Our fourth informal get-together to discuss style, CSS, web standards, and other über geek topics will be this Thursday, May 22 at Atlas Cafe in the Mission. In addition to what Tantek mentions, I’ve been thinking about independent projects, like the CSS Zen Garden, which cross disciplines and show off the power of beautiful design and efficient coding, and could also create interesting discussion. Join us if you can.

Via tonight’s episode of Food Network’s Unwrapped, the Society of Design Administration (SDA) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) founded a creative and worthwhile design competition held in multiple U.S. cities each year called CANSTRUCTION®. [Caution: a poorly implemented browser detection script and redirect on their index page causes a trapdoor effect in some browsers, preventing normal use of the back button.] From their mission statement:

CANSTRUCTION® combines the competitive spirit of a design/build competition with a unique way to help feed hungry people. Competing teams, lead by architects and engineers, showcase their talents by designing giant sculptures made entirely out of canned foods. At the close of the exhibitions all of the food used in the structures is donated to local food banks for distribution to pantries, shelters, soup kitchens, elderly and day care centers.

Clever thinking and volunteer efforts from organizations like this deserve recognition, attention, and consideration.

Sitting down where we please. Foaming at the mouth. Blood pumping through our veins. Well, ok. Probably not quite what you’ve been seeing happen in San Francisco over the last few days. More like a distraction to get our minds away from what’s happening here for a brief bit. Eric will be in town starting this weekend. Assuming none of us have been arrested for innocently walking down a sidewalk, we thought it appropriate to gather in the Haight for our third — yet unnamed — caffeine-assisted discussion about style, standards, design, and blogging, etc.

Tantek discovered another open wifi network at Rockin’ Java. The three of us, and any other friendly folk who’d like to join us, will be there this Sunday (March 23) from 2pm until whenever. So far, our first two gatherings have been small and informal, with discussion floating freely to whatever we deem appropriate or interesting. We expect this one to follow suit.

I’ve posted a set of pictures from South by Southwest last week in Austin. I was slightly disappointed I didn’t snap more pictures, despite the fact that I had a really small camera which went everywhere with me. I was more disappointed in the quality of photos from the Sony Cyber-shot U20. Particularly with color and an over-emphasized red-eye effect in low-light conditions. Thus, the reason for playing around with the color for each of the SxSW thumbnails.

Most everyone seems to agree, despite the economic downturn and possibly a smaller attendance at the Interactive portion of the conference, this year was definitely a fun one.

As SXSW Interactive wraps up today, I find myself feeling like a kid again. A kid at the amusement park who realizes there’s only an hour left until the place closes, the rides stop, and everyone goes home. It feels like depression. But I know it’s only because the high is coming to an end, and reality will soon slip back into place. continued

In two days, I’ll be one of the many flocking to Austin for South by Southwest, in part, due to Tantek‘s generosity. No speaking engagements — I’ll just be waiting patiently in the audience for chances to heckle the few speakers I know. If you’re attending the event, make sure to say hi. I’m looking forward to meeting a lot of people whom I only know via digital ink.

Unfortunately, my flight isn’t arriving on Saturday in time to join the kickoff game of KICK. But if you’re there, be sure to join in. Either by playing or spectating. And if you’re into storytelling and open mic, check out Fray Cafe 3 on Sunday night.

The second informal gathering in San Francisco, similar to the first one we pulled together last December, is happening this week. Rather than rephrase what he’s already written, I’ll just crib Tantek Çelik’s explanation and place it here:

Douglas Bowman [that’s me] and I [that’s Tantek] will be holding the second irregular early evening get together to chat about web stuff, semantics, structure, style this Tuesday, February 4th, from 6 to 8pm. What with the recent drama about XHTML2, nearly everyone restyling their blogs, and other recent events, there will be no shortage of topics.

Location: a friend’s house in the Mission district. Send one of us a message for details.

You, a doorway to the W3C, and your valid, user-centered design full of intrigue, aesthetic appeal, and inspiration. All potentially part of wthremix: an independent contest challenging creative types to redesign the W3C’s recently revamped homepage. Think you can muster up a better first impression and access point for everything the W3C offers and represents? Here’s your chance to prove it.

Since MTM/SF in October, Tantek and I have been batting around the idea of holding an informal discussion about style, blogs, workarounds, etc. at a local cafe here in San Francisco. Preferably with free wifi. And space to flip our laptops around to show cool experiments we’re working on. Or projects by others that have provided inspiration. If you live in the City or the general Bay Area, or even happen to be in town visiting, you’re welcome to join us in the discussion or even just partake in a warm latte in a friendly neighborhood. continued

At the very last minute, I gave in to an urge to head down to tonight’s monthly BayCHI program. Ironically enough, I ended up driving down to Palo Alto with Peterme of Adaptive Path and Erika Hall from Mule Design. I had just spent some time visiting Mule’s site last night for the first time. Some of Erika’s simple, to-the-point writing helped spawn yesterday’s post about simplifying writing style. continued