Here goes:

1. My wife and I were married in Brisbane, Australia in September, 2003 and nobody from either of our families attended. I don’t think it’s because they didn’t want to; we just didn’t really give ‘em the chance. We organized the ceremony in short order, and it simply wasn’t practical — or affordable — for them to make the journey from the US (my fam) or Kenya (hers). But rest assured they made up for it by throwing us impressive receptions when we went back home.

2. I learned to speak Portuguese in June 1998 in order to impress my then Cape Verdean girlfriend. It turned out to be a fortuitous decision for my career development as well, because a couple of months later I was able to shoot the bull on a job interview with a university professor who had lived in Portugal. I got the job!

3. When I was a kid, I turned the kitchen floor and adjacent hallway into a playground for baseball, hokcey, and nurf basketball and football. I dreamed up the games, announced them out loud, and amazingly performed the roles of all the players from both terms. It might have helped prepare me for my days calling Syracuse University women’s basketball games in college, but, alas, it did nothing for my athletic prowess.

4. I smother waffles, pancakes, or french toast with molasses instead of syrup.

5. I’ve been in Belgium ever so briefly — even though I can’t prove it. In early January 2000 I jumped on a last-minute European travel discount and flew to Europe for a five-day long weekend. I landed in Paris, and then took an express train to Amsterdam (the answer is “yes”). Along the way, we stopped in Brussels, and I hopped out of the train and snapped a quick photo, just so that I might one day say, “Heck, yeah, I’ve been to Belgium. Great place.” Unfortunately — and this was in my pre-digital days — my camera self-destructed a few days later when I was back in Paris, and the negatives couldn’t be recovered. You’ll just have to take my word for it.

6. I’ve visited 32 of the 50 United States and hope to hit all 50 before I kick the bucket.

7. While I can boil water (c’mon, Mitch Joel!) I’m otherwise pretty much hopeless in the kitchen. The lone exception: I can cook a mean chicken noodle casserole dish.

8. My daughter and I have just started our third annual reading competition, where we compete to see who can finish more books in a year. She kicked my ass in years 1 and 2, but I have a good feeling about 2008. The kid’s going down.

I think I’m meant to tag eight others as well, but I’m breaking the rules and picking just three: mdy, Simon Young, and Kyle Flaherty.

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Here are the details:

Location: ThirstyBear Restaurant and Brewery, 661 Howard St., San Francisco
Start time: 6:30pm

Sallie Goetsch, Shel Holtz, and Andy Kaufman are among those who are expected to be in attendance, with at least a couple of others on the “maybe” list.

You are welcome to contact me in advance if you plan to attend, or you can just show up on Sunday evening.

I’ll be visiting the Bay Area for five days starting Friday as part of a longer California vacation (Los Angeles and San Diego are also in the plans) that will keep me largely offline until Monday, July 9. There will be little or no blogging here, but I will be Twittering from time to time.

This will be just my second visit to San Francisco — and first since I became a gung-ho new-media dude. I’m looking forward to meeting up with some like-minded enthusiasts while I’m there — starting with Sunday evening’s geek dinner.

* You can also refer to the event notice on Upcoming.org.

Technorati Tags: Geek Dinner, San Francisco, Sallie Goetsch, Shel Holtz, Andy Kaufman, ThirstyBear

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While a nasty cold and sore throat hasn’t stopped me from blogging this week, it has put my plans for producing a new episode of New Comm Road on hold — at least temporarily. Hope to be back up and running in the next few days. Thanks for your patience.

In the meantime, why not check out these three new marketing/PR/social-media podcasts?

• Marketing Martini. Excellent tips on Internet marketing from Bill Sweetman.
• PRobecast. The PR guys from Woburn, Massachusetts-based Topaz Partners decided that after producing several podcasts for their clients, it was time to walk the talk. A good first effort here, as Tim Allik, Doug Haslam, Adam Zand talk more about the Boston bomb scare and the new podcast from Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick. Note that the actual name for the show is still up for discussion, as Topaz’s Todd Van Hoosear hilariously explains in this video response.
• Social Media Today, hosted by Maggie Fox. Thanks to this podcast, I’ve (re-?) discovered a slew of social-media blogs from the Social Media Collective that I’ll be adding to my RSS reader. Each week on this podcast, Maggie will interview a different member of the Collective, and I’m certainly looking forward to the compelling discussions.

Technorati Tags: New Comm Road, Marketing Martini, Bill Sweetman, Topaz Partners, PRobecast, Tim Allik, Doug Haslam, Adam Zand, Deval Patrick, Social Media Today, Social Media Collective, Maggie Fox, Todd Van Hoosear

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As far as years go, 2006 has been one of my very best — both personally and profesionally.
Here are 10 new-media events/developments from my life in 2006, in no particular order, that will stick with me.

