How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

2012 is shaping up to be a big year. As with any year, I get older (not so thrilled about that) and wiser (that I do appreciate), but this year feels like a particularly broad step forward.

The theme for this year is focus. It’s more about several consistent small steps to make progress, instead of hoping for sudden unrealistic leaps. There are three big things I am focused on in 2012. I  won’t call these resolutions because they started before 2012 and will continue on after. But I wanted to share.

1. My Job

As of 2012- I am managing Schipul’s PR/Communication Department. This is my fourth position at Schipul (including Intern!) and I am excited to take the reigns & support my wonderful comrades.

This means transitioning from working with my fantastic clients, which has been a fairly slow process as I make sure they are all taken care of. It also means focusing on a different part of the business, and learning a lot. If I’m being completely honest I am still adjusting to the new role, but continuing to learn and grow every single day.

2. Health

Jason and I have been on Weight Watchers for the last two months. I have lost about 9 pounds, and Jason has lost more than 15. I have read that losing weight is about 70% what you put in your body and 30% working out. I do not enjoy working out nor do I want to take the time for it, so Weight Watchers helps me by focusing on the food that I eat.

Again, small steps every day have a big payout in the future.

3. Debt

I am using Mint.com for monthly budgeting. My goal is to be debt free by the end of 2012 by keeping track of monthly budgets and focusing on one week at a time. I am setting several small goals to break up the big goal.

Bring on 2012!

Elephant birthday cake photo credit: flickr.com/photos/schmish/3018604187

Along with many other sites across the web, QCait.com will be blacked out on January 18 to protest the proposed internet censorship bill SOPA, which will give corporations the ability to sue and shut down any site that contains even one “suspicious” link to copyrighted content.

Keep the web open. Contact your representatives or find out more

What Can You Do?

Learn about the proposed bills & contact Congress to tell them what you think about it:

• Action checklist at Americancensorship.org
• Learn How SOPA Would Affect You (cnet.com article)
• Reddit’s blog post on why they are blacking out January 18

Have a WordPress website? Download the Simple Stop SOPA Plugin and commit to blacking out your site January 18th as well.

I can officially cross #26 off list – 101 in 1001 Day Zero Project list – I have scrobbled 20,000 tracks on Last.Fm!

I have been tracking the music I listen to when I can using Last.FM since about 2006, and have made it to 20,000!

Stats

• Joined: May 14, 2006
• 20,000 plays
• 900 Artists (from Mozart to Madonna)
• 168 Loved Tracks

For those who are curious, here is my breakdown of top artists and top songs:

Qcait’s Top Played Artists

Qcait’s Top Played Tracks

 On Last.FM? View my profile & be my friend!

I am thrilled to see Dries Buytaert – the Belgian Geek best know for creating the Drupal Content Management System Schipul builds several of our client websites on – speak at SchipulCon today.

I thought I would share my notes from the talk. The video of the talk will be up on SchipulCon.com very soon.

Drupal Origins

Drupal started 10 years ago by accident. Dries said, “I just wanted to spend a few days creating a message board.” Drupal 1.0.0 was released January 15, 2001. It began with social features like blogging, RSS feeds, and forums built in from the beginning. Dries: “I would find new trends on the web & integrate them into Drupal.” That has been a major theme for Drupal development since then.

Drupal Growth

Now Drupal powers 2% of all websites on the internet. The community is made up of  11K+ developers, 11K+ modules, and Drupal.org sees 1.5M unique visitors/month. And oh yeah, it’s free.

There have been growing pains.  “Open Source development & communities are always a bit broken. These growing pains have always been a great thing. We’ve always come back stronger & stronger”

Big music labels like Sony & Warner have used Drupal to standardize sites for major artists like ACDC & Ozzy Osbourne. NonProfits, Finance, NASA, & Educators all use Drupal. Dries estimates that  39% of all .edu domains are on Drupal.

And Drupal’s reach goes beyond this one software. Dries said: “I really, truly believe that we are changing our industry.”  Dries speculates that the world is shifting from development to assembly of websites – people can pick the pieces and stick them together in a way that is user friendly. At the end of the day, it does take some technical skill to configure, and there is a learning curve… but the hope is that the back end gets easier and easier all the time.

