What I do want to say is that I really miss writing here and really need to kick myself in the behind to start creating some more content / media in my / about my life. I feel like this piece has been missing from my days lately and while I’ve been “so busy”, for some reason I haven’t had the motivation to fire up MarsEdit or login to WordPress to post something… Finally, rather than him-hawing about a post and what to write about, I figured why not just typing and so here I am.

It’s been a very busy summer as I’m sure it has been for you, my (still) loyal reader(s). We’ve been continuing to remodel rooms in our new house (been here just over a year now) and between a few vacations and the occasional business trip for work, I feel like I blinked once and the summer is now over.

Here’s hoping that the crisp air that is right around the corner motivates me to take things a bit slower, not feel so rushed, enjoy my family and maybe provide some encouragement to open up my blogging client and share a bit of what’s going on in my life or what I think is interesting with you, my (amazingly fantastic) loyal reader(s).

That wasn’t so hard! :)

A month or two back I received a phone call from a number that I didn’t recognize. For some reason I decided to pick up the call. As it turns out, it was Details Magazine and they had gotten my number from my friend, Kris Smith. They were doing research for an article they were writing about “cool people who live in the suburbs” and found Kris’s website (and obviously not MINE!). Kris gave them my information and I was interviewed about what made us move from the city, how has “suburban” life been to us, etc.

I think the author was really trying to dig some scandalous dirt about how I threw away all of my indie music, moved to the burbs, bought a McMansion and am now sporting dual Hummers in the driveway. Obviously, if you know me, that is nowhere near the case. We’ve recently moved closer to downtown Naperville to get back to walking everywhere and traded in our first house for a cozy 50′s ranch (that will not be torn down ~ a rarity in the Ville). I think the only things that are really “suburban” about us are Liz’s Volvo and our zip code (well, and the fact that we do live on a cul de sac now). :)

Anyways, the article that I was interviewed for is finally up on the Details Magazine website and should be on newstands any day now. No, there is no photo of me in front of the Naperville Riverwalk, showing off a yellow ribbon magnet on my car or anything fun like that, but it actually is a somewhat interesting read.

I thought that this was a pretty cool view on the ongoing City vs. Suburbs debate…

The model of the city as patchwork, which so many urban dwellers see as a point of pride, is quickly becoming a relic of the past. “When you have Crate & Barrel and Whole Foods on every other corner, you don’t have the same sense of place, the sense that this block is distinct from that block, the way you did even 20 years ago,” Kotkin says. “The real diversity now is in suburban strip malls, where those who aren’t super-wealthy have been displaced and where you now find an East Indian barber next to a Persian grocer next to a young guy from a good East Coast college who’s selling earth-friendly furniture. And all that is next to the coolest Hindu temple you’ve ever seen.”

You can read the article that I was interviewed for on the Details Magazine website.

I don’t really have much to say about this year’s festivities other than what has already been said all over the Internet. I hate to say it, but for me, the highlight of this year’s conference was getting to hang out my regular group of friends in Seattle (and not the actual conference itself). Was I completely disappointed? Absolutely not. There were a handful of speakers who were good (Guy Kawasaki and Ignite Seattle were my favorites) and I got to see more of Seattle than I was able to over the past several of years.

Maybe things need to be mixed up?

I think part of the general apathetic feeling that is going on around this year’s Gnomedex is that things need to be changed up a bit.

The event has been at the same location for the past three years (for as long as it has been hosted in Seattle). The kick-off party has always been at the Odyssey Maritime Center. Bell Harbor Conference Center is a great facility and the perfect size for the event, but for those of who attend every year (and I would guess that is the majority of attendees) maybe it needs to be somewhere else? We all end up sitting in the same seats as we do year after year (no one’s fault but our own, I know!). Even the pastries at the continental breakfast each morning are the same year after year (though, those almond-y ones are very good!). :)

I know it’s Chris‘ current hometown, but in my opinion, a change of venue and maybe even moving the event away from Seattle would really re-boot things. I was at the last Gnomedex in Iowa (back in 2003!) and loved the fact that the majority of the people in attendance had to make a conscious effort to get there. The room was full of people from all over which brought a lot of dynamics and energy that really worked well with the speaker line-up. Although I wasn’t there, I heard the same things about Gnomedex 4 that took place in Lake Tahoe.

So what about next year?

I think that I’m going to wait and see what the speaking line-up/plans for next year are. While a lot of what Gnomedex is about are the conversations (hallway, back-channel, at the parties, etc), the speakers who are on stage set the tone/theme. This year’s set of speakers did not set that tone. The hallway conversations weren’t the excited-what’s-next type of conversations. The clique’s retreated to themselves since there wasn’t much to talk about other than “how crazy” the keynote, etc were.

