Drawing SD Tweetup newbies and veterans alike, the event further cements the notion that social media can be used for good, and that to further build and cultivate online relationships, we need reinforce our connections face to face. As our group continues to grow, I’m inspired by the positive response of event attendees, and the ensuing response of 140 character exchanges on Twitter.

None of this would have been possible without the support of Network Velocity and Wine Cabana. Network Velocity provides comprehensive IT Support Services, Application Hosting and CIO level strategy and guidance. Their experts provide worry-free solutions that streamline your business processes, improve your bottom line and reduce IT headaches. I highly recommend that you chat with Stuart Hall to learn more the company and their offerings.

As for Wine Cabana, I guess the secret’s out about my favorite San Diego wine bar. Plus, the venue just looks absolutely phenomenal in the photos, as you can see for yourself.

Make sure to send some love to our assistant organizer, and purveyor of Rock Band Rob Marlbrough, as well as the Twitter wall gurus Declan Fleming and Gabriel Lawrence. Without the three of them, our event would have lacked the swagger of Rock Band and the popularity of a Twitter trending topic — we were #2 for hours and that just plain rocks.

Rockin’ Highlights

Below are a few of my favorite photo highlights from the event — they speak for the event better than I ever could (with words). Definitely take a look at Declan’s photos, Jimmy’s pics, Richie’s set, and Angie’s Facebook set. If you know of additional images or videos, leave a comment with a link and I’ll update the post.

*photo courtesy of @jimmyweee

*photo courtesy of @aaswartz

*photo courtesy of @declan

Twitter Roll

I encourage everyone to continue to stay connected on Twitter or via the Facebook group, and I’ve included all the attendees, who signed in, in the spreadsheet below to make it a little easier to keep in touch. If your name is not on the list, but you did attend, please leave a comment with your info and I’ll update the spreadsheet. Also leave a comment if there are any errors with your name, Twitter name, or website, and I’ll make updates as soon as possible.

See you all again very soon!

KPBS Dressing Room

As you all know, I organize the San Diego Tweetup, and we just keep getting bigger and bigger. This time around we’re going to Make News in a 140 Characters or Less at KPBS Television Studios on the SDSU Campus this Friday at 7:30pm. We’ve got over 200 people RSVP’d to event, a really awesome setup worked out, a first class DJ, and some really awesome sponsors.

The Event – Make News in a 140 Characters or Less

• Date: 11/14
• Time: 7:30pm
• Where: KPBS Television Studips (SDSU campus)
• RSVP/event info: http://www.meetup.com/sdtweetup/calendar/8962054/
• Details – KPBS (@kpbsnews) is graciously hosting SDTweetup for a new media/twitter networking and social event (aka Twitter party). There will be a DJ, food/beverages (snacks, wine, soda), green screen photo opp area, Wii setup, and of course the return of the TwitterBoard (thanks to @gebl), which will display both twitpic photos and tweets tagged with #sdtweetup. In case you missed it, last time we were the #1 trending topic on Twitter for 2 hours. Let’s do it again!

Meet our DJ – Chris Cantore

According to the bio on his site, Chris Cantore (@chriscantore)…

…is a prematurely graying, surf-loving, music enthusiast with fifteen years of multimedia experience (radio/TV/print/online.) Best known as the host of 91X/San Diego’s morning show for eleven years, today, Chris is the founder of CANTORE CREATIVE.

CANTORE CREATIVE produces and distributes online content (HD videos/blogs/podcasts) for your business, event, brand, non-profit, etc. Clients include: Del Mar Race Track. World Talk Radio. The Haunted Hotel. Surfrider Foundation.

Our Fabulous Sponsors – Show Them Some Twitter Love

Greenwala (@greenwala)

Coming soon! Greenwala is a brand new social community where you can learn and brag about being green, read articles, write blogs, post classifieds, enter, vote and participate in campaigns, and more. It’s a place to share your green stories with friends and family as we all do our part to move our planet toward a greener and more sustainable future. We’ll be adding new features and functionality over the next couple months so we’d love to hear your feedback. The site is written in Merb — which will help to keep the on site experience clean, fast, user-friendly, and even use less energy.

We are currently in secret alpha stage today, but we are launching our beta site in just a few days (Nov. 18). You can sign up to receive an email invite to the launch on our blog at Greenwala.com.

WebWizards.net (@Web_Wizards)

WebWizards.net offers a wide range of web services, specializing in high-speed boutique web hosting geared towards blogs, content management systems (CMS), customer relationship management systems (CRM), and e-commerce. Web designers can take advantage of the tiered reseller system, where custom plans and automated billing allow for complete control over client accounts, all through a privately branded customizable control panel. WebWizards.net also has an affiliate program allowing customers to earn 25% lifetime residual commissions on referrals. In business since 1997 and accredited with the Better Business Bureau since 2003, WebWizards.net is the one-stop solution for any web site need you may have.

