The view off the back porch where I'm stuck today.

Seattle rarely gets snow and when we do, it’s usually a dusting or a quick dump and then a just-as-quick melt. So when we get an actual, real live snowstorm–as we are right this very second–it’s a big deal. Because snow is rare here, even when there’s just a chance of it, the city shuts down. There’s 2-3 inches even in the low-lying parts of Seattle today, so going anywhere further than a walk is nigh on impossible.

In other words, snow in seattle is a capital-E Event. It’s one you really want to talk about because it is such an Event, so this morning, I naturally wanted to talk snow. But because it’s snowing and I do not live within walking distance of Office Nomads, so I’m working at home today, all alone. I’m left with no one to talk to about the snow, or call to the window when some crazy-ass driver in an “all-wheel drive” car skids down the hill. It made me realize again how lonely it is to work at home.

A sparsely populated ON waves hi to me. Not a replacement for live interaction, but cute.

When big Events happen in life, whether they are snow storms, weddings, new jobs or whatever, you want to share them with the people who make up your community. In this culture where we work as hard and as many hours as we do, the office is a prime source of community and the loss of it–even for a day–is visceral. I really miss Office Nomads and all the people there today so we could share this event together. Communicating online, while fun, just isn’t cutting it. I wish I could talk to them, stare out the window at the pretty snow with them, and slack off with hot buttered rum and watch Hulu with them.

Office Nomads is my community and I feel like I should be there for this. I miss you guys!

Awww. I miss you too desk.

Words are mostly failing me today. What else is there to say about last night’s amazing, historic and wonderful result? Just say it: President-elect Barack Obama. Wow.

I guess the only thing I can really tell you is that it was an honor and a privelage to witness and celebrate history in the making with a group of 30 or so wonderful members of the Office Nomads community here in our space. Although I didn’t know everyone personally, the love and cooperation and willingness to work for change that was brought to the space last night was palpable and there is nowhere on Earth I would have rather been.

For me, the night was summed up perfectly by Jacob who told me, teary eyed, that it all made him so happy because it is a kind of change that starts with small groups of people, “and that’s exactly what we have here: a community.” It was beautiful, heartfelt and succinct. We in the world of coworking helped start this change and thankfully we will have each other to lean on to help us see it all the way through.

Now, enough waxing poetic. Here are the pics from a truly awesome party!

We didn’t have permission slips signed by our parents and there was no school bus, but Susan, Jacob and I took a field trip this week to check out the offices of StartPad, another coworking site in downtown Seattle.

When I first walked into the offices, the feeling I got was so similar to what I felt when I’d walk into my offices at Amazon.com back in their start-up days. I felt as if I were suddenly transported back to the late 90s. I don’t mean to say that the place feels behind the times. It’s just that there’s a certain kind of energy around tech start ups and StartPad is awash in it because it’s a coworking space geared toward tech startups.

Honestly, it was really neat to be surrounded by that kind of energy again. The people all had harried looks in their eyes and computer equipment seemed to be everywhere (though orderly). The offices were well laid out with lots of discrete areas so no one group would ever feel like they were on top of another. One major difference with Office Nomads is that there are private offices with walls and doors. The ones I saw all have windows on the hallway side so no one ever has to feel totally isolated. A nice touch.

Susan, Jacob, Mike (who owns StartPad), his office manager Zach, and I hung around in one of their conference rooms talking about each company’s origins and reasons for being. As I said, StartPad exists to give software and Internet startups (20 so far) a place to come and work mostly because Mike has spent a lot of time starting his own companies. They hold a bunch of educational events for that community (including one on setting up a corporate structure on April 29) and are also compiling a database of service providers and references for companies that can serve their community.

I have to be honest, not being a software guy, my eyes kept wandering to the foosball table in the corner. I wanted to try and get a game in, but our parking expired before I could work it into the conversation. Ah well, next time.

Later in the day, the StartPad guys came up to Office Nomads to join us for Monday lunch (”Brought to you by Wednesday“). Susan and Jacob sprung for pizza and, as is the norm for our weekly office lunches, we all spent a lot of time sitting around the fancy, new conference table Susan and Jacob built laughing and joking. (Though there was no talk about Britney Spears for once.) Afterwards, Susan and Jacob took the guys on a tour of the space and spent some more time talking with them about various visions and hopes for Seattle’s coworking community.

Of course, it’s the idea of community that’s drawn all of us to coworking, so it was nice to get some time to create some with another space in the city. Hopefully, a few more will pop up that have the same desire as Susan and Jacob and we’ll take some more field trips.