shawnhorton.net|foreign languages, culture, technology, social media.

Earlier last week, I was talking with a coworker at Apple about new media and Web 2.0. He mentioned a BarCamp that was being held at the University of Minnesota. I signed up because hey, it was on a Saturday, and being the second day in my finals week, I had no reason not to go. Then on Wednesday evening, I created a domain with the help of my friend Alexa. And so began my journey into the not-yet familiar realm of coding, and exploring other social media.

Normally, I am not thrilled about waking up before seven o’clock on a Saturday, especially when the weather does not promise to be nice. Yet I pushed myself to get to campus, driving in from my apartment, parking in the nearby neighborhood of Southeast Como, and walking down the 3 bus line. Just as I had guessed, I didn’t see a single bus headed my direction, but I still managed to get into Coffman in time to be the first person to sign in, and the first to get a spiffy MinneBar 2008 T-shirt.

I had no preconceived notions about this BarCamp, but I was concerned that I wouldn’t know enough to engage in conversation with anyone else. The first thing I noticed, however, aside from a group of nerdy 20-somethings to 30-somethings, was how friendly people were. That was soon followed by my astonishment of the concentrations of MacBook Pros throughout the (un)conference. I began my journey attending a session entitled “Small Teams, Big Results” led by the organizer, Ben Edwards of Refactr. Very interesting discourse regarding interpersonal communication and how it translates when working on a group project. Then I sat in on a session led by Ben’s colleague, Jesse O’Neill-Oine, on “Intro to iPhone Development.” Interesting to see so many people in such a small room. The third session of the day was one of the two reasons I decided to attend BarCamp. It was led by Rick Mahn and Peter Fleck, and they spoke about “This Little Thing Called Twitter.” I have to admit that I did not truly understand such a simple site’s amazing utility. I copied down the @handles of the people in the room, and I decided to follow a good portion of them. I also learned about Summize, Twhirl, and how corporations feel about Twitter.

Lunch was served after a panel discussion regarding the state of technology in Minnesota. Rather interesting, but I got the feel that 1) the conference attendees were not excited about such a structured component during the day, and 2) I learned that such people are also very opposed to using microphones when speaking to panel members.

After lunch, I headed to the second session in which I had intended to participate. “WordPress as a Content Management System” was facilitated by Toby Cryns. We learned more about the great potential of WP as a CMS, in contrast to most people who believe it is just a blogging platform. I was excited that Alexa had helped me to setup my domain, and I logged into my WordPress admin panel, and actually followed along as Toby talked us through the basics of the WP platform. The session immediately following the WP as a CMS was “Power WordPress plus MinneWordCamp Discussion” hosted by Jamie Thingelstad. We talked about essential plugins for WP, and also the importance of Search Engine Optimization to help Google index your blog higher than other blogs. Then I headed for the session about “Blogging for Benjamins: How to Turn Your Topical Blog into Cash” led by Jeremy Jannene, creator of the Milwaukee Bucks blog. He explained the importance of focusing a topical site and staying on task, and also, how to utilize advertising to your advantage and turn the revenue generated into residual income. Amazon link-through was the most important concept I took away from his session. Oh, and there is great, unharvested potential in blogging in languages other than English.

The last session of the day for me was “GTD for Startups” and to be honest, the facilitators were shamelessly plugging themselves and their software (which I will not mention by name). Unfortunate as it was, I left the session armed with a “competing” solution called Remember the Milk which is a program that enables its users to streamline information across platforms (Google Calendar, ICQ, MSN, AIM, Gmail, BlackBerry, etc.)

After the BarCamp officially concluded, we headed upstairs to the fourth floor Campus Club for beers on the house. I definitely enjoyed having two Lion Stouts while in conversation with a few other attendees. I must admit, the conference re-lit the fire inside me to get blogging again, and also, to consider looking for a job in the tech sector.

I’m sitting at my desk, working on a group presentation for my Portuguese class. Looking out the window, I can’t believe the weather. I can’t believe it’s almost over. It’s the grandest of all ironies– I was racing to get through college, and here I sit, on the edge of it all, wishing I could start over, only then fully-enjoying all I had learned and all I had done.

There are so many things I want to do after graduation, and all of them could not be more different. Yet, I feel myself unsure. Thinking about graduate school, yes that’s certainly an option. But for what? Should I look into Master’s programs, consider law school? Working after graduation sounds great, but I need guidance- something I severely lacked throughout my undergraduate career. I played the role of coach, tutor, teacher. I helped other people through their problems (e.g. tackling college entrance exams, helping classmates with their homework, and more recently, helping people find the right Apple products to suit their needs– their needs).

I know, I may seem like the classic case of a Type-A, busy-body who over-programs, over-schedules, and under-sleeps, and to an extent, that is correct. But, that is what I have come to know, and it’s something I feel really makes me who I am.

Less than a week and I will no longer be sitting in a classroom as an undergraduate. Ten days until my last final papers are due. Graduation on May 18th. Wow. It seems so surreal I don’t know what to think or how to feel, other than the fact that I do need a break from school, at least for a while.

Well, it’s been a while. Almost 5 months in fact. But the famine is over. More to come this week. I promise. I will be getting my own domain soon. It’s about time I learned more about coding.

To all my beloved family and friends, this is an informational list of the sort of things that I would like for Christmas and for my birthday. I hope you find this useful.

Books by Bill Bryson

• A Short History of Nearly Everything
• Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States
• The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way
• Notes from a Small Island

  Stuff from IKEA
  

• MIKAEL desk add-on unit (birch/white color scheme)

  Apparel from RCC Western
  

• Ariat® Men’s Heritage Western J-Toe (black deertan color, size 12D)
  

  Apparel from Banana Republic

• Cotton-blend fleece-lined hooded full-zip (treetrunk brown, size large, tall)
  
• Relaxed cotton-blend herringbone chino (Olive, size 34W, 32L)
  
• Pique double-stripe polo (Ship blue OR Black coffee, size L)
  
• Pima triple-striped polo (white/khaki OR Electric blue OR maroon OR Orange stripe, size L)
  
• Boot-cut whiskered indigo jean (size 34W, 32L)
  

  Apparel from Gap
  

• Cotton/wool striped crewneck sweater (blue OR red OR orange OR green OR yellow, size L)
  
• Lightweight striped thermal T (green heather OR black, size L)
  
• Waffle hoodie (bitter chocolate OR mistle toe OR silver OR blue jewel, size L)
• Lonny stripe polo (majestic blue OR cinnabar red OR midnight blue OR greenery, size L)
  
• Classic pique polo (expedition gray OR mahogany OR true navy, size L)
  
• Madras plaid cotton/linen shirt (size L)
  
• Fitted Lowland plaid shirt (size L)
  

  Musical instruments
  

• Yamaha CG101A Classical Acoustic Guitar (classical acoustic -> wider neck)

So I think that I will be back on the blog more often.