Virtual Assistants

learn more about the HPAP Down Payment Assistance Program \- Get up to $202\,000 in funds from the House Assistance Purchase Program \- Learn what the funds can go towards and the timeline to get approved \- Understand how to sign up for HPAP orientation \- Learn the benefits and challenges of HPAP in detail \- Discuss the current market conditions for HPAP buyers\.

We’re excited to bring the community together for an evening of learning and connection. This time, we'll have a community member from Chainguard sharing a use case and, as usual, an Elastic employee sharing their expertise as well. Come support your fellow developers, learn something new, and meet others who are passionate about search, observability, and security. **Date and Time:** Tuesday, May 19th, from 5:30-7:30 pm EDT **Location:** Elastic Arlington Office - 4100 Fairfax Drive, Ste 500, Arlington, VA 22203 **Agenda:** * 5:30 pm: Doors open; say hi, grab a seat, and eat some food. * 6:00 pm: The SBOM Pile in Your S3 Bucket: Turning Bills of Materials Into a Risk Dashboard; and Watching It Shrink with Chainguard, by Mike Barreta, Senior Manager, Engineering at Chainguard * 6:30 pm: Q&A * 6:40 pm: **Agentic Observability: Next-Gen Alerting and Auto-Detected Significant Events**, by Jason Rhodes, Senior Manager, Software Engineering at Elastic * 7:10 pm: Q&A * 7:20-7:30 pm: Networking & refreshments **Talk Abstracts:** **"The SBOM Pile in Your S3 Bucket: Turning Bills of Materials Into a Risk Dashboard; and Watching It Shrink with Chainguard**" Most organizations now generate SBOMs because someone — EO 14028, a FedRAMP auditor, an ISSM — told them to. They land in an S3 bucket, get versioned, and are almost universally never queried. This talk is about what happens when you finally do. I'll stand up a self-contained Elastic stack, pour in SBOMs (SPDX), SLSA provenance, Sigstore signatures, Grype vulnerability scans, the CISA KEV catalog, and OpenVEX adjudication for 30 container images, and show the queries that only become possible once SBOMs stop being compliance artifacts and start being telemetry: which packages I actually run right now, which CVEs are real exposures versus VEX-suppressed noise, what swapping a stock image for its Chainguard equivalent would buy me, and how much of my CVE list is just stuff I inherited from the base layer. Then the cleanup. The same dashboards on Chainguard images show what disappears when the SBOM is small, the signatures verify, and the advisory feed is active: \~9,000 fewer CVEs and \~2.5 GB saved across 20 image pairs, KEV exposure dropping from 7 hits to 0, compliance pass rate going from 0% to 76.5% against NIST 800-218 / FedRAMP Moderate / SSDF. **Bio:** Mike Barretta leads Chainguard’s public sector solutions engineering team, focused on helping ensure the federal government receives its fair share of the future. Barretta has worked across civilian, defense and intel programs in a variety of roles—software developer, data scientist, solution architect—for a variety of organizations—system integrators, consulting companies, software vendors—with the common purpose of creating and championing technologies and techniques for simplifying the extraction and utilization of information from lots of data. Having witnessed the ever-increasing threats to those systems, Barretta is now focused on methods and mitigations to secure them **Agentic Observability: Next-Gen Alerting and Auto-Detected Significant Events** We're rebuilding Elastic's alerting engine to make alerts more flexible\, more powerful\, and more valuable as data\. Next\-gen alerting rules will run anything ES\|QL supports and capture whatever fields matter to you\, so alerts carry the context you need for real downstream analysis\. And if you'd rather not manage these rules yourself\, AI agents can help\, drafting them from natural language\, recommending tuning and configuration changes\, and reducing noise through deduplication\. On top of this, we're also building a new Significant Events system which automatically builds a continuously updated knowledge base of your incoming data's own metadata. Using this deep understanding, our agentic tools will detect significant events from log patterns, anomalies, and predicted behavior — without you having to create a single rule. **Bio:** Jason Rhodes is a software engineering lead at Elastic, where he works on alerting and observability features. Based in the DC area, he has over 15 years of experience in software development and has been an active contributor to the local tech community — creating and organizing Baltimore NodeSchool and charmCityJS. When he's not writing and reviewing code, he's probably watching too many movies. **Parking:** * The building’s parking garage is operated by Colonial Parking and is located off N. Randolph Street * Book a spot on[ SpotHero](https://spothero.com/search?kind=address&latitude=38.8818514&longitude=-77.1095268&search_string=4100+Fairfax+Dr+%23500%2C+Arlington%2C+VA+22203%2C+USA) * A Metro Station is located across the street

