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Bite of Reality
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UberDork Café, part 2

July 19th, 2010 | by Tovias

Originally there wasn’t going to be a blog post for Monday. I was going to let the post about the UberDork Café sit on the front page for a few more days to help encourage folks to keep making pledges so Natali could make it to the goal. That’s the deal with Kickstarter. You decide on the amount your goal will be, you set an amount of time and then if you make the goal in that amount of time you get the money, if you don’t make the goal then no one pays and you don’t get anything. But of course UberDorkGirlie wasn’t content with letting me take a day off blogging and she went and made goal on Saturday night!

So that’s that and we’re done. Time to stop talking about it and move on, right? Wrong. There’s still over three weeks to go (as of this writing) and here’s the other deal with Kickstarter, if you get pledges over and above your set goal, you get the extra. Nice folks can keep pledging financial support right up until the end.

She made goal, so why should we keep spreading the word about UberDork Café and raising money? Well, number one, it’s not built yet. Have you ever bought a house, or a car or moved to a new town? Have you ever taken a vacation to another part of the country? Regardless of what price you see advertised for these things, without fail there will be additional costs. I suspect it will be the same with the UDC. I know Natali is really thorough and she’s been working her butt off making plans to ensure UberDork Café the bestest place ever, but chances are there will be unexpected expenses. What better way to make sure something like that doesn’t delay the Grand Opening than to build a little cushion?  That’s why I’m still asking everyone to keep spreading the word. If you donated already, you have my heartfelt thanks. If you haven’t, then check out her Kickstarter page and consider doing so.

Thanks again for helping to make a dream come true.

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UberDork Café

July 14th, 2010 | by Tovias

UberDork Café

The July 14th comic, like most of my comics, is set in a fictional place. The difference with this comic, however, is that it doesn’t have to be!

I would like to take a moment and introduce you to Natali. Many of you may already know her on Twitter as @UberDorkGirlie or as the newest member of the Power Geeks podcast team. I know her as “a dork with a dream”.

I met Natali online last year and in the time I’ve known her she has changed my life. I could spend the rest of the post talking about how awesome she is just being herself, but I need to tell you about her dream, the UberDork Café and she needs your help to make that dream come true. She described the UDC (UberDork Café) in her blog a couple times here, and here. She’s way better at telling you about her dream than I am.  So go read her blog and get the details and then come back here. I’ll wait for you in the next paragraph.

Back? So it’s a cool idea, yes? Art + Science = Geeks. I like that. It will be a family friendly place where you can go and drink coffee, game, learn and do so much more. Every time I read about it I think more and more that it has the potential to become a Geek Cultural Center. A place where you can go and bring your mini-geeks with you.  A place that will encourage you and them to grow and learn. Plus, did I mention there will be coffee?

Currently she has started a Kickstarter page to raise the capital needed to cover the startup costs of the UDC. What’s Kickstarter? It’s this awesome page that lets you pledge your financial support to different projects that interest you. And here’s the key part, if the project you support doesn’t raise the declared goal amount you’re not charged. You only have to pay up on your pledge if enough people pledge. Right now she’s trying to raise $5000 and she’s over halfway there, but if she doesn’t get to the $5000 mark it’s all a wash. The backers don’t get charged and she doesn’t get anything.

I know the economy is tough right now, so I’m not asking you to pledge a $1000 or anything crazy like that. I’m not even asking you to pledge $100, but how about $1? or $5? There are almost 70 people backing the project already. If we can spread the word to enough people all of those $1 and $5 donations will add up fast. Granted, if you are feeling generous and want to dig deep and drop $100 on the project that’s awesome cool too!

If you can’t donate, how about you just do me a favor and tell some of your friends about it? Maybe they can help spread the word with us. Just link them to the UberDork Café’s Kickstarter page.

Now for the fine print. I have to admit that part of the reason I am so excited about this project is the possibility of someday having the UDC be successful enough to start opening franchises across the country. How cool would it be to have a place like this in your hometown? But that won’t happen if we don’t get this first one built.

Thanks for reading. I appreciate your time and attention on something that means so much to so many people.  If you’d like to donate, just click on the UberDork Café logo or one of the Kickstarter links above.

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Happy Birthday America

July 4th, 2010 | by Tovias

Independence Day is here once again. Time for flags, grills and fireworks. Hard to believe it’s been 234 years already. Seems like only yesterday we were celebrating 200 years.

For the most part I think we’re doing okay. We have our problems, sure, but we’re still here doing our democracy thing. Years ago I started a Fourth of July tradition. Every year I take out my copy of the Declaration of Independence and read it. It’s a printed copy that I picked up ages ago but I feel better reading it in printed form rather than electronic. I have copies of the Declaration and the Constitution on my iPod Touch in App form, but it always strikes me as odd when I get an update notification for them. What changed? Did someone drop out a politically inconvenient part? What if all we have are electronic copies one day? So I keep my battered, typewritten copy on yellowing paper to read and remember.

I think I’ll watch 1776 again today. It’s not the most historically accurate film of all time but it was my introduction to the Founding Fathers and William Daniels will always be what John Adams looks like in my head. Plus I like the songs.

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