[Full details at http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1490606/ ] Our next Beer and Blog will be at Fireworks Restaurant & Bar from 5-7PM. We’ll be having our first topic going over how to start your blog. We’ll discuss how to setup a Blogger site along with setting up WordPress. There probably won’t be enough time to go over all of the steps, but we’ll try to cover the basics at least. Make sure you bring a laptop so we can even help get you started on the spot! Wireless is available there, but it is locked with a key.

Fireworks was also kind enough to provide a pizza and beer special for us! They’ll have $3 pints and all you can eat pizza for $5. Thanks Ocean for setting that up!

It's been a whirlwind year, with the last Friday of February fast approaching. And honestly? After brainstorming with my Beer and Blog buddies to plan March's fun, I can barely wait to tell you what we have in store.

But I'll only tell you a little, for now. You'll have to wait for more details until Friday, when we meet once again at the Green Dragon for happy hour.

Here's your Official Sneak Peek to Beer and Blog's March Announcements:

• While February was dedicated to Ending things like Bloglessness and Joblessness, March will be about skillz. Social skillz that is.
• Beer and Blog swag. (You know you want it.)
• Want to be a Beer and Blog photog? We're having a little fun in our search to find folks who like taking pictures, and it involves the tag #pdxbnb.
• It is entirely possible that Beer and Blog will be available live via streaming video soon. Very very soon.
• St. Patty's day is on a Tuesday this year, and that's a great excuse to hang out with your blogging friends twice in one week. Green beer. Details to come.
• Field trip. 'Nuff said.

Pique your interest? Whet your palate? Join us this Friday to hear the full lineup of fun we've got planned for you in March.

Oh, and one more thing: as your Official Portland Chapter Provost, I would be remiss to not give a Beer and Blog cheer for those lucky blogging and beer chugging friends of ours who made it onto @thesquare's Live at 7 segement on KGW news recently. We can thank our most lovely Kelly Guimont (@verso)for that, who is featured front and centered. Check it out!

Join your fellow beer-and-bloggers at CubeSpace this Friday where KJs @MizD and @Chefchopper will spin (is that even the right word? I'm exposing my lame-ness here, aren't I) any one of their thousands of digital karaoke songs for your crooning pleasure. Lyrics will be projected big and tall for those spontaneous sing-along moments that always happen when someone sings pretty much anything by Pat Benatar. (At the very least, there is involuntary toe tapping. Think about it.)

We'll also have more Beer and Blog buttons to pass out. They're beeutiful.

First of all, thanks to all of you for enduring my cleverly-worded, extremely cheesy headlines. They give me such pleasure to think up, you see. So...thanks.

Next of all, it's time for Beer and Blog again! Whoo-hoo!

This time around Jason Harris (of techcraver.com fame, a most excellent tech blog) will be demoing Taptu a "super-fast entertainment search engine for your mobile."

(This is the part where you get my "tap" headline pun, shake your head, and chuckle "that silly, silly @mediaChick." It's okay, I'm used to it.)

Jason is the US Community Manager for Taptu, which enables media searching on your cell phone and SMS media link sharing with your friends. Intriguing, no? He'll be showing off his mobile search-and-share engine starting at 4pm, so all you mobile software rock stars should make plans accordingly.

Also, in case you haven't heard...Justin and Christine are outta town. In Vegas, again. Yep, left me with the keys to the castle, at the helm of the ship. Funny thing, though. All I can think about is who's going to buy me a beer at Beer and Blog. ;)

See you there, beer-and-bloggers!

I love being the Portland Chapter Beer and Blog Provost. I LOVE IT. I really, really do. Except, momentarily, maybe not right this second. Right now, you see, I am a wee sad to be your Official Provost. It means I am ineligible to win the most excellent beer-related loot we have ever had to give away:

2 VIP tickets to the Portland International Beer Festival in July, courtesy of GoTime.com.

Yes, really.

But wait! There's more!

