Jennlog

Wow, so this is my first post in March. I’ve been meaning to post but I’ve been busy with Statuspalooza and a number of other things this month.

I ended last month in California, working on a contract in Sacramento. I returned to Boulder on March 1.

The next week was a very busy event week for Tech/Start-up folks in Boulder with Open Coffee, Silicon Flatirons’ IP Law Panels at CU and the NewTech Meetup all occuring on Tuesday, then the Tech Cocktail event happening at The Foundry on Thursday.

On March 13th, the Boulder County Business Report published an article about the Boulder TechBootstrap project Patti Miller and I have been developing.

Statuspalooza took a fair bit of my attention and energy this month, because not only did I need a new work visa, but I needed a new passport. With the exception of a very grumpy US immigration agent (who felt I had misrepresented my experience to the US government in 2000 and therefore demanded that I re-substantiate my claim to work in the US on this application or be denied entry), it all went very smoothly.

Statuspalooza Tour 2008:

1. Tues March 18, 2008 - Afternoon: Arrive Toronto
2. Tues March 18, 2008 - Afternoon: Passport Photos taken
3. Wed March 19, 2008 - Morning: Passport Application submitted
4. Thurs March 20, 2008 - Afternoon: Passport Picked Up
5. Mon March 24, 2008 - Afternoon: US Visa Application Approved
6. Mon March 24, 2008 - Evening: Depart for Denver

I spent the week at my parents’ place. It was nice to relax for a while and visit over Easter, which I haven’t done in years.

There’s a Yallery update that’s about half finished that is meant to standardize our css implementation. I hope to create a more formal document structure that will enable an easier fix for Windows browser issues (mainly font sizing and layers). I’ve also spent some time looking into IE6 fixes and workarounds and concluded that there will never be an IE6-compatible version of Yallery, so upgrade your old nasty Windows browser.

Lastly, Billie the neighbor cat has gone missing. He hasn’t been by to visit in over a month and a half, so it’s been pretty lonely without my keyboard-hogging head-butting bud around.

The last couple of weeks I’ve been visiting my parents for the holidays. I planned to do a ton of work, but in reality, it was nice just to spend time with them, see a few friends, have a few meetings and spend some time amazed at just how much Toronto has changed since I left it.

One example is the museum, where I met my mom to have lunch. Like the Denver Art Museum, the ROM has a brand new Daniel Libeskind crystal. It was dark and rainy, but here are a couple of pictures.

Unlike the titanium-covered Denver crystal, the ROM crystal was originally designed to have a glass shell. Most of the covering was changed to aluminum slats when the architects discovered that heavy wet snow falls part of the year. It felt smaller than the Denver crystal, but fun and interesting none the less.

Most of the crystal was occupied by the ROM’s giftshop (on the main floor) and their new and improved dinosaur exhibit (on the second floor). You can see how they built the crystal into the old, original building rather than as a new building in the case of the Denver Art Museum.

I’m rested, back in Boulder and ready to make 2008 my and my companies’ best year yet.

I found Fang last week during the Toronto OpenCoffee meeting.

I had a really productive (and fun) week in Toronto last week. My primary reason for going was to volunteer during pride week, in my capacity as a Director of Pride Toronto.

The week began Monday, at City Hall for the official Pride flag raising ceremony. After the ceremony, the city had a full lunch prepared for the thousand or so people who attended. I should have worn sun screen.

Tuesday, I had a couple meetings with art galleries and then went to the True Colors concert. Wow, talk about reliving 80s memories. Blondie, Erasure, Cyndi Lauper and more.

Thursday morning I went to the Toronto OpenCoffee group, and met Jonas Brandon, the founder of the group. Also in attendance were John Martin, Roy Pereira, Colin Smillie, Veronica Montero, Beverly Crandon and a few others. Although there were a dozen or so people around the tables, there were more than two times as many women in attendance as I’ve seen at Boulder OpenCoffee gatherings. Go Toronto!

I also learned about BunnyHero Labs, a Toronto company with an awesome name and a fun product.

Friday kicked-off the super packed party weekend attended by over a million people. The highlights have to be seeing an old friend who I always manage to find every year in the sea of a million or so people without fail, and meeting lots of people just at ease with who they are, at the deepest of levels. The Pride Toronto volunteers are just awesome, all 1000+ of them and our staff members are incredible — Wow, just wow.

Early Monday morning I returned back to the new Terminal 1 at Toronto Pearson. I like the new Maple Leaf Lounge — free WiFi and a free hot or cold breakfast, not like the cheap United Red Carpet Lounges. The only downer was the new US Customs and Immigration area is slower. We arrived back in Denver an hour early (a freakish lack of headwinds according to the pilot).