ReinventingErica.com » Misc.

BarCamp Houston is TOMORROW!!!

Erica — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 02:04:25 +0000

Hi Folks,

I wanted to start off by THANKING our AMAZING Sponsors for making this event possible. The following companies came directly to us to offer their support – and without them – BarCampHouston would not be taking place.

I’d like to thank in no particular order:

Alert Logic
Konstruction Zone – Special Thanks to Robert Brackenridge
The Business Makers – Special Thanks to Russ Caper
Clearpoint Creative – Special Thanks to Monica Gonzalez
Pop Labs – Special Thanks to Gene McCubbin & Kelsey Ruger
OpenTeams – Special Thanks to Tory Gattis
GDH Consulting – Special Thanks to Steve Howard
TopSpot Internet Marketing – Special Thanks to Anita Perez
YouDesignIt – Special Thanks to Blake Poutra

If you run across any of these folks tomorrow – please give them a big thanks!!!

House Cleaning -

Things to Bring (nothing is required – just suggested)

Laptop
Power Cable
Power Strip (we need several of these)
Extension Cord (We need two more of these)
Pen
Moleskin or journal for note taking
A Flexible Ready for Anything Attitude

What to Expect

If this is your first BarCamp we highly recommend checking out the following resources:

Videos From Past BarCamps:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pRtHeBnTdGw (BarCampAustin 2)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7XlqEDIJzfw (BarCampSF)
http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/795201/ (BarCampTexas)

Photos From Past BarCamps:

http://flickr.com/search/?q=barcamp&z=t
http://flickr.com/search/?z=t&q=barcamp+houston&m=text (BarCampHouston 1)
http://flickr.com/search/?z=t&q=barcamp+austin&m=text (BarCampAustin 1)

BarCamp Defined – History & Misc.

http://barcamp.org/
http://barcamp.org/TheRulesOfBarCamp (The Rules of BarCamp)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcamp (BarCamp Wikipedia Entry)

I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow at The Houston Technology Center. If you have any questions or concerns – please don’t hesitate to contact me at: 832.677.1416.

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Another BIG MOO Moment

Erica — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 01:05:49 +0000

“Those who fit in now won’t stand out later. Those who follow the rules are never noticed – because the system has broken their spirit. There’s plenty of work for the undifferentiated masses, so you can have as much of that as you are willing to handle. The fast-rising stars are those who question authority and refuse to do what’s been done before.”

I was lucky to be reminded of who I am today by two friends. I do not fit into a cookie cutter – and that’s okay. In fact – it’s more than okay – it’s where my power comes from. I will not be molded to fit any one image – and it’s not even necessary for me to try. It’s in my very nature to stand apart from the crowd. And it turns out that’s not such a bad thing after all.

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WE DID IT!!!

Erica — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 17:27:01 +0000

Dear Friends,

I’m officially the #1 Erica on Google Today! I can’t believe I finally made it Thanks to everyone for your help and support. Not sure how long it will last – but being the #1 Erica even for a day or an hour is something I will never forget

Love,
-Erica

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All Consuming – What’s On Your List?

Erica — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 07:01:23 +0000

At the bottom of this page you will find a list of Books that I am currently consuming – populated by the ever popular allconsuming.net. I remember the first time I stumbled upon All Consuming – I must have clicked on a link from 43Things and found my way to their sister site.

For a while now I’ve had a goal on 43Things to Read a Book A Week. I’ve even populated that list of books on AllConsuming. And just to be sure that I stay true to my commitment – I send myself these little weekly reminders (okay it’s automated – but you get the idea):

Dear future self,

I’m reminding you about your stated goal on 43 things, to
“read a book a week”.

How’s it going?

Sincerely,
Your past self

If you’re wondering what’s up first – it’s The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. I was reading a short piece in The Age of Conversation the other day that piqued my interest in this book. It’s been on my reading list for a long time – but I moved it to the top for two reasons. One – I heard the term “Connector” and immediately realized it described me to a T. And two – I love the idea that “Little Things Can Make A Big Difference”.

Oh – and if you haven’t bought your copy of the newest Social Media Handbook – The Age of Conversation – definitely check it out. Kudos to our favorite Maven of Media Connie Reece for her chapter “The Two-step of Conversational Writing”.

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VoSnap Still Not Live…

Erica — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 21:35:17 +0000

So – VoSnap is still not live – but there will be a launch sometime in the near future.

The question – does this mean that VoSnap Inc. is a failed company?

My instant gut reaction is to say “NO!”. There is so much that goes into the success or failure of a company that I think it’s too soon to tell. So what if the application wasn’t launched by Midnight on Sunday. Launch deadlines are missed all the time. What matters is what happens next.