If you’re trying to grow in marketing right now, guessing isn’t a great strategy. This event gives you direct access to how marketing leaders actually think. Join DC Marketing Tech Talks on May 19th in Tysons for a live **CMO Ask Me Anything** — a candid, open conversation with experienced marketing leaders who have built teams, driven revenue, and led at the highest levels. This is your chance to ask: * What skills actually matter right now? * What gets someone promoted vs. passed over? * What does it take to become a CMO today? * How are marketing teams and roles changing? * How do you connect brand to real business growth? Just real answers from people who have done the work. Whether you’re looking to move up, switch roles, or sharpen your edge, you’ll leave with a clearer sense of what to focus on next. As always, this event is free and open to the public thanks to our sponsors, SalesIntel. Food, drinks, networking, and a room full of marketers who care about getting better at what they do. Come with questions. Leave with direction.

**This will be a social-pace, no-drop group ride, but don’t get it twisted…** **⚠️ Not for beginners** **Expect ~40+ miles and 1600+ ft of elevation** **We’ll move together, regroup when needed, and represent as one — riding through the city while tracing a symbolic “X” in honor of Malcolm’s legacy.** **💧 Bring your own fuel & hydration** **👊🏾 Come ready to ride, respect the group, and carry the message forward** **Community in Motion.** **Route** **https://ridewithgps.com/routes/46712428** 
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If you have a startup or startup idea and would like to get feedback and guidance from top Penn West mentors, then join this online event. Meet startup mentors, and get advice on your team building and business strategy, key decisions, next steps, and more. Building a winning team is the key to success - we all need a great team to achieve success. Join us to learn how you can attract, recruit, manage a wonderful team. **❯ Guest Speakers include:** * Mali Phonpadith (CEO/Founder, SOAR Community Network) * Laurent Tari (Founder, Bolster Consulting) * Guc Ozenci (Program Director, FI Washington DC) **❯ Who should Attend?** * Anyone who wants to build a great team for a successful venture * Anyone who has a pre-seed company or a startup idea * Anyone who wants to learn about entrepreneurship **❯ What is the Agenda?** * Introduction * The clarity map: vision, mission, strategy * The cycles of team formation * Hidden dynamics in teams * The importance of knowing yourself and each other * Trust as a foundation * Becoming a learning team * Q&A **.** **❯❯ This is a live, interactive online event, so be sure to RSVP at [https://fi.co/e/392694/meetup](https://fi.co/e/392694/meetup) to receive the Zoom URL to join us live!**

Our first Technoverts meetup had a great turnout, so we're doing it again, this time with an optional conversation theme: **How people are actually using AI in everyday work and life**. This is not a panel or presentation, and I do not have a fixed agenda, it's just a relaxed coffee conversation for people in tech (or tech-adjacent fields) who are curious about practical AI use cases, useful tools, workflow hacks, weird experiments, and what's generally helping people right now. *Topics might include:* * AI tools people actually use at work * Productivity and automation * Prompting successes and failures * Writing, coding, research, analytics and creative use cases * What feels overhyped vs. genuinely useful. No expertise is required. It's completely fine to come mostly curious, skeptical, or just interested in meeting thoughtful people in tech. *What to expect:* * Low pressure conversation * A mix of tech talk and normal conversation Location: (Subject to change as I do more research) High Point Pub Tyson's Whole Foods, 1635 Boro Pl. (This is the cafe space on the second floor of the Whole Foods at the Boro, Tysons. Parking is free in the garage with validation). Time: 11 am (this is when the cafe opens). Everyone covers their own coffee/snacks. I'll arrive early and grab a table and will post details about location in the event discussion. Address: 1635 Boro Pl. Whole Foods 2nd Floor Cafe

Doors open 6:30 Discover your voice at our IN PERSON Open House at Fairlington Community Center (3308 S Stafford St., Arlington, VA). Enjoy engaging speeches and networking. All welcomed. Why attend: sharpen briefing skills; boost executive presence; practice in a supportive club. Info: https://twilighttalkmasters.toastmastersclubs.org/ · Email: officers-8095@toastmastersclubs.org. Bring a colleague — see what Toastmasters can do for your career.

