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Tag: Lunch2.0

Opensourcery Lunch 2.0 is Wednesday

Rick Turoczy on March 9, 2009

It’s been a while since it was announced and a lot has happened since then, but Lunch 2.0 at Opensourcery is finally upon us.

It’s this Wednesday, March 11 from 12-2 at their relatively new digs at 1636 NW Lovejoy Streeet. Look for this sweet plaque.

Image from Thomas King

The last time I was there, they were putting the finishing touches on a conference room, and I think that may all be done by now. So, come on, come all and chow down with us. Just please make sure you RSVP over on Upcoming so they know how much food to get and drop a comment there if you’re a vegan or vegetarian.

This coming Wednesday is shaping up to be another busy one here in Portland, right before a horde of locals head off to SXSW.

Checking Calagator, there’s a squareup over at Pioneer Courthouse Square, home to the newly opened Studio on the Square, at 4:30, which overlaps a bit with the monthly game of Portland Werewolf at the Lucky Lab on Hawthorne (Upcoming).

You’re on your own between Lunch 2.0 and the squareup, but I’m sure you’ll find something to keep yourself busy.

In other Lunch 2.0 news, TechShop Portland has moved its Lunch 2.0 date from March 25 to April 22. I’ve updated Upcoming and Calagator accordingly.

Don’t forget these Lunch 2.0s, coming soon:

March 11 at OpenSourcery
April 8 hosted by MioWorks at the Green Dragon
April 22 at TechShop Portland in Beaverton
May 20 hosted by WebVisions at the Oregon Convention Center

I say this every time, and I mean it: big thanks to all the hosts who have hosted or plan to host Lunch 2.0. Drop a comment (or tweet @jkuramot) if you want information about hosting one. It’s easy.

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Road Trip to Seattle Lunch 2.0

Rick Turoczy on March 8, 2009

Friday, Kelly, Rick, Selena, and I headed up to visit the Emerald City’s version of Lunch 2.0 for a diplomatic mission.

Rick was kind enough to handle the driving duties, which left the rest of us free to chatter and OH all the pearls of wisdom on Twitter. After about 20 minutes, Rick went into shock from being surrounded by people tweeting, but unable to do so himself.

This spawned a discussion about a steering wheel keypad with a heads-up display that would finally allow Rick to see all his TweetDeck columns without scrolling.

Our meandering discussion went on like this for about three hours, producing conversations about giant robot arms shredding cars, Teamsters, not stopping for bio-breaks,  brachydactyly type D (a.k.a. murderer’s thumbs), kittens for lunch, food touching, and much, much more.

But you already knew that because you were following our road trip on Twitter.

What? Oh.

Even though we started off a bit slow, we arrived with plenty of time to spare and then quickly wasted it looking for a coffee shop with a restroom.

Josh Maher, the organizer of the Seattle Lunch 2.0 chapter, holds happy hours as well as lunches, and Friday’s was a happy hour. Since we were on a diplomatic mission, and it was a happy hour, Rick brought a gift, Portland beer. He’s such a thoughtful guy, and that’s such a Portland thing to do.

Axios Law Group hosted the happy hour at their offices in downtown Seattle, and TalentSpring, whose office is in the same building, co-sponsored the event. Dawn wasn’t there to get a count, but I think there were about 30 to 40 people spread throughout the office. Then again, I’m not very good at counting, so it could have been more.

In classic Portland style, we included our Twitter handles on our name tags, which drew attention from several Seattleites, many of whom were just making the jump into Twitter. There were also funny references to how happy were were to get out of depressing Portland, alluding to that recent Business Week article.

We mixed and mingled, and as always, Kelly’s LED name badge garnered a lot of attention. I’m pretty sure John DeRosa wants one of his own. I chatted with John, Matt Woodward and several other people. My pea brain doesn’t do well with names, so apologies for not calling out all the good people who chatted with me.

After about an hour of mixing, Josh introduced the gracious hosts, Adam from Axios and Bryan from TalentSpring. Then I stumbled through a “hello from Portland” and threw Rick under the bus to talk about Open Source Bridge, the other reason we headed up there. As usual, he did a great job despite the tire tracks.

Brian Westbrook and Danielle Morrill streamed the event live to Seattle 2.0, and I’m hoping to get the recordings of the interviews he did with Selena and Rick. If/when I get those, they’ll be added to this post.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get many pictures of the event. All we had were our iPhone cameras, and Rick’s nice camera took a header into the CubeSpace parking lot before we even got on the road. In hindsight, I guess we should have brought Aaron or Mark along to snap photos.

