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Is SXSW Interactive Worth It?

Now that I’m back in the real world post-SXSW Interactive, just about everyone I talk to wants to know how it was.

The word I find myself using over and over is “overwhelming”. SXSWi was in fact entirely too large. The sense of “community” was lost in the masses of random people. There was little opportunity for serendipitous running-into-one-another of people you’d want to meet. Although yes, that did happen on occasion, for the most part if I wanted to meet someone I had to make a concerted effort—and even then most of the time it didn’t happen. Lots . . . → Read More: Is SXSW Interactive Worth It?

Learning to Remember

December 15 – 5 Minutes

Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010.

These fruits that grow in Jamaica remind me on little miniature brains (but they taste really good with eggs).

This was sort of a good exercise, except by nature of the exercise and having been reflecting on the past year for over a week now, mostly what came to mind were the big life-changing moments of 2010 or just the really exciting moments. I . . . → Read More: Learning to Remember

How To: Throw the Best Party of 2011

I went to (and threw) a lot of great parties in 2010. Taking the best parts from each of my favorite events, I present to you my formula for throwing a party of epic proportions in 2011!

There shall be dancing!

Case Study: SPARKcon flash mob dance: Raleigh, NC If you look closely, you can see my head bopping to and fro. Participating in a flash mob dance was something I got to check off my bucket list this year!

Music to my ears.

Case Study: Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, Manchester, TN

Just pretend like you’re hearing . . . → Read More: How To: Throw the Best Party of 2011

Quit Planning & Just Do It!

For as much as a planner as I am, I’m currently en-route to Montego Bay, Jamaica with absolutely no idea where I’ll sleep, eat, or how to get from one place to the next.

I travel a lot, but almost always at least somewhat planned. I’ll at least purchase plane tickets more than 3 days ahead or book a hotel or hostel room for a night or two (or know which friend’s couch I’m crashing on). Sometimes I go all out get guide books ahead of time and make a list of all the places I want to see . . . → Read More: Quit Planning & Just Do It!

On TNGG: Volunteering at Bonnaroo

I’ve been writing over at The Next Great Generation for some months now (archives here), but my most recent piece took a lot of emotional labor to write and required learning some new skills like learning how to make videos in iMovie, so I wanted to make sure to share this particular one with my readers.

Bonnaroo was sort of this life-changing, mind re-wiring, boundary-testing sort of experience that I’ve been trying to comprehend for weeks now. This particular article (only one of many possible perspectives) focuses on my experience as a vendor specifically and why I probably will . . . → Read More: On TNGG: Volunteering at Bonnaroo

Mixing It Up

Sometimes you need to step away from the daily grind and try something new. That’s pretty much what I’ve been doing the past month:

Spoke at an “unconference”. As my most recent post stated, I gave my first presentation to a group of about 15 product developers, product managers, and others after giving a quick 20-second pitch to a group of about 100 at ProductCamp RTP on May 22nd. It was a fantastic success. I learned a tremendous amount about my own public speaking skills as well as learning how to teach and/or explain an idea to a group . . . → Read More: Mixing It Up

April Monthly Goal Meetup

Everyone else is saying it, so I will too. Thank God For Spring Weather!!!!!

Now let’s jump right into reviewing my goals for March: Finish perfecting the killer resume. Honest to god, I have a rough-draft, but wow some things just take a lot more time than you imagined. I’m carrying this one over to April . Finish the new blog redesign. You might not notice a huge difference from last month, but there was a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff going on. The only part I’m still trying to work out is the Photography page. Hrmmm. There seems to . . . → Read More: April Monthly Goal Meetup

What Is “interesting” Anyways? College Was.

I’m three years out of college now. I find myself looking back at my life and the former college-lives of others around me and can’t help but feel like most of us were much more interesting people in college.

I look back at pictures from college:

Black & white shots with my film SLR in Pittsburgh Strangers I met in Rome while studying abroad in Florence Me with my Swiss foreign exchange student waiting in line to get into a concert Fashion shots of aspiring models printed in my college fashion magazine My family and me covered in sulfur . . . → Read More: What Is “interesting” Anyways? College Was.

The Future of High Speed Rail for Selfish Cities

The Raleigh Department of City Planning hosts a lecture series called “Designing a 21st Century City” every few months. I went to my second lecture presentation last week where John Robert Smith (former Mayor of Meridian, MS and member of Amtrak‘s board) and James Corless (Director of Transportation for America) spoke about the future of high speed rail in the US and how it will affect our own growing city. There was a typical talk about how the national transportation policy hasn’t changed in over 50 years, how we could have raised enough money for rail . . . → Read More: The Future of High Speed Rail for Selfish Cities