This is the first in a series of concerts to help raise funds for the Fellowship’s building expansion project. The entire community is encouraged to attend these concerts, to enjoy the music and to show support for the improved and enlarged facility, which will be of great benefit to the entire Bellingham community. Tickets will be available at the door.

RSVP to the Facebook Event!

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Since she has been involved with EMS for nearly 20 years, she thought it only fitting to give to the police guild for the children and families of those killed in the line of duty. So for the gift-giving season, Marie is offering gift certificates good for two 1-hour massage or two 1-hour wellness kinesiology sessions. That’s 50% off! And proceeds go to the LPIG (http://www.lpig.us/), so that makes it even sweeter this holiday.

They go for $99, and are so worth it. The offer expires on 12/31/09, so even if you didn’t get the wellness you wanted, you can still pick some up for yourself. For more information on Marie’s services and practice, visit her at http://mattesoncommunications.com

Now, here’s the deal:

We need to have 50 takers to tip this deal, give you 50% off, and give to fallen officers’ families. So even if it’s not your cup of green tea, tell all of your friends to make this happen. Your credit card won’t be charged until we reach the goal, so pledge below or visit the campaign page. For more information on Marie’s services and practice, visit her at http://mattesoncommunications.com.

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The regional brouhaha of the month is this: Mayor Bud of Mount Vernon, WA is bestowing a key to his city to Glenn Beck. This has been in the works for a while, evidently, although when Mayor Bud extended an offer of free tickets of the event to the city council, only one council person took one. The rest had their jaws on the floor, so I can gather that was a pretty unilateral move on his part. But in short order, every ignored conservative in three counties sold out the appearance set for September 26.

Meanwhile, over the Labor Day weekend, in a slightly larger (but no less sleepy) town to the north called Bellingham, Mayor Dan found it worthy of a response. On his day off, he drafted an invitation to Jon Stewart to also accept the key to his own fair city.

You see the entertainment value here, right?  Two media heavyweights in a PR pirouette, while Bud and Dan have a contest to show how much water they can drink?  I know, of all the priorities for our region to focus our energy and resources… but we live in the City of Subdued Excitement.  And when there’s policical fatigue, this town just shuts down.  And when the community gets bored, bad decisions are made.

For our own good, we needed something equal parts inane and awesome.  The media is already jumping on it like it mattered:

• New York Times
• Reddit
• Raw Story
• Bellingham Herald
• KOMO4

Let’s give ourselves a real show.  Should the whole Daily Show come to the Mount Baker to tape?  Want to help?  There have already been groups and activities set up online for you to participate:

Become A Fan On Facebook

Sign The Twitition

In the meantime, you want to see how KOMO4 cobbled together our infotainment in under 2 minutes?

From KOMO4:

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It’s that time again, and there are more venues and events than ever in the history of the Art Walk.  Downtown Art Walks are a festive time when participating business owners keep their doors open from 6 to 10 pm to showcase an array of artwork by local and renowned visiting artists. Art lovers are invited to stroll through the streets of downtown, enjoying art, food, and community on the First Friday of every month.

Don’t know where to go first?  Plan your Friday night (this September 4) by clicking around this map to get ideas, or hit this link with your mobile while on foot:

Link to Map

Maps for each art walk will be available at the Downtown Bellingham Partnership (1304 Cornwall Avenue) and at participating downtown venues. Get more info at: http://www.downtownbellingham.com/artwalk/

Enjoy:

View Art Walk, September 2009 in a larger map

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Back in August 2008 I met Brett at the Word of Mouth Social Media Conference held by TAG and the SBDC (now the EVC).  It was refreshing to know that there was someone, in the sea of CEOs, marketing/biz dev executives and consultants, that genuinely felt as out of place as I did.  In the respect that, he was invited to speak on a panel about social media, and he was the first to admit the most he’s ever participated is on LinkedIn.  And here I was, on all the major social media channels, and still wondering where the value was.

Then, in the midst of all the catch phrases, Brett identified what got him excited about what the future held: the ability to find and try the next great idea.  To experience a problem, hunt down and persevere for a solution, and the tools to make that happen are coming.  As a side anecdote, he imparted his own private pet peeve: the inability to get his bagels toasted at The Bagelry.  ”The next great business I build,” he joked “is to set up a toaster in front of there and toast bagels”.

