Eric G. Wiley

Each successive web standards meeting has brought a higher attendance level, last night's being no exception. 23 submitted an RSVP for the evening and about 19 attended.

We're still trying to get the correct venue for these meetings. Impulse, our most recent location, has the casual environment and WiFi that we need but the music is too loud and just gets louder as the evening progresses. I will miss the people watching. Top Gun blended with Saved by the Bell and a dash of MC Hammer.

Our next location should be better. Some of our friends at Cuyahoga Community College have offered to try and get us a room there, perhaps even for the next meeting.

There are enough dedicated members that we, as a group, decided to become an association. Specifically, the Cleveland Web Standards Association. Brendan Cullen will be lending his domain, clevelandwebstandards.org and/or .com to the cause and our meetup organizer, Joseph James Frantz, already has our host machine ready to go.

Bridget Stewart has a pro bono project lined up for us. We'll be redesigning a web site for Seeds of Literacy, an organization that provides assistance to adults in need of reading, writing and math tutoring with the goal of empowering them to advance in society.

The last 1/3 of the evening was spent discussing the brave new world of self-employment. A decent percentage of the group members work from home and many of them run their own businesses. It was exciting to hear about what successful business owners like Vince Frantz and Craig Minch had to say about making the leap and, most importantly, succeeding on your own once you leave the security of your full time job.