1. Starting the Bryper.com blog and the New Comm Road podcast. The blog launched on April 25 and the podcast on May 31. They were the foundation for most of what follows.
2. BarCamp Boston. My very first unconference. I interviewed podcaster extraordinaire Christopher Penn for Episode 2 of NCR and met Chris Brogan. Those two would see the value of unconferences and would team up to found PodCamp (see point 4). They were nice enough to let join them in the planning.
3. Geek Dinner in New York City. I was sure that trekking down to the Big Apple on an Amtrak train (and back on a Greyhound bus) to meet Shel Holtz, Neville Hobson, and their fan club (of which I was a card-carrying member) would be well worth it, and I wasn’t disappointed. I also met Mike Bellina, who would soon be co-hosting New Comm Road with me.
4. PodCamp Boston. Chrises Brogan and Penn knew what they were doing when they hatched this baby. I was just pleased to be part of the organizing crew. What we had hoped would be a two-day unconference for 200 people turned out to be a star-studded two-day-plus event that accommodated some 350 passionate new-media enthusiasts from across the country, as well as a visitors from Canada and the UK.
5. CaseCamp Montreal. By pure coincidence, I was planning a family vacation to Canada when I found out that CaseCamp was being held there on July 4. The event was hosted by Twist Image president Mitch Joel, who has since become a good friend and mentor.
6. CaseCamp Second Life. Little did I know that, along with Kate Trgovac, C.C. Chapman, and Eli Singer, I’d be organizing a CaseCamp of my own just five months later … and in a virtual world, to boot.
7. Making new connections. Social media would mean little for me were it not for the friendships I’ve made along the way. Here are 30 of them.
8. New-media tools that make my life easier — or at least more interesting. Before 2006, I had never used Bloglines, Google Docs, LinkedIn, Feedburner, YouTube, or Second Life. Hard to imagine my online existence without them now
9. Landing at Monster. What I didn’t mention above is that I almost didn’t go to BarCamp Boston, think that it would be a little too programming-heavy for my taste. It’s a good thing I went against those instincts. BarCamp was held at the global headquarters for Monster.com, and thanks to a fortuitous meeting with Devon Biondi from Monster Labs, my resume would eventually find its way into the right hands. I wound up with a content producer job at Monster in August and will be moving into a more interactive role in 2007.
10. Consulting. Finding a voice in new media and expressing that voice has helped to secure some consulting work, which makes the bills just a little bit easier to pay.

My personal highlight, of course, was the birth of my son Amani, for whom I have a world of hopes and dreams. And now I’m going to go celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of the next with him.

Thanks again, 2006, for a most extraordinary year.

Technorati Tags: 2006, BarCamp Boston, Bryper, New Comm Road, Shel Holtz, Neville Hobson, Mike Bellina, Christopher Penn, Chris Brogan, Mitch Joel, CaseCamp, CaseCampMontreal, CaseCampSecondLife, Devon Biondi, Monster.com

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Here are my five:

1) In May/June 2003 I took a cross-country trip with my sister, starting in Phoenix (I had driven from San Francisco to Phoenix on my own) and finishing in Boston. The journey covered 4,741 miles took us through parts of 23 states over 16 days. We had a tiny blue ugly rental car and a cheap tent. What sticks out the most today, three and a half years later: traveling along the old Route 66, the stunning natural beauty of the Southwest, giving the finger to the Texas state flag, having trouble understanding Southern accents, the Oklahoma City Memorial, drinking beer on the streets of New Orleans, Gettysburg National Cemetery, hearing the some mind-numbing pop songs over and over again, and really getting to know my sister after nine years of being away from home.

Here I am being goofy during the trip, trying on a hat in a shop in Albuquerque, New Mexico:

2) I used to play the piano pretty well. And when my grandmother remarried some 19 1/2 years ago, I was the kid on the keyboard. Unfortunately, because we didn’t have any sort of amplifier, not many in attendance were able to hear my brilliance in action.

3) I lived in Spain for six months as part of two separate stays in 1996 and 1997. I spent four months as a study abroad student in Madrid in early 1996, living with a Spanish family and picking up a good Castillian accent. I then returned to country a little more than a year later to a) teach English to young children at a music school in Mallorca and then b) work as a nanny for a few weeks in the ridiculously rich Southern Spanish village of Sotogrande.

4) For about a six-month stretch in 1999/2000, I went line dancing every Wednesday night.

