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01/22/2006 Archived Entry: "Naked Party"

Last night we went to the first book launch party for Naked Coversations, the new business blog book by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel. We had a really good time! My sister M---- took care of grandson R---- so Jack and I could go over to an historic house overlooking Lake Washington. We weren't the absolute first to arrive but were there in the first half hour.

There were lots of folks I there that I'd met before, as well as people new to me. I wish the wearing of nametags was universal! Sometimes people look familiar but I can't place them. I know there were people present whom I read and would like to have met, darn it! Mitch Ratliffe and Elizabeth Grigg, for example. I did introduce myself to a lot of people, but not to everyone present. Some people I re-introduced myself to, because I've had folks not recognize me if they haven't seen me with no hair, plus I often wear glasses now.

There was some excitement when I went to buy our copy of the book and get it signed; the vase of roses on the table got overturned (no, I didn't do it). Suddenly there was a flood approaching the stack of precious books (in short supply because Amazon was sold out, did I understand that correctly?). I grabbed my purse and book, then people grabbed the stacks of unsold books and someone dashed into a nearby powder room for towels. Crisis averted and only a few books were dampened. We got our book signed by both authors, and the lead-off blurber of the book, Chris Pirillo. A science fiction anthology can be valuable if it's signed by every author in the book; does the same hold true for a book on business blogging?

Standing out on the deck under one of those tall gas heaters, I spent time talking to Julie, Jen, Liz Lawley, and Steve Lacey's wife Nabila (she says she's too busy to blog, with two kids and working full time, which is fair enough). I was touching base with Josh Ledgard about his new job and latest posts, when Gretchen Ledgard leaned over the buffet table and said, "So, you've never seen anyone pissing on the Microsoft sign?" (referring to this entry). Alex Barnett took a picture of Josh and me.

We appear in some of the many pictures taken. I especially like this one of Scoble and me, and this one of Jack ("Hey, somehow I don't look fat!")

Jack and I disagreed on the age of the house, talking about it on the drive home -- I thought it was relatively new, and he thought it was old like the fifties (guessing because he didn't know there were earlier mansions than that in Medina). This article from Pacific Northwest magazine (Sunday paper supplement) gives the true history of the beautiful place. We were both wrong and both right -- it's a 1919 house, even older than Jack thought, but renovated and refreshed in the last few years.

(tags: Naked Conversations, Scoble, Scobleizer, JackWilliamBell)

Posted by Robert Scoble @ 01/22/2006 03:58 PM PST