These two tickets for the Portland International Beer Festival, which is scheduled for July 17-19 in the North Park Blocks of the Pearl District, includes the following goodies and privileges:

• Unlimited entry/re-entry all weekend
• VIP express entry (no waiting in line)
• Commemorative festival glass (beer mug & shot glass)
• A premium festival shirt
• 15 beer tickets each

Generous prize package, I'd say! GoTime.com is a Seattle-based outfit with a sweet (free) iPhone app that tracks hundreds of detailed happy hour listings and nightlife discounts in the Portland area.

All you have to do for your chance to win is put your Beer and Blog Network username in the proverbial hat this Friday at the Green Dragon. There may even be an actual hat, I don't know, but I do know names will be accepted starting at 4pm and the name of a very, very lucky Beer and Blogger will be drawn at 6pm.

Don't have a Beer and Blog username yet? No-problemo! Just show up this Friday and one of the usual Portland Chapter suspects (read: Justin, Kelly, Christine or myself) will enroll you. Maybe you tried to register online for the Beer and Blog network but couldn't get in? That's because our online network requires offline registration. Here's the reasoning behind that:

We want everyone in the network to be a real person, with a true interest in the health and viability of the idea behind Beer and Blog: bloggers helping bloggers over beer. With a free, online Beer and Blog membership you can communicate with any member of the Beer and Blog family, from any Beer and Blog chapter, as well as chime in on discussions concerning your local chapter. Most importantly, we want your Beery and Bloggy input on upcoming presentation ideas, field trips, and the like, and what better way to collect opinions then to create a gated online community! Seriously.

So if you're not already registered, get registered at this Friday's Beer and Blog for your chance to win the goodies generously donated by GoTime.

I only ask that the winner let me briefly hold the commemorative festival glass and remind me how much I love being the Portland Beer and Blog Chapter's Provost.

Because I really do. =)

While we've had a couple of days on the patio, this Friday marks the official opening of patio season. We'll be on the patio every Friday until the sun don't shine. This calls for a celebration!!

We're talking about rolling out some bright green astro turf. Busting out the baby pool with some lawn chairs around it. Squirtguns (of course). And some games like ring toss.

Come meet the Twitalyzer Top 100 people in Portland on Twitter. Twitalyzer creator Eric Peterson will be there to explain his service and will kick in for some drinks!

Unless you're living off the grid in some shack nestled deep in the lush Oregon forest, you already know that Oregon is still 2nd in the nation for unemployment numbers with more than 12% of our friends, neighbors and family pounding the proverbial pavement looking for a job.

If you're a hermit, I applaud your good taste in blogs despite your Internet connection challenge. If you're unemployed, or know someone who is, I invite you down to the Green Dragon to find out how to transition into not only a career, but one you actually like.

Interested? Join us at 4pm on Friday in the patio for Beer and Doggie's feature presentation: Career Transition!

Whether you find yourself unemployed, underemployed, or unhappily employed, it's all for the dogs. We think you can do better. We think it's entirely possible for you to not only secure a steady paycheck, but land that job you lust for, even in "this economy".

Career coach and strategist Brian Kurth of Career Transitions will explain how to use his straightforward 8-Steps of a Successful Career Transition to not only find a job, but find the job of your dreams. He'll cover defining your ideal job, finding a mentor, and creating an action plan, plus much more.

Bring your well-mannered pooch and listen to Brian extol the virtues of what he calls his "vocationing" process, which has so far helped thousands of people land their dream gig.

Learn how to find work you love, and soon you'll be saying you live a dog's life!

For a year now the OurPDX blog has pointed readers to the best and worst Portland has to offer online and off, engaged in transparent discussions about culture and post content, and sought to inform and entertain the fine citizens of Portland, Oregon. You might know the names of some of the authors of OurPDX from the Beer and Blog community: @morganPDX, @ahockley, @CamiKaos, @Dieselboi, @abrahamhyatt, @betsywhim. Any of those ring a bell? How about @mediaChick? Yep, I write there too. But not as often as I should, I'm afraid, but I do proudly call myself an OurPDX author.

