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Just a Cozy Lunch with Rick

And 200 of his closest friends.

According to Eva, that was the count for yesterday’s sixth installment of Portland Lunch 2.0 hosted at CubeSpace by our good friend Rick Turoczy, a.k.a. the Silicon Florist.

Rick had reason to celebrate because this blog is now one year old, which is like 10 human years or something. Anyway, Rick’s hospitality brought out the largest crowd yet for a Portland Lunch 2.0. The event was really inspiring for me, as the Lunch 2.0 guy, and for Rick, as the guy everyone came out to see.

At most points during the lunch, there was a line three to six people deep to talk to Rick. Bram and I joked that he needed a “Now Serving” sign to keep track of who was next in line. Rick was so busy chatting up his guests, he forgot to eat. That’s why we all like him so much though. Because he doesn’t eat much.

Anyway, enough about Rick. Other highlights.

  • Nicholas catered the lunch, always a good day when you eat Nicholas, especially for free.
  • There was a Marshall Kirkpatrick sighting. He even blogged while he was there, simultaneously standing on one leg, eating, chatting with two people and doing his taxes.
  • I got to see about half the people I follow on Twitter IRL, and I met several new people including a bunch interested in keeping the Lunch 2.0 train rolling.
  • Ryan Snyder of recently launched Shizzow and his fellow Shizzites (Dawn, Mark and Sam) introduced their new service and handed out a bunch of beta invites.
  • A good time was had by all, even Rick.

All-in-all, it was a highly successful and entertaining lunch. Thanks to all who made it. Thanks to Rick for picking up the lunch tab. Thanks to Eva and CubeSpace for providing the space. Thanks to you for reading all the way to here. Keep going, there’s more.

In typical Portland fashion, the party didn’t stop at 2 when Lunch 2.0 ended. Shizzow hosted their first Shizzup at the Green Dragon (on the brand new patio and place for Beer and Blog this Friday). After that you had to choose between the monthly game of Werewolf and Back Fence PDX. Someone should have hired a party bus. This is one (of many) things I love about Portland. Always so much to do.

Anyway, if you love Lunch 2.0, there are more on the schedule. We’ll be at SplashCast on September 17; please only RSVP if you’ll be there for sure because the space is a bit small. And then, on October 15, the Art Institute of Portland opens its doors to Lunch 2.0. RSVP on Upcoming.

I have a definite date for November and several solids for the next few months. So, it looks like we’ll keep this thing going for a while; maybe I’ll pencil Rick in for another Silicon Florist birthday party/Lunch 2.0 next August.

Can’t believe it was that much fun? Or maybe you want balanced coverage? Check out a few other accounts of the Lunch 2.0 and Silicon Florist birthday that was.

Photo courtesy of Aaron Hockley used under Creative Commons.

  1. […] see, back in the day, Portland Lunch 2.0 was a really effective means of connecting the community, celebrating wins, giving people an option for networking during business hours, and allowing […]

  2. […] Droves of Silicon Floristas showing up at CubeSpace to wish Rick a happy birthday. […]

  3. […] Droves of Silicon Floristas showing up at CubeSpace to wish Rick a happy birthday. […]

  4. Hi Michelle. Glad you’ve enjoyed the lunches. The credit goes to the hosts for all the awesomesauce you can eat.

  5. Hi, Jake! I’ve been to several Lunch 2.0 events and each one was wonderful (with the exception of this one, which was superdooper wonderful). Thanks so much for bringing this event to our fair city and pulling off wonderfulness again and again. Meow!

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