So, I decided I would finish 2011 speaking at 6 WordCamps (WordPress conferences) and 1 blogging conference. I uploaded my presentations to Slideshare ( username blondishnet ). I expect to see some of my presentations that were recorded on video to be published on WordPress.TV, but they have a really long queue of videos to catch up on.

I was really happy that I was able to meet new people and also some of my regular readers face-to-face. It was hard to stay humble, but I was not there for ego-stroking. I was there to help and made that my goal the entire time.

My topics I covered at each WordCamp this year:


WordCamp Columbus 2011 - Introduction to WordPress Plugin Development
WordCamp Chicago 2011- Setting Up Your WordPress Site Like A Pro
WordCamp St. Louis 2011- Introduction to WordPress Theme Development
WordCamp Louisville 2011- Introduction to WordPress Theme Development: Tweaking Your Theme
WordCamp Philadelphia 2011- WordPress Design and Development with the Client in Mind
WordCamp Detroit 2011- WordPress Tools and Tips for Any Niche

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I do have a few proposals and invitations for some 2012 WordCamps and a couple social media and blogging conferences. I look forward to tackling those and hoping that my topics cover what people are wanting to know. I remember when I began... there were not that many people to look up to and the catty gals on MySpace who only wanted attention and comments were a real turn off despite their sexy pictures.

Anyhow, I have been working really hard this year and tried to keep up to date with my DA account. It has not been easy as my brand has grown a lot this year and right now I am going through a huge marketing campaign and trying to get use to bigger traffic numbers. I do not want to ignore my visitors, but I definitely will be covering more graphic and HTML tutorials soon. I still have well over 1000 free graphics on my site, and soon that will include all the WordPress themes I have been working on.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me, my work, and those who have helped donate to keep InuYasha-Fanfiction.com alive. I am still looking for a few good mods that are not into starting trouble and not going for a power trip. I've dealt enough with that and I say- leave that for All My Children....lol.

(crosspost from my LiveJournal)

This has been a huge problem in fandom and in life in general. I see it with other people... perfectly good people. I may not agree with someone, but it does not give me a right to hate them over their opinion. - Or harass? - Or completely write them off to the point civil conversation is not even considered.

There are so many people in this world, and technology pulls many of us together. Are we taking for granted of the opportunity to connect with others? Are we really using the Internet as each of us had originally done?

Probably not.

Next time you think of someone that you dislike or even hate... why do you really hate them?

- Was it over opinion
- Was it because of their sexual preferences
- Was it over actions that had no direct physical or mental effect to you?

If it is not, than you have no excuse to be such a way. In fact, if you believe you were raised to be respectful and have great discipline, you are knocking those doors that your own parents tried to instill upon you in your younger days. I had a long talk with several people both online and in person about this subject and it really prompted me to write this. Why? - because it is a huge peeve of mine. I was not raised that way and even at my age, if so, I could face a good backhand from my folks (you are never too old to be scolded.)

Do you really have a valid reason to? Did that person really wrong you badly?

If you are the one being castigated for pathetic reasons, do yourself a favor and speak out. You deserve to know why.

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Stop making excuses. Stop hating. Be up front and tell the truth.


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No need to answer or comment. This is just food for thought.

I am scheduled to speak at 2 WordCamps this summer. WordCamp is a WordPress conference dedicated to helping WordPress users. It is also an opportunity for networking and even getting some great tips for designing and maintaining your biz site or blog.

1. WordCamp Columbus on June 17-18, 2011 (my topic is Intro to Plugin Development) ( [link] )

2. WordCamp Chicago on July 30-31, 2011 ( [link] )

There are a couple more WordCamp's I have yet to hear back for confirmation, but I am excited to be speaking more. Last year's lecture at WordCamp Chicago 2010 was a real blast and I really got a lot of great feedback, AND met a lot of great people.

Other than WordCamp, I have a few other conferences I am scheduled to speak at toward the end of this year, so I will announce that schedule as a Fall post.

If you live near those areas and use WordPress, purchase a ticket and bring your most burning questions about WordPress.

I have had Pixelled.com since 2003. I have decided to install WordPress on it. For those who have been around for a long time, it is a CMS - a content management script... and not just a blogging script.

