7
Jan/10
5

2009 – The year I became a father and not just a parent.

2009 was a good year; full of change, growth and opportunity — most of which began and ended with family.  While Kelly and I welcomed our son Finn the year before, 2009 was when he moved from being a cute, new baby into being a little person with a big personality and stubbornly independent streak. When he began walking, everything changed.  Biologically, we became parents when he was born.  I think that we began parenting, with a capital P, when he began to walk.  Everything moved from spit-up and poopy diapers to the hard, but infinitely rewarding, work of teaching our little man the lessons he would need to one day take his place in the world.

As one might imagine, this raises all sorts of questions in one’s mind, not the least of which is “How do I want my son to view me?”  Equally important is the dual realization that “I don’t know everything.” and “I will probably fail more often than I would like.” Put it all together and you have all the makings of a cocktail of self-doubt chased by an antacid shooter.

But a funny thing happened on the way to insanity, the world slowed down and a Zen-like calm descended.  Accepting that I would not bat 1.000 as a parent removed that unattainable goal from my list and allowed me to focus my efforts on batting .333 and peppering it with doubles, triples and the occasional home run.  Any baseball fan will tell you that .333 is pretty darn good. Actually, a real baseball fan will tell you that .333 is still a pretty lofty goal, but it is attainable, with the right combination of discipline and hard work; mixed with a little luck and talent.

From within my new found Zen state, I took time for a little reflection and introspection.  Being a parent will do that to you. Coming down from my intellectual mountain, I came to a couple of realizations which were meaningful, at least to me.

1. I won’t live forever.

Most of us realize this in our early thirties. I’ve known this in a more or less concrete way since I was in my early twenties and had a gun in play during a home visit back in my days as investigator for Children’s Services. Ever since, I’ve lived my life with measured … not reckless … abandon. I’ve dreamed big and achieved critical, if not commercial, success in several business and personal endeavors.  I’ve taken chances with my career that friends have considered unreasonably risky.  And, on a couple of occasions, I’ve done some things that were flat buck wild and I am fortunate to live to tell the tale.

I regret little to none of this. As the saying goes, it made me who I am today and independent reports tell me that I am a decent guy with an interesting life. So, I’ll own my mistakes if the result is where I am today.  But, I now understand why parents may choose to edit the stories of their life when conveying it to their children.  My mistakes are mine, but I’d really rather they don’t become my son’s.  And, now that I know firmly that life is finite, it makes me rethink my old decision-making process and retool it with my wife and current and future children firmly in mind.  Every other realization that follows is derived from the fact that I am not immortal, at least not in body.

2. I am what I eat.

We all heard this in health class in grade school. And, back when I was a college athlete and martial arts instructor, I practiced it with relatively serious discipline. But in 2001, that all changed when I shut down my dojo and turned my attention to a new career in the sparkly wonderland that was the dotcom boom. Regular workouts and dietary discipline were soon replaced with 90 hour weeks and greasy diner and pizza joint fare. You don’t need to be a mentalist to guess where that took me. Put it together with a body long abused by contact sports and you have perfect storm for serious health risks when crossing the Rubicon into my 40s; just as I became a father for the first time.

So, this is where my son has probably saved my life. It took me the first 18 months of his life to get it through my thick skull that I had bad habits that needed to change. It took another 4 months for me to start to take serious action to correct the problem. Now, when I stumble (and I surely will) I think about seeing him graduate from college when I am 62. My dad did it when he was 46. So, 2010 is the year of exercise and eating right … not eating well.

3. Life is too dang short for drama. (See realization #1).

I have always been the guy with two or three active projects and two or three more in the pipeline. That all adds up to a lot of work. Most importantly, it adds up to a lot of time and that is time away from my family. This is made worse when the work is not something about which I am passionate and fully engaged. This realization actually happened in 2008, shortly before Finn’s arrival, but the positive pressure of parenthood turned that lump of coal into a shining diamond in 2009.