After the happy hour ended, it was back on the road; six hours in the car for a two-hour event. That’s dedication.

Thanks to Josh, Adam and Bryan for having us. If you’re up in Seattle, check out the Seattle Lunch 2.0 schedule and the Seattle 2.0 events calendar if you need something to do.

Maybe Josh and company will take a trip down for one of our lunches. Speaking of which . . .

Don’t forget these Lunch 2.0s, coming soon:

  • March 11 at OpenSourcery
  • April 8 hosted by MioWorks at the Green Dragon
  • April 22 at TechShop Portland in Beaverton
  • May 20 hosted by WebVisions at the Oregon Convention Center

As always, big thanks to all the hosts who have hosted or plan to host Lunch 2.0. Drop a comment (or tweet @jkuramot) if you want information about hosting one. It’s easy.

Diplomatic mission: Portland Lunch 2.0 reps venture north for Seattle Lunch 2.0

Rick Turoczy on March 4, 2009

Seattle Lunch 2.0Here in Portland, we love the Lunch 2.0. But we can always stand to improve it. So Jake Kuramoto, the Portland Lunch 2.0 guy, has proposed that we take a trip up to Seattle to see how our neighbors to the north handle Seattle Lunch 2.0.

So this Friday, March 6, we’re doing just that.

It’s a diplomatic envoy or something. And it has two goals. The first is partaking in Seattle Lunch 2.0 but the second part? Talking to all the cool open source folks in the Emerald City in hopes of convincing them to come visit us in the Rose City for Open Source Bridge.

Jake, Selena Deckelmann, and I will be heading up for the event. I know that Brian M. Westbrook, who oscillates (wildly, I might add) between Portland and Seattle, will be in attendance, as well.

We’re all looking forward to getting the chance to hang out with our fellow Lunch 2.0 types, like Eric Berto, John DeRosa, Josh Maher, Danielle Morrill, and more. So if you’re from Seattle and debating whether you should be attending or not, hopefully this will be the little push you need to show up.

What’s that? Not enough inspiration to attend?

Okay. Fine. Ben Huh will also be there.

(yes, the CEO of the company that runs FAIL Blog, I Can Has Cheezburger?, GraphJam and other Interweb time sinks), will swing by and give a talk about his view on the world, building a lean business, and how to make a business out of being a blogger.

Oh. So now you’re interested. I see how you are.

For more information, see the Seattle Lunch 2.0 site or Seattle Lunch 2.0 on Upcoming.

We’re looking forward to seeing you there.

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Lunch 2.0 at WebVisions

Rick Turoczy on February 22, 2009

As previously teased, WebVisions will be hosting a Lunch 2.0 on May 20, the first day of the conference. WebVisions runs May 20-22 at the Oregon Convention Center.

This Lunch 2.0 will be free to all, even if you’re not planning to attend the conference. Of course, if you are interested or are attending, this will be an excellent opportunity to get a sneak peek at the conference.

May 20 is the workshop day of the conference, so this will be a chance to rub elbows with the workshop attendees and presenters, e.g. Jason Grigsby and John Keith of Cloud Four who are presenting “Performance Optimization for Web and Mobile” in the afternoon. Assuming they show up early for Lunch 2.0.

Now I’ve guilted them a little, accidentally. Did I mentioned that Jason’s presentation at last year’s WebVisions was outstanding? He even brought Voodoo Donuts, which tipped the scales over Scott Kveton‘s session, which had to be at the same time.

Anyway, these are the types of speakers you’ll get at WebVisions.

Here’s the official conference about:

Discover the future of Web design, user experience and business strategy for three days of mind-melding on what’s new in the digital world. Get a glimpse into the future, along with practical information that you can apply to your Web site, company and career.

wv.pngHosts: WebVisions

Where: Oregon Convention Center, 777 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Portland, OR 97232

When: May 20 from 12 PM to 2 PM

Please RSVP on Upcoming so the hosts can get an idea of how much grub to get. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, drop a comment on the event page for planning, unless you don’t want to eat.

This will be the first Portland Lunch 2.0 hosted by a conference, and it should be an interesting mix of conference attendees, many from out of town, and Portlanders.

This crowd mix should provide some interesting conversation, as well as an opportunity to network outside your normal crowd. Of course, if you want to see the Norms of the Portland tech scene, I’m pretty sure they’ll be there too, next to the Cliffs.

Don’t forget these Lunch 2.0s, coming soon:

As always, big thanks to all the hosts who have hosted or plan to host Lunch 2.0. Drop a comment (or tweet @jkuramot) if you want information about hosting one. It’s easy.

