LATEST CCS NEWS

MONDAY, JUNE 11, 2008

I am real excited about the new website. By the time you read this, it will be up and running. Let me know what you think! There isn't a lot of change that you can see right away, but there is new navigation to make it easier to find things, as well as a new look to the boxes, placement of items, and a crisper appearance. I think it looks neater, but that's because I know what I did to it.

I will mention more about that in a sec, but I also want to let you know that I am in the process of setting up meetings in different communities around our area. I will notify people in each area that I will meet with them someplace simple. For instance, I may set up a meeting in the back of a cafe where we can have a little chat. You can tell me more about what you want, and I can tell you more about what I am going to do for your area. We will also discuss transportation and events. It will be set up so I can have my hand on the pulse of this group and know what you need personally. It will not be a mixer or mingle. It will be a meeting between whoever is interested in contributing ideas or input, and me.

So far, I have planned meetings on weeknights, and will set them up in Paso Robles, Atascadero, Morro Bay, Los Osos, San Luis Obispo, Grover Beach, Santa Maria, and Lompoc. If you have an idea of a good place for each, let me know. Otherwise, I will pick a place and I will set the night of the week. Please do your best to be there. If you cannot make it at all, I am sorry. I cannot reschedule just because one or two people cannot make it, but you can let me know now what nights work for you. If possible, I will schedule it one of those nights. I will make it someplace inexpensive, because I will have 2 or 3 per week, plus our regular events, and don't want to push my budget. Of course, if someone wants to buy me dinner, it doesn't matter where we have it lol. I still want to have it someplace everyone can attend.

As far as changes to the site, you will notice crisper appearance to the boxes with more exact placement, borders, and consistent fonts and sizes. I am now using borders where I could not put them before, and have updated the code to reflect the direction new browsers are going. It is no longer backward compatible with old browsers, so if it looks weird, let me know. I will help you with info on upgrading. I recommend the current version of Firefox. It is a good browser to avoid security bugs. I hope you like the site, and I look forward to your feedback.

THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 2008

Our group is picking up steam! We are being approached by businesses and news outlets that want to work with us or find out more about us. I was approached by a winery that has a wine tasting room in SLO to do events with them, the Santa Maria Times had a reporter come visit with us for a story, and a singles group from Santa Barbara has invited us to come to their mixer events. This is pretty exciting because we are not getting recognition. Cafe Vio in Paso Robles has set their speed dating events for the 4th Saturday of the month, and they want to do more singles events with us. John Wheaton has agreed to do free dance lessons for us quarterly, and even the Maverick Saloon & Grill in Santa Maria is willing to work with us to create events in Santa Maria.

I think things are working out very well. As I get people to check in at events, the list looks more impressive. I can use this to get cooperation from other businesses, and maybe even pick up some sponsors. I encourage you to join in on events now, and be in on the bottom floor of this phenomenon. Remember that if you don't come to as many events as possible, the one time you don't show up may be the one time your perfect person shows up and you miss meeting them. If you are here to find a match, it is essential that you come to as many events as possible. People who are here just for the social aspect will come and go as they pick events they want to participate in. Keep coming to events, and keep checking in.

I am checking attendance now, and assigning points for nonattendance. In other words, if you do not show up at any events, or you RSVP and fail to show or call ahead of time to cancel, there will be fewer notices sent to you. This is to keep the more active members participating and in the loop. Others that do not seem interested in any participation will be dropped from the list, as they are not coming to events anyway. I do not want a padded list of members that do not participate in anything. If you are serious about meeting people and socializing, this is the group for you. If you just want to get email about singles, join our newsletter and you will continue to get info. That info will not be as complete as you would receive as a member, but it will at least keep you in touch.

We are adding all sorts of great events now, so you will want to be 100% informed. We have planned trips to fireworks, Mid State Fair free shows, drive in nights, car shows, races, baseball, speed dating, and all sorts of neat stuff. You really don't want to miss out on any of this. We have had BBQs and game nights, and will continue to have those, as well. Not all of these events will show up on our main calendar listing. Some events will be "Members Only" status. That means you must be a member in good standing to get to these events. When you show up at events, you will be given a password to get to these events. You will not know all the events unless you have this password. For the months of June and July, everyone will have this password. As of August, it will change, and if you have not been to an event in the previous two months (June and/or July) you will not have the new password. New members will not get the password as soon as they join, so we can see how serious they are. They must come to their first event to get the password. If they are joining at the event, they get the password. It is all about encouraging singles to get out here and have some fun, and contact people.

Although many people out there are very busy (that is usually why they have a personal ad instead of meeting people), you can always plan at least one night out with a bunch of other singles. I am sure you want that one night out to have as many people as possible. to interact with. That is what these rules are all about. Let's have some fun at these new events, and let's show the world that being single is just another part of life. After all, you know what we say, "Life Begins at Single!"

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2008

It's official, we have more Group Directors. It is my goal to have as many volunteers working with this group as possible. It has been common for singles groups to fold as soon as their leader finds their mate. They hand the group over to someone else, and that person doesn't know how to run it. The next thing you know, the group is gone. I don't want that to happen here, so it is great when people are willing to help.

