All posts by Geoff

First Friday at the SoWa Artists Guild – Boston

Art from "Theories of Seeing"

Harrison Avenue in the South End of Boston is the place to be…on the First Friday of the month. SoWa (South of Washington) is a trendy area of Boston that is home to some very talented artists. 450 Harrison Avenue houses 15 galleries and over 50 artists studios whose sole purpose is to “promote the diversity and individuality of the artists working in this flagship space, the center of the SOWA Art District”

Attending First Friday was a very exciting experience for me. I don’t “do art” so to speak. I like what I like. But going to SoWa and seeing the artists in their environment was a revelation of sorts.  There was such a variety of art, culture, personality and ambiance.

First Friday was a great opportunity for me to meet an artist whose work I have admired for the past 3 years, Charyl Weissbach. She is an encaustic impressionist that has a beautiful mind and eye for landscape. The picture below does no justice at all for her incredible work (camera phone, meh). So I encourage you to visit Charyl’s website to see her online body of work.

Here is a list of all the artists we saw:

If you live in Boston and have even the most remote appreciation of art I highly recommend attending. The studios are open daily and also by appointment (please check with the individual artists) but attending on First Friday was quite the experience.

PdaNet and the Sprint Data Network Save the Day

OK, my being awesome helps as well. Verizon’s Business DSL crapped out at lunchtime today (I was actually AT lunch and had to come back to the office, thanks Verizon!). I quickly tethered my Palm Centro to my laptop and fired up PdaNet so that we could process some orders.

Problem solved! For me, but what about the rest of the company?!? Well, a little Googling brought me to a program called Nat32 that allowed me to setup my laptop as a router for the rest of the company to use as their default gateway! I could have used ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) but you need to use the 192.168.0.0 subnet so I would have to reissue IP addresses for the whole company (servers, printers, etc).

So the takeaway of this post is that it pays to be a geek with gadgets 😉

Happy Friday to you!

#ramday: An Experiment in Meme-Jumping

While a relatively small group of Twitterers were sharing their #ramday experiences, I wrote this blog post: “What the Hell is #ramday?”. It was an attempt to jump on the coattails of the #ramday meme and vault the blog post as high as possible in Google. Christopher S Penn had a similar meme-jumping experience with Youtube and Rickrolling.

Did it work??

Graphic showing the dramatic increase in visitors for the ramday meme explanation post.

For a personal blog with very little traffic (5 – 10 uniques a day?) I had 406 unique visitors on Friday July 25th (aka the inaugural #ramday)!

And here are the search results in Google:

Google search results for Ramday

Incredibly enough, and this is  testament to how great Google is as a search engine, this page highlighted above was result #51 on Friday July 25th 30 minutes after I wrote it!

Hundred Push Ups Challenge: Week 1 Recap

Here is a recap of week one of the Hundred Push up challenge (more info here):

Day 1 Was a little harder than I thought it was going to be. Looking at the training sheet, the number of reps (in sets) 10/10/8/6/*7 doesn’t look intimidating. But after the first two sets, I was pretty tired in the biceps mostly. But here was my final tally for day 1:

Set 1: 10
Set 2: 10
Set 3: 8
Set 4: 6
Set 5: 9 *

* The goal of set 5 is to due as many push ups as you can over a minimum amount (7 in this case).

Day 2 Wasn’t as hard as I had anticipated. I did a couple of push ups in the off day and thought I was in trouble for day 2. The number of reps (in sets) for day 2 was 12/12/10/10/*10. I thought I was in good shape heading into the “power set” (the * set) but I ran out of steam and could only clear 2 more than the minimum 10.

Here was my final tally for day 2:

Set 1: 12
Set 2: 12
Set 3: 10
Set 4: 10
Set 5: 12 *

Day 3 The number of reps (in sets) for day 3 was 15/13/10/10/*15. Again I ran into trouble in the “power set” (the * set) as I ran out of steam and fell one short of the minimum 15.

Here was my final tally for day 3:

Set 1: 15
Set 2: 13
Set 3: 10
Set 4: 10
Set 5: 14*

So I feel pretty good about reaching the goal of being able to do 100 consecutive push ups after 6 weeks. I don’t think I will have use of my arms for a few days after doing 100, but hey, you have to have goals!

