Do you name your GPS?

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A few summers ago, when Merri Beth and I were on a trip to New York City we rented a car and got a GPS navigation system. We thought it would be fun to name the GPS–we wanted to yell at it when it gave us bad directions. We continued the tradition on a trip to Boston two years ago when we drove to Westford for the day.

I’ve had my VW Jetta for just over a year now and still hadn’t given my GPS an official name. I toyed around with some German names. I even did some research on names related to guides, explorers, and navigators. Nothing really jumped out. I almost crowdsourced naming my GPS over social media but that sounded like a lot of work. Then this past weekend, it happened. Continue reading →

The 2012 Salsa Garden

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I finally got the vegetable garden going. With the wacky weather we’ve been having, I decided to wait until after April 15th to get this years garden in the ground. I took Friday off of work and got the green thumb going.

After a few errands, I made my way to Logan’s Trading Company. My default location for the vegetable garden. They sell a flat of vegetables for $18. I inspected the large selection of peppers and tomatoes. I ended up getting two flats. More plants than I’ve ever gotten for a season. Continue reading →

The Code for America “brigade effect” with TriangleWiki

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Originally posted on opensource.com and licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA.

Have you ever seen results from your community engagement and realized the impact of your efforts? We recently told you about the LocalWiki project and shared some of the results from the Triangle Wiki day event. But then our friends at Code for America took it a step further.

The co-founders of LocalWiki were in the Code for America offices last week to see how they could build on the success of the Code Across America event. They took the data–633 page edits, 100 maps, and 138 new photos–and amplified it. Continue reading →

How SPARKcon uses open source

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Originally posted on opensource.com and licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA.

Image credits: h0tgrits, opensource.com - Licensed CC-BY-SA

Process over content. Aly Khalifa from Gamil Design and Designbox used this mantra to instill open source roots at SPARKcon—an annual event that showcases, celebrates, and influences the creative momentum naturally found in North Carolina’s Triangle region.

“I think at first it was hard for people to understand—it was hard for us to describe. Sometimes it was embarrassing—this commitment to process over content,” Continue reading →

Raleigh’s Creative District Wiki Day Set for March 17

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Neighborhood leaders from the Creative District are looking to document the history, assets, and knowledge of Southwest Raleigh on the morning of March 17. We are planning a content day to add pages and knowledge to trianglewiki.org.

Attendees will get a brief overview of how to create a new wiki page, how to use the mapping application, how to link to other wiki pages, and how to edit existing pages.

Our goal will be to document as many neighborhoods, places, and unique features that exist in the Creative District. Continue reading →

Triangle Wiki Day a Huge Success for Open Source in Raleigh

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Image credits: Laura Barnes Hamlyn

Image credits: Laura Barnes Hamlyn

Almost 50 people collaborated on February 25 at Red Hat headquarters, currently located on Centennial Campus in Raleigh, NC, to participate in Triangle Wiki Day. The event was a soft launch of trianglewiki.org, an effort to document the Triangle region and increase collaboration and knowledge sharing across the area. The wiki uses open source software, local wiki, as a content management platform that includes wiki pages, images, and mapping.

The day started off with a brief presentation [PDF] by Jason Hibbets on how the Triangle Wiki project fits in with the CityCamp Raleigh movement, as well as the larger open government picture and civic innovation week, Code Across America, by Code for America. Continue reading →

Costa Rica Day 6: Playa Negra Surf and Tamarindo Sunset Cruise

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Jason drops in at Playa Negra

Jason drops in at Playa Negra

It’s Friday, December 23, and our last full day in Costa Rica. I was up at 5:30 am to go surfing. I grabbed my board and made the 10-minute walk to Playa Negra. There were a handful of guys in the water and the tide was low, exposing some of the reef in the shallow areas. The waves were chest to head high and a little mushy with clean faces.

I met a guy out in the water, Mike, who had just arrived in Playa Negra last night and was from Encinatis, CA. I caught some great waves today. Merri Beth and Zander walked down to the beach and watched us surf for a while. Continue reading →

Costa Rica Day 5: Canopy Tour and Playa del Coco

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MB prepares to zip lineThursday, December 22 was our fifth day in Costa Rica and we squeezed a lot in as our week was ending quickly. We were up early to hit the road for a 2-hour drive to Buena Vista. Both Merri Beth and I woke up at some point early in the morning when we heard the power go out in Playa Negra. We packed up for the day in the dark, saved by the glowing of our cell phones.

We were on the road by 6:00 AM and stopped off for breakfast in Liberia. Around 8:30 AM, we arrived at the Buena Vista Lodge and were ready to start our day. After paying for the Megacombo package, the first thing we did was to prepare a few hours of zip lining through the jungle. Continue reading →

Costa Rica Day 4: Playa Avellana, Zander’s First Wave

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Zander catches his first wave at Playa Avellana

Zander catches his first wave at Playa Avellana

Wednesday, December 21 was the halfway mark of our vacation in Costa Rica. And again, we had no plans, no worries—just pura vida. Today, we decided to spend all day on the beach.

I was up early again, surfing Playa Negra. I walked down to the beach and surfed for almost two hours.  It was solid chest high and got a little bigger as the tide started to come in. There were about 10-12 guys out and everyone one catching waves. I caught an awesome wave on the far North end of the break that connected all the way to the inside. I also found a barrel or two and plenty of cutbacks. After my surf session, I headed back to Cafe Playa Negra to catch up with the family. Continue reading →