This weekend, Mystery Guest, Vanessa, Todd & I all hopped a flight from Seatac up to Edmonton, Alberta at the request of our dear friend, Ken Jurina. Ken's companies, Top Draw & Epiar were celebrating not only their combined 21 years in business, but their many clients and recent spate of successes. At 32, Ken's been able to achieve amazing things - I've written about Ken's company here on SEOmoz in the past, and their technological prowess, particularly in the realm of automating keyword and topical research, has grown impressively even since that time. You can get a small sense for some of the value Epiar's able to provide to clients (and its own properties) from their blog posts, including this recent one on Presidential Candidates and ROI.

The party was themed Moulin Rouge, but black tie attire was requested, so all of us donned our finest:

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Left: Ken Jurina, our gracious host, with Todd Friesen. Right: Vanessa & I in front of the sushi bar.

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Left: I give Ken's lovely wife, Kim, the traditional SEOmoz greeting. Right: Curtis Dueck, Bonnie & I dance in front of the 10-piece live band.

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Left: An oyster bar made of ice. Right: Mystery Guest finds me a hat.

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Left: The night's events were masterfully coordinated by Matthew Glass. Right: Yes, they even had pole dancers.

Now, admittedly, flying up to Edmonton, while only a 90-minute hop, is still exceptionally extravagant for MG and I, but Ken simply wouldn't take no for an answer. I must say, despite the whirlwind trip, it was the best party I've ever attended, period. And, while this might look like a bit of dot-com boom era extravagance, Ken sourced a remarkable amount of the food, entertainment and decorations from local firms that he knows or works with (even some of the scantily-clad dancers were local med students). Besides which, Ken has built something exceptional with his two firms - international quality software and services with the recognition of an organization 20X their size (together, Epiar & Top Draw have under 20 employees!) and I can't think of a better way to reward the people who've helped bring them to where they are. Ken's generosity is dwarfed only by his humility - if you see him at Pubcon, make sure to offer your congratulations.

As Mystery Guest said after we returned to our hotel room, "There's nothing better than seeing someone so deserving have such great success." May the years ahead be as exciting as those behind you, Ken, and may your party invitations never cease :)

And now, on to the week's roundup.

• Yes, Amazon's new Kindle may be a bit ugly, but it (or a more beautifully skinned clone) is going to change the way we read. I actually want to order one right now, and I won't even buy an iPhone...
• Not to be missed - MadKast is a blog sharing widget that's actually remarkably usable.
• In the next-gen search space, Lijit is a cross between personalized search and social sharing that's got me thinking "Google acquisition."
• Darius shows off how online tech blogs played the telephone game with Nissan's color-changing paint. Is fact-checking really so difficult?
• 166 comments and counting on what's surely one of Aaron Wall's most generous blog posts to date.
• Jon Mendez tests out Facebook ads and reports back with real numbers. And, speaking of Facebook, Rae has a ton of videos about the social site that I'm sure Rebecca and Jane will be digging through tomorrow.
• Andrew Goodman says the paid search recession is a farce. I agree - Steve Rubel just doesn't spend enough time in the space to have a solid grasp of when the ceilings on PPC value are reached. Andrew does.
• Andy Hagans has a killer list of valuable social media niche sites to use for all your SMM campaigns.
• Ahmed at Performancing gives a good list of networking tips for non-US bloggers. Good stuff, and sorely needed.
• Get your site ready for the holidays with these three posts:
  • Grokdotcom - Screencast: Guarantee Holiday Sales
  • Ian Lurie - 8 Ways to Get Ready for Cyber Monday
  • Marketing Pilgrim - 8 Good Holiday Season Statistics for Internet Retailers

As always, if you've got other news, feel free to link in the comments.