Finally WordCamp ATL is happening. When I first came to WordCamp ATL in January of 2010 I had only been workign with WordPress for about 6 months (maybe less). The whole idea of what was possible was placed before me.

Tomorrow morning I get another chance to meet up with some really good freinds that I have actually never met in person before. I planned a meetup with some of the guys at 8Bit and my good friend Andy Darnell. Totally phyched about that!

This WordCamp is so different from the last one. Last time I had barely touched a WP site. I was learning how to install a brand new WP install. My mind was overwhelmed by all the speakers.

This time I have developed my own themes, wrote my own code, manipulated plugins and developed full sites that function properly. Most of all, I have made some pretty HUGE mistakes. On top of all that, I’m making money doing this. This weekend is crucial to me staying ahead (or atleast maybe catchign up) of the game.

I want to learn things like Project managment, WP development skills, SEO for WP, and BLOGGING!

It’s going to be a great day but I have to get some sleep so I don’t fall asleep during the sessions and spill my coffee on me.

We have a weekly parenting class at our church here in Summerville, SC. Currently, we are learning about AWANA and adopting the same principles that it uses to reach children to our own homes. This week we covered game time.

I know, I know…”So what!”

Here is the part that got me. The games that we play with our kids are fun but the really good games all tend to have one thing in common. They all help build our imagination. Possibly the biggest problem with most television and games we watch, they all tend to hand us the things that is usually left to our imagination.

Games like soccer, football, bowling, golf, chess, scrabble, Wii, Candyland, etc. all build so many good characteristics in our children. If you’re like me you totally overlooked the imagination connection. Sure they help us relate to each other and build strong relationships but on top of all that have you ever considered how it effected our relationship with God? I had never even took the time to consider the spiritual side effect of a good imagination.

Read Psalm 139: 1-16 and you will find words that can only be imagined. Somethings are just indescribable in our language because it just doesn’t exist.

God has given each of us some incredible imaginations. Sometimes, we see the art of imagination out of balance (mental issues) and other times we see it so crippled (wealth and pride) that life becomes bland and hopeless.

So this season when you hear the Christmas story read from Luke 2 again for the millionth time, try to use your imagination and consider how Awesome God truly is.

What games can you say have the greatest impact on a child’s imagination?

Today I finalized my paperwork for the State of South Carolina and officially became the “managing member” of Wingspan Marketing LLC located in Summerville, SC. WOOHOO!!!

It has been a crazy road so far to get to this point but I believe I’m ready to take this new challenge in my life. I have to say that credit is not do to me or anyone else but my Savior. I would have never made these decisions without Him guiding every step of the way. Sometimes it felt like He was smacking my legs to stay on track while others He seemed to be carrying me on His broad shoulders. Ether way, I just wanted to make sure everyone knew that Wingspan Marketing LLC and every project it produces is only done because of a loving and caring God.

Read more about how I feel about this on my company blog WingspanMarketing.com

Waiting.

I was outside with son#2 when I set up challenge for myself. I told Matthew I was going to pitch a golf ball into the cup holder of a lawn chair from about 10 feet.

Impossible? Nope, the hole is bigger than the golf ball and I have had similar luck from 137 yards. I knew all it would take is some trial and error and plenty of chances.

I began to think of the similarities between setting little challenges and setting life goals. I don’t know too many people who live life like they achieve success 100% of the time. On the other hand, I do know many of the same people (including myself) who expect it that much. Maybe you know exactly how I feel then. Like when I think I have failed because something didn’t turn out like I thought it should.
At an M2LIVE conference about a year and a half ago John Saddington and Tony steward were answering some questions when they said: “We aren’t smarter or more talented than you, we’ve just made more mistakes”.

This is so big for me. We learn in life either by experience or by lesson. Both of which require failure in order to learn.

The idea of learning from my mistakes isn’t new to me, the thought of winning from my mistakes was.

There are two things that hit me while thinking about this. They are two essential ingredients that go into success: fun and failure.

From what I can see, in order to succeed at something we should enjoy doing ‘it’ and we should work hard at learning from mistakes.

It may be simple but it takes a God given calling to to be passionate and determined in most jobs.

Just sayin.

I feel like this is turning into some sort of coffee blog but here is another infograph that is rather interesting.

Via: Homeowners Insurance

Have you ever wondered how to add comments to your index page? A client wanted their visitors to be able to leave a comment on an article without having to press a link?

I’m still working through the pros and cons for this but I went ahead and added it to the site. I have to say it adds an element of UX that was not there before. Convenience is a big factor for some visitors to interact. 

You can find out how to do this here at SEOPorch.com

See what I mean?

[Info Graph]

I learned a little something this weekend about a new feature that WordPress developed to help bloggers accomplish more in the limited time that we have. It’s called ‘Post Formats’ and it is a really interesting approach to content development.

The WordPress codex (information hub for WordPress.org) says there are several options to choose from now for styling your blog posts. For instance, sometimes you need to simply show an interesting quote. This new option allows you to publish that as a “quote” and not simply another post with ” ” around it. Here is an example from my SEO blog (SEOPorch.com powered by the new Standard Theme 2.6, one of the first WordPress themes to have this feature included in it’s install.
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I’ve been through several very helpful forums in the past few months and noticed a few things that will help you get the most out of your time in a forumosphere (seriously, that is a word).

I recently had a chance to speak, via email, to Michael Novotny about his role in the forums of Standard Theme. I’ve taken several of his comments and will use them to give you a simple guide to get the most out of your forum experience.

[Side note: If you are not apart of a forum then you're missing out. It is one ginormous question and answer session. Being apart of an active online forum can be intimidating but it can also allow you and opportunity to stretch yourself in the area you are interested in.]
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