Say Cheese!

December 7, 2012 - Pic #342

Tonight was the eChalk Holiday party! We on the Events Committee helped set up, and added a few early friends to our pre-party photo. It was a good time, especially since we really haven't seen much of each other since Sandy hit and put our office out of commission. We should be back in action the week of December 17th, if all goes well. 

September Snap Shot

Well, this blog certainly got away from me. I'm a little sad about it, but not surprised. I am glad that I kept it up for as long as I did, since most of my journals and diaries in past years only ever lasted until about January 10th :). However, I have kept up the picture a day project, and that's the real win. With a couple of exceptions, I've managed to get one picture posted on Facebook each day by Midnight. 

Anyway... a lot has happened in the last three months, some of which is really difficult to think about, much less write about. 2012 has certainly been a roller coaster of a year. Since I want to see this project to its end, I've decided to do one long post each for the months of September, October and November. 

Enjoy!

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September 3, 2012 - Pic #247

Laboring on Labor Day! With the wall officially down in our new giant living room, we decided to liven up the space with some color. Bee-yoo-ti-ful, if I do say so myself.  

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September 4, 2012 - Pic #248

Kittens were not happy to be awoken from their cat nap. I'm glad to have gotten this picture of them together :). 
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September 5, 2012 - Pic #249

Remember rock band? Sesi, Tara and I brought it back tonight, Beatles style. We are need of a drum set, though...
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September 6, 2012 - Pic #250

Early morning view of the East River from the 16th floor of 199 Water Street. 
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September 7, 2012 - Pic #251

Blimp! According to this, there are only 43 blimps in the world. Also, happy 17th birthday, Kailey!
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September 8, 2012 - Pic #252

This might be the saddest art I've ever seen. Poor turtle can't go anywhere! 
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September 9, 2012 - Pic #253

It's dangerous living with a roommate who likes to bake: Maple Bacon cupcakes happened. I helped... but only with the eating part. 
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September 10, 2012 - Pic #254

This was a very hard day. Found out that Franny Pants is really sick. Sesi came over to visit for a bit and gave me her good luck charm. Friends like her are one in a million. 
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September 11, 2012 - Pic #255

No one will ever forget the events of September 11, 2001, especially Downtown Manhattanites. But, this tower, as intended, does represent new beginnings. It's easy to become jaded, seeing it every day on my way to and from work, but today is a day to remember. 
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September 12, 2012 - Pic #256

12:12 on the 12th! Most 12:12 pics this year have been during lunch hour or meetings at work. It's both comforting and a little sad that my life is so routine. At least I have good friends to share the time with :). 
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September 13, 2012 - Pic #257

A few of us threw Mike and Manny a surprise wedding shower at the Chalk today! It was a super cute hit.
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September 14, 2012 - Pic #258

I was hoping if I stared long enough they would turn into a flash mob - or at least one of them would wave. No dice. 
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September 15, 2012 - Pic #259

Oh hey - surprise party number 2! Brunch was a wonderful time, and the Snickerdicker cookies I made were delicious. These are some lucky boys :).
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September 16, 2012 - Pic #260

This picture project has forced me to acknowledge how often I do nothing. But at least I do it with Friends. 
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September 17, 2012 - Pic #261

"Whatever happened to predictability?" or "Rice-a-roni, the San Francisco treat!" Yes, I am riding on the side of a Trolley and taking a selfie. Only slightly dangerous, but totally worth it. I was nervous about traveling alone, but I actually had a blast walking around a new city and getting completely lost. I even scored a free bus ride from a generous driver after he realized I had no idea where I was. I think I could live in this city. With all the hills, I'd certainly have buns of steel. 
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September 18, 2012 - Pic #262

Day 1 of the Dreamforce Conference, and I hadn't made any real friend yes. Luckily, Saasie was there to keep me company. Dreamforce posted this picture on Facebook and tagged me, forcing me to explain to several co-workers that this is actually work. 
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September 19, 2012 - Pic #263

Day 2 of Dreamforce, and I've made some friends! Sir Richard Branson isn't one of them, but we did brush shoulders. I almost tipped over after backing up into a security guard that was escorting Sir Richard and Marc Benioff (CEO of Salesforce) around the exhibition floor. The conference was fairly star-studded, with the likes of MC Hammer, the Cake Boss, and Colin Powell, to name a few. 
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September 20, 2012 - Pic #264

Mooooooo. Day 3 of Dreamforce. I chose a very bad time to leave the exhibition hall. There is an escalator of people off to the right funneling into a completely full lobby, with hundreds of people trying to move in different directions. Turns out Tony Robbins was on a podium a few feet to my left giving an interview, but I didn't realize that until I had already waded out of harm's way. 
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September 21, 2012 - Pic #265

Sad to leave San Francisco! I missed the last day of the conference in order to make it back for a very important social event :). I had a truly wonderful time and met so many fantastic people. 
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September 22, 2012 - Pic #266

Happy Wedding, Mike and Manny! It was a beautiful ceremony and a helluva dance party. 
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September 23, 2012 - Pic #267

When this picture was taken, I thought Franny was on the mend. It turns out she was not, in fact. I'm so grateful that she had such amazing care and love from my parents in her final weeks. 
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September 24, 2012 - Pic #268

Over the last two years, I've spent many an hour stuck on the LIE in bumper-to-bumper traffic. At least it affords some quality thinking time. 
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September 25, 2012 - Pic #269

PSA from a Dunkin Donuts' bathroom. Desperation beyond words - at least English ones. 
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September 26, 2012 - Pic #270

Sugar cookies are appropriate any time of the year... all you have to do is change the color of the sprinkles!
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September 27, 2012 - Pic #271

Just a band's sticker on some light post in the city... but "meaningless" in Italian has a lot of meaning for me :). 
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September 28, 2012 - Pic #272

It's never good to come home late at night and find ConEd digging a giant hole outside your building. I was happy to find that our power was a-okay.
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September 29, 2012 - Pic #273

The beauty of having an iPhone is that is provides endless ways to waste time. Seriously though, this is suspect. 
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September 30, 2012 - Pic #274

The Medieval Festival in the Bronx was awesome, to say the least. However, the jousters really could have used some more practice. Two fell off during the show, and one had to be taken to the hospital. Talk about a stressful show! 

