Tag Archives: ignite portland

Teh Slows – I Haz Them.

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Halloo internets!!  I have a new theme, whattya think?

Yeah.  I know.

It’s slow.

S    L    O    O    O    O    O   W.

I can’t even say slow slow enough to fully capture just how slow my blog loads now.

No fears tho!  Thanks to the fabulous Jason Grigsby and his talk  from last year’s WordCamp Portland ,  “Speed Up WordPress: Make Readers Happy and Your Site Green”, I have this handy little tool on my FireFox called YSlow .  And I’ll be using it to optimize my blog so the SLOW WILL BE NO MO.

Just as soon as I have time.  I mean, you see how long it took me just to install a couple new themes to play around with? 

THE BUSIES.  I HAZ THEM.

Still.  Here’s a short little list of all the plates I have spinning merrily:

And that’s just my projects.  I still go to martial arts class, I still work on the Eternal Project, I date people, I try to keep my dog well exercised and happy because she’s the bestest dog on the planet, I am trying to build a couple of DJ sets to shop around, and I still love to write using blogs for my various writing outlets (this here personal one, OurPDX, and now the WordCamp Portland blog is gonna need some loves from me.)

Oh yeah, and work. 

So, busy.

I could use some help with that stuff, you know.  If you’re not doing anything.  Stuff like:

  • Recommending great local bands who’d like to play the 30 Hour Day 2 Variety Show on July 3rd
  • Volunteering for some core responsibilities for WordCamp Portland
  • Mow my front yard

Ok I was kidding about the yard one.

Mostly kidding.

Also, just so you know – lolcats  might be taking over my brain.  If my posts start to become a bit gibberishy-make that more gibberishy than usual-please send a couple dogs, or cat exterminator, to save me and my dog from the lolcats.

Twitter On Fire!

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I like Twitter.

A lot.

I’ve also seen it do amazing things, like give me and everyone in Portland instant information about the weather. Or hearing about an earthquake that happened, seconds after it happened. I hear things on the news days after I hear about it through my Twitter network. It’s amazing. Networking, keeping in touch with friends, keeping my finger on the pulse of the tech community of Portland – all through Twitter.
I’ve also seen friends and aquaintances of mine ask questions of their tweeple (twitter+people) and have a truly amazing level of feedback, instantly. Instantly. Can you say that about forums? Or, ha, customer service? However, it’s not something that has ever happened to me.

Until now.

I’m currently helping the ORBlogs effort become an agile project. I’m also going back to IT at work (joy!) and have been approached about being a technical lead on a project at work. Being, as I am, an agile-vangelist, I thought it would be truly great if I could find a web-based agile tracking application that would help me with both of those efforts. So…I figured, I’d hit up my Twitterverse, see if they know anything. I mean, what the heck do I have 170+ people following me for if I can’t ping ’em for info now and again, right? I figured my pal and former coworker/teammate Jason (@slimstarman) would probably have some feedback about it, but I wasn’t sure if anyone else in my little network would have any ideas.

Well, I tossed out my question:

So, I figured I’d get a response or two, maybe three, right?  Boy, was I in for a surprise!  Witness:
And there was more.  That’s just the first major clump.  Wow.  I mean, wow.  Witness, the power of Twitter.  I mean, all those responses, within a minute of my question.  A MINUTE.  Instant, relevant, helpful, information.
Thanks to @hamids, @evacatherder, @mcottmeyer, @slimstarman (Ha!  See, I knew he’d have an opinon), @donpdonp, @gerrykirk, @rickwindham, @rockcogley, and @silvercatalyst for all the great feedback on my humble little question.  I ended up liking the Pivotal Tracker (@pivotaltracker!  They’re on twitter too!) and am giving it a test drive.
So to commemorate my first-hand exposure to the Power of Twitter, I will be wearing my new ThinkGeek shirt tonight at Ignite Portland 5!!!  It’s got Twitter written all over it. 
If you’re in Portland tonight around 6pm, just go.  You’ll see.  It’s free, and it’s awesome.  But get there early!