Entries Tagged as 'ashanth'

Title Town: It Ain’t In Pittsburgh, Fool!

January 11th, 2012 · No Comments

My coworker, Dan, is a huge Steelers fan. Since the Packers beat the Steelers in the Superbowl last year, I sneakily put this picture on his desk before this year’s NFL season started. It says “Title Town: It Ain’t in Pittsburgh, Fool!” I thought it would be on his desk for so long before he even noticed. But my other coworker, Ashanth, had to go and tell him right away that it was there! I was so mad. To be a good sport, Dan said he would keep the picture up on his desk until the Packers lost their first game……

….. Little did he realize that it would be MONTHS without a loss. It got to a point where Dan, again being a great sport, said “If the Packers go undefeated I will get this shirt and wear it!”

I noticed that on Black Friday the shirt went on sale for about $10, so I ordered it just in case. I ordered an XL and was told that they were all out, that they only had size L. Dang! I emailled back and told the story, and I don’t know if it was a mistake, or if the company was trying to be nice, but a few days later I got a Size L shirt and then a few days after that I got a size XL in the mail. Perfect!! The Packers were going undefeated and now we both had shirts to wear!

And then we lost. On December 18 to the Kansas City Chiefs. To be a good sport, I came in on Monday and changed into the shirt. And waited. And Dan didn’t come in! Finally I emailled him and found out that he was working offsite. I came in the next day and did the same exact thing only to find out he’d be gone for the rest of the year!

Finally, last week, before any playoff games, we got together and took a few photos with the shirt. Dan ceremoniously removed the picture from his desk. I’m not sure why, but Dan did his best Clay Matthews post and Aaron Rogers championship belt poses (discount double check!).

Sadly for Dan, the Steelers lost and are out of the running. Packers play the Giants this weekend. Cross your fingers!

Javeed took these photos and even a short video:

At then end Tony had to swoop in and drop the hate. Bears fans, stink!

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Roundarch Holiday Party

December 5th, 2011 · No Comments


Roundarch Holiday Party at ZED451

Some highlights from the buffet


Geoff, Jim & Jeff thanking everyone for coming to the party.


Awesome fire!


Kelly, on the right.


Ashanth & Dallas catching up and drinking the mojito bar dry.


Roundarch Holiday Party at ZED451

This year the Roundarch holiday party was at ZED451. I’d never been there, but really liked it. Roundarch basically took over the whole first floor and the second floor was someone else’s holiday party. I really loved the space. It was very warm and inviting. The colors were very rich and the fire was an awesome touch.

ZED451′s main dining room area had this HUGE round buffet. We thought it was one of the biggest buffets we’ve been to, not counting Las Vegas. There was everything on this buffet: shrimp, crab, poke, charcuterie, all the cheeses, duck pastrami. Craziness. It was so good. ZED451 is kind of like an upscale Brazilian steakhouse where they come to your table and offer you all sorts of meats, which they cut off right in front of you. Since this doesn’t scale, they cut all the meat ahead of time and skewered it and there were guys constantly offering you choice cuts of “aged 48 hours blah blah blah.” Point is, it was delicious. There were all kinds of steak, a Mediterranean chicken, fish, etc.

The party was, of course, open bar. And a nice touch was the mojito bar where you could get all kinds of different mojitos: blackberry, pineapple, cucumber, blueberry, cranberry, etc. I had to try hard to keep myself in check, something which Dallas did not do! But that’s ok. I was the one with big plans (cookie party) the next day, not him.

Roundarch never skimps on their holiday parties and this year was no exception. We had a fun time talking to all of my coworkers and their guests. Dallas got to catch up with the people from my office he doesn’t get to see much. Great time! Oh, and here’s a photo my coworker, Rose, took of Adam, Brad and me:


Rachelle, Adam, Brad. Gray is the new black!

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Roundarch Team Dinner at Prosecco

August 29th, 2011 · No Comments

Last week we had a Roundarch team dinner at Prosecco, an Italian restaurant on the Near North Side. Prosecco has a huge selection of wine and one of the largest selections of Italian sparkling wine in Chicago.

