushing the “Publish” button on my WordPress Dashboard. Any interest in joining for said RaulCamp?

I want to convert you… to WordPress!

Raul — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:40:40 +0000

As I’ve posted before, I read pretty much every blog on my blogroll and then some. Thanks to a handy RSS feed reader, now I can do that in the blink of an eye, literally (I speed-read). However, I took some time to see who of my friends are still on Blogger (I am talking to you Barbara, Phaedra, Pat, Jennifer, Marina, Dan, Mitch, Sarah, to mention just a few).

If you’ve been reading my blog at all, you’ll know that I am speaking at WordCamp Fraser Valley, precisely on the topic of how I transitioned from Blogger to WordPress. I am in no way associated with WordPress, they don’t pay me a cent (although I do have friends who are indeed associated with Auttomatic).

The truth is that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed writing my blog on this platform. So, I’m basically plugging you to switch and since many of you Blogger friends are also my friends, friends, you should come to WCFV and hear me speak like Ulysses listened to the siren’s sweet voice “WoooordPreeeess…. WoooordPreeeess” (ok, that sounds better when I say it than when I read it).

So, join me and a roster of fabulous bloggers (Rebecca, John, Kerry, Kulpreet and yours truly) on July 16th, 2008 from 6-9pm. For more details, click on the link that says “I’m Speaking at WordCamp Fraser Valley“. And in case you didn’t know, the registration is almost full so, you REALLY want to register as in, like, right now.

The CSS customization and going self-hosted “light”

Raul — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:12:40 +0000

My WordPress-ification process has been quite intense, and it’s hard to juggle searching for a job, doing academic work, socializing AND trying to master WordPress. But right now I feel pretty good about it, and wouldn’t go back to the Blogger platform. The last time I posted something on Blogger I was actually kind of weirded out. “WHOA. It’s like I’ve never used this“.

This week (probably Thursday or Friday, as I want to stay away from the computer for a while), I am buying the CSS customization option for WordPress as I want to be able to tinker with the layout and the theme color scheme. Since I’ve been previously known to avoid the WordPress Codex, I figured this time I would follow the rules and go and read the Codex before I ask my friends “how do I go about this…”

Both Rebecca and Andy wrote recently about themes, and Rebecca unveiled her awesome new theme just this week. But to be quite honest, I still had one question in my mind – what IS a theme?

A WordPress Theme is a collection of files that work together to produce a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for a weblog.[WP Codex-Themes]

Yeah. RIIIIIGHT. The preceding paragraph proceeded to explain what a theme is in WPGeekSpeak. That’s the point where I realized one of the things that I hadn’t done (shame on me) ever – CHECK THE GLOSSARY. So I went to the Codex WordPress lesson semantics. Are themes the same as CSS? I have discovered that no, they’re not. I roamed around the glossary and semantics site for a while, and now I understand that by customizing the CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), I will be able to define colors, layouts, etc. The theme is more overarching, then…

I may request help to customize my CSS, but I also want to learn how to change it myself, because I don’t want to be a fake geek. I like being a true geek, and I like to do my own stunts. I am well aware that asking for help is one of my challenges, but thankfully, being a computer geek is complicated enough that I am always willing to ask someone to give me a hand. So, I hope that soon enough, you’ll see a different color scheme, although it may be a while for a change in theme!

The move from WordPress.com to WordPress.org and self-hosting

Raul — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:30:17 +0000

My blog is looking nice and the header has been very well received. I blame social media superstar Rebecca Bollwitt for my wonderful new blog look, as she did a fantastic job with the header and the new layout, and the changes to the theme (only the ones that WP.com allows you).

The discussion has been around with some of my geeky friends (of which, as Tyler Ingram very properly said, I now have A LOT) and Karen Parker suggested that I ask around all of you geeks who read my blog (particularly those who are self-hosted and/or WordPress Jedi Masters) about suggestions for self-hosting. With the new theme re-design, the increase in readership, my interest in being able to manipulate my own CSS, use plug-ins, customize my side-bars, etc., it appears as though the move to self-hosted would seem rather imminent. Which is kind of too bad since I already paid for the domain mapping. But whatever.

In the mean-time, while I decide what to do for self-hosting, etc., I’ve decided that I am going “self-hosting light” (as aptly named by Rebecca). I am going to buy the customization of my CSS. It’s been decided. That’s the only way I can change the color scheme in my blog.

