I Met You Today

Marc!

Today was the first conference I've been to in years - I'm a hermit by nature. After spending 6 hours doing the daytime events, I went back home for a nap, a salad, and some Tylenol. I was drained, and I really didn't want to come back for the networking event . . . but I'm so glad I did.

Meeting you re-energized my whole day. David always knows the best people, so that was no surprise, and when you and I talked about AI and tech and VC, all that was great as well. But when we got into my game night ideas and you told me about what you and your buddy cooked up down in Austin, my mind started racing. I love that you already do a variant of what I'm proposing, and I'm kind of amazed that you do it mostly to give back (in a business-y way, but still very much in a generous spirit).

I called my boy J. Money immediately on the way home. He's my business and philanthropy partner (you can see some of our work together here), and coincidentally, the way he and I built this little I Met You Today site was very much like you two did - just BS'ing about it on the road one time until one of us came back later and said "no I was serious, let's do it."

I like to keep these short, so I'll just end by saying that you're a breath of fresh air on both the attorney and the VC side, and I'm excited to come down to Austin for a game sometime. Great to meet you today man . . . we'll be in touch :)

On my sunset stroll this evening, as I passed my favorite home in the neighborhood - the one the kids always called "The Storybook House" - I saw you two standing in the driveway and decided to say hello.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not one for chatting up strangers, but I couldn't pass on the opportunity to meet the people of exquisite taste (both in architecture and non-Star-Wars films) who have given me something lovely to admire on my walks the past few years.

Talking with you two was easily the highlight of my day. It's rare to find a couple where both partners are so smart, funny, personable and multi-talented . . . you seem made for each other!

Rachel, I really identify with your mixture of science and art; it feels very similar to the skill set I've cultivated in my own career over the years. I love your work ❤️

And Marq, your study and teaching of landscape architecture is something I've always had a hobbyist interest in, and may be something that I aspire to in this next phase of my career - maybe I can pick your brain about entry level options in the field.

It was fun chatting with you guys today, and I hope we can do it again sometime. If you ever want to pop into Charles Fromage or Valentine's for a drink and a hang, let me know! It'd be great to have a couple new friends from the neighborhood.

- Nate

 

p.s. also please sell me your house whenever you decide to move kthxbai 😉

I don't know if you know this or not, but no one these days - and I mean NO ONE! - asks to be friends in real life, lol...

Facebook, Insta, sure. But in real life? In person? Nope.

But this is exactly what you did! And it shocked me as much as it delighted me! How refreshing to not only receive such an offer as they did in the olden days, but to also be deemed *worthy* enough to even be your friend in the first place? Until at least you get to know me ;)

So thank you for extending your hand and making such a nice guesture first off - quite literally (for anyone reading this, he physically gave me a note with his phone number on it! Lol...), but even more so, thank you for being brave enough to even *think* of this option. It's not every day a straight male gives his phone number to another straight male (and one he barely knows at that!), but I am both humbled and honored, and very much looking forward to what else you have up your sleeves.

I accept your friend request!

Bookstores are my favorite places in the world. Usually I go just to relax, browse, and occasionally pick up something that looks interesting. Yesterday, however, I was on a mission.

In a long and boring story that will be of interest to no one, I was forced to move my home office into a different bedroom of the house. When I'm on camera in this room for a video call, it looks - and I'm being generous here - like I'm in a hostage situation, telling the world that my captors are treating me well and I have no desire to leave.

My idea for a fix was to basically wallpaper over the entire back wall with a very shallow bookshelf, and fill it with something that is both useful entertainment and visually appealing: vintage sci-fi paperbacks from the 50's, 60's, and 70's. Gives me something to read when I'm looking for a little pulp fiction escapism, and provides a nice backdrop to my video calls or streaming nights.

I went over to Downtown Books because I knew they had a pretty big selection of what I was looking for, and I would also check to see if they had any Dell Mapbacks that I kinda sorta collect (or at least am starting to).

Usually I don't engage much with folks when I'm out and about, but in this case I decided to tell you what I was up to and what I was looking for. I found out that you and your dad own and run the shop, you helped me find exactly what I was looking for, and you gave me a very fun surprise, which is why I'm writing up this encounter :)

You told me that if I was interested, your dad would be able to take me to your storage building where I could look through thousands of old paperbacks that haven't made it to the shelves yet, and I could probably get everything I need there.

Am I interested??? Does the pope shit in the woods???

I just wanted to say a quick thank-you here, Rebecca. Yesterday you gave me a rare gift: a sense of wonder . . . of unexpected discovery. It felt like that moment in a video game when one of your conversations in the village results in the key to a dungeon and a new quest, you know? I'm excited to meet your dad and check out the archives soon.