It’s strange the things that stick with you over a year, from a passing acquaintance, over the smallest detail.  But on August 18th, when I learned of his passing at age 38, it was the first thing I thought: he didn’t get to try his great idea.  There were plenty of people I ran into that always mentioned a preference for toasted, but wanted to keep the peace.  Once his family identified a charity to give to, it seemed the right time to break out his idea.

So on Monday, August 31, 2009, at 8:30 in the morning, the first (and perhaps only) Brett Allsop Memorial Bagel Toast Happened.  The proceeds of $100 for just an hour on a sidewalk went to the Brett Allsop Memorial Scholarship for Bellingham Dollar for Scholars.  Here’s my big take-away from this particular grassroots guerilla campaign:

1. On Monday morning, half of the people aren’t prepared to have their reality shaken. The sight of a lone toaster on the sidewalk with a crowd around it did garner a load of double-takes from the morning class of Bikram Yoga, who inadvertently supplied our power (so, much love to them, see number 5).  Although people were curious, not all were curious enough to venture closer and reset their breakfast.  Also, many already loaded up on grapefruit, muesli, or whatever they start their day with, so if it looked like work, forget it.
2. Surprisingly, the other half are really your best allies. When the idea to throw the bagel toast came about, there wasn’t much if a window to get full support.  I had a host of things that could go wrong: zoning restrictions, food service regulations, and a whole slew of road blocks could either shut the event down or worse, if I didn’t behave, land me in jail.  But the biggest issue I had with the concept was the blessing of the folks that sell the bagels.  As a matter of fact, the very concept of a toasted bagel goes against the credo of one of our favorite Bellingham haunts: The Bagelry.  Their bagels are fresh out of the oven and hot – there is no need to toast them.  However, some like them crunchy.  I pushed ahead with the conviction that what people do with their bagels once they walk out the door is their right.   Luckily, after a series of missed voicemails, and bounced emails (see number 5).  We got the blessing from Ken, and a bag of leftovers besides!
3. Let people help. When you start the day, it’s lone wolf time.  You’ve done your planning, your advance location scout (see number 4), grabbed everything out of the garage and went to work before the dawn fog has even burned off.  However, stay alert to the needs and abilities of those that show up, be it volunteers… or even participants that wind up as volunteers.  You cannot, and will not, be allowed to do the entire event yourself.  In this case, when Brett’s wife Amy and their kids were the first ones at the scene, she was a dynamo.  The first instinct is to say “No, you sit over there, this is for you guys, I’ll handle things”.  Don’t fall for it.  Amy and the family were there to participate in something bigger than themselves, and in their week of grief, it became their project of the day.  Extra bagels were acquired.  Schmears and butter hit the table, plastic trays were provided.  Ben at Mallards brought us real knives!  Kids were eating chocolate chip spread on toasted bagels from the trunk of my wagon.  I didn’t do that, that happened.
4. Let your Plan B look like you Plan A. Very few knew, the original plan was to have a power inverter connected to a cigarette light adaptor in the car and be completely off the grid for the event.  As much as I pride myself as an idea man, I’m a crappy electrician.  Did you know that a mere toaster can pull enough juice to fry an inverter, and if I kept up, the entire electrical system of a Suburu Legacy?  Me neither!  Luckily, I had already scouted my plan B (perhaps subconsciously predicting my failure).  There was a grounded outlet in the right spot in the adjacent building, and I had the foresight to pack a roll of gaffer’s tape and a ten-foot extension cord.  It wasn’t sexy, but we achieved toasty.  To be fair, I had absolutely no Plan B if we faced any other obstacles, so let’s say the event fell on the side of lucky.
5. Broadcast your intentions before your face time. Let’s face it, the cooler the concept is, the greater the chance that not everything will be clear to supporters, participants, or even bystanders.  Email, Facebook and Twitter were paramount in closing the gap to not only promote the event, but also avoid some massive losses of goodwill with people not directly related to the event.  Remember when I mentioned that Ken eventually got and blessed the idea of Bagelry bagels for a brief and shining moment being toasted?  That was not an instant process.  As a matter of fact, it was the culmination of a comedy of errors involving phone tag, bounced emails and crossed wires.  I finally had to appeal to the Facebook community and tossed the equivalent of a message in a bottle to make sure that we were on the right side of things.  Miraculously, Ken – who isn’t on –  found out from employees and all was well by Monday morning, and for that I thank him.  Also, I never directly contacted the Allsop family for help… Amy found out around the time of the funeral from a friend of mine who was on Facebook, emailed me with her support that weekend, and showed up as the powerhouse I mentioned earlier, along with the entire clan.



