Blunching West Coast Style

We met up with seven influential podcasters and vloggers today at Luna Park in the sunny Mission district of San Francisco. It was a slightly different scene from the Hell’s Kitchen venue last month. There was no pickle in the water but there were mermaids in the drinks and gourmet s’mores for dessert.

Maybe it’s the proximity to Hollywood, maybe it’s the video ipod, but it was very clear that for this group video was the medium for blogging. I counted two video cameras and a video enabled cell phone among the toys packed by this techie crew. Ted Tagami took a break from his cauliflower soup to video Schlomo Rabinowitz podcasting by phone with some Ipswitch folks while someone took still photos, and now we’re blogging about it – Howard Stern calls himself the king of all media, but I think this group is coming up on him fast.

Westward Blunch – or – from Hell’s Kitchen to the Mission

Thanks to everybody who has already responded positively to this new chapter in the Ipswitch Blog. As promised, we’re gradually slouching into the future. We’re singing the same tune, but the words are just a little different. The ‘re-decorating’ of the blog and our return to regular podcasting will proceed in increments.

The immediate future for us includes our second blogger (and podcaster) ‘blunch.’ I think we coined that term. The first blunch was in New York City, my hometown. [note to fellow Ipswitch employees: we will not be discussing baseball in my office] About ten good people sat around at the Market Café in Hell’s Kitchen in New York and talked about the blogosphere we know, the blogosphere we imagine, and the blogosphere for which we hope. Musician Brother Love, also a podcaster, dropped in, among others. Next week, the blunch is in San Francisco, another of my favorite cities. We’re meeting with some of the best and brightest West Coast bloggers, podcasters, and other new media folks at a place called Luna Park in the Mission district.

Luna Park, not pictured at right, describes itself thusly: “Luna Park, with its casually hip decor, lively bar scene, and delicious moderately-priced cuisine is a Valencia Street sensation, loved by San Franciscans and visitors alike. The menu, mostly French and Italian with a few American and Asian accents, is simple without sacrificing excitement, highlighting flavorful ingredients and presenting food in a way that is comforting and nourishing to the soul.” You know I’ll enjoy that, French, Italian, American and Asian are four of my favorite cuisines.

I expect that Tuesday’s posts will some real pictures from the real Luna Park blunch. Meanwhile, a great weekend all.

The Same, Only More So

Hello. I’m David Karp, director of product marketing and your new host here on The Ipswitch Blog. Don’t panic, nothing big is changing right away. We’re going to maintain and sustain the established theme of The Ipswitch Blog: the technological abuse of small and mid-sized companies by the fools and madmen of the industry. Then we’re going to do a little redecorating on the site, add more podcasting and also talk more about how people and products work at Ipswitch, at the office and on the road.

So that we may now get on to kicking off the New Year and this new, next chapter of The Ipswitch Blog, I’ll finish on this more personal note…

I want to tell you about a dessert I had on New Year’s Eve. I was at a fancy Italian place in downtown Boston, and after a wonderful dinner, the chef sent over Mascarporeos, a plate of dark chocolate biscuits and a small cup of creamy mascarpone, like the filling of a cannoli. It’s sort of a DIY gourmet oreo®. Far better than an oreo after a nice meal, it was so simple and appropriate compared to the usual run of gourmet desserts, things like “candy glass pyramid over lingonberry-infused espresso waffles with vaporized ginger” or the “slice of pie as big as your head” you get in restaurants named for days of the week. And, it’s a one-word googlewhack, at least until this page gets indexed.

So to make a long, if tasty, metaphor short, sometimes you can make a great idea better with a little imagination and outstanding execution, and sometimes that’s a whole lot more satisfying than the biggest or most complicated solution money can buy.