*spoiler alert--there is a small CubeSpace update at the end of this post*

David and I have been somewhat incommunicado for the past month while we recovered from the emotional impact of closing CubeSpace.  Getting out of Portland for a while was key in our recovery process.  David and I owe a very heartfelt thanks to Stephanie Wagner and her husband Andy for loaning us their house in Bend. We also owe tremendous thanks to our longtime friends Lynn and Rosy for loaning us their condo on the coast.  Lastly, I owe many thanks to Jamie and Brian who invited me to join David (who was officiating) for their wedding on Mt. Rainier this past weekend. It was a perfect end to our much needed break.

Right now David and I are trying to home in on our next move.  This is harder than one might think because trying to align skills, interests, opportunities and needs is a delicate balancing act.  For me, there is the gap between what I love to do and what I can get paid to do. I am completely clear on what I would do if I were to suddenly become independently wealthy and could do whatever I wanted with my time. I would continue working to shape public policy on economic development and microbusinesses in Portland. I would also continue working to raise the visibility of Portland's open source, mobile & technology community's contribution to the local economy. 

Then there is the question of whether I remain a solo consultant (maximum flexibility, but no health insurance), join a consulting firm (less flexibility, but possible access to health insurance) or try to work from within local government (the least flexibility, but with access to health insurance). I find myself vacillating between these options several times daily.

David faces his own set of challenges, particularly around language.  David can very clearly articulate what he wants to do.  He wants to work with corporations who are wanting to create an internal values-based culture, from idea to implementation. Unfortunately for him, there exists no commonly understood job title nor professional category that conveys what he does.  He also wants to continue doing the individual leadership development and mentorship that he enjoys so much.

Many people have asked us to send them our resumes so they could help in our job searches. We are very appreciate of their offers and I have attached our resumes to this post.

Gratefully, our staff have landed on their feet.  Beth just got a job working for Reductive Labs, a company that develops open source sysadmin software.  They just moved their company here from Tennesee.  Emily is pleased to have more time to work on her Family Trunk Project, and will have her first trunk show at Windsor Button, in Boston, on August 29th. Robin has been keeping herself busy doing WordPress work (including a redesign of the CubeSpace site).  She is facing the perennial challenge of all freelancers in being too busy to market herself, but needing to get more work into the pipeline. She will happily accept new clients and you can reach her at robincatesby [at] gmail [dot] com.

At long last, the promised CubeSpace update:

We have not given up trying to resuscitate CubeSpace (at the moment it seems that we are only "mostly dead," so there is hope yet).  We have looked at a couple of spaces, but they have not worked out for a variety of reasons.  This morning I was given a lead on a potentially promising space.  We are not counting any chickens right now, but we are keeping a close eye on the eggs.

I promised our members that I would post a link to the loving CubeSpace tribute video that Igal Koshevoy and Reid Beels made for our sponsor slot for Ignite Portland 6.  Reid also made the CubeSpace sponsor video for Ignite Portland 5. He did so despite us collectively ignoring his instructions and doing our best to stay off topic.