Why Drupal will Win

Dries gives four reasons Drupal will win:

1. Community
2. Platform
3. Evolution
4. Cloud

Community is the Major Reason Drupal is Winning. People are passionate about the platform, and work harder than they have to to make sure it’s secure, up to date, and as innovative as possible. It is an inspiring culture of fun and innovation that expresses their love for Drupal in tattoos, Halloween pumpkins, even rap videos.

The big theme of the day is the innovation of Open Source. Everyone needs a website – every thing, every book, every product. Open Source means no software fees, accessibility for everyone. Open Source also means tens of thousands of developers working to make it better, where even a huge company with proprietary software can only employ so many engineers.

For more, visit SchipulCon.com, or follow the tweets at the hashtag #SchipulCon.

It will be six years in August since I walked into the offices of RD2 Inc. in Dallas for the first time. I was still in school as a Marketing major, and still processing the fact that someone might pay me to do what I loved to do on the internet. RD2 was then and is now a small team of brilliant minds, taking on big projects and working their damnedest to make the web a better place.

I learned a lot in my first job. I got to work with talented people for fantastic clients and learned a lot about myself along the way. Some of those lessons were hard to swallow. But now, all these years later, I still find myself thinking about those experiences all the time, so I thought I would share:

Life Lessons from My First Job, or: The Shit They Don’t Teach you in Business School

1. Always take notes like you’re the one who’s going to be doing the work.

It’s about accountability, responsibility, and focus. Never assume anything – pay attention and document meetings in notes as if you were the one who was responsible for it. Even if you don’t know how to do the action item, on a small team you may be asked to figure it out.

I was often not the person who would be doing the work, but the person accountable for it. Don’t just make sure things get done, make sure they get done right.

2. Never Assume Anything.

It’s all about Communication. Don’t make assumptions. It’s better to ask and clarify than head in the wrong direction and waste money and time. Even with a small team of 10 people, poor communication can make everything fall apart.

3. Perception is Reality – Presentation Matters.

This one used to frustrate me to no end. I had this mentality that if my work was fantastic it shouldn’t matter what it looked like. I learned a hard lesson that not only does presentation matter, but it’s crucial.

If you build a fantastic website, but when you present it to a client you make it sound complicated, they’ll decide it’s too hard to use. If you make a brilliant user experience guide, but it’s difficult to read and the flow doesn’t make sense, you’ve shot yourself in the foot before you even got started. People make first impressions in split seconds, set yourself up for success always.

In customer service, no matter how many hours you’re putting into a client, if they don’t feel like they’re getting good service, it doesn’t matter.

4. The Best Way to Learn is to DO

For most of my undergraduate years I thought I was going to go to grad school right after graduation. I had this fear of the real world and thought going to grad school would help me improve myself and my skills, without that pesky adulthood thing creeping in.

It took about one month of my first internship to realize that the best way to learn something is to do it. That applies in most professions, but especially in web. In a world where everything is changing all the time, the best way to stay up to date is to use the tools. Keep yourself surrounded with smart, curious, early adopters and you’ll see trends coming a mile away.

I may go back to school at some point in my life, but for now I’m happy to learn at work every single day.

5.It’s Better to Work for People who Get it.

In my early years I thought it would be easier to work with clients who knew very little about the web – that they would trust us because we were the professionals they paid to come in. I quickly learned that if the client has no frame of reference, you spend so much extra time educating and justifying yourself that every decision is a battle.

The more everyone is on the same page, the better the client relationship… and the better the work.

6. Tools are Important

It’s important to have high quality tools. That means big things like laptops and furniture, but also bags & notebooks & even pens (seriously, don’t good pens make you more excited to do your job?). These are the tools needed to do your job and do it well for the clients. It’s ok to spend a little money to set yourself up for success. If something is broken or not working, replace it.

My first day of work, I was handed a Levenger Junior Notebook that I still use to this day (the exact same one). Essentially it’s a plastic front and back cover with black rings that hold the paper in. The paper can be taken out similar to a three ring binder, so I just keep replacing sheets when I run out. It is by far my favorite tool I use daily.

