connecting*the*dots

(shot by Mikey aka DaSkinnyBlackMan)

We’ve moved the monthly Blogsboro Meetup to:

M’Coul’s Public House (blip.tv | flickr | site | directions).

We’ll be on the second floor tomorrow evening, beginning at 7pm. M’Coul’s has working wifi, so feel free to bring your laptops.

Again, this event is open to anyone interested in publishing to the web, so Allen, Ed, David, et al of the N&R crew, feel free to grace us with your presence.

I’ll even bring a bottle of wine if you’d like. ;)

In the future, please RSVP on Upcoming. Thanks.

Billy, what’s up?

Dear Meetup Member,

The Organizer of Blogsboro– The Piedmont Triad Bloggers stepped down without nominating a successor. The 120 members of the group need a new Organizer. You can keep the group going by taking over as Organizer….

Talk to me, man.

UPDATE: Billy and I spoke this afternoon about the Meetups.

It was never Billy’s intent to let the Blogsboro Meetup cancel itself; he was just a bit stressed and wanted someone else to pick up the organizing duties. Monthly coffee hours are going to continue for *anyone* who’d like to participate. We’re moving the management of the Blogsboro group to Upcoming.org (Meetup charges a $20 monthly fee, Upcoming doesn’t).

So if you’re local to the Greensboro area and are interested in citizen media — any shape or form — feel free to join the group.

(that’s not John)

John Ford — founder of the local software development firm Aldenta and former kidnapper of my The Inmates Are Running The Asylum book — is running tomorrow night’s free Web Design Meetup to help us hacks with our HTML and CSS techniques.

And I gotta tell you folks, after looking at some of the templates of the blogsboro community, I’d say that we all could use some help (disclosure — John has tweaked the presentation of this blog, as well as the Greensboro’s Child theme).

From John:

A number of our meetup members have requested a more detailed look at HTML and CSS. I’ve decided to do a multipart series on HTML & CSS to help everyone get a better grasp.

People who will benefit:

• Those totally new to HTML/CSS
• Someone using Dreamweaver, GoLive or other web page design tools who want a better understanding of the website code that is being created
• Current developers wanting a better understanding of proper web page creation and coding standards (these concepts are helpful for search engine optimization)
• Bloggers wanting to learn how to tweak their site template code
• Anyone wanting to brush up on their HTML and CSS skills

When:
Thursday, June 8, 2006, 7:00 PM (sharp)

Where:
The Scene on South Elm
604 South Elm St
Greensboro , NC 27406
336 510 1472

RSVP & Questions:
info@aldenta.com
336 547 9004

Hope to see you there!

I met John Ford at the Greensboro Web Design Meetup he was running last month. Over the following week, we traded emails and eventually decided to share portfolio and application ideas over a six-pack in my home office. After going through some work and chatting up each of our killer app ideas, we ended up discussing how we make software, going back and forth between Getting Real and Cooper’s Goal Directed methodology.

As John was about to go on a month long trip to Asia and Australia, I gave him my copy of The Inmates are Running the Asylum to enjoy on the trip, but under one condition: he had to take a few pictures of it at various exotic locals on his trip.

C’mon John, one more!

Last Wednesday, I attended my second Blogsboro MeetUp and had a great time speaking with a bunch of local bloggers:

What’s On Mikey’s Mind Ver. 5.0 - Mikey’s a Marine, husband, father and a really, funny guy (even though I think he watches Bill O’Reilly).

Jay Ovittore’s Blog - We didn’t get much of a chance to talk except for a hello and a goodbye, but I’ve been reading Jay’s blog for the last few months. We’re very like-minded.

Chosen Fast - Cara and I are pretty far apart on the issues of religion, but suprisingly, she’s very open to listening to a different opinion. And she’s hyped to learn about tagging!

Waiting For Vizzini - Any guy that names his blog after a character from The Princess Bride is alright in my book. Juan is well read and has a gift for tying Christian verses with progressive ideals. I’m looking forward to hanging out and talking power, authority, tagging and change in our next MeetUp.

Billy The Blogging Poet - Billy’s the organizer of our MeetUp and the king-blogger of the area–a really nice guy.

Greensboro 101 - Roch is the man with the plan, trying to bring community together through local perspectives. I’m looking forward to our next round of drinks and progressive rants.

Hopefully next time I’ll be able to speak with a broader range of local bloggers. I gotta say, it’s great to live in a neighborhood that has such a strong citizen media base.