VoSnaps Inc. voted in our last meeting to Bootstrap the company, and appoint a core team composed of each of the groups (promotions, dev, creative, ux, biz/dev, legal, & production) to carry the project forward. And there was great interest expressed by everyone in the room to continue development of this application. Around 75% of the people agreed to devote 10 or more hours a month to this project.

If no one follows thru on their commitment to carry this project forward – then and only then will VoSnaps Inc. be a failure.

However, StartupWeekend was a roaring success! Kudos to Andrew, Gwen, Brad, Joe, and the gang for everything they contributed to this weekend.

I’m going to do a followup post tomorrow talking about all of the great people I met, and highlighting the real concrete benefits of StartupWeekend. In the meantime – here are a couple VoSnap Banner ads to add to your site!

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Reflections on the Past Few Months

Erica — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 18:52:32 +0000

One of the things that I strongly believe is – success is just showing up and following up. This means showing up to meetings, attending conferences, attending lectures, or at the most basic level showing up to the gym, to lunch with friends, or just “showing up” ready to work on your latest project.

Recently Chris Heuer gave a talk at the Web 2.0 Open — unfortunately due to a strange set of circumstances – and some bad room advice – only about 4 people showed up. But Chris wasn’t even the least bit bummed by this turn out. In a Direct Twitter he told me: “Success is showing up – whether there are 4 people or 400.”

This is why I think it’s important to attend conferences, meetups, and workshops. To become a part of your community, and to help local, regional, and national organizations to gain exposure. And to be perfectly frank, this is something that I excel at.

But the other half of Success – is in the follow-up. And that’s an area where I have definitely been failing lately.

So, I’d like to take this opportunity to follow-up with some really amazing people who have helped me over the last few months.

First – to our recent guests on The Business Makers – Jeremiah Owyang, John Moore, Lee & Sachi LeFevre, Jimmy Wales, Silona Bonewald, Giovanni Gallucci, Matt Mullenweg, & Derek Hatchard.

Next, I’d like to thank Nick Finck & Chris Bernard – without whom I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to attend WebVisions & MIX07. To Nick – Kelsey will be in Seattle soon — and I’d love it if he could interview you for the show. To Chris – Thanks again for everything — and I look forward to seeing you here in Houston in a couple of weeks — and would love to interview you for The Business Makers.

I’d also like to thank my friends – for always having my back – and for all their words of wisdom and encouragement. So a big thank you to: Kelsey, Kinan, whurley, Bryan, Zach, Connie, Greg, Ludwig, Adrian, Cody, Jim, Melissa, Katie & the rest of the Refresh Houston and CSS Meetup Gang. I’d also like to thank everyone who has been helping me on the path to becoming the #1 Erica in Google. Thanks for the link juice And if you guys ever need anything — just let me know.

And finally, to my mentor Ed Schipul, who is one of the coolest guys I know.

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Adrian Made me a Widget

Erica — Tue, 29 May 2007 13:34:56 +0000

This is so cool. My friend Adrian made me a yahoo widget that shows my Google Ranking for the term “erica”. And it’s super cool looking too Matches my ReinventingErica.com website and everything!!!

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WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SITE?

Erica — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 05:43:21 +0000

I bet you’re all scratching your heads and wondering what gives? Ah – allow me to enlighten you. Today is CSS Naked Day — this is the day that we strip off our stylesheets and show our sites as the gods of machines intended. Plain black text on white backgrounds. So welcome to my site as the world would see it without the beauty of CSS.

Oh — and just had to link this. THE only reason I would ever buy a copy of .NET Magazine:

http://flickr.com/photos/avalonstar/446903895/in/photostream/ YAY Bryan — I’m going to go pick up my copy tomorrow

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April Fool’s Day in Full Swing

Erica — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 03:11:37 +0000

Last night I was so sleepy that I actually thought THIS was a real conference — imagine Geeks in Antartica…LOL

And it looks like Dan is getting quite a bit of love from the blogosphere.

Oh — and What A Bummer — looks like Woot is all Sold Out of Crap which was selling at a bargin for only $1,000,001.00 +$5.00 for shipping and handling.

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Houston CSS Meetup Tonight

Erica — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 19:28:46 +0000

Our next meetup will focus on using CSS to create stunning visual design. We will look at sites that employ CSS in new and creative ways — and discuss techniques, hacks, and more for creating pixel perfect designs that WOW. Our Guest presenter this month will be Aaron Baxter.

Aaron Baxter is a print and web designer who’s been working with CSS and web standards since his stint as a freelancer in late 2003. He continues to study and experiment with CSS and is now focusing his efforts striking a balance between cutting edge and practical web techniques. Inspirations include Arnaud Mercier, Eric Meyer and the guy who created the Power Puff Girls.

When he?s not on the web, Aaron can be found doing street photography or shooting events in the Houston area.

He currently works full-time as a web designer for Topspot IMS, an industrial internet marketing firm.

RSVP Here: http://css.meetup.com/56/