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What the Hell is #ramday ??

#ramday is a twitter meme started by new twitter friend @thespottedduck. It means Random About Me Day and it is when people tweet (a message to Twitter) a random piece of information about themselves that would not normally come up in conversation.

It has been an interesting way to learn new things about people (and meet new people in general).

Some favorites so far:

  • tgwilson: My brother-in-law is married to his stepsister (which she wasn’t when they got married). Figure it out. #ramday
  • thegirlriot: @michaelallison #ramday i dated a 23 year old when i was 17.
  • michaelallison: I dated a 31-year-old woman when I was 22. #ramday.
  • jstorerj: i once drove from Denver to Boston solo, only stopping to fill the car with gas. Just about 2000 miles in 35 hours. #ramday
  • RickWolff: When I take eggs from a box, I make sure the remaining eggs balance in the box. Drives my wife nuts; she goes in & messes them up. #ramday
  • nwjerseyliz: #ramday I’ve been blonde twice in my life. It didn’t suit me at all but both times I got asked out more than any other time in my life. MEN!
  • thespottedduck: in pre-school, i convinced a kid to eat glue. #ramday
Here are my contributions, (yes I do work for a living).

Do you have one of these Friends??

Update:

News Article: Smithfield hockey pioneer Shannon Sullivan fighting cancer a second time

I also wanted to give more info about the benefit and alternate ways of contributing:

The game to benefit Shannon Sullivan, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 30, will feature volunteer players who are at least 16 years old, and will include a slapshot contest for spectators and a puck throw competition for children. Game tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children under 12. Tickets for the after-game buffet at Ticker’s are $15. For more information or to sign on as a player contact Alyson Aceto at 401-487-7085 or aaceto21@yahoo.com , or Jenny Trainor at 401-255-7582 or jenn_trainor@yahoo.com .

If you would like to contribute online, please use the ChipIn link at the end of the article. There is absolutely no contribution that is too small.

Original post below:

————————————-

Do you have the kind of friend that no matter how long it has been, you can get on the phone and pick up right where you left off? There are no preconceived notions of how often you need to stay in touch to maintain “friend” status. There is no: “I haven’t spoke to her in years, she’s off the wedding/Christmas/BBQ invite list”.  They are truly and simply just your friend, always.

Well, I do and I hope you are lucky enough to have one too. Trouble is that my friend, Shannon, needs some help. She was just recently downsized from a company where she worked as a graphic designer for 12 years, leaving her with no health insurance. Here’s the scary part, she was just diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time.

Here is her story (reprinted from her Lotsa Helping Hands page):

Shannon is a 32 year old woman diagnosed with Breast Cancer for the 2nd time and this is her story. Shannon began her hockey career in 1988 with the RI Panthers. It wasn’t long after that, that the town knew of Shannon’s strength and fight as she became the first female to play for her high school team the Smithfield Sentinels. Little did we know that Shannon would once again have to fight like she had never fought before when she was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer in 2004. With amazing strength and bravery Shannon took on her course of treatment: lumpectomy, sentinel node biopsy, chemotherapy, radiation, and oral medication for the last 5 years Eventually, she was considered in remission and was working hard as a talented Graphic Designer in Massachusetts. Her curly hair grew back and a sense of normalcy returned to her life.

Recently, her inspirational story has taken a twist. After 12 plus years with her employer she was downsized leaving her without medical coverage. There wasn’t a pretty severance package and extended benefits. That alone is a daunting situation many families have felt and are experiencing during these difficult economic times. What separates this situation from others is that Shannon was informed a week later that, “the breast cancer is back.”

Shannon is facing her next battle with breast cancer which has metastasized to her lung. The treatment will be similar, the side affects all too familiar and with YOUR HELP the outcome will be positive. So help us by being a part of Shannon’s next chapter in life because there is more story to be written.

There is a charity hockey game at the end of August to support Shannon. I am collecting money through ChipIn and will pass along your well wishes and donations at that time. So help out if you can: a small donation or a prayer, anything will help. I am lucky to call her my friend. And I want to have this friend for a long, long time.