I want to make this site Art driven. However, from the art related sites out there, I do like some, but they just really do not cut it. They never find the art work that really is awesome. They stick in their little circle and never get out and about.

I want to make Pixelled.com a place to eventually be where people can enjoy some art tips, art news, art reviews, artist reviews, digital artist interviews, some roundups (top 5s, 10s or 15s, or 20s of a type of art) and even maybe some tutorials. Art would expand into all art that is digital due to the fact that the domain is called Pixelled.com.

Digital art: photo manipulation, anime, photoshop, paint shop pro, adobe products, corel products, web design, graphic design that requires a computer. Basically anything that requires a computer to make the finished product or item.

I have the amount of people on my own twitter handle (@blondishnet), but also have the tools to get yours and my own voices heard across many other social networks, besides Twitter.

Right now, I am taking interest on volunteers... serious volunteers that would be willing to provide already topics they want to cover to get the site kickstarted, or ideas to man/ woman sections of the site so that it has content. When the site is popular enough and I can monetize it (more than 500 visitors a month), I would like to eventually reward regular writers (regular as in at least 2 times a month - and the entry must be no less than 200 words) at least 10% of what is made from advertisements... whether it is through 3rd party ads, in house ads or even Adsense. It does not matter as I would even do adsense sharing so individuals who contribute get credit for their individual article when it is seen.

Plea

I got my first fan art gift from *EverAfterCo



This was done so well and I am really honored to receive such a piece.

I am about a week away from surviving 30 years. Wow! People say I look younger than 30, so I am glad. However, I do feel the difference in the generation gaps.

Kids today are a bunch of punks. I am 30 and feel like a 60 year old yelling at the kids to get off my lawn. I see the disrespect and have witnessed it time and time again. People younger than me have no idea what "classy" really means.

If they knew and saw my grandfather, he was a classy gentleman. Always respectful, wore a nice dress shirt and slacks. Only wore jeans when working in his vegetable garden. Did not call people names even if he did not like them and was not quick to judge people as he only did when the facts were on the table.

I hope to always try to have a lot of good qualities.

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There are a lot of things I could say, but my earlier assessment of children today pretty much sums it up.

Maybe I care too much? ...

No one is perfect, but teaching children what is right and wrong is being left up to the wrong people. Teachers are not responsible for a child's fundamental behavior. It is the parent's duty.

I just posted not long ago a reminder for the Kimono Challenge going on at #The-InuYasha-FanClub

Submissions can be fanart or fanfics, and it does not necessarily have to be fresh material, but it has to go with the challenge.

Copied and pasted from the group:
>>>>
Just wanted to remind you all that the Kimono Challenge will be ending this Sunday, August 15, 2010!!!

I am excited to see all the entries. It warms my heart to know all of you who enjoy writing fanfiction and drawing fanart in the InuYasha fandom.

Good luck to everyone. I left a link to the original post for the challenge so you can leave a note where you submitted your entry.

<<<<

I just got back from Chicago where I spoke about "Rocking Your Site Out With WordPress." This year, there were about 500 attendees.

I have been very passionate about this CMS and it has been the one to dethrone Drupal and Joomla from the top. (in 2009, WordPress was awarded CMS of the Year.) What use to be known as just a blog platform has a lot more.

I am honored to have spoken here as it is the first time in 10 years that I have spoken in front of a large crowd.

For those who follow me here and are WordPress users, hopefully my simple presentation will inspire you to start thinking outside the box when designing your site. I will be covering some of the major points in depth at WPAddict.net

Rocking Out Your Site With WordPress

I know some people wanted more, but I really liked it. Although it is not much of a spoiler since even in Wikipedia, it was announced in 2009 that the Avengers movie is scheduled to be released in 2012, pretty much... yeah, it is obvious we are going to end up getting to see all of the Avengers introduced.

Wikipedia Link to Avenger's film news

The action was great... Downey Jr was great as Stark again. Not sure, but I still think he is hot...lol. Mickey Rourke was a good Whiplash, but I think he needed more time.

Other than that I cannot say much as I do not want everyone getting pissy for ruining their experience.

Did you get to see it... what did you think.