Well I was gonna do Wonderland, but the forecast this week is calling for rain Thursday. So.... we pivot to Madam's Organ! One of my favorite happy hours in DC for both value and going late. The bar opens at 6, and happy hour runs until 8. Half priced beer, wine and well drinks as well as really tasty appetizers. If you have only been to Madam's Organ on the weekend, this is a completely different vibe. Soft music over the sound system and usually pretty light on crowds. Street parking on the off streets might be hard to find, so I recommend either walking over from Columbia Heights metro, or catching a bus. See you there!

**Casual Brunch Group (CBG, get it?): A series of weekend rides with brunch as a feature.** Some rides will be beginner rides (shorter), some will be medium (longer), all will be Casual pace. Bring a bike lock. **+++++++++++++++++++++** **The Ride: Summary** **(Must Read)** **+++++++++++++++++++++** * RIDE NAME: Casual Brunch Group - Godfrey's * START LOC: near front of Shirlington Library * START GPS: [https://goo.gl/maps/y1K7iBorEgsTWBpaA](https://goo.gl/maps/y1K7iBorEgsTWBpaA) * START PARKING: Any Parking Garage * ARRIVAL: 10:30am * SPEECH: 10:45am * ROLLING: 11:00am * LEVEL: Beginner Level * PACE: \~12+mph * DISTANCE: 14 miles * TERRAIN: trail, local streets * Route: Route TBD **NOTES:** * Bring a spare tube. * Bring a bike lock. * Brunch in the middle of the ride: Godfrey's * **[https://godfreysbakerycafe.com/](https://godfreysbakerycafe.com/)** **The Ride: Detail** **+++++++++++++++++++++** It's a classic ride from Shirlington west on the W&OD as we head to Godfrey's bakery \~7 miles out on Broad Street in Falls Church. Here we will enjoy a nice brunch. There are tables outside where we can also park our bikes. The good news (after riding uphill all the way to Godfrey's) is that the hardest part of the ride is over. It is mostly downhill all the way back to Shirlington. **On the way home, we will stop and see the Rose Garden, located here:** [Bon Air Rose Garden](https://maps.app.goo.gl/rBPWo6AMiLrXe6jTA) **++++++++++++++++++++** **The Meeting Spot:** **++++++++++++++++++++** Shirlington Library 4200 Campbell Ave Arlington, VA 22206 GPS: [https://goo.gl/maps/y1K7iBorEgsTWBpaA](https://goo.gl/maps/y1K7iBorEgsTWBpaA) **We will meet in front of the Bearded Goat**, next to the Shirlington Library. **+++++++++++++++++++++** **Brunch** **+++++++++++++++++++++** **Godfrey's** 421 W Broad Street, Falls Church, VA 22046 [(571) 378-1144](https://www.google.com/search?q=godfrey%27s+falls+church&sca_esv=d62f6f0fe79c7edb&sxsrf=ANbL-n65pWp2ZXOqfrK2xiUODobrrC5fkQ%3A1778962076142&source=hp&ei=nM4Iap7_Bdij5NoP0pieoAQ&iflsig=AFdpzrgAAAAAagjcrLR1G0Nbq5xsEGUXmw8_eWa5kJSH&gs_ssp=eJzj4tVP1zc0zDHMLTGoqLQwYLRSNaiwsEwyTzI1tTA2t0w2MzVPszKoME0zNU5JNkyzSDQwTUxMM_cSS89PSStKrVQvVkhLzMkpVkjOKC1KzgAAak4Xww&oq=&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6IgAqAggAMg0QLhjHARivARjqAhgnMg0QIxjwBRieBhjqAhgnMgcQIxjqAhgnMgcQIxjqAhgnMg0QIxjwBRieBhjqAhgnMgcQIxjqAhgnMg0QIxieBhjwBRjqAhgnMg0QIxieBhjwBRjqAhgnMg0QIxjwBRieBhjqAhgnMg0QIxieBhjwBRjqAhgnSKIMUABYAHABeACQAQCYAQCgAQCqAQC4AQHIAQCYAgGgAgSoAgqYAwTxBSrFNQd2xrDXkgcBMaAHALIHALgHAMIHAzItMcgHA4AIAQ&sclient=gws-wiz#) website: [http://www.godfreysbakerycafe.com/](http://www.godfreysbakerycafe.com/) menu: [https://godfreysbakerycafe.com/menu](https://godfreysbakerycafe.com/menu) location: [Godfrey's location](https://maps.app.goo.gl/rngngYJ4QrJFHRJY9) **+++++++++++++++++++++** **Ride Level Chart** **+++++++++++++++++++++** NoVA CBG tries to accommodate all levels of cyclists by offering different types/levels of rides. We just ask that you come to the ride that suits your current riding ability the best. * Introductory Level: If you haven't ridden a bike in a number of years (or are uncertain of your abilities on a bicycle). * zBeginner Level: You can ride for 10+ miles at a pace of 10+ to 12+ mph with potentially minor hills involved. * Medium Level: You can ride for 20+ miles at a pace of 13+ to 15+ mph with potentially moderate hills involved. * Advanced Level: You can ride for 20++ miles at a pace of 15+ mph with potentially major hills involved. Both Medium and Advanced Levels might require handling various challenges such as reading cue sheets, using a Garmin or navigation app, night riding, out of town travel, or any other odd cycling situations. **+++++++++++++++++++++** **The Fine Print:** **+++++++++++++++++++++** An RSVP of 'YES' is your digital signature and means you have read and understood MEETUP.com's: * "Terms of Service : Section 6. Release" found at https://www.meetup.com/terms/ * NOVA-CBG's "Assumption of Risk Agreement" found @ https://www.meetup.com/novacbg/pages/1942951/NOVA-CBG_Waiver/ * NoVA CBG's "COVID Policy" found @ http://bit.ly/2021_NoVACBG_COVID19_POLICY Helmets are required to participate in all NOVA-CBG rides. All riders ride at their own risk and with the understanding that cycling is an inherently dangerous activity. When coming to the meetup you do so voluntarily and are ready and able to participate in the ride as described under the conditions of the day. Be on time for the "pre-ride" preparation. If you do not attend the pre-ride preparation you will not be allowed to participate on the ride. There are NO exceptions to the above. ...........