To be quite honest, I am really enjoying the process of re-designing my blog and having a lot of fun while sharing it with the blogosphere, particularly because I have found that geeks are such a friendly bunch (of which I am now a part of, at least as a partial-geek – because, please do remember – I DO MY OWN STUNTS), and everyone is always offering to help. I am very grateful and very blessed.

And now on to the question…suggestions on the move? I know that everyone (and I’m not mentioning you by name because you know who YOU are) has been gently pushing me towards self-hosting, and giving me advice on the matter. I still have a myriad of questions – suggest providers/hosts? 2.6? *HELP!* Or maybe I should just wait until WordCamp Fraser Valley and have this conversation after the event? At any rate, do feel free to drop a comment.

My new header, with thanks to Miss604 :-)

Raul — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:10:17 +0000

Since last week, Rebecca Bollwitt and I have been chatting about the feedback I got from Jordan Behan and Boris Mann re: the header of my site last week. Jordan, Rebecca and Boris agree: my blog *needs* to reflect the concept of ME… sort of “this is Raul – and this is what Raul is all about“.

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

The WordPress Codex – Refusing to read :-)

Raul — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:40:58 +0000

Sometimes I wonder if my friends (particularly the new friends I’ve made through blogging) just shake their heads in disbelief. For all my interest in blogging and platforms, and CSS, and themes, and geek-speak, I rarely visit the WordPress Codex. I talk about it. I enjoy having drinks and discussing it. Yet I avoid at all costs reading it. Why? Because I am a hands-on kind of guy.

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

Thoughts on the re-design of my blog’s theme?

Raul — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:14:33 +0000

Dear all,

I have a LOT of posts for your reading entertainment, but at the same time, I also would like to pause for a moment and listen to feedback from all of you, readers, fellow bloggers, random visitors… what do you guys think of my blog’s re-design? Rebecca was kind enough to spend time changing the theme of my site as I told her that I wanted a change (thanks Rebecca!).

Here are the changes if you want them in a summary, point-form (e.g. the elements I told Rebecca that were important to me in the re-design):
- Narrower column for the text. Sometimes I write A LOT, and I don’t even realize it. I think that sometimes, readers may get tired from reading and that might not be a good idea. Yes, I know that content is everything and sometimes I need more space to develop an idea, but I think this looks crisper, cleaner.
- Cleaner layout and top, header-type page alignment. That is, the pages (my “About Me” page and the “Some of my most popular posts” should be on the top, right below the header.
- The header needs to have the hummingbird symbol that Rebecca kindly adapted for me.
- I wanted the header image to look ‘geeky‘ (although this element has already sparked controversy).
- I wanted to include the badge for WordCamp FraserValley 2008 on the side bar.

So, any thoughts on the theme re-design? Suggestions always welcome. Drop a comment. Thanks!

WordCamp Fraser Valley 2008

Raul — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:27:13 +0000

Gary Jones from BlueFur invited me a while ago (after the very successful, and superbly organized WordCamp Vancouver 2008, by Tazzu) to speak at the first ever WordCamp Fraser Valley 2008 , and I was thrilled to accept. I really respect the work of Blue Fur and I’m very happy to contribute in any way I can. As a matter of fact, I owe a lot of the increase in my readership to WordPress-specific tools and tricks.

Matt Mullenweg in WordPress gear. Photo credit: Niallkennedy on Flickr.

The following is an abstract of the talk I’m going to give, hoping that it will be useful. I know for a fact that John Chow and Rebecca Bollwitt (aka Miss604) will be speaking too. This will be SO MUCH FUN!

Here’s the abstract of my talk:“I Switched to WordPress, and So Can You”

I started blogging on the Blogger platform for ease of use (and because several friends of mine were using it too!). On March 23rd, 2008, I took one of the best decisions in my burgeoning blogging career: I moved my blog entirely from Blogger to WordPress. Many bloggers seem afraid of taking the plunge and switching to WP. Currently, I blog primarily on the WordPress.com platform, and have enjoyed an increase in readership of over 300%. In this presentation, I will talk about my experience switching platforms, outline the advantages that I see in WordPress, and speak about the next steps I plan to take in the process of becoming a WP geek.

I am, of course, open to any questions or comments you might want to include. I am sure that some of you might want me to post some video, being the owner of a Flip and having attended a Reachd.com awesome seminar. I will try to do at least some vlogging – most likely, I’ll be live-vlogging Rebecca‘s as she will be too busy giving her own talk to be able to vlog it!!! (but knowing Rebecca, she might even be able to live-blog/vlog her own part of the WordCamp!)