Not that I’m a wolf all of the time, but hey… I like being different. Even though I’ve struggled with topics on occasion for this blog challenge, I used the proposed topic exactly ONCE since starting 22 days ago. I think BlogHer is a great site, but for really getting into the type of blogging I like to do, the proposed writing prompts in many ways could lead to way too much fluff.

Substance. More substance.

I’m a big fan of getting beyond the surface. What makes people tick? Their backgrounds and experiences? Stories that they tell. How it all comes together to make them who they are now. And many people aren’t willing to share that in person to even their closest friends.

Which is why many times blog prompts turn to fluff. It’s difficult to look vulnerable when being strong is touted as the way to get work done and gain friends. It’s also rare that a person truly knows and recognizes their true self. Some topics require this knowledge and courage to really cover well, exposing parts of the self which may show weakness or desire to improve their idea of self. In the short view, weakness may come through; but long term, this type of post requires more cahones and growth than most people want to put on the line.

I say go for it.

Photo: The Road Less Travelled by Ann Douglas and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) license.

Tonight I was perusing Twitter, looking for some inspiration when I came across a promoted tweet in the timeline. Yep. A little, yellow box with an arrow inside of it, just like on the Trends and Who To Follow sections. Not much unlike the the little green triangle with arrows in it, but buried a bit more subtlely in the timeline.

It made me throw up in my mouth a little.

Maybe it’s the GenXer side of me, but sheesh… I’d rather see ads on the sidebars than have them inserted into my timeline. At least I know what’s true content, and what’s promoted / advertising. It’s kind of like product placement in TV shows and movies as well, placed in there unobtrusively.

And that’s where this post is ending today since the train of thought has been derailed due to some news. I found out that Jim Robertson passed away today after a long fight with cancer. A former co-worker (and Ringling Bros. clown) who could always find a way to make people laugh. I hope you have them doubled over in laughter up there, Jimmy, with tears of joy streaming down their face.

Photo: Pay Here by R4vi and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) license.

Now that Vegas Tech Events is updated with a guest blog post and two new events, it’s time to focus on my blog post for the day. I should also classify a few more books for /usr/lib, but it’s not looking likely as my eyes are already closing.

Which I have no idea of what to write. Again. Damn you, writer’s block!

Googling Blog Post Inspiration. Received a bunch of results, about 75% trying to sell me their formula to make money blogging.

Oh, I smell a rant coming on about that. Instant blog post inspiration!

Trust me, I get that some people truly blog for a living. But the most successful bloggers tend to also consult. Sure, they may want to write all day long, show you a pop-up for their flavour of marketing and methods. Nothing makes me run from a site faster than that. 99% of the time, their content sucks big furry rock balls, so the extra click isn’t worth the energy expenditure.

Let’s take a look at some of the best known bloggers:

• Robert Scoble — started blogging as a way to provide customer service. Nope. No pop-ups here.
• Chris Guillebeau — world traveler turned blogger to help make people and the world a better place. Now in convenient and portable book form, too. Nope. No pop-ups here, either.
• Darren Rowse — Pretty much the king when it comes to blogging. He’s been at it since 2002, starting as a part-time blogger and experimenting until he found what worked. Links to his Dramatically Better Blog program, but — Nope. — No pop-ups.

Yes, I understand that I picked highly successful bloggers who are fairly well established. The cool thing about these guys is that they each create a few blog posts a week FOR FREE to share their knowledge and experience. They want you to see the content so that you may possibly be interested in their books, the ads, products they’re reviewing in the future because you trust them. Sure, they’re not giving away all of their tricks, but enough to whet your appetite for more information about whatever their topic of choice is for the day.

They all started out with blogs as a part-time way to help someone.

Yep. The Scobles, Guillebeau, and Rowses (and other similar bloggers) of the blogosphere give me something to aspire to reach.

The pop-up blogging program gang? I’m staying far, far away.

Photo: Netflix completes the open source giving cycle by opensourceway (Flickr user) and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) license.

After the first WordCamp Vegas back in early 2009, a bunch of us formed a Beer & Blog chapter. It was good. We talked tech. We had a few beers. A few of us speculated what it would be like to have a tech community, since it was so segmented. Your developers there. Your internet marketers here. Designers stuck in the middle. Social media was still in its infancy. There were talks of a tech campus somewhere in town where startups could work together. Small investigations into making a co-working space a la Independents Hall, but no capital or prime locations to house it. Slowly Beer & Blog became more about the beer than the blog (it’s okay… some groups serve their purpose for a time and then dissolve). During one of these conversations, I hatched an idea for a tech community calendar, but there weren’t enough events to make it worth the effort.

I purchased domain names for it anyway and sat on them for the past 3 years.

It looks like Vegas is finally coming into its own after three years of searching for its home in the tech arena. Startup Weekend. Jelly. Ignite. WordCamp (crossing my fingers someone steps up to organize it this year!). Adobe User Groups. Not to mention the plethora of conferences held here every year.

