Flip a coin, what shall we talk about?

Last night Kendra and I kicked off her Amazing Birthday Adventure (she will be turning *ahem* years old next week, and we’re going on a trip to celebrate . . . in fact I’m writing this post from the airport. Look! The future!) with a concert.

My longest-standing favourite band ever ever is Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers (previously known as The Refreshments of “Banditos” fame). They’re a band local to Arizona and despite getting brief national/international fame, they’ve stayed true to their Southwestern roots. I’ve seen them in concert more times than I could possibly count.

Meet Bessie. Two.

I have a new special someone in my life. She’s wonderful. Amazing. She’s just absolutely gorgeous.

I think I love her.

Deeply, though of course cautiously.

(I have been burned before, after all!)

But there is a passion here. A passion that only a photographer can feel for his ridiculously expensive new camera . . . that happened to arrive just in time for a trip to one of his favourite cities, no less.

Internet, I’d like you to meet Bessie II, or B2 for short.

Household Horrors

This post is a bit long, and may sound a bit down, but I promise we’re all doing great. This is all a bit of a PITA, but it is no worse than many of the things that we faced while on Wanderlust and I can still say categorically that was the best months of my life. 🙂

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Remember that time I told you that Kendra and I had bought a new house, and everyone was so happy for us?

Yeah.

Me too.

Those were good days, back before things had all gone so sideways so incredibly fast.

What has gone wrong, you ask? Well pull up a chair and I will tell you!

Reasons

It’s one of the more “hippy” things that I buy in to, but I have a pretty strong belief that everything happens for a reason.

I hold on to it for dear life sometimes . . . because it’s the only life raft I have.

When absolutely everything that can go wrong is going wrong, it’s not because God or the Fates or whoever is toying with you, it’s because you need to not be right there despite everything you might think . . . you need to be right HERE.

Agincourt600 – The Trip!

Back in September I subjected regaled you all with a short history lesson about the Battle of Agincourt and why I thought it was awesome (hint for those who didn’t read it don’t remember: A) because it was historically important [duh], B) because I studied it in grad school, and C) because I was going to the battle site for it’s 600th anniversary!).

Well it’s now been a couple of months since that 600th anniversary trip and I have finally taken the time to process and upload the photos from that trip, so I thought I would tell you all about it . . .

My Experience with Signal

NOTE: I’m going to be talking about a cross-platform privacy app in the following post. I have very strong feelings related to government and ISP/Telecom surveillance, however that topic is far too large to address in this post (maybe some time in the future?). As will soon be obvious, I believe that privacy is a personal right but that protecting it is your responsibility and should be taken seriously.

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I’ve always had a certain interest in security, privacy, and encryption. Sadly, my brain doesn’t work in such a way that allows me to get involved in the intricacies of actual security development, so instead I sit on the sidelines and watch with bated breath for each new development in this grand international chess game of laws and hacks (or real life version of Person of Interest).

Announcement!

Mean ol’ Kendra has made me hold back from telling everyone this for weeks at this point . . . blah blah, wait until it’s real . . . blah blah, you don’t want to jinx things . . . blah blah, stop making fun of me I don’t sound like that.

But today we got the final confirmation that we needed, in this whole crazy process and can announce that we have bought a house here in Mesa! 

WordCamp US, 2015

This past weekend I had the opportunity to participate and volunteer at the Inaugural WordCamp US in Philadelphia, which is a nation-wide conference for developers of, professionals who work with, and major fans of the software which runs 25% of the Internet . . . WordPress.

It was by no means my first WordCamp, which are held regularly all over the world, but it was my first national-level WC. Before WCUS, the main national WordCamp in the United States has been held in San Francisco each of the previous 9 years and I had never managed to make it, much to my regret. I was so excited to finally get to attend this gathering of people who make WordPress such a huge part of their lives . . . and it didn’t disappoint in the slightest!

A story about The Scottish Play.

Almost a year and a half ago I was sweating myself to death in London, just two months in to the epic Project Wanderlust. Kendra, Mal, and I were living in a fairly small one-room studio for the month, and we were about to be joined by our friend Kylie who would be staying for a fortnight (I know, what were we thinking? Things got . . . cozy. Not like that, pervs).

Register Now for WordCamp US in Philadelphia!

I will be in Philly in my capacity as a . . . well . . . I don’t know. As someone who is Mighty. Automattic is sending me, but I have no idea what I’ll be doing. Maybe helping at their Happiness Bar, maybe taking photos. Maybe schlepping things all over the place. But no matter what, it’s going to be awesome and you should definitely come! 🙂

WordPress.com News

We’re less than a month away from the inaugural WordCamp US, the largest WordPress conference in the world. Join us in Philadelphia for two days of informative sessions and stimulating conversations with everyone from blogging newbies to the most experienced WordPress developers in the world. WCUS will be on December 4–5 (with Contributor Day on the 6th), in Center City at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

In previous years, WordCamp San Francisco has acted as the official annual WordPress conference, where WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg gives the “State of the Word,” sharing the latest WordPress developments, answering questions from the audience, and offering his thoughts on what’s next for WordPress — and the future of the web. This year’s “State of the Word” will happen at WCUS!

Matt Mullenweg at WordCamp SF in 2014. Image by Sheri Bigelow.

The event is packed with two tracks of sessions plus lightning talks…

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