Moving on up! To the window side.

August 28, 2012 - Pic #241

After many months of "should I, shouldn't I?"... I finally moved my desk! It was quite the laborious project... but worth the view :).

It's Friday Friday Friday

Pic #223 - August 10, 2012

You may remember that earlier in the week some of us brought in snacks for a team meeting. I brought a bottle of the Baideme Family reserve to share. I forgot about it all week until the Receptionist sent an email this afternoon reminding us to remove all items from the fridge. Thus, with Allie's Birthday Cake Oreos (you read that correctly), Happy Hour at the office began. 

Just a snack

Pic #220 - August 7, 2012

Had a lengthy team meeting today... some folks brought snacks. Eddy blew us all out of the park with his wife's homemade Korean sushi. I'm not a huge sushi eater, but this was delicious. 

Thunder buddies!

Pic #208 - July 26, 2012

Thunder seems extra loud alone at night in an empty office. These kids kept me safe during the crazy storm tonight! 

Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding!

Pic #202 - July 20, 2012

The eChalk Summer Picnic was rained out, so we all gathered at Dave and Busters for some arcade fun. Also, I think I'd be much more productive if I were rewarded with prize tickets for daily tasks.

I'll take two, please!

Pic #201 - July 19, 2012

Hung and his daughter impressed once again with a mean breakfast spread for eChalk! Crepes, omelets, mimosas... the works. 

Just Jack!

Pic #179 - June 27, 2012

Rebekkah stopped by to visit with the eChalk lunch crew today, and brought this cutie along with her! Don't worry, he was only in the sun long enough to snap this photo! 

Drip Drip Drip

Pic #174 - June 22, 2012

The Brooklyn Bridge, view from eChalk during a rain storm. It's there, I promise.

eChalkabaloonsa

Pic #116 - 4/25/12

I just can't stay away from a giant bouquet of balloons — or out of it, apparently. Tonight was eChalkapalooza, Team NYC's big in-house event of the year. The ladies did a great job, as per usual, and the after party got weird, as expected :).

Only Megan could photobomb the Paparazzi...

Pic #115 - 4/24/12

Caught Megan while she was perched on a ledge in our office taping these Paparazzi to the window. She is the queen of photobombs, so this seemed perfect. Not familiar with a 'photobomb'? Check out this blog: http://www.photobomb.net/2012/03/

Bonus Pics (eChalkapalooza preparations):

Roger that!

Let's forget for a second that it's only 9:45 on a Friday night and I'm curled up on my bed about to do homework. You all know I'm a nerd (and not even the cool, hipstery kind), so this shouldn't surprise you. Let's focus, rather, on the fact that a little over a year ago I met an amazing eChalker/friend/mentor type person, and today was her last day at the 'chalk. Nancy is one of the most inspirational people I've ever had the pleasure to know — one of those people that makes you want to climb a mountain, save a kitten from a tree, feed a thousand children, or you know, whip the K12 education system into shape. I shall miss her dearly! 

Pic #111 - 4/20/12

Positively glowing :). Nancy and me at Keg 229.


Bonus Pics:

What fun would an eChalk gathering be without smuggled marketing materials? Just two of the several buttons made in honor of the great Ms. De Vore. And BTDubs - I super want a button machine. Please make it happen. 

Baby Shower Cupcake Wars

Pic #97 - 4/6/12

We've got three expecting employees right now, each awaiting a late Spring/early Summer arrival of their first baby! We threw a small baby shower yesterday, and two eChalkers contributed homemade cupcakes, Cupcake Wars style. They were both super delicious. As red velvet is my favorite type of cake... this one won Pic of the Day.

Because I'm neurotic...and it's the 12th!

Today is the 12th, which means my picture of the day is of what I was doing at 12:12. Unfortunately, that happens to be incredibly boring. But alas, I'm trying to remain honest with this project, and sometimes (most of the time) my life is boring. However, the neurotic part of this post comes now: This is picture number 72, and 72 is a multiple of 12... so yay :). 

Pic #72 - 3/12/12

This is what I was doing at 12:12 pm today. Super duper exciting...I know. I took another picture right before this one, but it included part of the presentation slides. I decided a picture of my notebook would be more kosher than sharing stats about company revenue :). 

Heading to AEP's Content in Context!

Well, tomorrow will bring June...and I just cannot get on board with how quickly time is flying by. But that's the funny thing about time - it never asks you to get on board.

Monday marks two months at eChalk. A newbie though I am, I've already had some amazing opportunities. At our marketing director's suggestion, I applied for the Association of Educational Publishing's (AEP) Talent and Development Scholarship to attend this year's Content in Context Conference in D.C. This year's theme is Publishing 3.0 and will focus on the innovative ways that content publishers, developers and packagers are getting into the 21st Century classroom.

I am very fortunate to have been selected along with three other applicants to attend CIC next week! The scholarship winners will each write four posts on AEP's blog, prior to, during and after the event. Check out my first one: "Examining the Role of Tech and Social Media in Education at the CIC."

Stay tuned... I'll be tweeting (Betamee) during the conference and will post future posts here, as well.

-LB