don't drink from the wrong one
This morning I gave a talk at SecondConf about location-based software. You can download my slides with notes here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6541807/fun-with-location.pdf (Slideshare link coming soon) I bookmarked a number of resources related to my talk as well: http://pinboard.in/u:spinnerin/t:secondconf2011/ Thanks to Sec
I was at the Oregon Convention Center 7 days in a row last week, which feels like it should qualify for some sort of marathon record. First to attend CLS, where I learned a lot about open source foundations and … Continue reading →
It’s going to be a busy summer. Open Source Bridge, June 21-24 The 3rd year of our conference for open source citizens. In addition to being on the planning committee (talk to me if you need a media pass or … Continue reading →
I’ve been playing with Dokobots on and off since being introduced to it at WhereCamp. I liked it off the bat, but I don’t think there’s much to keep the player coming back over time. I have a few thoughts … Continue reading
When Code n Splode started in 2007, it was in response to an event at OSCON and discussions that followed. Several of the people who would become involved had attended a “women in open source” BoF that left them unhappy … Continue
I’ve been in San Francisco (and nearby) for most of the last week, primarily to attend this year’s WhereCamp, which was held at Stanford. I had a ton of great conversations about data, privacy, transit systems, community organizing, and how …
As promised, a little follow-up. Matt asked in comments: “I’d love to see how this compares to the bay area.” For the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro area, the mean annual wage for Computer and Mathematical Science Occupations is $91,440. (The Portland …
One of the topics I’ve become interested in through PDX11 and other economic development discussions is the variation in wages for local programmers. Surveys like the one we did last year reveal a wide range of annual incomes for developers, …
Tomorrow night I’m giving a talk at Code n Splode about interactive fiction. I’m planning to do an intro about how the history of these games has had some interesting outcomes from the technical side (including encouraging open culture/open source …
As I mentioned last week, I’ve been spending some time thinking about text adventure games. Or Interactive Fiction (IF), which is what most of the people actively writing and playing these things call it. It’s interesting, as someone who hasn’t …
There are many stories I could tell about why I’m a software developer, but since my current topic [1] is text adventure games, here’s one that ties into that: When I was in grade school, we acquired an Osborne computer. … Continue reading
Things: My digital notebooks are full of scribbles about user groups, determining which are active, which need help with meeting space or other things, contact information for various group leaders. Also: ways to measure the health of user groups things …
Things I’m thinking about: Antarctica The ridiculous face Kirk is making right now (he’s napping in one of those sprawled out poses) Documentation for unconferences, code sprints, and other tech activities, and how much time it’ll take to produce the …
There was a friend’s wedding, and Christmas, and snow shoeing and hiking and a day trip to the coast. I finished my graphic design class, and started one for screenprinting. I disabled my Twitter account, and unsubscribed from most of … Continue rea
I’ve been using Flickr since 2005 or so, when a coworker introduced me to it. Her love for the site was so infectious that she talked me into signing up even though I didn’t have a digital camera, and very … Continue reading →
Another late post because work is still very busy (I try to write these on Mondays). We’re launching part 2 of 3 on the project this week. The rest of the time I’m working on design homework, which looks kind … Continue reading
I completely forgot to post last week. But at least I have a good excuse. Soapbox, part of a set of products I’m working on for Restaurant Intelligence Agency, launched last Monday. I’ve been working with Neoteric Design on this … Continue reading
I’m late posting this week because yesterday I was getting fillings replaced (ow ow ow and they have to do the other side in a couple weeks) and work is super-busy because we’re trying to launch a big part of … Continue reading →
Last Monday we adopted two kittens from the Oregon Humane Society. They’re named Kirk and Spock. No, we didn’t pick that. They were transferred from another shelter or clinic to OHS, and already had these names at that point. But … Continu
Two busy weekends in a row, plus a full work schedule, plus starting an evening class (graphic design at PNCA), plus Sputnik wants so much attention he keeps waking us up in the middle of the night: we’re a little … Continue reading U
I hosted a session at WhereCampPDX this weekend on Portland, technology, and economic development. I started things off by suggesting a theory: that Portland’s history as a timber town has influenced our approach to economic development, in ways that are …
Last week OPB hosted PublicMediaCamp, an evening unconference about news, public media, journalism, and anything else we wanted to discuss. Creepius tagged along and checked out the pledge drive set. I would not recommend giving Creepius your personal information. Even …
In fact, the event went extremely well. I think this qualifies as the most successful WhereCamp in Portland yet. We had around 120 attendees from Portland and throughout the U.S. I’m completely exhausted now, but it was worth it. More … Conti
These are the things currently in some state of food-preservation effort after this weekend. The fridge is full of pickles, the counter is covered with tomato jars that need to be labeled and stored, and the kitchen table has two … Continue reading
This week’s post is for Mudshark, who died on Friday at the young age of five. He was a really amazing cat, and I miss him very much. When we got him he was a little over a year old … Continue reading →
It’s the end of a three day weekend, which I’ve spent reading, visiting family (including my brother whose birthday was on Friday), worrying about Mudshark, and playing with music software. I’ll probably have something more interesting to say next week, …
The past couple of weeks have been very stressful. Mudshark is not doing so well, and the process of figuring out what’s wrong has involved many inconclusive test results, one very conclusive finding (he has a large tumor in his … Continue r
Labor Day is fast approaching, and with it, the end of the pages I allocated for my Summer Fieldbook. For fall, I wanted a slightly more gothic tone, something to encompass crunchy leaves and cooler weather and Halloween. This Fieldbook … Con
Recent activities: Reading. Too much phone tag with the vet. Scanning Polaroids. Writing snippets of notes and narrative. Admiring my shiny new Fall Fieldbook. Scheming ways to convince people to vote for my SXSW panel. I’m having the back-to-school-like desire …
This week I did two pieces on things going on around Portland’s technology sphere. The first was a guest post for Silicon Florist about bringing open source into government: A number of us recently read the Willamette Week’s coverage of …