Rob Marlbrough (@downtownrob), Founder and CEO, is offering a 60 day free trial, no billing information required at sign up, with 500MB disk space and 5GB bandwidth to play with. Visit http://www.webwizards.net/twitter for more info. After the free trial, users can continue service on this special plan for $9/month or switch to any of the other regular plans, starting as low as $6/month. Additionally, WebWizards.net is offering a 15% discount to new customers using this promo code during sign-up: TWITTERVIP.

iList (@iListhq)

iList is a free social classifieds service with an emphasis upon ease of use, openness, authenticity and clean design. iList lets you use the power of your social networks to spread your listing quickly, giving you the ability to cross-post your listings to common services such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Craigslist and more. Also, listers on iList use their social network accounts or mobile phones to reinforce their authenticity, avoiding spammers that plague other classifieds systems. If you’re a developer geek, we’re avid supporters of data portability — we have a full, REST-ful Developer API that developers can use to interact with iList data. Both pushing and pulling of data is currently supported, and you can learn more about our API at http://ilist.com/api.

Follow us at @@iListhq, and say hi at the SDTweetup this Friday. Our marketing director, Brad Seraphin (@bradseraphin), will be there with a few other iListers. We look forward to seeing you there!

Learn more about iList at http://ilist.com/tour.

I recently sat down with Deepu John, Principal at iSherpa Capital in San Diego, and asked him a few questions about the nature of startups these days. Surprisingly enough, John said that iSherpa would invest in another video company with the caveat being that there was a really great monetization strategy.

I also interviewed John in depth for StartupSD about the entrepreneur selection process and tips to help startups pitch VCs – that post should be live in the very near future.

If you want to reach Deepu John, you can send an email to deepuj [at] isherpa [dot] com.

[Side note - I used Seesmic for the first time, because Viddler was taking forever to encode my video (it still is at 0%) - problem is I feel like I lost a lot in quality. I recognize that Seesmic seems to focused more around the video community experience, but the quality of my previous Viddler videos was incredible.]

Dan Tentler – Quick Facts

• Age: 28
• Height: 5’7”
• Occupational interests: Systems Administrator, Hacker, Photographer
• Official claim to geek status: Hacked is way into more than one conference
• Favorite drink: Scotch
• Most overused saying: “80/20 rule”
• Attracted to: adventure, intelligence, red-heads, long hair, and hands
• Favorite things: shooting, photography, Portal (it’s a game)
• Evening details:
  • Date – Friday 3/28/08
  • Bar – R. O’Sullivans in Escondido
  • Bill – $80 bucks with tip (included drinks, apps, and dinner)

The “Date”

I pulled up to Dan’s gated condo community in Rancho Bernardo (eerily close to my church) a little later than planned, but that didn’t seem to preclude us from heading to a nearby hot tub as previously discussed. The general itinerary was to soak for a bit, and then hit a favorite Irish pub of Dan’s for drinks, food, and weighty discussions.

The hot tub action was amazing (any guy that has regular access to a hot tub is very eligible in my book), but only because my week had been extremely long and I needed the time to unwind. My quality time with Dan, however, was non-existent. My pseudo-date with an eligible geek was bogarted by another geek, albeit this one was completely ineligible. I thought I lost Dan to conversations about Portal, hobbits, MMORPGs, fantasy genre movies, and a plethora of subjects that I totally blocked out. My immediate concerns about Dan’s ability to “disconnect” from total geekdom were completely eased, however, when we got back in the car and I pointedly asked him if he felt he had a good balance between social activities and personal passions. His response was that he actually preferred social activities to the alternative, and that Portal playing, in particular, was limited to less than 2 hours a week.

Our second destination, R. O’Sullivans in Escondido, is an Irish pub that happened to have live music playing when we arrived. The place was pretty packed, so we headed out back to the outdoor patio to chat. We both ordered beers, and I went full speed ahead with the interview. My first line of questioning centered around women. I wanted to know about his previous relationships, his opinions on marriage, and ultimately find out more about his ideal woman. Dan’s answers to my inquiries were always honest, he refers to himself as a “straight talker,” and I was able to glean a slight vulnerability to his intense exterior shell. Dan, a man with a million thoughts per second (most of them genius), is still recovering from a difficult end to a relationship he valued. Men hate to admit vulnerability, but I was suddenly attracted to Dan’s ability to fall in love and talk about it — a quality that makes him a better candidate for relationship status.

Dan and I touched on a number of other topics, and ultimately what I gleaned from the entire evening is that Dan is a passionate man, and if you’re lucky enough to peak his interest, you’ll reap the benefits of those passions.

Catching Qualities

• He possesses an intelligence and fervor for life that is motivating and contagious. Close proximity to Dan will make the quality of your life better.
• He’s a mover and a shaker; a member of the “new guard.”
• He’s a masterful cook and he’s serious about keeping a clean kitchen.
• He’s a phenomenal masseur. I can’t speak from experience, but I was privy to a massage to gave my best friend; she was in heaven.
• He’s not a player; he’s looking for a real woman.
• His blog, Thaumatocracy rocks.
• He’s featured in Wired.

