If Tallulah Bankhead lived today, she’d say

“It is the good girls who keep blogs; the bad girls never
have the time.”

People leave Cleveland and go live in other places. Why don’t we have an alumni program. Caroline Anderson is an artist living in Chicago with strong Cleveland ties. I’m enjoying the privilege of receiving her first blog comment:

I used to live in Cleveland, have met the inimitable Tom Mulready, drank many gallons of coffee at the Phoenix Roastery Cafe (best coffee in Cleveland at the time). Now I live and work in Chicago, and although it is a big step forward I do miss the intimacy of the Cleveland scene. Thanks SPACES, thanks CSU, thanks friends, and good luck. It’s great to meet you again in cyberspace…

With cool people like Caroline, April Baer, and others moving elsewhere, it’s great to know we can still keep in touch with each other virtually.

Do you live in Cuyahoga County? I don’t. But I’m very much concerned about what happens there. In my opinion, there’s a couple big issues that need our help. The whole Arts Levy is one. Issue 23 is another. Libraries are truly centers of knowledge. Both the Cleveland Public Library and the Cuyahoga County Library Systems use some of the latest technologies to raise the community’s level of understanding on anything and everything.

We can’t afford to let these inititatives go unfunded. Both of the campaigns need your help. Please do what you can.

Chris Thompson at CrainTech thinks we need to ixnay the illbay that bans gay marriages and tell the state legislature to work on something important like creating some jobs. I couldn’t agree with him more. Who’s up for election this time around?

After driving down Carnagie across the Lorain Ave bridge with the January sun in my eyes, I stopped at another Cleveland WiFi spot to get my batteries recharged. Coffee for me and electricity for my laptop.

There aren’t many spots in C-Town were you can use free WiFi in a big leather chair that sits in front of a fireplace. That’s for sure.

Not sure why I’m bummed Otis White doesn’t mention Cleveland is his latest newsletter. Probably because it means that even though there isn’t anything to criticize us about, there isn’t much we’ve done right that bears mentioning…

Got an email from Mac Hammond today. In it he says:

The founder of Jefferson Standard Insurance built a successful company from scratch. He assembled some of the greatest insurance people by simply asking, “Why don’t you come and help me build something great?”

What would you do if someone asked you that? Have you ever asked anyone something similar?

Since Craig and Sue generously offered to share their practical networking experiences with mixer attendees, I wanted to point out their page at Ryze:

Since 2001 CatalystStrategies has helped companies grow their businesses, and non-profits achieve their goals…

We consult with organizations of all types in the areas of organizational strategy & leadership development. We also help organizations with their sales & marketing strategies.

Facilitated events and workshops are our specialty.

We love our community in NE Ohio. One of our contributions is the creation and management of the the ConnectionSeries. The ConnectionSeries aims to provide content-rich connection-oriented events geared toward improving our region. More info at www.ConnectionSeries.com

If all this sounds “serious”, well, we do take it seriously! But we don’t take it seriously to a fault. We approach our engagements in unique and memorable ways that help our clients enjoy the journey…

We have some fun - and so do our clients.

Sue James and Craig James are the firm’s Co-founders and Managing Partners.

Check us out - We’d love to chat with you and see how we may be of service.

Just two of the excellent group of people attending next week’s mixer. Check out who else will be there at http://clevelandevent.ryze.com

Nothing like catching up on all things internet while enjoying an egg cream and a “Keith” in Cleveland Heights…

Update: Especially when they play Rufus Wainwright on the radio.

Got an email from the vice president of events at Ryze yesterday. If you Clevelanders keep up this pace, the Cleveland Ryze Networking events will be among the largest in the country. Considering his NYC mixer clocks 200+ attendees [so many that they’re spliting them up], that’s pretty darn impressive.

Have you signed up and RSVP’d yet?

In early 2003 I did the first political book network map — http://www.orgnet.com/leftright.html

Today I updated it for 2004… different books, same pattern… second verse, same as the first — http://www.orgnet.com/divided.html

Enjoy!

