Meet Shannan B. (on the left). Not only is she an amazing asset to her company (brags her own co-worker) but also a mother and wife, a blogger, co-founder of Cincinnati Women Bloggers and Family Friendly Cincinnati. So, who better than to ask to plan a FourSquare event. Well, I am not sure if someone asked or if she just took it upon herself and went with it. Doesn’t matter because the event was a huge success and everyone had a great time.

We all met at Pachinko’s in Covington, KY. Of course, for some reason I thought that the place was a restaurant/bar by the name. What’s a name got to do with it I suppose. I thought however, that we could have some dinner before the event but no, it’s not. Turned out not to be a bad thing though because while actually looking for something else, my husband noticed an Asian restaurant right there in The Madison shopping area that turned out to be quite good. Very unassuming outside and in, with furniture from IKEA and a couple of fish tanks right in the front window. The food was really good though and well priced so that turned out nice. I do believe that it was called AmeriAsian.

My husband and son took me back to Pachinko’s for the event and dropped me off. I was going in completely blind, not sure if I would recognize anyone right away, at a bar in a city I am not used to but hey, I can do this. I spend a lot of time in “foreign to me” places with my job as a flight attendant. I still wish that I had gone with someone. I ordered a water (yeah,yeah) and mentioned to the bar tender that I was hoping to find someone I knew. She asked, “Do you know Shannan”? Yes! Of course the host would be there already. More and more people showed up, which was really good. If you are not aware of Four Square and it’s premise, although I am not sure exactly who started it or why,  it’s  kind of like a game. You use it to check in to different places that let’s your  friends and contacts know where you are. You can also use it as a To Do List or let others know of things to do in your city. Why would one want to advertise that? I wondered the same thing myself at first. I kept seeing on Twitter “I am here at “blank”. The fun is that if you are the one who visits a particular place the most, then you get a badge showing that you are the “Mayor” of that place. There are other things that you can get badges for including checking in too many times and having too many badges. LOL

Although I think it began as a game, businesses are quickly discovering that they can use it to attract more customers. Some bars and restaurants are even offering “Mayor” specials according the the FourSquare website. What a clever way to even keep current customers coming back more.

So, on 4/16, 2010, get it, four squared (4×4=16) people around the country celebrated FourSquared Day. Anything for a party and a badge, right? The only problem with the whole thing is that I never got my badge! I did have fun though. I had the opportunity to meet people that I talk to all of the time on Twitter as well as some that I had never spoken to in person or on-line. It was also a great way to physically spend time with the people you only have on-line communication with. Some people are worried that the computer and applications like Twitter diminish social skills by isolating people to just that, their computers. What happen to good ole’ one on one contact? That’s why events like this and Tweet-Ups are not only fun but so important.

What do you suppose everyone was doing on their phones?

Hello  Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz! I was finally in town for an event and got to meet you in person!

The lovely bartender was definitely kept busy all night. I can’t believe that she was the only one working that night! Thanks for having us.

“Kate the Great” from Kate’s Random Musings and Debba Haupert with Girlfriendology took time out to pose for a picture. Usually Shannan takes the pictures but she came sans camera that night. Thanks to all of the people that came out and let me capture the event on film.

Today was my first day back to work in over two months, due to knee surgery. I was actually a little nervous but only for like two minutes. As soon as I walked in to the crew lounge, I saw a flight attendant that was in my recurrent ground class. He and a table of other flight attendants that I knee wanted to know if I could sew on a button. If only they knew my Mother! In other words, I better know how to sew on a button. It’s practically in my genes.

I got out to the plane and everything was as if I had never left. In fact, everything including the printer in the lounge not working, was just as I had left it.

This first day back includes one flight to Toronto with a completely unreasonable “0-dark-hundred-hours” report, which simply means really, really early in military time slang. The passengers were fantastic and had that great Canadian accent that I love. I was looking around for a Tim Hortons hat but didn’t see one.

Well, I have to get some sleep so I’ll chat with you some more later. Thank goodness tomorrow’s Cincinnati Women Bloggers meeting is at a coffee shop! make mine a dopio, please.

This morning I had the opportunity to attend the February meeting for the Cincinnati Women Blogger’s Group held at the Red Tree Gallery & Coffee Shop in Oakley.  Jennifer McClure, Vice President at Centennial, Inc., spoke to the group about using blogs and other social media tools in your job search.

First, I would like to thank Jennifer for meeting with us today and the Red Tree Gallery & Coffee Shop for having us. I have seen the sign before however, never had the chance to check it out. If you are ever in the Oakley area, I recommend it because of it’s charm and atmosphere. I liked the different levels and areas along with being surrounded by paintings from local artist. A large conference like table in the back almost fit all of our mighty group. It was definitely nice to see such a great turnout of both regulars and new bloggers.

I enjoyed meeting Jennifer and found her thoughts regarding the topic as both informational and interesting. A lot of people misunderstand mediums like Twitter and Facebook as mere child’s play however, they fail to factor in the power of the web in whole as a tool. Using sites like those above can introduce you to contacts and friends that you may not have otherwise been able to make.

An important thing to remember is to be true to yourself and think about how you want to be portrayed to the public. As discussed in the meeting, some may wish to use FaceBook as simply a way for friends to keep in contact or as part of your social life. If used properly though, it could land you a job when needed or as I know in my own company, cost you your current job (not my own thank goodness). This is why one needs to pay special attention to what words come out of their mouth. Remember something that you say online is not like speaking one on one to a close friend but one on hundreds if not thousands,!

Don’t be afraid to ask for something you may need however, respect others privacy and don’t demand something from someone you don’t even know. You need to make connections and show desire to really know someone before you ask them to help you. Why should this person help you? A perfect comment made by a group member is that “you wouldn’t ask a dentist to clean your teeth for free”.

A great place to start is by reading others blogs that relate to you and commenting if you find their posts relative and interesting. If you run your own blog, be sure to thank the person and reply to a comment that they leave. Look for common interests through searches on Twitter and LinkedIn and tweet when you have something to say again watching how you want yourself to be seen.

Check the cincinnatiwomenblogger website for more details on the meeting.