So I got an email from one of the AdultFanfiction.net mods basically saying I was told on by someone or a couple people that I was advertising my site in the reviews. This notation comes like MONTHS since I have used the site.

Someone has a lot of time on their hands. That is fine with me. I told the mod that it has been months since I used the site and that they will not have an issue with me posting.

Talk about fun police....especially late to the show.

I have a lot of catching up on thanking people for making my stuff a favorite...so I am going to go around and give the Llama badges around. It takes a lot of time to send over 400 messages...lol

I just realized this morning that my page has reached 8K in hits. I appreciate all the watches, DA favs, comments, and just stopping by. Most of the stuff I have been putting up lately is my web design screenshots for recent clients. I am actually a bit behind on submitting more of them.

seems to be going on nicely. I have to credit it to !The-Elven-Priestess especially for all the work put into the group, especially when I needed a mod who had the time and wanted to...and one with hopeful ideas. So if you are a member of that DA group... go on over and thank her for the awesome job!!!

I still need a few trustworthy mods who are easy to work with, especially with the other parts of the InuYasha-Fanfiction.com community. We removed DanaRose from her mod position because of plagiarism accusations.

Other than that...the LJ community, iy_fanfiction has been trying to resurrect itself, but because of my own time constraints with web design commissions, I have not been able to do much. I am actually opening up to the idea of a re-design there and any other ideas for it because we really need to get things going like it was. Pitabread has taken a little bit of a head role in the site and I have stepped back some. Anyone interested can send me a note here at DA or at LJ to my taiyoukai_nile account.

I have been really busy lately. I have to be. I have been scrambling to revamp my portfolio. My temporary portfolio is here at DA. However, that has been pushed back too. No complaints. The money pays the bills at least.

I am trying to decide whether or not to start posting some of my emoticons and such that are already on my own website. I already know I plan to put some free PSDs and free WordPress layouts in the very new future.

However, there are so many things going on. I have not had the time to do more fanart or fanfiction. The only thing I have been submitting here are my web and graphic designs for clients. Great for the portfolio, but not so fun for those who have been kind enough to DA watch me because of my fanart.

Never fear though, I have not forgotten you. I really appreciate everyone who has dropped by to see my work. Each piece, I strive to improve.

In fact, one of my improvements was the revamping of my website - Blondish.net . The site focuses on helping bloggers, freelance advice, social media and social networking advice, and some general web news and opinions. The vexel guitar (I made) I kept, but I made larger because I wanted to start putting more of a web 2.0 look. I wanted to give a fun, yet also professional look. There are still some changes to come as there are still a few design tweaks before I tackle theming individual sections. Again, this is in my free time. *"le sigh" - as Pepe Le Pew would say*

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Aside from that. Any games out there... I am squealing over the fact that I got the new Wii Capcom Ultimate All-Stars for $10.95. How? Well it was SUPPOSE to be priced around $60, but Walmart here in Centralia did not price it correctly. Their policy is that they are required to sell it for the cost printed on the shelf regardless if it rings up the correct price. It rides along false advertising.

So anyway.... yay! *squeee*

I just noticed that my DA page had hit over 7500 page views. Well, I guess that deserves a big thanks to everyone who has ventured by. I have a few pieces I am working on, not to mention, I still need to load up my DIY beads and such. I just got done making my first batch of polymer clay beads. It was pretty cool, but I still have a lot to learn.

Anyway, I might be looking into other jewelry making, but I will have to see how my necklaces fair.

First off, Happy New Year!

I wanted to thank those who favorited all of my art pieces. Much of this year, it was my InuYasha fanart that had been favorited and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

This year I am going to also be putting pics of my beaded necklaces that I make. Just have been busy with all my web design and such that I have not had the time to load my jewelry. In fact, I will most likely be putting a link to sell each piece as frankly, I cannot fill my house with them, and two, I keep getting asked to make them again. Three, making a few bucks would be helpful. A few years ago, I use to sell my beaded works online, even my bottle cap and beaded work (like budweiser, smirnoff, mikes hard lemonade...etc. My own friends were the people who added to my bottlecap collection...lol.)