Getting Dan Interested…

Dan’s a complicated man. To capture his attention you’ll need to be super smart, more than just a little bit witty, talkative, confident, and a “rockstar” in your own way. If you are into him, though, make sure to demonstrate it; he started dating his last girlfriend because, “she came to me.”

The Juicy Details

I asked Dan a number of more personal questions related to his predilections towards the female body, including a few candid questions about sex. The important takeaways are that he’s a man in search of woman of substance, he isn’t opposed to shapely females (his ex-girlfriends have been C’s or larger), he’s attracted to women who want him, the best sex of his life was mostly mental, and he pays attention to physical cues to “mind-hack” a gal and determine whether or not she’s interested.

Get More Dan

Dan’s everywhere online. Your best bet is to find/follow “Viss” on twitter, and “vissago” on flickr. If you’d like to date him or just meet him, you can always email me, jvangrove [at] gmail [dot] com, or reach out to him directly.

About this post – San Diego’s Most Eligible Geeks series. I’m actively searching for San Diego’s most eligible geeks. Think single, career-minded men who are on the rise in either the technology or web space, reside in San Diego county, and are open to being profiled on this blog (and getting dates).

The Format

Our leadership team, which consists of myself and Matt Browne of Integral Impressions, met a few times since the last MeetUp to discuss strategy and goals. Even though the previous meetings were great, we decided to take things to the next level. Our goal was to create an inviting, engaging, and social format that not only helped people publicize their blogs, but also get attendees excited about commenting on other Diego blogs. After about 30 minutes of socializing, we turned the floor over to the blogger community and let everyone give a shout out to their blog(s), and a shameless plug if they so desired (and I did). We also stole a note from the unconference format and asked people to write down a topic for discussion on a sticky note and post it on our notepad. Unfortunately we ran out of time, so we’ve got the topics handy for next time.

Why SD Bloggers Rock

For one the turnout was incredible, and the diversity was amazing. We’ve got bloggers covering web technologies, information technology, photography, linguistics, Padres baseball, family matters, politic issues, community issues and much more. More importantly, though, everyone had their own personal flair, making it obvious that bloggers are a pretty passionate group of people. I know that I feel incredibly lucky to have connected with so many intelligent San Diegans who share the same passion I do.

What’s Next

The next Blogger MeetUp is on April 29th, and Matt and I are actively looking for an adequate location to accommodate this growing group of blogger enthusiasts. Of course we’d also love a sponsor and we’re open to receiving some swag too. WordPress are you listening? Also, make sure to check out Matt’s post and use the appropriate tags (“startupsd” and “sdbloggers”) when tagging your awesome content. Plus, please feel free to use the comments here, or on Matt’s blog, to share your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, and anything else that comes to mind.

The Blogs

Check them out. Comment on them. Let’s start some conversations that spill over into the future SD Blogger MeetUps.

• tonybalsamo.com [Future Blogger, Real-Estate]
• whisperbuzz [Luke Pilon, Photography & Glass Blowing]
• sneakeracademy.com [Jessica McKimmie, Marketing]
• thesandiegotraveler.com [Carol Lane, Travel]
• obraq.org [Patty Jones, Ocean Beach News & Commentary]
• revolutionarymayor.com [Eric Bidwell, San Diego Mayoral Candidate]
• www.higherpassages.com [John
• shycloud.com [David Matt Green, Photography]
• msdigital.smugmug.com [Linda. Photography]
• sdmegacoalition.blogspot.com [Walter Davis, San Diego Community/Groups]
• enrique-gutierrez.com [Enrique Gutierrez, Philosophy, Photography and a myriad of other subjects]
• gwaveconsulting.com [Melanie Gordon, Marketing Consulting]
• www.sandiegogaslampandnightlife.com [Richie Edquid, San Diego Nightlife]
• edward.oconnor.cx [Edward O'Connor, Web Developer/Django]
• erin.oconnor.cx & snowclones.org [Erin O'Connor, Art/Linguistics]
• www.thaumatocracy.com [Dan Tentler, Photography/Hacks]
• blogworldexpo.com [Rick Calvert & Dave Cynkin, Co-Founders - group discount potential!]
• ducksnorts.com & www.knucklecurve.com [Geoff Young, Padres/Baseball]
• www.declan.net & eringoblog.declan.net [Declan Fleming & his daughter Erin, Family/Photography/Tech/San Diego]
• www.barcampsandiego.org [Dan Tentler, Patrick Crowley - Barcamp San Diego Unconference]
• www.jefferygordon.com [Jeff "Flash" Gordon, Photography/Books]
• binarywolf.com [Steve, Personal Interest]
• jacobbijani.com [Jacob Bijani]
• friarfaithful.com [Dominic Damian, Padres]
• grokz.com [Peter, blog coming soon]

Special thanks to David Matt Green for the photos.