The first Reno-Tahoe WordCamp was a great success and we are looking forward to an even better one this year. We have a lot of great things lined up but we can’t make the day a success without your help!

Are you a WordPress guru, blogger, podcaster, writer or community builder? If so, then you should consider submitting a proposal to present on  June 12th April 10th.

The official website for Reno-Tahoe WordCamp 2010 will be available soon with more information. If you have any questions, feel free to send an email to renotahoewordcamp@gmail.com.

Here is the slide deck for the presentation I gave at Ignite Reno #2 on July 16th at Amendment 21. The video will come soon!

This past weekend I completed my first-ever century cycling ride by participating in the Tour De Nez. Steve James convinced me to do the ride and I’m glad I stuck with it. We were a little disappointed in the turn out, less than 30 riders showed up combined for the full 100-mile century and the metric century rides. I love to support local events like this but I’ve competed in other athletic events with much lower registration fees that seemed much more put together. I wasn’t bothered by the lack of traffic control as it was a course that covered a lot of ground and obviously ~$30,000 to take care of traffic for 20 riders would have been a huge waste of money. After talking with some other riders who had ridden in years past, the century has always been a little shaky. I had a blast though and thank you to all the volunteers that were setup throughout the valley with aide stations, you were lifesavers!

The route took us out from downtown Reno, out through Washoe Valley and into Carson City. After crossing the city, we took Highway 50 up to Spooner Summit where we were greeted with a quick lunch stop. From Spooner Lake Park, we made our way up 28 to Incline Village in Tahoe, up and over Mt. Rose Highway to return to Reno.

What’s next? Well, I want to keep up with the distance riding and start working on climbing techniques so I can start climbing longer hills smarter, rather than stronger. And of course, Steve is trying to get me to do the Death Ride…15,000 feet of climbing, anyone?

Ignite Reno #2 is coming up on the night of Thursday, July 16th at Amendment 21.

Wondering Ignite Reno is all about?
Watch the intro video to find out!

Check out presentations from the last Ignite Reno.

I presented the following presentation at the first-ever Nevada Interactive Media Summit last week. My presentation consisted mostly of demonstrations in Adobe Flex Builder but if you plug the code below into Flex, you should be able to follow along. A video of the presentation should be available soon.

Demo #1: RSS Reader

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="absolute">

 <mx:HTTPService id="myRSSFeed" url="{rssURL.text}" />

 <mx:Label x="10" y="12" text="RSS URL:" fontWeight="bold" />

 <mx:TextInput id="rssURL" width="357" x="68" y="10" />

 <mx:Button x="371" y="40" label="GO !!" click="myRSSFeed.send()"/>

 <mx:DataGrid id="myDataGrid" dataProvider="{myRSSFeed.lastResult.rss.channel.item}"

 width="417.5" height="144"

 click="{myTextArea.htmlText =

 myRSSFeed.lastResult.rss.channel.item[myDataGrid.selectedIndex].description}"

 x="7.5" y="70">

 <mx:columns>

 <mx:DataGridColumn headerText="Date" dataField="pubDate" textAlign="left"/>

 <mx:DataGridColumn headerText="Title" dataField="title" textAlign="center"/>

 </mx:columns>

 </mx:DataGrid>

 <mx:TextArea id="myTextArea" width="415" height="162" x="10" y="222"/>

 

</mx:Application>

Demo #2: Twitter Search Application

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<mx:WindowedApplication xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" title = "Twitter @ NIM" layout="absolute">

 <mx:Script>

 <![CDATA[ 

 private function doSearch(e:MouseEvent):void

 {

 twitterService.url = "http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=" + twitterKeyword.text;

 twitterService.send();

 }

 ]]>

 </mx:Script>

 

 <mx:HTTPService id="twitterService" />

 

 <mx:Label x="10" y="20" text="Twitter Search Term"/>

 <mx:TextInput id = "twitterKeyword" x="10" y="38" width="295"/>

 <mx:Button click = "doSearch(event)" x="379" y="38" label="Search" width="81"/>

 <mx:List dataProvider = "{twitterService.lastResult.feed.entry}" labelField="title" x="10" y="68" width="450" height="282"></mx:List>




</mx:WindowedApplication>

I’m now a member of the Adobe Student Rep program and will be promoting Adobe Flex and AIR to the students and colleges for building Rich Internet Applications. 

I see a lot of opportunity for using Flex/AIR in both the Computer Science and Journalism departments and will be raising awareness across the campus through demonstration events and workshops. I will also be exploring the possibility of starting a campus club that focuses on learning and promoting these types of skills including Flex/AIR, Flash, graphic design, and web development.

I’ll be posting code samples, tutorials, and more here in the future so keep checking in!

I’m working to find an available building and secure funding for Reno Collective. The plan is to find approximately 2,400 to 3,000 sqft to provide Reno with a workspace that inspires and encourages collaboration.

The following pictures are of a building on 1st street, right on the river. The building has already been renovated downstairs to accommodate a Port of Subs and the top floor is perfect for what we want to accomplish.

After speaking with the owner, I was slightly discouraged because of the amount of tenant improvements that he claimed would be necessary to get the building in shape. However, I think a minimalist esthetic will work very well.  Below is a picture of Souk Space in Portland, OR. Accomplishing what they have done in their space would be affordable and provide some charm to the place.

[Image credit: Souk Space]

Alternatively, The World Boardshop, also on 1st street and Arlington has recently vacated their building. Depending on the lease terms, the building is already in perfect shape to start using right away.

Reno Collective is now live at www.renocollective.com. Ed Adkins and I will be adding much more content over the next couple days with our press releases. It will be the home to any of our announcements as well as general coworking and microbusiness news.

It is a great feeling to see how far we have come, especially considering it all started with Ed and I sitting in a coffee shop working away on projects in between our cups of coffee, tea, and beer.

Our companion site is also up. Please feel free to join the Reno Collective Ning if you are interested in using us as your work space this Fall or if you’d just like to show support for what we are trying to accomplish.

Tour de Nez is back! I didn’t get to ride last year but I’m going to be at the alleycat/messenger race tonight at the Grand Sierra Resort.

Come by to watch or race:
Grand Sierra Resort
June 18, 2008
Registration/Teams: 5:15pm
Messenger Race: 6:00pm

The race is for three-person teams:
1 mile closed circuit
2 laps per teammate
Package exchange

A pro criterium race takes place after the messenger race so come check it out!