At BrandVerity, we make a concerted effort to recognize the individual and collective accomplishments of our team members. We work hard to create valuable services for our customers; and every once in awhile, we get to spend a little time together to celebrate that work. Thus enter curling.
From my perspective, curling was that frozen sport that competes against Jerry Springer and Montel Williams during the midday Olympics telecast. But as it turns out, curling is really fun. I now think of it as bowling meets shuffleboard, meaningfully-cold-edition.
Because we passed a company growth milestone, we took off work on a Wednesday and carpooled to the Granite Curling Club in North Seattle. Curling clubs are sweet. Lots of big comfy chairs, a second-story observation deck, and tons of retro-chic wood paneling. At the club, our morning started off with a full breakdown of how to play the sport of curling: the rules, proper form and etiquette, rock delivery, and last, sweeping technique. Everyone managed to stay relatively upright -- a strong start indeed.
After playing a couple of rounds, we headed up to the observation deck for a private lunch by Chef Darin. Darin is the man, and he makes top-notch meals. (I will be spearheading a grassroots movement to secure Darin’s full-time employment here at BV.) After consuming absurd amounts of roast pork, quinoa salad, a more traditional salad, and mojito marinated watermelon salad, we hit the ice for round 2. (Hey, salad can be exciting.)
The food must have worked, because people began to get the hang of curling, and a few folks really shined. In my match, Developer Alex Schokking was the competing “Skip” (basically the captain), and he demonstrated great versatility with a couple nice draw shots and take outs that swung the match in their favor. However, he is Torontonian, so that’s not really fair. Others proclaimed Account Manager, John Ethier, “MVP, MVP, MVP!” so he must have been doing something right in his match too. All in all, it was an excellent day, and some of us may even join the curling league together!
Onward and upward. - Mason
Meanwhile in England...
Whilst our US colleagues were dancing on ice, Sam and Jonathan had other important matters at hand, namely England vs Wales in the European _football_ Championship. This was Wales’ first participation in a major tournament since the World Cup in 1958 and London was a perfect venue for the game with many employers giving their staff the afternoon off to enjoy the 2pm kick off.
Not only was the game significant to the Home Nations, but this was a game that split the loyalties of BrandVerity’s London office - with Sam backing the Welsh underdogs. The Home of Football, a pop up in London with Jamaican food, table football and beers on tap, provided the perfect venue for what was a very tense and exciting game.
Despite being “under the cosh” for most of the first half, Wales superstar Gareth Bale struck a fine free kick in the dying minutes to go into the break 1 - 0 up. England bought on two attackers for the beginning of the second half, a very aggressive tactical decision, which paid off during the course of the second half as Daniel Sturridge snuck into the Welsh penalty box in the closing moments of the game to snatch a dramatic 2 - 1 victory - who said football/soccer/fußball was a boring sport?!
Sam drowned his sorrows with a fresh cocktail in the next bar, as the London office teamed up to defeat two strangers in a game of pool. A slap-up meal for two at the local Hilton Doubletree followed and the evening was finished off with a stein in the local Bavarian Beerhouse to see Germany draw with Poland. Fun all around, and we can’t wait for the next event!" - Jonathan
It was a great day to be at BrandVerity!
