If you look closely, you'll spot that I've retitled this blog. It's the third title in the history of this site and in my opinion the best one yet. What once was Adam Pieniazek, and then was Prose of a Pol, is now:

Dot Boston

Prose of a Pol was always a bit clunky. Sure I'm Polish and proud of it, but don't write enough about Poland here to warrant the title. Plus, prose has a negative connotation. Apple dictionary defines prose as:

written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure : a short story in prose | [as adj. ] a prose passage.
• figurative plain or dull writing, discourse, or expression : medical and scientific prose.

Not quite the brand I'm going for here!

The name is also an ode to my home city and my home neighborhood, Boston and Dorchester, respectively. It was inspired by an upcoming event I'm partaking in called ADORE-chester!, which aims to celebrate the good about Dorchester, rather than the negative that is often portrayed in the mainstream media. Since I also write a good amount about web technologies, the dot is a play on the period used in all web addresses. In my opinion, it's a win all around.

What do you think of the new name?

In an article for Directory of Boston about PodCamp Boston 4, I talked a bit about some of the big names leading big talks at #pcb4. Though I'm sure the "A-team" will deliver great presentations and lead engaging discussions, they're not what I'm most excited about PodCamp 4. Rather, it's the impromptu discussions that'll develop and some of the lesser known names that have me pumped for today's unconference.

While talking with Stuart Foster of The Lost Jacket yesterday, Stu admitted a bit of concern that no one will show up to his discussion as he's talking opposite C.C. Chapman and Marta Kagan. Well, isn't the whole point of an unconference, especially one revolving around new media, to hear new ideas from fresh faces?

Further, didn't we all get into social media because it leveled the playing field and allowed everyone and anyone to have a voice? I know that's a big part of why I love new media, it allows good ideas to rise to the surface no matter where they come from. So at PodCamp Boston 4, I do want to hear from the "A-team" but I also want to hear from the under-voiced. I want to hear from the new. I want to hear from those whom I haven't heard from yet. I want to hear from the up and comers, the revolutionaries, the diamonds in the rough. This is your chance to shine. Your ideas are just as if not more valuable than the stars of the show.

Here's three topics I'd love to talk about at PodCamp. Anyone and everyone is welcome, whether you're a big superstar of the social media scene, a newcomer, or somewhere in between. Tweet at me or give me a call, 617 418 1055 if you'd like to meet up and discuss any of these topics.

How to Use Social Media to Implement Positive Hyper-Local Change

To me, social media is wicked grassroots. All it really takes is an internet connection and a computer, and even those two requirements can be obtained free of charge with a library card.

So, anyone and everyone can hop online and let their voices be heard. How can we leverage the never before seen freedom of voice we all now possess to push positive change on our streets, neighborhoods and cities?

Does Content Want to Be Free and If So How Can Content Producers be Paid?

I'm betting a 100% of the people at PodCamp produce, or at least consume, lots of content for free. And I'm betting a lot of those people would concur that when content is free (as in beer and as in speech, but mostly as in speech), it's quality is better than paid, restricted content. The power of content comes not only from the content, but also its ability to be shared, analyzed and improved upon.

But, if the ideal mode of content is free, how can we ensure content producers are paid for their time so that they continue to pump out value? As newspapers and other media outlets turn to paid content, this issue will grow in importance. For our communities, free content is ideal but how can we balance that with the need for content producers to eat?

Does Social Media Have a Cult of Personality?

Bringing it all back, a big feature of new media is its ability to give anyone and everyone a powerful voice that can challenge and even supersede the mainstream media. But, as social media has taken off, have we become guilty of replacing one big voice with another? Is that OK, because the new big voices are more open to discussion, or have we fallen back on some of the old traps of old media?

Are big ideas drowned out by big names, and if so what can we do to reverse the course? Are we devaluing our medium by creating new mainstream voices? Or are we showing its true power to allow anyone to make their voices heard across the globe?

