The Robot Co-op Office

...and met the illustrious and beloved Robots, and then I left with Des!

Daniel Spils while I was waiting for the bus this morning but I don’t think he remembered me and I didn’t say hello or anything.

Exciting story!

My brush with a robot.

Daniel Spils took me to see the Robot Co-op office and when we got there all the Robots were out to lunch. My mental image of the Robots slaving away 24/7 having to order in pizza and sodas so that they could keep the websites going was shattered in an instant. Guess things run pretty well without the Robots monitoring constantly.

The office is clean and has a great view. I am glad to see that the Robots do not waste huge dollars with an over-the-top corporate office (receptionist, artwork, coffee mugs with the company logo, etc). I guess they survive on their brains and rugged good looks.

A little later walking through the local park with Daniel I met Laurel, Josh and Buster. It appears that Robots need the occasional coffee/tea boost to keep them going before returning to the office for their “power” meetings. Keep up the good work Robots !!!

It’s not that stinky.

I want to sit at the big table and at least look out the window.

The people who work here have had a profound impact on my life in the last year and a half. Not in the ways I expected, but more through the people I have met and I will be eternally grateful to them. So I was shocked to learn that they are a front for the Gerard Way fan club.

I had a few hours to kill in Seattle and so headed off to find the Robot Co-Op. In my usual “i’ll just wander around the general area randomly until I find the place” style, I headed up Capital Hill from downtown.

Found the place where they get the mail and it was some mail center and the guy working there looked at me like I was a communist relic when i asked for a Robot Co-Op. The gal at the cofee shop next door was heavily tatooed and pierced (strange sight in Seattle) and once I asked about Robots, co-ops, and 43things she cluelessly looking at me as if I was quite possibly the dorkiest person she had ever encountered.

Wandered around some more. Discovered that the hip Barca lounge was nearby. If you have never been to Barca, go. Very hip without all the attitude. Lots of beautiful people having lots of involved conversations (had many there myself) and on occasion real live vampires !!!!!!!

Realized I was in the area where I had been in a Seattle FRinge Festival production (my first full frontal nudity scene) and found a thrift store that had an old school Opus shirt. Still could not find them damn Robots and there hive but was about to give up consoling myself with the coolest shirt find in years.

Then I saw it. Like a beacon of luminosity. On the second floor of a building was an office with windows like in photos I had seen. Went into the building foyer and sure nuff the irectory said Robot Co-Op 2nd floor.

Went up to the room number listed and some very important gentleman walked out of the door on a cell phone. I’m pretty sure he was brokering large deals involving international intelectual rights. He was far to involved in his conversation to answer if I was in the right place. The door was somewhat open and so I entered expecting the cute Robot receptionist I had always hoped would be there.

There in the middle of the large sunshiny room was a huge table with about a dozen robots in silent meditation with their heads bowed in mystic mind-thrust. I was sure they were in an important meeting judging by the sacred huddle formed. But then I realized they were not talking. Were they communicating by telekenisis? Was it an inter-office email meeting?

I got my hutzpah up and asked “Are you guys in a meeting?”

They then stirred, like statues awaking from a lifelong slumber and they glance at me with bewilderment. I said something about “So this is it” and somebody asked me if I was Ian.

I am not sure who this Ian was or why they were awaiting his arival. In retrospect, the cautious way they asked if I was Ian makes me thin that this Ian character is some dreared telephone salesman that the Robots feared would eventually show up.

Without hesitation I corrected them saying, “Aaron, Sir Aaron.”

Their eyes lit up and smiles appeared. First Danial and then Erik mentioned having talked to me before and they arose from their sacred work table to shake hands.

They asked if it wasn’t me who had sent a postcard from Las Vegas and I agreed and they showed me the Holy Wall of postcards. And they told me that those that sent postcards were allowed the honour of seeing the secret behind OZ (or 43things in this case) and they pulled away the curtain and I was in awe. I am not allowed to reveal the secret behind the curtain but I do suggest that anybody out there reading should send a postcard to the Robots in the hope that they too may someday see behind the curtain.

We talked about my trip to the San Juans, about the beauty of Port Townsend, of sailing off Bainbridge island, about the old days of working at Amazon during Christmas, of unhappy children awaiting their tickle-me-elmo, and about abandoned tractor parts in the midwest. You could say we talked about life, the universe and everything.

We took photos of the occasion. And I was off to the airport with a triumphant high of accomplishment. And I had been introduced as “Sir Aaron, Famous 43 things user” to one Robot who had not heard of my legend.

Still stuck in my mind is the scene of the Robots hard at work as I looked on feeling that I had just walked into a hidden part of the forest amidst a circle of druids bent in prayer to their magic wands.

I guess I didnt really understand what this place was until I read the faq on 43 things. I love the web sites and think its a great social networking web site. Now I know that the Robot
Co-Op is the founder of this web site. Im trying to look for some cool places to hangout in seattle, but I dont just want to drop in :(

The website alone should tell you how special the people are that run it…but until you go and speak with them…Go on a pilgramage of sorts…to visit the best internet interface ever designed…and listen to the men behind the ideas…

It was an enjoyable time I had…greeted warmly…we talked…they shared some possible future enhancements…

Thanks for a great time guys…

What’s the policy regarding guests? I’d hate to stop by and be a nuisance to the office folks just because I’m on vacation. :)

Headed out Friday monrning and I’ll be out there through Tuesday.