A fun short little movie about the brand and design development for the San Francisco chocolate company, TCHO . I love how they chose to represent their brand through the visuals of currency.

The NYC office has Formal Friday. Boston has Grill Friday. As of today, the SF office now has FUCK YEA FRIDAY!!! It’s a pretty high concept thing: end the week with high fives, high class clothes, booze, delish food, loud music, chest bumps and true love. Basically ending the week with an exclamation point! ETERNAL RADNESS!!!

I’m from the South. And I’m pretty proud of that fact. I’m currently living in San Francisco, partly due to the influence of the Dixie Chick’s “Wide Open Spaces,” but that’s a whole other story. Back to the point – this is about two of my southern loves: Sweet Tea Vodka and Robert Hodgin.

First off, I was introduced to Sweet Tea Vodka after my parents moved to Wadmalaw Island, SC (not far from where I grew up in Mt. Pleasant, SC). Their friends own the Firefly distillery, which got off the ground after successfully making muscadine wine. I can’t say too much for the wine (what can I say, I’ve become a Napa wine snob), but I do love me some the sweet tea vodka. I can’t think of a better combination.

And then comes Robert, the more important part of this equation. I’ve been a barbarian for two years now. When I first interviewed here, I walked in to a room with Rick Webb, Keith Butters and Stephanie Smeriglio. I was pretty nervous to say the least. I was doing everything in my power to impress these folks. Then Robert came in the room mid-interview, laid down on the couch and introduced himself. He was only there for a minute, but I think I put him to ease when he found out that I went to UNC-Chapel Hill. Robert’s from Fayetteville, NC and spent a little bit of time in Chapel Hill. That may have been just a small bond to get us off on the right foot, but I’d like to think we’ve become friends over the past two years I’ve worked here. Now Robert is moving on.

And it’s a big deal that he’s leaving. In honor of his departure, the SF gathered last week for a little toast. I felt it was only right to open the bottle of Sweet Tea Vodka that has been sitting on my desk for over a year. It was the perfect occasion.

Robert – the SF office will miss you (although we expect you to be a frequent visitor)!

Maker Faire 2009 was basically epic to the max.

Highlight of the day (demonstrated above by Josh Carr) was an “adult sized playground” that was composed of two sets of swings and a see-saw. These were then connected through the magic of arduino (a Barbarian Group favorite) to a computer, which then generated music using the measured voltage to modulate the signal. A swing set, that was basically synthesizer. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?

Are you still not convinced? There was also a life sized version of that board game Mouse Trap that was basically this epic Rube Goldberg. AWESOME! Do you love socially awkward people wearing corsets, welding goggles, and far too much make up? OMFG SO DO I!! There was about a gabillion steampunk kids at Maker Faire as well. I also saw a Tesla Roadster, infinity robots, a belly dancer, a diet Coke + Mentos explosion AND a high school band whose guitarist played a totally amazing flying V guitar. Shred Nation!

You’re super duper jealous, admit it.

Times are tough. Things are expensive. Consumers want to save and businesses want business.

Enter GROUPON. They offer up a deal-a-day email on various city-specific buys/eats/activities/events. The only catch is that enough people have to commit to the offer before it can be distributed. Groupon is an awesome way for individuals to get group discounts.

Josh Carr arrived at the SF office yesterday to spend a few days working here and generally having an awesome time on the west coast (aka the BEST Coast). We plan to be 100% wild style while he is here, and the first order of business was to be 4 hawt dudez running through San Francisco. We also high fived each other all day long. Tomorrow we are going to learn how to backflip, probably.

SPOILER ALERT: San Francisco is totally a fun city to ride your bike in!

Just over a month ago, I moved back to San Francisco from New York to help build a design team at the office here. In the process of moving, I sold nearly everything I own in order to make the move more affordable and I also love the feeling of “starting over.” One of the many things I sold was my old bike that I loved. Since I hate of paying for cabs and waiting for buses, I got a new one built up this week. It’s my best bike yet!

I have a super amazing scheme to convince everyone in the SF office to ride into work as well. We shall be one step closer to completing the Hawt Office Initiative I have been working on in my mind. I predict that TBG/SF will be underwear models by the year’s end. VICTORY!

I needed to take my new bike for spin and since I had a few things to do at work for a Monday deadline, I decided to roll into the office, take a few awesome pics to make everyone jealous of my life before I got down to work. Below is a photo of me winning everything, ever. ENJOY!