Personally, I think it's a mix of the two. Some voices have gotten mainstream big and might be drowning out others, but at the same time those same voices have propelled the medium into the limelight. I think we need big names to act as leaders and representatives for the medium but also have to be constantly looking for big ideas from the voices that might not (yet) have a huge audience. We should look at the ideas that come out of new media, not necessarily where they come from.

These three topics revolve around things I find interesting. They're mostly off the cuff ideas, some of which may lack good discussion points but hey, it's still a bit early in the morning and I'm mostly trying to get the creative juices flowing. If any of the above talking points strike you as interesting or valuable, hit me up and let's talk! Above all, my biggest goal for PodCamp Boston 4 is to meet and talk with some new people, connect with some online friends in-person and re-connect with others, no matter the context of those talks. Looking forward to some interesting discussions over the next two days!

Twitter: @AdamPieniazek
Google Voice: 617 418 1055

The past week or two I've written a few guest posts for two other Boston blogs that I'll share with you here.

Why I Bike

Shane from Boston Biker approached me about writing a guest post for his awesome blog about bicycling in Boston. I was glad to accept as Boston and bicycling are two of my passions I never get tired of writing about. My guest post for Boston Biker talks about why I choose to ride a bicycle as my main transportation method. Bicycling is economical, environmentally friendlier than driving, and a great form of exercise but that's not why I bike.

Social Media Roundup from Boston

In a guest post for Boston Young Entreprenuers, I linked to five stories from social media bloggers in Boston, with a little personal opinion mixed in from yours truly. Great way to get some quick info about building a web presence, and how to use that presence effectively and sustainably while getting productivity out of social networks.

Wrap-up of The 42nd Estate's BYE Presentation

In May, I presented The 42nd Estate's business model at a Boston Young Entreprenuers meeting. I received tons of great feedback and wrote a post for BYE on what I learned from presenting.

Hope you enjoy them!

As you may know, the company I co-founded will be turning one on April 8th! It's been a long, tough year but we will survive. To celebrate this great occasion we're holding three contests, two of which we've already announced. The third contest will be announced soon but I can give you a small hint, it will involve twitter, so make sure you follow me! Note, Twitter contest is now live, scroll to the bottom for details.

The other two already announced contests are:

1. The Easiest $42 You’ll Ever Make

This contest is super easy. All you have to do is comment on the linked post (remember to leave your e-mail so we can contact you if you win - no spam, ever, we promise). That's it. No linking, tweeting or any other -ing required. Just write a simple comment on that post and you're automatically entered to win $42, sent via paypal. The contest ends on April 8th at noon (EST) so hurry up and write a comment!

2. Win a Pair of Boston Celtics Playoff Tickets

As The 42nd Estate is based in Boston, Massachusetts, we're obviously big fans of the Boston sports teams (heck, we even have a sports blog focused on Boston sports). Two of our members are also season ticket holders for the world champion Boston Celtics and we decided to giveaway our first pair of playoff tickets!

To enter, become our fan on The 42nd Estate's facebook® page. As soon as the playoff scenario for the Celtics is set in stone, we'll pick one fan at random and award them a pair of playoff tickets to either the first or second home playoff game.

There you have it, two super easy to enter contests and another prize to come that will be given out via twitter.

EDIT: The Twitter contest is now live. A free portable iPhone charger! Retweet this tweet to enter. Contest ends Monday, April 6, 2009 at 5PM.

As a longtime resident of the Edward Everett Square/Polish Triangle area of Dorchester, there has been one building which has been a blight on my neighborhood as far back as I can remember. The building is the NE Brake Building located at 1299 Massachusetts Avenue. Well, according to The Dorchester Reporter, this building is (finally) being renovated!

Pete Stidman of the The Dorchester Reporter writes that the new owner, Steven Turner,

...is sprucing up the building’s curved storefront and installing a small fruit and vegetable market to complement the giant Clapp’s pear across the street.

