A Blog Not Limited

After months of keeping mum, I'm thrilled to shout to the rooftops that I'm joining Lea Alcantara as a co-host of the EE Podcast!

If you haven't heard of the podcast, it's a bi-weekly podcast about web design and development, with a focus on ExpressionEngine. It was founded back in 2009 by the legendary Ryan Irelan and hosted by the equally legendary Dan Benjamin and 5by5 Studios. Lea joined as co-host last year.

Earlier this year, Ryan decided to pass the torch officially to Lea. And then Lea somehow got the crazy idea to invite me to co-host with her. The rest is history we will soon be making.

Re-Launch

During the past few months, the podcast has been on hiatus, as Lea handled the transition and we planned moving forward. Today, the podcast relaunches, along with a sexy new site that Lea designed and I built out. And it really is quite hawt … a friend of mine astutely commented upon seeing it: I want to fuck that page.

Our first episode, #46 tEEching, focuses on educational resources for ExpressionEngine, and Lea's and my experiences as teachers. We also announce the winner of the "Guess the CoHost Contest" (congratulations John Henry Donovan!)

Contest?

Speaking of the contest, I have to tip my hat to Lea for the idea: a series of clues about the "mystery co-host"announced each day during the two weeks preceding the relaunch. Correct guesses were entered in a raffle for a sweet Mijingo bundle and a ticket to EECI2011 (another tip o' the hat to our prize sponsors).

For posterity's sake (and my own amusement), here were the clues:

• Addicted to sushi
• 6th grade backgammon champion (an accomplishment I'm still proud of today)
• Aspiring archer (which reminds me: I need to get to the range soon)
• Gets geeky about web standards
• Tambourine Master in RB3 (legendary, I know)
• Spent a summer in college traveling up and down the East Coast, following Phish (so much fun … at least what I remember)
• Makes a mean roast chicken
• Too fond of beer, not fond enough of exercising
• Loves cats... most of the time
• Won their high school science fair and won the Botany category in the county science fair, '91 (yep I'm that old)
• Enjoys recreational reading about serial killers (just re-read The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers for the millionth time)
• Is an instructor and a teacher
• Runs an Adobe User Group
• Wears glasses (I have over 10 pairs!)
• Published author and writes for several industry publications
• Has an affinity for tattoos (understatement)
• Is female

Refresh

Along with the new co-host (that would be me, if you're slow), there are a few other changes for the EE Podcast:

• We have an editorial calendar, so we are planning out episodes and topics for several weeks out. Subscribe to our Google Calendar to stay up–to–date.
• We've moved all our archived episodes from 5by5 and are now hosted by the fantabulous EngineHosting, who is one of our partners
• We also are lucky to have EllisLab and devot:ee as partners
• Pixel & Tonic is our major sponsor for the year (and we are accepting other sponsorships for the site and individual episodes)

We are also introducing two regular, short segments: "Focus on Fundamentals" and "Unsung Heroes". In the first, we'll take a fundamental topic about HTML, CSS, EE, etc. and discuss it in detail for a few minutes and provide resources to learn more. In the second, we want to highlight EE folks who aren't as well known in our little community, but who are doing fantastic work with EE.

While we won't necessarily feature one of these segments on every episode, they will be recurring.

If all that isn't enough for you, head on over to Lea's write-up about the re-launch and then be sure to listen to our inaugural episode.

Personal Note

I'm so very excited to have this opportunity! The EE community is like no other, and to have a chance to give back to this fabulous community is a privilege. I'm so honored that Lea asked me to participate.

As much as I love feeding my passion for sharing knowledge, I'm beyond stoked about the potential for me to learn. It is rare for me to have dedicated time to get up–to–speed on the latest news about EE and good resources for design and development. Co-hosting the EE Podcast is nothing but win-win.

My Geek Crush

On an even more personal note, I totally have an even bigger geek crush on Lea than I did before getting a chance to work with her. I've always admired her work and she's a great public speaker, but it turns out she is extremely detail-oriented and organized. As a similarly-inclined person, it is such a pleasure to work with her.

I'm excited to not only work with her as we finish development on the site, but as we take this podcast in an exciting new direction!

Please be sure to tune in! Subscribe to our RSS or listen on iTunes.