Enter Sin City Silicon. There are finally enough events to fill a calendar or blog and make it meaningful to the local techs. I’m aware that the tech community is still going to have some segmentation due to programming language preferences, disciplines, and business models, but at least those who want to dabble will have a one-stop-shopping place to find all events. The main goal? To bring like-minded people together in the name of tech.

No idea when this is going to launch yet, but I’m hoping to work on it (with the help of some Jelly friends) in all of free time — between designing a poster for the Sunset Rock ‘N’ Run and helping out with /usr/lib (a library about technology? It’s like chocolate & peanut butter. I’m sold!). Stay tuned for more information…

Photo: Flagpoles in the Queen’s garden by Roger Price and used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

On Thursday, November 18th, I was invited to share some great conversation over some fantastic food at Tbones inside Station Casino’s Red Rock Resort.

Joined by Victoria Soares and Sean Wells (who arranged the entire night), we chatted about the future of new media both in Las Vegas and beyond our little desert microcosm.

Over appetizers and drinks, Sean asked Vicki and myself questions about our particular industries and why we use social media. Although we both started with this technology for different reasons, we both agree that many users of this medium are calculated risk-takers. Especially the early adopters. For me, it was a calculated risk to use Twitter when I moved to Las Vegas to find a new group of friends (thanks, John Hawkins and Nate Ludens for inviting me to the Black Diamond Digital gatherings in 2008). As time went along, I began using Twitter to connect with others in the information profession since I often felt like an island in the desert. I listened. I learned. I connected. I debated. That risk of reaching out to these unknown people as a newcomer to the profession was well-worth it.

You can check out the entire summary of our conversation over on the Station Casino’s blog (link to come).

After that it was time to stuff ourselves silly. Executive Chef Joseph Kudrak and his team at Tbones have their standard menu, but rotate some items seasonally and based upon availability. Look for the box at the bottom of the menu for these items, and you won’t be disappointed. We sampled the foie gras, yellowfin tuna poke, and tomato mozzarella salad for appetizers; mac and cheese, brussel sprouts, and au gratin potatoes as family-style sides, and each had a steak (see the picture to the left for my choice). And it was a lot. Of. Food. You definitely get a lot of high quality noshes. The price point is your typical high-end steakhouse cost: Expect to spend around $150+ for two steaks, two sides, and two drinks – not including tip. But it is certainly well worth it!

[DISCLOSURE: The meal itself was comped by Station Casinos/Red Rock Resort/Tbones as guests of the chef; however, we provided tip to the wait staff. I was not asked to write a positive review of the experience or meal, and received no other compensation for writing this post.]

Unfortunately, 1500 people bought the Groupon. The offer doesn’t expire until November, but it’s causing some people to feel duped since all the classes are filled until July. I understand that there needs to be a minimum, but what about capping the offer as well. Sell what you can easily accommodate in 2-3 months so that you don’t piss off your potential clients. I also don’t see how any money is being made on this offer since it was so deeply discounted (ex. Normal price: 3 classes / week for $150). This would be a great business study to see what the outcome is — and if its sustainable.

Out of the box

The framed print was packed very securely in a heavy duty cardboard box with about five layers of bubble wrap. It took me about 10 minutes to wrangle it out since I had no one to hold the box or corral the cats.

Half Unwrapped

After fighting with the bubble wrap and shooing away a couple of curious felines,  finally got half the print freed from its grasps with a pair of scissors.

Finally Unwrapped

Overall, it took a good fifteen minutes to get this out of the box, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.  No broken glass, no nicks, no chips… Yay!

Better unpacked picture

If it wasn’t 10:45 p.m. I’d be nailing a picture hanger to my wall.  That will have to wait for tomorrow evening!

Anyone want to have a bubblewrap popping party?

Trying to Evolve by Hugh MacLeod (@gapingvoid)

Yeah, there’s a lot of days I go without sleep.  I put my time into school so I can get where I want to be, and that often means going without all the fun activities Las Vegas has to offer.  And there are days when I feel it’s futile and I’m failing at every bit of it.  But I wouldn’t have it any other way.  The failing means that I need to learn more. That I need to rethink my strategy. That another door has opened and option has presented itself. I’m evolving into some hybrid of information professional and social media maven, but I’m not sure in which capacity. And I’m not sure if I’ll ever stop evolving (always in beta!). I love every bit of this crazy existence.  As Mercury Rev sings in their song Snowflake in a Hot World :

Snowflake in a hot world
Don’t let them get to you
Don’t let them tell you
You’re all the same
*   *   *   *   *
Melting into something… bigger than you
Melting into someone… someone new

Yeah… someone new and something bigger. What and where is a mystery at this point, but I’ll know it when I find it.  But that doesn’t mean that my other passions of music, writing and painting are going to be left by the wayside once I’m out of school.  In fact, chances are the overextended state will persist for the rest of my life with the incessant need to create.