PodCamp Pittsburgh 6 was this past weekend and it was a blast! PodCamp is a free conference that is put on to teach people about blogging, social media, podcasting and much more. I didn’t attend PodCamp last year so I was interested to see what sessions there would be this year. PodCamp started on Saturday and there were sessions from 9am to noon then lunch. I ended up going out the night before so I made it down to PodCamp around noon, just in time for lunch!
At lunch I met up with Jerimiah and Kelly. At lunch they had a huge projector screen showing everyone tweeting about the event. We sat down and ended up meeting some other cool people like Thomas and Amy. This is what is so great about PodCamp is you meet so many great people who are interested in the same thing as you and it is so easy to strike up a conversation with people. After lunch I went to the rest of the sessions during the day.
During each hour block there are up to 5 different sessions so you had to pick the one your really wanted to go to. Most of the sessions I went to throughout the weekend were about social media, but I did attend a few on blogging as well. Out of all the sessions I did attend my favorite was the Myths About Social Media with Justin Kownacki. He has been working in social media for a while now and it was great to hear some of his insights.
Once again PodCamp Pittsburgh was a great event and I am glad I attended this year! If there is a PodCamp in your area I highly suggest you attend!
You never think growing up that one day, one action, or one event would not only change the world, but be remembered forever. Today marks the 10 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It is a day most of us will never forget, I exactly where I was and my thoughts throughout the day.
That day I actually did not make it to school on time and I missed most of homeroom (this was normal for me when I was in high school). Coming in right before first period I heard someone say that the world trade center was on fire, I did not think that much of it but then someone said a plane hit it. As the events were unraveling almost all of the teachers turned the TV’s on in the classrooms and we could really see what was happening.
School just stopped really, everyone was clued to the TV’s just watching the replays of the planes hitting the towers. I just couldn’t believe my eyes that this was happening. Just a little later the first tower fell and it was like something out of a movie. Watching a building that large fall, knowing there are still people inside was just unreal.
We were told that we were able to get picked up from school if we wanted to go home. I decided to just stay in school and watch what was going on. Many people were talking about relatives or friends that lived in NYC. Luckily at this time I did not really know anyone that lived in NYC. The rest of the day was mostly a blur, you really could not concentrate on school or anything else really.
When I got home I remember watch more TV and just thinking is this real? At 8:30PM I do remember watching the President address the nation. The next week was just weird, thinking about what happened, thinking about all of the people that lost their lives. I do distinctly remember a few days after 9/11 I was at school eating lunch and I looked out the window and saw a plane. It was just a eerie feeling to see a plane in the air again.
So much has gone on since 9/11. Conspiracy theories have been the biggest thing. Some of them are very compelling. As we reflect on what happened 10 years ago, do you remember where you were?
I watch a lot of cooking shows, probably because I enjoy cooking so much. Many of the shows I watch for free on Hulu. A few days ago I was watching a show on Hulu and a commercial came on for a show called Kitchen Confidential. The show looked really funny so I decided to check it out. After watching the first episode I was hooked! The show takes place in a New York restaurant and shows all of the antics the staff off the restaurant get into.
I was surprised I had not heard of this show before. Doing some research I found out this show actually aired in 2005! And it was based on Anthony Bourdain’s New York Times bestselling book, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. I have never read that book, but I am a big Anthony Bourdain fan. Here is a trailer for the show.
I should have expected the show to be older because many of the actors and actresses are big movie stars now. Bradley Cooper plays the character that is supposed to be Anthony Bourdain. The cast also includes John Cho, Jaime King and John Daley.
I am very surprised there was only one season of this show. I am really enjoying it so far, I am on the 5th episode right now. You can watch the entire run of the show for free on Hulu.
I can’t believe it has been a year since Clique Vodka launched! Clique Vodka was started by some of my close friends and the company and vodka brand has really grown over the past year! They have gone from not being in any stores to being all over the Pittsburgh area, now moving in to the Philly area with expansion in to other states coming soon. The spirits industry is one of the most difficult to get into and they have done a lot in just 1 year!
Just like last year they had their 1 year anniversary party at the PPG Aquarium. It really gives you a different atmosphere than say a club or hotel banquet room would. There are not many places you can enjoy drinks and check out penguins at the same time. This year at the party they really stepped things up with multiple drink stations showing off the different things you can do with Clique Vodka. There were 2 DJ’s playing great music and this year they added a photo booth, which was a real hit! Now only did you get your photo right there but one was e-mail you as well. Here is just one photo from my many trips to the photo booth during the night!
The night was filled with drinking, fun, and great conversations with many friends. To give you a better idea of what went on check out the video below.
Again this was one of the best times I’ve had all year, the guys at Clique really know how to throw a great party! Congrats to them on their 1 year anniversary and I can’t wait for the next one! You can learn more about Clique Vodka on their website and also be sure to follow them on twitter!
Another year and another birthday, today I turn 27. 27 is much different from 26, at 26 I was just a year older than 25, at 27 I am getting closer to 30! As I get older I have been realizing a lot, but at the same time I have seen myself make the same mistakes over and over again. You have to remember though that each mistake is a lesson learned.
Anyways this past year has been a little tough, but the fun times have definitely outweighed the bad times. One thing I haven’t been doing as much is blogging. I have been saying I really want to blog more, but it just has not happened. As I have always said as you get older you realize who your real friends are and over the past year I have learned that lesson again. But at the same time I have met some really amazing people over the past year and I can call them my good friends.
One thing, which I had planned on doing for the past 2 years was branch out and start a new company. I’m not going to say the same or tell you about it (that’s for another post), but it is going well and it is really exciting to be working on something new. ThinkComputers is doing well and over the past month we have really done some great things to improve the site and ThinkComputers Community. Sometimes it is still hard to believe that something I started in highschool is my career. What is ever crazier is that I still love doing it and I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
So what does this next year of my life mean to me? I think it is really time to put my foot down and take things to the next level. With everything that I am doing it seems like things are at a stand-still at times so I really need to put in the extra effort and take things to the next level. Here is to another year with great friends and running my own business’s!
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