g.wygonik's old home on the web

Finally coming up for air after being deep in work.

To start with, a site that I've been working on for a couple months went into "beta" mode and is publicly available online -- Around the World For Free. A Flash-based social network revolving around Alex Boylan (winner of Amazing Race Season 2) traveling around the world with nothing but the clothes on his back (and Zsolt, who's the producer/cameraman/editor/et al). Alex's success or failure will depend upon the interaction with people all around the world via the website. It's a pretty interesting concept and he seems like he'll be able to pull it off (or at least make for engaging video updates).

The site makes use of Yahoo Maps for Flash which has made this one a really fun and sometimes frustrating project. We have a long way to go to get the functionality we envision working correctly, but there's something simply cool about being able to show all the people in the on-screen map area who are signed up, and jump to their profile, their user-generated media, their friends, etc. It's much deeper than it appears at first-glance.

Recently my boss came to town to have meetings with Alex and Burton Roberts (from Survivor - Pearl Islands) to pitch Around the World For Free to some sponsors. After their meetings they all came back to my house! It was kind-of strange having three reality TV stars sitting in my living room. Luckily I lost most of my ability to be "star struck" a long time ago, so there was no making a fool of myself or anything.

A while back I had posted asking if anyone knew of good photography sites for dealing with stock work, as my wife was looking for an outlet. Well, a couple years later, I recently saw a mention of PhotoShelter. I read some good things about them, looked them over and there was just something about them that seemed better than some of the "old standards"; much more "hip" and seemingly more in-line with our 30-something, tech-oriented, "Web 2.0" lifestyle. So, she took the plunge and is setting up her site there. You can take a look-see at what she's uploaded so-far, but I know it will take some time to upload everything. (I do wish TimeWarner would boost upload speed from the so 2001-ish 384k. Even 1Mbit at this point would be heaven! )

On a more personal note (for family, friends, anyone who cares), we set up a LiveJournal account to act as a "garden diary". Since we have never gardened in Texas before, it seemed like an easy way to keep track of what worked, what didn't, and to interact with others in the area who have more region-specific experience. Most everything we planted did well, but some things were just "off". It also allows for some pretty pictures of vegetables. Check it out.