Let’s go for a quick swim in the stream of memory. Jump into the not-so-distant waters of last night at the monthly meeting of Night Owls, an ever-shifting, easy-going, enjoyable networking group for women business owners in the area. The structure is simple, which is a huge appeal for me. No dues, no rules, just share a few minutes of words about your business, listen to the others, and network!

Side note: The word of the day for Toastmasters this week was reticulate, which I wrote down and have been looking at on my desk all week. As a verb it means to network. As an adjective it means to resemble or have a network, or web-like pattern. Looking at the word now, I’m vaguely remembering that rete in Italian means net. (quick online check for italian dictionary) According to WordReference.com, “net, network, goal (like a soccer goal net)”. (quick check online for Latin dictionary) Love those Latin roots: According to the University of Notre Dame, “rete -is n. [a net].”

That would be one way to explain what I was doing on a Friday night, should anyone ask. “I was reticulating.” They might answer, “What’s that?” I’d reply, “Use your imagination,” and wander off mysteriously. (geeky!)

When I arrived at the designated location (it shifts around month-to-month), Cosmetique Day Spa in Grass Valley, I poured myself a glass of red wine, sat down in an empty chair and introduced myself to the woman sitting in the next chair. Marlisa of Banyan Designs. How funny is that? Back up. Not funny that her design company’s name is named after a very cool tree, funny that I had recently seen her ad in the Briar Patch Co-op newsletter and had been inspired to check out her website earlier this week! Her image of the tree for her logo is beautiful. The banyan tree grows wide, and then drops down roots from its branches. It grows in many of the countries around the world that she has traveled through. It’s world-wide presence and creative rooting make it a fascinating reticulation metaphor for her business. Very fitting as she does websites as well as print, banners, billboards etc.

Also there last night was Barb Gonzalez, author of the Home Electronics Survival Guide (it’s a book). Very cool woman (’cool’ as in “right on” or “someone you’d like to have coffee with on a weekly basis”) who is down-to-earth, kind, and intelligent. Definitely the one to learn about home electronics from, should you be wanting that area of your home de-mystified or set-up. (I, personally, am not mystified by my TVs lack of picture, since no cable, satellite, or local reception zaps pictures into my box.) I understand, though, that changes are happening in the TV world for the majority of the population, i.e. before long, analog TVs will be a thing of the past. HDTV baby, use it or lose it.