The Hidden Secret of PodCamps

PodCamp is what you make it. If you simply go to the sessions and keep to yourself, you won’t get much more out of it then if you had read through a few blog recaps of the event. The attendee list is full of friendly and approachable people just waiting to share ideas and grow their network.

I have to disclose that I only attended a 1/2 day on Saturday and a 3/4 day on Sunday due to being a loyal husband and loving father. (In case my wife reads this blog). But in that time I met some great people and learned a thing or two about social media, branding, SEO and networking.

Sessions I Attended

Sessions I Wish I Attended

  • What is Seesmic?  – Phillipe Lejeune
  • “Making the Case for Social Media: Compelling Information to Deliver to Skeptics and Loved Ones Alike” – Ben Grossman and Marta Kagan
  • Academic Technology – Kabren Levinson
  • Social Media Marketing is not Evil – Matt Peters
  • Breaking Into the Conversation, Busting the Cliques – Leslie Poston
  • SEO 101 – Srikar Nagubandi
  • Integrating User Generated Content into Your Marketing and Sales Mix – John Wall
  • Marketing Over Coffee with David Meerman Scott, John Wall, and Christopher Penn
  • Spam in Social Media: Lessons Learned from Email – Kee Hinckley
  • Email Marketing’s Role in New Media – Greg Cangialosi

Networking/Mingling Recap

So a big Thank You to the presenters and organizers of PodCamp Boston 3 for making this event great. Your hard-work and dedication to the event is much appreciated.

One Hundred Pushups Challenge

I am starting the Hundred Pushup Challenge on Monday July 21st in a weak attempt to get back into shape! Atleast it’s a start right! The reason why this challenge is appealing to me is that I was always able to do tons of pushups in high school. But when I did the initial test I was only able to do 20, well below “tons”.

So I will post here with my weekly (or possibly weakly) results as a way to keep myself motivated to finish the six week challenge.

Find out more here: One Hundred Pushups

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Useful FTP Bash Script

I needed to be able to automate the download of specifically named files from an FTP server and then delete them upon successful download. The need arose when the old script I was using was downloading some zero byte files (likely due to poor network conditions, workstation issues or remote server issues) then deleting the source file! D’oh!!

This script checks that the file is not a zero byte file before deleting from the remote server. Not great error/consistency checking, but better than I had before. It also copies the successfully downloaded files to an IMPORT directory and then archives the originally downloaded files to an ARCHIVE directory.

Hopefully you find it useful.

Note: I updated the post to include logging.

#!/bin/bash
################################################
# Set some of the variables that will be needed
# during the execution of this script
################################################
# set current date
now=`date +%Y-%m-%d-%H%M-%S`
#
# set the root dir
rootdir="/ftp_files"
#
# set the download directory
dldir="$rootdir/DOWNLOADS"
#
# set session download dir
sessdldir="$dldir/$now"
#
# set the import dir
importdir="$rootdir/IMPORT"
#
# set the archive dir
archivedir="$rootdir/ARCHIVE"
#
# set up logging
LOGFILE="$rootdir/LOGS/ftplog.txt"
#
################################################
# Lets get to work
#################################################
# create a directory based on todays date
mkdir $sessdldir
#
# change to the new directory prior to FTP connection
cd $sessdldir
#
if [ -f $LOGFILE ]
then
echo "****** FTP PROCESS STARTED AT: $now ******" >> $LOGFILE
else
echo "****** NEW LOG FILE CREATED AT: $now ******" > $LOGFILE
echo "****** FTP PROCESS STARTING AT: $now ******" >> $LOGFILE
fi

## FTP Connection parameters
ftpserver=server.com
username=youruser
password=yourpass
remotedir=/directoryname

## Connect to FTP server and download all TXT files
ftp -inv $ftpserver >> $LOGFILE <<MYEND
user $username $password
cd $remotedir
bin
mget *.TXT
bye
MYEND

## Test for existence of files in the session download dir
## (we cd'd here earlier)
if [ `ls | wc -l` -gt 0 ]
then
echo "" >> $LOGFILE
echo ">> Files have been downloaded" >> $LOGFILE
dlfiles=`ls`
echo ">>>> Downloaded files:" >> $LOGFILE
echo "$dlfiles" >> $LOGFILE
echo "" >> $LOGFILE