5) A note on my resume that has generated a couple of interesting interview discussions: I have conversational skills in the Tetum language, which is the national tongue of the tiny Asian country of East Timor. I visited East Timor as a web-development project with a group of Australians during my postgraduate days Down Under, and we arrived less than two months after the nation’s independence from the UN (and Indonesia before that, and Portugual before that). Quick Tetum language lesson:

Diak ka lae? How are you?
Diak. I am fine.
Hau hanoin hau-nia kolega timor-oan. I miss my Timorese friends.
Hau ba uma oras-ne. I’m going home now.

This post in Dili, East Timor translates as “From culture we learn our identity.”

Here’s who I’m tagging: Reid Givens, MaryHelen Votral, Christopher S. Penn, Michael Bailey, Robert French. You’re “it,” guys.

Technorati Tags: five things meme, Reid Givens, MaryHelen Votral, Christopher Penn, Michael Bailey, Robert French, East Timor

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I want to do the former in this post. As a 29-year-old, I poured a good amount of my energies, creativity, drive, and personal travel budget (!) into learning about and engaging in social media. It’s a place where I’ve found my voice, where my professional ambitions lie, and where I meet the most fascinating people.

In the end, my work in this space always does point back to the people — to the new colleagues I have gained and the new friends I have made because of blogging, podcasting, geek meetups, and *Camps (BarCamp, PodCamp, CaseCamp).

So as I turn 30 today, I give you the names of 30 people that I have met — most of them in person, and others virtually — for the first time in the last year whose work, passion, and friendship help fuel my dedication to new media:

1. Laura Allen – You’ve helped me to say what I do in 15 seconds, and now you’re helping to bring PodCamp to New York City.
2. My son Amani – You’re not yet three weeks old, and thanks to social media, you’re already a star.
3. Michael Bailey – Thanks to you, anybody can attach an audio comment to this post. Your big break will come. I know it.
4. Jenny Attiyeh – Thank you for coming to PodCamp.
5. Leesa Barnes – Next time you drive down to Boston from Toronto, remember to bring a road map.
6. Mike Bellina – I was much better at sticking to a consistent podcasting production schedule when I had you on board
7. Chris Brogan – You landed your dream job — and you earned it.
8. Christopher Carfi – So this is what fatherhood is like.
9. Ted Demopoulos – Featuring me in a book? Dangerous.
10. Terry Fallis – Enjoy your insight into PR — and proper English.
11. Doug Haslam – Keep leading the charge in Boston for PR’s adoption of social media.
12. Joseph Jaffe – crayon is your life after Life After the 30-Second Spot. Screw a second book.
13. Mitch Joel – My mentor. I’m seeing the “six pixels” in everything now.
14. David Jones – Thanks for the PR schoolin’. After all, you “know stuff.”
15. Reid Givens - A like-minded social-media-driven traveler.
16. John C. Havens – I appreciate not only your commitment to podcasting, but to helping other dads.
17. Neville Hobson – Indeed.
18. Shel Holtz – I like mornings, too, but getting up at 5am every day?
19. Lee Hopkins – New Comm Road appreciates your “God” voice.
20. Ed Lee – Can’t wait to share a pint or two with you up in Toronto.
21. Andrea Mercado – You’re easily the most entertaining librarian I’ve ever met … unless we’re counting Ms. Dewey.
22. Jay Moonah – You drove from Toronto to Boston to play podsafe music at the first-ever PodCamp. That just rocks.
23. Christopher Penn – I’ve listened to more episodes of the Financial Aid Podcast than any other show. Five or six podcasts every single week. I’m always impressed.
24. Nicolas Pin – The best WordPress designer I know. Gracias por tu ayuda.
25. Steve Runner – I’m still not a runner, but that doesn’t stop me listening to you podcast all about it. Run long and taper, Steve.
26. Guido Stein – Thanks for reminding us at PodCamp that we all have a unique story to tell.
27. Stephen Turcotte – I’m grateful for your encouragement and advice. Congratulations to Scout and Spherion on your award.
28. MaryHelen Votral – You’re going to be one hell of a blogger.
29. Adam Weiss – Watching and listening to you hold court at PodCamp Boston was a thing of beauty.
30. Dan York – Great chat over breakfast in September.

Yes, this is a veritable love fest. But, hey, it’s my birthday. I’m allowed.

Technorati Tags: Amani, Laura Allen, Michael Bailey, Jenny Attiyeh, Leesa Barnes, Mike Bellina, Chris Brogan, Christopher Carfi, Ted Demopoulos, Terry Fallis, Doug Haslam, Joseph Jaffe, Mitch Joel, David Jones, Reid Givens, John C. Havens, Neville Hobson, Shel Holtz, Ed Lee, Andrea Mercado, Jay Moonah, Christopher Penn, Nicolas Pin, Steve Runner, Guido Stein, Stephen Turcotte, MaryHelen Votral, Adam Weiss, Dan York

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