What’s MioWorks? Find out at Lunch 2.0

Rick Turoczy on February 22, 2009

MioWorks, David Abramowski‘s new venture, opened to a private preview last week at Ignite Portland 5.

If you were at IP5 or saw David (or Manuel) last week, you probably were one of the lucky few to get an in invitation to the private preview. If you didn’t get an invite, no worries, MioWorks will be hosting a Lunch 2.o at the Green Dragon on April 8, and I’m sure there will be plenty of invites to the new service.

You read that right. The venue is the Green Dragon, the geek-friendly SE watering hole, home to Portland Beer and Blog and B&B Worldwide HQ.

Wondering why? MioWorks is a tiny, little startup right now, and they don’t have a space big enough to hold a typical Lunch 2.0 crowd. So, rather than hold a small lunch with a guestlist, they figured why not find a bigger space, and the Green Dragon happily obliged.

This will come up eventually; the food will be on MioWorks, but the booze will not. That shouldn’t stop you from having a liquid lunch if you want; the Green Dragon is certainly a great place for that.

And hey, this is April we’re talking about, so maybe Spring will spring early. You know what that means: the patio may be open, which would make for a great mix and mingle. This is Portland though, making it equally likely that April 8 will see several inches of snow. We can always hope.

If you can’t wait that long to learn about MioWorks, check out their Intro slide deck and their origins video.

mioworks.pngHosts: MioWorks

Where: The Green Dragon, 928 SE 9th Ave Portland, Oregon 97214

When: April 8, 2009 from 12 PM to 2 PM

Please RSVP on Upcoming so the hosts can get an idea of how much grub to get. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, drop a comment on the event page for planning, unless you don’t want to eat.

Don’t forget these Lunch 2.0s, coming soon:

  • March 11 at OpenSourcery
  • April 8 hosted by MioWorks at the Green Dragon
  • March 25 April 22 at TechShop Portland in Beaverton
  • May 20 hosted by WebVisions at the Oregon Convention Center

That last one will soon be announced. Stay tuned for the details. If you’re wondering, the lunch will be open to anyone, attending WebVisions or not.
Big thanks to all the hosts who have hosted or plan to host Lunch 2.0. Drop a comment (or tweet @jkuramot) if you want information about hosting one. It’s easy.

AboutUs Lunch 2.0 V2 Recap

Rick Turoczy on February 12, 2009

Yesterday, we ended the first year of Portland Lunch 2.0 at the place it all began in February 2008, AboutUs.

I didn’t get a very official count at either event, but I think we went from about 50 at the first Lunch 2.0 to well over a 100 yesterday. I saw a lot of familiar faces, along with new ones.

Aside from opening up their sweet renovated warehouse office space to us, AboutUs provided chotchkies (cell phone charms featuring the universal edit button and AboutUs buttons), grub and cupcakes as big as a fist. They had a projector broadcasting a stream of their pageviews, which attracted a lot of attention; Lunch 2.0 still is a pretty geeky crowd after all.

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Case in point, someone suggested that we watch the list to see if there were repeat IPs, but this quickly made me dizzy and disoriented.

Another nice touch was the arrangement of cinema displays (color me jealous) along the western wall of the office that read “HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUNCH 2.0”.

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We skipped the talkie-talkie this time. Everyone was happily chatting around the office, which is kinda the point. No need to interrupt everyone to listen to me mumble, and AboutUs had all their people mingling and answering questions about what they do.

Big thanks to the whole AboutUs crew for hosting, especially to Steven for organizing.

Likewise, thanks to Aaron Hockley who provided excellent photos of the event. All photos in the post are by Aaron and used under Creative Commons. Incidentally, check out Aaron’s Lunch 2.0 – Portland set on Flickr; it provides a great history of the event. Aaron has been to nearly all the Lunch 2.0s, and he usually has his camera to document the festivities. His photos also pop up on Flickr widget on lunch20.com, the home of the original Bay Area chapter because of how awesome they are. OK, it’s also because they’re tagged “lunch2.0”.

Anyway, let’s peer into the future of Portland Lunch 2.0’s second year.

Upcoming Portland Lunch 2.0s

Save these Dates

These haven’t been officially announced yet, but they are happening. Stay tuned for details.

Big thanks to all the hosts who have hosted or plan to host Lunch 2.0. Drop a comment (or tweet @jkuramot) if you want information about hosting one. It’s easy.

Lunch 2.0 at TechShop Portland

Rick Turoczy on February 10, 2009

Update: TechShop had to change the date. It’s now April 22. Please plan accordingly.

