This past week I was sitting at home flipping through the TV channels, and I found myself involved in the first round of the Home Run Derby contest. The rules to this game are very simple; the players hit as many home runs as they can in a specific amount of time, and the players with the most home runs move onto the next round. It sounds simple, right? However, the further the players advance, the more tired they become, and I can only imagine what the players’ arms feel like when it gets down to the final two contestants..                        

Purchasing capital equipment is always a fun and exciting endeavor (insert sideways glance). It always proves to be a politically driven, a molehill-out-of-an-anthill struggle that can make even the most seasoned professionals wave the white flag. So, how do you make nice with the powers that be in the ivory tower? You present strategic and economical solutions, that’s how!

Being new at something is equally exciting and terrifying. On one hand, you’re in uncharted territory and you are constantly in awe – think Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz stepping into Technicolor. You are a sponge, absorbing as much as you can to learn about the new challenge. On the other hand, you don’t know what you don’t know and there is an overload of information to retain.

There is a growing body of research that suggests your physical state affects your mental state. Dr. Erik Pepper at San Francisco State University has researched the relationship between posture and mood and has found significant results between posture and subjective energy. He found that “when people experience a lower subjective energy, they feel less capable of performing a task”. 

While looking for a comical introduction to this blog, I revved up the Google machine and searched for “funny sneaker”, and right away, a “funny sneaker” meme popped up. I figured it couldn’t hurt to check it out (even though I had no clue what a meme is), and you could have colored me surprised when Google opened up a whole new world to me: the world of sneakerheads. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the term “sneakerheads” is a real adjective used to describe collectors of classic “sneaks”, or, to further clarify, here’s how the literary virtuoso Urban Dictionary puts it:

As a Communications Supervisor, I often wonder how we can better protect ourselves from the germs, common cold and flu type symptoms, we all bring into the comm center on a daily basis. In my own center and in many of the centers I visit, I notice air purifiers, hand wipes and hand sanitizers sitting throughout the workplace.

When we design a communications center or upgrade our current, are we really putting in the time to look at what we can do to give our center the best acoustical advantage or is this more of an afterthought?

A 911 emergency call center is the "center of the universe" when a high profile call comes in. The caller and the dispatcher will be forever linked in their conversation. This conversation might be played over and over for many years to come. Criminal cases can be won or lost based on the clarity of a 911 tape. Family members and friends longing for closure are able to recieve this with a clear 911 recording of a call. The 911 dispatch team can breathe a sigh of relief knowing they did their job to the best of their abilities and it is available for the world to hear with a clear 911 recording.

With all the hype about sit to stand desks and how "sitting is the new smoking." It makes a person wonder, "what are the benefits of switching from a fixed height desk to a height adjustable desk?" That's a great question! And if you are looking to make a case for height adjustable furniture in your office or work environment, use this blog as a resource, ammunition for your cause, post it in your break room, or email it to your boss! Whatever you use it for, I hope you'll find the information valuable and useful.

I was listening to a Podcast interview with Robert Downey Jr. the other day, and the interviewer asked him how he goes about choosing his roles and knowing he’s going the right direction with what he does choose to do. Downey responded by saying that people who have 30 choices when choosing a fabric, for example, will never be 100 percent confident in their choice and will always think they could have done better. When given only three choices, people tend to be completely confident in what they chose, why they chose it and at the end of the day, feeling like they got the best bang for their buck. He’s picky! Downey’s response is so applicable in many arenas, but for the topic of this blog, I thought it was especially poignant — and not just because he looks awesome in that Iron Man suit.

I love football. Live it. Breathe it. College most especially (GO SPARTANS!), but I have to watch my boy Aaron Rodgers on Sundays. I know there’s a stigma surrounding women who “love” football, but I promise, it’s not just the tight pants or that Tom Brady is married to Gisele (insert “EW”).

But I will admit, I really have no clue how to read a play, other than maybe a post route and a blitz. These plays, to me, are so intricate, so well designed, that half the time I don’t even think the “experts” know what happened until they watch the replay (I’m looking at you, Brent Musburger). That being said, Xybix's in-house design team members are like offensive and defensive coordinators; they know when to blitz, and they know when to rush.