Lets us introduce TimeZoneOne’s newest latest and greatest client – Levy Restaurants

About Levy Restaurants

We are a family of passionate restaurateurs.  30 years ago, we started as two brothers, their mom and a deli. Our passion was ignited to celebrate food and guest experiences. We embrace guests with heartfelt hospitality and are intent on exceeding their expectations.  We still love what we do and it shows!  

Please also see how awesome, well renowed, and successful Levy Restaurants are within the USA sporting companies.  Earlier this year Levy Restaurants were recognized as ‘Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Sport’.  This Chicago restaurant caters the Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby, US Open Tennis and a lot more.

We are delighted to be working with Levy Restaurants.

Folksey

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September (on September 7 in 2009).

The holiday originated in 1882 as the Central Labor Union of New York City sought to create “a day off for the working citizens.” Congress made Labor Day a federal holiday on June 28, 1894, two months after the May Day Riots of 1894. May 4 was chosen to remember the Haymarket Affair. All 50 U.S. states have made Labor Day a state holiday.

Labor Day has been celebrated on the first Monday in September in the United States since the 1880s.

Today, Labor Day is often regarded as a day of rest and parades.

Traditionally, Labor Day is celebrated by most Americans as the symbolic end of the summer.

Labor Day Folksey

California will kick off its 114th season of football at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5, against Maryland at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley. The contest will be televised nationally by ESPN2.

The Golden Bears begin a promising 2009 campaign looking to extend current streaks of seven straight winning seasons, six consecutive post-season appearances and four bowl victories in a row – the latter two school records.

In the first seven seasons under head coach Jeff Tedford, the Bears’ 59-30 record is their best seven-year stretch in nearly a century since a seven-year run under legendary head coach Andy Smith when the Wonder Teams posted a 57-4-5 mark from 1918-24. The team’s 59 wins over the past seven seasons are also the second most in the Pac-10 behind USC.

Enthusiasm for the 2009 season is high in Berkeley with the Golden Bears featuring one of the nation’s top Heisman Trophy candidates in junior tailback Jahvid Best and an experienced starting quarterback in junior Kevin Riley. A total of four players have earned preseason All-American honors and been named to national watch lists: Best, senior defensive lineman Tyson Alualu, sophomore punter Bryan Anger and senior defensive back Syd’Quan Thompson.

The team’s defense returns eight of 11 starters, including its entire defensive line and defensive backfield, from a year ago. All told, Cal has 17 starters back with seven on offense and two specialists accompanying the eight on defense.

Lets support the Cal Blue Out Day – “Be True, Wear Blue”

Folksey

Do you remember when you were chokka full of energy and played a different sport each day?  I wistfully remember those days.  Today I can hardly drink a glass of water without getting puffed.  After a hard day Zoning all I want to do when I get home is veg out.  This is not doing great things for my waistline.  So, we in the Chicago office have discovered the Global Corporate Challenge where you wear a pedometer and walk your way around the world.

The “Global Corporate Challenge” is a health and fitness initiative that helps the corporate world shift from its potentially deadly sedentary habits, to getting up and moving. GCC is a web based virtual ‘walk’ around the world.  GCC program is not only saving lives, it’s making business more productive and profitable by having employees participate in something that delivers teamwork, communication, fun and a positive work environment in the current economic situation.

The program started 5 years ago with 2,500 participants. Already the 2009 event is tracking towards 90-95,000 participants.

Participants wear a pedometer to count their daily steps. Each member records their daily steps for the 125 days of the challenge, then this effort is converted into a virtual tour of the globe.

Through the marvel of modern technology, the site then converts this total into a kilometer/mile distance and plots progression and new position on the virtual course around the world!

Outstanding statistics from the 2008 GCC as measured from participating corporations;

“           41% drop in absenteeism

“           72% increase in energy levels

“           75% in fitness levels

“           81% have changed their health and activity habits through being involved in the GCC.

The two Richards here are uber fit and are both keen to walk around the world in a week.  Me – I think I will need the whole 125 days just to make it from Chicago to Springfield!

Fitness here I come!

