The CubeSpace packing/moving extravaganza starts tomorrow (Sunday) at 1:30 pm, and here’s what we could use:

• People to pack stuff and/or disassemble stuff. If you have ‘em, bring boxes & packing supplies as well.
• People with trucks to haul stuff from Point A to Point B. Or from Point B back to Point A. (All local travel – some needed Sunday, some Monday afternoon.)
• Food to sustain the people.

If you’re not able to help Sunday/Monday & consider yourself a friend of CubeSpace, don’t forget about the final wrap party Tuesday, starting at 4 pm. And do read David’s own farewell to CubeSpace post.

(As ever, feel free to email me directly at betsy at ourpdx dot com. It’s a kid-free weekend; I’ll be around!)

Related Posts

• June 10, 2009 -- CubeSpace Farewell Party Tuesday 6/16 (1)
• June 8, 2009 -- Thank you, CubeSpace. Now – What Do You Need? (12)
• May 26, 2009 -- If You Love CubeSpace… (11)
• May 22, 2009 -- CubeSpace Needs Your Help (2)
• May 3, 2009 -- SLL: Live From Bar Camp! (2)

Update, 6/11: We’re going to skip the whole ‘organization’ bit for the party and just throw it out as a BYO event. Bring food! Bring drink! Bring good wishes for Eva, David, Robin, Emily and Beth!

RSVP on Upcoming so people know how much they should bring, please.

David & Eva want to be able to say farewell to CubeSpace — in CubeSpace itself. So please consider joining them Tuesday, June 16th, starting at 4 pm. Bring your best wishes for David & Eva, and leave with your very own CubeSpace coffee mug to keep some of those memories alive.

I’m just getting a general ’save the date’ notice up now – more details to come once we find an official party organizer/planner. (Might that be you? Email me at betsy at ourpdx dot com and we’ll talk…)

Also: If there’s someone able to overhaul two well-loved but not recently-used bicycles, do let me know as well. Consider it your way of encouraging more daily commuting by bike!

Related Posts

• June 13, 2009 -- CubeSpace Update: Need Bodies, Boxes, Trucks, Food (0)
• June 8, 2009 -- Thank you, CubeSpace. Now – What Do You Need? (12)
• May 26, 2009 -- If You Love CubeSpace… (11)
• May 22, 2009 -- CubeSpace Needs Your Help (2)
• May 3, 2009 -- SLL: Live From Bar Camp! (2)

Rabbi David broke the long silence about CubeSpace’s future with this post: It’s the End of CubeSpace as We Know It… And since I’d been talking to both Eva and David quietly behind the scenes while negotiations dragged on, I wasn’t surprised.

The outpouring of support and thanks I’ve seen all evening on Twitter or in email isn’t at all surprising, either. And as ever, Rick Turoczy does a stellar job of detailing just why CubeSpace mattered.

But I’m here to tell you, in typical bossy fashion, that thanks alone aren’t enough. David alludes to this in his farewell post:

Many of you have asked what you can do to help. Eva and I have been unable to answer, until now. What we need now are jobs. We have mountains of debt, no assets, and are facing the possibility of personal bankruptcy.

I’ve been there, barely lived through that. And I didn’t handle it well. I pretended it wasn’t happening. Refused to reach out to my friends. Sang the ‘la la la la everything’s FINE’ song.

And finally, once I finally opened up to what was going on just a little teeny tiny bit, a good friend of mine oh-so-politely reamed me. She was hurt. She was offended. And she felt that my holding everything in meant we really weren’t friends after all — that I didn’t trust her enough to be there for the heavy lifting. That made her feel small. It also made her angry.

I have to believe that a few of us feel at least one of those ways — hurt, offended, angry, small — when we read that neither David or Eva were ever taking a salary from CubeSpace, for example — while we enjoyed the ability to hold free non-profit tech events there.

