PodCamp Toronto 2008 Highlights
So I’m finally getting around to posting on my experiences at PodCamp Toronto 2008. What a great time and what a great group of people. I saw some PodCamp veterans like Tommy Vallier, Chris Brogan, and Julien Smith. I also met some new people from Canada like Adele McAlear, Jay Moonah, Vergel Evans, and Connie Crosby. The days were great and I spent a lot of time getting to know how people where leveraging new media. In the evenings we usually headed to a nearby watering hole. Luckily the favorite spot was right outside my hotel. I had a chance to get a taste for Toronto nightlife; I’ll challenge you to find the picture of some new friends I met while out.
Heading to the Hotel
I even had a chance to bump into one of my favorite actors from the series, The Wire, Lance Reddick at the airport. I wrapped up by hanging out with Michelle Joseph, a PR woman and Toronto native, and some friends to watch the Oscars. Very cool time all around.
Matthew Ingram on Truth vs Traffic (Turn the volume up)
Vergel Evans on Blog Analytics
OBAMA ‘ROBBED’ IN NY
Oh My F***ing God! Check this out: OBAMA ‘ROBBED’ IN NY
Looks like Hillary does her dirt in front and behind the curtain. Zero votes being counted for Obama in Harlem! I mean when they reported the numbers didn’t they think the results were kinda odd? I don’t see how this could be human error. This kinda news just sucks the life out of me.
Confusing Your Fake ID with MySpace
One of the joys of making it to the U.S. illegally is access to free Internet a public libraries. Free access to sites like MySpace and Facebook take the edge off of trying to find gardening work outside of the local Walmart. But to my friends south of the border, your ID is not a Facebook page:
I found this gem at Politics, People, and Pot. I guess Barack is right, “they didn’t come to the U.S. to drive.”
Valentine’s Day with ooVoo
I had a chance to spend time discussing the cool tool, ooVoo with Chris Brogan mid Valentine’s Day. I also learned how to create lightening round presentations with Laura “Pistachio” Fitton using the same cool tool.
If recording on the PC was actually reliable I would say this tool makes sense as a “no cost” way to start competing with Robert Scoble. You can ask “Who Are You” over the wire. This makes ooVoo the killer tool for an interview or small group discussion. I see a new blog format in the making as a facilitator picks a blog for Category X and invites people every week or couple of days to talk about topic Y.
Awesome stuff!
My Dream Car
Hey all, I’m please to announce that there is finally a suitable review for my dream car. Well I guess it’s not really a dream car since I expect that I will be able to afford it within the next two years… at least that is the plan. Its the Tesla Roadster and I am in love. Here are a few fun facts:
- 100% Electric
- 0-60 in 3.9 seconds
- 135 MPG equivalent
- 220 miles per charge
- less than 2 ¢ per mile
Bill Clinton and Knight Rider
I found this little gem while participating in a discussion on BlogCatalog.com, one of my new homes as I make the transition from finance to the Internet at large. It basically shows that the platform of “change vs experience” is not new and that Bill Clinton coined it first. Very interesting indeed. I remember growing up in high school with Bill Clinton in office. I remember the scandals, NAFTA (understanding what it meant even though I was young)… I don’t want to have another special interest president. So I guess you might be thinking that I have dedicated a lot of my righting to the campaign of late. What else is Travell Perkins all about? I guess I could talk about what I’m doing to put food on the table, but then I would have to kill you 
It’s top secret for now , but not for much longer. In the short term I would encourage you to take a peek at some of my other experiments that I have invested quite a bit of time in over the past year. Those would be EcoEgg.org and The Oliver Report. Other than work I’ve been hitting the gym and pretty happy that 3 of my favorite shows weren’t dramatically effected by the writers strike. In addition Terminator on Fox came out and it also looks like I’ll at least be able to sample Knight Rider on NBC. Post production takes a long time which is why these geek fest shows are coming out now The writers had done their work ages ago! Anyway, here is the Bill clip.
The YMCA and CNN Coverage of Election ‘08
I’ve been having a lot of fun at the Y of late. My favorite is the cardio room where I get to snag one of the ellipticals and plug in my headphones to listen to what is playing on any one of two huge flat panel TVs there. Thanks to great management at the Waltham YMCA, CNN is usually on and I have been an addict of late. I find myself often watching primary coverage in double doses. I was told by a close friend that I could probably get most of my information online without the commercials and a lot faster. The problem is I love the “professional” commentary. I want to see how the media that Main Street watches is interpreting the election. Frankly this is how most people still get their news. Today I discovered Ed Schultz and he probably gave the best summary I have heard to date about what is going on with the democratic race in particular. Until then I always thought that the Super Delegates where going to basically ruin this whole election, but with the excitement in the Democratic Party and the intense media attention it looks like they will break which ever way the national delegate/popular vote totals lean. It looks like the Obama camp knows this. I think that is why they are not giving up any states and fighting for every single one. Obama only gets 3 hours worth of sleep a night, but he knows that momentum will be the key to victory.