What I discovered is that I procrastinate more, and therefore use my time less efficiently, when working with skills I do not cherish on projects that light no fires in me. As a parent, there is no greater gift I can give my family than that of my time and full attention. Work that fulfills me is done with full attention and efficiency. Work that bores me is a time & energy vampire. So, 2010 is also the year I focus on the skills & abilities that make me jump out of bed itching to get to work. In theory, I’ll use my work day more efficiently and see less late nights and long weekends of work.

Almost as if on cue, early 2010 has put one or two really cool opportunities in my lap very early in the game. I cannot elaborate at the moment, but I’ll do so as plans firm up and the year progresses. I’ll tease you with this … 2009 is the year I embraced my role/nature as a storyteller. Funny how kids make you see your true nature — complete with warts and insecurities revealed. The beautiful thing is a child’s sense of wonder is a great salve for healing old wounds, forgetting old insecurities and embracing the promise that is life.

To close, I’ll let you know that blogging here (and elsewhere) is a major 2010 goal. By sharing a bit about my growth as a parent, person and professional (more or less in that order) , I hope to connect with others on a similar journey and share what wisdom we each have along the way.

Make 2010 Great!

Doug

1
Aug/09
0

WordPress Shortcode for File Inclusion

I have a project that requires a lot of complex, yet static Pages in WordPress … think lots of tabular data with heavy CSS styling. This sort of content is best written in an external editor like Zend IDE or Dreamweaver and then dropped into WordPress.

However, if you’ve ever done this, testing the page as you develop it is a huge pain in the backside. It involves cutting and pasting from the editor to WP … saving and refreshing … make changes in the external editor … rinse and repeat.

Not fun. Not efficient.

The solution is fairly straightforward — keep these files static HTML and simply include them somehow in the page. I researched the available plugins and they all seemed like overkill which added overhead. Then, in WP IRC, Fris suggested writing a custom shortcode to do the heavy lifting. 90 minutes later, I have precisely what I need and a renewed respect for WordPress and the community supporting it.

For those interested, here is the code:

< ?php

// SHORTCODE FOR STATIC FILE INCLUDE
function sc_static_html ($atts) {

	// Extract Shortcode Parameters/Attributes
    extract( shortcode_atts( array(
    'subdir' => NULL,
    'file' => NULL
    ), $atts ) );

    // Set file path
    $path_base = ABSPATH."wp-content/inc_static/";
    $path_file = ($subdir == NULL) ? $path_base.$file : $path_base.$subdir."/".$file;

    // Load file or, if absent. throw error
    if (file_exists($path_file)) {
        $file_content = file_get_contents($path_file);
        return $file_content;
    }
    else {
        trigger_error("'$path_file' file not found", E_USER_WARNING);
        return "FILE NOT FOUND: ".$path_file."SUBDIR = ".$subdir."FILE = ".$file."

";
    }
}

add_shortcode('static_html', 'sc_static_html');

?>

USE CASE

[static_html subdir="testdir" file="dirtest.html"]
26
Jun/09
5

Complete bbPress Integration for BuddyPress

Last Updated June 25th, 2009

This document expands on the the original tutorial written by Trent Adams and posted here:

http://buddypress.org/forums/topic.php?id=471

It clarifies a few spots in Trent’s work with more explicit instructions and adds specific tests for success. Ideally, it should prove the definitive “how-to” … for the moment. ;^D

Integration Assumptions

Here are the various versions of the applications used in this tutorial.

  • WordPresMU – Version 2.7.1 (from Download)
    http://mu.wordpress.org/download/
  • BuddyPress – Version 1.02+ (from SVN)
    svn co http://svn.buddypress.org/trunk/
  • bbPress – Version 1.0-RC+ (from SVN)
    svn co http://svn.automattic.com/bbpress/trunk/

While techincally development releases, the SVN versions of BP & BB are both pretty stable and include ongoing fixes to both applications.

Acronyms/Shorthand

WPMU = WordPressMU
BP = BuddyPress
BB = bbPress

SHELL: Indicates you are working in the SHELL or, worst case scenario, your FTP client.
BROWSER: Indicate you are working in your BROWSER.

BPROOT The root directory of WPMU/BP Installation, not your server ROOT.
http://yourdomain.com/ The web domain of your WPMU/BP installation.