Or...maybe you don't know them. Or me. If that's the case then here's your chance, because this Friday Beer and Blog is thrilled to host the 1st birthday party of OurPDX, Portland's awesome group blog authored by 23 writers who pour their honest insights about our fair city onto the Web.

Come celebrate OurPDX's first year with cake on the patio of the Green Dragon (hopefully...rain, rain, will stay away) starting at 4pm. In fact, if the weather does cooperate, Beer and Blog will bust out the summer gear for playful fun. That means we might get to frolic in the kiddie pool, my beer and bloggie pals. Awww-yeah. Here's hoping @portlandsun hangs around because, personally, I want my cake (on the patio) and to eat it (water pistols) too!

Also, later that night, tune into a special Strange Love Live broadcast, hosted @CamiKaos and @docnormal, with as many OurPDX authors who can stay up that late. Signature SLL tiki rum drinks will be served to the writers to get them sufficiently liquored up in the hopes they'll say embarrassing things for everyone's amusement. I'll be there, trying to remember that the show is, indeed, broadcasting accross the Interverse, and is, indeed, being taped for prosperity and posting later. As in inrefrutable evidence of one's drunken, public confessions.

On behalf of Beer and Blog and OurPDX, we hope you'll join us this Friday. Won't be the same without you!

Intellectual property rights is a hot topic in Portland, Oregon. With the Beer and Blog community in particular I've had several conversations about steps to take in securing exclusive rights to our idea inventions, that intangible creativity from the mind. And what the heck is the process for getting something trademarked? Or patented? What qualifies as a trade secret?

Wonder no longer. On July 14 from 6-8 pm Mike Cohen, an intellectual property-focused attorney at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, will be answering these questions in a FREE off-site topic discussion. Mike will also cover general IP issues relevant to bloggers, such as copyright and trademark infringement, as well as defamation.

A reception from 6-6:30 with beer, wine, non-alcoholic beverages and appetizers will be served. Then, from 6:30-7:15 Mike will talk. After that, we have time for questions. We'll have the room until 8 pm.

The law offices of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt is located in the building where Oracle lives, so remember there are two entrances: 5th and 6th Ave. If you enter from 5th Ave. you must go up the escalator and use an elevator in the bank of elevators located on the right to get to the 19th floor. If you enter from 6th Ave. just walk to the last bank of elevators.

Don't miss this free, informative evening of expert advice and learn how to protect your work and your right to montetize your work. Rearrange your schedule if you have to and attend this Beer and Blog off-site topic event. The free drink and food that goes along with the free IP counseling? BONUS!

When: Tuesday, July 14th 6-8 pm Schedule: 6-6:30 pm beverages and appetizers, 6:30-7:15 pm Intellectual Property presentation, 7:15-8 pm Q & A Location: Law offices of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, 1211 SW 5th Ave. Ste. 1900, Portland, OR 97204 (19th floor) Speaker: Mike Cohen, Shareholder Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt Questions: Contact Nichole Enriquez: nenriquez[at]schwabe.com

Intellectual property rights is a hot topic in Portland, Oregon. With the Beer and Blog community in particular I've had several conversations about steps to take in securing exclusive rights to our idea inventions, that intangible creativity from the mind. And what the heck is the process for getting something trademarked? Or patented? What qualifies as a trade secret?

Wonder no longer. On July 14 from 6-8 pm Mike Cohen, an intellectual property-focused attorney at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, will be answering these questions in a FREE off-site topic discussion. Mike will also cover general IP issues relevant to bloggers, such as copyright and trademark infringement, as well as defamation.

A reception from 6-6:30 with beer, wine, non-alcoholic beverages and appetizers will be served. Then, from 6:30-7:15 Mike will talk. After that, we have time for questions. We'll have the room until 8 pm.

The law offices of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt is located in the building where Oracle lives, so remember there are two entrances: 5th and 6th Ave. If you enter from 5th Ave. you must go up the escalator and use an elevator in the bank of elevators located on the right to get to the 19th floor. If you enter from 6th Ave. just walk to the last bank of elevators.

