Adventures in Networking

With Levi safely recovered from his head injury, Kevin and I shifted our focus to our newest obsession: Networking. People keep telling us to network, because not only are we are both underemployed (heck, one of us is unemployed), but apparently this social behavior leads to aligning yourself on the right path and opening the door to new opportunities.


Unfortunately for us, being in our 30's and having 5 kids means never having time to get out and about. We have one who is barely old enough to babysit (she's almost 13)..but none who could safely take care of Levi, still only 20 months old. Most of our friends have become "phone friends" and "virtual friends" at this point, given that we only have time to catch up via cell phone on the way to and from work and I am on Facebook non-stop keeping tabs on old pals I used to be able to hang out with.

We were having a true TGIF moment last Friday when Kevin and I decided to meet for lunch at Cumberland Brews, a local brewery with pretty good pub fare. It was a relatively warm day for the Kentucky winter we had been experiencing, so we decided to have lunch out on the sidewalk.

Plus, I was rocking my $5 estate sale bunny fur, so I was toasty enough to bear the cold weather for a few hours. And, the hand-crafted beer is exceptionally warm in your belly.

After lunch, Kevin dropped me off at Heine Brothers, a neighorhood coffee shop with, of course, free Wifi, so I could work on my current project. (Being unemployed does not mean I still don't have work to do)! Anyhow, long story short, I'm minding my own business, eating cheesecake and drinking coffee...when I start to catch special keywords from the conversation taking place at the next table. I heard about a lot of things I was interested in: whole foods, organic, slow cooking, Wendell Berry (Kentucky author renowned for his thoughts on getting back to the earth), book, sustainability, creative writing, etc. etc. etc. There was one main speaker and two others giving him feedback I thought was insufficient....and with all this talking I was getting no work done...so I decided it was time to intervene. Surprisingly, the table received me warmly and I established our first important networking connection. Turns out, the guy was an English professor at a nearby college, and he was writing a book about whole foods and sustainability. As parents, I offered, we are constantly striving to figure out what to feed our five kids, and we try to make the best decisions possible, but we're not perfect and budget does not always accommodate. Apparently that, and the fact that I used to write for The Courier-Journal, was enough to secure Kevin and I an essay in the book. To Kevin's advantage, our new networking prospect was a professor of English, which he hopes to one day become. A true win-win for a first attempt. So we exchanged information and left to pick up the kids.

Friday night was especially productive: Kevin and I had plans to go to our friend Dan Rhema's house to pick up our art pieces that had been photographed for a book that week. We took Levi, employed the oldest as a babysitter for the night, stopped off for a haircut (all three of us!), and made our way to Dan's. In just over an hour, we were on our way out the door with our paintings, and I had re-established a connection with an old writer friend and made several new ones, and was in the running to help them start an ad agency. At any rate, another success.

Saturday was a busy day filled with the kids' activities, but Sunday rolled along and we were grateful for the break: Our four girls had plans to go with my mom to Lexington for the day to practice a dance number for my cousin's wedding shower. They were also spending the night, since school was going to be out on Monday, which gave us an entire afternoon and evening to spend networking with Levi.

The second the kids left, we grabbed our coats and headed again to Cumberland Brews, where we ran into some old friends from the art community. I used to do a lot of arts writing and plan to get back to it, so again, success. Keeping the connections alive. Ray, one of Kevin's friends from the music business, called from Lexington and was headed toward Louisville with his wife, Melissa, who was one of my references for the college professor's book and who also happened to be a writer. We had dinner with them that night at Havana Rhumba, a local joint with an extensive Cuban Menu and a margarita that could put a person out for days. Kevin and Ray networked their way through the regional music scene; Melissa and I were busy planning our new blog, which you are now reading.

Finally, Monday morning rolled around, and Kevin and I decided to complete our local tour-de-restaurants with a trip to Lynn's Paradise Cafe, a very quirky and diverse diner that serves up a really mean breakfast. On the way out, I make another important connection: I met, in person, a local artist I have interviewed once or twice that has VERY important ties in the goings-on of Louisville's art scene. Neworking? Check.

The rest of the week went by pretty quickly: We were busy with kids' activities, school and work (or lack thereof!), with all meals prepared at home and zero opportunities to keep the networking rolling. Then, on Friday, a funny thing happened: Kevin decided to pick up a growler (giant jug of take-home beer) of Cream Ale from--guess where?--Cumberland Brews!--on his way home from work. While he was waiting, he had a pint at the bar. He picked up bits and pieces of a conversation behind him. The topic? The best time of the day to smoke pot. From experience, the man speaking had surmised the best time of day is in the morning (before class!), and certainly NOT after he had started drinking, which was just a complete waste. Finally, Kevin turned around, only to discover the voice belonged to the college professor from the coffee shop! (SOUND OF VINYL SCRATCHING): Networking opportunity comes simultaneously full circle and to a screeching halt.

So, we reasoned, not only was our new networking connection writing a book about food because he had a serious case of the munchies, he was also probably pretty paranoid at this point and thinking we are following him! However, we surmise, anyone with good taste in brew--coffee AND beer--is alright with us.
--A