Here is a short video tour of my current office setup. It consists of a Macbook, a Dell 21-inch widescreen monitor, some external hard drives, and a few iPods all on a desk from IKEA. I’ve also got my art desk (which I need to use much more often than I am currently). And don’t forget, my new office used to be filled with blue elephants.

If you can’t do video – perhaps you can take a few snapshots and post those. Whatever works best!

[tags]office, desk, ikea, viddler, 9rules, video, tour, macintosh, apple, macbook, dell, monitor, ipod, external hard drive, watercolor, art, colin devroe[/tags]
[slug]office-tour-video[/slug]

I am not a huge boxing fan (since I don’t watch boxing all that much I wouldn’t want to call myself a fan for fear of being ridiculed) but I am a fan of Muhammad Ali, and his boxing style and career. When I read Paul’s entry about the redesign, and when he referred to it as Ali, I got a little bit frightened. Would the new site hold a candle to my thoughts on Ali?

Being that I am familiar with the system that runs 9rules (which I’m sure, from what I’m seeing now, has been improved 10-fold since my tenure) I know that an enormous amount of hard work went into creating this iteration of the site. Style, layout, and panache aside – the underpinnings of the new 9rules.com is a monumental upgrade from the previous code-base which was a mashup of the incredibly crappy code I wrote while I was there and Mike Rundle trying to patch said crap. I’d be willing to wager that only a small percentage, or almost none-at-all, of the code that I wrote is still in use at 9rules (which is a blessing for them, trust me).

In other words: the 9rules team did as Ali taught: “I run on the road, long before I dance under the lights.” They were willing to go back to the “drawing board” to rebuild their architecture simply to make it more manageable, faster, and more stable. And really this is something the general public, or any of their members for that matter, wouldn’t have noticed – but this is exactly what they should have done. And from what I’ve seen so far they’ve accomplished what they set out to do.

So, does it hold a candle to my thoughts on Ali? Actually – it blew the candle right out. I’m really impressed by this accomplishment.

Take a look around the new 9rules. I think you will like what you see. Register for an account so that you can take advantage of notes (which got a huge shot of nitro in this release) and my.9rules (which is brand-new) – which are teeming with life right now. Oh and don’t forget to play around with topics, which is a feature that 9rules has wanted to do for quite awhile and I think they pulled it off really well. I’ve been messing around in the apple topic all morning.

Kudos Paul, Mike, and Tyme. You guys are class acts and 9rules Ali is really great. I recommend everyone buying these guys a drink, or a milk for Mike, at SXSW.

To leave you with another quote from Ali, that I feel applies to the 9rules team: “Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill. “

[tags]9rules, paul scrivens, mike rundle, tyme white, redesign, muhammad ali, blogging, community, social network, web design, thoughts[/tags]
[slug]9rules-Ali[/slug]

[tags]Paul Scrivens, Tyme White, 9rules, podcast, scrivstyme[/tags]

I’m sad for 9rules.com

For those that do not know, 9rules.com is currently down due to a mishap at our registrar. Please know it is being worked on – and I’ll try to keep you updated from here.

Update 8:28am EST: Oh, please help spread that news that 9rules is not closing its doors or anything. I can’t tell you how many emails I’ve gotten so far asking if we’ve packed it in. We most definitely have not.

Update 8:32am EST: If you have anything pressing to get through to anyone at 9rules – simply contact me, and I will make sure it gets to the right 9rules team member.

Update 9:12am EST: For those that email/IM me asking “Who is at fault for this?”; we here at 9rules have a don’t ask, don’t tell, and don’t blame policy. So if you are looking for someone to blame for this whole thing – you can blame me – if that sorta thing makes you feel better.

Update 10:31am EST: 9rules.com is back up! Thanks for all the support.

More to come…

[tags]9rules, domain, registrar, expired[/tags]

Side note: The team at Media Temple called me the very moment they knew something was up. Talk about service, these guys are great.

From what I’ve been able to determine, this effected all of Media Temple (mt) and DreamHost, as well as several smaller hosts (obviously those that resell for the above).

It is Friday night anyways. Go out, grab a beer, and watch some fireworks. That is what I am going to do.

Update: – We’re up and running.

[tags]9rules, media temple, mt, dreamhost, hosting, downtime, power outage[/tags]

Compare my video to Paul Scrivens’ video, and you’ll understand.

[tags]9rules, dancing, video, fun[/tags]