Looking forward to making new friends and renewing acquaintances at WordCamp Orange County 2011 this weekend held on the campus of Chapman College. The event is sold out and begins Saturday with all-day schedule with 3 different tracks, Beginners, Advance and Business.  Although the event is sold out, the sessions will be streamed live on the Internet. You can check out the schedule and find the video stream links at the Official WordCamp Orange County 2011 Web site.

I will be speaking on the topic of “Social Media: Valuable or Just Annoying?” as part of the USC South Orange County Lunch & Learn Speaker Series on January 19, 2011 at the USC Orange County Center in Irvine (near the OC/John Wayne Airport).

The time is from 11:30 AM to 1:15 PM and lunch is included. For details and to register, please visit the SOCTrojans.com Web site. Seating is limited so please register ASAP.

He’s making a list and checking it twice…

And he’ll be in Huntington Beach on Sunday, December 5th at an annual “Meet Santa” event sponsored by my good friend Barbara Delgleize who is  a broker with RE/MAX Select One in Huntington Beach.

Every year Barbara invites her community, friends and families to greet and have their picture taken with Santa. I’ve been honored to be the photographer at these events and it’s always a thrill to see the excitement and smiles of the children as they meet Santa and tell him their “Christmas list.”

If you’re in Orange County and would like to have Santa at your party, special event or to schedule a home visit, check out SurfCitySanta.com and talk to my friend John Prusa he’ll get you setup.

And Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of our clients, friends and families.

- Mark

Just got back from a full-day of RE Barcamp OC sessions held on the campus of the University of California, Irvine. Large attendance, info-packed sessions, great conversations and ideas were the takeaways from the event. The event started at 8:30 AM and concluded officially at 4:30 PM, but the after-event ‘discussions’ continued in the UCI Anteaster Pub & Grille until early evening. (And this is the reason my full report with photos will be coming tomorrow!

The final preparations begin tonight for the Musical Theater of Orange County’s production of Disney’s Beauty & the Beast at the beautiful Nechita Center for the Performing Arts, in Orange, California. Opening night is Friday, July 23rd, but tonight is the beginning of “Tech Week” as the MTOC “Crew Monkeys” (of which I am a proud volunteer member) begin to ‘load in’ and assemble the massive production set that we’ve been building for the past few months.

My son, Michael Burrell, a sophomore at Orange Lutheran High School and veteran of numerous musical theater productions, is cast in the role of Lumiere. This is a role he has played once before garnering outstanding reviews. I can’t wait to see his performance with the MTOC.

This is will be a great show with a talented cast and a wonderful family experience for those who attend. We have several participants from the ‘Disney family’ included as directors, technical production crew and current and former cast members to bring the “Disney Magic” to our production.

This is the full-length musical theater production of Disney’s Beauty & the Beast as presented on Broadway, not an abbreviated version that may have been seen at the Disneyland Theme parks. If you are in the greater Orange County area for the next two weeks, you should add this event to your schedule. It will be an enjoyable evening or afternoon (matinees on Sunday!) for those who enjoy the wonder of live theater!

I’ll be posting some photos along the way to show how we’re doing. Anyway, that’s all for now and I’m off to the theater!