Like most of the rest of the nation yesterday, the Office Nomads community celebrated the inauguration of President Barack Obama. (I still like writing that.) As we did on election night, we invited our extended communities to share this historic moment together. After all, as Jacob said through tears the night Obama won, the kind of change President Obama is leading us toward is the kind that starts with small groups of people, “and that’s exactly what we have here: a community.”

When I walked in, shortly before 9 am our time, there was a crowd of about 30 people gathered in the cafe space in the back of the office watching the proceedings and celebrating with mimosas, donuts and various breakfast noshes. I hurried out of my bike clothes, not wanting to miss the moment and made it out in time to sit at the front of the group to watch the swearing in followed by his speech. Looking out over the relatively small group around me, I was struck by how tightly knit it was. On one couch was Gabriel cuddled with his wife Jill. On the L-shaped leather couch, a crowd of Nomads sat near each other, sharing the moment. On the floor at the foot of the TV was Piper who has done some design work with Jacob and Susan–and her four-year old daughter, sharing an occasion that will likely change the world her daughter will grow up in.

It was the warmest moment I’d had in a long time.

For much of the rest of the day, there was a sense of excitement and optimism in the office. A group of people I don’t know camped out on the floor of the kitchen and held an impromptu meeting. I’m not sure what it was about, but it sounded like a new venture with some social change aspect to it. Throughout the day, various Nomads plopped down in front of the TV to watch the parade or the news and chat about it all. Connections were formed and strengthened as the festivities in Washington. D.C carried on and I think President Obama would have been pleased to see it all. Those of us in the coworking movement, those of us who are independent workers and entreprenuers, we are a huige part of the change that America is going to go through, and I think President Obama recognizes that. It was a thrill to celebrate for him, and with him, yesterday with such a strong and positive community.

What a crowd we had!

Our fifth open house was a wonderful success!  As we mentioned before, this was a highly co-sponsored event with several groups involved:

• It was the Capitol Hill Greendrinks event, bringing together the Capitol Hill environmental community
• Sustainable Capitol Hill was also a co-host, raising funds and getting more folks in the know about their presence on Capitol Hill
• Expeditionary Art showed us that watercolors are not for wimps – Maria’s art created a big buzz around the event and drew lots of well-deserved attention
• Out for Sustainability stepped onto the scene as a new organization at this event.  This awesome crew is committed to connecting LGBT individuals who are committed to sustainability.
• Other fantastic sponsors included Sierra Nevada, Snoqualmie Wines, Pizza Fusion, and Madison Market.  We were so thankful for this excellent team who kept us well hydrated and well fed!

There were a thousand reasons why this event rocked, but one important lesson we were reminded of was how great it is for us to co-host our open houses.  In October we did our first co-sponsored open house and took it to a whole new level in January.  Co-sponsoring events with our open houses create a win for everyone involved – we get to mix communities of folks who may not have met up otherwise and to forge new partnerships in our neighborhood.  We are humbled by the organizations we’ve teamed with so far, and look forward to seeing what will happen at our next open house.  Any suggestions?  Let us know – our next open house will be in April!

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.