And so now I’m going to lead the charge to ask them, on behalf of us all: “How can we help? What do you need?” And just like my friend a few years ago, well — I’m not going to take ‘nothing, really’ for an answer.

David’s pretty clear about what they don’t need right now:

Finally, please be aware that Eva and I need your emotional support as we go through this tough period. As I said in the beginning, we are very tired, emotionally drained and sad. Please do not tell us what we might have done better. Trust us, we know far too well all the mistakes we’ve made. Now is not when we want to rehash them. We welcome your support, your friendship and your caring. We would love suggestions for our future. But right now, we aren’t in a good position to be second-guessing past decisions.

And I’m working with them both to identify clear, tangible things we can do to help. I’m also talking to those who had been collecting money or services on their behalf: Chris and Elizabeth from Slate Technologies behind savecubespacepdx.com; Roger from Tofino spearheading the CubeSpace auction. I’ve asked them both to hold on to any money that they’ve collected until we can be sure of legalities here; anyone who’s donated money and now wants it back will, of course, be welcome to request a refund, no questions asked.

I’ve also been talking to several people who’ve donated who feel very strongly about using that money in a way that will help David and Eva now — even if that meant it wasn’t going to sustain CubeSpace as we knew it. They gave it to support friends, because that’s what friends do.

What will that support look like now? I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s movers and a truck when it’s time to leave CubeSpace. Storage space, maybe. Or other business expenses that will help them leave with a slightly lighter spirit. When I find out? I’ll post more here, or email several dozen of you all.

Now, it’s up to us to write the second chapter of the CubeSpace story — in a way that allows Eva and David to exit with as much peace of mind as is possible, knowing that the community who may have loved them ‘wisely, but not too well’ in the early days has figured out how to help them make as graceful a transition as is possible.

Who’s in here?

Related Posts

• June 13, 2009 -- CubeSpace Update: Need Bodies, Boxes, Trucks, Food (0)
• June 10, 2009 -- CubeSpace Farewell Party Tuesday 6/16 (1)
• May 22, 2009 -- CubeSpace Needs Your Help (2)
• May 26, 2009 -- If You Love CubeSpace… (11)
• May 3, 2009 -- SLL: Live From Bar Camp! (2)

…then it’s time to demonstrate your affection in a tangible, visible way.

How? By taking a deep breath or two, for starters. And then by stepping away for a bit & giving David and Eva a bit of breathing room while they wrestle with some big decisions on their own.

I’ve been stunned and amazed at the affection and genuine goodwill Eva and David have generated over the last two and a half years. And I’ve been enthusiastically participating in the drum beating efforts to rally the tech community (among others) to support CubeSpace — even as it’s sparked a huge guilt trip of my own. Shouldn’t I have been putting some money where my mouth is all along? Couldn’t I have done more to clean up after meetings & events so they didn’t have to hire extra cleaning help afterwards, for example? (From what I’m reading elsewhere, I’m not the only one dealing with the ‘coulda-shoulda’s’ here.)

So here’s what I want to say to you all. Thank you to everyone who’s jumped in to raise money — from the tip jars to online auctions to the awesome pie-raising Whiffies party Sunday night. (Side note: those pies are pretty frakin’ amazing; go give Whiffies some love soon!) And thanks to everyone who’s raised their voices to shout out your support for CubeSpace. I know just how much it means to David and Eva, because they’ve told me so. They’re humbled and amazed at the outpouring of support, and touched at how much love the community — their community — is showering on them.

Here’s what they won’t tell you now, though.

(But I will, ’cause I’m bossy like that…! You knew that already though, right?)

Please stop. Stop twittering about CubeSpace. Stop beating the fund raising drums. Stop strategizing about how to reconfigure their business, or suggesting how things might have been different if they’d just listened to your words of wisdom. Stop demonizing big bad U.S. Bank while you’re at it. Stop until we get an update from David or Eva.

