We love our tiny, shiny Apple Keyboards (aside from the ridiculous USB placement/depth). We also love eating lunch at our desks. Today happened to be one of those days where lunch somehow ended up on my glorious keyboard. It could have been worse (soup). It could have been better (soft dinner rolls). But it was a bagel with cream cheese. Face down.

It wasn’t pretty, and rather than taking photos of the incident (depressing and poorly lit) I’ll walk you through how to remove a slightly messy substance from a slightly ridiculous keyboard. (more…)

For the past 2.5  months I have been the studio intern working with AWP. Over this time I have learned many new things, one of which I would like to talk about briefly: The Importance of Workplace Environment.

I have been working at various jobs since I was about 15 and have done it all starting from baby-sitting and working my way through retail and other image/design related fields. It is from these past experiences that I can honestly say that working at AWP has been one of the most awesome and rewarding jobs! You hear people complaining about their job all the time and how much they hate going to work. In previous jobs I have dreaded Monday, worshiped Friday, and anxiously watched the clock so I could leave at the end of the day. I would feel spent, unchallenged, and exhausted. Not the case here! AWP has an AWESOME working environment which actually makes me WANT to come to work and continue to learn.

From the moment you begin your day you are exposed to the aroma of coffee and a constant stream of music. The people are friendly, down-to-earth, and extremely talented. In the beginning I was nervous about starting an internship with a company that had such a good reputation but I soon came to realize that they are a group of relaxed professionals who simply produce great work.

Imagine getting up and not dreading work, of looking forward to getting to the office, and actually liking your co-workers … Unfortunately, I think this is something that few people have. Working at AWP this summer has helped confirm that work doesn’t have to painful or tedious. I am leaving to finish up my senior year at college feeling refreshed, energized, and excited. When’s the last time your job made you feel that good?

Casey makes sure it is straight and stuff.

This post might already be a little outdated, but somehow in the transition to our new everything, one of the coolest pieces was left unmentioned: our super-awesome huge hall sign!

Swing by the office and check it out. It’ll make you smile. It makes us smile.

People may call us a crunchy, liberal folk, but my heart leapt with pride to be an Ithacan at the annual Earth Day celebration at the Ithaca Farmers’ Market this Sunday.  It’s not what you might expect.  Sure, there’s the bellydancing vegans, the solar powered folk band performance, and the ubiquitous drum circle (all admittedly a bit granola), but you’ll also find some of coolest people you’ll have a chance to meet doing some pretty awesome things!  Like Marlo of Garden Gate Delivery who was doing a blind milk taste test (Evan’s non-homogenized milk vs. Wegman’s organic milk) Benj and Julie of Dovetail Builders who were showing off all of the beautiful, sustainable carpentry work they do, or Jennifer Dotson, the brain behind Ithaca CarShare, who was taking her very first enrollments!  Not to mention all the cool stuff I learned about the composting with worms, humanure, the Locavore project, compact fluorescents, etc.  And to top it all off, I had the pleasure of witnessing the 4-H rubber ducky race down Fall Creek on my way down to the event.  Nothing like seeing kids jumping into the creek after those little yellow guys and seeing real ducks get very, very confused by a swarm of rubber ones.  There’s no place like Ithaca.

Just saw a great documentary that I thought I’d review (in an attempt to win Tyler’s “blog today!” contest). It’s called “My Kid Could Paint That“, and it’s about a 4-year old girl named Marla from Binghamton, New York who has an amazing ability to create beautifully mature abstract paintings. A quick summary from NetFlix (my main source for DVDs):

Amir Bar-Lev directs this thought-provoking documentary about a precocious 4-year-old artist whose abstract works have drawn critical comparisons with modernist greats such as Kandinsky, Picasso and Pollack — and whose talents have already profited her more than $300,000. Is her gift with a paintbrush just an illusion, or is she truly an artistic visionary trapped in the body of a child?

Inspiration or manipulation??? I won’t reveal to you what happens because Amir does a wonderful job of telling the story as it unfolded… but let’s just say it’s not so pretty at the end. Amir gives a balanced take on the events and leaves you as the viewer to decide what really happened. And it’s the kind of movie that you just have to talk about immediately after watching it. Admittedly, I was also really intrigued because of the local proximity of the story.

So add this right to the top of your Queue, this is a must-see documentary!