You all can stop shopping. Dig into this treasure trove and win "best present giver" as quick as you can hit "forward"...custom narrated video cards of merriment hosted by one of the more talented voice artists in our deep stable.





Diverse friend group? No problem. The SF crew has got it covered with eight options, running the gamut from "warm wishes" to Kwanzaa, with a dash of sprechen zie deutsch. You can check 'em all out here... (why aren't they embedded? cuz they turned the embed off, brother.)

Strategist Jay Joichi uses the panoramic windows of an unnamed Denver-area hotel to map out the strategy for the team. So far, nobody has descended irrevocably into madness.

Daniel Turman

NAPA, Calif. -- This is the time of peace on earth, at least that's what Heidi Kuhn said as we began an evening for the "Harvest of Hope" event hosted by the charity organization Roots of Peace. Heidi, the organization's founder and very energetic spokesperson, led off the evening with videos showing its work in Croatia and Afghanistan.  

Roots of Peace is an organization that works to remove land mines in war torn countries around the world and replace them with grape vines or other agricultural products.  Organic has been working over the last several months on launching their new site www.rootsofpeace.org. So, it was with pride that Tom Tully, Angela DiPietro, Dan Turman and I made our way to the Copia (The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts) in Napa, California to represent Organic for the event.

We hobnobbed with the local big wigs and were entertained by old favorite Pablo Cruise, we even were graciously recognized by Roots of Peace for our contribution

It's a Battle Royale of the Bands courtesy of the Toronto office...click through for more bands plus a gentleman setting his mouth aflame...

...and mind the 'u' when you favourite one of 'em...

Vids all courtesy of Mark R.


Doctor Spaceman -- In The City



The Porktrashers (myspace page here)


Announcing the Turducken

So, so many more pics in our Flickr feed to your immediate left courtesy of many Organics

Words, reporting and commentary from The Reserve by Christian D.

BIRMINGHAM, Mich. -- I try very hard to live a stemware free life.  I like to pretend that it has something to do with its bourgeois pretension, but really it’s just that it’s top heavy, and I’m a shaky, clumsy oaf.  Of all stemware, though, the martini glass has to be the most offensive.  You might as well just pour the drink right on the floor.  If I get 30% of it into my mouth, I count it a success. 

Even so, like a kid plopping quarters into a fancy gumball machine full of prunes, I had to order one just to see that ridiculous ice sculpture in action.  Now, my aversion to martini glasses also means I know next to nothing about martinis. I just know that I don’t like gin. As such, I ordered a vodka martini (thanks James Bond, you vodka marketing devil, you). 

I was given numerous options (dirty, sweet, fluorinated, etc.), none of which meant anything to me.  After about 30 sec of blank stare, the bartender said “ok, plain vodka martini it is”.  It wasn’t brightly colored, so I figured at least it wouldn’t stain the unfortunate soul I assumed it would end up on.  Unfortunately, it also contained olives, which to my untrained palate created a drink that tasted something like booze and salad dressing.  Again, I learn the same holiday lesson I’ve learned so many times before – I am a classless beer drinker, and I’m ok with that. 

Also, the party was fun, and Laura (my wife) gives you all the same warm holiday wish I receive every time we go out together... “Thanks for not making a scene.”

Too Cool For School: The Chicagorganics are from left...John Topacio, Mike Glowacki, Euphenia Cheng, Sean Rhodes, Jayson Szott.


CHICAGO -- In every young company's life, there appear important milestones. What better time to reflect than on one of the Chicago office's major milestones...Day 74. What's so special about Day 74? I don't know. I made that up. But I'm sure some company, somewhere, had a good thing happen on their 74th day of existence. Although I'd be surprised if any group of people, anywhere in the history of business, has come together like CHIPOD has.

Being somewhat of an Organic veteran, it's been very cool to see everyone gel so quickly.

From the group brainstorming to Mike and Euphenia's killer design skillz to mine and John's manipulation of 26 letters to Sean's inspired leadership, it's working. And it's working well. No fistfights. No name-calling. No brown bag lunch thievery. I think I speak for everyone when I say we're having fun and we look forward to what 2008 brings. As for 2007, here¹s each of our favorite moments so far:
 
Sean:
At lunch with John and Jayson at the Billy Goat (subterranean hangout made popular by the Belushi/Akroyd SNL skit ), the short order cook wouldn¹t let us order what we want and proceeds to tell us what we¹ll be eating just like in the skit.
 
Mike:
Working for Organic has been great fun and an awesome learning experience all around. Among the many incredible bonuses to the job, are the travel, going on my first shoot and nights out on the town with Scott and Mike. But I would have to say I've most enjoyed our minor experiences in the office.
For being my first "official" job I feel completely comfortable in "not knowing."  It's been nice to slowly get to know everyone more and more as time goes on. Just the vast amount of knowledge our team members supply is a benefit of its own for me personally.
 
Euphenia:
Who says Harassment Training is no fun? Molly DeLaRosa came to the Chicago office, and gave us the Harassment Training. It was fun to know what not to do~ Now I know that I can bring a stun gun to protect my colleagues if I needed! After the training, Scott Lange, and Michael Heughens joined us for lunch. I was so glad to have colleagues from different offices to get together and have a good time.
 
John:
Due to our unique situation, we decided to move Beer Bash to Thursday and hold it at various watering holes close by. Before we left for our inaugural Beer Bash, the skies were nice and sunny. But as soon as we stepped outside, the heavens apparently became very angry at our decision to move such a sacred Organic tradition and engulfed the city in heavy rain, wind gusts and of course, golf ball-sized hail. But like good soldiers, we trudged forward, destined to put beer in our bellies. Eventually we made it, unscathed. And sure enough, once we arrived at the bar, the weather cleared up.
 
Jayson:
We were working on the Dodge Challenger MySpace music contest and it was growing bigger by the day. So we invited Dwayne Raupp and James Vreeland to come in for a couple days and help us corral it. Their input was invaluable; they helped bring it to a whole different level. Then we went to Uberstein.
 

We've had a few visitors and we hope to see everyone out here at some point.
Just not at the same time. There might be a space issue if that were to happen. But don't worry, there's enough free gum for everyone. Even weird flavors like Cherry Chill.
 
--Jayson