The Pulse section is powered by my PdCToday_Dan Twitter feed.  Twitter is a powerful tool for quickly publishing information to a worldwide audience on the web.  There are some very exciting ways you can use The Pulse to follow PdCToday:

• Breaking News – In cases of breaking news, you’ll usually be able to find the latest updates in the Pulse. In addition, each update is timestamped so you’ll know exactly when the latest information was made available.
• Live Blogging – There will be times when PdCToday will post live updates from area events.  This is a great way for you to experience the “feel” of an event, even if you cannot be in attendance.  We will typically post alerts in advance when we plan on Live Blogging at an event.
• Sports Updates – Can’t make it to the big game?  From time to time, we’ll post scoring updates of highly anticipated local games.  Much like Live Blogging, we’ll alert you when we plan on covering a sporting event.
• Behind the Scenes – Often, we’ll post random tidbits that give you a behind-the-scenes look at what we’re working on with PdCToday.com.  We like to operate without a curtain. We encourage your feedback and tips.

The new PdCToday Life section is the home for the latest feature stories.  It may be video from a recent event or a profile and photo gallery of an interesting local personality. This is also where you’ll find opinion pieces by local bloggers.  We’re enjoy contributions by our readers.  If you have photos, video, or any other information that you’d like to share, let us know!

In the last couple of weeks, we’ve really begun to ramp up our video coverage which has included an interview with Governor Jim Doyle, highlights of Cassville’s Twin-o-Rama, and a feature piece on a fundraiser at the Pickett Fence.  The plan is to continue to ramp up this video coverage.  If you enjoy a video that you see on PdCToday.com, tell a friend!  It’s easy to copy the web address (URL) and email the article to anyone.

As mentioned before, we still consider PdCToday.com to be in a “demo” mode.  We feel that we’re getting very close to an official launch. Thanks for finding us early on and being a willing participant in the journey of developing this website into the valuable community resource we expect it to be.  The best is yet to come.

What’s next? Our primary goal is to simply generate more content, meaning more articles, more photos, more video. With this will come an “official” website launch and the start of promotional activities.  Up to this point, we’ve solely existed in this crazy almost-imaginary funland called the internet. We realize that the foundation of PdCToday.com’s future success comes from being active and (physically) visible in the community.

A visit to PdCToday.com should give viewers a snapshot of what is driving conversation and shaping lives in Prairie du Chien and surrounding communities. In addition, it should be a valuable resource with an easily searchable database of past articles and video.

How can  you help us? The power of the internet is it’s ability to allow anyone to distribute their message to a mass audience. If you have an opinion – tell us.  We can post it in a “letter to the editor” style format. If you’re planning an event – give us the details. We know there is no shortage of things to do in the area. We want to help promote these events.  Did something interesting or noteworthy happen to you or someone you know?  Share it with us.  We believe everyone tells a story.

We love feedback. We love interacting with people.  We love this area.  Let us know what you think.

I’m looking forward to what lies ahead for PdCToday.com.  Thanks for coming along with us.

Years ago, when I was in college and working at Culver’s during the summer, Rendezvous weekend was the time store records were regularly set.  Many area businesses benefit from one of Prairie du Chien’s signature events.

The Chamber of Commerce has a Rendezvous scheduled posted on their website.

This past weekend, Cajun Fest was held at the St. Feriole Island Ballpark.  Cajun food, zydeco music, beer, and plenty of baseball.  This year, the event seemed to really establish itself as a “big-time” event. That status is much deserved – great job. They dealt with some rain Friday night, delaying baseball, but had great weather the rest of the weekend.

The newest big Prairie du Chien event is less than two weeks away, PrairieFest. An evolution of the wildly successful Colgate Country Showdown, PrairieFest will feature 10 bands on two seperate stages, local art displays, special food stands, and games.  Like the Country Showdown, this event will be held in downtown Prairie du Chien – this year, spanning four blocks of Blackhawk Avenue. Unlike the previous year’s all-country affair, PrairieFest will feature a variety of music genres, including rock, blues, folk, and Christian.

That has changed a bit this spring. Long Sunday afternoon bike rides are starting to become the norm. This past Sunday, we brought the bikes to St. Feriole Island to begin a ride around town.

Even though I work nearly every day on the island, I quickly found that St.  Feriole’s bike path takes a person to some neat little spots that you’d probably never think to seek out otherwise.

We took Washington Street off the island to pedal through some of the residential streets though town, including a trip down Beaumont Avenue. We capped off the ride with a burger at Pete’s.

The riding was great, fun…and easy. More people should ride their bikes in town: to work, to the store, anywhere.  It’s such a flat town and it’s so easy and quick to get just about anywhere. Just imagine, saving money on gas and getting some healthy excercise…at the same time!  Almost sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?

Representatives from area communities (Prairie du Chien, Wauzeka, Eastman, Seneca, Bloomington, Cassville, Lancaster, Boscobel, and Fennimore) converged upon Wauzeka’s Century Hall Sunday afternoon for the annual league meeting.  Per usual, it starts off with a quick glossing over the rules. Everyone fine with this? Yep.  Each year, this process goes pretty quick until the regular debate about legal bat size. This brief flap only serves as the appetizer for the beehive the meeting is about to turn into.

I don’t want to make this sound like this process is terrible.  It’s not at all.  But it does get your heart rate up a bit.  Schedules for multiple age groups, multiple teams, boys and girls must be balanced between two months (June and July) and the limited availability of ball fields.  Somehow, though, it all works out and is done in about an hour.

This year, I’m coaching Bloomington’s 9&10 year old “Coach Pitch” team. It’s a major step up from the 7&8 year olds that I helped out with the past two years. Most normal baseball rules apply and we actually keep the score.  We start practice in May.  In June, we’ll start games and I hope to find that my chicken scratch schedule turns out okay.

You thought Prairie du Chien had some interesting races for the City Council? Wisconsin elected two early twenty-something mayors, a 24-year old in La Crosse and a 22-year old in Manotiwoc.

Matt Harter, La Crosse’s 24-year old mayor-elect, also made history in another way.  He’s the city’s first mayor from the noth side of town.

At least there wasn’t any ties.  Oh wait, sorry Dickeyville.

Grant County has a new judge.  Craig Day defeated George Curry. Curry had been the county’s judge since 1990.

Ten years ago, I taught myself HTML, a basic computer language for coding websites.  Though I didn’t realize it at the time, I was establishing the foundation of a very useful skill.

The Internet is the ultimate communication tool.  It’s speed and efficiency are unequaled by any other form of mass media. While there’s still value in traditional media, bright minds are finding ways to produce a more efficient product online featuring text, audio, video, and other interactive community elements.

The cost factor also favors web media technology.  While radio and television are able to keep pace with the web in terms of timeliness, expensive equipment, transmitters, and satellites drive up the cost of doing business with “traditional” electronic media.

The transition of traditional media to the online form has been an ongoing process, though it has sped up in the past few years with the growing popularity of blogging and content management software.  Until recently, that transition appeared mainly in medium to large media markets.  Now, there is a growing interest and need for hyperlocal web media.

My new company, Driftless, LLC, aims to fill that void in the greater Prairie du Chien area including Crawford, Grant, and Clayton (IA) counties.  Our desire is to provide viable and reliable local news and event coverage for the area on the web.  It’s an entirely new business model.  I’m excited about the task of figuring this out.

Thanks for your interest in PdCToday.com.  I genuinely hope that you enjoy the service as much as we plan on enjoying providing it.