Its been a month since my last Desktop Notes post. Mainly due to alot going on in the past month. This is what has been going on:

• Post Ignite Birmingham tasks
• BarCamp Birmingham 4 Planning and then the event itself
• Bringing back Birmingham Jelly
• Loads of new projects at work!
• IPSA Summer Networking Event
• Working on 2 new personal application projects
• Saving bonsai trees from #waspocalypse

The next month is also going to be busy it seems:

• Coming up this weekend is DragonCon 2010!
• Planning for Wordcamp Birmingham 2010

I picked up a dodo case a few weeks back as well. I really like it because it blends in well with my notebook of choice:  moleskine journals

An assortment of items has been accumulating on my desk as of late. The maid kindly piled it up for me

Its been a long time since I did a Desktop Notes article to kind of give people an idea as to what I have been up to so I figured I would put a quick piece together.

• We held the first Ignite Birmingham Event here in beautiful Birmingham, AL http://www.ignitebirmingham.com/
• Went to the Southeast Linuxfest and Rendezvous Bonsai Conference.
• Finished 2 new web projects and lost a month to large projects at work.

Oh and I almost forgot I picked up an ipad as well. Going to try to get my bonsai app to work on it.

Picked up this ipad stand from amazon this week. I think it was meant for netbooks but they re-branded it for ipads and it works well. And is compact so can travel easy.

The stand from behind in action!

Been doing a good bit of work on Ignite Birmingham 2 this week. I have a few meetings in the next few weeks that will hopefully help us be even better!

Another arrangement of figures on my desk.

Here is my current setup in front of my computer. I change it up every few weeks. Found out the Drossel makes a good business card holder!

I keep most of my business books in my hutch now but I am moving away from hard-copy for most of these and going digital. If they have a lot of useful graphics or charts I may still buy them but right now it is easier to use my kindle or ipad.

This is my wall of dunny’s. I picked up a few Asian art a art fair a few months back and I ended up putting them here on my wall along with my John Lytle Wilson pictures. I will get around to hanging them eventually.

This is my bonsai book shelf were I keep most of my bonsai books be they photo-books or learning books. I have collected a good bit of them over the years and plan on getting a few more photo-books later this year. I really need to focus on my trees in the next few weeks but a lot will depend on the rain.

I have been a few weeks since I started to re-arrange the bonsai on my deck to get better sun and to also look a little nicer so I figured I would do a quick photo post on the subject. Between long work hours and family time this has taken weeks when it should have taken hours but it was well worth it!

My reasoning behind this change was some of my trees were getting to much light and some were not getting enough. So to fix this I put the light loving trees on the outside edge of my deck.

The smaller trees and the the semi shade loving trees I put on the edge near the roof were they get sun all day except the late afternoon. Some of these trees like full sun so I will probably swap these out and put them on the edge on a week by week basis. If you notice I put small bamboo shelves on the back of the bench to hold my smaller trees.

Here is my phoenix graft juniper and a bald cypress I will be working on shortly
My large Chinese Elm. It is one of my favorite trees though it hasn’t gotten enough sun this year so far.
Some of my tropical trees. A severely overgrown Surinam Cherry, shohin crape myrtle, and a new bougainvillea.

This Juniper I plan on moving out into the yard soon. But the 2 Wisteria, Weeping Willow, and Trident Maple will probably stay.
I love watching my trees bloom. Here is my new crape myrtle beginning to bloom.

Some blooms on the new bougainvillea.

This is what got me interested in bringing Ignite to Birmingham. I knew there were lots of people in Birmingham who have great ideas and alot of people who could help each other out greatly that just don’t know about each other. And Ignite and other unconferences are a great way to bridge this gap in new and interesting ways. Through Ignite I had already had the chance to meet people I would not normally have had the chance to meet, and be influenced by some of there great ideas.

So based on that I ask you, the reader, to ask yourself this question “Who would I like to see speak at Ignite?”. If you know the person then consider recommending they propose a talk for ignite, and if not feel free to add there name here so we know who might be good to approach. You can direct them to http://www.ignitebirmingham.com for more info and here is link to the proposal form http://www.ignitebirmingham.com/proposals/

Along the way I’ve tried to help with a lot of events that also helped grow the community such as: Barcamp, Wordcamp, Alabama LugFest, and other events. And I have met lots of great people, lots of characters, and been continuously impressed with the caliber of people in the Metro Area. While many people are pessimistic about the area I believe we have the pieces to build a vibrant and prosperous creative community in the area. And I want to do everything I can to help the city see the possibilites.

