This is the first post on this new blog. I’m using this as an outlet for topics, discussion and interaction with a larger community of blogger than I have been interacting with up to now. I’ve been online journaling (on Livejournal) since 2001, and active on the Internet and various BBSes since the mid-80’s. Two years ago, I launched a “real” blog focused on my neighborhood called The Multnomah Villager. I am one of those hyper-local bloggers that are often dismissed by “the in crowd” as one of the 100-hits-a-day bloggers. Personally, I’m OK with my level of traffic (which is more like 200 hits per day, thanks) and my place within the tangle of online resources. I originally launched the Villager blog on Blogger, but soon outgrew the current functionality (it’s better now) and after a few months of reading and waffling, moved the blog onto Wordpress. The transition to Wordpress has forced me to update my knowledge of markup language, and introduced me to working in CSS. I am not a programmer, but I enjoy tweaking.

I’d like to become more knowledgeable about the Wordpress platform, as I’m now using it with a couple of work projects, in my daily life as Director of Operations for the Portland, OR studio of Compass Rose Media, a Santa Cruz based interactive/video firm. I’d like to become more active, or at least nominally active, in the larger community of bloggers and web producers/creators. To that end, I decided to head down to San Francsisco later this month for WordCamp. I might as well throw myself headfirst into a group of 250 power users. I’m introverted like that.

That’s my intro.