Chris and I made quite a few new agile friends at a private consultants retreat we attended back in November at the Sylvia Beach Hotel in Newport, OR, and a lot of the same people will be attending Agile Open Northwest on Feb 10 & 11, as will we.
I say new friends, because as a native Portlander, I've already got a lot of old friends in the area. I'll be getting into town a week early for a first planning session for a new literary festival, and to have time to visit them all, and will be working most days out of my brother's coffee house, Ristretto Roasters, so let me know if you want to meet for an excellent cup of coffee to talk about anything from Agile to the Future of New (and Old) Media to the '76 Trailblazers (I was there for the victory parade, if that dates me).
Jim Shore does a good job of describing what an open space is like and why you should think about going to this one.