We started off with Eva volunteering for N. SB County events and games and Gina agreed to help arrange entertainment, movies, and plays. We also just got two more Directors for outdoor events! Wendy and Annette will be working to bring you outdoor events. That is their passion, and they would love to bring more events like this to the group. They have been active in setting up events. Annette will arrange hikes and walks, while Wendy will arrange other outdoor events. They will work together to coordinate events for different groups of people together.

A great example of this was the Montana de Oro/Valencia Peak hike. Annette set that up, and I added a trip to Hazards Canyon and living history at the Spooner House. We then topped it all off with a docent led walk along the bluffs! Next time we will probably head out the new trail at the end of MdO where hardly anyone goes yet. It is more pristine and untouched. Keep watching for these great events!

MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2008

Things have been growing, and we are about to top 400 friends on Myspace! That is incredible, considering almost all of them are singles from Paso to Lompoc. There are a couple that may need to be weeded out. If you know any of them are not single, let me know. There are a few businesses that are friendly to us, so I have them included as friends there. There are also some comedians that performed for us, and may help us again. Be sure to join our friends to get out bulletins and subscribe to our blog. It's a great way to get info on events.

I have firmed up arrangements for the Speed Dating event. It will be May 10, so keep your calendars open that date. Check the events page for more details. It's going to be awesome, and I am working with Antonio Freeman to get us on his TV show. He will come do interviews and show what goes on with speed dating. It's going to be great exposure for us, as well. I am still working on promoting that event. We will also have DJ Avery again. I hope you'll at least come watch!

I have been posting events all over! I have events on several community calendars, as well as Yahoo events and Eventsbot. These are great places to take RSVPs and get the word out. I'm also doing press releases. I will post some of those here as I get things more organized. Watch for their own section above here as I add things like that to this website. Thanks, and come join us for our events!

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2008

This is really big news because any press you get is good press. We have been featured in the New Times Opinion Section for "10 Questions" on January 24, and now we are in a feature article by the Tribune! If you want to see this article, go to the Tribune article here and read about us. There is even a video there. You can see that we are real people.

We also had a very successful Pre Valentine's Singles Dance in SLO! We had 74 singles show up, with DJ Avery playing the tunes and with his light show. It was at the SLO Grange Hall, which has a great dance floor. We are going to do more events there, including a speed dating that is coming up by this summer! Keep your eyes open for that.

Our Myspace friends are growing again! We lost our previous Myspace page because I had a couple of links on the front page that they didn't like (for our site and Yahoo group). We lost over 300 friends, but we will get back up there quickly again. I will work on it, and promise you even more! That's all the news I have for now, but I'll try to post monthly. Thanks, and keep checking in!

TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2008

Obviously you are aware of the latest news, because you are reading this page! The real news is that we now have 3 domain names. This domain name is centralcoastsinglesonline.com but I also have ccoastsingles.com and centralcoastsingles.info, both of which point to this URL. The URL centralcoastsingles.com was taken by some real estate agent. I'm not really sure what singles have to do with real estate in Santa Barbara County. Maybe he just wants to find people who are looking for singles sites. Shouldn't he have centralcoastnewlyweds.com instead? lol

I have actually discussed the Valentine's Day event with another singles coordinator. Her suggestion is that we do it on the 14th instead of the 10th, but we are going to do both. I am in the process of planning, so you get twice the fun!

You will notice that the latest news reports will have a NEW flag by them. This is so you can know that something was added in the last week. Remember, it is ONLY noted for a WEEK. If you want to keep up on things, check back weekly so you will know what has been added. Bookark this site!

Also, you might want to visit our MySpace profile, to notice that we have over 300 friends there! As of the time of writing this, the count is 303. That is a substantial number, considering that less than a month ago it was in the low 30s! Thanks for checking in, and be sure to check back here often for the latest news!

MONDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2007

We are proud to say that we have just successfully completed a big event! This event started off with a pot luck dinner, a 50/50 drawing, door prizes, performance by 4 comedians, and a great dance. We even had the Macarena and Electric Slide! It was GREAT! I heard from a lot of people that they enjoyed themselves, and are looking forward to the next BIG event, which will be for Valentine's Day!

In the meantime, check the Events page to see when and where we will be meeting next. We are going to the Grad for BIG CHILL on Jan 5, 2008. Is it 2008 already? We will have our first evening together for the new year. I look forward to seeing all of you. I am in the process of making our sign for the table. It will be a "tent" style sign, so look for it!

I am looking for a place to hold our big Pre-Valentine's Dance. I would like to have it somewhere in the 5 Cities or SLO area. Do you have a connection with a place where we can go? If you do, and we can get a big discount or work something out with the owners, I would appreciate it if you could contact me. Thanks!

Last of all, It seems we have over 90 people in the database to contact for events. Let's keep the people coming, word of mouth, and emails. I appreciate it a lot! The more people we have show up, the more people you get to meet and make friends with. Isn't that our goal? Friends and relationships? Let's make it happen together!

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