Thursday, October 30, 2014

Covenant Shores' Jim Brockmeyer Receives $1,000 Scholarship from LeadingAge Washington

Recently, Covenant Shores Fitness Coordinator/Director of Wellness Jim Brockmeyer of Bothell was one of nine to receive the LeadingAge Washington’s 2014 Scholarship Award.

Established in 2006, the senior living industry scholarship program recognizes and encourages long term care workers to continue their education, and gain knowledge and the experience necessary to improve the quality of care and life of seniors in residential communities. The scholarship is awarded to professionals who serve seniors in various fields including nursing, mental health, social services, dining, administrative and fitness.

“I am grateful and honored to be selected as one of the LeadingAge Washington scholarship winners,” states Brockmeyer. “With this scholarship, I’ll be able to continue my education, and help affect change in preventive health care and health maintenance programs for current and future senior populations.”

“Jim is very passionate and dedicated to assisting area seniors maintain a healthy and active lifestyle. We are fortunate to have him part of our Covenant Shores family,” says Bruce Erickson, executive director at Covenant Shores. “We are all excited for him, and look forward to assisting him further with his professional development and education.”

As the Fitness Coordinator/Director of Wellness at Covenant Shores, a faith-based, not-for-profit continuing care retirement community administered by Covenant Retirement Communities, Brockmeyer is responsible for comprehensive health and fitness screening, programming and education for residents in all levels of care as well as employee health and fitness. He is a graduate of Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. and University of Washington in Seattle.

Brockmeyer is currently enrolled in the Healthcare Management, Gerontology option master’s program at Marylhurst University in Marylhurst, Ore. He is a certified Health Fitness Specialist and Health Fitness Director with the American College of Sports Medicine. Brockmeyer also holds a certificate in Gerontology from the University of Washington.

About Covenant Shores

Covenant Shores, a faith-based, not-for-profit, continuing care retirement community, is located at 9150 Fortuna Drive, Mercer Island, Wash. It is administered by Covenant Retirement Communities, one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit senior services providers. Covenant Retirement Communities serves 5,000 residents at 15 retirement communities nationwide and is a ministry of the Evangelical Covenant Church. For more information on Covenant Shores, call 877–385-8613 or visit

www.covenantshores.org.

Redmond's ABODA wins “Superior Quality Achievement Award” from Graebel

Aboda Corporate Housing wins Grabel Award 2014Redmond-based ABODA, has recently won the “Superior Quality Achievement Award (Relocation)” from Graebel Relocation at its recent 14th Annual Relocation Alliance Conference in Aurora, Colorado.

Each year, Graebel recognizes leading companies that have provided extraordinary service, value and excellence in performance to its relocation clients.

[caption id="attachment_9674" align="alignleft" width="214"]Lee Curtis, President, ABODA Corporate Housing Lee Curtis, President, ABODA Corporate Housing[/caption]

Lee Curtis, President of ABODA Corporate Housing, who accepted the award at the Graebel presentation ceremony, noted customer satisfaction surveys completed by corporate employees who were relocating led to the selection of ABODA.

“When an award is based on how Graebel clients feel about ABODA and all the services we provide, it is especially heartening,” said Curtis. “This honor is a great tribute to all the employee owners of ABODA who take personal pride in setting the bar for superior customer service as they have for over 25 years.”

The worldwide Graebel conference drew 150 top relocation executives, including 90 Graebel Alliance Partners from 39 countries. The Graebel Relocation Alliance awards ceremony was held at the Denver Art Museum in downtown Denver, Colorado.

About the Graebel Relocation Alliance 


At the dawn of the 21st Century a by-invitation member consortium of twenty global moving and storage (removals) firms was brought together under the mantle, The Graebel Alliance, with the objective for the moving industry’s respected company ownership and executives to collaborate and to share best-in-class service practices and programs. Renamed the Graebel Relocation Alliance the membership has expanded to include leading global relocation and mobility service firms in 2005. In its fourteenth year, the Graebel Relocation Alliance member companies total two hundred and are found on six continents.

Friday, October 24, 2014

St. Thomas School Helps Shape Microsoft’s OneNote Class Notebook Creator

St. Thomas School MedinaSt. Thomas School in Medina, WA has a long history of incorporating laptop programs for students in the third through eighth grades so they can produce videos, compose music, take online math tests, and author book reviews and essays. This year the school expanded the program to include a program for first through second grade students and chose the Surface Pro as the school's standard device.

St. Thomas School worked closely with Microsoft through the development and testing of the OneNote Class Notebook Creator, a new app that allows teachers to create a personal workspace for every student.

St. Thomas School participated in beta testing of the product and the teachers and students were able to provide valuable insight and feedback
to the Microsoft team.

"St. Thomas School provided us with invaluable real-world feedback as we developed the OneNote Class Notebook Creator,” said Kristin Rhodes,
general manager for education at Microsoft.  “We wanted to create an app that was immediately useful for teachers and helps them quickly and easily set up class notebooks for collaborating and sharing content.  Working with teachers and students at St. Thomas School through early product testing and programs like the Surface Advisory Council helps us to create innovative learning environments for students.”

By working with the Microsoft Surface team, St. Thomas School has taken a leadership position in the integration between education and technology. To further the collaboration between St. Thomas School and Microsoft, Kimberly Mecham, the school’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, has accepted an invitation to join the Microsoft Surface Advisory Council.

