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Xmas Spirit Not Found

Ok folks, you know I don’t ask for much, but I need help. See, I’ve not got the Xmas Spirit like I should. Xmas is almost here, and I’m in a bummed out mood. There is no snow, it’s been raining for two days, and besides paying $1200+ to get the vehicle fixed last month the state of Wisconsin decided they paid me too much money during the summer and now wants $410 back before December 31st. (Thanks Wisconsin!) Bummer for me…

Anyway, things are more or less positive (except for the financial situation) so I really shouldn’t be bummed out. I’ve got the love of a great woman, 2 amazing kids, and 3 jobs which usually manage to pay the bills.

So either email me, or leave a comment and attempt to cheer me up. Thanks everyone!

(If I don’t see any comments by later today, I may start drinking heavily…)

Update: In an effort to raise my Xmas Spirit I started eating Xmas cookies, but now my stomach hurts. Damn you Xmas cookies!


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BarCampMadison: How Social Can You Get?

I finally decided on a session for BarCampMadison… How Social Can You Get?

I’m hoping to look at the typical “social networks” like Myspace and Facebook, but also look at how sites like Digg, del.icio.us, last.fm, Flickr, and others leverage social networking to enhance what they are already offering.

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BarCampMadison Go!

Just got an email from Ken Rheingans, letting us know that BarCampMadison is all set, and will happen March 3rd & 4th, 2007 in Madison Wisconsin at the Inn on the Park Hotel.

Also, a big thanks to Stratagem for being the location sponsor and covering half of the net connection fees.

Expect a planning meeting in the beginning of January, and after that promotion and planning will go into full swing. Let’s make this as awesome (if not more awesome) than BarCampMilwaukee.

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Overhead Projector

I picked up an old overhead projector from WCTC during one of their auctions of old equipment.

For those of you who attended elementary school 20 or more years ago, you may remember these things. They were used by teachers in classrooms before PowerPoint existed.

Overhead Projector

It’s old-tech, but still cool. This one is a pre-1988 model, but since it says “WCTI” I’m guessing it’s even older, and it still works fine. When you did a presentation on one of these you didn’t have to worry about VGA adapters, resolution, or file formats. Of course, you did have to worry about the bulb burning out.

I’m not 100% sure what I’ll do with this, but I can come up with a few interesting ideas. (One involves projecting words/images onto the building across the street.)

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Web414: First Meeting Report

The first official Web414 meeting was last night, and it went well. It was the first time at the IT Fusion Business Center. (One thing we learned was that you can probably park on the street right out front, the meters are free after 6PM.) Justin said we can probably meet in this location until June. Jeramey said we could also use the MSOE Kern Center if needed.

Justin borrowed a projector, but long-term it would be nice to have a projector for the group, or at least a list of folks we could borrow one from. Chad was able to plug in his Airport Base Station and give us all a wifi connection.

We discussed the new group, and talked about how it would work (no specific leader, group effort, ad-hoc and BarCamp-like.) The site is running Drupal, and we would like to modify it (through modules) to match the features Meetup.com provided.

For the January 2007 meeting (and all future meetings) we’re hoping to have a presentation on a specific topic. John mentioned talking about how he makes a living publishing information on his web site. It would also be nice to see guest speakers in the future as well.

(This is cross-posted from my Web414 blog…)