2nd Floor

Here’s a link to the article on CNN.com.

Team-building with online gaming.

posted by Scott on September 8th, 2009

This evening I stumbled upon an article that I had bookmarked a few weeks ago. I had intended to post it to the blog but I must have been sidetracked or had another idea.

I only have one thought on the article.

Let’s do this!

Actually, Joe and I have worked together previously where we had LAN (local area network) gaming sessions at the end of the day and they were a lot of fun! Back then the team-building aspect of it was more or less just about having fun together and relieving stress because we were all in the same big room — strategy and tactics didn’t exist.

I think it would be fun to include some of our partners and clients as well. Heck, we’ve been discussing doing something like this with games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero anyway, so why not expand on the idea? The difficult thing is finding out who the Gamers are. People are sometimes surprised when they find out I’m a Gamer, and I admit to occasionally being caught off guard when I hear that the President of a company is playing World of Warcraft every night until 4am. I wonder how many of our clients are going home and logging into MMOGs (massively multiplayer online games) or staying up late on their Xbox/PS3/Wii?

Maybe we could even set something up for Fridays at the end of the day in our office. We’re going to move our Hagerstown office from its current location at 240 S Potomac, which we’ve been at for over a year, to a larger space above Bulls & Bears, anyway. We’ve discussed setting up a lounge area in the new space, so why not just add a 46″ plasma, an Xbox/PS3/Wii, a nice little home theater that will rattle the silverware on the tables below in the restaurant (just kidding, Matt!), and have at it!

We’re a small company, so teamwork and positive energy is absolutely essential in order for us to continue to produce the exceptional results that we’re accustomed to delivering. This might be one of those ideas that may seem “out there” to some, but that’s okay, it sounds like fun to me!

Joe — you, me, Tiger Woods 10. It’s on!

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Splash, mash and dash

posted by Courtney on September 4th, 2009

I was recently a participant in the Ramlin Rose Triathlon in Winston Salem NC. I (along with 500 other women) rose before the crack of dawn, gathered my swim goggles, road bike and running shoes and headed to the Body Marking tent to get my race number Sharpied on my arms and legs. The race consisted of swimming, biking and running back to back. This was my 3rd Triathlon, but by far, the most challenging race. The swim, which I thought would be the hardest event, was actually the easiest, the run was difficult but I allowed time for that, what threw me for a loop was the biking, which is usually my strongest event. The hills of Winston Salem were no joke, one hill was affectionately dubbed “Dam Hill,” they say it’s name comes from the fact that it’s alongside a dam, but I and the 500 ladies beg to differ. All in all, I beat my finish time by 20mins, which was surprising and exciting. Read more »

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Mozilla Firefox 3.5 is released

posted by Scott on July 1st, 2009

Make sure to upgrade your browsers!

Get Firefox 3.5

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The Top 12 Technology Mistakes Small Business Make and How to Avoid Them

posted by Scott on May 6th, 2009

Good friend and partner of Innovative Inc, Jason Rappaport, sent me this article.

By Brian Roach

Have you ever had that ominous hunch that something bad is going to happen – and then it does? Unfortunately, this gut-wrenching feeling is far-too-familiar for small businesses facing the complexity of information technology.

By its nature, IT is a confusing, expensive and forever-changing animal. Hardware and software sometimes become obsolete within months, let alone a few years. And thanks to budget restraints, many small businesses fall into lethal traps like hiring inexperienced personnel to handle their IT. But it only takes a single mistake to lead to a catastrophic loss of company data, and starting over can be heartbreaking.

Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way. There are many ways small business owners can learn from the mistakes of others. As a veteran IT professional on the front lines each day, I’ve listed the top 12 most common errors that small businesses make with IT.

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