About St. Thomas School
Founded in 1951, St. Thomas School is an independent, non-sectarian, early childhood, elementary and middle school. STS gives students the
intellectual capacity, rigorous critical thinking skills, and strength of character to lead, innovate and collaborate. We serve 300 students on a
55,000 sq. ft. LEED Gold® certified campus on the east side of Lake Washington in Medina. St. Thomas School is one of five schools in the U.S.
selected to be a part of the Microsoft Innovative Schools World Tour. For more information, please see http://www.stthomasschool.org, find them on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @stsfalcons.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Bellevue Based Snap Skout Becomes Tack

Tack logoBellevue-based Snap Skout, a media technology startup that intelligently connects businesses and consumers through relevant online content, today announced it is changing the company name to Tack. The name change is effective immediately and will better reflect the company’s mission to help local businesses stay firmly on the map.

In addition, the company is also announcing the launch of its new advertiser product, also called Tack, at the Seattle Interactive Conference. Tack helps small businesses connect with new customers by automatically converting social media posts into online ads - and placing them adjacent to relevant publisher content.

“Our team has built a product that allows local businesses to quickly and easily promote themselves online, while providing consumers with recommended social content that is timely and relevant,” said Aaron Goodin, CEO of Tack. “Tack takes everyday social posts and transforms them into online ads that will be featured on highly-visible, local publications. Since our technology matches the ads with relevant article content, it requires minimal effort from the advertiser and provides small businesses with a premium ad placement they may otherwise not have been able to afford.”

Tack uses natural language processing (NLP), location optimizing and other technology to ensure posts show up next to the right content on its network of local publishing partner sites – including Seattle Magazine, SFist.com and MyNorthwest.com. By placing ads in real-time and in a relevant context, consumers are better able to discover and engage with the business.

Businesses can quickly and easily integrate Tack into their social networks to begin producing free online ads. Once Tack is activated, it will automatically choose the best posts to promote, and then transform those posts into social ads - that will be displayed at the bottom of online articles throughout the web. Ultimately, messages are placed in front of an engaged audience, at exactly the right time and place. Tack’s publisher partners can increase their reader engagement by offering their readers useful ads and the product opens up a new source of income.

“This is the future of online advertising,” Goodin said. “By taking already engaging social posts, turning them into online ads, and placing them directly in front of consumers, we are able to help our local business partners connect with new customers, while helping to drive an increase in revenue for publishing partners.”

About Tack

Launched in 2013, Tack (formerly Snap Skout) is a media technology company dedicated to helping local business promote themselves online through timely and relevant recommended content. The company’s product automatically converts social media posts into online ads and places them adjacent to relevant content. Tack helps advertisers reach new customers with no additional effort, and increases reader engagement and revenue for publishers.

Friday, October 3, 2014

Outerwall Announces #KioskSelfie Sweepstakes in the Pacific Northwest

Expanding on its partnership with the Seattle Seahawks, Outerwall Inc. recently announced the #KioskSelfie sweepstakes, an interactive social media campaign incorporating the company’s popular consumer brands: Redbox, America’s destination for new release movies and games at an incredible value; Coinstar, and ecoATM electronics recycling kiosks.

Currently open and running through December 1, 2014, eligible residents in Washington, Alaska, Oregon, Idaho and Montana can enter for a chance to win a pair of tickets to one of four World Champion Seattle Seahawks home games by taking a selfie with any one of Outerwall’s kiosks and entering the #KioskSelfie sweepstakes at http://bit.ly/1o9D6Ad.*

Four randomly selected winners will each receive a pair of tickets to one of four Seattle Seahawks home games held at CenturyLink Field (one winner per game):

  • October 12 versus the Dallas Cowboys

  • November 2 versus the Oakland Raiders

  • November 23 versus the Arizona Cardinals

  • December 28 versus the St. Louis Rams


“We know many of our loyal customers are devoted Seahawks fans,” said J. Scott Di Valerio, chief executive officer. “With a mission to create a better everyday, we want to reward our long-time customers – and entice new ones – by offering the 12s an opportunity to have the best Sunday, with tickets to a Seahawks home game. Go Hawks!”

Coinstar coin-counting kiosks allow people to trade in their coins for cash, No-Fee eCertificates, or donate money to charity. Coinstar’s newest yellow Coinstar Exchange kiosk allows consumers to instantly exchange unused or partially used gift cards for cash. Consumers can find Coinstar kiosks in their local grocery stores or mass retailers, or locate a kiosk by visiting https://www.coinstar.com/kioskfinder.

Redbox offers new-release movie and video game rentals at an incredible value via conveniently located, self-service kiosks. To locate the closest kiosk, visit http://www.redbox.com/locations.

ecoATM is the only automated kiosk that pays instant cash for used and unwanted cell phones, tablets and MP3 players. To date, ecoATM kiosks have recycled 3 million devices, and that number is growing every day. Consumers can visit http://www.ecoatm.com/locator/ to find an ecoATM kiosk.

*No purchase necessary. Open to U.S. residents 18+ in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Void where prohibited. Sweepstakes ends December 1, 2014. See official rules atwww.outerwall.com/seahawks for details, including additional prizes and alternative methods of entry.

About Outerwall Inc.

Outerwall Inc. has more than 20 years of experience creating some of the most profitable spaces for their retail partners. The company mission is to create a better everyday by delivering breakthrough kiosk experiences that delight consumers and generate revenue for retailers. As the company that brought consumers Redbox® entertainment, Coinstar® money services, and ecoATM® electronics recycling kiosks, Outerwall is leading the next generation of automated retail and paving the way for inventive, scalable businesses. Outerwall™ kiosks are in neighborhood grocery stores, drug stores, mass merchants, malls, and other retail locations in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. Learn more at www.outerwall.com.