One of the awesome things about being located in Gastown is the variety of amazing lunch spots within a 5-10 minute walk. The food is delicious, the atmosphere is fun, and the patios are sunny. One of the team's favorites is Chronic Tacos - serving up face-sized burritos and (my favorite) baha-style fish tacos loaded with guacamole. We may not have the copious taquerias of San Francisco, but we've got a little gem up north too. Left to right - Mike B, Phil, Noah, Ben, and Michael.
As you might expect, Mobify has been growing at an unbelievable pace. If Mobify was a teenager, it would be eating its parents out of house and home. Which, in a matter of speaking, is the subject of this post.
This time last year, it looked like we were about to outgrow our current space and we began eyeing the room adjacent and the floor above. In October we got the upstairs to move-in condition, and headed on up. After a long process we are now lucky to have a gorgeous office that really reflects Mobify's culture. A huge thank you to our amazing and talented designer Joanna Kado who worked incredibly hard to make this a beautiful working space!
Mobify Software Engineer Stewart Yu, better known through this blog for his baking skills, also happens to be our resident musical talent. This year in his spare time Stewart has been working on a brand-new, never-before-seen, musical which is going to be presented at Vancouver's Fringe Festival.
Called "Riverview High", the show follows the confused love life of a certain redheaded teenager. His difficult choice - blond or brunette?? - comes down to a dramatic graduation-day moment amongst the trappings of 1996 pop culture.
Mobify has been providing rehearsal space to the Riverview High Cast and in return they were lovely enough to come in and give us a preview of a few songs. Take a look at the videos below to see how amazingly talented everyone is, and then pop over to riverviewhighthemusical.com or the Fringe Festival website vancouverfringe.com/ to buy tickets.
Thanks again to the whole cast, and especially Stewart, for an awesome show!
On Friday Ryan Daw was awarded the first Mobify Innovation Award for the development of Meowbify.com. Meowbify was initially developed as something fun for the team, but we released it to the world and the cat-based excitement spread quickly.
Aside from the amazing technical skill Ryan possesses, his sense of fun, energy, and creativity are an integral part of what makes Mobify a great place to work. This award celebrates his contributions to both our culture and our technology.
Congratulations Ryan, and thanks for everything you do!
Ryan accepting his award:
Just kidding - cats on the brain!
Here he really is, accepting the MIA award from CTO John Boxall:
As you dedicated readers may remember, Mobify took its first major retreat in November of last year. At the time I called it "The First Annual Mobify Retreat", in the thought that we might be so lucky to do this once per year. But apparently it was so awesome we couldn't wait that long.
This time our adventure took the team to Hope and back (that's Hope, B.C. of course) - rafting down the Coquihalla river of Rambo fame. Unlike most people in the Rambo series, we emerged alive and well - ready for a long soak at Harrison Hotsprings and some amazing team time. Here are some rafting glory shots:
No one seemed particularly excited during the safety talk...
But then we got out on the water...
...and then we got into the water
Unlikely as it seems, this boat (and all its passengers) survived. Here's a group shot taken the next day at Bridal Falls that proves it:
A big thank you to the good folks at Fraser River Rafting for an amazing day, and to Harrison Hotsprings Resort for the hot baths needed to recover. Until next time: they drew first blood... part II.