Here's what the shelf looks like so far. It's a good start!

Oh, and also? I loved the bottle of ranch sitting up on the front counter. It doesn't get more Wisconsin than that 😉

 

You have the potentially dubious honor of being the first new person I’ve met IN person since the recent reboot of the Love Bomb project. Truth be told, we very nearly didn’t even meet today. Going out to public events is difficult for me for a number of reasons, and I had almost convinced myself that I could wait one more week to start getting out there again. But after debating with myself for a couple of hours, I finally decided to go.

I’m glad I did.

Whenever I muster up the energy to attend an event, I make it my goal to meet and connect with three new people, and then I can leave. The quicker I get it done, the quicker I can get out the door. I know how odd that sounds to folks who enjoy music and beer and prizes and crowds, but it is what it is and at this point in my life I’ve learned not to fight it.

So when I caught Steve’s eye shortly after I arrived, I asked him to throw me at some people and introduce us. Luckily for me, he threw me at you 😊

Meeting you reminded me of the fun and exciting side of these projects: discovering new people who are passionate about what they do, and getting to share in their world a little bit. As we discussed during our conversation, I’m not a music guy. Haven’t purchased music in 20 years, never been to a concert, rarely think about it, etc. It was such an interesting perspective to hear from someone who lives and breathes music, who gets enjoyment from sharing it with others and bringing people closer to their favorite artists.

Even though the crowded event thing is difficult, I get really energized when I interact with people like you. Not only do you have an interesting job, but I loved how you were so open, inviting, and helpful to someone you just met, especially when I was asking questions for my musician friend. Your generosity of spirit is what made the biggest impression on me and prompted this post on I Met You Today.

We connected on LinkedIn already, and since we’re both local MKE folks trying to do something positive and community-focused for our city, I hope we keep in touch going forward!

Thank you for your kindness on my first day back. It really meant a lot.

You turned around at the coffee shop today and asked if I had a phone charger. I did not, but after breaking the news to you we still managed to have a delightful conversation. I learned you were a mother to a beautiful (feisty!) girl, but also a seasoned yoga instructor.

I told you I've been debating about trying it for months now, but after our conversation I finally mustered up the courage and immediately signed up to my first class! EEK! I'm super nervous about it and have no idea what I'm getting myself into (it's tomorrow!), but I also know most good things in life start out needing a little bravery and that is exactly what you gave me.

So thank you for the prompting!! I'm feeling good about it, and although your phone probably ended up dying, at least you can feel good too about possibly changing a stranger's life : )

Namaste.

******
UPDATE: One year and 255 classes later, we're still practicing yoga!! It has deeply become a part of my lifestyle now, and I can't tell you how incredibly thankful I am for that fateful nudge. I think about our encounter every time I see you in class but I keep it to myself as to not come across as a stalker : )

On a hot and muggy day here in Virginia, we came across your stand at the flea market with 3 (very) grumpy kids in tow. I had forced them to come with me and do some exploring, but after 7 1/2 minutes I realized that was a huge mistake and now I had to do something about it 😂

To my relief, we then saw your pink and happy tent around the corner! And even more importantly - what was UNDER your pink and happy tent around the corner: cupcakes. My kids' eyes widened, my anxiety drifted off, and I picked up the biggest tastiest treat for them to share and everyone was happy.

Then I realized you don't take credit cards. And I had *just* given away my last $10 bill to a homeless friend :( You said not to worry about it because you actually take Venmo, but unfortunately that didn't help either as this old man doesn't use Venmo (but I do Paypal! Like an old school internet user!).

Now standing there sheepishly, with no money in my pockets and three very hangry kids, you give me this look as if I were a hurt puppy (I was!) and uttered the sweetest words I could have heard in that moment: "don't worry about it - it's on me!" I almost cried. And then immediately felt terrible. Here you are spending your nights and weekends turning your passion into a hustle, and on your FIRST day selling your goods to the public you're actually in fact *losing* money!

As bad as I felt about it, though, I was also extremely grateful. My kids devoured your creation and it completely brightened their mood. And as I told you when we were leaving, I vow to find you down the road again and 100% pay you back! Though I have no doubt you'll become successful with your business and that heart of yours. The love you have for baking, and for others, pours out of you and our community is better for it.

Thank you for being you 💙

Today I walked over to the Redondo Beach pier for lunch, something I've done many, many times over the past 25 years. This was the first time I've ever done it for work, however. It's interesting, sitting in a spot you know so well but looking at it with a different perspective . . . even if that new perspective is incidental and unexpected.

About seven minutes elapsed between my arrival and yours, which gave me time to take a picture of the wall décor above our table and (quite a bit more seriously) ponder the inexorable passage of time, highlighted by wrinkles on my hand in the sun and pain in my back from yesterday's volleyball. A spring chicken I am not anymore - something I'm realizing with much more regularity these days. And when I'm here in the South Bay it hits me all the harder, since this place is tied to so many coming-of-age memories.

