The ladies of IdeaStar decided to celebrate Christmas late for last year or early for next year.  We couldn’t decide which.  Anyway, we had a nice lunch with presents at Tinkers Creek Road Tavern.  Yum.

What’s for lunch? Whitney, Becky, Niketa and June enjoy their lunch out.

Jane organized the event. Thank you Jane!

Niketa and her present.

We do work hard here at IdeaStar. We really do. But every now and then we need to take a break. That’s why we had a coloring contest. Marketing Assistant Whitney Zunic is the winner. Be sure to look for future coloring contest winners.

These are just a few phrases IdeaStar employee Brian Swan used to describe his recent trip to Hawaii! He traveled to the island of Oahu with his wife to see many wonderful sites and share lots of pictures with us! They visited Turtle Cove and attended a luau type performance. Other fun visits included Diamond Head, the Bonsai Pipeline and the famous estate from Magnum PI. Here are some of his favorite pictures:

The view from Kolhoe’s bar and grill.

The incredible colors and clarity of the waters at Makapuu Beach.

Duke Paoa Kahanamoku on the beach at Waikiki.

Banyan trees everywhere (this one just happens to be on the Waikiki beach).

The Hula Girls!

Sunset at Ko Olina Resort in Oahu.

Sounds (and looks) like Brian had an amazing time away from the real world! He says he can not wait to go back. He missed out on the diving and snorkeling this time, would love to visit the Big Island and also try to make it out to Kaui which is more rain forest and underdeveloped than all of the other islands. He has assured us there will be another Hawaii trip in his future!

Ctrl + Alt + KICKBALL!, IdeaStar’s kickball team, completed the season this week 2 to 6. Unfortunately they lost the last game to Shamrock Tavern.

The team of Andi Hoppes, Becky Lovejoy, Whitney Zunic, Ryan Pastorelle, Mike Balogh, Brian Darby, Jon Vokes, Dale Cassidy, James Polak, Scott Largent , Chris Arpajian, and Eleni Champagne played Monday nights, at Mulberry’s in the flats as part of ClevelandPlays .

Becky, Jamey, Dale, Mike, Chris, Ryan, Whitney and Andi before the last league game. Playoffs start 8 p.m. June 2 against Equity Kickers. Good luck and happy kicking!

IdeaStar’s own Mike Wise was among the speakers discussing The Evolution of Digital Content at the April 29 meeting of the Cleveland Web Association.

Mike is our Vice President of Insurance Technologies, guiding IdeaStar insurance clients through the process of Web enabling their products and procedures. Mike’s main point? All content on the Web must be “engaging, engaging, engaging” to be of value.

Mike brought his own cheering section, including IdeaStar’s James Polak, Whitney Zunic, Becky Lovejoy and Andi Hoppes. Steve Lamb and Jon Vokes were working the cameras. They, of course, gave him a standing ovation.

Being green can bring in the green. Business Development Manager Laurel Baldwin recently attended the Green Manufacturing Expo: The Industry Event for Sustainable Manufacturing in Anaheim, California. The conference focused on “business solutions and scientifically based technologies that can be employed to reduce the impact of twenty first century man on the planet’s resources.”

“It was awesome. I learned about the latest trends to share with IdeaStar’s environmentally aware clients, including TCP Inc., Neundorfer Inc., and Fomo Products Inc.,” Laurel said. Manufacturers are learning they can save a lot of money as well as the planet by providing sustainable products and adopting the best conservation practices.

It’s a great story that needs to be told, and the Internet offers a perfect forum. IdeaStar offers the latest in Web development and promotion, including Web site design, blogs, online videos, promotion and much more.

Here are some of the buzz words Laurel learned at the conference: carbon-footprint reductions, design-for-manufacturing, lean and green, zero waste, green chemistry, and clean tech. We’re impressed with her new vocabulary.

IdeaStar went back to the ICMG conference for the fifth straight year and it was our best one ever! We went in 2003 at the invitation of one customer. Now we have a couple dozen customers that we serve from ICMG. Here’s some pictures from this year’s event.

Jane Hudeck, senior project manager, and Mike Wise, Vice President-Sales, prep the IdeaStar booth for the show.

Old pals, Wayne Largent, Exec VP of IdeaStar, and Mike Owens, Chief Marketing Officer of Access Plans USA, share their mugs for the camera.

Chris Jones, National Sales Director for Insuranti, Inc. and his father, Danny Jones, Executive Vice President, stopped by our booth for a visit. Who’s booth is that in the background?

Mike, Jane, and David Burke of Universal American.

Our hotel was located in Fountain Hills, Arizona. They have a fountain that shoots water high into the air. It’s supposed to be the highest fountain in the United States.

The southwest sunsets are always spectacular even from hotel parking lots.

The IdeaStar mystery employee guessing game has returned!
Take a stab at our next mystery employee from IdeaStar…
Leave your comments below, if you think you can guess who it is!!

Way back before becoming a part of IdeaStar, this cowboy was all dressed up for his studious Kindergarten school picture. He was decked out in his plaid shirt, huge smile and all for school picture day.

His favorite activities included playing outside, eating Starburst and playing his Atari 800! (video game fanatics, maybe that clue will help

IdeaStar’s Web designer, Alexis Li, received her United States citizenship at the Federal courthouse in Cleveland this past Friday. And that means a celebration at IdeaStar is in order!

You would think we’d serve all-American stuff like hot dogs, hamburgers, and apple pie. Instead we used this as an excuse to get lots of good Chinese food!

Surprise! We caught Alexis totally off-guard with this party. Alexis hails from Tianjin, China, and came to America with her family when she was a young girl.

Andi and Lia prepared the spread of Chinese food.

As usual, ladies first at IdeaStar luncheons. The guys can wipe out a party table like a pack of wolves.

Here they are waiting in the hall licking their chops!

Looks like Maung slipped through the line again!!!

Wayne and I have our birthdays about a week apart. They fall right in the middle of the holidays so usually nobody remembers (except us of course).

But this year the staff remembered and took us for a birthday lunch. Free ice cream sundaes too. Yum!

Thanks!!!

Nice picture by Jane Hudeck.