If the lucky 13th episode of the Portland Lunch 2.0 series needed a name, I would call it “Back to the ‘Burbs: Welding for Giggles at TechShop Portland”.

I don’t have to name them, but how else can I inject pizazz into a simple event announcement?

Anyway, we’re heading back to Beaverton for an off-cycle Lunch 2.0 on April 22 March 25 at the recently opened TechShop Portland. There’s no official schedule really, but as you know, we usually do this once a month. After the OTBC Lunch 2.0 in January, Denney Cole, of the TechShop, wanted to get on the calendar as soon as possible to get people excited about the TechShop.

Maybe you remember the excursion he and Wm Leler organized during the OTBC lunch, or maybe you were too busy chatting up new people.

Well, if you missed it, Denney’s opening the doors to show everyone all the cool stuff he has in there.

Sorry, I made an assumption there, i.e. you also think large power tools and welding equipment are cool. I know I do. In fact, the phrase “welding for giggles” came up when I was trying to understand what the TechShop does. Turns out they provide equipment, space and tools that members can use for all kinds of projects, even if you’re just welding pieces of rebar together and giggling to yourself.

That’s what I’d be doing.

Here’s the official about:

TechShop is a membership-based DIY workshop that gives you access to a huge variety of tools and equipment, tons of friendly and easy classes, and a community of amazing people who share your interest in making things.

Oh, and Wm will soon be opening an Open Tech Space there soon, which will be free to anyone. So, if power tools and arc welding don’t do it for you, there will also be geeking out available.

techshop_logo_portland.pngHere are the details:

Hosts: TechShop Portland

Where: 10100 SW Allen Blvd. Beaverton, OR, 97005

When: March 25April 22, 2009 from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM

Please RSVP on Upcoming so the hosts can get an idea of how much grub to get. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, drop a comment on the event page for planning, unless you don’t want to eat.

Upcoming Portland Lunch 2.0s

Save these Dates

These haven’t been officially announced yet, but they are happening. Stay tuned for details.

Big thanks to all the hosts who have hosted or plan to host Lunch 2.0. Drop a comment (or tweet @jkuramot) if you want information about hosting one. It’s easy.

Celebrate Portland Lunch 2.0’s First Birthday Wednesday at AboutUs

Rick Turoczy on February 9, 2009

120px-aboutuslogonew.pngIt’s been nearly a year since AboutUs hosted the first Portland Lunch 2.0 back in late February 2008, and we’ll be back there again this Wednesday, February 11.

The last year has been busy, in a good way, for the AboutUs crew. Since we lunched with them last, they’ve been busy raising money, no easy feat in this economy, and staying atop the Portland Startup Index.

I’m looking forward to checking in with the gang and with all of you, natch. You are coming, right? What better way to kick off what Bram has dubbed the “Busiest Day in Portland Tech“. He would know.

So, it’s settled. Just please make sure you RSVP over on Upcoming so they know how much food to get and drop a comment there if you’re a vegan or vegetarian.

It’s been a year now, with ten Lunches 2.0. Or is it Lunch 2.0s? Rick will know.

Here are a few of my personal highlights.

Do you have a Lunch 2.0 highlight? Share it in the comments.

Upcoming Portland Lunch 2.0s

Save these Dates

These haven’t been officially announced yet, but they are happening. Stay tuned for details.

MioWorks needs a place to host their lunch. I guess their tiny office can’t hold 100+ people for lunch. So, if you have suggestions about where they could host, drop a comment, or noodle on it and wait for the official announcement.

Big thanks to all the hosts who have hosted or plan to host Lunch 2.0. I hope we can keep the Lunch 2.0 train rolling this year. Drop a comment (or tweet @jkuramot) if you want information about hosting one. It’s easy.

OTBC Lunch 2.0 Recap, Welding for Giggles in the Future?

Rick Turoczy on January 15, 2009

Yesterday, Steve Morris and the OTBC hosted the tenth iteration of Portland Lunch 2.0 and the first one in the ‘burbs.

Even though we didn’t get an official count, estimates I collected put the attendance between 75 and 100. Pretty typical for Portland Lunch 2.0, but a pleasant surprise for our first venture to the ‘burbs. It was tough to count people because they filled up the OTBC office and its conference rooms and spilled into the lobby.

The fire marshal would not have been pleased.

The party train arrives

Photo by Don Park, used under Creative Commons.

Todd and his party train brought about 30 people from Portland, and attendance from nearby the areas seemed high. I didn’t do a scientific poll or anything, but based on the number of new faces, I think it’s safe to say that we had a lot of first-timers. It was a nice mix of the usual suspects and new people. The reactions I saw on Twitter right after lunch included several good-to-meet-yous and the like.

