Welcome to everyone checking out my new blog. Currently we are in a “soft launch” status similar to a “beta test.” That means I’m still working on getting a few things set up but I am now at the point where I feel comfortable putting something up to the world besides the “coming soon” page.
There’s a more formal introduction of me and exactly what this blog is about on the about page.
The “meat” of this blog and the main reason for its existence are the LOVIEE posts. LOVIEE stands for Listing Of Very Interesting/Exciting Events. I chose the name because I show my love for the city every time I post one. I also have a thing for cool acronyms. (Who doesn’t?)
The basic format of this blog will be anywhere from 5 to 10 (maybe more) posts per month:
- One monthly LOVIEE posted within the last week of each month, for the month following (for September’s and maybe October’s monthly LOVIEEs this may be slightly amended) — color coded green
- One weekly LOVIEE posted no later than Monday of each week (usually on Monday in the late morning to early afternoon) for the following Tuesday through Monday — color coded pink
- During holiday weeks or for events announced with short notice, the weekly LOVIEEs may be supplemented by special edition LOVIEEs — color coded blue
- Recaps of selected events
- Miscellaneous administrative items
What makes this different from any similar event listings out there, is the participation of you, the readers. If you have a particularly great or particularly lousy time at an event, it’s up to you to fill out the contact form and let me know about it. Each event will have a unique identifier code (something like 09-W35-1 or 09-M08-2) to make it easy for both of us to identify the exact event in question.
There will also be a list of ongoing events that recur weekly. I will post periodic reminders as part of the LOVIEEs to check this list.
More details will follow and/or be posted to the information pages.
Houstonist and Houston Press both have web sites with lists of events, and there are probably many other interest-specific event lists (geekish, artsy, music, etc.) Why reinvent the wheel?
If you want to be unique, consider setting up a Google Calendar with all these events listed; people could see your events on their calendar through sharing. Google has some advantages: setting up recurring events, like the monthly Geek Gathering is a one-shot deal. And you can share editing responsibilities for the calendar so you can let other folks chip in some of the work. I bet there’s no Google calendar for Houston events yet.
I’m not reinventing the wheel. The Houston Press list, in particular, wasn’t selective enough last time I looked at it. And most things posted to Houstonist are posted either day of or on Friday in advance of the weekend, which really plays heck with trying to make out plans for the week in advance.
Google Calendar is not without its disadvantages: I don’t control my data, Google does. If Google decides they want to shut me down, I’m shut down. I can’t have that. Also, I’m very limited on what I can do as far as design if I rely on a Google Calendar; not what I want.
You’ll get a better idea of just how well this works as the days go on. I have a (so far relatively light) weekly LOVIEE post in the pipe for Monday; some of the behind-the-scenes design work will come to the front at that time.
I’m not suggesting that you replace this blog with Google, but that you augment it with a Google calendar. Some people like me prefer to look at event schedule in calendar form. And Google’s not going to shut you down, unless maybe you’re using your calendar to schedule cocaine shipments. That’s just paranoid.
Like the theme, except for the bold font. Not very easy on the eyes.
I may augment it with some kind of home-grown calendar, probably not anything hosted by Google or, for that matter, by any additional third parties.
The theme is still being tweaked and probably will be until (and even some time after) the wide launch on 2009-10-05. More on that in an upcoming post.