Just back from Varrow Madness 2013 (#VM13) in Durham, NC, a local event for me, anda great opportunity to connect with customers, partners, and cloud knowledge. Here are some highlights.

Rusty Buzhardt (Cisco), Jason Nash (Varrow), Elijah Stukenborg (Chiquita)

Really enjoyed an inspirational keynote by VCE President Frank Hauck and the opportunity to learn about some new technologies that are emerging in the Data Center space. Look for upcoming#EngineersUnplugged episodes for some discussions around NetScaler, Flash Virtualization, and more.

Thanks to Brian Gracely and Aaron Delp from thecloudcast.net for passing the mic. We recorded a  lively panel discussion withVarrow's Jason Nash(@TheJasonNash),Cisco's Rusty Buzhardt, and Chiquita IT's Elijah StukenborgonCloudbuzzwords, industry trends (including all things software-defined), and the role of partners, vendors, and social media in an evolving IT marketplace. Great insights from all perspectives, give it a listen.

http://www.thecloudcast.net/2013/03/the-cloudcast-eps80-regional-cloud.html

On the flipside, we also had some fun arguing the merits of chicken and waffles in an intense#waffleboarding session.

I handed off#EngineersUnplugged hosting duties to the one and only Jason Nash while AJ Kuftic and I discussed Unified Wafflestructure. Hot sauce as an app? Watch and see:

Welcome toEngineers Unplugged, where technologists talk to each other the way they know best, with a whiteboard. The rules are simple:

1. Episodes will publish weekly (or as close to it as we can manage)
2. Subscribe to the podcast here: engineersunplugged.com
3. Follow the#engineersunplugged conversation on Twitter
4. Submit ideas for episodes or volunteer to appear by Tweeting to @CommsNinja
5. Practice drawing unicorns

Good time, great learning opportunity! Questions/comments? Join the conversation on Twitter: @CiscoDC