by Andy Laub on April 3rd, 2008
Wow. So it’s Good People Day today, as Dino mentioned. I apologize for these coming at you so late, but we were late in finding out about it. But still, it’s an amazingly cool opportunity for us to step back and reflect on the good things we’re doing (or trying to do). Furthermore, we’re just two days past the six-month anniversary of Citizen Wausau, and so this comes at a time when I’m very excited about what we’ve accomplished so far.
It’s only fair at this point to follow in Dino’s footsteps and give a little thanks to the people who’ve gotten us this far. Stop me if this starts to sound like one of those hip-hop songs.
And before I get into it, Dino is the one who deserves the most thanks. He is a content machine, giving us things to talk about where before there were none. He also has my tremendous gratitude for dealing with my ever-changing moods on a daily basis; talking me into the good ideas and out of the bad ones. Without him, there’d be no Citizen Wausau. Thanks Dino!
Others include:
- Bill Coady the grandfather of Wausau Blogging
- Tom Neal, for his continued help and guidance
- Paul Farning, for getting me into WordPress
- Rob Mentzer, for his friendship and constant linking
- Wausau Daily Herald & The City Pages, for giving us some attention at the very beginning
- Gary Barden, Deb Hadley, & Mayor Tipple for taking the time to talk with us
- Abe Gabor, for being Abe
- Pete, Jason, Chris, Joey, Jim, Becky, John, George, Lisa, Kevin, Erik, Pat, Alex and many more for the positive words at one time or another
- The Users, for giving us a reason to keep going. Thanks to those who’ve contributed articles, comments, and blogs. This site is about discussion, and we couldn’t have that without you!
A huge thanks again to everybody! We’re looking forward to making Citizen Wausau bigger and better, but we couldn’t do it without you.
PS: I know this comes hot on the heels of Dino’s post, so here’s a link if you missed it.
by Dino Corvino on April 3rd, 2008
It is all over the internet today. People are posting videos, and podcasts, and blog posts, and ecards, and PayPal donations, and YouTube and Twitter and Pownce and Virb, and LinkedIn, and all of it. The tubes are burning up. People are out there follow the lead of Gary Vaynerchuk, and passionately thanking folks in their lives who have made them a success. So my good friend Andy encouraged me to get into this, and so we shall.
So much has been made and discussed about Citizen Wausau from our beginning, to the shakeup, to the nature of what we do. We just had to shoot straight, and come right out and thank some folks for helping us in this endeavor. Citizen Wausau makes no money, we do it because we love it, we are not staying up at night trying to sell ads or do this or that. We do this, because we love people interacting, and we love that we can offer a platform for people to talk.
So, I wanted to shoot some thank yous out to people, and hope they know we care about them very deeply.
Before I get into it, the premiere person is Andy Laub. I did not know Andy before this started, and now I hope to be an old man with Andy sitting on a TERRACE somewhere drinking a glass of juice and eating a hamburger with no vegetables talking about why my Ford Ranger is a bad idea, and when am I going to get an Xbox 360. It took no leap of faith for me to see that Andy was an unbelievable cool dude and I should tie my paltry wagon and small talent to his. Thank you Andy. Thank you so much.
- Kari Rasmussen. I have to say, that very few people have tempered my approach to this whole new format as much as Kari did. Suddenly one of my friends was in the game, and playing successfully, and as a result, I had to see some value in it. Along the way she talked to me, and brought me back from the metaphorical edge a few times. Showed me that it was not about me, but it was about us. It was about the bigger thing, and sometimes I needed to shut up and just let the big success happen. I used to fight with the perception that a lot of me was ego, but Kari showed it to me in a really cool way. I got to see just how much good was being done, and how much the public loved it. I truly got to see a behind the scenes person come forward, and God was it awesome. So thank you Kari.
- Bill Coady. He is the grandfather of this. The originator, the innovator, the Little Richard of Wausau blogging. He started with a vision, and a tool, and it all went from there. So big ups to you Bill. You made content just for you, and you just kept going and going and going. I have to say thanks.
- Tom Neal. My guardo camino. My real Rabbi, the teacher, the mentor, the guide. Tom has been around me for nearly a decade I think, and has helped me in just about all the step of my personal growth. He has brushed me off when I have made mistakes, and never once judged me. Or pushed my foolish head away. So thank you Tom. Personally, none of this is possible.
- Katie Rosenberg. It is simple because she has a blog that makes us raise the game here. She does it for real, and you have to respect that. Just when I was concerned that this internet was a lot of pretend content and links and little original thought, I meet Katie (through Kari mind you) and she drops real science on me. It was amazing. Thank you Katie for making me think.
- Her Dad, Jim. I hate to admit it, but I gotta thank Jim. He taught me one thing, a substantiated allegation is far more heavy than an unsubstantiated one? He taught me to ask questions take discipline, discipline to hear the answer and not know what it is before it comes.
- Pat Peckham. Very few people in my life are just as calming as Pat. I simply feel better being around the guy, and I think it is because of all the people I know he is the most even keeled. And he is a great writer to boot.
- Eric and Gary. It is not fair to lump you together, but you both remind me everyday that I need to be more visual.
I can go on. But, it really comes down to you. Everyone one of you who has sent us an email, or sent me an email, posted a comment, challenged us in the beginning to get our crap together, begged us to not let it die, bought us a drink in a bar, or gave us tickets to a choir concert. OldWoodChair, Moose, Liss, dwescott, wausaujon, and so many more, this is all for you really. You are all good people. You deserve a holiday, and we want to say thank you.
Cats like Jess and Carlson and my buddy Tom Jordan who read what I write, and tell me that I am chickening out. That I am not going to far, that I am too timid. Thanks, I feel timid, and I hope to make you proud.
Out there in the web world, I want to thank Bob McChesney for his influence in teaching me about FCC reform, and access issues and getting me into this fight in general. Pete Tridish and Andy Gunn for giving me a platform to speak from. Norm Stockwell in Madison for teaching me to solder properly. Tara Hunt for being a girl with a unique voice that makes me smile.
I could go on, but I won’t. Thank you all Good People. Your efforts to make this website a success are something that we are not overlooking. You are truly Citizen Wausau, you make this happen.
I think that my good friend Andy has something to say. Look for his writeup in a few.
by Dino Corvino on October 10th, 2007
So, Citizen Wausau has been in existence for about a week now. A week and one day, a bunch of hours, some minutes, a few seconds, a couple of tacos, and occasional pitcher of coffee, ten or fifteen shots of espresso, some time in our quiet place…but yeah, a full week of Citizen Wausau. Community has been started, comments have been made, discussion had, phone calls of outrage have been received and ignored, and Guiness has been drunk. I assume this is how this sort of thing goes. Though, like any venture of truly brilliant minds (Cindy Crawford told me I am brilliant, she liked Marcus a little, and thought Andy was just handsome), one can never really chart the flow.
So let’s jump right in. Let’s do a little call to action right away… (more…)
