One year ago today, Joan and I stood on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and exchanged vows. What has our journey looked like so far?
We are fortunate to have found each other, and fortunate to have good friends to share our journey. For those of you who have been a part of that journey, thank you. We are blessed to have you in our lives, and look forward to discovering what lies ahead.
I’ve been using the location-based social network Foursquare since 2009. Although it will come as no surprise to those who know me, my first check-in was at a Starbucks — although I was surprised to find it was in West Hollywood.
Since then, I’ve checked in 4,456 times, across the United States and around the world. What does this look like? Foursquare put together a Time Machine that takes you on a visual tour of your check-in history. Here’s what mine looked like:
I know some of you see Foursquare as a waste of time. I’ve found it useful, if for nothing else, as my digital memory. When my wife asks me, “What was the name of that souffle place in Paris that we loved?” I can tell her. And because I’ve used Foursquare regularly over the past four years, there’s a lot that the data says about me.
The Time Machine not only produces a slick animated history with an semi-annoying soundtrack, it also cranks out the requisite infographic. I’ve broken it into chunks to share my analysis.
First, there’s a heat map that shows where most of my check-ins have occurred. From 2009-2012, I lived in south Orange County, so this doesn’t really surprise me. You can see regular visits to places in Dana Point, as well as my work in Aliso Viejo.
Each of the colors represents a different kind of location. By far, most of my check-ins have been at restaurants and coffee shops. But the top spot goes to the office.
The category with the fewest check-ins is college and education. Again, since I’m not a full-time student, not surprising. When you look at the breakdown by year, you’ll notice a big growth in the number of outdoors and recreation check-ins. While I’ve always been active outdoors, I haven’t always made a point of checking in (you go outdoors to unplug, right?). Apparently my view has shifted.
My favorite place? No question about it — Starbucks. I’ve logged 830 coffee shop checkins. And my favorite food? The data says I love Mexican food best, followed closely by… tacos? Go figure.
When you look at patterns in activity, you’ll see that I most often grab a caffeine fix before heading to the office.
I was disappointed that their map didn’t show my international travel. But I have done a fair amount of travel around the country. My most visited cities? Where I live or work.
Not anything that I don’t have a pretty good general feel for. I like coffee (especially Starbucks) and Mexican food. I have been pretty consistent about checking in. And if marketers want to mine this data? Have at it. I’ll be watching my mailbox for invitations to coffee and tacos (I am, after all, a loyal customer).
What I love about Foursquare I’ve touched on before. I have a chance to share my experience with others. I learn from the experience of others (“try the french toast!”). And I have a virtual diary of where I’ve been, and when. That has proven useful to me personally over and again, and remains the main reason I continue to use Foursquare. Your mileage may vary.
If you’re a Foursquare user, give the time machine a spin yourself. And let me know what you think about living out loud, geographically-speaking.
It’s Day Three of my 30 Days of Creativity project, and this creation combines a photo from my John Muir Trail trip and thoughtful quote from John Muir himself. This is part of a weekly meme I’ve started at SoCalHiker.net called Muir Mondays.
The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness. – John Muir
I took this photo in late July 2010, lying on my back on a picnic table in the backpacker’s campground in Yosemite Valley, the day before we began our three-week thru-hike on the John Muir Trail (JMT). The trees swayed in the wind, and reached so tall they seemed to yearn for the stars. It was a perfect setting for pondering the trail ahead.
I tweaked the photo first in SnapSeed, but ended up bringing it into Photoshop to add the text and a translucent gradient (to aid text readability).
In my experience, nature is the perfect muse. What inspires you? Let me know in the comments.
For Day Two of the 30 Days of Creativity project, I submit another photo project. My wife brought home a beautiful arrangement of flowers from a work event. The flowers are beautiful on their own, but when you look closer, there is another world of beauty revealed, rich with textures and colors.
I created this entirely on my iPhone 4S, using an Olloclip to capture the macro images, then compositing with the handy Moldiv collage editor for iOS.
If you browse my Flickr photostream my love of macros becomes obvious.
Saturday I spent the day with a couple hundred web developers, designers, publishers and blogging enthusiasts at an event called WordCamp OC. This the fourth annual WordCamp Orange County, and the eleventh WordCamp I’ve participated in.
I shared my plans for WordCamp with one of my hiking friends, Paul. He reasoned, “Oh, that’s why you’re so good at Words With Friends!” No, WordCamp isn’t about word play or word games. WordCamp is about WordPress — the open source content management system that powers about 22% of all new web sites on the Internet. As far as conferences go, these are local events organized by volunteers with the support of the WordPress community at large. Often people travel across state lines or even the country to attend. The speakers are practitioners who use WordPress, build sites using WordPress, and speak from practical experience. And unlike most professional conferences where registration often can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, WordCamp OC was a mere $35, including two days of sessions, a t-shirt, coffee, lunch, snacks and beverages. That alone is worth much more, but the real value doesn’t show up on the conference schedule.
The challenge with WordCamp is serving the market. There’s a wide range of people interested in WordPress. Many are web developers, often specializing in building complex web applications using WordPress as a framework. Others are designers, trying to figure out how to create head-turning designs on a well-supported platform with a huge market. And still others own small businesses, or are aspiring entrepreneurs or bloggers looking to establish or just improve their own web presence.
I’ve been designing and developing web sites since 1995. I started building static web sites — as was the norm — but quickly moved to developing dynamic, database-driven sites. Such sites are easier to maintain and update, and quickly became the norm for most commercial sites. The challenge back in the 90’s was that the backend platform was the responsibility of the developer. Complex sites typically included a custom content management system on the backend. For me, that was built using Microsoft technologies: IIS, MS SQL Server databases and Active Server Pages (ASP).
In 2001, I began experimenting with emerging blogging platforms. At the time, Movable Type was at the forefront. I started this blog on it, and it served me well. in 2005, I made a decision to switch my development focus entirely from developing on ASP to PHP. Several of my sites were converted as well — a major task.
And in 2007, I began looking at PHP-based content management systems (CMS). I had done some development using Drupal, and was testing Joomla. But in August 2007, I made a trip to San Francisco for my first-ever WordCamp. What I saw and learned over that weekend convinced me that WordPress would become my development platform of choice. And I haven’t looked back.
The WordPress community is rich with resources — millions of smart people who willingly share their knowledge and own experience. And the WordCamp events around the world give them an opportunity to gather face-to-face for real interaction. This interaction happens all the time, in online communities, forums, in Facebook groups, on Twitter, via podcasts and through local WordPress Meetup groups. But the annual WordCamp has become a bit like the grown-up version of summer camp. It’s a chance to reconnect with your friends and colleagues. There are equal doses of learning, sharing, fun and frivolity. It strengthens the bonds of the community. WordCamp keeps the community vibrant, dynamic and growing.
I love that we live in an age where virtual communication and collaboration is so easy to achieve. But it will never replace the value of sitting around the table sharing a taco with colleagues and talking about our world travels. And sometimes we talk about WordPress, too.
Leave a comment and let me know where you find value in face to face conferences.
And thanks to Brandon Dove, Jeffrey Zinn, the fantastic speakers, volunteers and attendees who all make WordCamp an event worth participating in.
My first creation for the 30 Days of Creativity project was simple, but it was a busy day, what with WordCamp OC and the Mile…Mile and a Half premiere. I started with a photo that I took on our Bald Mountain hike at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park in Sonoma, applied some text reminding everyone that June 1st is National Trails Day, and softened it in Instagram. Done.
