(I have to make an official report, so I'll have to refrain from adding too much personal comment.)The January Meetup had a sparse attendance: Chris (Actually, he was the third to arrive, but I'm putting him first because he's has the alphabetical advantage.), Clark (He was the first arrival, technically, but he also had dinner at Ralph's, which gives him a slight advantage.), and John. (I didn't have dinner, I just had a beer) (Karen, our organizer was playing hooky. She had a chance to go to Macworld, so she blew us off. Hey, if I was involved in all this technology stuff like she is, I'd do that, too. Actually, I'd do that even if I was just using computers and software I dug out of the company dumpster, like I am. Of, course, I don't have any vacation time, so I'd have to forgo getting paid, assuming that my boss would let me go. And then, of course, I'd have to get down to San Francisco--but I might have enough frequent flyer miles to swing that.)(Karen had asked me to cover as "organizer", which I agreed to, despite the fact she called me Phil. She wanted to make sure someone gave the illusion of organization, because there were a lot of newcomers RSVP'd for the event. I could have told her that no one who RSVPs for these meetups actually show up, but I didn't. I was afraid that if I said something these people would actually show up and make a liar out of me. Anyway, I agreed to fill in and tried to organize. I brought stickers and markers, so we could make name tags and even brought my laptop so I could have people sign in electronically.) (Paper and pen would have been so lame and even more retro than my iBook.) (Clark was intrigued by my old clamshell iBook--he wondered if it would be possible to slip the guts of one of the current MacBooks into a the clamshell casing. That would probably irritate the heck out of Steve Jobs.) Jack, our scheduled speaker, had a last minute change of plans, so he wasn't able to make the scheduled presentation on adding RSS feeds to your blog. (Which is a shame, because Clark still needs to do that to his blog. He mentioned that he's going to do a big redesign on his site.) (I wouldn't minded hearing about how to add the RSS feed either, even though I'm using Blogger and they do all those things for you.) But despite that disappointment, we had an enjoyable chat (No, really. My worst nightmare would have been that the responsibility of conversing would have fallen upon me and the group would have reduced to staring out the window and uttering short statements about every fifteen minutes or so. However, Chris and Clark spared me from that fate.), discussing Chris's marketing ventures (Can you believe it? He's actually making money on the web! Of course, he has to write about golf, so it's not free money...), Clark's logo designs (Typical design woes--the customer is a lot better at communicating what they don't want rather than what they do.) and John's outdated blogroll.(I had no idea that Daphna had started blogging again and that she had dropped the "Sex Kitten in Training" title.) (We actually discussed more that those three things, but if you want an exhaustive record of the meetup you'll just have to come yourself and take your own notes.) (Let's see, anything else? Um, I suppose I could report on our respective beverages: Diet Coke or some other Coca-Cola product for Clark, Red Bull or some other energy drink for Chris (he said it was nasty), and a Red Hook ale for myself. (My first Red Hook since 2005!)) All in all we lingered for an hour and a half and then went our separate ways. (I actually only had to wait about a minute for the #36 bus! An excellent end to the evening, especially in January.) Or to paraphrase Clark, we stopped surfing the 'net at Ralph's so we could go home and surf the 'net there. Actually, I took a walk with my wife, which is one reason I didn't write up this report until Saturday.

Labels: life, meetup, sociallife

This morning I heard the news that I was and yet was not expecting to hear. Anita Rowland died yesterday afternoon. She was battling cancer and I knew things weren't going well, so I wasn't surprised to hear of her death. Yet, even when your facing the inevitable, there's always that part of you that assumes that today isn't the day.

Anita is like the godmother of Seattle blogging. I remember when I first discovered blogs and started poking on links and all that. This Anita Rowland person kept showing up on the local blog rolls. I started reading her blog, of course, and when I made my own venture into the blogosphere, her name was on my blogroll as well. (It was because I actually read her blog, not because I thought it was a requirement.) Many months later, when I ventured out to the Eastside Blogger's Meetup, I actually got to meet the lady herself. She was very kind, very friendly, very welcoming. A perfect hostess, really. As I attended more meetups, I saw more of those same qualities. It became very obvious why she was so popular.

Now she's gone, and as I read the comments on her husband Jack's blog--all the friends and acquaintances offering memories and condolences--I'm reminded that there are many areas of her life that I didn't know at all. And yet, that quality of kindness, of love, seems to be the constant in whatever activity she was involved in. Makes for a truly useful life, methinks. I wish I was doing half as good with mine. I suppose that's the challenge. When someone like Anita, who shares goodness and kindness with others, passes on, we who have been on the receiving end have to to try and carry on and keep up the good work. Anyway, keep Anita's family in your prayers, if you're so inclined.

Labels: currentevents, meetup, memorial, memories, sadness

I went to the Weblogger's meetup last Wednesday. 'Twas a unique gathering--totally attended by Mac users. That was actually bad news, because that meant that our beloved and fearless leader, Anita Rowland, wasn't there. She's been having a bad time, healthwise, and wasn't up to it. (Apparently my prayers are getting a "no" response.) Anyway, there were only three of us who braved the wind and rain to show up: Karen Anderson, Clark Humphrey and yours truly. Karen pretty much carried the conversation. Clark added his comments now and then while cruising the net on his laptop. Me, I just nursed my Pepsi and offered up a handful of insignificant statements. Oh, well, at least I helped to put the tables back when we were done.

Labels: life, meetup, sociallife

I went to the Webloggers meetup last night. Another interesting evening, though I felt a bit out of place for some reason. I'm not a tech-head, not much of a writer these days, and I was even unaware that yesterday was Talk Like a Pirate Day. Arrrr. But I do have a blog, so I can at least go and listen to other people talk.

Anyway, that's not what I was going to write about. One of the folks attending, a gent named Sung, was looking to start a blog. But he wants to start off big. He doesn't want to be one of the Blogspot, or Live Journal, or My Space crowds. To paraphrase him, he doesn't have 2-cent ideas, so he wants his own domain that reflects the quality of his thoughts. Of course, contrary lad that I am, the instant he uttered the phrase "2-cent ideas" I adopted that concept as my own. Kind of like when I claimed to be a thought get-out-of-the-way-er. I have no claim to greatness, nor even an ambition to be great. As I've aged and matured, I've encountered great people--well, at least greater than I--and I find that I no longer envy them. It's too much like work.

So how do I justify littering the 'net with my verbiage? Well, I figure that while I'm not great, there is a bit of greatness within us all. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, as the phrase goes. (Assuming I didn't misquote it.) While I and the other plebeians of the web are churning out our 2-cent ideas, we might, in the process, write something that touches someone else. It may cause them to think, cause them to giggle, brighten their day, honk them off, or just comfort them that they don't write as bad as I.

Ick. I just reread that. That be a load of 2-cent philosophy as sure as I'm a lubber.

Labels: 2 cent philosophy, introspection, meetup