happykatie :: katie rocks out the interwebs

Houston art scene showing the love at Dr. Sketchy!

Houston is a really great city.  We've got amazing food, fun random things to do, fantastic career opportunities and passionate, amazing people (*ahem*: Mo-Mo-Monica, Tasty Tiff and DJ Jaymac). 

But sometimes there just feels like there's something missing and that's where Houston Dr. Sketchy comes in.  A divine combo of life drawing class, performance art, killer beats and well-mixed beverages.

I started the group at the beginning of the year in Houston with the amazing Molly Crabapple's permission in NYC (where the 1st of over 43 Dr. Sketchy international groups started it all).  This March marked our third monthly event and it was the best yet - we packed Avant Garden's 2nd floor to the gills with outstanding artists and sunshiney, smiley folks.

It's a little kitschy, a little cheeky and a lot of fun.  We have a big Houston Dr. Sketchy Art Show in the works for this year and are planning on bringing some actual drawing classes into the mix as well.  Join us sometime if you can!!  We'd love to ogle your drawings and ply you with special Dr. Sketchy cheer. 

Thanks to my Art Goddesses who make every event something look forward to and my Sketchy boys JayMac and Adamito who keep things on track bigtime.  Mad props to Groovehouse, our official photog who always makes us look skinny, and Ed Schipul who lets me use his great shots (like the one above) and is just an all-around great friend.

Happy 171st Houston :)

I've been nursing a semi-hangover all day thanks to the awesome Houstonist Pub Crawl last night.  Houstonist readers and writers celebrated our fair city's Big 1-7-1 by consuming various libations at historically significant bars in downtown H-Town.

'Twas awesome.  Check out JayMac and Groovehouse's photos of the evening.  My documentation of the festivities was admittedly poor, which is what happens when you prioritize your White Russians over solid camera time.

Blogme 2007 - happykatie in 10 seconds

So I guess we can call this the Blogher elevator speech post, but here's my addition to the lovely meme that is BlogMe 2007 aka: you in 10 seconds (thanks to Mocha Momma):

HI!!  I am happykatie - long time blogger, first time BlogHer attendee.   I spend my days loving on the happykiddo, geeking out about online communication and Social Media at Schipul and loving life in various other online forms (like Tumblr, Flickr, NetSquared and Houstonist).

Other obsessions:  good food, booksbooksbooks, Vespas, vintage cameras and graffiti.  I don't know too many people at Blogher this year, but intend to have about a gazillion new blog addictions and amazing women to email :)

Today I'll be up, up and away to Chi-town -- rather tangentially, you can read about Citizen Marketers' favorite things about Chicago here (a great blog about citizen media, if you've been living under a rock).

Planning for SXSW - Conferenceeing style

The countdown has begun for SXSW-ers.  I've been wading through large stacks of event print-outs, maps to bars and various incarnations of my Outlook calendar to try and prepare.

But then I was reminded of Conferenceer (which I signed up for a couple of blue moons ago apparently?):  http://sxsw07.conferenceer.com/

Microformats and happy networking hub and OPML love combine, hopefully making the rest of my trip prep a breeze.  Oh yah, I also have become addicted to Upcoming.org lately for a slew of different reasons.

Email me if you want to meet up for beer! (this means you Metbloggers and social tech geek pals)

Get your geek out! Barcamp Austin is coming!!

BarCampAustin II logo (Black and White), originally uploaded by whurley.

As excited as I am about SXSWi, I'm also quite stoked for the Saturday Barcamp Austin II festivities March 9 - 10 at Bourbon Rocks.  Uhm, so is Robert Scoble really attending?

In a word:  Awesomelymarvelous.  Props to Erica, Whurley and the rest of the gang who most likely never sleeps and eats pieces of the Internet for breakfast.  Check out some photos from last year here.

Wanna' listen? happykatie, sxsw, radio, fun

I'm really excited to be joining Kelsey Ruger on The Business Makers Radio Show this weekend.  We'll be recording tonight with hosts Russ Capper and John Beddow and should be on the air Saturday.

This will be the first time to flex my radio muscles and here are my biggest worries:

• Will I be an 'uhm-er'?
• Will a freak of nature accident suddenly render me speechless after my introduction?
• Will my 'radio voice' sound like those college radio station dj's who sound like they have recently overdosed on their anti-depressant prescriptions?
• What if I forget my name?  If I have to make one up, will I come up with a good one?!?
• Will the theme song for our show be catchy and enjoyable?
• Will I be scorned for sneezing on a host?

Kelsey and I will be discussing our experiences at the SXSW Interactive festival and basic online trends.  There were certainly some recurring themes in a lot of the sessions and in hallway conversations - so we really do have lots to talk about.   

There were also a lot of hair and fashion trends (hello man purses and ironic web-centric t-shirts!!).  I wonder which we will focus on.   Hmmm.... heh.

Don't forget to check out the SXSW Interactive podcasts, so you can catch up with the geekiness.  Also, don't forget to check out the Business Makers' podcast archives so you can hear my squeaky voice and be educated by Kelsey on the finer points of web accessibility and social responsibility.

Long live the Internet.

Meat Parade (a double entendre)

First of all, check out this very cool hopeful novel/animation site called Meat Land.

MEAT + LOVE + FAMILY + HISTORY + TRADITION + POWER + DEATH + TRUTH

In this secluded town, fresh meat is held in high regard. It has always been this way. Back when the valley was first settled, everyone lived on their own farms and were self-sufficient. As the population grew, the farms fused together, were bought and sold, split up into housing plots, cleared away for roads and high-rises. The farmers are gone, but they are survived by their descendents. Citizens that, despite the urbanization, hang onto the tradition of raising and slaughtering their own meat.

MEATLAND is slaughtering equipment store. The town is run by BEARS.

******  On a rather different note, we are way stoked about attending tonight's Suicide Girls burlesque show.  Should be a tassle-spinning good time.