I met Ryan through his ideas and opinions. I commented on his blog posts and often disagreed. When I started my own blog, I linked to his, and often disagreed then too. In fact, Ryan was a big reason I established Modite; I felt like I had something to say, something different than was already being said.
The Gen Y blogging niche was small then, the quality blogs were much fewer, but it all exploded very quickly. At the center of it all were Ryan and Ryan at Employee Evolution and then Brazen Careerist. The exchange of ideas was powerful and exciting.