OMG! Like, I got this email message today? From my new BFF Nina? Who says we’re included in a list of Top 5 Blogs in Portland? Squee!

(Okay, done channeling my long-suppressed inner pre-teen…fairly squickalicious, isn’t she??)

Here’s the email excerpt:

We analyzed data from over 4,000 blogs that provide feeds to the Outside.in site, and based on variables that included total number of posts, location of posts, links from other sites in the community identified Our PDX Network as a top blog in the Portland area.

Read it for yourself, won’t you?

Don’t know about Outside.in? The site takes hyperlocal-ism to a whole new dimension, promising to “track news, views, and conversations in 11,860 towns and neighborhoods.” In fact, they’ve geotagged most of our posts down to the PDX neighborhood level (or you can search by zipcode.)

Want to see how you stack up when compared to other bloggers writing about a specific neighborhood? As this map shows, we’re just run of the mill when it comes to covering The Pearl, but dominant downtown or in parts of SE.

And I definitely need to spend more time playing with the GeoToolkit features.

So, thanks Outside.in (and those who’ve been linking to us.) We hope to keep it up in the months to come…!

Finally, if you’re really into doing more with geography, consider registering for WhereCamp Portland this weekend.

Yes, it’s our beloved Betsy’s birthday. Besides announcing to the whole wide world that she’s now fuh-fuh-sumthin’-sumthin’ years old, I thought I should do something nice, so I made bourbon chicken. Is that the same as stewed chicken?

I can’t promise barnyard animals, but a bunch of us two-legged critters will be gathering for her birthday party, cleverly disguised as a blogger’s meet-up, and you’re invited! It’s at Green Dragon, SE 8th and Belmont, kicking off around 5 PM. Remember, it’s always five o’clock somewhere, so feel free to start early. ;)-

Happy birthday, Betsy. Thanks for creating this forum and sharing it with us. I’d go on and on about how great I think you are, but I’ve got a drunken rubber chicken to tend to. He’s not making any noise, but he won’t stop playing with his pecker…

In the last week or so, we’ve added four great new authors to the OurPDX family: Capricious, Metroknow, Aaron and FlexRex.

Woo-hoo—new blood! Please join me in welcoming them, will you?

And if you want to hang with us OurPDX authors (although my teenage son tells me the correct term is ‘kick it’, not ‘hang’, which is ‘sooooooo lame, MoooOOOOOOM’), we’ll be at the Green Dragon next Wednesday for our author/reader meetup. Get details & let us know you’re coming via this Upcoming page…

If you happened to see my presentation Saturday at WordCamp Portland, here’s my companion post with links to the slideshow, the UStream video, and the resources I referenced during the talk itself:

Slideshow is up on Slideshare (without fancy transitions, sorry - couldn’t preserve the Keynote ‘bling’ added by my 10-year-old):

Video is up on UStream (thanks, Dale Chumbley!):

Ten Commandments for Group Bloggers (as written by the OurPDX authors):

Shalts:
1. Thou shalt bloggeth what you knoweth
2. Thou shalt always read each other’s posts
3. Thou shalt respect those who call ‘dibs’ on posts
4. Thou shalt always give credit where credit is due
5. Thou shalt comment, comment, comment

Shalt Nots:

6. Thou shalt not judge the value of a post by the number of comments it generates
7. Thou shalt not obsess about page views. (Just worry about content.)
8. Thou shalt not link every post back to your own blog
9. Thou shalt not ever pick fights with your co-authors
10. Thou shalt not engage with the asshats

Theme:

I’m a huge fan of Justin Tadlock’s work, including the Structure theme - learn more here.

Plugins:

• Blogroll Links
• flickrRSS
• Fresh Comments widget
• Maintenance Mode
• SRG Clean Archives
• Subscribe To Comments
• Wordpress Automatic Upgrade
• WP-OpenID
• WPtouch iPhone Theme

And thank you to my most enthusiastic WordCamp Portland audience! (more about Word Camp tomorrow…)

Just a reminder: We’ll be hanging out at The Chesterfield from 5 pm on tonight. Look for us up on the 2nd Floor in/near the pod (if we’re lucky) or downstairs.

We’re springing for some appetizers, but you’re on your own for beverages (yep, we’re still a ‘kids in the barn’ operation with negative cashflow, sorry.)

To help facilitate mingling, I’ll be hovering on the perimeter looking to drag lurkers and/or shy folks into our orbit (just look for the large short woman in the bright purple top as your marker)!

Details:

The Chesterfield
1101 E Burnside St
map

See you then!