stellargirl returns

2008: the year of awesome

In no particular order, some cool things that happened this year:

• I experienced year one of home ownership. I made it through without any major incidents. I made a few small improvements here and there, mostly of the wall painting variety, but as 2008 comes to a close, I am now in the possession of a brand spanking new water heater. It's so nice to own a piece of Philadelphia and have my own space to roam and hide out. I've also gotten much more involved with my neighborhood civic association and helped organize our fall tree planting this year. Sadly, I can't have a tree in front of my house due to underground utilities, but I played a part in getting about 40 more trees planted in the neighborhood.

• I lost 15lbs. I feel kinda weird putting it all out there like that, but it was kind of a big deal to me! I moved back to Philly from NYC just over 3 years ago and had a hard time adjusting and finding a good fitness routine that I enjoyed, thus I packed on some good old fashioned Philly beer poundage. I'm still working on it, and December has actually been a really lazy month, but overall, I feel so much BETTER. I really think that physical activity is one of the keys to happiness. It affects your life in so many positive ways, and it's also something that you can share with others. I shared my love of fitness by organizing two 5K teams, one in the spring and one in the fall. It was fun training to improve my own pace as well as encourage friends to run their first race. I also discovered dailymile - a great way to train socially!

• I went to SXSW for the first time. I've wanted to go to SXSW for at least 5 years now but there has always been some reason why I wasn't able to make it. I have to give a special shout-out to my friend Joshua Lane for hooking me up with a free registration, he's totally the reason I decided to make the leap this year. I met so many awesome people at SXSW and heard amazing talks from many people who have inspired me for years. I find myself referring to Kathy Sierra's keynote over and over again, I want to make users (people!!) feel like they kick ass. Thanks, Kathy! I hope to make it back again in 2009.

• I helped put on BarCamp Philly. This was a pretty life-changing experience for me! My friend JP Toto and I started talking about BarCamp over the summer. He had recently attended BarCamp Orlando and I kept wondering, why hasn't Philly had a BarCamp? JP and I put our heads together and pulled it off without a hitch this past November. I learned a lot about myself and what I am capable of (a long overdue experience) and met the most awesome people along the way. I am so STOKED to do BarCamp Philly 2009, I think it will completely ROCK. I am also extremely excited for other fun projects on the horizon like Geeks Who Give and Refresh Philly.

• I made even more amazing friends. Living in Philly has its perks. There are so many great events going on, particularly in the tech space, where I have met tons of new people: Junto, Ignite Philly, BarCamp Philly, DrupalCamp, Tweetups, Meetups, not to mention the proximity to the awesomeness of NYC and its denizens. I feel pretty lucky to walk into 2009 with new people to be inspired by, learn from and have good times with.

All in all, 2008 was an exciting and fun year. It feels good to step back and reflect on some of the highlights. I am hoping 2009 is off the charts amazing. I hope the same for all of you. Let's make it happen.

BarCamp Philly = AWESOME

When I signed on to help plan BarCamp Philly this past summer, I couldn't have possibly known the huge impact it would have on my life.  I've been talking about this recap post to friends, and realizing that there's not much more I can say about how great the event actually went (it was AWESOME) because I have already said it all on the BarCamp Philly blog.  What I did want to write about was how I went into this event as one person and came out another. 

I've always considered myself very much of a team player, someone who likes to collaborate, build something together, stay behind the scenes.  I am still that person, but in doing BarCamp, I had the opportunity to take a greater responsibility for the outcome by being a leader of the project (I shared that role with JP Toto, who thankfully let me run wild with all of my crazy ideas and plans).  I hope it doesn't sound like I am tooting my own horn here, but for the last month, almost every minute of every day was consumed with a persistent thought, "What can I do to make this event completely AWESOME?"  I hope that came across to people who attended.