I think momentum will be the key to me getting back into running shape as well. I’ve been hitting the cardio at least 3 times a week, but I need to step it up to 4. Right now I need to get rid of the micro belly. Got to have goals for all aspects of your life 
I also discovered a very cool blog about a guy tracking his weight loss over time at JohnIsFit.com.
Saturday Night Fever: Barack Sweeps
I’m going to keep this one short since I really need to go to sleep so that I can get some blinds for the crib. It’s snowing here in Beantown and so I’m glued to CNN as I have been for the past couple of months. I was really worried about how Barack was going to do in Washington State. There was all this talk of the Asian vote not coming through. Well looks like my brothas and sistas came through. CNN did this piece where they were talking about how Asian and Latino voters were averse to change. Turns out not so much, everyone wants a brighter future. My theory is simple about what happened; it all comes down to what generation you are speaking of. Washington State has a significant amount of Asian voters, however how many generations have lived in the state? These voters identify themselves as American first. In California there is a high turn over rate of immigrants who are first generation. In states where immigration is less of a firsthand issue Obama will do better.
Here is how the Dems did in each state on Saturday (candidate, popular vote, percentage, delegates):
Louisiana Primary Feb 9, 2008
Obama 220,588 57% 23
Clinton 136,959 36% 15
Nebraska Caucuses Feb 9, 2008
Obama 25,986 68% 16
Clinton 12,396 32% 8
Washington Caucuses Feb 9, 2008
Obama 21,629 68% 35
Clinton 9,992 31% 14
So it looks to me as if race is becoming less of a factor and I’m glad we can finally, hopefully, put those ugly weeks behind us (Bill is back in his cage). It’s not about race or gender, but as Barack says… about the past vs. the future. Hillary is definitely the past and I’m sure she has a place in the future of American politics. However you have to realize that all the policy that Bill Clinton put in place has lead up to the issues with immigration, weak borders, and loss of jobs in the U.S. NAFTA was his priority. Bush had his part to play, but Bill setup the environment a long time ago, people were simply not paying attention because the economy was in a time of growth due to the expansion of world financial markets and the information economy (Internet Boom). Anyway, I’d be happy to hear your comments on what you think. I’ll end with a funny clip that I actually found using a mobile video service called VTap.
Update (2/11):
Add Maine to the list of wins for the weekend! The Super Delegate is starting to really scare me, I think Obama has to figure out how to crack Texas and take it out right.
A Sleepy SuperBowl: My Informal House Warming
So I finally recovered from the Super Bowl. It took about a week but I can accept that Brady choked royally. The evening was quite laid back, the option was there to either go to Downtown Boston or just chill at home. I just moved to Waltham, which is a little west of Boston and home to the start of the American Industrial Revolution. Being close to 128 it was also home to many tech and medical device manufactures like Boston Scientific (then again I think their in Natick, one town over).
Anyway, I love the new place that I moved into, it’s a big change from the south shore. Feels real good not to be house poor anymore. As part of my transition into self employment I had to relieve myself of some financial burdens. Kinda sucks since I had a sweet mortgage that actually decreased the longer I held it for up to 12 years. The fact that I had some rental income was also nice. Luckily I was able to do a short sale without getting banged up too much in the process. Anyway, I’m going off topic. I liquidated so that I could finance development on the project that is suppose to pay the bills. Time is more valuable than money for most startups; quiting the six figure salary and running full time was the only way to go for me. To that end, I’m now in Waltham and the Super Bowl party was kinda my informal house warming.
Mostly everyone at the party was for the Pats, but all but one of us are originally out of towners. So when Brady started getting sacked big time we all kinda had a good laugh on the inside. They say that the Super Bowl is ranked second only to Thanksgiving in terms of caloric intake. Well judging by the amount of junk we consumed I’m not surprised. We had a fun debate about what’s the best part of an Oreo cookie. I personally like the mini Oreos because they have just the right proportion of cookie to stuff ratio (regular has just a little bit more than what I like). Unfortunately Mel got Double Stuff so I left Oreo guts all over the table. I think you can easily make it out in one of the pictures.
Well anyway, good times good times. As you can see I still need to do some more decorating and put some pics on the wall. This new place is actually bigger than the ground floor unit of the house I use to own. Everything setup, but I still need to get blinds. Right now I still have the shades that came with the place. The kind that they use in murder mysteries that cast a shadow of the deeds that go down inside. Maybe bamboo blinds, chic and sustainable.
Purdy Colors and Sexy Music
I’m a big fan of StumbleUpon.com, but it can be a time suck sometimes. Anyway, I found something I really like so here it is. Only the best for you. Note: You should visit the link directly under the video for the HD version if you have a speedy connection
Solar, with lyrics. from flight404 on Vimeo.
Makes me wish I applied myself more when I was working at LCS @ MIT. I love computer graphics as an applied science, we’ve come so far.
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In the Game
