24th July, 2009 (8:58 am)
The Day I Doth Coveted Stuff Comments Off
Not sure how professionally I’d be taken in the day job, but – seriously – who gives a crap when your business cards look THAT FUCKING COOL?!
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23rd July, 2009 (2:00 pm)
The Day with the Third Post in a Row to Mention WordCampUK Comments Off
A few people have contacted me to know more about WordCamp UK, and specifically what lessons I took away with me when the event was over.
To be honest, it’s hard to exemplify. In some ways my enthusiasm doesn’t stem from a single presentation or individual, but more from the collective stream of consciousness that permeated around me the entire weekend. And since I know that that’s a fancy and – let’s face it – poncy way of admitting that I can’t pin it down to one thing, here are some other options you might like to peruse instead. Yes, I’m passing the buck. Bite me.
- #WordCampUK: first stop, check out the WordCamp UK Twitter hashtag. It’s chocful of helpful and insightful comments from the presenters and attendees alike, as well as – I think – give a flavour of what went on.
- Join the Mailing List: it goes from stone-cold nothingness to crazy hysteria within hours, but it’s where the ideas and suggestions around WCUK stem from. It’s also a great way to contribute informally to the shape and scope of the event.
- Check out who was there: no, not everyone who attended is listed here, but it should give you an idea of what to expect and who your fellow attendees may be. As I said in my round-up post there were times when I felt a little out of my depth, but hey, if you think you might too, then you can come sit by me and we can feel that way together … you can buy the first drink though …
- Check out the presentations: I know. How bummed are you now that you weren’t there?
What I did do, right there and then as it happens, sat in the conference room, was give a thought to how I used WordPress, along with why I used it. The latter seemed simple enough; I blog, therefore I WordPress – Code Is Poetry and all that. The former was potentially a little less tangible. Although I’m not a developer, and only a part-time designer, BY GOD DO I KNOW WORDPRESS. It powers almost every website I have, blog or not, and I know the Codex and template tags and the loop inside out. So whilst I might not be able to create or modify the gubbings of WP, I can make a WP site do pretty much whatever the hell I like. Take SHH.com for example; there’s a watermark plugin. And a Google News plugin. I have 53 different image galleries powered within the single NextGen Gallery interface. There’s plugins for translating, and formatting, styling and Tweeting. I have a plugin to manage my links, my contact form, the blog updates. All in all it runs with no less than 30 different plugins, all of ‘em activated, all of ‘em chosen to enhance a certain element, however big or small, of the site. Without these plugins -without WP itself – I couldn’t run SHH.com. I couldn’t run this place. I harbour no disillusion that I’m talented enough to write a CMS from scratch that could do all this and more.
Sat there, I knew that I had much to learn. I listened to the presenters, soaking it up, making copious notes, trying to absorb as much of my colleagues’ brilliance as I could. But you know what? There was also plenty of stuff I already knew. Plenty of stuff that I could teach others. And it got me thinking that all of us are at different points in our journeys as developers or programmers or designers or just happy-go-lucky WP users, and for that, all of us have something to contribute. So whilst I was hastily scribbling notes on SEO and sitemaps and hacks, there were pros who were sat there writing down the same thing. We all have something to learn – and we all have something to contribute. The key is to get together and ensure that we bloody well do it.
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21st July, 2009 (12:03 pm)
The Day Before The Day After WordCampUK Comments Off
I don’t think I told you that I headed back to France, did I?
In my defence, the decision was kind of last minute. And, um, impaired by alcohol. On the day we were due to fly home we were all sat outside, drinking wine and lamenting over the less-than-perfect weather, and D decided that we should ditch our return flights and stay on for a couple of days.
I wanted to. Oh Lordy, how I wanted to. The weather had been crap and work had been tiresome and the thought of sitting on their porch for a few more days, listening to the birds and the wind in the trees and venturing from the house only to Bonjour Madame! our way through the supermerches for more du vin… well, tempting wasn’t the word. But work commitments were too great and my annual leave record too bad, so I had to sadly decline.
D was undeterred. D’accord. C’est tout bon. In that case we should book a return journey to stay with them one more time before they moved back to Blighty in August. And so we did.
I’m so glad she talked me into it. Not only did it make the thought of leaving them at the beginning of June more tolerable, it gave us something to look forward to. And yes, in my inebriated state I’d forgotten all about WordCamp UK and all it entailed, but I still don’t regret booking it. Even though it pissed down all weekend – again (just wait till I get the pictures up at Flickr) – we had a blast. I gained 4lbs in seven days thanks to D’s insanely gorgeous home-cookin’, and I couldn’t give a rat’s ass – it was exactly what we needed and a wonderful celebration /au revoir to their life in France. The kids adored and fought with each other in equal measure. G and I had a drunken but glorious discussion about equality and human rights. The men – both big and small – ran around the garden in the pissing rain, collapsing in a giggle fit on the porch when they returned. On a visit to the Pharmacy D had the pharmacist rifle uninvited through her shopping bags and then given a hefty lecture on healthy living and eating. (HA!) And even though the rain and lack of transport for six people meant we were kinda housebound in a small, country cottage, it was impossible to care. With copious wine and great food and wonderful conversation, I honestly can’t imagine having more fun anyplace else or with anyone else. C’est magnifique. :)
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