CLI(LOCATION) Short for Commad Line Interface, CLI is the actual linux command used. Text in () is the location from which the command is executed.

WPMU & BP Installation

This tutorial assumes you already have a working WPMU/BP install. If not, use the following tutorials to get up and running.

  1. Install WPMU:
    http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WPMU
  2. Install BP:
    http://codex.buddypress.org/getting-started/installing-buddypress/

1. bbPress Installation & Configuration (for BP)

  1. SHELL: Within BPROOT, create a new folder called bbpress
    CLI (BPROOT): mkdir bbpress
  2. SHELL: Check out the SVN copy of BB.
    CLI (BPROOT): svn co http://svn.automattic.com/bbpress/trunk/. bbpress/.
  3. BROWSER: In your browser, visit http://yourdomain.com/bbpress and complete the BB installation.
  4. BROWSER: Once BB is installed, login into BB as the “admin” user. When asked, be sure to select the following options:
    “Add integration settings”
    “Add user database integration settings”
  5. BROWSER: Create a new user in BB called “admin-bp” and grant them “adminstrator” rights. NOTE: This account can be named anything you like, but “admin-bp” will be used for this tutorial.
  6. SHELL: Copy the “buddypress-enable.php” from the BP to BB.
    SOURCE: BPROOT/wp-contents/plugins/buddypress/bb-plugins/buddypress-enable.php
    DESTINATION: BPROOT/bbpress/my-plugins/buddypress-enable.php
    CLI (BPROOT): cp wp-contents/plugins/buddypress/bb-plugins/buddypress-enable.php bbpress/my-plugins/buddypress-enable.php

    NOTE: Do not install this plugin in BPROOT/bbpress/bb-plugins.

  7. BROWSER: From the BB admin, click “Plugins” on the left-hand menu. Then, find “BuddyPress Support Plugin” in the plugins list and click the “Activate” link for it.
  8. BROWSER: From the BB admin, click “Settings” on the left-hand menu. From the Settings submenu, select “Writing”. At the bottom of this page, click the checkbox next to “XML-RPC” and then click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the page.
  9. BROWSER: From the Settings submenu, select “Discussions”. At the top of this page, click the checkbox next to “Enable Pingbacks” and then click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the page.
  10. SHELL: Using the text editor of your choice, open BPROOT/bbpress/bb-config.php in the shell. At the bottom of the file, just before the close of PHP … ?> … add the following line then save the file.

    $bb->bb_xmlrpc_allow_user_switching = true;

2. BuddyPress Configuration

  1. BROWSER: Login to the main blog of your WPMU/BP installation as the “Administrator”.
  2. BROWSER: From the menus in the left side of the Admin UI, select “BuddyPress”. Then, select the “Component Setup” sub-menu and make sure the “bbPress Forums” component is enabled. If it isn’t click the “Enabled” radio button and then “Save Settings” at the bottom of the page.
  3. BROWSER: From the “BuddyPress” submenu, select “Forums Setup” and enter the following information then click “Save Settings” at the bottom of the page.
    bbPress URL: http://yourdomain.com/bbpress/
    bbPress Username: admin-bp (or whatever name you gave in Step 1e.)
    bbPress Password: Password for admin-bp

    NOTE 1: Make sure you have the ending slash “bbPress URL”.
    NOTE 2: Some users report a bug where, at random, the password is not saved. I did not see this behavior, but if you have issues with your install, you may want to try entering the password again to see ifthat reolves the problem.

3. Reset Existing Groups and Test Forums

At this point, BB should be fully integrated into the groups of your WPMU/BP installation. To make sure, complete the following checks. If your WPMU/BP installation does nothave pre-existing groups, skip to 3b.