“This is an interim solution,” said Steven Turner, the owner. “I’m in the process of marketing the building but I don’t have ink on paper yet. Ultimately what would I like to see? What I would prefer to see is some kind of restaurant, bank or retailer that was fitting and appropriate to the community.”

Turner is in the midst of replacing the first story doors and windows on the building, and said the plan is to open the market, maybe under the name New Market Farm Stand, by April 15. A man named Sam Fremi, who has had a booth in the Chelsea Produce Market and the Haymarket is set to run the place.

Fresh wooden boards!

Sounds great! Heck, they could literally open anything in the new building and it would be an immense improvement over the existing structure. However, a fresh produce stand will be a great addition to our neighborhood and fit in with the decor of the Pear statue perfectly. I can't wait to review the stand and share it with all of you on April 15!

You can read the entire article, along with plenty of other Dorchester related news, in the latest edition of The Dorchester Reporter (link is to .pdf download of the newspaper). Special thanks to Bill Forry and Pete Stidman of The Dorchester Reporter for the news and allowing me to share the article content with you.

Yesterday, nearly every blog and newspaper in Boston reported on a brand new addition to the menu at the Bonfire Steakhouse, Todd English's fine restaurant in the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston. Rightfully so, this cocktail deserved the massive amount of publicity, as the creativity behind it is astounding. As one blogger so succintly put it:

The A-Roid Cocktail: It Had To Happen and Here

The A-Roid Cocktail at Bonfire

The A-Roid cocktail is a shot of El Mejor tequila served with a syringe filled with a spicy, smoky tomato juice (hehe, juice, get it?) made from house smoked tomatoes, tomato juice, lemon juice, Tabasco sauce and jalapenos. Yes, it's as delicious as it sounds and I'm here to bring you the world exclusive first review of Bonfire's A-Roid cocktail!

Let me start off by thanking the excellent staff for making this cocktail for me, as they are NOT currently selling it (April 6 is its official debut). The staff went above and beyond the call of duty, not just by making the A-Roid cocktail but also in recommending a superb dinner (choice of four tacos for $12, the spicy tuna tartar taco is a must try) and all around doing everything possible to ensure we had a good time. Thank you for making my first trip to Bonfire a pure delight. You will see my face there again!

The A-Roid cocktail will make its official appearance on Red Sox opening day, April 6, 2009. However, as my former sales manager at Vector Marketing would put it, I used "the ol Pieniazek charm" to coerce gently persuade the staff to pour me a sneak preview, which basically boiled down to me shooting off my sad puppy dog eyes at the bartender. Nevertheless, you can't argue with results and simply put you cannot pass up this drink if you're a Red Sox fan. Heck, if you're a fan of any baseball team, besides the New York Yankees, you owe it to yourself to try this drink.

Hmmm, cheap, delicious tacos

Technically, the drink I had was not quite the A-Roid cocktail as they do not yet have the El Mejor tequila in stock (so don't ask until April 6!) but a substitute premium tequila was used and did not affect the presentation at all. Besides, the tequila is simply not the major attraction here. That's right, an alcoholic beverage where the actual alcohol comes second. This cocktail is all about the experience and the souvenir syringe filled with juice. I know what you're all really here to read about, and that's the juice.

The smoky tomatoes and supplemental spicy ingredients complement the tequila perfectly. You can drink this cocktail anyway you wish, but I chose a traditional process, putting a pinch of salt on my tongue, shooting the tequila, sucking the lime, followed by injecting the delicious tomato juice into my mouth (careful not to get it in your eyes, it is hot and will burn). Normally, I'm not a huge fan of tequila, but the tomato juice so cleanly chased the tequila that I became a quick convert.

After downing the shot and injecting the juice, I felt on top of the world and ready to conquer all. Minutes later, I felt my iPhone vibrating and after a quick conversation, was offered a contract to play for the New York Yankees. Of course, as a lifelong, born and raised, Bostonian and Red Sox fan I succinctly declined, with the obligatory Yankees Suck, Let's Go Red Sox thrown in for good measure. Sorry, I'd rather continue my career as a struggling writer than join the ranks of A-Rod and the rest of the evil empire. Besides, pinstripes make me look too skinny.