Don't miss this free, informative evening of expert advice and learn how to protect your work and your right to montetize your work. Rearrange your schedule if you have to and attend this Beer and Blog off-site topic event. The free drink and food that goes along with the free IP counseling? BONUS!

When: Tuesday, July 14th 6-8 pm Schedule: 6-6:30 pm beverages and appetizers, 6:30-7:15 pm Intellectual Property presentation, 7:15-8 pm Q & A Location: Law offices of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, 1211 SW 5th Ave. Ste. 1900, Portland, OR 97204 (19th floor) Speaker: Mike Cohen, Shareholder Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt Questions: Contact Nichole Enriquez: nenriquez[at]schwabe.com

The wait is over...it's FINALLY time to celebrate a 3rd year of the wiki-awesomeness called AboutUs.org!

Portland-based burgeoning Web site indexing service AboutUs.org turned another year older last month (June 20, to be exact), and in appreciation to the community for helping their database grow to more than 14 million pages they're buying the Beer and Blog community a beer.

Happy birthday to US and AboutUs!

This Friday's free birthday beer comes right on time, too. The night before, on Thursday, is the eagerly anticipated Ignite Portland 6 (brought to us by Legion of Tech and many, many hardworking volunteers). How very poetic (and convenient) to have a decomp the day after in the form of a birthday toast celebrating a successful local business. This will surely help us ease back into the progressive craziness ahead, because just you wait: demands to submit your IP7 proposals will soon be streaking your twitterstream.

Join us on the patio at the Green Dragon this Friday from 4-6. Oh! One more thing: show up sooner than later, because free beer goes fast. That's just common Law of Free Beer sense. ;)

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

Thanks to an introduction by Brian Westbrook (aka @BMW), Sprint is giving us a 4G network card and a 6 month data plan to raffle off this Friday! How flippin' rad is that?!! ♪ Movin' on up / To the East side. ♫

The plan is to collect names in a pitcher and then pull a name from it. We'll choose a name at 6pm and that person will be given the 4G card on the spot with contact details to get the 6 month plan activated. One thing to note, is that we hear this card is not compatible with Macs. Don't whine, it was a free giveaway and we want to encourage more companies to send us goodies that we can pass on to y'all.

Whoo-hoo! Our month-long 2nd Anniversary celebration continues!

This Friday at Beer and Blog, Alaska Airlines will provide free snackage for everyone and two drink tickets to the first 40 people who arrive. As usual, our event begins at 4pm at the Green Dragon, so if you have a hankering for freebie booze you should show up close to start time.

(Special message, just for Brian M. Westbrook: A sincere bottom-of-our-hearts thanks for making this happen! You rock!)

But the Alaska Airlines-sponsored fete isn’t all that’s going on this Friday night.

Almost as if it was fate (and who am I to say it’s not?) the Laughing Squid crew is in Portland this week, and they plan to join us at Beer and Blog for a spell.

What is Laughing Squid? It’s an online resource for art, culture and technology that also provides web hosting services. The Squiddies are having their own party — a PDX Drinkup — this Friday at 7pm at the Lucky Labrador Brew Pub, just down the street from the Green Dragon.

Coincidence? Or FATE? ;)

So, after we’ve exhausted our wonderful Beer and Blog server Lexie, we’ll trek a couple of blocks down to the Lucky Labrador Brew Pub to meet the the Laughing Squid team at their PDX Drinkup.

I hope to see you at Beer and Blog and later on at the PDX Drinkup. Come and say hello!

The final Friday of our 2nd anniversary celebration is here. So far this month we've given away lots of free booze and cool stuff (courtesy of @AlaskaAir, @SexyNurd, and @DarkHorseComics) to record-breaking numbers of Beer and Bloggers. Even the staff @LaughingSquid stopped by to join in on the hoopla. Sweet!

Have you been enjoying yourself so far? We hope so!