We’re at the point where our passion and enthusiasm and loud voices aren’t helping any more. And the ones we’re hurting most are the two people we really care about here. Yes, I’m talking about Eva & David. Can you imagine what it’s like to be living underneath a magnifying glass while everyone else dissects your life’s work, and/or kills you with kindness? We’re suffocating them here, people.

How can we help right now? By thinking good thoughts. Silently wishing them strength and love. Zipping our lips & stepping away from the keyboard for a bit. And then by being patient. There’s nothing more that really needs to be said by now; David & Eva will update us when they can.

Might I suggest moving along to this if you really need to get some passionate energy out somewhere. Or, if you’d like, you can flame me all you want in the comments (I’m teflon, baby. TEF-LON!)

I’d suggest you save your breath if you’re just going to call me a cold, heartless bitch, though. Been there, heard that…!

Related Posts

• June 13, 2009 -- CubeSpace Update: Need Bodies, Boxes, Trucks, Food (0)
• June 10, 2009 -- CubeSpace Farewell Party Tuesday 6/16 (1)
• June 8, 2009 -- Thank you, CubeSpace. Now – What Do You Need? (12)
• May 22, 2009 -- CubeSpace Needs Your Help (2)
• May 3, 2009 -- SLL: Live From Bar Camp! (2)

(This post has been updated 2X- scroll to the bottom to see…)

CubeSpace owner Eva dropped a bomb on the PDX tech community this afternoon with this post, An open letter to our community.

Please do read Eva’s post, but the upshot is this: David and Eva are facing eviction from CubeSpace, despite efforts on their part over months to renegotiate their lease during troubled economic times. (Need to know more about CubeSpace? Read my earlier post…)

Naturally, the tech community — even on the eve of a three-day holiday weekend — is rallying to the cause. Here’s information about two efforts that have emerged already:

Tofino Auctions: Help Keep CubeSpace Open!

From the Tofino guys: “We love Eva and David, and love what CubeSpace has become for our community. Since we are kind of in the fundraising business, we decided to see if we could lend a hand. We’ve set up an online auction here, and you can help.”

Slate Technologies also created http://savecubespacepdx.com/, and are also taking donations.

Finally, follow the Twitter outpouring of support with the #savecubespace hashtag.

We’ll have a more in-depth post later once we’ve talked to Eva and/or David ourselves, but in the meantime – do what you can to help support CubeSpace, won’t you?

Update #1, Friday afternoon: The outpouring of support for CubeSpace this afternoon has been tremendous, especially on a Friday afternoon before a 3-day weekend. Mike Rogoway from The O chronicles it here, while Rick Turoczy adds more context about just why CubeSpace matters (I understand KGW will have a story later tonight as well.)

I was able to talk to David Kominsky at Beer&Blog just a few minutes ago, and he wanted me to express heartfelt thanks to the Portland technology community who’ve rallied around David and Eva this afternoon — they are both stunned and near tears at the support they’re getting. But as a few of us told him tonight, well — it’s our way of repaying CubeSpace for the support we’ve all received over the years, is all.

Update #2, Saturday afternoon: Eva’s latest post nicely summarizes where we’re at now. Some of us dropped by this afternoon for a KGW shoot, while Mike Rogoway’s post continues to resonate throughout the community. Meanwhile, over 5K of donations have been offered up in less than 24 hours on savecubespacepdx.com, while the CubeSpace auction gathers steam (come join me at a killer barbecue on 6/5, for starters…)

Eva and David will be making decisions about CubeSpace’s future tomorrow in light of two offers that US Bank extended Friday afternoon, and Eva adds this: “For those of you who have been hesitating to make a donation without more clarity from us, I understand and agree with your concern. We have not cashed any checks or deposited any cash pending our decision. If we decide CubeSpace will not make it, we will return all cash and destroy all checks.”