  1. BROWSER: If you have pre-existing Groups, you need to reset the Forums “switch” now. Complete the following steps for each pre-existing Group.
    1. Go to the pre-existing Group and select “Admin”, then “Group Settings”.
    2. In “Group Settings”, uncheck the box next to “Enable discussion forum” and click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the page.
    3. Staying within “Group Settings”, recheck the box next to “Enable discussion forum” and click “Save Changes”.
    4. Visit http://yourdomain.com/bbpress/ and see if a subforum was created for the Group in the non-integrated BB interface. If so, repeat this process for all pre-existing Groups. If not, see “FAILED TEST” below.
  2. BROWSER: Complete the following steps to create a new Group and enable Forums.
    1. From the BuddyPress Bar at the top of the page, select “My Account >> Groups >> Create a Group”.
    2. Give the Group a Name and Description, then click “Create Group and Continue”.
    3. In “Group Settings”, check the box next to “Enable discussion forum”.
    4. Select any additional Group options and complete the Group creation wizard.
    5. Visit http://yourdomain.com/bbpress/ and see if a subforum was created for the Group in the non-integrated BB interface. If so, everything is working correctly. If not, see “FAILED TEST” below.
  3. BROWSER: If you have made it this far, it will work, but I like to create the first post in the new forum on the bbPress side and then see if it shows up in the buddypress group forum. Old habit, but for odd circumstance, it seems to work best for me. If it works, try creating a new topic on the group you have working.

FAILED TEST

If you do not have the Group as a new sub-forum in the non-integrated BB, something went wrong. Check your work by reviewing all of the previous steps to see if you missed something.

DEEP INTEGRATION :: Embedded Forums Page

To achieve the integrated home forum found here …

http://buddypress.org/forums/

… one must pursue “deep integration” which is not fully documented yet. I will attempt it shortly and document the process if I get it working. If you care to look into it yourself, this is a good place to start:

http://bbpress.org/forums/topic/bbpress-integration-plugin-for-wpmu

Trent’s Notes

  1. The refresh bug noted in Step 2 – Note 2 killed it a couple of times and I made sure I saved it at least 2 times.
  2. Forgetting the line in bb-config.php killed it for me a couple of times as well.
  3. In one install I had to change the bbPress “user” with administration rights password and on the bbPress side and then completing step 7 again.
  4. I also found that through “previous testing” I had some bp_groupmeta entries that were screwing things up with duplicates for the same forum in the database. Shouldn’t happen to anyone else, but that screwed some things up for me as well.
  5. In terms of having buddypress and bbPress working together, I am sure it works with buddypress on one server and bbPress on another since it works through the xmlrpc module which makes it very powerful.
18
Feb/09
1

LVMG – February Meeting

Thirteen members attended last night’s meeting. After introductions, we dove into the meat of the evening. Details below. Please email me if you are interested in presenting a Profile (3-8 minute overview of your skills, services, etc.) or Session (20-30 minute professional development presentation) at the March meeting.

7:30-8:00 PM- Presentation 1 :: Using the Internet as a promotion tool
Doug Daulton (Kansha Media)

In an interactive session, I discussed the pros and cons of the following online tools for promoting yourself as an artist/creative.

* NOTE: I added a few resources not mentioned last night.

8:00-8:30 PM – Presentation 2 :: Professional Networking in Las Vegas
Sonia Petkewich (Phoenix Staff)

Sonia held a great, participatory session which modeled strong networking skills. She then went on to discuss specific dos and don’ts for networking. Along the way, she expanded on the prudent use of some of the tools outlined in my presentation. The central theme of Sonia’s presentation was … when networking, it is important that the relationships are reciprocal. If you only take, don’t expect to get much.

If you are looking for long or short-term contract or a formal contract, make a point of contacting Sonia.

Sonia Petkewich
Business Development Specialist
Phoenix Staff, Inc
6255 McLeod Drive, Suite 26
Las Vegas, NV 89120
702.566.3694 office
702.891.9754 fax
www.phoenixstaff.com


Sonia discusses professional networking techniques


Sonia discusses professional networking techniques

11
Feb/09
2

Remember your first cup of coffee?


Remember Your First Cup of Coffee? — powered by Cracked.com
Filed under: News
6
Feb/09
4

Set Phasers to Nebulize …

My family and I have been fighting some sort of bug … off and on … since our return from Puerto Rico about a month ago. Through last week, Kelly had the worst of it as she has been pretty much out of commission all month. Last Friday, Finn started in and by Monday, he had a rattle in his breathing which became more pronounced through the week. Yesterday, the Doc prescribed a nebulizer and Albuterol for the little man.

