Bobalu Cigar Co Featured on CNN Small Business

by ·Comments Off on Bobalu Cigar Co Featured on CNN Small Business

When I’m in my office in the morning I generally have the morning CNN Morning Express with Robin Meade on. As I’m watching the muted television I see a very familiar face. It’s Jeff Lipton from Bobalu Cigar Company here in Austin. I had to go track the video on CNN.com to share.

The Austin Scooter Club has a new Website

by ·21 Comments

Last year as the gas prices were steadily increased to the summer high point of $4.00/gallon, Sondra and I purchased a pair of scooters, so we could run around on the weekends and take some burden off our wallets. I’m self-employed so just needed something simple to run down to the coffee shop and work for the day. Last year we also joined the local Austin Scooter Club. Maybe another victim of the economy of maybe just wanting more control over the actual site, Mary and the gang have transitioned the group over to self-hosted WordPress site. Announcing the brand new Austin Scooter Club baby. It looks really good and I’m ready to help fill it up with links and other scooter information I’ve gathered over the last year. Not happy about using the choice of phpBB forum. Seemed more functional to use Google Groups like other groups.

Also, if you’re a scooter owner and living in the general Austin area don’t forget to register for the First Full of Scooters Rally coming up May 1st.

Automattic looking to open a professional office in Austin

by ·1 Comment

A post from Andy Skelton that Automattic might be looking to open a professional office here in Austin.

I for one would love to work on an office with other Austin WordPress professional. I’ve made 90% of my living these past 10 months working on WordPress client project and do not intend to stop anytime soon.

A WordPress professional office could be something like the co-working locations that are now springing up in cities all across the nation. This would be somewhat different in that instead of everyone working on a broad range of projects, everyone would be working on WordPress client projects. From a collaboration perspective this could be huge.

I’ve had a chance to roll this around in my head a few time and have started thinking about some of the downside issue for me.

  • Considering the current state of real estate in general, finding a short-term lease location in central Austin might be an issue.
  • what will be the user cost of this venture? Will I be locked into a lease commitment for space in the office?
  • Why would I want to consider this option if I can work for free out of my house already? Meaning I’d need to drive to an office to do basically the same think I can do at home. I do realize the upside is the potential collaboration with Andy and other Austin WordPress professionals. Question is if it’s enough of a consistent gain. Can the same or similar collaboration be gained from the wp-hackers mailing list?
  • What will be the price of gasoline by the time this concept is realized? Considering gas in Austin is now $4.00/gallon what is my added (if any) cost for driving into an office 3-5 days a week?

Are you a Geek living around the Austin area?

by ·Comments Off on Are you a Geek living around the Austin area?

Calling all Geeks in the Austin area. There is a planned meetup between the Geek Austin / Refresh Austin and WordPress Austin groups this May 21. The meeting location is Union Park on W. 6th St. For more information check the Geek Austin page. So bring some cards and plan on some serious networking with fellow geeks in Austin.

Falling down and down

by ·Comments Off on Falling down and down

It’s the end of a great day. This was the first day of Fall and Austin had some very mild weather. The humidity was low and I spent a few hours this morning on the deck. Sondra got into a tiff with the backyard neighbor over the bushes growing through the fence into his yard. Seems the bushed (vines) were coming through the fence slats. He didn’t like the way the looked so decided to just start chopping. Sondra quickly ran outside to advise him this will kill out plants. She took over the process of weeding the plants from our side of the fence. Glad it was so nice out. Did I help? Not much. I helped by staying out of her way.

So checking my posts I’ve somehow slipped through the summer without any posts. Last post appears to be June 3. Well there is a reason for this. I became so frustrated with my job at Mindshare I just spent all my free time hunting for ways to get out. Had some good leads for similar agencies. I pretty much decided if I were going to make a move I wanted to end up with more control on what I work on. It really burned me the company was moving into Microsoft technologies. It’s just not my preference this it not an comment on the technology.

So as of August 21, a little over a month ago, I became self employed. To pay the bills I’m currently working on various projects for Brian K from Low Fat Designs. It’s great work since it’s 99% WordPress related work. You know I love that. But more important I’ve traded the 8 to 5 drudge (not including commute time) into a low stress career where I call the shots, work when and where I want. I just want to hold out until the first of the year then reevaluate things to see if my level of income can sustain me.