Valdis

Today, I was with Thomas Mulready at the Phoenix Coffee Roastery Cafe. As if the gift of a Bodum Travel press from Thomas wasn’t enough, Carl Jones showed us his desk on which sits a Saeco Magic De Luxe espresso machine. <dreams>Wouldn’t it make a great birthday present?</dreams>

I was looking through some of my friends networks on LinkedIn today. If you’d like to see a list of Who’s Cool on the Internet, you need to be friends with Eric Meyer.

Tofu emails me that someone at CC noticed his post on Cleveland musicians and the RTA. Cool!

Drove through Chardon, Ohio this morning. Take a look at the table I’ve linked to in the title to see why they call it the snow belt.

Adrian Del Busso pointed out the article on Glenn Reynold’s in this issue of Wired. A couple of quotes:

On Technorati: “It’s like the 17th century coffeehouse in Neal Stephenson’s Quicksilver without the threat of a duel.” and “Email is the dark matter of the blogsphere.”

Let those sink in for a bit…

John comments on the Ryze Cleveland Network map:

I’m simply suggesting that the information on who corresponds to each number should be readily available somewhere without someone having to contact you. That would be more in keeping with what I hope is the spirit of Ryze.

Valdis and I have had quite a number of conversation regarding releasing the document to the public. It’s ironic, because twice in the last two days, I’ve received emails that have hundreds of emails address that anyone can now use for their own purposes. Personally, I don’t mind. I would much rather have my URL out there, so that some curious person will visit my website. Which is probably one of the requirements for serendipity — curiosity. Which is one of the reasons Valdis and I decided not to just publish the document. Someone who wants the information has to ask for it. Of all the people who attended the mixer, only a handful bothered to contact me about it. Is that why? Would the be more interested if they didn’t have to contact me? Or is that people aren’t interested in social networking or a map of a social network? I’m not sure.

Another thought about the network map is, you can discover who’s connected to who by simply spending time using Ryze. The network map is for illustrative purposes only. It’s an excellent exercise to take snapshots of a growing network, but that’s all. The real action takes place on the web before and after the mixers, and wherever we’re getting together for the mixer.

I’d be more than happy to publish the names on the map, but I’d have to get everyone’s who is listed to give me permission to do so. Is that what you’d do? I’d appreciate your comments.

Lois Annich is too kind commenting on my contribution to her excellent blog:

George was one of the friends who encouraged me as I started blogging. George keeps us apprised of (among other things) cultural, political, business and technological happenings in Cleveland and the wider world. He is a master of pithy posts and creative links… Thanks, George, for your generous spirit and keen sense of adventure and curiosity, always made visible on BrewedFreshDaily!

You’re welcome, Lois. I’ll do my best to be creative and pithy.

= )

Jack and I were going over social networking services the other day. In an article he’s written [that I link to in the title], he explains that some networks are designed to remove the element of surprise.

The metaphor I used to describe it was email. The great thing about email is you can send a message to anyone if you know their address. The bad thing about email is, anyone who knows your address can send you email. Because you get spam, will you stop using email? What about TV? The postal service? The telephone? What if someone incredibly cool wanted to get in touch with you? How many barriers do you want to erect that will keep everyone out, including the ones that will bring change and innovation?

In ‘’Fast Company'’ recently:

“Meetings waste time and sap people’s energy.” - Joe Weller, CEO, Nestle USA

Thanks, Nick.

The president of the Cleveland AMA has a website done with a FrontPage template. What kind of a statement does that make about Cleveland, marketing, and the internet? I also noticed their events are powered by a provider in Virginia. Is that because there isn’t anyone here that will do it or is it because that’s what the national organization uses?

If you were at Davos, would you do want Uncle Bill did?

Chief Software architect Bill Gates told the World Economic Forum that Google “kicked our butts”, according to Associated Press.

By the way, I love the fact they don’t say Chief Software architech for Microsoft. The way they say it, he’s The Chief Software architect of everything…