7. I Love Working for a Small Company

In a small company, everyone wears lots of hats. You get training and experience in lots of different areas. And if you are eager and willing to learn, people are willing to teach.

With a small team, there is also a high level of accountability. There’s no flying under the radar. I love that.

The RD2 Shredder – Yes, that’s shredder from TMNT

8. Have Fun at Work

I know, this sounds obvious. But when I chose a degree in business, I didn’t picture the “fun” side of “work.” I pictured myself one day working in a big office building for a huge company and wearing a suit to work everyday. I didn’t think about things like company culture, challenging work, or the relationships you form with clients and coworkers.

Fun can mean beer on Fridays, but it also means genuinely enjoying the company of the people you work with. Fun also means being challenged at work. I have been blessed to work with clients who inspire me, and that makes going to work every day fun.

Special Thanks

While I’m in nostalgia mode, I’d like to give a special thanks to Leia Scofield for recommending me for my first internship at the ripe age of 19, Chris Ronan & Candice Paddock for being great mentors, and Eric Rosenstock for being my partner in crime over the years at RD2. Thanks for all I learned from all of you!

2011 is not even half way over and I’m declaring it now – 2011 is the year of the cat lady.

Everywhere you look there are adorable cats. Or maybe that’s just YouTube.

Flip through the pages of a People Magazine and you’ll notice a trend there as well. Women control 80% of the consumer economy, and 33% of US Households own at least one cat… that’s a pretty sizable group.

Top 3 Cat Lady Commercials of 2011:

#3 -Sprint “Cats” Commercial

This one should be titled “The Internet is Made of Cats” … except that’s already taken.

YouTube Link

#2 Temptations Treats “Laundry”

This commercial is adorable, and not just because the cat looks sneakingly like Victoria, who also loves laundry.

Exhibit A:

YouTube Link

#1 Fancy Feast “The Engagement”

#1 has to be this wordless piece from Fancy Feast. This commercial brought me to tears the first time I saw it. I’m a sucker for romance… and adorable kittens.

YouTube Link

Honorable Mention for Friskies trippy hit “Adventureland” – where the cat gets high on treats and goes to a magical land of dancing turkeys. Seriously.

I think cats have made a good showing this year for commercials! Any I left out? Let me know! >^..^<

We’re just over half way through the 1,000 days through the Day Zero project (aka #101in1001), they project in which I have 1001 days (about 3 years) to accomplish my list of 101 goals.

Here are a few I’ve knocked out in 2011 that I haven’t yet mentioned on the blog:

#12. Get to 150 pounds February 24, 2011 This represents a lot of hard work and feels fantastic. I am wearing clothes two sizes smaller, and feeling better than ever. Twitpic
#59. Go to NASA February 13, 2011 What is the perfect destination for two nerds on Valentine’s Day? NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The museum is geared towards kids, but the tram tour was fantastic for adults. We had a blast! Facebook Photo Album
#88. Go to NYC March 25-28 2011 I was honored to be a part of the wedding of Jeremiah and Mosi – it was a weekend full of joy, love, music, and lots of New York Adventures with some of the most fabulous people I know! Patterson Wedding Photo Album
#6. Attend a Cooking Class April 1, 2011 Good food, good wine, and Ms. Courtney Pemberton are all things I adore. Sur La Table Date Night cooking class was scrumptious and tons of fun!

I’m tracking a little behind at 43% Completion, but now that Spring has sprung I’m looking forward to getting out and knocking more things off the list!

In my experience, most out of the box WordPress mobile themes are not good (especially the free ones).

The functionality is usually ok, but in the age of sophisticated phones with 8 megapixel cameras and streaming HD video, there is no need to strip down a mobile site to such bare bones and make it… so… fugly, just because it’s mobile.

I have tried a few different “one click” mobile WordPress themes for my blog and have not loved any of them. Until today, when I found Wapple‘s Architect Mobile Plugin.

Wapple sets up a basic mobile theme, and lets you customize everything from the top header image to the footer. How many posts should show on a page? How much text? Include a photo? It seems they’ve thought of everything. I love the ease of use and quick set up.

