Rachel,

The Vermillion on Capitol Hill (that Lara mentions here) has been a great location and setting for many Happy Hour events, and is just the type of place you describe. Sierra's ongoing Happy Networking Hour is a prime example. And the owners are very welcoming.

~Russell

Corbet and Vicki,

Thanks again for hosting this varied and inspirational ongoing event.

~Russell

Kimberly,

I've passed by this place many times. I just went to their website, and found out they are sponsoring a pet photographer on their site.

http://www.downtowndoglounge.com/

I'll bet he just walked in and asked one day.

Darcy, thanks for the First Thursday reminder.

Also, something happening in Pioneer Square that only happens once a year is the:

Open House @ Tashiro Kaplan Artist Lofts

When: Thursday, October 1, 5-10 pm as a part of the First Thursday Pioneer Sq. Artwalk Where: 115 Prefontaine Pl. S. (same building as All City Coffee), Seattle, WA 98104 Maps and directions: http://www.tklofts.com/directions.html

Join us for a rare and enthusiastic open studio event in conjunction with the First Thursday Artwalk. We'll be celebrating our fifth year in the building.

Our lofts will be open and performances (including Orkestar Zirkonium, Monktail and more) will also be happening throughout the building (moving from floor to floor).

Yes. Community and conversation with great new people—solopreneurs, big thinkers, small biz folks and people who were here in Raintown all along. And Biznik provides a way for our paths to cross, make connections, and share insights about what we’ve learned and where we’d headed.

The best part of this event was that even if we thought we knew what to expect, we didn't truly know what to expect. And Karen reminded us to breathe. Who else does that?

From Sinatra to Fertilizer, and everything in between--if this article isn't about wide-awake dreams, actions, and pursuits, I don't know what is.

Rebecca,

Brilliant redesign of your event. (Of course.) Let me know if a spot opens up.

Amy,

Check out http://seattlest.com/arts_events/2009/06/

Seattlest Arts & Events. Good photos too.

Capitol Hill comes in below Pioneer Square and First Hill for being walkable? That's just not right. On the other hand Ballard and Fremont come in just after Capitol Hill for walking. Did humans actually walk these neighborhoods, or did someone in an office Mapquest them?

Deidre,

For a different take on cold calling, read The Well-Fed Writer by Peter Bowerman. He swears by it rather than at it.

Cheers, Russell

Michael, Jaime, Jewels,

An INSPIRED meeting and networking idea. Big thanks to you three for putting this event together. The quality of people and conversational flow was memorable, and with great art as a backdrop, cultural and educational in a easy way. When do we do it again?

Biznik + Seattle Art Museum = Wow, what a cool event.

Huge thanks to Michael, Jamie, & Jewels.

Jenny,

A great targeted resource I've told many people about is agentquery.com. It's a very easy to use and intuitive website, and the name pretty much says it all. Good resource for agent hunting.

--Russell

Where is the heart of Seattle? asks Ragsdale Madison…

Most of the time, its located on the corner of 10th and Pike, across the street from Neumo’s, a block off Broadway, and one block from Cal Anderson Park, which isn’t Capitol Hill’s lungs (that title belongs to Volunteer Park), but Cal Anderson Park could easily be Capitol Hill’s nostrils or ears, breathing deeply and listening as the multitudes fill it up all summer long. On election night a brass band appeared on the corner of 10th and Pike from out of thin air, transported directly from Seattle’s aorta.

Then again, the heart can often be found at The Bauhaus coffee shop, at Pike and Melrose, gazing out at the Space Needle and the Olympics beyond.

Other times, the heart’s been seen on Ballard Avenue, wandering through the misty rain, contemplating time and the universe, and Mexican food.

The heart has also been spotted in the downtown Public Library, letting the geometric architecture puzzle palace of books and folks fill its open mind, ready for anything…

Blogs will become more specific and reach even larger audiences by word of mouth. If you return to a blog, you're dialed in to what the writer is saying. In this age of scanning instead of reading, that's big. People scan many things on the web, so when a person sticks around to read an article, a blog post, or takes the time to dig deeper into a photograph, the blog has delivered meaningful content, which is of course always in the mind of the beholder.

On the first Walk&Talk, many people braved the elements and walked through rain and hail through Volunteer Park. On the second Volunteer Park W&T the weather was superb, and fewer people came out. No matter, it's Seattle, and springtime seems to be the right time to begin this new/ancient form of moving&communicating.

The English Lake District poets used to walk long distances to gain inspiration and clear their minds. I'm sure Coleridge and Wordsworth also did their share of walking and talking.

It's springtime, what better time to walk around Cap Hill?

I get the paper elves to come in every night while I'm sleeping and vacuum all my paper up with their invisible vacuum cleaner device. Works like a charm. But seriously, this is a problem that's been around since the printing press was invented and stationery supplies were sold at the corner store. What I used to let pile up, now I recycle. (To a degree.) And this helps.