We’re leaving you in good hands, though. To find out what’s happening on the tech scene around Seattle for any given day, check out TechFlash, or Seattle Tech Calendar or Gary’s Guide. And keep coming to the events – you’ll probably see at least one of us there.

We appreciate all of the comments, kind words and support we’ve received over the past few years. So please join Stuart and me for a last salute to the blog, and to Rachel, our muse and inspiration. We’ll be at White Horse Trading Company from about 7:30 to 9:30 on next Tuesday, the 2nd. Come, hang out with us and plan the next great Seattle event.

Brian sums up the reasons for the shutdown of Giraffe Labs pretty well in the TechFlash article. I think proper care and feeding of the space is the core issue. No matter how much it seems like any project can run itself, there always has to be someone in the center, keeping things running, taking care of the space, keeping an eye on members, etc. Someone who can take a plan from “hey, that’s a cool idea” to actual implementation.

I don’t want to use the word “demise” here. Giraffe Labs was an amazing experiment, and I think plenty of people learned a lot from it. I certainly did. There’s still room for a low-cost geek clubhouse (Hackerspace) here in Seattle, and I don’t doubt that one, or two, or three will come along. Hopefully, I can get in on the ground floor. There will be a grand send-off on April 27th. I’ll be there – hope to see you, too.

The Usability Professionals Association is working to create a new chapter here in the Puget Sound area. To kick off the new group, they are hosting Arnie Lund, Microsoft IT’s Director of User Experience, to speak about his work with user interface, emerging technologies, etc. There is a members-only event at 6, but the talk is open to the whole public. You can register over at Eventbrite, or you can sign up on the UPA Seattle mailing list to get more information about the group.

One of the best tech events of this past spring was hosted by Nathan Kaiser, CEO of nPost.com. Nathan has put together a follow-up event (more to come later this summer and fall), with a new batch of local startups that will be on hand to demo their products. The list includes Catch the Best, Eyejot, Timelope, HomeSavvi and ClayValet, plus one or two others. It looks like there’s still room on the registration page to sign up – the event is free, and if the last one was any indication, it should be a blast!