August 2005 Archive

When the Levees Break

posted by DL Byron on August 31, 2005

I’ve been sick most of the week, watched way more TV than normal, and was stunned by Katrina. The standard, newsman in the storm was replaced with disaster observers and a massive disaster it was. Much drama at play, the human costs, man against nature, oil industry, and more. I also remembered an art piece we did years ago called Floodgate 2.0 (QT, 7.5M).

A torrential rain poured down from the floodgates of the angy heavens … .

Floodgate is the source of our tag line, “dreeping in the rain.”

A Blog for Relief Day starts tomorrow.

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rather have a notepad

posted by DL Byron on August 21, 2005

Pam picked up a couple of the Microsoft Ogio bags for the kids. Microsoft gave them out at the Blog Business Summit and included a copy of the IE 7 beta. Later at the airport, she says, “I need some paper, where’s that bag?” “What?” She thought the beta package was a nifty round notepad and disappointed that it wasn’t said, “I’d rather have a notepad, then a beta browser.”

Ha ha . . . me too.

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at the Blog Business Summit

posted by DL Byron on August 17, 2005

I'm at the Blog Business Summit this week talking about design, selling products, and blog engines.

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King of Bling

posted by DL Byron on August 17, 2005

We stopped to see the King of Bling on the way to San Diego. I remembered, faintly, seeing King Tut as a kid, in the 70s. It was less dramatic without the face mask, but impressive just the same. We also dug the tar pits nearby.

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A few circles

posted by DL Byron on August 12, 2005

Going into the Blog Business Summit next week, a few full-circles are worth noting

• I left Boeing to dotcom, then dotbomb (Webforia), and I’m back blogging
• Was laid off from Wagged, during the dotbomb, and they’re now sponsoring the Summit and speaking at it.
• I did my dotcom penance with a year at Microsoft. While there, I evangelized blogging and most had no idea what I was talking about. They’re now sponsoring the Summit and keynoting.
• I hired a developer to help with a redesign project, so I can focus on the blog book. The original design was included in Zeldman’s book.

And a few more topics

• I joke that I knew Keith when he coded his first P tag. Ok, that’s an exaggeration, but we do go way back. He’s getting married, starting his own blog consultancy, and more. Good luck Keith and congratulations.
• Over the weekend, I'll revise and update 3 presentations on blog design, blogs that sell, and blog platforms.

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Ghostcycle

posted by DL Byron on August 07, 2005

I ride my bike around the city a lot and as a cyclist, have had my share of close calls, road rage, and frustrations with the amount of cars in the city. Last week, I started seeing cyclist struck here GhostCycles installations. GhostCycle is an activist-art project “to raise awareness for everyone regarding bicyclists on the streets of Seattle.” I now see at least one of the 40 GhostCycles on every route I ride. Backing up the installations, is an impressive map with notations, Flickr clusters, and statistics.

This year I started really lamenting how the traffic in Seattle is affecting the quality of life. That may have come from the failing Monorail project, visiting cities that have working light rail, or just being plain tired of SUVs, stalled traffic, and frustrated drivers. What’s happening is that highway traffic is spilling into the side streets where I ride and roads like Lake Washington Drive, a bicycle right-of-way, are becoming thoroughfares for drivers. I expect to get to hear the yells, honks, close calls, and more — a week ago, we had a driver try to run us off the road. I hope those drivers see the GhostCycles, think about cycling in the city, and driving their cars.

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And so the book begins

posted by DL Byron on August 03, 2005

As posted on the Blog Book Blog, the book writing has started.

Coincidentally, at the same time, I noticed that Paul Ingram and Nick Finck had similar, new instant-message avatars. I asked them where they got them and made my own just for book writing. To get the book done, and everything else, I’ll have to go into self-imposed radio silence for extended periods.

If I had more time, I’d attend a conference on time, and getting your life back from work. Just like the quote from Francis in the article, I, “pick away at a project rather than get paralyzed by the big picture.” If I paused to consider the big picture, that’s all I’d do ….

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