Anyway, I just wanted to write my first entry of the year to thank people and tell what to expect this year.

w00t! I was approved recently for #Avatar-TLA-FanClub

So, it is brand new and I know some of you are ATLA fans. I love InuYasha, but I am a huge fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender as well.

I am opening up to take requests for commissions.

Whether
- fanart (using the anime style I use for my InuYasha fanart)
- WordPress themes ($30 a piece only on DeviantART, but they cannot involve anything other than basics. If you want more features coded in, you can send me a note to discuss)

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I am offering a Holiday discount on web hosting:

Buy 1 Emerald webhosting package at Host Solutions for $50 per year (12GB diskspace and 60GB bandwidth), get a Amethyst webhosting package (5GB diskspace and 25GB bandwidth) for free for the first year. You can basically give a friend a domain and webhosting account! w00t!

If you are unsure, I basically have my own dedicated server through Host Gator (a top 10 hosting facility, especially for dedicated servers) and have been hosting since 2006 by myself. Before that, I co-owned another hosting since 2004. I also offer reseller packages and packages for dedicated servers too!

If you do purchase, send a separate contact form after you have sent payment to inform me that you are taking advantage of the holiday deal. If you have any further questions, you can voice them here, or through the contact form at Host Solutions, my twitter account (@blondishnet), or through my Yahoo messenger  which is listed below.

Yep, one more group as I could not pass it up since I love other animes too.

#The-Anime-Fan-Club

I will hold off on inviting for a little. I am still recovering from last week's illness, and have to play catch up with all my projects. However, if you draw your own anime/ manga, go to anime conventions, cosplay, write fanfiction based from anime or manga, then maybe you might find a home there with other anime addicts.

I know there are groups on DA that are regular accounts and have not made the move to the new groups - mostly due to the fact Groups are still in beta. For those who know, and those who do not, I run InuYasha-Fanfiction.com, of course, I have some great people who help me there too, but I have been wanting to make a group at DA since the whispers of DA creating groups.

So, there is #The-InuYasha-FanClub

Anyone who writes, draws, and loves to talk about InuYasha, I invite you. I am interested also in having a few people who keep on top of InuYasha news to be mods there, so please join, and send me a note if you are interested.)

If the club at least reaches 50 people, I will pay for an upgrade on the community. This is great in 2 ways - more features for everyone, and I get to beta test more on the groups (since I am a beta tester.)

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Please forgive me for being a bit brief on this. I have been battling respiratory flu the past 2 days, so I am trying to be brief online so I can go back to bed.

Well, I guess I can play along here. I usually do not on my blogs anymore except my mommy blog at  Mommy-Blogger.net. If you have been tagged, here are the Rules:

- Post a new journal entry and list 10 things about yourself.
- Next, tag 10 different people and post those people's icons in your Journal.
- Finally, go to those 10 people's pages and tell them they've been tagged

(BTW, I did not make them up.)

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10 Things about me:

1. I use to spend my study hall and lunch hours in the library during high school to research things I had interest in like astrology, medieval times, Ancient Egyptian empire, and the Roman empire.
2. Although I have my favorite anime and manga, I have read and watched quite a bit. The collection between my youngest sister and I fille more than one regular bedroom from floor to ceiling. We have yet to officially document the entire collection.
3. I have a lot of bamboo stalks in my home that it is a small forest. The tallest ones I have are over 4 feet tall. I am looking to purchase some palm trees in the near future.
4. Although I do web design for profession, I still love to as a hobby too.
5. I think my cat was a dog in a former life.
6. I love Anne Rice's vampires and have been a huge fan of her works since I was 13. Lestat rocks... I would put honey on him (and no, I am not imagining Tom Cruise) and lick him up any day! Sorry Stephanie Myer, but vampires are NOT suppose to sparkle! Faeries do!
7. I love to drive.... and travel too
8. My son is the best thing that has ever happened and a thrill to see grow up every day.
9. Hello, my name is Nile and I am a social network, WordPress, and blog addict.
10. When it comes to vehicles I only like Chevrolet. I have driven and test driven other cars, but all the Chevy cars I have driven, I just love.

!akirichan ~CeruleanSan ~gothicpeach *Greykitty ~InuYashaSesshomaru *kinkei =knittingknots *messa *rlhcreations

I guess I better go and tag asap.