In the interest of avoiding a libel suit from the evil empire, let me note that the entire preceding paragraph was false (aside from the Yankees Suck and pinstripes bit).

I then proceeded to go outside and hit 500 foot dingers while a crowd gathered around me in awe.

For fans wishing to only drink Red Sox beverages, rather than anti-Yankees drinks, there's also the Matsusake, which is TyKu junmai ginjo sake, shiso, cucumber & sour mix served with crushed ice. My buddy and I agreed, it was a very tasty drink. The cucumbers match the smooth rice wine well and if you're not careful this concoction can get downed quickly.

The Bonfire's Matsusake

There will also be a Red Sox food menu, developed by Executive Chef Robert Bean, which will include: Francona’s Franks, Pedroia Sized Buffalo Chicken Bites, Truffled Papel-Corn, and Guinness “Big Frapi.” Sounds yummy!

My final verdict?

The A-Roid cocktail's fine tequila, spicy tomato injection, and overall presentation deserve and get a 11/10, A++, a game ending grand slam. This type of alcoholic ingenuity is a big part of why I love the City of Boston. It's literally the best theme drink, ever. Period. End of argument. Way to be Bonfire!

Put it on your calendar, April 6, 2009, opening day for the Boston Red Sox and the official launch of the A-Roid cocktail. Join me at Bonfire for A-Roid cocktails and hopefully a big Red Sox win. If you stop in, make sure you let Heather, the exceptionally creative bartender responsible for the genius A-Roid cocktail, know that Adam P referred you! Oh, and if you have a dog and would like to treat him or her, check out Heather's The Collared Canine site to order a comfortable yet classy collar for your pup!

P.S. Make sure you sign up for Only The Internet's Best Reviews' post feed (or head to OTIBR.com to sign up for e-mail updates) for the latest reviews, including a comprehensive review of Bonfire's drinks and food (coming soon).

Let's end this review with a resounding:

Let's go Red Sox! Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. Let's go Red Sox! Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. Let's go Red Sox! Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.

Yesterday was a pretty big day here at Prose of a Pol. I woke up rather early yesterday, at 4:30 AM to be exact, and felt energized and ready to be productive after only four hours of sleep. I immediately began pumping out posts. First I published a trailer of a Battlestar Galactica remake that never made it to the airwaves at We Demand Videos!

Then, the power went out due to the snowstorm here in Boston. NSTAR, our electrical utility, was quick to act and the power was back on about twenty minutes later. Once my router rebooted, I posted Car-free for nearly a year! to my blog. After it was live, I tweeted out a link to the post and updated my linkedin status with the url too (tip of the hat to Rachel Levy for the linkedin idea).

Then, the power went out, again. Fifteen minutes later, all the appliances in my house began whirring up again. It's amazing how silent the house becomes when there's no electricity to power all our various gadgetry. Luckily, my laptop's battery was fully charged so I could continue working, but the lack of internet certainly limited me.

I spent the next two hours tweaking a few things with The 42nd Estate's slick new design, writing up a review of Saints & Soldiers for OTIBR, and working on a few tax related matters. Then...I know you can feel what's coming by now...the power went out!

When my internet re-appeared, I noticed some hits coming into my car-free living post from reddit and Universal Hub. I figured it's time to go for broke and did something I never did before, submitted my post myself to StumbleUpon. Afterwards, I sent off an e-mail to a good friend with a few ideas for a site re-design he's working on for one of the local newspapers here (more to come on this soon). Went downstairs, checked the mail, saw my business cards were here (pictures coming soon), and then...

I won't even write it but for those keeping track, that's number four of the day.

