Flickr: SeenyaRita

I explained The Guamaso’s humble beginnings in the past; how it was originally for our family back in California and for the friends we made across the globe.  Recently, my interests made themselves known on the journal.  I started writing my commentary on things that my family had no interest in.  “But it’s MY blog,” I thought. I created the category structure to help filter out the posts so family could navigate the site with ease.  I thought that worked, until I realized that my family related posts slowed in frequency.

Ciriana came to me the other day and said she wants to start her own blog so she can write more on us and the kids.  (Within Facebook! O.O )That’s when I realized exactly how much The Guamaso had changed.  Not in a bad way, though, it is my site after all.  But writing for family is very important as well, so Ciri and I figured that changes need to be made.

I laugh at this, but essentially, I’m getting kicked off my own site!    I’m moving all my geek related posting to CreativeandFlow.com and The Guamaso will revert back to just being about news and updates on our little family.

I’m an opinionated person and I like to express these opinions in writing so I think those will continue on the Guamaso as well.  I hope this isn’t confusing.  I want to write more and more on creativity, design, and geekness so it makes sense to move to a different domain.  The new domain name better explains what the site is about and it will keep the different types of posts in their separate homes.

I’ve already started changing some things around on the new domain.  I copied over a ton of posts that I feel are more at home there.  I’m not sure yet if I will remove the posts from the Guamaso and provide a re-direct, I don’t think I get enough traffic to warrant that amount of work.

I’m pretty sure this won’t impact anybody too much.  All two of my readers.   But if it does, please bear with me while I get all the bugs under control.  The good thing about this is that Ciri said she’ll start writing a bit more as well.  She’s not into the whole WordPress thing (GASP! I know!) but she’s willing to try some desktop blogging solutions (Sounds like it’s review time!) that will help her ease into writing online.  We’ll see if she has any follow-through.

So, just to recap.  I’m moving my nerd-ness over to Creative and Flow.  Ciri is going to write more under the Guamaso (hopefully).  Guamaso is only going to be about our family, for our family.  You are welcome to continue following this blog as I’ll still write my rants and complaints here (I like to complain).  Lastly, the design will be changing again in the next week or so.

Thanks for your kindness and attention,

Management

WordPress is a piece of cake.

Yesterday was WordCamp RDU at NCCU’s School of Education.  Being my first Camp of any kind, the night before I searched for ideas and tips on what I should prepare for.  The first article I found had three basic points.  The most important to me was something I didn’t think of: be prepared with questions for the speaker.  I knew I would get to ask questions, but I didn’t think to have them prepared beforehand.  It’s the simple things that we miss.

I spent all evening trying to come up with some questions and I kept arriving to the same question for all the speakers.  How do you get creative?  Then, I thought, if I could only ask one person this question it would be Matt Mullenweg.  I did get to talk to him for a brief moment, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

So Saturday morning I met up with a friend of mine from NC State and we headed out for the school.  From the very beginning I could tell we were going to have fun.  The volunteers were friendly and helpful.  Danielle Baldwin, one of the people responsible for the event, did a great job.  It was like they had done it before and yet, this was the first Raleigh/Durham WordCamp.

The other participants were really great too.  (Well, except for a couple of rude people. Yes I am linking that image, that guy was rude.) I met a couple of awesome writers and fellow geeks.  The dynamics were all over the place as well; old, young, experienced, beginners… everything.  It was awesome how this dynamic didn’t matter, everyone had a great time sharing their thoughts and experiences on WordPress and what they use it for.

There were two sets of presentations, sometimes three at a time, and a few of them were difficult to choose between.  For one time slot it was between Copyright tips, WordPress as a CMS, or Videoblogging.  Of the three I was more interested in Copyright Tips and Videoblogging, but you can see the difficulty in choosing from the three.  All very good and interesting sessions.

The best presentation of the day, in my opinion, was given by Andy Beal about SEO.  My SEO is pretty weak ’cause SEO and I have issues.   Andy’s zeal about the subject, along with some great questions by other antendees, really helped me understand it more.  He’s a pretty rad speaker.

The keynote for the day was by WordPress creator, Matt Mullenweg.  I have a thing about presentations: the slides are not que cards.  I don’t like it when people just read off the slides and offer no other comment or conversation about what they put on the slide.  Matt had about three or four slides with only a few words of text.  Everything else came from him.  This, I think, is hard to do which is why people rely so much on the slides.  Matt was inspiring to say the least with is presentation and his thoughts.  He’s a cool dude.  It takes a big person to say they don’t like their own product (He did say they are fixing it.  Actually, the new version is coming out later this month.).  Amazing guy.