Poor guy. It breaks our hearts to give Finn the treatment. He does not like the sound of the compressor and screams bloody murder when he sees the mask. But, it is helping so what is a parent to do? Still it is amazing how resilient/elastic the mental state of children is. When the mask is on, you are 100% certain he will either kill me in my sleep or stick me with a huge therapy bill in twenty years. But, as soon as the mask is off, he is calm, smiling and even laughing. We are truly blessed to have such a trooper for a son.

Today, I finally succumbed to the infinitesimal demons that are this damn illness. The tickle in my throat started last night and was a full-blown rasp by mid-day. Conversations in our house sound like Kathleen Turner, Edward James Olmos and a tiny Sam Elliot arguing after a four day bender on meth and cheap cigars. It ain’t pretty … but it is my family! And, I love it!

31
Jan/09
24

Tell Me Your Wordpress 2.7 Must Haves, Win a $50 Amazon Gift Card!

Dear WordPress Nation,

I need your help. I pour through the WP Themes and WP Plugins listings looking for the best of breed, but there is something missing … opinion based on informed experience. In other words, you.

So, based solely on your own experience, add a comment to this thread which includes the following:

  1. Name of your #1 must-have plugin.
  2. Link to said plugin.
  3. In a nod to Twitter (sort of) tell me why you cannot live without the aforementioned plugin in 140 WORDS (not characters, hence the “sort of”) or less.

This contest will run through February 15th at midnight. By February 22nd, I will select one winner who will receive a $50 Amazon Gift Card. Easy-peezy, no?

A few parameters for you …

  1. I know and use many of the most common and popular plugins for SEO, Twitter and the like. So, I am really looking for something out-of-the-ordinary. If it makes me go “Hmmm, I never thought I’d want that on my blog, but now I MUST have it!” … you have a good chance of winning.
  2. You cannot be the author of the plugin. No SPAM or shills please.
  3. Themes will be considered as well, but they better be pretty special to win.
  4. All Plugins or Themes must currently work with WordPress 2.7.
  5. You can only list one plugin/theme in one comment. Multiple entries in any form will be disqualified.
  6. Be sure to provide your email in the comment so I can contact you if you win. I promise not to SPAM you.

So there you have it. Knock my socks off, if not my pants (though no one really wants to see the latter but my wife). ;^D

Peace,

Doug

30
Jan/09
0

PhotoSafariNoobs – Expedition Update

PhotoSafariNoobs.com, my project with John Hawkins, Todd Huish and Andrew Minerd, is coming along swimmingly. For additional details, check out my latest post over at the official expedition blog. Based on early feedback, our route has slightly changed to include Ouray, CO; often called the “Switzerland of America” for its majestic alpine beauty. Incidentally, it is also the home of the FJ Summit every summer! As I intend to go to the Summit in 2009, this will be a great, snowy, if not totally dry, run. Our updated route can be seen below.

Peace,

Doug

Filed under: Art, News, Site
29
Jan/09
8

Las Vegas Beer and Blog – Episode 3

The Abyss - An Imperial Stout from Deschutes Brewery

The Abyss - An Imperial Stout from Deschutes Brewery

Are you one of the cool kids? Want to be? Then blog and drink beer. Sound too simple? The Las Vegas Weekly doesn’t think so. In fact, they love the idea. Want a little background? Peep here.

As for tonight (Episode 3), it was my first time in attendance. I’ve been trying to get there the last two weeks and, tonight, I arrived about 45 minutes later than planned. Apparently, John Hawkins was plotting to have the group Twitter-Bomb me with “@dougdaulton – You are an a-hole!” That would have been funny, I kind of wish I had been another 10 minutes late.

It was good to spend a little more time with Dave Courvoisier, Laura Coronado and Sara Mooney; new friends from WordCamp Las Vegas. And, as is the intent of the shindig, I had the pleasure of putting faces to names/blog/tweets for Bill Cody (Vegas Bill), Brad West, Julie Vasquez, Lori Miller (PokerVixen), Michael Wilder, Sarah (408Down), Sharon Paquette, Sheryl Loch and last, but not least Warren Whitlock.

