Ales Rarus

Last night was Pittsburgh Blogfest 5. These events just keeping getting better and better. This time, we had a special treat in the form of über-blogger Robert Scoble. Robert is a “technical evangelist” for Microsoft. He also co-wrote a book with Shel Israel called “Naked Conversations : How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers”. Don’t let his current employer fool you, though. He’s been known to use his blog to dis the 800-pound gorilla on occasion, as well as praise their competitors. Anyhow, Robert was in town to participate in a panel discussion on business blogging organized by the Pittsburgh Technology Council. The event will be podcast and I’ll get you the link as soon as it’s up. Since Robert was to be in town anyhow, someone thought it would be cool to invite him to our blogfest. We celebrated his 41st birthday with a cake and the gift of a Terrible Towl™. He seemed to have a good time with us. Everyone seemed to enjoy his company as well. I spent a little while talking to him, but I didn’t too deep into anything because 1) I’d be talking out of my tuchus (regarding a lot of tech industry current events) and 2) I would have had to admit that I’d never read his blog (though I’ll rectify that soon). Despite having a pseudo-celebrity in our midst, there was no press presence this time. I’m sure those who saw the horrible picture of me in the Post Gazette are thankful for that.

Here’s a group pick taken just before we left Finnegan’s Wake.

After the main gathering broke up, Rich, the proprietor of Aldo’s Coffee Co. in Mount Lebanon (good coffee, btw), kept the place open after closing time so some of us could continue conversing. Poor Rich never did learn my name, though. To be fair, though, I should mention that he was in the same boat as most folks, and for many the anonymity was mutual. This may come as a shock to my readers, but I’m actually a pretty shy guy around folks I don’t know. It’s only once I’ve gotten to know you that you can’t shut me up. Here’s a pic of the coffee chat gang.

Here’s one of just me and Robert.

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