As for the 10 year old and her bake sale (referenced in Eva’s post)? Stay tuned – the ‘thisclosetoeleven’ kid is naming her venture now, compiling her shopping list & combing cookbooks, and will move into high gear on Tuesday. How do I know? I just so happen to be the baker’s mother/financial backer…!

Other great CubeSpace posts:

PDX WordPress User Group: Help Save CubeSpace
Aaron Hockley: Buy My Work From CubeSpace’s Walls
Kathleen McDade: Save CubeSpace

Related Posts

• June 8, 2009 -- Thank you, CubeSpace. Now – What Do You Need? (12)
• June 13, 2009 -- CubeSpace Update: Need Bodies, Boxes, Trucks, Food (0)
• June 10, 2009 -- CubeSpace Farewell Party Tuesday 6/16 (1)
• May 26, 2009 -- If You Love CubeSpace… (11)
• May 3, 2009 -- SLL: Live From Bar Camp! (2)

photo courtesy of Aaron Hockley

In a departure from the everyday… or every week as is the case with us, we did our show live from BarCamp Portland 3!  For the Tech Edition we talked to Amy Farrell and Todd Kenefsky two of the organizers of BarCamp Portland 3, then to David Kominsky and Eva Schweber of CubeSpace.  Having four guests in about 30 minutes really made the episode fly past.  Then it was time for Afterhours, and in the spirit of BarCamp we didn’t book any of our guests until Friday night at BarCamp.  People who wanted to come on the show were able to slap a giant sticky note up on the wall under the Strange Love Live sign.

We wound up with some amazing guests: @verso, @sparCKL, @yuetsu, @znmeb, @rmyth, @swagnerdesigns, @ctb, @sh1mmer, @alainbloch, @toonlet, @dom and @SarahDavies.   That’s 12 guests!  So much was said that I can’t possibly cover it all here, so watch the episodes or give them a listen.

SLL Episode 98: BarCamp Portland 2009

SLL Episode 99: Afterhours at Barcamp Portland

Watch the Tech Edition

Watch Afterhours

***

Join us live Friday May 8th at 10 pm with Vidoop’s Troy Harlan and Sam Alexander, then we’ll kick off Afterhours with music from No Kind Of Rider!

Oh… did I mention it’ll be our 100th episode?

Related Posts

• August 9, 2009 -- SLL: Turoczy and the Tiara of Truth (0)
• July 25, 2009 -- SLL: Dude, Where’s My Newspaper? (3)
• July 13, 2009 -- SLL: Toon in to Tyler Sticka (2)
• May 17, 2009 -- SLL: Once Upon a Storybook Site (0)
• April 12, 2009 -- SLL: Gadget Time with Brian M. Westbrook (0)

Tax Day is coming up soon. Not to remind you or anything. But it’s soon. It’s almost here, in fact.
And because you’ve procrastinated this long, you might as well turn it into an event, with other people.

So, in the spirit of Portland community, we’re throwing Tax Procrastinators Unite at Cubespace (622 SE Grand Ave) on Saturday, April 11th, from 11am to 3pm. Bring your W2s, your laptop and have a good time as we all take care of a chore.

RSVP on Upcoming so that we have a rough idea of how many people to expect.
Thanks to KGW’s TheSquare for the shoutout on this evening’s show as well.

Related Posts

• June 13, 2009 -- CubeSpace Update: Need Bodies, Boxes, Trucks, Food (0)
• June 10, 2009 -- CubeSpace Farewell Party Tuesday 6/16 (1)
• June 8, 2009 -- Thank you, CubeSpace. Now – What Do You Need? (12)
• May 26, 2009 -- If You Love CubeSpace… (11)
• May 22, 2009 -- CubeSpace Needs Your Help (2)

CubeSpace is one of those businesses that’s also successfully transitioned itself into an essential hub as well. Sure, you can rent office space or meeting space by the hour from CubeSpace, and it’s been the place where plenty of technology events happen (WordCamp, BarCamp, Start Up to Side Project, CyborgCamp, etc. etc. etc.)