Last year I was lucky enough to get to attend a few Ignite events in cities I traveled to due to work and it got me thinking. I had been previously exposed the the quick talk format through “lightning talks” at events like OSCON and I thought it was an easy yet powerful format. So I started to think since there are so many cool groups, conferences, organizations, and people in Birmingham that that it would be awesome to have a night once every few months where we can all get together and share all of those ideas that are burning inside us – technology, art, communications, or whatever the topic. Since most of the events I have been involved with have been very tech heavy , this would provide an opportunity to get a wider audience and hopefully get them excited about the City/Metro Area again.

The goal was for Ignite Birmingham to be a high-energy evening of 5-minute talks by people who have an idea, concept, or passion — and the guts to get onstage and share it with their hometown crowd. It is about democratizing the tech discussion, sharing ideas, and their free exchange . So in essence Ignite Birmingham was started to spark a discussion. These discussions will hopefully help the area grow and prosper by making a closer creative community. So let’s get out there and spark a discussion, share an idea, and help each other out!

Over the years I have had the privilege to be involved one way or another in several technology events in the area. These include the Techbirmingham Techmixer, Birmingham Startup, barcampbirmingham, Wordcamp Birmingham, e-cycling day, and most recently ignite birmingham. So this has prompted me to want to write about my experiences in the prior events and more specifically my experiences in future events. I have been worked with some truly amazing people during the planning of those events and hope to help give others the chance to contribute going forward to help grow this community until it is a successful as it can be. Stay tuned for post on this subject as well as some announcement of upcoming events.

Looks like its time for another installment of Desktop Notes. Well we just had the nicest weekend of year here in birmingham so its been a decent start to the week if nothing else. Last Friday I went my first Birmingham Lunch Bunch meeting and had a lot of fun seeing everyone. I used to be able to do jelly’s on Fridays but currently that is not an option at my new employer, maybe later.

The top thing going on through my head early this week was actually brought about by the warm weather. I really need to plan out what I need to do as far as late winter/early spring bonsai work. I know I need to repot several of my trees this year and restyle 2 of my pines. I also have a few deciduous trees I need to do some restyling on as well. The new pottery shipment has arrived at bonsaimonk in Atlanta but since I already have enough extra pots I am trying to resist the trip over there. I will startup my bonsai notes section in a few weeks when I start working in earnest again.

I have also downloaded OT2 again this week and plan to start entering my bonsai into the app and start working on a web interface for the db. I hope to actually make a community site where people can host there info and discuss what they are working on but I am going to start with just my personal stuff for now. I hope to post some thought on this later this week.

Rearranged the figure area on my desk

The 2 new arrivals are making saber nerves.

And last but not least it seems Zange-chan is picking on Nagi again.

I’ve decided to start a new series called Desktop Notes in which I will lay out my thoughts at the beginning of the week and kind I’ve decided to start a new series called Desktop Notes in which I will lay out my thoughts at the beginning of the week and kind of act like a log of what I have been thinking over the course of the year. I will also use this series to keep a log of how my desktop environment changes over time as well..

The main thing going on early this year is the start of conference planning. As I have done the past several years I have tried to be involved in multiple local tech conferences in an effort to help the local tech community. So far this year we have BarcampBirmingham 4 and the first Ignite Birmingham in the planning phases. Luckily we have lots of great people in the area that help with these events so it doesn’t consume too much of any one persons time. The Ignite planning is the most pressing due to the fact we have a little over a month to plan unlike the Barcamp where we have several months so that is how my time is really divided at the moment.

The other things on my mind lately have been more on the idea/development side. I have two pet projects I want to start working on soon/again. The first of which is a tech community calendar. While I know we have several of these already in general they are not kept up or they are missing data. So my goal is to make a calendar and an engine to populate said calendar. So far my two competing ideas on the development of the calendar are to write one from scratch in php or use wordpress with a plugin such as gigpress to do the initial work. I will probably set up a demo using gigpress this week just to test it out. If anyone wants to help let me know. I have also contacted some other similar projects about some joint efforts but not much has come out of it yet.

