Whoever Spilled Red Wine All Over the Stairs Is Off My Blogroll

Sure, I'll gush about the blogger party that Yglesias and I hosted the other night. Who's too proud? Not me: What with the great Unfogged meatup and the local blogger revue at Tomcat and Charles's, my social life can be pretty quickly summarized through hyperlinks. With regard to this party, in my dual role as host and total fly on the wall, I'm more than happy—obligated, even!—to dish.

On Saturday we feted Kevin Drum, who was in town for the sole purpose of going to parties. 'S a tough life there, K-Drum. So we invited a few people from the East Coast Internets whom he wanted to meet, meaning that we got to meet some of them for the first time, too.

Which also meant that we were obligated to throw an adult party. Now, in the past MY and I have always relied on the fruit of the smoker and the Champagne of Beers for our entertaining puropses, and that always went over well enough. This time around we braved the notorious traffic of north Virginia for two-buck chuck and appetizers from Trader Joe's. Worse still, the Zipcar we rented was a Prius, meaning that—do I have to say it?—we drove a hybrid to buy cheese and wine for a blogger soirée. No no, don't kick my ass—I'll do it myself, thanks. Anyway, despite the fact that our household is manned by persons whose maturity levels effectively taper off somewhere at the post-toddler level, I don't think our spread was half bad. Especially given Sommer's tasty spinach-artichoke dip, mm.

Kevin Drum showed up in a USC sweatshirt, and after I threw him out, the party kicked off in earnest. I have to say, if Topps ever made a trading cards series based on the blogosphere, the people in attendance that evening would make up the limited-edition foil-stamped holograms. Without further ado, my (breathless) party notes:

• Belle Waring is cute and absolutely hilarious and unfortunately won't marry me because of this other thing she's got going on, who also showed up. (As it turns out John Holbo is a real nice guy.)
  
• With Henry Farrell, that makes three Crooked Timberites in attendance. A three-Timberite event!
  
• I've never met a non-native who kept the Texas creed so well as Tyler Cowen. His pursuit of top-shelf barbecue is legendary, of course, but I didn't know that was the sole reason for his frequent trips to Texas. And unlike some people, Cowen knows that barbecue means Texas-style slow-smoked brisket. I gave him (his whole family, actually) a tour of my humble smoker and grill command and promised him I'd invite him out in the spring. There's certainly no way I can show anything new to someone who's had barbecue flown up from Lockheart, Texas—for Thanksgiving dinner—but I'm very pleased to know such a guy.
  
• Speaking of his family, his 15-year-old daughter is smarter than I am. Sucks, really. When she told me she was considering studying cognitive linguistics—in college, I presumed, though why not now?—I thought momentarily about making something up to tattle about to her parents. I believe I settled on mentally mocking her for not being 21. Probably I'll be reading her smarty blog soon and will have to make faces to no one while reading it.
  
• And, and, speaking of Texas! The consensus among Rose Bowl–watchers with an interest in the game was that it is going to be pretty damned close. And while we know that Trojan fans are ultimately bad people on the inside, Kevin and his wife Marian are very good at covering it up.
  
• I didn't have a chance to talk to her much that evening, but hilzoy was in attendance, and I can't let that go without mention. She's easily the Most Valuable Blogger. The kind you trade for nothing less than two Marc Schmitts, a Tapped, a Stephen Den Beste rookie, and the best snack in your lunchbox. A trade you quickly come to regret.
  
• Great, good fun to meet James Joyner and Roxanne.
  
• Laura Rozen is unreasonably sweet and infectious for someone whose blog is as hardcore as hers.