Following Edge

Since it's been six months since I've had the energy and time to coordinate a get-together for Eugene area webloggers, and since local blogger Jeff Newton (of Chase508's Den) has been such a good friend of the get-together and wants to have one before people leave for Summer activities, he's getting one together!
If you want to meet some really interesting local bloggers, head over (RIGHT NOW) to Jeff's get-together announcement on Chase508's Den and get the get together onto your calendar for Wednesday, June 14!

Unfortunately, I'll be in Philadelphia (what I like to call "the unhappiest place on earth") for Anne Marie's graduation, so I won't get to see this long-awaited get-together, but I'm eager to hear how it goes and I'll definately be at the next one.

On a related note, the Eugene Weblog List has been updated with 15 new local blog entries. Go check that out as well. There is a lot of interesting stuff happening on local blogs.

Thanks, Jeff, for reviving the get-together.

I wasn't prepared for a good Eugene Blogger Get-together. In fact, after staying home from work yesterday, canceling my trip for tomorrow, and feeling wrenched all day, I was ready to avoid the meeting altogether. Not that I could have, but I'm glad that I didn't! After two energy drinks and two DayQuil, it turned out to be excellent.

Tvindy made it there from Indiana. Evidently, he broke some personal records in the speed of his trip. It always feels more like a get-together when he's there, but, even though we both arrived early, I wish we'd had more time to chat.

David didn't make it, but Alan did and contributed to an extended conversation about what might have become of him. Was David eaten by his animals, suffocated by lighting a fire under his not-yet-ready chimney? Only time will tell.

Best of all, both Punkin Dunkin and Brandon made first-time appearances. Evidently, Brandon was surprised that we couldn't stick to blog business. Really, for those of you who haven't attended, don't be surprised that it's almost wall-to-wall chatting and laughing. When I said "no agenda", I meant it!

I've been a real fan of Punkin Dunkin's blog, "No Whammies... No Whammies... Big Bucks... STOP!", since just after she started it last year. It was great to meet her and hear her talk about how her blog and her emphasis has been changing over that time.

Thanks to each of you who attended.

Now that I'm back home and the caffeine and cold medicine is wearing off, I think it's time to switch to NyQuil and try to recover.

The Eugene Weblogger get-together is coming up next Wednesday, November 16th at a new location. We'll be meeting at the Flying Dogs Cafe near 13th and Alder Street, close to the U of O campus. Flying Dogs offers good food and drink, is usually not very crowded, and evidently offers free wireless Internet. Alan went there recently and recommended it. Hopefully, it'll be a great new spot for Eugene bloggers.

The Get-together starts at 6:30pm and is usually over at 8. Both bloggers and blog readers are welcome. It's a great way to meet some of your Eugene blogging comrades and, even though there's no firm agenda, there's always lots of discussion about local happenings, technology, work, and everything else under the sun.

We're likely to see Tvindy, one of our favorite local bloggers, who is staying in Muncie, Indiana instead of returning to the U of O this year. There should be lots of interesting news about his activities. He's making a cross-country trip to make it to the Eugene Weblogger get-together... so no excuses from the rest of you.

Don't know what's going on in local blogs? There is really a lot happening in local Eugene-area weblogs and following local blogs is a cool way to keep connected to the community. Check out the Eugene Weblog List to see more than 125 local weblogs (including 7 new additions).

Mark your calendar:

  Eugene Weblogger Get-together
  Wednesday, November 16 at 6:30pm
  Flying Dogs Cafe
  1249 Alder St (near campus)
  (Trouble parking? Try the multi-level parking building
  a block away at 13th and Hilyard.)

Hope to see you Wednesday.

The "reunion" Eugene Weblogger Get-together was a comfortable event with familiar faces. David, Ben, Alan (ajb), and myself. I was hoping to meet some new folks (including punkindunkin, whose photo weblog I've been following for a while), but it was still great to chat with the folks I already know.

Alan suggested we might meet at "My Coffee" on West 11st Ave next time. They have the advantages of good coffee, free Wi-Fi and ample parking, but they're not so centrally located. What does anyone think?

The Eugene Weblogger Get-together resumes next Wednesday, Sept 28th. After a three-month break and with the start of the new school year, there's likely to be plenty of chance for local webloggers and weblog fans to get together for the first time or hear about the regulars' summer adventures. I hope you can make it.

The Get-together is on Wednesday the 28th at 6:30pm at Track Town Pizza on Franklin Blvd (near the U of O). Come chat for an hour or two, enjoy some pizza and have a drink. Everyone is welcome.

Don't know what's going on in local blogs? There is really a lot happening in local Eugene-area weblogs and following local blogs is a cool way to keep connected to the community. Check out the Eugene Weblog List on followingedge.com to see more than 100 local weblogs (including 8 new additions):

http://followingedge.com/eugene-weblog-list/

Wondering what the Get-together is all about? Feel free to email me for more info. Or, what could be more authoritative than a couple of weblog links:

http://justblu.blogspot.com/2005/05/consider-it-done.html
http://followingedge.com/blog/2005/01/january-eugene-weblogger-meetup-recap/

Mark your calendar:

Eugene Weblogger Get-together
  Wednesday, September 28 at 6:30pm
  Track Town Pizza
  1809 Franklin Blvd (near campus)

Hope to see you Wednesday. Leave a comment here to let us know if you can make it!

Either due to requiring a lot of time to recover from our horrible vacation or because I just don't feel like a Eugene Weblogger Get-together would be as familiar and comfortable without Tvindy, there will be no Get-together in August.

So, with two cancelled Get-togethers, the September 28th event should be a not-no-miss reunion with lots of juicy news from everyone's summer and plans for the coming year. I'll look forward to seeing all of you local bloggers then.