Thankfully you walked up and broke my somber reverie-- by the way, I promise I'm not trying to wax poetic here: I don't think this is great writing. In fact I think it's rather poor, but these are the words and phrases my mind uses when thinking of our time today, and I'm spitting them out quickly because I have to go pick up my dinner across the street in a few minutes.

So anyway, you walked up and we got down to the business of lunch. The conversation was casual and friendly, as "Midwest nice" as you would expect from a couple of guys with roots in Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan, not to mention the South Bay neighborhood vibe. We both took care of business and made a new connection in the industry, and I would have left it there if not for the last topic of conversation: philanthropic community.

I had mentioned my philanthropic work because it's a big part of both my career and personal history, and you were encouraged to share yours in return. The reason I decided to drop you an IMYT card and write up the encounter is because of how rare it is to meet a founder who not only does this kind of work, but does it without marketing or ROI in mind. Not that there's anything wrong with getting some mileage out of the good you do, especially when using corporate funds, but it's refreshing when you meet someone doing their thing from a place of core belief and a desire to do their part in making this world a better place. I admire that, and I wanted to recognize it here.

As I said during lunch, companies are selfish. By definition and often by necessity, sure, but selfish nonetheless. They don't always have to be, though, and that's something I'll be working on during my time at IDS. Maybe I've found a potential co-conspirator to engage when I have an idea I think could be a powerful force for good in this industry. Rest assured when that day comes, you'll be getting a knock at your door (or more likely an email in your inbox).

Thank you for an enjoyable lunch, and for the best business meeting I've had in some time. We'll be in touch :)

One last thing: as I sit here in my hotel room writing up the experience, I'm picturing the scene in my head, but because of my face blindness I can't recall what you look like at all. The closest thing my brain is giving me is Phil Dunphy from Modern Family. So if you don't like that show or that actor, I'm sorry? But if you do like the show or the actor, I guess you're welcome.

I never answer calls from random numbers I don't recognize, but curiosity got the best of me when I saw "Honolulu, HI" flash on the screen, perhaps psychologically because I was hoping for a free trip there 😂

Well, you didn't offer me a free trip to Hawaii, but you did offer me a free trip to an upcoming baseball game which was equally a nice surprise! And even more so because it was a "thanks" for being a donor to our museum and not some scam which is the whole reason we don't pick up our phones anymore from kind strangers!

Then not only did you humor my audacity in asking for 4 additional tickets so my entire family can join, but you made it your mission to make it happen and the very next day it was done. Something I know took some extra time.

What really struck me the most out of all of this, though, was that instead of just emailing me the news about all this as most people would, you chose to *call me* instead. You wanted to make me feel special, VIP even, and to let me know the museum really appreciates my support. I felt it.

We all had fun at the baseball game, especially my boys, but I was more looking forward to meeting you during it and it was a pleasure when I finally did. Thank you for taking the extra time to make me feel special. I'll be picking up the phone more often these days 🤙

On the plane yesterday I was in full "ignore everyone" mode, on my way home from a conference where I had been bombarded by people and noise nonstop for the whole workweek. Headphones in, eyes closed, the flight attendant had to yell at me to listen to the exit row procedure, and you had to poke my arm at one point to call my attention to . . . well, to something important, but I honestly don't remember what.

When I wasn't resting, I was playing an indie game on my Nintendo Switch, and in that manner the flight passed (for me) quickly and quietly. It wasn't until the very end as we were cleaning up our spaces for landing that I noticed you and the tattoo on the inside of your arm. I recognized a chemical structure, which I had only seen on one other person before in my life (theirs was caffeine).

I asked you what it was, and you told me it was serotonin (C₁₀H₁₂N₂O), and that you work in a lab. Of course what that hormone is most commonly known for is happiness and mood, but I did look it up and found that it also has a role in regulating cognition, reward, learning, memory, and other physiological processes, including vomiting and vasoconstriction . . . but I can see why those last two don't get a lot of press.

I told you that a buddy of mine spends a lot of time in Germany, and he has a tattoo on his arm that is simply a German phrase meaning "the chocolate please," so that he's always able to order chocolate anywhere he goes (which honestly is probably the only tattoo I'd ever get).

You mentioned that when the flight first started, you had texted your friend that the guy next to you had a Switch, and you were trying to figure out the game off and on as I played during the trip. I said I would have been happy to explain it to you, since it's my favorite game, and you replied something like "we could have been talking this whole time!"

We had a fun conversation talking about video games from the NES back in the day, all the way up to modern game systems, but it was necessarily brief because we were almost to the gate.

