Unofficial SXSW 2014 Parties You Should RSVP To

Jay-Z at Austin City Limits Live ACL Live 2012 SXSW
RSVP to many events. Then roll with it. You might end up front and center like this (Jay-Z at ACL Live, SXSW 2012).

SXSW Interactive is one of the most attended conferences of the year for tech and media types, with 30,000 conference participants flooding Austin. But in recent years, the cost of an official interactive badge has gone up considerably and many are attending unofficial SXSW parties and related events that do not require badges. For people who have never attended SXSWi, it’s good to go with a badge at least one year — the depth and breadth of content discussed across hundreds of panels and sessions can be as valuable and high quality as the networking you’ll do. However, it gets redundant year after year. In past years I’ve attended the music portion of SXSW as well — this is incredibly fun and far fewer people spend time in the actual convention center. Why would you with all the amazing day parties and live music showcases across sunny Austin? Here’s a shortlist of unofficial events that I’ve RSVP’d for this year. For more info and discovery of unofficial SXSW parties I recommend Sched.org, do512, and Unofficial SXSW Guide.

Want to meet up in Austin? I’ll be there from March 6-12. Hit me up!

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Two Weeks in Belize (Photos)

Palapa in Belize

sunrise at ak'bol yoga retreat san pedro belize ambergris caye

Late last year I found a two solid weeks to travel in a country that I’ve never visited and I’m very happy to have chosen Belize. I LOVE traveling and I feel unfulfilled if I go a certain period of time without extensive travel, preferably internationally. This was my first such solo adventure since 2007-2008 when I used up my vacation days (thanks Warner/Chappell) to go to Argentina and Chile. I wanted to explore, and get in some adventure along with some quality relaxation and recharging after an exciting but jam-packed quarter running social for The X Factor (among other things).

Belize was an amazing country to visit and I had an incredible experience first near near San Pedro on Ambergris Caye and then in the jungle and at Tikal in Guatemala before rounding out my visit on the paradisical Placencia peninsula.

Read about my travels in the following photo essay (Click on a photo to view captions and scroll through as slideshow). Special thanks to Milio and Kirsten at Ak’Bol on Ambergris Caye and to Paradise Resort in Placencia.

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PHOTOS: Iowa City in the Rocky Mountains

Spent a long weekend in the Rockies with many of my best friends, most of whom I lived with in a big house in Iowa City during college. Our second 106 reunion (106 N Governor was the address of the house) was incredibly fun: great hiking, awesome weather, and good times catching up with old friends as if a day hadn’t passed since the last time we were all together — 3 years prior in Oregon.
[nggallery id=7]Click on photos to embiggen or to view as slideshow. Or view on Flickr.

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Crowdsourced Mobile App Waze, ABC7 to Help Angelenos Beat Carmageddon

kabc and waze beat carmageddonCrowdsourced social mobile traffic app Waze‘s partnership with KABC-TV hit the wires this morning (press release below / Techmeme link).

Here’s the story and video from ABC7. WSJNYTReuters, and Fast Company are already on it. Video and press assets can be found here. Some other goodies:
Carmageddon promo
Carmageddon Resistance

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