6. Start small and crappy, so you can elicit ways to do it better. Not that I had a choice, but it was imperative to run lean and fast with the barest essentials to make the event even happen.  A car, a TV tray, a power inverter (blown), a toaster, an extension cord, gaffer’s tape, one laserjet print for the log and one laserjet print for the instructions to passersby.  The advantage when doing a pilot event like this is, people get the essence, then start jamming on the idea while they’re there.  By the end of the day, there were people talking about doing live radio remotes and adding fun runs to the core of an idea Brett had given us a long time ago.  And by the end of the morning, there were a load of amenities (like spreads) that I left off the list.  Don’t take the suggestions or criticism from your volunteers as a condemnation of your efforts.  Remember, you set this up to be a live, real-time, in-the-field brainstorming session with your greatest supporters… you just found that day!
7. Follow the letter of the law, but feel like an outlaw. Like I said, I worry a lot the day before anything like this.  More than I should.  Why?  Because I pick projects that, on the surface, haven’t been done before.  With that, as a responsible member of society, I have to ask why.  Man, I have a vivid imagination (see number 2)!  As none of the horrible fates I planned for came to pass, it gave me plenty of energy to think that even if I weren’t bending laws on the books, I was the only one parked backwards on Railroad.  We were running power from a stranger’s place!  We were toasting the previously untoastable!  Kids were eating chocolate before lunch!  We were unstoppable!  Don’t go out of your way to actually break laws and piss people off.  Break your own laws, your hang-ups and fears, and you’ll feel like you’re defying gravity itself.
8. Find the inside joke. To the rest of the world, the concept of a Bagel Toast is probably lost.  But to a population inside Bellingham, a toasted bagel is something to not be taken for granted.  Getting a decent bagel, it is said, is a rarity in the corner of the Pacific Northwest where we are, and the one place famous for them doesn’t toast for the reasons above.  Over the years, we’ve woven that into our cultural identity here, along with “The poorest man in Bellingham is the umbrella salesman”. Because, in spite of evidence to the contrary, we don’t see the reason to have one.  Does that mean that the next event is an Umbrella Planto Ex, where we challenge people to make things from the parts of tourists lost and discarded umbrellas?  That’s entirely up to you.
9. Some will support a cause, most will support an experience. With the largest per-captia ratio of non-profits in the nation, we talk a lot about residents and corporations in Bellingham suffering “donor fatigue”.  It can become a straightforward and expected exercise of dinners and postage-paid envelopes.  Heck, it even doesn’t phase me that friends of mine are in jail for charity anymore, although I try to help make bail… because it’s not a real jail.  It’s what they call at Disneyland Goofy Jail.  And Goofy Jail has higher stakes, you’re usually really in trouble!  Let’s flip the theme park on its head for a second: if you were at the gates of a park that charged admission, and with that ticket came the promise of a cure for cancer, but once you got in there nothing remarkable was happening… there’s a part of you deep down that, in spite of everyone’s best intentions, makes you wonder if these guys could really cure cancer at all.  I know, it’s a ridiculous and irrational correlation, but that’s the difference between “good show” and “bad show” in the parlance of the Imagineer.
10. Have fun. I shouldn’t have to remind you, but I do.  There are so many pressing issues in the world, and you’re probably at the helm of solving a few… or one.  I’ve witnessed the strength of a family today, and I assure you they brought me more cheer than I could ever hope to bring them.  Why?  Because I could see, in the light of their loss, they were celebrating and enjoying what it was to have been with that person, and to be alive themselves, and to know that they were there for each other.  I spend as many hours as you, my nose to the grindstone, agonizing over the problem.  It’s a worthwhile endeavor, but it doesn’t do any good on the day if you look like the worries of the world have worn you to a nub. That’s not the experience people want.  If you believe there’s an ounce of a fighting chance, people need to see a pound.

That’s more than enough typing for tonight.  But also a big “thanks” to Brian Sibley for the picture of the crowd.  That is all.

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The course follows the urban greenways and roads through Bellingham, showcasing the city’s parks including Boulevard Park, Lake Padden, Fairhaven, and Marine Park. The course then heads out into the open water of Bellingham Bay finishing at a hidden beach at the end of Cornwall Avenue that is where all teams gather to finish the last leg together as they “trek” the last 1/2 mile to the finish line at the Depot Market Square and Boundary Bay Brewery. Traverse Ale is fresh and on tap at the Awards ceremony into the evening.

