October is just not going to be a pretty month.
I mean, sure, there’s the cold that’s setting in, the chilling rain that just simply makes you miserable…but then you layer that with “There are still weeks of commercials, rhetoric, gum-flapping and nonsense before the election” and “Dammit, I’m starting to suffer from hockey withdrawal“…
…and you can start to understand why Bob and Jeff have started laying odds on when I completely snap. Apparently the current over/under is set at October 21st.
So, since there are things going on that make me happy, let’s just go ahead and dive in to this week’s updates before anyone gets hurt…
As always we start with our next upcoming event.
Our next casual networking event for information technology professionals here in metro Detroit will be on Thursday, October 18th, and it will take place at Tipsy McStaggers in Warren.
Details are available on our site: http://www.ITinTheD.com/meet/ or on LinkedIn http://linkd.in/P0pRyr, Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD), Meetup (http://meetup.ITinTheD.org), or any of our other “presence” pages or event listings around the web.
Looking forward to seeing you all there, and they’re excited to have us coming back as well.
On the event front, since we’re already in October, it’s time to start thinking a bit about our December event. Yes, we’ll be doing another “Support The Troops” item along with our usual non-politically-correct nonsense this time around. Whether you made it to last year’s event and had a blast with us, or you missed it, or you’re new to the group this year and have no idea what I’m talking about at all, head on over to http://www.ITinTheD.com/4124/dec-2012-update/ and check out some details.
I went to a pretty cool event this past Saturday downtown…and it was “pretty cool” for a number of reasons. It was the 2012 Wordcamp Detroit event – http://2012.detroit.wordcamp.org/ – and it was downtown at the Madison building. Now, if you haven’t gotten to the Madison, you really should. Simply an awesome building in a great location, cool coffee shop on the ground floor, and its home to many of the startups that you’ve read or heard about in the news or have met people from at our events like Are You A Human? (http://areyouahuman.com/) and others. Granted, it was a little too chilly to take advantage of the rooftop bar for the after party, but it was still fun to head up there and be able to look over at and into Comerica Park while Game 1 of the ALDS was going on and seeing all of the excited fans walking in.
The event itself was packed with informative, engaging sessions for both business users and developers, and I don’t think I chatted with a single person who wasn’t impressed with the event and walking away with some new knowledge and things to try. Sessions were recorded, and slides were going to be made available, so I would absolutely keep an eye on http://2012.detroit.wordcamp.org for updates if I were you…and I hope to see you there next year, because I’m certainly going back.
In other news, we’ve gone global.
You might remember a few months back when we said goodbye to Friend of the Program Jeff Haase as he was being shipped off to Singapore by his job for six months.
Well, he hasn’t gotten caned yet (I lost that bet), he hasn’t announced a hastily arranged marriage yet (Bob lost that bet), and he’s having a great time taking advantage of the opportunities available to him while he’s there. He’s galivanting all over the Asia-Pac region, and good for him for doing so.
Even more “good for him for doing so”, he’s dutifully taken some snapshots with one of our ITintheD.com shirts in his travels.
Keep taking care of yourself, buddy. And keep having a great time.
If any of you would like to send Jeff some well wishes of your own, you can feel free to reach him at his favorite email address, which is DavePhillipsIsMySecretary [at] gmail [dot] com
And yes, I’m already scheming on ways to make his life miserable upon his return, trust me.
Want some reading material? We’ve got some reading material.
Of course we have some reading material.
How do you deal with the wild world of social media when you have a stalker? Carefully. Check out Ivory Tower Syndrome over at http://www.ITinTheD.com/3198/ivory-tower-syndrome-social-media-stalkers-and-you/
Dating, networking, and the job life have a lot in common…whether you realize it or not. For instance, Breakup Netiquette applies both to personal and professional relationships, and you should make sure you handle yourself properly – http://www.ITinTheD.com/3405/the-dating-corollary-breakup-netiquette/ – so that you’ll survive and do well on the other side of it.
And we’ve all had that “Leonard and Penny” relationship where one party is way, WAY more attached than the other person…and we’ve also had companies try to hire us in that we didn’t necessarily want to work for directly…so how do you handle The Awkward Proposal?
Again: carefully. http://www.ITinTheD.com/4128/the-dating-corollary-the-awkward-proposal-moment/
Which I guess brings us to our LinkedIn group, and all of the discussions going on and jobs being posted in there – http://www.linkedin.com/groups/ITintheDorg-Detroit-Networking-Events-IT-91763
Discussions like these:
– So let’s say you’ve realized that you sent your post interview thank you note to the wrong person. Now what? http://lnkd.in/7jzpkm
– Pulling a report from a website, mucking with it a bit, and then emailing it out. Thoughts? http://lnkd.in/wtHCdu
– A data analyst / process manager in Richmond, VA wants to move to metro Detroit. Someone should probably help her: http://lnkd.in/8mUeJx
– Angry Birds meets Star Wars…and my productivity level meets a flatline. http://lnkd.in/zcvbfe
– GM’s going to open a new tech center, hire 1500 people, and completely change everything. No, it’s not 1997 and we’re not talking about Brewery Park. It’s 2012 and we’re talking about Warren. So it’s completely different. Honest. http://lnkd.in/irmxsb
– Anyone looking to hire someone with Geographic Information Systems experience? Anyone? http://lnkd.in/57VPsj
…and what sort of jobs am I talking about? Oh, there’s a whole bunch floating around in the group right now, and you can check them out here: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?careerDiscussion=&gid=91763
Okay, so I think just about everything that needs to get covered has been covered.
So that’s all for this time folks. Catch you next week at Tipsy McStaggers!
Regards,
Bob, Dave and Jeff
ITintheD.com
On the web: http://www.ITinTheD.org
On LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=91763
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD
On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ITintheD
On Meetup: http://meetup.ITinTheD.org