“Stretch“ is Simantel‘s employee-to-employee recognition award. Each month, the award is passed to the employee who did something truly amazing – or “stretched” beyond his or her everyday tasks. If honored with “Stretch,” the recipient gets to add something unique to represent his or her personality. The award-winner also has the honor of passing him along to the next person that is most deserving. 

This month, Production Manager, Shari Pritchard, passed the award onto Account Coordinator, Liz Walther, and stated, “I just really respect her work.” Shari added a clay alpaca pin to Stretch, representative of her love for alpacas and pottery! Past winners have included: Sr. Art Director Laura Baumgardner (who added the chicken-head), Designer Dan Davis (who added the “bling”), and Project Management Director Jan Curley (who added the chaps)!

Left to right: Sheri Kelley, Liz Walther, Lori Johnson, Matt Williams and Maggie Whalen celebrate May birthdays and anniversaries

Simantel employees will use any excuse to get together in the cafe. Aside from our annual drink, soup, chili contests and occasional happy hour we also get together every month to celebrate birthdays and work anniversaries.

Principal Susie Ketterer puts her CPR skills to the test

At a past Red Cross board meeting, Simantel Principal, Susie Ketterer, demonstrated her knowledge of CPR on Jim Nowlan. While Susie was busy brining Jim back to life, another board member snapped this picture. Simantel now houses a defibrillator, and several employees are trained to use the device as well as conduct CPR. Simantel is in safe hands in the event of an emergency!

The weather is getting warmer; the days are getting longer; and the sound of rumbling bikes is in the air. It must be summertime in Central Illinois! During the work week, Simantel Project Director, Jan Curley, takes her business seriously, monitoring all projects moving through the agency. Come Friday afternoon, however, she lets her hair down and trades in the earrings, high-heels, and McDonald’s iced tea for leather chaps, sun glasses, and a bandana. You will not find her at her desk, but on the open-roads in her 2009 Harley-Davidson softail. On May 15th, Jan will help fight breast cancer by participating in the 2010 Ride for the Cure. Look for Jan at a stoplight near you!

http://www.160over90.com/blog/2009/02/17/the-50-dollar-logo-experiment/

Jesse Schell’s presentation at DICE 2010 takes a look at gaming as of early 2010 and makes some intriguing guesses as to where it’s headed – and he sees it going mostly toward marketing. You can currently play games with your real life friends as characters and grow virtual plants in your car, but soon we may be seeing real-world role-playing games, watching television becoming a game, gaining experience points for brushing your teeth, video games on the back of your cereal box, digital tattoos and more. Click on the link to check it out.

http://fury.com/2010/02/jesse-shells-mindblowing-talk-on-the-future-of-games-dice-2010/

Patty's winning soup!

February means soup time at Simantel. This year, the annual Simantel Soup cook-off brought us many delights, but Patty Moye’s Italian Sausage Soup with Tortellini stood out from the competition. Patty claimed a cash prize of $40 and a free night stay in the lodges at Wildlife Prairie Park! Check out the recipe and more photos after the jump.

Patty sharing the lime light with Stacy!