Are you still making the same New Year’s resolution to eat healthy and lose weight?  Then by February you find yourself in the McDonald’s drive-thru racked with guilt, but justifying it because you made an effort to exercise for 3 weeks. Take some advice from the guy who on more than one occasion received the following note on his school work; “Erik has the ability to excel he just needs to apply himself.”  I like to set the bar low and gain a sense of achievement though meeting goals that are so easy anyone can do them. 

 Here are my resolutions for 2008:
#1 – This year I will take my full lunch hour at least twice a week. 
#2 – This year I will hopefully see Led Zeppelin in concert.
#3 – This year I will take my daughter to the zoo for the first time.
#4 – This year I will beat my wife at bowling on the Nintendo Wii.
#5 – This year I will leave work before 6:00 pm everyday
#6 – This year I will donate all of the clothes I haven’t worn in a year.
#7 – This year I will watch all of the Steelers and Penguins games.
#8 – This year I will spend the 4^th of July on a raft in a pool with an adult beverage.
#9 – This year I will take a day off and go to the movies alone.
#10 – This year I will spend time with friends and/or family at least one night a week.
 

I will have the time and ability to achieve all of these goals because I won’t be wasting time traveling to meetings.  Instead, I will use the Genesys Meeting Center to meet virtually during business hours.  I can hook up the web-cam for face-to-face interaction and transfer documentation instantly, so there is no need for me to travel hundreds of miles to do what I could in seconds with a mouse click.  Any meetings I am unable to attend can be recorded, so I can view them later.  No more nights alone dining at the Red Lobster in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, or sitting at the hotel bar in Des Moines, Iowa second-hand smoking Marlboro Lights.  I will be at home on my couch with my family enjoying the things I like to do. 

Now if you’ll excuse me I have Wii bowling practice.
  

Erik Crawford – Web Marketing Manager

Locating the corporate headquarters for Genesys next to the sixth largest shopping center in the country seemed like a good idea on paper, but after Thanksgiving it literally becomes the nightmare before Christmas.  The offices are located on the top floor of the Towers Crescent building in Tyson’s Corner, VA and I have a direct view of the entrance to Nordstrom.  Knowing the shoe department is just behind those doors is a dream for most women, but not so much for me.  In front of that entrance is where the trouble lies. 

As the day progresses the long lines of cars grow and grow, and I know that after a long day of work it will take me about 45 minutes just to get out of the mall area and into my normal commuter traffic, which in the DC area is no picnic either.  Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Hmmm, I wonder how I could avoid the onslaught of holiday shoppers, increase my productivity, communicate with co-workers and ease the stress caused by this time of year.  Oh yeah, I work for a conferencing company. Score!  Instead of sitting in 2-3 hours of traffic and using my finger to wave to fellow commuters, I was able to use it to click a mouse and instantly attend a global marketing meeting, update the corporate website and make major progress on projects I am trying to complete by the end of the year, and I did all of this from the comfort of my living room. 

I know this blog entry sounds like a Geico testimonial commercial, and I feel like I should have Little Richard beside me translating my story, and going WOOOOO every ten seconds, but by using the Genesys Meeting Center I am truly living the dream.  Are you?
 

Erik Crawford – Web Marketing Manager

The Halloween candy is thinning out, long gone are the Reese’s and Snickers, only the Mike ‘n Ikes and rock hard Tootsie Rolls remain.  It’s now time to turn our attention to the fancy December holidays like Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.  What? I forgot Thanksgiving, yeah well apparently so did the rest of country.  Everywhere I turn colored lights are going up and trees are being decorated, but it seems that Thanksgiving only serves as a reminder that we need to start hitting the stores.  

While turkey day may be the amuse-bouche of the holiday season, it deserves some attention.  As you start to devour a plate of food that could feed a small third world country village for a month, take a moment to look around and appreciate the greatest aspect of the Thanksgiving holiday…the rare four-day weekend!  That’s right, after the big meal, you still have 3 more days to fight the crowds at the mall and argue with your relatives. 

Annoying relatives and rage-inducing crowds aside, Thanksgiving is a time to gather, a time to meet, a time to reconnect, a time to use your Genesys Meeting Center account, (like how I snuck that segue way in there) Genesys is truly a global company, and in my department we have employees from Poland, Argentina, Sweden, UK, and Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, (I’ll give yinz one guess who’s from PA.)  While our holiday travels take us around the world, we can still keep in touch and collaborate on projects with just a few clicks. 

Whether you use it to catch up on business, or to contact distant relatives, your Genesys Meeting Center account is always available to you anytime from anywhere. So pass the Swedish meatballs, Polish sausage, bangers and mash, Argentinean beef and enjoy the long weekend.  Bon Appétit!

Happy Thanksgiving from everyone at Genesys!

Erik Crawford – Web Marketing Manager