TweetUp Seattle!: Mass Facebook Land-Grab At Uptown Espresso (2504 4th Ave., Friday June 12th at 8:30PM)

Event: TweetUp Seattle! Mass Facebook Land-Grab At Uptown Espresso!
Date: Friday, June 12th 2009
Time: 8:30PM PST (or come a little early if you’d like and get your WiFi set-up!)
Where: Uptown Espresso (Belltown), 2504 4th Ave (4th and Wall), Seattle WA

Sponsored by:

On Friday, June 12th at 9:01PM PST, Facebook will open the floodgates and allow registered Facebook users to vie for coveted SEO real-estate: Facebook usernames. And Seattle is meeting up at an internet-traffic epicenter to ring in the occasion (1GB/s internet connection, 5 WiFi Access Points/APs). (Thanks goes out to Spectrum Networks for providing the superfast connection!).

Facebook usernames will look like this: facebook.com/yourusername, and they’ll be unimaginably important in the future when it comes to driving traffic to your profile, increasing accessibility to your profile, and building a personal brand.

Because thousands of people will attempt to grab their name at the same time, having the fastest and most direct internet connection will matter when it comes to connecting to Facebook’s servers during the deluge of traffic.

You’re invited to come early, grab a spot, get a nice cuppa joe (Uptown’s lattes and specifically their foam are legendary), chat with fellow Seattle geeks, and count down to Zero Hour with us! Bring friends and please re-blog and Re-Tweet this!

All attendees who can spot me (Cameron) at the event will receive a coupon for a free crepe from the fine folks at Mobatta!

Want to sponsor the event or promote your business/product to attendees? Contact me at cameron at cameronnewland.com immediately.

Preferred Tweet format:

Seattle Tweetup!: Facebook Username Land-Grab at Uptown Espresso (2504 4th Ave) Fri 6/12 8:30PM – 1GB/s net connection + 5 WiFi APs! http://bit.ly/xU58

Feeling Quite Accomplished

I felt I’d really achieved something last night when I was introduced to a guy who had already seen my T-Pain’s Top Inspirational Quotes post (We think a mutual friend must have sent him the link).

Day-in and day-out, I strive to bring more inspirational T-Pain content to the neediest of people who would otherwise miss out on his gospel. I’m kind of like Dr. Phil, in that sense. Perhaps I should be up for a Pulitzer; I mean, really, when you think about ‘biggest-contribution-to-society’, what else is more fitting than an amalgamation of T-Pain quotes?

Waiting In The Lobby

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A pretty well-designed lobby, all-in-all.

Lessons from a chicken

While bringing in some firewood for my mother’s house, I tossed a piece from the woodpile a few feet so that it would bounce around and shake off the spiders and their nests. The biggest Wolf Spider I’ve ever seen (perhaps two inches in diameter) stood proud atop the wood block, as if it hadn’t been shaken at all. I wouldn’t get within three feet of the intimidating creature. Just then, one of my mother’s backyard chickens, curious, approached the wood block. I questioned whether I should scare the chicken away, lest it get bitten by the formidable little spider. Before I could act, the valiant chicken bobbed its head toward the spider, gobbling it up and swallowing it.

We now know who is more courageous.

Channeling Pharrell

Mixing vest and jacket with dark slim denim…the new hotness? haha

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I’ve got to meet this guy (Pharrell).

The Depression Is In Style

I’m not so fond of this economic depression, but I’m loving the strides that people are making to make cultural reference to it.

For instance, one of my favorite spots in Los Angeles, The Edison, is toasting the financial meltdown with a melt-down of their own:

Soup Kitchen Fridays, with complimentary grilled-cheese sandwiches and tomato soup from 5-7PM

And on Thursdays, Depression-era cocktails are given Depression-era prices: 35¢!

Also, Friday December 5th, they’re going to be celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the repeal of the Prohibition!

I wish I could teleport myself there every week.

108 W. 2nd St. #101
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Quarter Pounders in Shibuya

Add this onto your list of restaurants to visit in Tokyo.

(The super simple menu is limted to a Quarter Pounder, Double Quarter Pounder, fries and drinks):

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It’s Official…Everything in Japan is better. – A Continuous Lean.

