August 27, 2009
YOSEMITE -- We were sightseeing and checking out the Ahwahnee hotel when part of the granite mountainside behind the hotel began to crumble. It sounded like gunfire. Made the windows in the hotel shake. The workers immediately evacuated the hotel. Car alarms were going off. Smoke from the slide poofed up in a big cloud. Very exciting.
We had to walk back to our cabin in 90 degree heat because they stopped running the buses out there. My trip is complete...we saw one bear, had another one rummaging outside our tent cabin this morning and woke to a random guy with a mop yelling at it and chasing it off (favorite quote"shoo bear, go away bear--ok, take your picture--shoo, bear!"...the ok take your picture was directed at some person outside), saw two bucks, 4 deer, one fawn, one coyote, one raccoon (my daughter's favorite) and approximately 253 squirrels...and the rock slide. Never a dull moment in Yosemite!!
--Tracy Cote
August 25, 2009
Watching it on TV is not the same as experiencing the Amazing Race first hand. Exceptional. That's how we'd describe Toronto's Summer Social August 5, 2009.
Our blueprint for the Organic Amazing Race was ambitious. Not helicopters and far flung destinations ambitious, but ambitious nonetheless. The other facilitators and I worked to make sure all of the details were in order. We sought approval to use various stores as pit stops. Some required carefully worded emails to Regional Operations Managers while others required translators to communicate with employees who spoke little to no English.
Finally came the day of the race - the weather was fantastic, all the hilariously named teams were stoked and the facilitators were well organized. The pit stop challenges did a great job spacing out our teams and making for a fast paced race, a few facilitators' foibles fueled resourcefulness, and man, do we have a creative bunch in Toronto!
After a gigantic BBQ, we corralled the T.O. Organics in to present their pit stop tasks - all related closely to our work here at O. Whether it was the thrill of competition, running around the city, deciphering clues or experiencing our clients afresh, somehow each team brought something amazing in pitching their presentations.
Fortunately our expert judging panel (Paula only cried twice!) was able to separate out the bizarre from the side-splitting and the blah from the great.
The only trouble - how do we top this NEXT year? ...stay tuned.
The refined (ok, that's debatable) after-party took us across the street to a sweet little roof-top patio on Adelaide. We were all fashionably dressed in our finest whites (ok - maybe not our finest), tactfully sampling the spirits offered (ok - there could have been some beer guzzling) and reliving the adventures from the day...
Organic trivia, Nike fashion show, a roti debacle (Where was that clue? Certainly NOT inside Tomas' roti!!!), a hike to the only BAC tower in Canada followed by the birth of some amazing creative (ok, by amazing I really mean slightly questionable, severely warped and LOVED BY ALL!).
Thanks to those who organized. We had a blast!
-- Nicole Russel and Lorne Smith
Watching it on TV is not the same as experiencing the Amazing Race first hand. Exceptional. That's how we'd describe Toronto's Summer Social August 5, 2009.Our blueprint for the Organic Amazing Race was ambitious. Not helicopters and far flung destinations ambitious, but ambitious nonetheless. The other facilitators and I worked to make sure all of the details were in order. We sought approval to use various stores as pit stops. Some required carefully worded emails to Regional Operations Managers while others required translators to communicate with employees who spoke little to no English.
Finally came the day of the race - the weather was fantastic, all the hilariously named teams were stoked and the facilitators were well organized. The pit stop challenges did a great job spacing out our teams and making for a fast paced race, a few facilitators' foibles fueled resourcefulness, and man, do we have a creative bunch in Toronto!
After a gigantic BBQ, we corralled the T.O. Organics in to present their pit stop tasks - all related closely to our work here at O. Whether it was the thrill of competition, running around the city, deciphering clues or experiencing our clients afresh, somehow each team brought something amazing in pitching their presentations.
Fortunately our expert judging panel (Paula only cried twice!) was able to separate out the bizarre from the side-splitting and the blah from the great. The only trouble - how do we top this NEXT year? ...stay tuned.
The refined (ok, that's debatable) after-party took us across the street to a sweet little roof-top patio on Adelaide. We were all fashionably dressed in our finest whites (ok - maybe not our finest), tactfully sampling the spirits offered (ok - there could have been some beer guzzling) and reliving the adventures from the day...
Organic trivia, Nike fashion show, a roti debacle (Where was that clue? Certainly NOT inside Tomas' roti!!!), a hike to the only BAC tower in Canada followed by the birth of some amazing creative (ok, by amazing I really mean slightly questionable, severely warped and LOVED BY ALL!).
Thanks to those who organized. We had a blast!
-- Nicole Russel and Lorne Smith
August 21, 2009
The Organic San Francisco summer field trip started with an unorganized two-hour romp through the tide pools, rainforests, and exceptionally realistic taxidermy of the recently renovated Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park on August 14, 2009. We had to watch our step at every turn, as the place was teeming with a variety of wildlife, from scampering toddlers to know-it-all 8-year-olds. And at some point between jockeying for position to see the Giant Chinese Salamander and a bowl full of jellyfish, it was collectively decided via telepathy that beer was in dire need.
