Entries Tagged as 'jaivin'

Out With Clients & Coworkers

August 6th, 2011 · No Comments

We had clients in for UAT this week and on Wednesday night we all went out for dinner and drinks.

We had dinner at Public House, just down the street from our office. I ordered the chicken burger and it was amazing. I have to have it again to make sure it’s as good as I remember. My coworker Jaivin was in town from Boston and I made him sample a bunch of local brews. Local-ish. I tried to drink a light beer myself, but he made me drink the locals with him. Also, I only wanted short beers, but the waitress kept bringing talls. We had Bell’s Oberon, Three Floyd’s Alpha King, and Founder’s Pale Ale. Actually, now that I look, those beers are all from Michigan. Still, Jaivin can’t get them in Boston.

Our clients were visiting from different parts of the country – Washington D.C., Virginia, St. Louis, and the Dayton area. They’d heard about Billy Goat Tavern and wanted to check it out. We told them not to expect too much! We were just there to see it and have on beer then we were on to the next place. I had not been to the Billy Goat for years (2005!) so it was cool to check in again.

Somehow our clients knew that Howl at the Moon, the dueling piano bar, gave discounts for the military. A lot of our group had the required ID (not me!) and got in for free and got discounts on drinks. Like the Billy Goat, I hadn’t been to Howl at the Moon for years (2005!). It was fun, but after a while I had to get out of there. I should have gone home but Jaivin told me that he went to Mercadito once with Marlena and Anjum once and it was delicious so we decided to stop there for one last drink.

I had this cucumber drink and I did not like it! Thanks, Jaivin. I think I went to bed at 2:30 that morning and got up at 6:30 to be to work for 8:00 a.m. meetings. I functioned better than expected, but was so tired. That night I totally crashed out after work all night. I’m not 21 any more!

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Roundarch Summer Event & 10 Year Anniversary

August 27th, 2010 · No Comments


Chicago Skyline from the Shedd Aquarium


Silvia, Victor & Ryan


Taylor & Mark


Stella, Anandi, Anjum


Matt & RJ


At the Oceanarium


Beluga Whale


Beluga Whales


Coral Reef Exhibit


Coral Reef Exhibit


Coral Reef Exhibit


James talking about those who have been with Roundarch for 10 years, himself included.


Marlena, Jaivin, Anjum


Alex

Every year Roundarch has a summer event (see 2009, 2008), but this year’s event was extra special because we were also celebrating our 10 year anniversary.

This summer everyone was flown in from all the other offices and everyone stayed at the Trump. Many, many meetings were held there and then our party was at the Shedd Aquarium. The drinks were flowing all night long and the food was very good as well. I felt a little weird about eating sushi at the Aquarium, but not so bad that I didn’t indulge in it! It was fun to see everyone that I work with in all the other offices. Great party, Roundarch!

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Roundarch Holiday Party, Take 2

December 13th, 2008 · 3 Comments


Ryan, Rachelle


James, Adam, Dan, Adam, Dan, Jaivin


Karen, Toby, Saurab’s Date, Saurab, Colt


Sushi Chefs


Anjum, James, Rhaz


Ryan +1


Bartender, Blue Water Grill, River North


Paul, Mark, Linda


Ben +1


James, John, Rhaz, Tony


Garrett, Keeley, Adam, Dan, Jaivin


Frank, David, Sanjay


Getting blurry! Kidding. I was messing with John’s external flash.

Thursday night was our Roundarch client team holiday party and Friday night was our company holiday party. The company party was at Blue Water Grill, where Dallas and I went once for my birthday. We thought it was good, but overpriced. But when you’re company is paying for you to eat and drink for free all night, you kind of just concentrate on the yum factor. We had a full dinner, but I really liked the free maki station they had going on. I could have skipped the dinner and just eaten that all night! They also had the largest shrimp cocktail I’ve ever seen. So delicious.

Dallas is in West Palm Beach for work this weekend so I made a pact with my coworker Ryan that we would leave early. He had another party to go to and I wanted to call it a night at about 9:00 p.m. because the cookie party was on Saturday. The pact didn’t really work out. I think we were drinking too much and having too much fun to leave. There were secret ninjas refilling my wine glass when I wasn’t looking and we didn’t end up leaving until 12:30 a.m. I don’t know how long the party went on, but that was 6 1/2 hours of free booze and I had way more than my fair share!

- John’s photos of the Roundarch 2008 Holiday Party
- Dave’s photos of the Roundarch 2008 Holiday Party

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Roundarch Holiday Party, Take 1

December 12th, 2008 · No Comments


Rumba, River North, Chicago

Last night I went to a Roundarch holiday party that was thrown just for the client team that I’m on. There were about ..hmm… maybe 40 people there, which is about half of the Chicago office.. who all work on projects for this one client.

The party was held at Rumba, a Latin American restaurant, bar and dance club. The party started at 6:00 p.m. but a whole bunch of us left at 5 to get a few extra drinks in. My drink of choice was the capirihna, which was delicious at Rumba, compared to the one I just had at Cafe Bolero last Saturday. We all sat in a private room and got to choose 4 courses from a limited menu. This is what I had:

- Shrimp And Crab Asopao: Shrimp and pulled crab meat, simmered in seafood stock with garlic, ham, tomatoes, green pepper, olives and rice, garnished with cilantro and onions

- Shrimp Caesar’s Salad: Chopped, crispy romaine with tomatoes, Manchego cheese and yucca croutons, served with an orange garlic Caesar’s dressing

- Coconut Plantain Encrusted Sea Bass: 8 oz chilean sea bass. covered with crispy coconut and sweet plantain with a mango-pineapple chutney, served with coconut rice

- Chocolate Luva: Seductive chocolate cake, filled with warm chocolate fudge, served with a rich banana sauce

I liked everything that I had. A lot of people got the filet mignon instead of the sea bass, but I didn’t want something so heavy.

Our client team is so big that I didn’t even have everyone’s names down. I talked a lot with Lulu, who works out of the Boston office and I’d only met at the Roundarch summer event. And with Adam, who I’d only spoken to once briefly in the elevator. And Jaivin who was in town from Boston and does a lot of visual design work for the team. He’s a relatively new homeowner and so am I, so everyone was teasing us for talking about paint and grout and tile. It was nice to have some time outside of work to get to know people together. .. both those you work with daily and those that you don’t know so well.

From our room we could see the main area of the restaurant and bar and see that people were dancing to a live band. Later on a DJ came on and was playing that song they play at weddings. I don’t know what it’s called but it’s like a group dance where the guy is like “Now step to the left, now clap your hands.” There may or may not have been a Roundarch employee dancing to that song.. ahem.. JAMES!… haha. And then that person may or may not have been singing the next song, SexyBack.

A fun night, but I took it easy and left at 10:15 when some people were making their way to another bar. Tonight is our Roundarch company party and on Saturday I’m hosting a party, so I need to pace myself!

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