w00t.

Wow. What can I say? I’m pleased as a peach about how She’s Geeky Twin Cities turned out. I’m so excited about organizing the next event! It’s going to be even more awesome!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

First, a HUGE THANK YOU to all our attendees. Ladies, you are awesome and I’m so humbled you chose to attend our unConference.  Second, thank you to all our sponsors: ClockWork, ipHouse, the Science Museum of Minnesota, Fabuliss, MinneWebCon, MinneStar, and SieEnt. Thirdly, thank you to Heidi Nobantu-Saul for facilitating both days and for all the pre-conference help. Thanks to our volunteers who tweeted, blogged, facebooked, hooked us up with contacts and checked women in at registration. Finally, last but not least, to Elizabeth Tupper for driving and seeing this to its fruition. She’s Geeky Twin Cities would not have been possible with out her!

Speaking of Liz, she said it best:

“Words can not explain how amazing it feels to bring 100 women the same life changing experience you had 8 months earlier.”

So instead of using my words (assuming I had them) – how about hearing, reading, seeing the event through others:

She’s Geeky Attendee Blogs/Podcasts:

From the ipHouse Blog
From the “Professional MacGyver”
From Social Nicole
From Kay Roseland
From Fabuliss
From the Most Popular Girls on the Internet
From Jenna Pederson

If you wrote something about She’s Geeky and its not here, let me know and I’ll get it up here!

She’s Geeky Press!

MPR press
Tech dot MN Story

Photos from She’s Geeky Twin Cities

I’ve always been a nerdy girl.

I’ve always been curious about the world around me. I was (and still am) especially fascinated with space. In third grade there was a partial solar eclipse. The night before the eclipse on the news they showed how to make a pinhole box with tin foil. I put one together that night. I had to fight my parents to stay up to finish it and I was very proud of it. I brought it to school and showed it to my teacher. I was the only kid to have one, but my teacher let me out on the playground at the appropriate time to use it. I was excited as the little dot of light began to shadow into a little crescent. I felt special to have the permission to be outside to witness it. But, I also felt very alone. There was no one to share the excitement with.

As I got older, I discovered that not only was it lonely to be a nerdy, geeky kid, but even more lonely to be a nerdy, geeky girl. Sure, the boys on my block would play with Transformers and the Atari with me, but I had to fly solo when my collection of My Little Ponies and stuffed animals saved the world along with Optimus Prime and Voltron. They just weren’t interested.

Talking Shop and Shopping

The Internet made it easier to connect with other fellow geeks and nerds but as a woman, I was a minority. I love talking about video games, music, science and technology. But sometimes I want also to talk about shoes, handbags, makeup, economics and my bizarre crushes on Werner Heisenberg and Mark Mothersbaugh; especially so with people who simultaneously want to talk about the former too.

So I said to Elizabeth Tupper, “Hey we need a women’s’ tech conference in the Twin Cities”. And not another group to join, but a conference that brought all kinds of disciplines together to cross-pollinate. After encountering several dead ends, Liz found out about She’s Geeky DC on twitter. It sounded perfect. We flew out there on our own dimes to check it out. We loved it.

Why She’s Geeky is Awesome

She’s Geeky DC was awesome because we could talk about tech and yoga together without an eye-roll. Moms brought daughters. We worked in corporations, for non-profits, for the government, for ourselves. We could talk about science and cocktails. We asked each other if management or consulting or programming was the right career path for us. We asked each other why we weren’t speaking at tech conferences. We asked each other why weren’t starting that business or following that dream. We encouraged and energized each other. And when the power went out on Saturday, we improvised!

We could talk about whatever we wanted – it was our conference.

And that’s the vision Liz and I wanted to bring back to the Twin Cities.

Just like my 3rd-grade nerdy girl self, we just want to share the excitement with other women seeking the same.

What’s more awesome is that the Science Museum of Minnesota sponsored our meeting space and all attendees will be able to stroll through the museum as well. How cool is that?

I hope you register for the event. I can’t wait to meet you and hear your stories!

We hope you’ll join us August 6 and 7 at the Science Museum of Minnesota!

I’m so excited. She’s Geeky is going to be at the Science Museum of Minnesota this August. The Science Museum has generously donated space and attendees will be able to wander the museum as well. How awesome is that?

Registration is now open for the event. Early birds can snag a discounted ticket rate of $40 for each individual day or $75 for both. What are you waiting for?!

Interested in sponsoring or volunteering? Contact Liz Tupper(@etupper) or myself (@moarinternets) on Twitter or email jacqueline.urick at gmail dot com.

So who is in for She’s Geeky Twin Cities this August? The tentative dates for the event are August 6-7, 2010. We’re in need of some volunteers for the host committee as well as the event itself. You know you want to help out!

What is She’s Geeky you ask?
From the She’s Geeky website:

The brainchild of Kaliya Hamlin, She’s Geeky gives women in technology an opportunity to get together and discuss the unique issues they face in their respective fields. Hosting unConferences across the United States, She’s Geeky aims to inspire women technologists in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, provide a space for women geeks to create enduring communities, and foster collaboration and innovation among peers.

I attended the DC event last November and it was a wonderful experience. It was great to network and interact with techy women from so many different backgrounds. On Saturday, two women brought their daughters. I hope to see more young women at the event this August.
If you are a women in the Twin Cities who is interested in volunteering for the event, please reach out to me (@moarinternets) or Elizabeth Tupper (@etupper) on Twitter. We’re also looking for some sponsors, so if you or your company would like to support women in technology contact us!
She’s Geeky unConference topics – photo by jen_myronuk.

The first test of an entrepreneur is – can you spell “entrepreneur”?

So I think I passed that one. *whew*

I’ve decided to combine my passion for empowering women with my passion for video games. Its like the peanut butter cup of video games and its going to be awesome. As much as I’d love to spill the details, I know I can’t just yet — and its driving me nuts!