Do you like having a reason to get up and get out the door in the morning? How about regular events to make part of your routine? If that's you, join us on Wednesday mornings! Drop in for as long as you like during the session, just leave a comment in the event here if you plan to arrive more than an hour after the start time. And please update your RSVP if you can no longer attend.

As always, the goal is fun. Beginners are welcome. We play until 5 or 6. Parking (Free): Plenty of free street parking available on Sunday afternoons near the playing area. Contact Organizer for exact address and other helpful details Metro: Foggy Bottom Metro Station is an 8 minute walk

collaborative community for ServiceNow specialists and IT professionals to connect, share knowledge, and grow together. This group focuses on real-world use cases, best practices in ITSM, emerging technologies, and career development. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced professional, join us to exchange ideas, improve communication skills, and build meaningful industry relationships.

Customer identity resolution becomes increasingly complex as organizations scale across multiple systems, regions, and data formats. Traditional rule-based approaches often fail to keep up with data variability, require constant manual tuning, and struggle with real-time processing needs. This session presents a practical approach to building a scalable identity resolution pipeline using AWS services and modern AI techniques. The architecture combines data ingestion through Amazon S3 and AWS Glue, transformation pipelines using Spark on EMR, and machine learning models deployed via SageMaker for entity matching and standardization. Graph-based relationship modeling is implemented using Amazon Neptune to improve resolution accuracy by incorporating household and shared attribute context. We will walk through how machine learning models can be used for name and address normalization, how intelligent blocking strategies improve matching efficiency, and how feedback loops can be introduced to continuously improve accuracy. The session also highlights how serverless components such as AWS Lambda can be used for orchestration and real-time processing. **SPEAKER BIO** Mosaic Syed is a Senior Data Engineering and Cloud Solutions Architect with over 20 years of experience designing and delivering scalable, secure, and high-performance data solutions across global enterprise environments. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mosaic-basha-syed-92300856 **CALL FOR SPEAKERS** Learn more: [https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/](https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/) **THANK YOU** *VEEAM* for hosting our meetup! To learn more about *Veeam*, please visit their website: [https://www.veeam.com/](https://www.veeam.com/) **DIRECTIONS** 8800 Lyra Dr #450 · Columbus, OH go to 4th floor. **Want to sponsor the pizza and/or bar tab?** Please contact me if you would like to sponsor this meetup's pizza and/or bar tab: angelo@mandato.com