I also met David Lander of Brass Taurus Productions. They produce Detective Douchey, a web-based sitcom about bumbling Vegas cops. As I said to to David, “I wonder how Metro feels about their show.” :^D

As has been widely reported, The Freakin’ Frog (our venue) had an outstanding beer selection. I started with an old standard … the Guinness/Bass Black and Tan. I finished with Deschutes’ The Abyss, an outstanding imperial stout which Just Julie decried as “hoity-toity” beer. That said, I’ll forgive Julie. She introduced me to the X-Shot, a cool little gadget for point-n-shoot cameras.

While grabbing my “hoity-toity” beer, I saved Jenny (fellow Cincinnatian and dark beer aficionado … must be the German heritage) from the amorous clinging of “Creepy Guy”. Jenny repaid the favor by not making me feel old when, after comparing notes on our Cincinnati roots, we discovered that I graduated from high school the year she was born. Thanks Jenny. That was sweet of you. Now, where’d I leave that cane …

Speaking of “Creepy Guy”, he apparently became a sensation sometime after I left. I gather he drank more and became more creepy. It is alleged that photo and video evidence of said creepiness is making its way through the interwebs, but I have yet to confirm this rumor.

Finally, John Hawkins told me the story of “another thing I can’t ‘unknow!” (catchphrase courtesy of Todd Huish).  I could put that quote in context, but trust me you don’t want to know.  As it is, I am looking for something with which to scratch out my mind’s eye.

Hawk tells me another thing I cant unknow!

Hawk tells me "another thing I can't unknow!"

Well, I suppose that is all I have to offer. If I missed anyone in my wrap-up, you have my heartfelt apologies. For the formal report, check out the LV Beer and Blog … Blog. Thanks to Jackie for getting and keeping this train rolling.

Peace,

Doug

20
Jan/09
1

Las Vegas Media Guild 2009 Reboot

While today marked an amazing moment in history, tonight marked the 2009 kickoff/reboot of the Las Vegas Media Guild (LVMG). Started last spring, LVMG initially began as a way to connect local members of the Pixel Corps. However, the more I learned about the Pixel Corps, the more I realized that this group needed to reach more than just the film/video/vfx crowd. So, I expanded LVMG to include all Las Vegas-based creatives, including actors, writers, graphic artists and others.

Early meetings were held in local restaurants and bars. While drinks and appetizers were great, the various settings were best for socializing but not for real professional networking. After the great success of our August meeting at Mac-Tek, I started looking for a permanent, low-noise home for LVMG. Work and life got in the way and I could not nail down a venue and schedule until December. So, we put our meetings off until the “reboot” that happened tonight.

Our meetings will now occur every third Tuesday of the month in the Multi-Purpose Room of the Las Vegas Library. For a complete schedule and directions, please visit our events calendar.

Tonight’s Meeting

Welcome

I kicked things off with a little history of the LVMG, most of which can be found above.

Introductions

Next, we did a round of intros for the room. Everyone took a moment to say who they are, what their craft is and what they hope to get out of the meeting. This part of the meeting always feels like the beginning of an AA/NA meeting, but I think we may have found a solution to that (see below).

Open Discussion

Next, we opened the floor to a discussion of the LVMG meeting format and plans for possible projects. There were a lot of great ideas and the basic format for future meetings look like this:

  • 7:05-7:15 PM – Welcome :: A brief hello and update to get things formally started.
  • 7:15-7:30 PM – Profiles :: 2-3 brief presentations by group members who introduce themselves and showcase their skills/portfolio. This replaces the painful round of intros.
  • 7:30-8:00 PM – Presentation 1 :: A more formal presentation by one or more group members. This can take the form of training, demo, description of services, etc.
  • 8:00-8:30 PM – Presentation 2 :: Same structure/purpose as Presentation 1 but different topic & presenters.
  • 8:30-8:50 PM – Open Discussion and Portfolio/Reel Review :: The free-form “mingle” portion of the evening. As needed, we may have a formal LVMG discussion in this slot. Folks with portfolios/reels may feel free to make them available for review at this time
  • 8:50-9:00 PM – Wrap-Up :: We need to clear the room by 9:00 PM, so !’ll start playing bouncer around this time. :^D
  • 9:15- ?:?? PM – Libations Elsewhere :: The larger group is encouraged to connect after the formal meeting at their favorite nearby watering hole to keep the discussion flowing!