The next project is my bonsai collection management program. I have been playing around with a program called OT2 for a while now and it is a good native app but I think it might be cool to develop a more complex web-based application that may even lend itself to a more social concept. First off I think I am just going to develop an OT2 like program but make it web based for personal use then I hope to develop a mobile client for it for personal use. After that I will try to make it more of consumer driven app and hopefully have a working model by Brussels Rendezvous this year. My one complaint is I am not a good designer so it may look a little rough.of act like a log of what I have been thinking over the course of the year. I will also use this series to keep a log of how my desktop environment changes over time as well.

Had some labor issues while sorting last years business cards!

Methods:

• Mulch – Use a mulch that covers the lower first or second branches of your tree.  In addition, placing your bonsai under any structure that protects it from heavy icing and dry winds but allows moisture is also recommended. If you must water, do it earlier in the day and only when temperatures warm to 45-50 degrees.  Rule of thumb is: if the rootball is solid, don’t water – if it’s loose, water sparingly.
• Unheated greenhouse (or the equivalent) – Make certain that if there’s the possibility that the temperature can hit below freezing, use a small heater to sustain a moderately cool but not freezing temperature.  If you opt for this method, don’t bring you bonsai in and then put them outside again on a warmer day.  Consistency is important during dormancy.
• Cold Frame – Make a cold frame, outside, that’s raised, allows for light (but, not direct sun) and which can be opened, from time to time, to aerate your dormant bonsai.

Timing

Whatever method you choose, putting your bonsai into protection before the first freeze is your first best step to successful wintering over.  Conversing, taking your tree out of protection too soon in the Spring can have the same affect.  Wait a bit longer to make certain all chance of freezing and frost have past before introducing your bonsai back to a shaded, outside spot. For my purposes I am doing 2 of these. I am putting most of my trees outside in a mulch bed but a few more tender ones are going to stay in the basement. I plan on posting pictures of my setup once I get home and have time.

These Pictures were Uploaded earlier this year after the anual Brussels Bonsai Rendezvous event. This is really an old post but I want to populate some interesting posts. Rendezvous is an annual convention held Memorial Day weekend at Brussels Bonsai in Olive Branch, Mississippi. (near Memphis, TN) Several top Bonsai masters were on hand for the event. I have been to 3 of them and had a blast every time!

The first pic is a display tree from a previous Rendezvous. I don’t remember what kind of tree though.

This is another previous Rendezvous tree. I like the overall look of it especially since it is still young. I also like the presentation alot.

Yet another past Rendezvous tree! An Azalea this time. I have always wanted to get an azalea bonsai but for some reason every potted azalea I get dies from pests or disease so I can’t bring myself to get a specimen tree.

This is probably my favorite of the past Rendezvous trees, probably because I am partial to juniper and pines. I particualarly like the deadwood on this tree. I generally have mixed results with junipers depending on when I get them.

One of my favorite Bonsai masters at rendezvous is Marc Noelanders. The next several photos are from his demonstration at the beginning of the event. It is always interesting to watch him work and learn from his experience during these types of events.

This is a close up of the juniper Marc is working on showing the wiring process and some jin’s and shar’s

Another closeup this time of the almost completed demonstration tree. If you compare it to the pictures above you can tell just how much work and vision went into this tree.

The finished tree with the front marked.

This year my wife Elena also did a workshop. She picked the gardenia workshop with bonsai master Kathy Shaner. Here is a picture of what her initial tree looked like.

Here is a close up of the branches after a little bit of trimming as they tried to decide on a style for the tree.

Here is Elena working on her tree during the event.

Kathy and Elena working on her tree together. It looks fairly bare now but actually hers was one of the least trimmed trees in the end.

Here is a pic of the tree from the proposed new front after some severe trimming.

The main workshop I took this year was the black pine with Marc Noelanders. Here is a picture of what the trees looked like before we started work. Notice just how bushy and overgrown it is.

We ended yo deciding to chop off the top of the tree and here is the result. I am still deciding if I want to try to Jin this particular top or just trim it down even today.

Me and Marc working on the tree after an initial styling attempt.

The finished tree after we completed work on it at the workshop. Next year I hope to initially pot the tree and and refine it.