New owner introduction...

[Andy R]

Hey everyone,

I am Andy and I just acquired DF from Geoff. I have been managing forum communities for the last 4 years and have a strong passion for learning from each community and passing on some 'best practices' from each. I have a little company (I am the only employee) that currently owns 7 forums sites. The company is named after a concept I basing it on. The concept is the fact that most successful knowledge networks are focused around a topic that the members have a similar interest in. Above and beyond the fact members share so much knowledge there is also a social aspect. So I called my company Social Knowledge.

It;s going to take some time to get to know everyone. Along with this acqusition I have a lot of other stuff going on in my life right now. I just quit my day job and am going to work from Buenos Aires, Argentina for the rest of the year to reduce my living expenses. I will have a 1Mb internet connection and my Vonage phone will keep me connected to the states during that time. While I am there I will be focusing only on the forums I currently own. I will be working with the members and learning about tools or solutions I can build to connect the members that are already here for a reason. For example it might be a tool for posting your work out and you could see how much was lifted by all DF members. Just an idea, but I bet you all have lots of other ideas we can add. A photo gallery, link system and content management system (portal) will be added to help display all the great info in new ways...

Also, I plan to post about my workout routine including goals, results, etc... So hopfully I will learn a ton just by participating.

I know change can be difficult and I promise to keep an open ear and please post questions here or PM me.

[threenorns]

yo.

buenos aires, eh? "to reduce living expenses" - i gotta remember that one...

[CF-OC_gal]

Cool!

(15 characters)

[Gooseneck]

Glad to have ya Andy, hope we can be of some help if needed.

[Andy R]

Originally Posted by threenorns

buenos aires, eh? "to reduce living expenses" - i gotta remember that one.

Seriously, who would have thought. I was condsidering going to India before I rean across this list. After their 2001 financial debacle, the US dollar goes a long way. My monthly living expenses will be at least 1/3 less then Dallas.

Notice Buenos Aires at the bottom of the list.