Blogging for Career Enhancement (Impromptu Presentation)

As an example of the sort of presentation one might give, I gave a brief overview of blogging for the uninitiated and discussed in detail how a good blog can be a useful tool for job-hunting and/or client recruitment. Tools discussed included Blogger, WordPress.com, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

With help from the group, I provided an overview of the aforementioned services and how they can be used to establish one’s professional presence online. Specifically, I recommended that one blog once a week on a subject which is central to their career path. Over time, this collection of posts will help them in the following ways:

  1. Google Rank – If set up correctly, the blog will organically associate their name with critical search term (aka keywords) used in their specific career path. For example, an illustrator could blog about cool brushes and tutorials for Adobe Illustrator.
  2. HR/Recruiter Review – The modern employee screening process often includes “googling” the potential employee. As one moves up the Google rankings, it helps them stand out in the hiring process. In addition, an established blog can underscore one’s status as a subject-matter expert and can become a resume item in and of itself.
  3. LinkedIn – LinkedIn.com is simply the best business networking tool currently available on the web. It’s toolset is highly respected by employers, contractors, investors and just about anyone doing business on the web. Maintaining a current LinkedIn profile and linking to it from your blog can be a great asset for making new business connections.
  4. Twitter – To the uninitiated, Twitter is a hard thing to describe. Is it a microblog? A running discussion with 400 of your closest friends and business associates? Is it a big cocktail party where one “overhears” cool factoids and gleans bleeding edge information? is it THE medium for breaking news in the information age? In short, it is all of these and so much more. Everyone was encouraged to create a twitter account and follow one another.
  5. Online Presences :: For the record, here are the online presences of tonight’s attendees:

Other Tidbits

  • We were fortunate to have Dave Courvoisier, KLAS anchor and local celebrity, stop by early in the meeting. Though he had to run, I asked Dave to speak briefly about the impact of new/social media on mainstream media. To paraphrase his response … “the future is now!” Dave is excited about social media and the way it is changing traditional media.
  • Everyone is encouraged to participate in LVMG and not to wait for permission from me. If you have an idea for a topic or a presenter at our February meeting, act on it. Reach out to a possible speaker or write up presentation. Just shoot me an email to have it added to the schedule. When February fills up, we’ll schedule subsequent months well in advance. To that end, here is the preliminary February schedule.
    • Profile 1 :: Volunteer Needed
    • Profile 2 :: Volunteer Needed
    • Profile 3 :: Volunteer Needed
    • Presentation 1 :: Adobe After Effects (Presenter To Be Determined)
    • Presentation 2 :: Brand Yourself Online (Doug Daulton) – This will be a more formal version of the impromptu presentation given tonight. I am happy to fill the slot with something else that presents itself in the interim.
  • Starting in February, we will begin recording monthly LVMG meetings and posting them over at LVMG.org.
  • An LCD projector and screen should be available to presenters at future LVMG meetings. Free WIFI will be available as well.
  • Everyone is encouraged to join LinkedIn and Twitter. After doing so, please add these contact points to your profile on LVMG.org.
  • Finally, a few folks asked about the book I mentioned at the end of the evening. It was Rebel without a Crew by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez. Whether or not you plan to make films, it is a great book about getting off your keister and following your dreams.
  • UPDATE 1 :: As suggested by Stevie Puckett, we now have a LinkedIn group. Join now!
  • UPDATE 2 :: Here is the contact information for the recruiter I mentioned last night.

    Sonia Petkewich
    Las Vegas Business Development Specialist
    Phoenix Staff, Inc
    6255 McLeod Drive, Suite 26
    Las Vegas, NV 89120
    702.566.3694 office
    702.891.9754 fax
    www.phoenixstaff.com

OK. So one down. Eleven more to go in 2009, with lots of stuff happening in between. I look forward to working with you all throughout the year.

Peace,

Doug