Once free from the little people, the office met up on the lawn out front and organized into their "classes" with the goal of trekking a leisurely five minutes to the food (& beer). Unless you were in my class, that is. Coach Berger, quite obviously against school protocol and with the apparent goal of getting us a workout, led a brisk, 15-minute walk in the opposite direction in search of an open pub.
Kezar is a lovely neighborhood sports bar open all kinds of strange hours for the myriad of daily sport events from around the world. This day was relatively empty despite both Federer and Tiger (at the time) leading in their respective matches. We downed a few pitchers of lager and attempted to complete our team activities, which was...moderately successful, given the circumstances. One clown car taxi ride later, and only about an hour late, Coach Berger's team finally made it to the picnic!
When you think picnic, if what comes to mind is a grassy field, barbeque, flying Frisbees, light beer, and sunburns, then you've painted a pretty accurate picture of the remainder of our day.
General happenings of note:
A Frisbee was lost when an errant throw sent it into a large oak tree. After many attempts by various departments, it was eventually the clever plan of "throwing things at it" devised by the creative department that successfully retrieved it.
Coach Berger's class won the classic team-building exercise of tossing the unrealized spawn of poultry back and forth in an attempt to not let it break on you, otherwise known as "the egg toss."
In the Class mascot competition, Spud the disinterested potato narrowly beat out Shelly the Eggshell Marmot and Pirate Shane, among others, for the title of first broken in the aforementioned egg toss.
The entire office successfully avoided falling into the alligator enclosure at the Academy of Sciences, putting us well above our safety goals for the day.
Tom "Rockstar" Tully's Shop class were the balla's of the day, cruising around in a limo drinking champagne and generally making everyone else jealous. (At least until their expense reports get rejected.)
Jay Bain has been rechristened iJay for the sheer amount of unnecessary attachments he has for his iPhone. To his credit, about half of them came in quite handy at the event.
The office was notably more tan the following Monday. And by tan we mean red. All-you-can-eat-lobster-buffet-at-Sizzlers red.
Tyler Griffis
The Organic San Francisco summer field trip started with an unorganized two-hour romp through the tide pools, rainforests, and exceptionally realistic taxidermy of the recently renovated Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park on August 14, 2009. We had to watch our step at every turn, as the place was teeming with a variety of wildlife, from scampering toddlers to know-it-all 8-year-olds. And at some point between jockeying for position to see the Giant Chinese Salamander and a bowl full of jellyfish, it was collectively decided via telepathy that beer was in dire need. Once free from the little people, the office met up on the lawn out front and organized into their "classes" with the goal of trekking a leisurely five minutes to the food (& beer). Unless you were in my class, that is. Coach Berger, quite obviously against school protocol and with the apparent goal of getting us a workout, led a brisk, 15-minute walk in the opposite direction in search of an open pub.
Kezar is a lovely neighborhood sports bar open all kinds of strange hours for the myriad of daily sport events from around the world. This day was relatively empty despite both Federer and Tiger (at the time) leading in their respective matches. We downed a few pitchers of lager and attempted to complete our team activities, which was...moderately successful, given the circumstances. One clown car taxi ride later, and only about an hour late, Coach Berger's team finally made it to the picnic!
When you think picnic, if what comes to mind is a grassy field, barbeque, flying Frisbees, light beer, and sunburns, then you've painted a pretty accurate picture of the remainder of our day.
General happenings of note:A Frisbee was lost when an errant throw sent it into a large oak tree. After many attempts by various departments, it was eventually the clever plan of "throwing things at it" devised by the creative department that successfully retrieved it.
Coach Berger's class won the classic team-building exercise of tossing the unrealized spawn of poultry back and forth in an attempt to not let it break on you, otherwise known as "the egg toss."
In the Class mascot competition, Spud the disinterested potato narrowly beat out Shelly the Eggshell Marmot and Pirate Shane, among others, for the title of first broken in the aforementioned egg toss.
The entire office successfully avoided falling into the alligator enclosure at the Academy of Sciences, putting us well above our safety goals for the day.
Tom "Rockstar" Tully's Shop class were the balla's of the day, cruising around in a limo drinking champagne and generally making everyone else jealous. (At least until their expense reports get rejected.)
Jay Bain has been rechristened iJay for the sheer amount of unnecessary attachments he has for his iPhone. To his credit, about half of them came in quite handy at the event.
The office was notably more tan the following Monday. And by tan we mean red. All-you-can-eat-lobster-buffet-at-Sizzlers red.
Tyler Griffis
August 7, 2009
Detroit Organics and friends root-root-rooted for the home team yesterday at the summer Tigers game outing. The weather was perfect, the party deck was a delight and we beat the Orioles!
--Nate Rogers