Old Reminders

Seven Years Without Pants

I recently passed my seventh anniversary as an Automattician. That’s more than one fifth of my life.

We’re going to hit 200 employees very soon. That’s more than five times my age.

Coincidence? Almost certainly.

One of those seven years was definitely coincident, though, with working closely with someone who would have been one of those 200 people if only he hadn’t decided Automattic was too cool for him.

You can learn all about that voyage of discovery in his new book:

To research how distributed companies work, Scott Berkun joined Automattic in 2010 and led the company’s newly formed Team Social, where Andy, Beau, and I caused as much trouble as possible. The fruit of that research is The Year Without Pants, which strikes a nice balance between exposing the skeletons in Team Social’s closet (including the sordid affairs of one Michael D Adams) and documenting how Automatticians communicate and get things done.

Even if you’re not interested in those hot mdawaffe pics, you should check it out for the insider’s view of Automattic’s culture.

And speaking of hot mdawaffe pics:

Raanan and I surprised Scott at his Launch Party. It was great seeing Scott again and helping him ring in the new book with style.

I’m pretty sure the party was only the eighth time Scott and I had ever met in meatspace (a.k.a. “real life”). A good friend, my former boss, and a formative teacher of mine, Scott and I have only ever seen each other eight times. If you don’t understand how that’s possible, read the book.

PS: We’re hiring.

Astronaut Candidacy

I got a letter from NASA today.

A thin one 😦

Congratulations to the super talented new Astronaut Candidates. I’m really excited for you all 🙂

Update/PS: Just so we’re clear, a thin letter is a rejection letter. I am not an Astronaut Candidate.

Boulder, CO

Civics

This gallery contains 2 photos.

In LA County, “jury duty” is known as “jury service”. Let’s rebrand voting too. Civic Duty → Civic Privilege

Why Are You Not Watching the Paralympics?

PS: I love, love, love the commentator.

WordCamp OC: REST/JSON API Slides

Here’s the slides for my WordCamp OC 2012 presentation.

My previous post has several links and examples.

WordCamp OC: REST/JSON API Talk

I’m speaking at WordCamp Orange County 2012 today about WordPress’ core HTTP APIs and WordPress.com’s REST API.

This post has a bunch of links and examples for the attendees to reference later.

Click the “Pages” links below to find everything.

Update: Slides are up.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

Automattic 5k in Victorville, CA

Michelle and I did our 5+k a day or two early, and all we got were these geocaches.

To complete the 30 YEARS OF PACMAN and The Smiley Series geocaching “geoart” series, we:

• Walked 14 miles in the desert,
• Found 57 geocaches,
• Suffered 95°F heat, and
• Drank one metric ton of water.

Automattic 5k in Pasadena, CA

Michelle and I walked our part of Automattic’s Worldwide WP 5k this afternoon.

Interestingly, despite the hundreds (thousands?) of people doing the 5k, “our part” was still five kilometers long. You’d think we could have split it up better or something.