Well it’s been a strange few weeks since I last posted anything other than my weekly links (sorry about the lack of links last week (and this odd habit of alliteration as well)). Anyways, since I last wrote anything I’ve: gotten to spend more time with my family which is a great thing. Been laid off from my job as a network engineer (I’d name the company but they don’t need the search engine bump and I only advertise products I truly believe in. On top of that my father went back in to have a tumor removed (same spot as 5 years ago).
In the short term I’ve decided to return to my roots a bit and focus more on building my portfolio up a bit more and taking a few classes to bone up on my all around skillset as a network engineer and also as a web developer.
What’s coming up in my personal future:
The soon to be unveiled new project
The soon to be fully launched “Portland Dreams” site
A resurgence in my participation in the Portland Tech Community (add my absence as another failing of my former employer. How can you possibly be a vibrant tech organization when 95% of the rest of the tech community has never heard of you?)
More baby pictures than you can possibly shake a stick at. (why in the hell would you be shaking a stick at pictures of my babies? They’re awesome and cute. Plus the littlest one’s drool is a proven cure for dryness)
Massive note taking and rehearsal to give a decent couple of panels at Wordcamp next month. This will be my return to the world of public speaking (for those unaware, it’s been about 12 years since I’ve done anything remotely resembling public speaking). If anyone wants to give me a pair of New Balance sneakers to go with my black turtleneck and jeans that’d be great :D
On the work related side (and as part of a return to my graphic/designer roots):
The soon to relaunch site for the Percussion line I’m in.
Wordcamp Portland limited theme
Launching a photography site for a former coworker from the K. Falls newspaper
Completion and launch of 3 plugins on the WordPress.org site.
While not on either list I’ll also be endeavoring to write at least 2-3 posts a week from now on as well as increasing the number of Howto articles as well.
In the last bit of news I also recently switched to Disqus for my commenting needs. For those not in the know this means I have a few new features for my little spot on the web.
Features of the new Disqus WordPress plugin:
Comments are indexable by search engines (SEO-friendly)
Export and import of comments
Automatic synchronization between Disqus.com and your WordPress comments
Uses the new Disqus API
Moderate/administer your blog right from the WordPress admin
Very cool stuff and they even have integrated Seesmic support for video commenting which is just awesomely cool.
Well that’s it for now, I’ve got work to be done and eventually my In-law’s swimming pool to hop into. See you all on the flip side.
Lastly:
RIP Bernie Mac & Isaac Hayes.
Major congrats to the Phantom Regiment for winning their 2nd DCI title. This version of Spartacus was amazing and I enjoyed getting to see it twice this summer. Way to go! Hope you guys come west again next year!
I wanted to make sure that both boys could see my favorite corps (The Santa Clara Vanguard) play for their first real drum corps experience. So for this years vacation (aka hanging with the California family) I made sure that it happened during the big DCI West show. I can’t wait to see their reactions (or Zoe’s reaction since it’ll be her first show also). I’m going to make sure they get some nice souvenirs as well as an up close and personal view of the parking lot experience (watching the drumlines warmup)
For those who have no idea what Drum Corps is (go see a show!) here’s a parking lot video from the 2007 season (go SCV!!)
Also a quick shoutout to my good friend (and former Cascade) Tim who’s in SCV as well as Stephanie LaRue who’s also a fellow Cascade who made the change down to SCV. Good luck this year folks!
Well that’s it for now. Time to get my butt in gear and head out to California for the holiday weekend.
Well @ChrisStumph those "separates us from the animals" folk almost always ignore the evidence that proves we're worse than most animals. [chrisorourke]
RT @ChrisStumph: .@chrisorourke I mostly love the comments about "what separates us from the animals" as if that is always a quality and ... [chrisorourke]
My Wishlist
God Hates Us All
Opteka 10x 58mm HD² Professional Macro Lens for Canon EOS / EF
Social Media Goodness