So how am I different? I guess because I saw a shred of what I am capable of.  Those of you that know me well, hopefully think of me as your biggest cheerleader, always trying to be supportive of your projects and endeavors.  I'll do anything to help my friends become aware of their potential, and I'm not afraid to place my foot firmly in your a$$ to remind you of the path to happiness that lies before you.  I don't always believe in myself enough, however, and this event served as one of those reminders to JUST EFFING DO IT.  And now, on the other side of things, I'm ready to DO a lot more. So watch out.

BarCamp really is about community and we couldn't possibly have gotten anywhere without the help of all of the superb volunteers and of course all of the people who attended this user-driven event.

I am especially grateful to my dear friend Geoff DiMasi for believing in me and always encouraging me to swim in deeper waters. I'd also like to thank the amazing Kelani Nichole for working side by side with me on so many aspects of the event, from shirts to signs to incredible superpowers (possessing them, that is).  To Matt Knell, for not only rallying the NYC crew, but for constantly brimming with enthusiasm towards BarCamp Philly, every step of the way.

To Gloria Bell and Melissa Thiessen, who signed every single person into BarCamp and completely held down the fort while we ran around attending sessions and managing the event. To Dave Konopka for offering indispensable WordPress knowledge and firing up the BarCamp Philly wiki. To Marion Summerville, for assembling the most beautiful grid of index cards for the analog schedule. To Carl Leiby for creating the famous digital schedule (which is now open source for all future BarCamps). To Arpit Murtha, Jim Cavanagh and Aaron Held for providing and designing video content for the 13th floor lobby.  To Kendall Schoenrock and Carsten Petzold of LTLprints.com for donating stickers for our sponsor wall. To Dana Vachon and Katie Regenye for baking us the most delicious Open Source Cupcakes.  To the CIM crew for representing in force, and for offering a helping hand wherever possible.

To UArts for donating a dynamic and inspirational environment for learning and sharing. To Indy Hall for letting us host several planning meetings and for being a major catalyst in the Philly tech community. To P'unk Ave, home of the Junto, for hosting a welcoming pre-party on Friday night. To National Mechanics for letting us throw it down like rockstars (complete with RockBand) and for chipping in a massive amount towards our rapidly diminishing bar tab.

To all of our generous sponsors for contributing to the costs associated with BarCamp Philly.  To all of the speakers, who brought knowledge and passion to each of their sessions. To all of the attendees who came with an open mind and a positive attitude. 

And finally, to all of the new friends I have made as a result of this event. I'm thrilled to know you all and look forward to many interesting collaborations and enjoyable moments in the future.

Thank you EVERYONE for making BarCamp Philly AWESOME.

are you coming to barcamp philly?

I've been a total blog slacker these last few weeks, but I actually have a pretty decent excuse. I've been really busy helping plan BarCamp Philly, happening on Saturday November 8th at UArts, as well as putting lots of effort into keeping the BCP website so fresh and so clean and totally up to date.

I am super excited about BarCamp and you should be too!  Chances are, if you know me personally, you've already heard me go on about it, but if you haven't, I will give you the nutshell summary.  BarCamp is an ad-hoc user-generated (un)conference where likeminded people come together, usually in a setting where people can break into groups (classroom situations are ideal), share thoughts and ideas, participate, collaborate, etc.  There are no pre-planned speakers or schedules. The attendees are the presenters (if they so choose).  Check out some of the people coming to BarCamp Philly!

The event is totally FREE to attend and you even get a t-shirt! You'll also get the opportunity to chat with people who are doing cool stuff all over the Philadelphia region. We've even got some great folks from NYC coming, and I am sure points further than that.  We have plenty of fun events in the works before and after the event, so be sure to visit the BarCamp Philly website often to stay on top of things.

Last but not least, registration is required. It's really key that we have a sense of how many people are attending and we do have to cap it at some point to make sure that we don't exceed capacity of the event location.  So if you are thinking of coming and haven't formally registered yet, please do it today!