Friday I did something that was very unusual for me. I took a day off. This was done in preparation for Startupalooza, which in some ways (from our perspective, at least) was a dress rehearsal for BarCamp. Startupalooza went very well, and while I don't have the final count, my guess is that we had 200+ people through here on Saturday and we managed to stay on top of dishes and logistics (in that order) so I am happy.

Anyway, I spent Friday making a long overdue trip to visit my friend Mandy's new restaurant, Viento Burger and Steak Bar, in Bingen, WA. I am a vegetarian, so I can't speak first hand about the quality of the meat (although I know she sources it locally from a sustainable ranch and I certainly heard people extolling its virtues), but her sides...well, they are fabulous. She had a phenomenal mushroom soup, which she called Afternoon Delight, as well as a garlicky cole slaw that was delicious and then there are her fries. She not only has your basic russet fries. She also has sweet potato and chickpea fries. I LOVE sweet potato fries. And her chickpea fries are amazing. Oh wait, this was not the subject of the blog, but I got lost in drooling over Friday's lunch.

Anyway, what I really wanted to say was how amused I was to see myself in Mandy. I could tell that while we were hanging out and talking, she was aware of everything happening in her restaurant. Not a fry was fried outside of her scope of awareness, and yet she never missed a beat with me. That is how I constantly feel while I am at CubeSpace. A couple of weeks ago, Nanci was doing reflexology on my feet by the front desk and she kept admonishing me to relax, but even though my eyes were closed, she could see my eyes darting back and forth as I tracked everything going on around me (she now does her work in a room with a door that closes). The reflexology was relaxing (amazingly so, given the fact that I remained "on" the entire time) but just like an ever-vigilant parent, entrepeneurs have a hard time relaxing while in their workspace.

At Viento's, I was a guest and could kick back, drink their amazing lemon-ginger iced tea and knit through all of the interruptions. When Mandy comes here, she gets to kick back too. So, I would like to wholeheartedly welcome Mandy to the world of entrepeneurship and I can already tell she is at home here.