At this point, my motivation and productivity were rapidly depleting. To take advantage of the little energy I had left, I packed up my laptop, put on my jacket and walked out the door to head down to the Sugar Bowl Cafe down the street for coffee and free Wi-Fi. Literally as my hand was closing the door, I heard that familiar whirring noise running through the house. I sighed and walked back inside, turned on the coffee maker and flipped on my Xbox 360. At this point, I needed some stress relief and there's really nothing quite like Call of Duty 4 to take the edge off.

After a few rounds, I heard my iPhone buzzing a few times with new e-mails. I reached over, touched into my inbox and saw a new message on my facebook wall from Linda:

just saw a link to your blog on boston.com... anyway i think we are long overdue for one of our dinners, so if it ever stops snowing put one on your schedule

For my non-Bostonian readers, boston.com is the web-site of The Boston Globe, the preeminent newspaper in Boston. I clicked over and sure enough on their home page under New England Blogs, there it was, Prose of a Pol's latest post on the year of carlessness.

My jaw, iPhone and pants immediately dropped to the floor.

OK, I lied about the pants bit.

And the iPhone...but my jaw did drop, that part was true!

So I sent out a few texts and tweets to my friends with about seven hundred exclamation marks, checked my server status, and then just sat there in a state of mild shock. The newspaper that I grew up reading, the real one, not that tabloid on Herald Street, just linked to my blog, on their front page. Wow.

At the end of the day, Prose of a Pol had its biggest traffic day since moving over to the new server and it help up perfectly. Reports from my friends stated that the site continued to load instantly during the whole day. I confirmed this fact periodically throughout the night on my iPhone while I worked on a few other tasks. For anyone whose curious, the final stats showed 1481 visitors and five power outages, compared to an average of 400 visitors. It certainly wasn't my biggest day, that honor belongs to the day fark.com listed my Battlestar Politica post, but being on the front page of boston.com is something I'm proud of. So to whoever is responsible for updating the New England blogs section at the Globe, thank you!

As many of you already know, I'm a Boston Celtics season ticket holder; so, when I recently saw this video of a Celtics fan getting down to Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer I knew I had to share it with y'all!

Here's the video from another C's fan who was filming the Jumbotron at the time. The quality is not as great as the direct Jumbotron feed but you get to hear the fans cheering on this epic dance. Check it out:

Simply but awesomely epic, eh?

Here's a link to the direct jumbotron feed. By the way, the fan is a high schooler by the name of Jeremy Fry and apparently it's been verified by his friends that this epic dance was not a viral marketing scheme of some sorts but was just a spontaneous dance inspired by Bon Jovi's rhythms.

Lately a ton of great posts and articles were published, setting up a great edition of Web Quotes and Counterpoints. Let's get right to it!

• First up, check out my entrepreneurship coach's latest post about living fearlessly and without regrets. The crux of the post is that we should act more and spend less time worrying about what our proper actions should be. Once we learn to recognize our fears and anxieties as feelings that we produce internally, we move closer to our core, to our competitive advantage. It's a great motto and the less time we spend fearing the more time we can spend creating genuine, quality content. Lately, I've been in a bit of a funk and Tom's post reminds me to simply be myself and my readers will appreciate my honesty and will be delivered a better product, whether that's a blog post here, an article at one of The 42nd Estate's properties or a paid service (more to come on The 42nd Estate's upcoming services and new design very soon). Make sure to check out Tom's post, especially if you've found yourself contemplating at the expensive of actual action. My on footnote to Tom's post would be to be careful. Living fearlessly doesn't necessarily mean exposing your innermost secrets to the world, which could be dangerous depending on your secrets and current career. To me, living fearlessly means acting without worrying about negative consequences, but you should still plan for all situations and realize that the more you expose yourself the higher the reward but also the higher the risk.
• After you're done reading and commenting on Tom's post, bounce on over to fellow The 42nd Estate member, Justin Wright's blog post about the top ten Wordpress plugins you can't miss. It seems like every blogger and his/her mom publishes a top ten Wordpress plugins list, but Justin's list features several very useful plugins I've never heard of before, such as Theme Test Drive, which allows you to load a different theme from your blog's public theme that will show only to logged in administrators. It's a great plugin that allows you to tweak or test a new theme and ensure it works without submitting your visitors to a work in progress theme. Another great plugin on Justin's list is the Automated Excerpts plugin, which automatically creates a post excerpt while keeping intact any formating and tagging on the post. A nice time-saver!

