Category Archives: Events

Events

DC FAN Meetup last night

Ligia and I attended the DC FAN (FeedBurner Ad Network) meetup last night. It took place in downtown DC, at Capitol City Brewery. It started around 6:00 pm and lasted well after 8:30 pm. It was lots of fun and we really enjoyed it. Got to meet the cool folks from FeedBurner, without which my site wouldn’t be where it is today.

I use all of their services, and love them. I burn my feeds through them, I offer email subscriptions to my various content, I repackage my feed content and display it on various web pages like this one or this one for example. I use their ads, of course, which is how I monetize my site and feed content, along with Google’s AdSense. I use and love their feed stats, and I’m really excited they recently introduced site stats as well. I also use something they call feed flares, which are the little snippets you see at the end of every one of my posts. They let you do things like subscribe to my feed, email me, add a post to del.icio.us or submit it to Digg, etc. It’s really, really cool stuff.

I covered FeedBurner on my blog in the past as well. If you’re interested, you can read more here, here, and here. And of course, let’s not forget the time when Rick Klau, VP of Biz Dev at FeedBurner, stepped in and stopped me from making a feed gaffe early last year. Rick was at last night’s meetup, so I was really glad to meet him.

Rick Klau

So, who attended? The folks at FeedBurner were well represented. There was Rick of course, and Eric Olson and Jake Parillo.

Eric Olson

Jake Parillo

Eric coordinated the event and invited me, so a big thank you goes out to him. Various folks showed up throughout the evening. Sphere CEO Tony Conrad and VP of Biz Dev Jeff Yolen were there.

Rick Klau, Tony Conrad and Jeff Yolen

A few people from AOL’s content division showed up. George from Fat Pitch Financials was there as well. As we left, more people showed up.

Sitting at the table

George (Fat Pitch Financials)

I really liked being able to interact directly with the FeedBurner folks. I got to hear about some cool upcoming features like blog networks, got the scoop on how Site Stats hit the ground running, had a chance to give some direct feedback about the Ad Network, and of course, the highlight was that Rick Klau loves photography. We had fun chatting about that!

Shutterbug meta

There was an interesting mural on the wall above our table.

More beer

Beer

There was plenty of food, and of course there were pretzels as well. 🙂

FeedBurner pretzels

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Events

Happy New Year!

It’s evening now, and another winter night has set in. This one’s special though. We’re getting ready for a New Year’s celebration that will soon begin. I’ve been keeping my time on a leash these past few days, trying to wrap up loose ends so I can start the new year with a clean slate. Wow, what a year! So many things happened, most good, some bad (but they turned into good anyway) that I can hardly begin to recall them all.

We sat down yesterday and counted our blessings. There were over 30 big and wonderful things that happened to us in 2006, and that’s not even counting the ones we couldn’t remember. We’re grateful here, and we look forward to 2007 as we plan for bigger and better things. We hope your 2006 was as wonderful as ours, and that 2007 will turn out to be an even better year for you.

As you each celebrate New Year’s Eve in your own way, let me tell you how it’s done in Romania: we have a most wonderful time with friends, and toward midnight, we call up every single blessed relative and friend and wish them a Happy New Year. The lines are so busy we can hardly get through, but it’s loads of fun!

It’s a pity people here in the States don’t have as much fun as Romanians. Our neighborhood is pretty quiet during times like these… There’s one thing I know. I plan on making lots of noise at midnight, and if I wake up a few sleepy neighbors, so be it! 😀 I’ll leave you with a few photos from these past few days. See you next year!

Someone’s happy to see you

We’ve got all kinds

It’s all downhill from here

I came prepared

Gone shopping

Meanwhile, at the General Store…

Let me tell you about Rudolph

Here we come a-caroling!

Three lights

Star of wonder

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Events

Merry Christmas!

May all of you have a wonderful and blessed Christmas (if you celebrate it)! If you don’t, then Happy Holidays!

Christmas tree at Walt Disney World

Christmas at Magic Kingdom

Frosty

Fluffy reindeer

Our Christmas tree

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Events

Happy 300 millionth, USA!

We turned 300 million today (people, that is) here in the grand old (or young, depending on your point of view) US of A. Yay!

Lots of us to go around, all of us immigrants (although some would think otherwise). We love big, open spaces, big cars, big houses, big meals and given our experiences when we go shopping, big clothes as well. (Is is so hard to make pants in a 30 waist?) We have it so well in this country, that we forget how badly others have it. As a matter of fact, we’re so busy doing so well (or trying to, anyway) that often we lose sight of what’s important (our loved ones, family, friends) in the pursuit of the American dream.

The opportunities in this country are amazing — like nothing else in the world — and that’s what’s caused us to get to 300 million. People are drawn to this country from all corners of the world, and after they get here, they multiply like rabbits — you know people, 2.2 children is the American way…

We’ve got some of the most polarized politics in the world. Everything is made into a political issue, and if possible, drawn to the national level, where Democrats fight against the Republicans over some minuscule thing while the important things, like our national debt, education, crimes of all sorts, infrastructure improvements, energy consumption, conservation of our environment, pollution prevention and serious medical research don’t get the attention they deserve.

The world wouldn’t be the same without the United States. Some say we meddle, and some say we help. I say we’ve lately been mostly meddling and sticking our noses in someone else’s pots — we’ve gotten into serious debt for it, too, not to mention we’ve made more enemies. Ah, but it wouldn’t be the US of A if they didn’t try to police the world, wouldn’t it? I guess you take the good with the bad if you live in this country, and you try to speak out against the bad.

So there you have it. A country like no other, and we’re 300 million strong! God bless America!

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Events

The Croc Hunter dies

Steve Irwin, the offbeat Australian [insert own characterization here] died, of a stingray barb through the heart, as he was filming a documentary today. He was apparently swimming on top of the stingray, when it swung its tail up, piercing his chest with the barb. Although crew members tried to save him, there was nothing to be done, and he was pronounced DOA at a nearby Low Isles hospital. Here’s to an individual that managed to amaze and freak me out at the same time. His love for animals was evident, although I’d also say he was obsessed with them, and sometimes got so manic around them that he probably freaked them out, too. In the end, he died doing what he loved.

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