Welcoming 2007, a look back at 2006
Seeing as though today is the last 1st day of the 2006 year, I felt it would only be fitting to look back at everything that I’ve experienced, accomplish, and or discovered over the past year while carrying the domain 5thirtyone.com.
I can safely say that the move to a self-hosted blog and the decision to make a move towards internet entrepreneurship opened up a considerable number of networking, blogging, and professional & freelance opportunities.
The ever popular ack MySpace related tutorials [1, 2, 3, & 4] and releases [1 & 2] lead to my eventual contract with TagWorld. A valuable first experience working with a social network startup which opened my eyes to how this social web worked. Someone once asked me how I brought in my first wave of steady referral traffic. There’s no denying that much of my initial traffic originated and continues to amass thanks to a number of MySpace related search engine keywords.
Eventually, I decided to give back to the WordPress community by providing a few publicly available themes available free of charge - Foliage, Foliage Mod, V2, and the special Pink for October release October Special (later optimized with Niel).
Networking continued throughout 2006 which provided me with the opportunity to meet Mr. Noah Kagan, a walking genius by the name of Andrew Chen, as well as a number of other internet “geeks” om the flesh reminding me that a) we’re all normal “looking”, b) there’s no shame in admitting that you’re a “blogger”, or c) geek is cool, just not the same cool that others may relate or associate with.
Sometime late last month, I realized that rants online are noticed. If you’re lucky enough, and a New York Times editor is interested, they’ll stumble upon your post about missing out on this years hard-to-get gaming console and include you in their NYTimes Technology article. It’s a completely different vibe seeing your name printed on actual paper rather than reposted and published / pushed through the inter-tubes. Concerning the brouhaha surrounding the discolored MacBooks, Apple, I still love you.
After a number of freelance projects, I accepted an opportunity to work with an outstanding web team parented by Mediaguide and 3Bubbles. Expect to hear more about progress and news throughout the early part of 2007.
As I am sure many others can relate, 2006 felt like a blip on a the radar. Farewell to ‘06, and welcome 2007. May this year be as strong as the last. Wishing all the 5thirtyone.com readers all the best during 2007. Always curious about where readers are referred from, feel free to drop a comment and let me know where, how, and when you happened to hear about 5thirtyone.com. What are you expectations for the 2007 year?
If you’re looking for additional geekery online, check out UNEASYsilence (new design launched as well).
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Andre
winnopeg.com
I had found your site on and off through Digg and 9rules… But it wasn’t until your post about IconBuffet that I decided to bookmark it. I must say that I’m rather glad I did.
Jan 2nd, 2007 Quote
Phil Bowell
phil.electricweekend.com
I don’t remember how I found your site, I believe it was at the time of Foliage or Foliage Mod. I remember liking the design rather a lot and enjoyed visiting the site because of it so I grabbed your feed.
Jan 2nd, 2007 Quote
tom
wish you a very nice new year derek, good luck, suxxes and lucky moments with those persons who are with you!
i found you with wordpress, browsing the theme-contest of the wordpress community. i liked the way you wrote about design, the way you supported your themes and this nice mix between hard- and software. im very new to the apple world, but im interessted in all new things out there.
and so i bookmarked this page. in 2007 i hope i will finish my clauses (1+), see my family again and get more skilled with css and photoshop to start my own design a digitaldream ( hope so ).
Jan 2nd, 2007 Quote
Mike
I found your myspace profile in a comment on mikeindustries.com which linked to your site and I have been a reader ever since.
Jan 2nd, 2007 Quote
zzap
zzaps.com
I found your site when looking for a new awesome Wordpress theme — and then I realized how interesting a good your blog posts were. So I added you to my RSS reader and was done with that!
Have a great 2007; and hopefully it *will* be as good as 2006 was for you.
Jan 2nd, 2007 Quote
J David
jdavidmacor.com
I actually found you through your templates. I chose to use V2 and just found my way to your site. It is my theme now, and I couldn’t be happier.
I also wanted to wish you a happy new year! Oh, and start spreading that talent and/or good fortune that lands you all of these great gigs!
Jan 2nd, 2007 Quote
Derek
5thirtyone.com
Ah, so my assumptions as to where my readership originated from was true! Thanks for the comments guys. Again, best wishes throughout the new year.
J David, awesome work making that V2 release a little more “yours”. Very clean. I keep telling myself to go back and update all the themes. Hopefully I’ll get around to doing that sometime in the near future.
Jan 2nd, 2007 Quote
Sam
gosammy.com
I think I finally subscribed to 5thirtyone after finding a wordpress related article through digg. After that I browsed around and found even more goodies like templates, handy OSX tips, and the very interesting lists (I love those!)
I even purchased a pack of Molestine notebooks to replace my ripped up Hilroy notebook after I wondered what a ‘molestine’ was in your colophon. They really are much more durable and handy for when I need to jot down some notes.
I give my accumulative thanks for the goodies, tips, and Happy Belated New Year!
Jan 2nd, 2007 Quote
noah kagan
okdork.com
Andrew gets walking genius and I get “Mr.”
Love,
Noah aka “legal advisor”
PS> Definitely glad I met you this year.
Jan 3rd, 2007 Quote
Joshua
Found your blog back when you were on wordpress.com. Been reading your stuff ever since.
P.S. A belated Happy New Year to you!
Jan 3rd, 2007 Quote
Derek
5thirtyone.com
Ah yes, the WordPress.com days. What a fantastic free blogging service that has matured into. I remember when the invites for the service were a scarcity and ownership of a valuable sub-domain on that service felt like a winning investment for later down the road.
And yes… Noah the illegitimate legal advisor
Jan 3rd, 2007 Quote
A. Abraham
Dear Derek,
I was hoping your technical wizardry could help with this. I copied the Video_TS files off some mates’ DVD’s without disabling the CSS protection on them and stored them on an external hard drive to watch later on DVD Player on my MacBook Pro.
Is there anyway I can disable the Copy Protection on the Video_TS files already on my hard drive without having to start from the original DVD discs as my mate lives in Athens and myself in London!
Hope you have some tips.
Cheers,
A.Abraham
Jan 5th, 2007 Quote
Derek
5thirtyone.com
MacTheRipper is your friend. Last I used it there was an open a video_ts directory.
Jan 5th, 2007 Quote
A. Abraham
Hey Derek,
Cheers for that! I actually just downloaded that but can’t seem to figure out how to open up the Video_Ts file in Mac The Ripper but should be able to figure it out. If you have any step by step tips, they’d be much appreciated buddy.
Again, thanks a lot.
A. Abraham
Jan 5th, 2007 Quote
aaron
iwish
so ive been looking for a good profile editor.. cause ive hated 99% of everthing ive seen… anyway i found you just thought id say your system is awesome and hope its ok for me to use.
Jan 5th, 2007 Quote
~TheAngel~
eeleen.com
Happy New Year!
Jan 5th, 2007 Quote
kevin
kevh.net
Happy that your ‘06 went well, and cheers to a strong ‘07.
Jan 8th, 2007 Quote
C. Wess Daniels
gatheringinlight.com
Love your site Derek, it’s one I visit regularly thanks for keeping it full of useful stuff.
Jan 8th, 2007 Quote