Costumes

Ran into some interesting get-ups on Friday evening, like cookie monster here, behind me:

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Friday Evening

Mini Burgers (10/10, $3.00) with BBQ sauce and sautéed onions, Satellite Lounge, 1118 E Pike Street
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Ceiling detail at Del Rey, 2332 1st Avenue

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MacBook Bliss

The Genius at the Apple Store just replaced my MacBook’s battery under my AppleCare warranty, even though battery replacements are strictly verboten under the AppleCare Warranty:

b. Limitations. The Plan does not cover:

(ix) Consumable parts, such as batteries [...]

Apparently, only iPod batteries are covered under AppleCare. Luckily, my Genius didn’t know about this and used some administrative override to give me the battery for free.

Kind of silly, considering I’m planning on buying the next-generation MacBook or MacBook Pro when it comes out on the 14th (shhhh…).

Cali Shakes

The tremor today centered in Chino Hills, CA reminded me of a photo my girlfriend took of me and my friend Charlton last year, inside of the Safeway supermarkey just 15 miles from Chino Hills, in Upland/Claremont:

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“Earthquake Kit: $8.99 + tax”

We were sure surprised to see it; definitely one of those things that you’ll only see in California.

On the positive side of the quake: Charlton’s private lemon orchard probably rained down a bounty of citrus:

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I called Charlton today. He said he felt the quake all the way in San Diego.

Bumbershoot Lineup/Tix

You should grab your tickets to Bumbershoot now (for a limited time only, they’re $25/day (instead of $40/day) using this link).

The lineup is here.

I’m excited to see the following:

Estelle (she of the Kanye track “American Boy”

Grynch

Brother Ali

Kid Sister

Stone Temple Pilots

T.I.

Del tha Funkee Homosapien

Flobots

The Offspring

Maybe I’ll see you there?!

Unbelievable Wealth

I thought London was wealthy — here in Athens, it’s out of control!  Last night, we went to a nightclub called Island with Patrick and Pavlos to celebrate the American College of Greece’s commencement, and the parking lot consisted of a Ferrari F430 Spyder, a Ferrari 599, a Porsche Turbo, an Audi R8, an Aston Martin DB V8, a BMW M6, various Range Rovers, Lotuses; the list goes on.  I’ve never seen any parking lot quite like it (though I imagine car meetups in Dubai would blow this out of the water!)

Here are the comparatively humble shots of London’s supercars from our visit last week:

The Falcons Are Back!

A few days ago, I went up to our rooftop deck to have a cup of tea, when, to my surprise, a very rare and strikingly beautiful Peregrine falcon landed not 15 feet from me, on a roofing gutter. It took a few glances at me and then flew away toward the Space Needle. Seeing the bird made me want to head to Google to find out which exact bird I’d seen (its foot was tagged). Today, I found out that the bird lives on the 56th floor of a building only a few blocks south of me, on University Street.
Seattle’s Washington Mutual Tower has been home to a breeding pair of Peregrine falcons before. From 1994-2005, love-birds Stewart and Bell raised many a clutch of baby falcons. In 2005, they both passed away, and the next year, no falcons occupied the roost on the 56th floor of the tower.

Last year, two different females apparently attempted to breed on the tower and we think that both laid eggs in the nest box. As a result, a total of eight eggs was laid in the nest box.

This was one of the largest clutches of peregrine eggs on record (four eggs are normal) and the remaining female was unable to incubate them successfully. Unfortunately, the site was subsequently abandoned and all of the eggs failed to hatch.

This spring, there is a new pair of adult peregrines perching at the nest box. They have made a “scrape” or shallow depression in the gravel which usually indicates that they are preparing to breed. We have a camera on the box and once again, the image is being piped to the branch lobby where people can observe the nesting activities as they happen.

If you’d like to find out more about our new breeding pair of falcons, check out the Falcon Research Group’s website at frg.org. To see the live image feed from the nesting box, click here (I’ve included a screen-capture from the feed. Your mileage may vary — you may or may not catch the falcons at home.)

Bandon Dunes Photoroll

Playing Pacific Dunes, one of the top courses in North America:

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