Kimberly Blessing is a computer scientist, a Web developer, a standards evangelist, a feminist, and a geek. This is where she writes about life, technology, women's issues, and whatever else comes to mind.
I have a few speaking gigs coming up in May and June, and currently those conferences are offering some discounts. Register soon for early bird savings, and let me know if you’ll be at any of my talks!
WebVisions - May 22-23 in Portland, Oregon: I’ll be giving a talk called Web Site Optimization in Seven Easy Steps on Friday the 23rd at 2:45 PM. Register by March 31st (meep! very soon!) and the cost is only $180 for a conference pass, or sign up for a workshop for $375 and get the conference pass for only $130!
Voices That Matter: Web Design Conference - June 10-13 in Nashville, Tennesee: On Friday, June 13 at 10:15 AM I’ll teach attendees about creating design and development standards in the workplace. Use discount code WDDSPKR to get $200 off any conference package. Early bird pricing is in effect until May 2nd.
An Event Apart - June 23-24 in Boston, Massachusetts: Standing between you and lunch is where I’ll be on Tuesday the 24th at 12:15 PM; hear me talk about standards in the enterprise and then they’ll let you eat. And you can get $50 off with code AEABLESS; with early bird pricing (through May 26) get an additional $100 off.
I’m very honored to be featured as Christopher Schmitt’s first interview of the year. Christoper is a stand-up guy, a great designer, and prolific author. We had a good chat about work and non-work stuff, and you can read the whole thing here!
And just in case you didn’t notice, the line-ups for the 2008 An Event Apart conferences have been posted. Eric and Jeffrey asked me to speak to the Boston crown on June 23-24, and how could I say no? I had such a good time last year in San Francisco and it seems about time to take my message to the East Coast.
Wow, we’re only eight days into the year… how am I ever going to keep up this level of ass-kicking for the remaining 358 days? Whewh!
So, I’ve redesigned my site. The old design was up for over a year, and I got many interesting comments about its “pinkness” — funny, because to me it was mostly black text on a white background (with various hues of magenta for accent) — but that’s how people saw it. I guess it did serve to communicate that I have no problem with being seen as “girly” in the world of tech, but I didn’t set out to make any particular statement by it. (My apologies to anyone who’s disappointed by that statement, but I’ve got to be honest.)
This new design — or the color scheme, I should clarify — is very close to my heart. It’s the same set of colors I used to paint my house in North Dakota, and since that house is being put up for sale, I wanted some way of remembering it. Plus, I knew I wanted swirly things in a new design. It didn’t all come out exactly as I had imagined, but with tweaking over time it just might get there. The code certainly could use some work — I made a number of design changes in the process of putting things together and the code reflects that bit of schizophrenia.
Despite all of that, I’m happy to see something new. The start of a new year, after all, is all about getting a fresh start, right? Comments on the design are welcome.
There are only about 12 hours left in the year, which seems about the right time to take stock of what’s happened to me in the past 12 months and what’s to come in the next 12.
Looking back, I can’t believe all that I accomplished in 2007. Some of the highlights include:
And that list doesn’t even include work accomplishments!
As I plan for 2008, I have a number of exciting challenges ahead: more writing, more speaking, more travel — but also serving as a committee chair for GHC08, running a BarCamp, writing a CS1 course curriculum based on Web development, and more! But best of all, I’m looking forward to moving home to Philadelphia — a slight change in plans, but a good one.
Into 2008, and into the Arena! (And if you don’t get the Duran Duran references, shame on you!)
Posted September 29, 2007 at 1:48 PM | Tagged as: Meeeeeeee, Music, Videos | Comments Off
And I’m damn proud of it. Why do I mention this now? Because on October 13, members of the Ridley Raider Marching Band are reuning to celebrate our long-time leader, Rick Swallow. Be there!
In the meanwhile, check out this video from my freshman year in high school — the Ridley Raider Marching Band performing Scheherazade…
Study: Girls equal to boys in math skills I'm a bit late on tagging this story, but for those that missed it: in the largest study of its kind, researchers found no difference in the math scores of boys and girls -- not even in high school. Women are now earning 48% of undergrad degrees in math.
Big Think - We Are What You Think Interviews with today's leading thinkers, movers and shakers, searchable by question or by topic. Users can also respond with their own video commentary.
Use the Best Available Ampersand SimpleBits has created some charts depicting the more interesting italic ampersands available as default fonts on both Windows and Mac.
A visual message for peace Presentation Zen points us to "I Met the Walrus", a 6 minute film that visually narrates John Lennon's message of peace. Links to other Lennon/Beatles peace-related messages also featured.