To Install and Set Up

1. To install, download and install the Wapple Architect Mobile Plugin For WordPress.
2. From here, you’ll need to set up a login on Wapple’s website. My only complaint with the whole process is that the Wapple.net site isn’t very user friendly (I guess they’re used to working in mobile).
3. Sign up for an account, and then go to the “Architect” tab and click “Add a new dev key.” It will ask you for your domain, and then generate a key to enter into the Settings on your WordPress site.

(Click Screenshot to Enlarge)

Customize

The plugin adds a separate block in the sidebar of your WordPress dashboard called “Architect.” Walk through each of the links from top to bottom to customize your mobile site’s look and functionality.

Basic and Advanced are global settings for the whole mobile site, then move to Home Page, Post Page, Page, Archive Page, & Search to customize those pages. Sidebar allows you to add sidebar information (in my testing this information appeared underneath each page).

So… How does it look?

Here’s how qcait.com now looks on my EVO:

Homepage

Post Page

Synopsis

I am extremely pleased with Wapple’s ease of use, end result, and price (free!). I am geeking out over all of the customization options I have, and how easy the set up was. And I can happily cross #27. Set up a Mobile Theme for my Blog off my Day Zero Project List!

I got the news right after my 25th birthday that I have high cholesterol. News which was accompanied by an ultimatum from the doctor: if it doesn’t come down, we’ll have to talk about medication. Not something I want.

Today, three months later, I have lost 12 pounds and my cholesterol is down almost 50 points. I even bought a bridesmaid dress this weekend that was two sizes smaller than I was wearing before. It’s been a good day.

Everyone asks me how I did it. I can’t promise to be an expert, but I can tell you what worked for me. Think of it as food for thought in the New Year.

The Diet

I am on a low fat diet. Not paying super close attention to the calorie count, but I am trying to keep my daily Fat intake under 50 grams of fat (about 30% of my total calories).

I also try to keep everything in moderation. My eating in moderation mantras:

1. Don’t eat if you’re not hungry
2. Stop eating when you’re full
3. Be OK with not always cleaning your plate
4. When ordering food at a restaurant, order something that will taste good tomorrow, and save enough for leftovers

The Tools

Tracking Food

I spent the first 6 weeks being really strict with everything I  put in my body. I took my time in the grocery store reading labels, and tracked everything through the website Daily Burn on dailyburn.com and their fantastic iPhone app.

Essentially Daily Burn is a free version of Weight Watchers online – you track your calories and workouts. The features I like better than Weight Watchers are:

• It breaks down your total calories (what percent is Protein, Fat, Carbs, etc.)
• Because the food listings come from a user generated database, Daily Burn has everything (and you can add anything it doesn’t). Even most substitutions (no cheese or no mayo) at virtually all chain restaurants.

After the first 6 weeks of relearning what to eat, I am able to keep a mental count of my food. Though if I’m having a hard week (Thanksgiving, Christmas), I will start tracking more strictly again.

My Favorite Low Fat Foods

• Real fruit Frozen Fruit Bars (Dreyer’s or the store brand) – as satisfying as ice cream, but not bad for you
• Nonfat chocolate pudding – no fat, lots of chocolate
• Simply Fruit by Fruit Roll ups – 50 Calories, less than 1 gram of fat
• Cheerios – for breakfast, and brought in a ziploc to work for a snack
• Rosemary and Olive Oil Multigrain Crisps from Costco – I’m addicted
• Pretzels – I’m one of those people who can’t eat a sandwich without chips, so pretzels are my low fat substitute

Lots of Yum, not a lot of Fat

Weighing In

I weigh myself on my Wii Fit in my underwear first thing in the morning. The Wii Fit feels more impartial than a scale, and I like that it tracks my weight on a graph, lets me set goals, and shows both weight and BMI (Body Mass Index). You weigh the least in the morning, so I weigh myself first thing before I eat or drink anything. I also try to schedule my doctor’s appointments for first thing in the morning because I swear the doctor’s scale adds 5 pounds.

Victoria is skeptical of the Wii Fit

Exercising

The doctor recommended that I work out 30-45 minutes 3 times a week. I started in the apartment gym, and walking around the block, but my favorite exercising at the moment is my XBOX Kinect.