## Create the FTP delete script in order to remove the downloaded
## files from the FTP server. We will be sure to check for empty
## files below. The FTP delete script will be created in the session
## download directory and named ftp.$PID
echo "open $ftpserver
user $username $password
binary
cd $remotedir" > $sessdldir/ftp.$$
echo ">> Creating delete script to delete non-zero files from remote server" >> $LOGFILE

## Iterate through the downloaded files one by one
for i in $( ls *.TXT ); do
## If the file exists and is larger than 0 bytes, THEN add
## a delete command to the FTP delete script. This will allow
## us to delete all non-zero byte files from the FTP server.
## Non-zero byte files could be a sign that the file didn't
## download properly due to an FTP timeout or other network
## issues. By not deleting the non-zero byte file we can attempt
## to download it the next time the script is run.
if [ -s $i ]
then
echo "del $i" >> $sessdldir/ftp.$$
echo ">>>> $i will be added to delete script" >> $LOGFILE
fi
done

## Finish off the FTP delete script
echo "quit" >> $sessdldir/ftp.$$

echo "" >> $LOGFILE
echo ">> Here is the delete script">> $LOGFILE
echo "" >> $LOGFILE
cat $sessdldir/ftp.$$ >> $LOGFILE
echo "" >> $LOGFILE
echo ">> Running the delete script" >> $LOGFILE
echo "" >> $LOGFILE

## Run the FTP script
ftp -ivn < $sessdldir/ftp.$$ >> $LOGFILE

## Copy all the non-zero byte TXT files to the import folder
echo "" >> $LOGFILE
echo ">> Copying non-zero size files to IMPORT" >> $LOGFILE

for i in $( ls *.TXT ); do
if [ -s $i ]
then
cp $i $importdir
echo ">>>> Copying $i to IMPORT directory" >> $LOGFILE
fi
done
fi

## Copy session specific download dir to the ARCHIVE folder
echo "" >> $LOGFILE
echo ">> Copying entire $sessdldir to $archivedir" >> $LOGFILE

cp -R $sessdldir $archivedir/

## Delete the session specific download dir
rm -rf $sessdldir
echo "" >> $LOGFILE
echo ">> Deleting $sessdldir" >> $LOGFILE
echo "" >> $LOGFILE

## ENDING LOG FILE FOR SESSION
echo "****** FTP PROCESS ENDED AT: $now ******" >> $LOGFILE
echo "******************************************************" >> $LOGFILE
echo "" >> $LOGFILE

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Pro bono Website Redesign Complete

I have been working with a great nonprofit group in Boston called the Lawyers Clearinghouse on a pro bono basis to redesign their website for the past several months. Along with a friend, Jeff Baker of Partner Alliances, we have redesigned their website and provided them with a way to manage the content using WordPress.

A little about the Lawyers Clearinghouse:

The Lawyers Clearinghouse provides pro bono legal services to nonprofit organizations, groups seeking nonprofit status, and guests of area homeless shelters. We offer lawyers meaningful and rewarding pro bono opportunities. We also provide educational programs for nonprofit organizations and lawyers.

The project consisted of coming up with new creative for the site, creating a custom WordPress theme and carrying over the content from the existing site. From there, the group at the Lawyers Clearinghouse made content updates to get it ready for launch.

Here are a few screen captures of the site we started with:

The original site was very informative but dated. They also required a web designer to make simple content changes for them which made it difficult and time consuming to update the site. The goal of the project was to give the Lawyers Clearinghouse a modern look and provide them with the tools to manage the content themselves.

As a nonprofit, it is difficult to justify costs for web design services. It is equally as difficult to make rapid web changes when you need to work around the schedules of designers who are donating their time. So providing a content management system was key to the success of the project.

Here are a few screen shots of the launched site (live site here):

I want to thank Jeff Baker for his help with this project. The creative (with the exception of the logo) is entirely his work. I also want to thank David Bissett (of Dimension Media) for his custom WordPress theme based off of Jeff’s creative.