But owners Eva Schweber and David Kominsky don’t just rent space to people – they create, nourish and/or sustain communities.

What do I mean? They jump in to help with logistics, event management, or strategic direction for the events they host. They’ll offer up free meeting space for select non-profits. They opened their doors the day after Thanksgiving for a Star Wars movie marathon on the big screen — you just had to bring your Thanksgiving leftovers for admission and socialize during intermissions. They volunteered to have Beer & Blog’s Rock Band party there; CubeSpace is the drop-off location for the Blogger Food Drive all this week. And I know they give back to other communities, not just the PDX web tech community.

At the risk of getting all sappy this holiday season, well — Eva and David build families of choice, not blood. So why not join them (and a horde of other ‘family members’) today at the CubeSpace Holiday Party? (RSVP on Upcoming.)

Thanks, Eva and David, for all that you do — and have a great holiday season yourselves!

Related Posts

• June 13, 2009 -- CubeSpace Update: Need Bodies, Boxes, Trucks, Food (0)
• June 10, 2009 -- CubeSpace Farewell Party Tuesday 6/16 (1)
• June 8, 2009 -- Thank you, CubeSpace. Now – What Do You Need? (12)
• May 26, 2009 -- If You Love CubeSpace… (11)
• May 22, 2009 -- CubeSpace Needs Your Help (2)

Portland is a town full of bloggers, and a bunch of those bloggers (including OurPDX) are running WordPress. At WordCamp Portland we saw a preview of features coming in WordPress 2.7; I’m sure I wasn’t the only one in the room excited about the new bits.

Local blogger Chris O’Rourke and I are hosting a party this Friday to celebrate the release of WordPress 2.7. Come hang out with a bunch of bloggers, upgrade your WordPress blog, talk about WordPress, or get some help. Don’t use WordPress? Come anyways. We’ll gladly help you figure out how to convert from another blog platform if you’re interested.

In addition to bloggy goodness, we’re also holding a Blogger Food Drive. The Oregon Food Bank is currently handing out more food than they’re bringing in, so any contributions would be appreciated. Bring your non-perishable food donations to the WordPress party, or drop them off anytime this week at CubeSpace (622 SE Grand Avenue).

If you’re joining us for the WordPress party, please RSVP on Upcoming so we have a general count – we’re planning to have some snacks.

Related Posts

• December 18, 2009 -- 30 Hour Day: (no longer) LIVE NOW! (0)
• September 21, 2009 -- SLL: Martini Lesson for Matt Mullenweg (2)
• August 17, 2009 -- SLL: WordcampPdx 2009, Urban Airship and PIE (0)
• June 29, 2009 -- SLL: Our Night With the OurPDX crew (0)
• June 13, 2009 -- CubeSpace Update: Need Bodies, Boxes, Trucks, Food (0)

Update, Sunday night: WordCamp Portland registration is now FULL. If you snoozed, well – you know how the saying goes, right? But since schedules shift and unavoidable conflicts occur, we are now maintaining a waiting list (which means you’ll need to send email to, um, me —I’m the keeper of said list!)

If you want to attend WordCamp Portland on Saturday, September 27th, you need to register NOW. As in Right Now.

See, we’re capping registration at 150-and as of 8 pm today, we have only 13 slots open!

So head on over to wordcampportland.org and register.

Did I forget to mention that you should do so NOW?

Update, Saturday afternoon: I understand that there are 6, maybe 7 spots left. Better get on it, people…!

Related Posts

• June 13, 2009 -- CubeSpace Update: Need Bodies, Boxes, Trucks, Food (0)
• June 10, 2009 -- CubeSpace Farewell Party Tuesday 6/16 (1)
• June 8, 2009 -- Thank you, CubeSpace. Now – What Do You Need? (12)
• May 26, 2009 -- If You Love CubeSpace… (11)
• May 22, 2009 -- CubeSpace Needs Your Help (2)