Now that I’m typing all of this out I’m realizing that maybe because so much is the same year after year, I’m/we are expecting the same type of conference year after year?

Anyways, I just wanted to write some of these thoughts down since I was thinking about them a lot. You may agree with me or you may not. I know Chris and Ponzi put a ton of effort and energy into the event each year and really respect their dedication. There was just something about the vibe this year that didn’t make it a stand out year for me.

I think the feelings I have about Gnomedex 2007 come from my attendance of several over the last couple of years and people who attended for their first time may have a completely different set of thoughts/feelings. Regardless, I’m still anxiously looking forward to what Mr. Pirillo has up his sleeve for 2008.

More info on the new house/neighborhood, all of the personal projects I’ve got going on, music I’m listening to, “stuff” I’m watching, games I’m playing and lots more will be coming real soon around here.

and just an FYI to my non-nerd friends: Gnomedex is next week (already!?!), so prepare to be up to year ears in “geek” towards the end of next week. Just a warning. :)

Rather than continuing to apologize for things, let me tell you about some of the stuff that’s been going on and coming up.

- I picked up a Sanyo Xacti HD-2 Video Camera a few weeks back and have been playing a lot with it. I’m still not convinced on the quality of video it shoots indoors (it gets kinda grainy under low-light), but the convenience factor of it recording onto SD cards is awesome. I pop the card out of the camera, mount it on my desktop and drag off the mp4 files (in 720p HD) onto my computer. It really beats DV from a convenience factor. I have shot more video in the last few weeks than I have over the last couple of years on my DV camera (which is on eBay if you’re interested ~ great camera, just don’t use it). I need to write a further review on this camera, but in the meantime I’ve been using it a bunch. Thanks to the help of VisualHub, two clicks of the mouse converts the videos from the camera and gets them onto the AppleTV (which I also owe you all a review of).  The camera has another purpose which hopefully you’ll be finding out about someday soon.  :)

- Went on a weeklong vacation to Wisconsin. We get away every year with Liz’s family and once again spent a week on the water. Was nice to take a break from the craziness.

- We’re moving in two weeks. We’re staying in Naperville, just moving to something closer to downtown. Of course that means something older (which in turn is going to mean something that needs some work). Should be interesting as our house that we’re selling has been virtually maintenance-free (it was a newer home). I am looking forward to a different lifestyle and am excited about being able to walk to the train, coffee shop, stores, etc.  That was one of the biggest things that we missed when we moved from the city out to the ‘burbs.  If you have the urge to paint or help us finish up the basement a bit (did I tell you we’re putting in a Tiki Bar?!?!), let me know.  :)

- Gnomedex is coming up for me during the second week in August. As always, I’m looking forward to the event and seeing all of my friends that I only get to see once a year. This will be my fourth time attending and cannot wait.

- As I have hinted around this site, it’s time to let you all know that Liz and I are expecting our second offspring in October. We’re rolling the dice (as we did with Maggie) and not finding out if we’re having a boy or girl. It really makes things interesting (and frustrating for everyone who wants to know) and gives you something to focus on when things are nuts during the last few weeks.

Sorry about the quietness around here.  It’s been a hell of a couple of weeks for me and I’m just trying to get my head above water.  More soon, I promise!

With that said, we got away for a quick weekend to Michigan to catch the tail-end of the annual Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan. I need more (and longer) vacations. :)

Today’s Daily Herald has an article that Bob McCoppin wrote about Chicago-area people who have participated in Carbon Offsetting programs. Through my online publicist (uh, that’s a joke by the way), I was “discovered” as someone who has subscribed to TerraPass. If you’re unfamiliar, the idea is that you determine the type of car/how much you drive. From there it will calculate how much Carbon Dioxide your vehicle puts out. You then can make a “donation” that is used to invest in technologies that promote “clean energy” (such as solar, wind, etc) and “offset” your emissions.

I have to say that offsetting your Carbon Dioxide emissions isn’t going to completely solve the problem. If nothing else, it’s a start and is a way of putting your money where your mouth is in terms of thinking about alternative energy and lowering emissions.

Hopefully as becoming “green” becomes more trendy, people participating in programs like TerraPass will really start making a difference (especially in numbers). Until then, any little bit helps.

Now where’s that patchouli? :)

If you know me or read this site, you know that I run another site at turo.us which allows people to create smaller urls from large ones.

As it turns out, someone (aka “The ACTUAL Spammer”) had created a handful of urls using turo.us and posted them on some Craigslist sites.  As soon as I discovered that this had happened, I had put a flag on the suspecting URLs preventing them from being redirected to the spam sites.

For whatever reason, this person is convinced that I’m the spammer and won’t let it go…  Please, let me assure you that I’m not.

Send me a civilized email and I can explain things better to you.