Hamish McDonald

I am a first-time father. I’m a daddy, the father of the family, the pater familias -that’s right; I said it in Latin. Now, before some of you Zoners begin to roll your eyes, keep reading – this is specifically for Richo – soon to join the ranks of first time fathers.

Being a father is like everything I could have imagined, but strangely unlike anything I could have imagined. As a single young bloke, I could hardly envision being married, not to mention, being a dad. I would think, “Oh, the responsibility! I will have to give up being young and cool.” (As if I ever was).  But with plenty of nieces and nephews that seemed to think I was alright, I always thought I would make an okay Dad.

Today, I can’t imagine life without my little boy. I always thought that I would shy away from diaper changing, or at least fumble my way through the process-but I don’t-hell, I’m pretty good (my technique’s good enough that do a changing in the middle of the night, with the lights off). But not only that, I can also put my son to sleep with not too much effort.  I find myself excited about new stroller models (or ‘carrier systems’ as they’re now called), forward facing car seats, the first birthday party-all sorts of stuff that I thought was lame pre-fatherhood.

Richo has all of this to look forward to – and not with consternation – but anticipation…

I can also see Richo being the type of dad portrayed in the attached video…

Hamish The Blogizapdpha

If I had a couple cents for every time I’ve heard people say they are good drivers, when I know for certain they are not even decent drivers, I would be able to buy a really nice lunch today. Most would surmise this fantasy-based boasting would be predominantly spewing from the mouths of those of the male gender. I must say, this is where there is true equality between the sexes. There is many a lady out there who think they have driving skills, but they don’t.

If you hear the fanciful notion of driving skill greatness coming from someone who is not fancy or skilled, show them this. (For a particularly nice piece of driving and cinematography, jump to 3:00.)

Mark

Milo is a stunning brunette with irresistible brown eyes and a come hither look. She is extremely athletic and appears to have boundless energy. She is also a very good swimmer. Milo has been known to levitate.

Chesapeake Bay Retrievers are very loyal to their owners. They exude the unconditional love we humans crave. Milo has been a part of the family for 5 years.

Last summer we were down at the lake playing frisbee. Milo leaped in the air to catch the frisbee and landed with a yelp. She began to hold her foot up and limp. A week passed and she was still limping. I took her to the vet and was advised she had a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). New treatment had recently been developed and for a mere $3,000 Milo could be back on deck in no time.

The vet gave Milo pain pills to help with the inflamation and a large plastic container of Glucose tablets to build up her strength. I would coat the pills in peanut butter to make the medicine go down well.

Two days later we left for a weekend in Michigan driving 300 miles north of Chicago. Milo was at home resting with her limp and in the care of the dog sitter. Sunday night I got a call. Milo had jumped up on the counter, chewed through the pill container and eaten 30 pain pills and half the jar of Glucose tablets.

Essentially she had OD’d. My friend Dan asked is she left a note. Several frantic calls to the vet and Milo was rushed to the dog ER where she spent two nights being treated with charcoal and IV fluids to rid her system of the huge amount of narcotics she had swallowed. $800 later Milo returned home and has been playing frisbee ever since. She occasionally limps but is otherwise in great health.

Simon

The first TimeZoneOne Blog from the new guy

My taste in music is a mix of old and new but as a child of the 70′s it is a little biased towards the old. My top 10 Desert Island albums are:

1. Veedon Fleece – Van Morrison
2. Time and Tide  – Split Enz
3. Blood on the Tracks – Bob Dylan
4. Natty Dread – Bob Marley and the Wailers
5. Buddy Guy and Junior Wells Play the Blues (highly recommend for classic Chicago Blues)
6. Crosby, Stills and Nash (1^st album)
7. Hejira – Joni Mitchell
8. Woodface – Crowded House
9. 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 – Midnight Oil
10. Pretenders – The Pretenders

I like a lot of other music and mark me as Stones versus Beatles although Lennon and Co. did write some stuff. Tom Waits is an American icon with possibly the roughest growl in all of music. Check out his take on advertising in “Step Right Up” from the album Small Change. 

Simon Tankard

From the TimeZoneOne US Presidential News Desk

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Folksey