This year, the Bellingham Traverse has announced a special economic stimulus opportunity for eighteen local environmental and recreational non-profit organizations that were beneficiaries of previous Traverse fundraising efforts and that have also helped promote the Traverse to their organization’s constituents.

The stimulus provides a free Traverse team entry on Saturday 19 September 2009 that can be leveraged by these local charities as a pledge drive, with 100% of the pledges going directly to their organization. “While many athletic events raise money for health related charities, not many raise money for environmental and recreational community organizations. During these difficult economic times,” said Todd Elsworth, Race Director, “it is increasingly difficult to get financial support for the environmental and recreational non-profits that help make Bellingham such a desirable and active community.”

The non-profit organizations offered this economic stimulus opportunity are Ducks Unlimited, Farm Friends, Greenways Volunteer Program, Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association, North Cascades Institute, Conservation Northwest, RE Sources, WHIMPS Mountain Bike Coalition (Whatcom Ind Mtn Peddlers), Center for Tribal Water Advocacy, Merlin Falcon Foundation (used to be Coastal Forest Merlin Project), North Cascades Audubon Society, Opportunity Council, People for Lake Whatcom, Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition, Sierra Club – Mt. Baker Group, Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group, Washington Water Trails Association, and Whatcom Conservation District.

“The Traverse has always been oriented toward benefiting the non-profit community through encouraging racers to secure pledges for their favorite organization,” said Robyn du Pr’e, Exectutive Director of RE Sources, adding “This is another wonderful way that this very cool event supports community.”

For more information, contact Todd Elsworth at:

Todd Elsworth
info[@]BellinghamTraverse.com
360.739.8458
PO Box 2771
Bellingham, WA 98227

http://www.bellinghamtraverse.com

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We all know how important first impressions are and how difficult it is to change a person perception once that impression is made. The new world of Social Media has cut out personal contact eliminating the opportunity to read body language or see how a person physically presents themselves. All we have to analyze a person is some typed words with very little if any emotion attached… Or is it?

First impressions are based mainly on image, how you are put together, and how one interacts or responds to others. In the world of social media the image part comes from your profile picture. When choosing a picture for a business profile you must take into consideration what your want your image to say about you. Once you have decided what you want your image to portray to your profile visitors it’s time to create a “look” to match. When I say “look” I don’t just mean what cloths you wear, I am talking about the entire appearance from wardrobe to hairstyle.

For example two gentlemen wear the same suit only one has a short crew haircut while the other wears a slightly longer more modern style. Or two women wear the same dress yet one has a sleek short bob with bangs while the other has long wavy hair with long layers. In both examples each person is presenting themselves very differently simply by the type of hairstyle they choose.

I would encourage you when you think about your next picture for your business profile think of what kind of message you want your image to convey about you. Choose a hairstyle and attire that not only represents who you are, but that enhances one another so that not only do you know what kind of first impression you are sending to the social media world, but you’ve created it on purpose!

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[UPDATE] It appears Google Maps is experiencing some issues saving the map we’ve made corrections to, and the embed on the blog still isn’t listing all stores, based on the Goggle errors.  Blame the KGB.  In the meantime, however, the complete correct map for you or or mobile device there from this link righty here.

View Art Walk, August 2009 in a larger map

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Flash forward, I have more than a sneaking suspicion that Facebook has rigged the algorithms of the technology developed at UMass to recognize, well, everything. Take for example a friend of mine, who shall have his privacy protected.

Computer says:

He shaves his head.  He likes coffee.  What else is there to know?  Let’s serve up ads for coffee and shavers, because we can assume that if people like him, they can at least tolerate the idea of Kona Coffee and whatever that gizmo is.

After getting over the creepy factor, I do have to giggle that this is what Facebook is offering in the future to leverage itself over other media channels: granular, relevant targeting of ad placements down to elements not even put into words.  You know that means?  Time to have a little fun with your profile picture and see what pops up!  You may very well be able to control the quality of content presented to you by that old Bo Peep costume in moth balls from last year.  Yes, I’m talking to you, Mr. Wentworth.

Post your greatest results in the comments!  If you post a screencap, be sure to respect identities and learn a little Photoshop mosaic action or black bars.  That’s more than Facebook’s doing for you

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