Source: Mercer Human Resource Consulting, 2004 Cost-of-Living Survey 2004

Rank City
1 Tokyo, Japan
2 London, UK
3 Moscow, Russia
4 Osaka, Japan
5 Hong Kong
6 Geneva, Switzerland
7 Seoul, South Korea
8 Copenhagen, Denmark
9 Zürich, Switzerland
10 St. Petersburg, Russia
11 Beijing, China
12 New York City, USA
13 Milan, Italy
14 Dublin, Ireland
15 Oslo, Norway
16 Shanghai, China
17 Paris, France
18 Istanbul, Turkey
19 Vienna, Austria
20 Sydney, Australia
21 Rome, Italy
22 Stockholm, Sweden
23 Helsinki, Finland
24 Abidjan, Ivory Coast
25 Douala, Cameroon
26 Amsterdam, Netherlands
27 Los Angeles, USA
28 Berlin, Germany
29 Hanoi, Vietnam
30 Shenzhen, China
31 Taipei, Taiwan
32 Guangzhou, China
33 Tel Aviv, Israel
34 Budapest, Hungary
35 Chicago, USA
36 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
37 Beirut, Lebanon
38 San Francisco, USA
39 Luxembourg
40 Düsseldorf, Germany
41 Glasgow, UK
42 Frankfurt, Germany
43 Munich, Germany
44 Bratislava, Slovak Republic
45 Jakarta, Indonesia
46 Singapore
47 Dakar, Senegal
48 Riga, Latvia
49 Prague, Czech Republic
50 Athens, Greece
51 Birmingham, UK
52 White Plains, USA
53 Brussels, Belgium
54 Kiev, Ukraine
55 Miami, USA
56 Barcelona, Spain
57 Honolulu, USA
58 Hamburg, Germany
59 Zagreb, Croatia
60 Algiers, Algeria
61 Madrid, Spain
62 Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
63 Amman, Jordan
64 Kuwait City, Kuwait
65 San Juan, Puerto Rico
66 Casablanca, Morocco
67 Melbourne, Australia
68 Washington, USA
69 Lyon, France
70 Boston, USA
71 Lisbon, Portugal
72 Morristown, USA
73 Houston, USA
74 Almaty, Kazakhstan
75 Tallinn, Estonia
76 Warsaw, Poland
77 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
78 Manama, Bahrain
79 Sofia, Bulgaria
80 Auckland, New Zealand
81 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
82 Ljubljana, Slovenia
83 Dubai, United Arab Emirates
84 Mexico City, Mexico
85 Atlanta, USA
86 Wellington, New Zealand
87 Brisbane, Australia
88 Adelaide, Australia
89 Toronto, Canada
90 Seattle, USA
91 Vilnius, Lithuania
92 St. Louis, USA
93 Leipzig, Germany
94 Perth, Australia
95 Limassol, Cyprus
96 Vancouver, Canada
97 Accra, Ghana
98 Cleveland, USA
99 Cairo, Egypt
100 Denver, USA
101 Detroit, USA
102 Monterrey, Mexico
103 Kingston, Jamaica
104 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
105 Portland, USA
106 Panama City
107 Winston Salem, USA
108 Guatemala City, Guatemala
109 Mumbai, India
110 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
111 Lagos, Nigeria
112 Pittsburgh, USA
113 Montreal, Canada
114 Calgary, Canada
115 Tianjin, China
116 New Delhi, India
117 Dacca (Dhaka), Bangladesh
118 Lima, Peru
119 Bangkok, Thailand
120 Tunis, Tunisia
121 Nairobi, Kenya
122 Tehran, Iran
123 Santiago, Chile
124 Ottawa, Canada
125 Lusaka, Zambia
126 Johannesburg, South Africa
127 Colombo, Sri Lanka
128 São Paulo, Brazil
129 Bucharest, Romania
130 San José, Costa Rica
131 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
132 Karachi, Pakistan
133 Chennai (Madras), India
134 Caracas, Venezuela
135 Blantyre, Malawi
136 Quito, Ecuador
137 Bangalore, India
138 Manila, Philippines
139 Bogota, Colombia
140 Harare, Zimbabwe
141 BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
142 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
143 Montevideo, Uruguay
144 Asunción, Paraguay

[threenorns]

and of course bikinis just didn't factor into it

[cursor]

Welcome to DiscussFitness.com, Andy.

Psst ... the first thing that you can zap it the 'minimum-15-character-per-post' requirement. :

[MostMuscle]

Perhaps opening a few more forums to image linking would be an idea also.

[DaRkAnGel]

Welcome, I was kind of guessing Geoff was gone after he stopped answering my emails.

This should be interesting to see what develops.

[Lift2Live]

Howdy Andy, nice to meet you. I'm sure the folks here will be more than patient with the transfer, it's a good group of people.

[Andy R]

We are going to have a lot of fun evolving DF... including configuration tweaks (mentioned above), a new photo album system (get your cameras ready), links system and more. Most of these features will not be installed untill I get down to Buenos Aires and get settled in my place (mid-August) so look for some evolution to happen after that. I'll post a better schedule as it gets closer.

Checkout the gym I think I am going to join down there:
http://www.megatlon.com/

[Lift2Live]

Sounds like the transition is going to be a fun experience!

If my espanol was better, i'd be able to navigate that site better but it looks pretty decent. Has all the basics and a few whistles. I've always heard Buenos Aries was quite nice, would love to make it there some day. Hope the move goes well.

[threenorns]

Originally Posted by cursor

Welcome to DiscussFitness.com, Andy.

Psst ... the first thing that you can zap it the 'minimum-15-character-per-post' requirement. :

hey: easy way around it - hit the space bar a few hundred times before the final period or smilie. the long string of spaces gets stripped out in the final post.

[Geoff]

Originally Posted by DaRkAnGel

Welcome, I was kind of guessing Geoff was gone after he stopped answering my emails.

Nah, it wasn't that I was gone, it's just that I don't send naked photos of myself no matter how much you beg...

Seriously though, thanks guys for all the support over the years and I'm confident Andy will do a good job here and take the site forward in ways I could have never have dreamt of

[Andy R]

Thanks for the vote of confidence Geoff. I am really looking forward to getting to know everyone at DF better.