The Kinect work out game is called Your Shape: Fitness Evolved. There are three types of exercises: your “Personal Trainer” who has you learn exercises, gym games, and work out classes. Because the Kinect can see your entire body, it won’t let you cheat on any of the exercises. It also tracks your calories burned for each session, and overall. It’s a lot of fun, and I love anything that I can do in my own living room.

Another XBOX Kinect Game, Kinect Adventures – don’t worry, the workout game doesn’t take your picture

In Conclusion: Don’t Kill Yourself

Diets don’t work for me when they’re too drastic. I have to be able to keep it up. So I make a lot of compromises.

For me, I try to be really good during week, but not stress so much on the weekend.

I also try to use substitutes instead of completely changing my diet. I only cook with Low Fat butter and Skim Milk. I buy low fat versions of my favorite foods or limit portions (but not totally cut out) food I love.

My best advice – work whatever works for you!

The iPhone 4 is a really cool phone, with lots of cool features (flash camera! multitasking! Face time!) and a much faster processor than my 2 generation old iPhone 3G. And the new iPhone OS4 is designed for this technological masterpiece. But what about the rest of us? After upgrading the OS on the 3G, my phone just couldn’t handle it. It was slow moving and my apps crashed as often as they didn’t. Not to mention the occasions when someone called, and no matter how many time I pressed “answer,” nothing happened.

I felt betrayed – Maybe that’s a little dramatic, but I had been with AT&T for 7 years (since it was Cingular) & had my iPhone for almost three. Sure, I could upgrade to the latest phone, but then what happens when the next phone comes out – and the next?

And not to mention that AT&T just got the award for worst mobile carrier by Consumer Reports, who did a survey of 60,000 people – half of them iPhone users.

Long live EVO!

It was time for a change. On Christmas Eve, we cashed in on (I refuse to call it “The Shack”) Radioshack’s $100 off promotion for any phone trade in (seriously any phone, it just had to turn on). I brought in my dad’s old Cingular flip phone, and walked out with Android’s HTC EVO from Sprint. And I am in love.

We are saving $50 a month for two of us, and the phone is more reliable, faster, and all around more awesomer. Have you seen the size of that screen???

Things I like so far -

1. SPEED!
2. I like that the notifications are all in one place, aggregated in the top of the status bar
3. I love how integrated everything is – my contacts list shows me each person’s Facebook profile pic, and their latest Twitter or Facebook status
4. The jolt as you click or type that lets you know it’s working – on the iPhone I would often “click” things over and over and I wasn’t sure it was working
5. The back button! How did I ever live without it? Seriously.
6. Voice command – surprisingly accurate
7. Love the 8 megapixel camera

Things I don’t love so far -

1. The battery life
   This thing is powerful, and drains FAST. I spent much of my first weekend tweaking settings, and looking up ways to save battery life.
2. I’m having a hard time adjusting to the keyboard
   I keep pressing period instead of space & I’m getting used to using the arrows to move the cursor to the middle of a word instead of just clicking. Granted, I felt the same way with my first iPhone – like I would never get the hang of it.
3. The mail
   Gmail is fantastic, but with the Mail client and my work email I can’t file email or multiselect emails.
4. The Droid Facebook app is not great
   I can’t tag photos or change my profile pic, which is obnoxious.
5. The app store
   Where Apple gets the reputation of being too strict with Apps (specifically dealing with competitors like Google Voice), I feel like Google is playing it fast and loose. For instance, when I search for “Starbucks,” I see 29 apps – none of which look official and most look spammy. I wish the bad apps were weeded out for me.

At the end of the day

I’m on a break with Apple/iPhone for now. I’m ready to check out all the awesome things Droid does at least as well (if not better) for less.

What about you? -  Switched or thinking about it? Would never give up your precious iPhone? Have advice for Droid apps? I want to know!

*** UPDATE***

I forgot to mention that I gifted my phone to a dear friend who had busted the screen on her 3G iPhone, and was using the phone literally taped into a phone case to keep it together. As that phone was gifted to me out of love and kindness, I had to pass on the love and good Karma!!!