Growing up

Work
Blue North is growing up. When it started, it was Brent and I working out of our home offices consulting some, and golfing some. We came up with the name in a hotel room in Columbus Ohio with our friend Jed Rumora when there to work with Huntington Bank. When we sat with Cathy, the graphic designer, to develop our logo and gave her instructions like: young, funky, fun, casual, UNagency, whimsical, fresh, we didn’t want it to look like a real company. After all we embraced the virtual model—we had no office and no employees. We thought Cathy did really well; our identity was born. The first marketing piece we did had a dead skunk on it.
It has been increasingly obvious that while WE ARE STILL YOUNG, we are not quite as casual and whimsical as we used to be. The reason Brent and I started hiring is that people loved our ideas but didn’t know how to build them. We just couldn’t leave them hanging so we put together a Cracker Jack team that could deliver on our outrageous promises. We are now very much a real company. We’ve got an office, printers, an ERP system, button down QA processes, and lots of great people. When wrestling over what the new look of Blue North should be, I found it hard to give up on those rebellious ‘non-company’ aspirations. But, I was told, we need to have a look that represents us as the innovative, professional, legitimate company that we are!
In the end I think we came up with a look that really does it all. It hangs on to that rebellious side while allowing us to mature into our new reality. In September the egg will hatch, new office, new look, new website, new everything. Stay tuned.
If you want to make my day, call me up sometime and tell me I’m funky, fun, casual, whimsical, and heck, even fresh.

Life
I like to run. But I’m slow. Even though I’ve run two marathons and several half marathons I’ve never really focused too much on improving my time. I do it because I do my best thinking when I run. I also do it because it relaxes me, I like to sweat, and it allows me to eat the odd cheeseburger and piece of fried chicken without feeling too guilty about it.
This year I’m trying to get a little faster. I’m not sure I really like trying to get faster; it’s taken some of the fun out of running. I’ve been working on my time for the 10k. This weekend I’m running in a 10k before getting into my serious marathon training mode. Here’s the deal, I’ve cut about 10 minutes off my best time, that’s great, right? You’d think I might almost be able to win, right? Well I’m down to sub 50 minute times. The winner, however, will coast in over 15 minutes ahead of me! Yes over 15 minutes.
I like to run. But I’m slow.