So, during the Q and A, people were asking him questions mainly about WordPress, Automattic, and the many projects he’s involved with. My question seemed out of place and I felt like asking him one on one anyway.  After the keynote, I had a chance to ask him my question.  His answer was pretty straight forward.  “For starters, if I am working on a project that is on the computer, the first thing I do is get off the computer.”  He does his photography and he also sketches in a moleskin for inspiration.  He mentioned the site ColourLovers.com, which is new to me and is quickly becoming one of my favorites.  If I sound fanboy-ish, than so be it but Matt is an inspirational creative and I am glad to have met him.

There are a few other resources from yesterday that are starting to get posted online.  I know Wayne Sutton did an interview with Matt and he recorded A LOT of video of the event too.  I saw almost everyone taking pictures and stuff, but I have yet to find any on Flickr, save a few from myself and Wayne Sutton.  Mine aren’t that great, btw.

So that’s pretty much everything in a nutshell… a large nutshell, but a nutshell nonetheless.  It was a great time and my only complaint is I didn’t win a WordPress shirt.

My sister, Tanya, has been drawing since she was a little kid.  Her and my brother are part of the reason why I didn’t push myself to sketch and draw more when I was younger.  They are much more talented and gifted than I am with the pencil and brush.

Speaking of creativity in the family, many of our uncles and aunts are VERY good artists.  My uncle Miguel has art all over my grandparents house using the Pointillism (or is it Divisionism?) technique.  They’re amazing and beautiful paintings.  On my mom’s side, a few of my uncles used to draw a lot of caricatures and other cartoon stuff.  The creativity genes exist from both sides of our family so it’s no surprise that the four siblings are all creative in one way or another.

Anyway, so, Tanya posted a video on her Facebook profile that I wanted to share just to prove my point and to show off how good she is.

UPDATE: Changed the video. This one has her coloring in the drawing.  Much  more interesting to me since I have trouble with color theory and stuff. You can see the rest on her You Tube page and on the website I set up for her at MoiNoir.com.

She is starting her own web-comic soon and I am sure she will do well with it.  I put a link somewhere around here when she starts posting her comics.

I am at odds with my creativity on pretty much a daily basis. Growing up I would have spurts of creativity, like I said before it comes in waves. As a child, these waves of creativity would garner “oohs” and “aahs” from my parents and the rest of my family. I think this left me with a horrible complex of meeting these high expectations. I live in a constant fear that I am not that creative, or worse, not creative at ALL. I see other people devising creative solutions to problems that I feel are almost acts of genius. The more I meet more of these truly creative people, the more intense my fear becomes.

Here’s the thing, though, one creative solution is not better or worse than another, only different. I’ve slowly come to this realization and grown more and more comfortable with whatever creative endeavors I take. I also realized that in order to genuinely be a good creative, I must possess many skills of self expression. Painting, drawing, writing, photography, and music are just a few subjects that I feel all creatives should have at least some experience with.

Above all, any creative should have an obsession. That’s something I’ve always known and believed. I felt I had so many, that it was hard to focus my thoughts until I finally narrowed down the selection. So, with this confirmed obsession, I’ve gone out and searched for inspiration. I’ve found tons of podcasts and blogs that write about design, games, and more. But one place that stands above the rest is TED.com – nothing beats listening to the big innovators of the world talk about the calmness you get when you’ve created something.

The most recent talk I’ve seen that really stands out was given by Adam Savage from Mythbusters. Mythbusters is the only TV show that left me with an ache in my heart when I canceled our satellite service – it is the only show that I consider “must watch.” I like other programs, but shows like Heroes or CSI don’t really do it for me like Mythbusters does. So when I saw that Adam Savage was on TED.com, I gave it every ounce of attention I could muster after days of building Ikea furniture.

I bring up my battle with creativity and self-esteem because I felt the lesson I learned was relevant after watching the video. Listening to Adam’s creative process and his obsessions are exactly what goes on in my head, only he doesn’t have the fear. I previously felt unsure about my own creative process, but after listening to an established and famous creative’s rant, I now feel more comfortable in the way I create or find reasons to create.

The past few weeks have gone well, so much that I actually feel good about having so many projects on my table. Before I felt like I was spreading myself between too many different thoughts. Now, I feel like all my projects are just that, projects. Fun and creative vents. I’m still learning to ration my time, but I still feel real good on how things are going.

So, watch the video and enjoy it. Adam Savage is definitely one of my favorite artists/creatives and has been for a long time. He doesn’t disappoint and I don’t think you have to be in the predicament I was in to appreciate the video.