March 2006

I’ve been meaning to note this here for a while. Sometime in the past year, the description that shows up on sooz.com via a search at Google got changed and now shows this:

Writing about sports, events, online radio, parties, and other adventures.

Apparently I missed the memo on that one. I don’t write about sports. The rest of it looks like an old dmoz description. But I have no idea where the sports tidbit came from. And I can’t figure out how to update it. Why doesn’t Google use the description info from meta tags?

Pete Caputa of WhizSpark has set up “event software and services” week at the social networking weblog he contributes to and he’s written about it on his personal blog, too. The world of events seems to really be getting a lot of attention this year.

At South by Southwest Interactive last month, Jared Dunn and I had our second annual “everyone in Boston is way too into scheduling every second of their life” rant. And now with all these event websites popping up, it’s only going to get worse, isn’t it? LOL

The third month of Exploit Boston Game Night at the Common Ground in Allston is happening on Tuesday, April 4th and Tuesday, April 18th. The usual details apply: no cover charge, 21+, starts at 7pm and we have a lot of board games and card games to play. Last count we were up to 35.

HeyLetsGo seems to be one of the only “social networking” websites that I might stick with beyond the usual popularity contests masquerading as social networking websites. RSVPing for game night is entirely optional; but if you would like to see who else will be there and let them know your plans, go to each game night’s page at HeyLetsGo: April 4th and April 18th. There’s also a HeyLetsGo group for Exploit Boston Game Night if you’d like to conspire with other fans of board games plus keep tabs on the latest game night news and happenings.

It appears to be Bostonist day here at sooz.com. ;)

A while ago I set up a photo group at flickr specifically for event photos taken around Boston. The group is currently at 55 photographers who contribute photos taken at a variety of Boston events: baseball games, concerts, author events, game nights, festivals, etcetera. Bostonist picked up on the nifty badge feature and is displaying the latest photos from the group’s photo pool on their website. Nice!

I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to maintain the group. Overall, everyone has been awesome. I have to pluck out a few photos now and then; but not all that often. Sometimes the internet works. ;) The only new “rule” I’ve had to make today is that photos should only be added to the group if they were taken within the past two weeks to keep the photo badge syndication fresh.

[Another post that makes it obvious this website truly is "the life and times of Sooz" and not a generic weblog.]

When I first moved to Boston in May of 1994, I had some culture shock. Despite my insistance that it wasn’t that big of a deal moving from smalltown Nebraska to semi-big city Boston, there were adjustments. Since then, I’ve noticed I’m a lot less trusting and a lot more skeptical of people. Which is really not the real me at all. Last year I wrote up a bunch of 2005 resolutions and I made it through a lot of them. This year, I have one resolution: assume people are good. If I’m proven wrong, oh well, that’s life. But I’d much prefer to be open and honest then have to wonder what someone else’s agenda is or is not. Ah, balance!

Boston’s own Pluralis Majestatis (also known as Bostonist), are cohosting a shindig with Like Life Boston in honor of Bostonist’s one year anniversary. The event happens this Saturday, March 25th at 8pm at The Kinsale in downtown Boston across the street from Government Center at 2 Center Plaza. See you there?

My mom died three years ago this week. She was only 55 when she died and not sick so it caught us all by surprise. I can’t help but wonder what interesting things she’d have done if she had lived another 30 years (like her mom did). We had started to get along a lot better her last year or so on the planet — never quite getting along great; but definitely better. I think she’d get a kick out of the fact that I’ve been doing event planning and photography. She would have been an awesome blogger. Anyone who has seen me totally in my element has seen a small glimmer of her charm and enthusiasm for living life. When my parents were married, they were always the event organizers for family and friends: snowmobile trips, Saturday afternoon pig roasts, etcetera. Before my mom got married in 1972 she was a newspaper reporter and photographer. At some point in the past couple years I’ve really started to get into photography and stepped up my interest with my digital camera. I miss her. Lots.

Here’s what I had to say about my mom’s death on March 21st, 2003, September 27, 2003, March 20, 2004.

Michael and I are in Austin for my favorite little conference that doesn’t seem to be so little anymore: South by Southwest Interactive Festival. Good times! I’ve snapped a few photos with my camera phone and will probably get my digital photos up sometime soon. Despite this being an “interactive” festival, it’s nice to semi-unplug for a few days while we are here.

Aha! Thanks to Meredith Goldstein for passing on the link to today’s tidbits about Exploit Boston Game Night in her Sidekick story. boston.com doesn’t seem to have a specific “Sidekick” section on their website so it can be a little tricky finding the articles.

Update: Oops! At 4:37 PM I noticed that this entry was posted as “private.” The interview on NECN is now online. I’m not sure how long it’ll be there; but that just might be for the best. ;)
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There’s an article in today’s (Tuesday, March 7, 2006) Sidekick about Exploit Boston Game Night on pages 8-9. Meredith Goldstein (who wrote the article) and I are going to be on NECN today sometime between 12:30 and 12:40 talking about game night. Apparently it will also be archived on the web at boston.com at some point, too. I couldn’t find the Sidekick article on the web.

If you’re around Boston tonight, join us for the next installment of Exploit Boston Game Night tonight at 7pm. The event happens biweekly at the Common Ground, 85 Harvard Avenue in Allston. You can take the Green Line’s “B” train to the Harvard Ave stop or take the 57 or 66 bus to the stop near Herrell’s or Harper’s Ferry at Harvard Ave/Brighton Ave. Free admission and 21+, too.

As of this past weekend, we’ve got 35 games to play. Michael poked around his parents basement and found several gems to add to the collection including The Muppet Show Board Game, Illuminati, Survive! and Battleship.