  Two additionals plugins I'll recommend that are not on Justin's list are the Flickr Photo Album plugin and the Whydowork Adsense plugin. I use the Flickr Photo Album plugin to generate the photo album section on my blog here. The Whydowork plugin is great as it inserts adsense code into your theme so you don't have to go mucking about in the code and even better it has a feature that allows you to rotate different ad types into the post based on how old the post is. It's a great feature as it allows you to show a small ad when the post is first published, and then automatically switches to a larger, more lucrative ad after a set period of time. Make sure you check out Justin's post for the full list and let us know if you use a plugin you find particularly useful that's not mentioned.

• Since we just took a look at a post from a 42nd Estate member, we'll keep the theme on business as we take a look at ten tax deductions freelancers can make. Freelance Switch, a great resource for freelancers such as myself, posts some common tax deductions that we freelancers can take. The list includes deductions for:

  1. unpaid invoices
  2. paypal fees
  3. job hunting fees (such as fees to access Elance or other job boards)
  4. cellphone and skype bills
  5. home office expenses.

  Head on over to Freelance Switch to check out the full list. Remember to consult a tax professional before utilizing any of these tips.

• Perhaps you're not quite a freelancer yet and are considering making the move from a full-time job to freelancing. If so, check out Daniel's latest post at Daily Blog Tips about the asset value factor of working online. In the post, Daniel explains that we cannot simply look at annual gross income in a full-time job versus freelancing and decide which is more lucrative, as freelancing and working online also develops value in your blog, brand, and skill set. If you consider that your blog and other sites are valuable assets that can generate income via a sale then you'll see that annual gross income is just one part of an online freelancer's compensation. Be careful, however, not to overvalue your blog's worth when making this comparison, which could lead to you making the leap to freelancing before you are ready.
• One of the reasons I've been posting less here the past couple of months is due to the winter weather that forced me off daily bike routine. It may sound odd but riding my bicycle actually gives me energy and helps me generate article ideas (biking around gives you plenty of solitary time to think). Without my daily bike boost, I fell into a slump that I'm now emerging from, thanks to the improved weather and my return to biking the past few weeks. With this in mind, I'd like you to check out the latest post over at Boston Biker, which urges fellow Bostonian bicyclists to smile and say hello to other bikes they see out on the roads. The thought is that we can generate a friendly, happy bicycling community here in Boston and by doing so will encourage more people to leave the confines of their automobiles and hit the streets on two wheels. I like the idea and think it ties in a little bit with Tom Volkar's post about living fearlessly. Instead of isolating ourselves and acting as if we're all still in cars, bicyclists should embrace their fellow bikers and create a positive environment for us to travel in.

  To a certain extent, I feel this sort of attitude comes naturally to bicycling, as we experience an adrenaline rush while pedaling that improves our mentality and makes us more susceptible to acting friendly. Now if we combine that with a conscious decision to greet other cyclists we can take on step towards getting even more cyclists out on the roads.

That seems like a nice note to end this twelfth edition of Web Quotes and Counterpoints. Let me know any thoughts, comments or ideas you have on the above posts in the comments section below!

It's been a bit too long since I've posted here and a few updates will come soon but for today, check out my first published article ever in the latest edition of Momentum Magazine! A while back I posted a review of Bikes Not Bombs on OTIBR.com and was approached by one of the editors at Momentum to submit a shortened version of the article for their magazine. Well, I ended up writing a completely new article and think it came out quite well. Check it out and give it some social love too!