So here's the thing: if we had talked during the rest of the flight, I would have gotten the chance to ask a lot more questions about the biology lab you work in. Truth be told, there are some days when I miss being a molecular geneticist (in the very babiest, most junior role you can think of). Sometimes my current public-facing career gets very, very noisy and tiring, and I secretly wish I was back in the lab, alone in the evening with some music playing and the hum of the machines, laptop and notes on the table, quietly going about the business of science.

I've been able to touch so many lives and make a measurable positive impact on the world through all the work I've done in my field over the years, so I wouldn't trade where I am today for any possibilities from the past. But still there is a quiet longing in the recesses of my mind that surfaces from time to time, and I'd like to thank you for giving me a few moments to think about the road not traveled.

I sat down to lunch today at a conference in Reno with a group of people I had never met. The first thing I noticed was your shirt: a cartoon Halloween(?) scene with a couple kids, one of whom had a facehugger from the 1979 film "Alien" wrapped around their head. I knew then that I would fit in just fine here.

Obviously it wasn't just the shirt. I was already a fan of your work, and said as much as I sat down. But much more than that, it was the level of sincerity you brought to the conversation. I've been told a number of times that it's easy to build strong relationships with good people in the tabletop gaming industry. But when you said that many of the people you've met here have started to feel like family to you, it was the first time I actually believed it.

If the goal of this site is to document our most interesting and impactful encounters, then I feel it was accomplished today. And if Jay had been here at the conference with me, he would've talked your ear off, since you're one of "our" type of people – entrepreneurial creatives who feel grateful to get to do what they do for a living.

I'd like to extend a heartfelt thanks for being so humble, welcoming, and kind to one of the new kids at the lunch table!

It was great to meet you today, George. Here's to the very beginning of a new friendship :)

I had the idea for this project about a decade ago, and had never done anything more than kick it around with Jay for a couple minutes every few years. But then this morning, in the most unlikely of scenarios, I was finally prodded into action by . . . you and your Space Force shirt???

Jay was visiting me for the weekend in Milwaukee, and we were eating breakfast at a small cafe down the street. We had a table near the big front window so Jay could watch the six inches of snow falling: for him, the biggest storm he'd seen in years living in DC – for me, just another day in our too-long Wisconsin winters.

We were busy brainstorming some ideas for a consulting gig, but had forgotten to bring paper and pen. So we asked you if you had anything extra lying around, and you brought us a classic green diner guest check – we loved it! I would post a picture of the actual check with our notes on it, but I can't go around sharing state secrets ;)

Toward the end of the meal, when you had come back for probably the fourth time, the logo on your shirt caught my eye. For a second I thought it was Star Trek, but it didn't feel quite right, and then I saw the USSF letters next to it. People like to say that Space Force ripped off the Star Trek logo, but I like to think of it more as an homage.

I commented in surprise at seeing my first Space Force shirt out in the wild, and you told me that you were supporting your sister in Colorado Springs (who I assume is actually in the Space Force?). You don't know this, but I have two uncles who went to the Air Force Academy in the Springs, and I used to drive down there all the time from Denver when I lived out there as well.

It was all a really fun and unexpected conversation on an otherwise regular Saturday morning. Jay and I left the cafe in a great mood and ready to work, in large part because of how much value you added to our experience, so thank you for that!

We walked back to my house, went over our notes, built a little landing page for our ideas, and then finished work for the weekend. That evening as we were chatting about our day, the conversation circled back to our brainstorming session in the cafe, which Jay said "felt like breakfast in a mountain chalet." That sounds a little ambitious, but hey, I'll take it :)

When we got to the part you played in our little adventure, I mentioned that it would've been a good time to have an "I Met You Today" card to leave behind. I was going to shut it down for the day, but Jay must've still been in a creative mood, because he got really excited and told me that we finally have to build the website and launch the project, because he had recently had some encounters that he would've loved to write up as well.

I checked that the domain was available – it was – and we decided to go ahead and build it so that from now on whenever we have a great interaction with a person that we'll probably never see again, we can leave a card behind, and at least that person will get to know the positive impact they made on our lives.

So thanks again for a great morning and for deciding to wear your USSF shirt, without which none of this would have happened. And now dozens or hundreds of people over the next decade are going to have their days made a little brighter as a result of this project. Yay for creating unexpected joy!

PS: Since you're the first person we did this for and the site didn't exist on the day we met, I'm actually going to end up walking back into the cafe to give you a card in person, which is probably going to be the most awkward thing I do this week . . . and that's saying something.

I hope you'll forgive me for whatever half-formed thought falls out of my mouth as I hand it over and literally run away afterward. But hey, we all have to be good at something, and I'm good at that.