Around ten years ago, at the ramp-up of the Internet boom, the start-up I was at leased space in the same downtown San Mateo building as Headspace, a company founded by Thomas Dolby (who most people know as the “Blinded Me With Science” guy though there’s more to his music than that catchy fluff). I knew Headspace eventually became Beatnik but I lost track of them in the 100 mph exit ramp of the bust. Turns out they survived and are now the leading provider of audio software for cell phones. Dolby’s been in the news since he’s touring right now (he’s in Portland today, Seattle on Saturday) but has no album plans, releasing what he wants when he wants to on his website. He has an instrumental on the Mission Impossible III soundtrack, and his weblog is good reading with tour notes and this earlier musing on his music shed.

…Oh, you’re still here? What? You’re waiting for celebrity interaction stories? OK, fine. Thomas Dolby showed me how to use the thermostat in our office. Fun times. And after we moved to a different building I ran into him and a colleague at a restaurant and I did a classic “Oh hi! I know you, you’re …” and he looked at me with that guarded “Oh no, she’s an obsessive FAN” look in his eyes, which turned into a happy relieved look when I said “those Headspace guys!” We chatted briefly about how our respective companies were still in business and that was that.