The fare was pizza, but as with most Lunch 2.0s, I didn’t eat. Too busy chatting and networking. Simeon Bateman liked it enough to ping me to find out who provided it. Bellagios if you’re wondering, and a couple of the OTBC’s companies provided it: Integra Telecom and Sonitrol.

A little nugget here: Sonitrol provides security systems and captures audio of intruders; Todd and I agreed that audio would be really funny to hear, like a YouTube for botched breakins. Turns out they do publish some of the audio clips, and they’re as funny as expected. I found this out while chatting with Chuck Mally and Pamela Singleton from Sonitrol.

This Lunch 2.0 also featured a field trip over to Denney Cole’s Portland TechShop. What is TechShop you ask?

TechShop is a membership-based DIY workshop that gives you access to a huge variety of tools and equipment, tons of friendly and easy classes, and a community of amazing people who share your interest in making things.

That’s right, it’s a DIY workshop, complete with tools and machines you just don’t have room for or don’t want to buy. I had to miss the field trip, which bummed me out because several of us agreed that welding stuff and then cutting it apart with an acetylene torch for giggles sounded like a blast. Denney agreed this was the type of activity he wanted to encourage. He might even name a class “Welding for Giggles”. Sweet.

Wm Leler will soon be opening an Open Tech Space there soon, which will be free to anyone, the ostensible reason for the field trip. Sounds like about 20 people made the trip, but I’m still focused on the heavy machinery.

The *big* machinery

Photo by Wm Leler, used with permission.

So, it was a great lunch all around, and judging by the number of new Twitter follows and good-to-meet-yous, we managed to make some new connections.

Upcoming Portland Lunch 2.0s

Interested in hosting a Lunch 2.0 this Spring or later in the year? Drop a comment (or tweet @jkuramot) if you want information about hosting one. It’s easy.

One more thing, will someone please remind me to carry business cards the next time? Every time we have a Lunch 2.0, I sheepishly have to tell people I don’t carry cards. Sorry about that.

Venture to the ‘burbs for Lunch 2.0 at OTBC on Wednesday

Rick Turoczy on January 12, 2009


It’s been a while, so I’m sure your appetite for good grub and conversation has been whetted.

In case you’ve forgotten, we’re off to the OTBC in the ‘burbs (Beaverton) for the first Portland Lunch 2.0 hosted outside city limits. I saw Steve Morris at End Bloglessness this past weekend; he’s looking forward to showing off the new digs the OTBC recently inhabited in the swanky Beaverton Round.

If you’re sitting in Portland, lamenting the trip West, never fear; turns out the OTBC’s office is only about 100 feet from the MAX Blue Line Beaverton Central stop. And, Todd has graciously organized a Party Train to Lunch 2.0. So, you’re going to need a better excuse than usual to avoid going West.

But wait, there’s more. Wm Leler wants to take advantage to show off his new Open TechShop, and he’ll be organizing a side trip during the lunch for anyone interested. So much good stuff.

Update: A blurb from Wm himself:

Many people have heard about TechShop Portland opening up soon, and since it is close to OTBC we are arranging a tour of TechShop and OpenTechSpace after Lunch 2.0, so people can see how it is coming along and find out how they can help. If you are going to take MAX out to OTBC, we will be carpooling to TechShop and will return you to OTBC. Lots of progress is being made — TechShop had their first class last week, and OpenTechSpace has workbenches and is starting to acquire equipment and tools. TechShop has a new blog at http://portlandtechshop.com and OpenTechSpace is at http://opentechspace.org

Convinced yet? Just be sure to head over to Upcoming to RSVP and make sure to include a comment if you’re vegan/vegetarian. This will ensure Steve has enough of the right kinds of food for you.

Hope to see your smiling face there.

In other PDX Lunch 2.0 news, thanks to Aaron Hockley, our semi-official photographer, for the plug at WorkCamp Las Vegas this past weekend. Aaron was one of three Portlanders who were invited to speak (along with Geoff Kleinman and Lorelle VanFossen), and you can watch his session “Beyond Beer and Blog” here.

Also, AboutUs, our host for the very first PDX Lunch 2.0 last year, will be hosting our one year anniversary lunch in February. They have lots to celebrate, having just closed a round of venture funding last week.

Upcoming Portland Lunch 2.0s

Big thanks to all the hosts who have hosted or plan to host Lunch 2.0. I hope we can keep the Lunch 2.0 train rolling this year. Drop a comment (or tweet @jkuramot) if you want information about hosting one. It’s easy.

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