I’d never been to Prosecco before and the menu online looked good, so I was excited to try this place. Upstairs the dining room was really pretty and brightly lit. Our private party was taking place downstairs in the private room/wine cellar.


Claire, Mark, Stella, Tony, Ryan, Adam, Marlena, Anjum


Wa-Jiw, Garrett, Bill, Ed, Doug


Ed, Doug

Before dinner we enjoyed some Italian wines, prosecco (of course), and Italian beer.


Claire, Bill, Tony, Adam, Anjum, Marlena

For dinner we were all seated at four tables. There were menus at the table and each course had several things listed.

Primi

  • Mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, carrots, red wine vinaigrette

Secondi

  • Rigatoni, pancetta, italian sausage, light tomato cream sauce
  • Risotto, sauteed beef tenderloin, diced tomatoes, fresh herbs, Parmigiano-Reggiano
  • Orecchiette, wild mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus, black truffle cream, shaved Grana Padano, white truffle oil

Terzi

  • Sauteed monk fish medallions, sauteed spinach, lobster sauce drizzle
  • Scaloppine of pork, cremini mushrooms, Prosciutto di Parma, Marsala wine reduction
  • Balsamic-marinated chicken breast, basil-bread crumbs, portabello mushrooms, fresh mozarella, Dolcetto d’Alba reduction, asparagus
  • Grilled egplant, fresh and smoked mozarella, tomato sauce

Quarti

  • Baked apple tart, caramel drizzle
  • Chocolate flourless cake, crema inglese, mixed berry sauce
  • Peach gelato and lemon-basil sorbet

I thought we would be choosing what we wanted from each course, but it ended up that they served everything family style.


Josh, David


Andrew, David


Wa-Jiw


Ben, Andrew


David, Ed

At my table was Josh, David, Wa-Jiw, Ben, Andrew and another David.


Stella, Charlie, Mark, Kelly, Doug, Garrett


Adam, Tony, Bill, Claire, Marlena, Anjum


Adam, Sean, Ryan, Eric, Scott, Ashanth, Teal

At one point I went and took a photo of the other tables.

Back at our table, our candles were really melting down! I guess we’d been there a while.


Josh


Josh


Josh

For some reason people at our table were discussing the things that should never be discussed at work outings: Politics and Religion.


Mark, Tony, Teal

The big bosses said a few words of thanks and appreciation.

Oh, and a few behind the scenes photos from a secret team project taken earlier in the evening:

Shhhhhhh!

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Utah Misc

June 27th, 2010 · No Comments

Just a few more random photos from my trip to Utah.

Snow-capped mountains!

Snow-capped mountains in the rain.

One night we had a lot of work to do when we got back to the hotel but it was also the night that the Blackhawks were playing for the Stanley Cup win, so we brought all of our work and computers down to the hotel bar and worked from there. Here’s Ashanth working and watching the game.

Huckleberries seem to be the food that Utah is uniquely known for. I bought some huckleberry jam and it’s so delicious.

Finally, every day we had a business dress code. Not used to that at all. I wore suits and dresses every day.

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Eats of Eden, Eden, Utah

June 26th, 2010 · No Comments

For our quick road trip up into the mountains of Ogden Valley, our clients suggested we stop off at Eats of Eden for dinner.

This homey little spot is located in a log cabin-type building.

Ashanth and Aimee each tried this huckleberry soda. I had a taste and it was delicious.

Ash and I also tried some more microbrews. I had the Polygamy Porter, not to be confused with the Polygamy Pale Ale that I drank the night before.

For dinner we shared the freshed baked to order Mediterranean style flat bread with mozzarella cheese served with sun-dried tomato dressing. I had the everything sandwich with grilled chicken, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, and melted mozzarella on house-made bread. Really good. For dessert Ash and I each had something called Suicide by Chocolate.

Enough said!

This place makes you feel like you just ate dinner at someone’s mom’s house. Nice and homey and delicious.

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