Call me a geek, I suppose, but I like going to government meetings. School Board meetings. City committee meetings.

Crazy, I know.

But this week I've been asked to ditch those meetings (sorry, Elmbrook and Mark Hansen) in exchange for focusing on different meetings.

Meetings with you.

I've been meeting with local organizations and businesses to talk about Patch and the many ways we can help get the word out about your needs, events and more. There are a lot of free tools you can exploit. There are ways I personally can help.

And this Friday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., I'll be setting up a special day of "office hours" at Panera Bread in the Ruby Isle shopping center, 2095 N. Calhoun Rd. (thanks, Panera). I'll be the red-haired lady busily working behind the Patch.com laptop.

Please stop over and say "hi!"

Fill me in on something I should write about. Let me know if you're interested in blogging about whatever you love. Tell me what you don't like about Patch, what needs work. Let me give you a quick "tour" of the website. Or just help me put a face to a Facebook friend.

If you're real nice, I'll buy you a cup of coffee. (Meh, I guess you don't need to be nice.) Sit down and chat for awhile, if you have time. If you don't, just give me a nod and a wave.

I'll even have some free Patch swag to give away. Hope to see you there.