Rev. Steven Clevenger is an ordained spiritualist minister with over 40 years experience as a Spiritual Healer, Clairvoyant and Spiritual Teacher, educated and trained at the White Lily Chapel. Rev. Siobhan Wolf Shaffer is an ordained spiritualist minister and certified medium and healer with over 20 years experience. She began her development in 1988 in Pennsylvania and continued when she moved to Ohio in 1998 where she studied at Rays of Lights Church with Rev. Steven Clevenger. Our full worship services consist of an inspirational lecture, healing meditation, and messages from the spirit world that serve to demonstrate evidence of eternal life. Please visit our Official Church Website (http://raysoflightchurch.com) for more information.

Join the Columbus AI community for our quarterly gathering — a casual, community-focused evening where everyone has a chance to share, learn, and connect. These open mic–style events give anyone in the community up to **5 minutes** to present a project, share a tool, pose a question, or offer a perspective on the evolving AI space. No slides required — just a welcoming space to exchange ideas and keep the local AI conversation moving. If you’d like to take the stage, message \*\*Chris (the organizer)\*\*with a **title and short description** of what you’d like to share. Whether you’re deep in the field or just getting curious, come connect with others building and exploring AI in Columbus. Sponsored by [Transform Labs](https://www.linkedin.com/company/transformlabs/) Sign up also accessible via [Transform Labs Luma](https://luma.com/transformlabshq)

**Welcome to Drunken Philosophy** a casual, curious social discussion **Optional topic for this meetup: What's up with all the AI hate?** A recent survey found that 74% of Americans have a negative view of AI, and I want to know why. Come out and debate whether AI is good or bad. My hot take: a labor-saving tool that could potentially help cure cancer gets called dangerous because it might raise unemployment or cause a speculative investment bubble, that tells you a lot more about capitalism and the economic system we live under than it does about the tool itself. As a computer programmer, I think AI is a wonderful tool that has increased my productivity by at least an order of magnitude. I'd go so far as to say Claude Code is the best tool I have ever used. Debate me and name a better one. Is AI potentially dangerous? Yes, but so are a lot of tools. Chainsaws. Steam engines (early ones would occasionally explode and kill everyone in the room). Do you think cavemen sat around debating whether fire could be used as a weapon or for self-harm, and decided not to discover it? I have two friends who hate AI for opposite reasons: one thinks it's a fad and not useful, and the other thinks it's going to take over everything and cause human extinction. Come out tonight, have a friendly debate, and make some friends. No lectures. Friendly crowd. Drop in for one drink and stay if it's fun.

Welcome to Casual Boardgames, where we enjoy classic tabletop games and social deduction games while bonding over good food, drinks, and great conversations. 
We started this group to meet new people and make new friends, and bonding over games in a relaxed atmosphere is a great way to do that. We currently meet near route 23 and Polaris Parkway, and this is close to areas like Powell, Lewis Center, Worthington, and parts of Westerville and Columbus. 
Feel free to bring your own games or play one of the many games our members bring. If you are inexperienced, we will help you learn. 
Here are just a few examples of the kind of games we play. 
Tabletop/board games: Splendor, Catan, Azul, Dominion, 7 Wonders… 
Social deduction games: Code Names, Chameleon, Werewords… 
IMPORTANT: 
1. While we love playing a variety of games and competing, we are not just about the games. We interact and talk while playing, and this leads to a lot of laughter and fun. If you just want to compete and focus solely on the game, then this is probably not the group you are looking for. 
2. Many people join groups like this and never (or rarely) show up after weeks or months. If you join and never really come, we will eventually remove you from the group as a courtesy to our members. Why? Because limiting group conversations (on the app) to regular members makes communication and planning much easier. Also, while it may be rare, it protects members from people who join because they are interested in following a person instead of having a real interest in our group. If you get removed, it is just because you haven’t come, and we follow this protocol as a courtesy to our regular game players.

We will show how to build custom agents with Microsoft Agent Framework. Attendees will learn how to build and custom host agents when Microsoft Foundry is not a viable option.