Don't forget to check out the Eugene Weblog List in the meantime. There are ten new entries in the last month. Check out what the local blogs are dishing out!

Update: I've gone back in time and changed the 21st to the 28th in this post. Hopefully, no one will notice.

Despite a handful of local bloggers intending to show up to tonight's Eugene Weblogger Get-together, it turned out to be just Alan (yeah, I pestered him about his blog), David, and myself. The small group seemed fine to me, even though April's huge turnout keeps me anticipating more people. I ended up ordering a big pizza and whole pitcher of beer, which I drank most of, which probably added to my feeling that the evening went fine.

But seriously, Alan, David and I had plenty of technical discussion, since we're all of that persuasion. We gossiped about Kinsey, who, as a regular attendee, was noticeably missed.

All in all, it was great, especially compared to tomorrow's meeting: an all-day manager's meeting with four hours of driving. I'd take a blogger get-together any time over that, if that was an option.

The Eugene Weblogger Get-together is next Wednesday (June 15) and, despite my best intention of planning ahead, I haven't announced it yet nor set up a way for Eugene-area bloggers to RSVP.

If you've been thinking about attending, you should be sure to attend June 15, since if you miss us this time, you may NEVER get another chance. Well, never until August at least. Since I'll be out of town in July, there will be no get-together in July. Don't make yourself wait!

Anyhow, if you write or read a Eugene-area blog, why not join us at the Eugene Weblogger Get-together next Wednesday, June 15 at 6:30pm at Track Town Pizza near the U of O at 1809 Franklin Blvd.

Enjoy some pizza and talk with local blog personalities. It's usually not a big crowd or a firm agenda, just a friendly get-together. There are over 100 active weblogs on the Eugene Weblog List. Why not meet a few of the people behind those local blogs?

Eugene Weblogger June Get-together
Wednesday, June 15 at 6:30pm
Track Town Pizza
1809 Franklin Blvd (near campus)

Please comment here to RSVP! Maybe by August I'll have a fully automated system.

Tonight was the Eugene Weblogger Get-together. Despite my very, very low energy and really low turnout (compared to last month's crowd), the get-together was great and conversation was really interesting.

Blu made her first appearance. David, Kat, and Kinsey also attended. There seemed to be a surprising number of shared interests that came up. I was impressed.

But I was even more impressed with the amazing table arrangement I discovered. Previously, we've had trouble at Track Town being either too spread out or too crowded. I found a way to move the tables so that 10 or 15 people should be able to share conversation without too much crowding, but even with just a handful of people, it was great. I'll have to do that again next time.

Thanks to Blu and the other attendees. Hope to see more of the bloggers next month.

I just realized that there are only a few days until this month's Eugene Weblogger Get-together. I was sure it was anlther week away... where does the time go!?

So, as a reminder for Eugene-area Webloggers: The Eugene Weblogger Get-together is THIS WEDNESDAY, May 18 at 6:30pm at Track Town Pizza near the U of O at 1809 Franklin Blvd.

Why not join us? Enjoy some (free) pizza and talk with the usual crowd of local blog personalities. There are usually a handful of participants and there is no firm agenda,
just a small, and friendly get-together. There are over 100 active weblogs on the Eugene Weblog List. Why not meet a few of the people behind those local blogs?

Eugene Weblogger May Get-together
Wednesday, May 18 at 6:30pm
Track Town Pizza
1809 Franklin Blvd (near campus)

Things were really jumping at the Eugene Weblogger Meetup tonight, and it wasn't just the half-dozen kids the party next to us had dragged into the pizza place.

There were quite a few new faces. The complete roster was Kat, Kinsey, Brooke, Jeff and his friend John, Ben, Mary, and Ben Utley.

I expected David to show up after his "wilderness survival class", but when he didn't show up, we wondered if he failed to survive the survival class. Hopefully, I'll hear from him soon.

Ben Utley is the first person to have found the meetup through meetup.com, and it seemed very ironic that he came for the first time this evening, since very shortly I'll be resigning from the Meetup site as previously discussed.

Thanks to everyone who attended. It made for a great time.

After Meetup got me to become the organizer of two local Weblogging Meetup groups, and after experiencing a crisis by putting too much energy in the effort, Meetup has now decided to fund its web site by requiring $19 a month from the organizer of each Meetup.

While they are making an introductory offer of $9 a month and while they are currently offering both groups for the price of one (because their billing system can't support more than one right now), it seems like just a matter of time before I would get roped into a few hundred dollars a year to support these Meetup groups that I already decided I had been putting too much effort into.

Anyhow, Meetup.com hasn't been doing anything to support the group. A web-site with the time of the upcoming meeting and a way for people to RSVP (which they don't frequently do). And I send people to their web site from my monthly emails, but very few webloggers have found the group through their site. There are discussion boards and other features that I don't currently use. All in all, nothing that adds up to a monthly payment.

It seems to me that Meetup.com has organized a big site with little plan for how to support it. If my opinion is mirrored by other organizers, it's likely that this move will generate a small amount of cash while driving away most of its visitors. It doesn't seem wise to me.

Anyhow, following the upcoming Eugene Weblogger April Meetup, I will be resigning as the Meetup organizer for these groups and expect that the groups will be disbanded by Meetup.com next month unless someone takes on the monthly payments.

In the meantime, I will be organizing a "Eugene Weblogger Get-together" at the same time and place starting next month. Everyone can watch for further details at the appropriate spot on this blog.

Don't forget this month's Meetup is THIS WEEK: 6:30pm this Wednesday, April 20 at Track Town Pizza on Franklin Blvd in Eugene. Come and enjoy free pizza and the usual crowd on Eugene weblog personalities.