I have to say that I am amazed and in awe of the support I’ve been receiving for both my idea and what I’m going to accomplish. People really do want to help others.

So to that end, I encourage anyone with a great idea to start talking about what you want to do with that idea and see what happens. Perhaps you’ll be amazed too!

Assuming that your Shepard did not kill Wrex on Virmire, Wrex will appear on Tuchanka in Mass Effect 2. His cameo is the best in the game of all your ME1 squadmates.

Unfortunately, if you can’t import a save game, the default option is that Wrex was killed on Virmire. This is a serious bummer for those who can’t import for whatever reason or don’t want to replay ME1 to do so.

If you are one of those unlucky souls who don’t have a save game and you play on PC, there is always Mass Effect saves. Its a web site where people upload saves of various Shepards who have made different choices in Mass Effect.

Wow, I really don’t know where to begin, what an amazing event!

First I want to give thanks to all the people who supported Team USA. That was amazing to see all the well wishes and support on Twitter, Facebook and the Bioware forums. I’m sorry we didn’t win it for you guys, but we tried.

Second, I have to thank my team: Cat, Tiffany, and Elaine. I have to say that it was incredible being on a team with these women – smart, gorgeous, feminine and video game lovers. It was really validating for me to be with other women that enjoy playing as much as I do. And while our approach might have been similar, our styles were definitely different. And I have to say, I think our new friends at Bioware also learned something about what female gamers love and how that translates to the way they play the game. In that sense, I really feel like we had a real victory. Thanks ladies! You’re the best and I love you! I also want to thank Derek, our team handler from Bioware. He was kind, patient, professional and never condescending.

Third, I have to thank all the other teams. What a great bunch of gamers. It was a blast and I am seriously missing all of you already. It was incredible playing against you and watching you play as well. Team Hungary was solid and I’m happy to see them win. A special shout out to Team Canada and Team Bioware, with whom we spent the most time with before the event. You guys and gals are some of the nicest and funniest people I have ever met. I feel blessed that I was able to meet you all in person.

Last but not least, I have to give it up for the Bioware staff. They were the most generous, genuine, friendly, and kind bunch of people. I really can’t express how awesome they are with words. These people are definitely the reason why Bioware has such success as an organization; amazing talent. Thank you for everything Bioware!

I can’t believe it! I got picked!
I am such an uber game nerd.

I’m going to be representing Team USA during the Warden’s Quest next week in London. How epic is this? I can’t even begin to speak about it’s epicness.

So what’s this nerdly activity I will be doing to represent my fine country, you ask?

Welcome to the Dragon Age: Origins Wardens’ Quest, a 24-hour gaming event where 10 teams of gamers from around the world are competing for a grand prize of $50,000 to be shared between team members. Each team must enroll as a Grey Warden and fight against the evil forces of the darkspawn. The road will be tough, teams will be eliminated throughout the 24-hour period and competition will be fierce as each team tries to out play and out role-play their competition.

You can watch all the action as it happens on our live video stream as well as support your favourite teams on their dedicated Facebook and Twitter pages. There will also be teams from BioWare and European Dragon Age Communities to broadcast live from the event on the Dragon Age forums, Twitter account, Facebook page and more. Throughout the event we will be giving away Dragon Age: Origins merchandise to fans who tune in and cheer on the competitors.

Join us on Wednesday 28^th October from 10am GMT to support the teams, watch the eliminations, learn more about the game and see who will eventually take the ultimate prize of the Warden’s Quest.

What is even more awesome is that Team USA is all women. Thats right! All women.

So stay tuned. I will post links to all the relevant live broadcasts and hopefully I’ll be able to do some tweeting/blogging/video from the event as well.

Cheer us on and maybe win some swag!

I keep stammering over all my praise for Bioware. What an amazing opportunity and what an amazing company. I cannot wait!

…well web stalkers and reputation managers…

I finally got around to updating all of my profiles, when a friend told me about extendr. The cool thing about extendr is that it gives a nifty little tour option for your links. People can explore your world without actually visiting the Web sites. The browser plug-in to bookmark links to your profile seems to work, but it puts all the links into a “from the web” category. So you need re-categorize all the links into the appropriate categories. Luckily, this is simple in extendr.

extendr is missing feeds. Why not let someone subscribe to updates? The 250 character limit is constraining too. I haven’t seen any of the extendr profiles ranking in the SERPs for name searches either. It looks like that is going to take some time to achieve. The extendr pages do get indexed, however.

extendr could be used in so many ways. People know you from so many different aspects of your life. Manage your personal brand. Find and express your individuality through all the noise. Use it for your business, product.

It will be interesting to see which profiles and aggregators will be adopted on a large-scale in the next few years (and what new ones will appear on the scene). If anything, extendr has make me realize how many profiles I have laying around the Internet. Its a great place to keep it all tidy.

Friday in Alexandria city, a two-foot snake… completely unidentified, mind you, escaped from custody. It is clear that our law enforcement can not keep these serpents contained. What will the metro DC area do when the pythons invade? We can only hope our Nation’s capitol will be prepared by then.

From the Washington Post:

A two-foot snake of unknown species escaped from custody Friday at the Alexandria city courthouse, authorities said.

No injuries or bites were reported in the incident. Officials said that they would search for the reptile this weekend and that court would be held as usual Monday.

An animal control officer said he was sent to the courthouse on King Street between 8:15 and 8:30 a.m. to deal with a snake.

He said court personnel told him that it had been caught and placed in a box but that it had “evidently slithered through” a space surrounding pipes to reach a lower-level mechanical area.

The officer, Jermaine Fox, said he searched that area but turned up no snake. The species was not clear from the description given, he said.