And now, for our final Friday celebration, we've managed to work our way into the schedule of a very special guest who's heard good things about Beer and Blog and wants to come and celebrated with us: Portland's own Mayor Sam Adams!

We're honored by a visit from the Mayor of the city we love so much. We believe it's the spirit of community that Portland, Oregon is known for that has kept Beer and Blog humming along, growing steady and strong like we have the past two years. Portland is Weird, it's awesomesauce, and a visit from Sam Adams is pretty much a Seal of Portland Approval in my eyes.

Please join your fellow Beer and Bloggers this Friday at the Green Dragon for the final round of cheers in celebration of our 2nd year. We'll start gathering at 4pm as usual, and expect the Mayor around 5:30pm.

A very special W00t! to long-time Beer and Blog supporter @faddah for coordinating the introduction to Mayor's Office :)

RSVP on Upcoming or get you 411 on Calagator

Fresh from the shower of fantastic press and outstanding numbers from the very successful "Smell Like a Man, Man" digital marketing campaign for Old Spice, Wieden+Kennedy is steaming hot. They’re so hot, in fact, they’re sending three of their digital strategists and $500 in beer money to Beer and Blog this Friday to talk about the future of W+K Digital and how you might be a part of it if you’re a strategist or community manger.

This means 1) FREE beer and 2) W+K is hiring. 3) You’re coming.

Join us on the patio of the Green Dragon this Friday from 4pm to 6pm to chat up W+K’s digital strategists Dean McBeth, Ken Brady, and Cody Corona. They’ll have the drink tickets, so be on your best behavior :)

P.S. I dare someone to arrive on the back of Loch Ness creature looking ridiculously good-looking while changing a baby’s diaper and playing chess.

One more thing! There will be some folks in town Friday -- three folks, to be exact -- who are traveling the U.S. to find new members to join their group called Way Below Status Quo. They’re a sassy bunch of entrepreneurs, so I know they’ll fit right at Beer and Blog. They’ll stop by the Green Dragon patio and mingle before their event later in the evening at Amnesia Brewery on N. Mississippi Ave. (More info here: http://statusquo-portlandor.eventbrite.com/)

Beer and Blog is thrilled to have Burk Jackson, volunteer superhero and talented photographer, to come to this Friday’s Beer and Blog to chat up his wonderful non-profit CreativeCares http://creativecares.org/. It’s sort of a casual dating service for non-profits who are looking for mutually satisfying relationships with volunteer creatives and techies to build websites, develop digital marketing strategies, and create logos for them. No strings attached, and everyone’s left with warm-and-fuzzy memories.

It works like this: CreativeCares partners with non-profits in need of creative and technical services worldwide and matches professionals who wish to volunteer their expertise with organizations who need their help. Volunteers are needed both locally (the Right Brain Initiative, Habitat for Humanity, and the ReBuilding Portland) and internationally (the Disability Aid Abroad program which works to improve the lives of people living in developing countries).

With so many cash-strapped non-profits in need our help in crafting their stories, planning their social media marketing campaigns, and building databases for their online community portals, CreativeCares is currently looking for several volunteers expertise in:

Photography Film/video Graphic design Web design and development Art direction Marketing Copywriting Public relations Strategy Creative direction

Please join us and hear Burk describe his vision for CreativeCares at 4:30pm this Friday, October 1. He’ll be around until at least 6pm for informal mingling and Q&A. Can’t make it Friday but want to be a creative that cares? Head on over to the CreativeCares website and apply online here: http://creativecares.org/join-our-cause/sign-up-here

Raz Shuttle Bus from Portland to Corvallis and Back Learn more about WiN: http://www.willametteinnovators.com/page/about-win-2010

Time: November 11, 2010 from 2:45pm to 11pm Location: Pickup Downtown Portland @ The Nines hotel loading/valet/etc area in front, on SW Morrison between 5th & 6th. Street: 525 SW Morrison City/Town: Portland, Oregon Event Type: shuttle, bus Organized By: Sheri Dover

We have organized a FREE shuttle bus with a local company named Raz Transportation to help create a multi-city Beer and Blog!

The bus is sponsored by SAO and Microsoft. Not only have they made your ride free, they are providing refreshments for the trip! (It is BEER and blog)

With smart phones on the bus, please tweet, blog, and have fun all the way down to Corvallis. Tag your tweets/photos/etc with #WIN09 and we will see you on the Tweet TV at the event!

And someone may want to bring some an ipod with speakers if you want tunes!

The itinerary looks something like this. It might be faster, but we're allowing for some fudge factor (traffic). Doubt it will affect the time coming back, but its added anyways.

Southbound:

2:50 pm: Portland pick-up @ The Nines Hotel loading/valet/etc area in front, on SW Morrison between 5th & 6th.

3:00 pm: Leave Portland

4:30 pm: Arrive at CH2M Hill Alumni Center, OSU, in Corvallis

Northbound:

9:30 pm: Depart In Front of CH2M Hill Alumni Center, OSU, Corvallis

11:00 pm: Portland Dropoff @ The Nines Hotel

If there are any issues contact me (Sheri) at @sheri_dover on twitter. I'll send my phone/email in a short email blast.

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

As most of you know, our beloved film/tech/train/jazz/labyrinth/werewolf/volunteering-loving Renaissance man Paul Bingman passed away from cancer on April 3, 2011. A private memorial in his honor is planned for this Sunday, April 17, at the Portland Art Museum’s Whitsell Auditorium. All are welcome (There will be chocolate! And a labyrinth!) but you must RSVP because there is a capacity cap. You can do that here: http://friendsofpaulbingman.eventbrite.com/

What you might not know is that the organization planning the memorial--they appropriately call themselves Friend’s of Paul Bingman--is raising funds to cover the expenses related to the memorial. They are also raising money to donate to two of his favorite organizations in his name: The Northwest Film Center and The Trinity Labyrinth Guild. You can donate money via this website: http://paulbingman.chipin.com/memorial-event-for-paul-bingman

Because Paul’s interests were so varied and vast (and so are the friends he made) the Friend’s of Paul Bingman group is asking all of us help spread the word about his memorial. Not all of the lives he touched are Internet savvy, so they might not know about the memorial. They might not even know that Paul has passed. So, if you’re part of a group that Paul had been involved with, we ask that you share the news of his death and invite anyone who may have experienced his bear hugs and kindness to RSVP and attend the memorial.

This Friday’s Beer and Blog meetup is dedicated to the memory of our dedicated friendly soul Paul, the man everyone loved so much. We’ll be accepting donations to turn over to the Friend’s of Paul Bingman group. And we’ll be sharing stories about the giant with the giant heart. We hope to see you there. I know Paul will be, in spirit.

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

Beer and Blog is on a roll with top-notch sponsors this year! We’re thrilled to announce that our latest high-profile sponsor is, drumroll please… Groupon! Yes, in addition to giving you steep discounts at cool local businesses, the daily deals giant wants to buy you a beer. And it all happens this Friday, June 24.

Former Beer and Blog captain Kerry Finsand will represent on behalf of Groupon Portland, so make sure to say hi and congratulate him on his new marketing role (where he gets to do this kind of thing all the time, maybe even at a future Beer and Blog? Hint, hint…). In addition to providing beer for all attendees, one very lucky person will win a $100 Groupon gift certificate! You must be present to win.

As always, your free pint or beverage of choice is first come first served. We’ll see you this Friday from 4-6pm at the Green Dragon!

Inviting IndieWebCamp.com folks to come along as well for a pre-weekend meet and greet.

(and if you're an indie web builder/sharer, check out and sign-up for IndieWebCamp this weekend June 25-26)

Have beer with geeks. Well-mannered dogs welcomed on patio.

Please join the community of Beer and Blog on September 30th from 4-6pm at the Green Dragon to say Bon Voyage to our friend and founder Justin Kistner. There will be cake, and a tequila shot special, and lots of chances to make his face turn red from the heat of our admiration for all he’s done for the Beer and Blog community. Hope to see you there!