Sustainable Aviation Fuels Northwest (SAFN) is the nation’s first regional stakeholder effort to explore the opportunities and challenges surrounding the production of sustainable aviation fuels in the Northwest.

SAFN released a report on May 25th that reflects the results of ten months of work and the perspectives of more than forty stakeholders.

Regional energy nonprofit Climate Solutions facilitated the process, prepared the report, and hired Web Rodeo for the design and production of the 132 page report.

To learn more about this pioneering effort to power the next generation of flight, and to read the full report, go to www.safnw.com.

For more about Climate Solutions visit www.climatesolutions.org

Attention all you food enthusiasts! Web Rodeo recently launched a new website for Verde Specialty Foods www.verdespecialtyfoods.com, a Bellingham, Washington based business. Mary Ellen Carter, cookbook author and food educator, is dedicated to bringing high quality products to your kitchen. The site features a shopping cart so that visitors can easily purchase Verde Specialty Foods domestic extra virgin olive oil, high quality “hard to find” dried heirloom beans, herbs, spices, and Mary Ellen Carter’s cookbooks. The award winning photography featured on the site is by Diane Padys, www.padyseye.com.

You can also follow Verde Specialty Foods on Facebook at www.facebook.com/verdespecialtyfoods.

Web Rodeo created a custom banner and set up an email newsletter template with Constant Contact for Dawn’s Designs.

The banner uses Dawn’s original watercolor illustrations and the template allows for easily authoring an email with a consistent appearance.

Sign up for Dawn’s Designs eNewsletter, “A Newsletter From The World Of Snowmen And The Desk Of Dawn Pilon,” and see Dawn’s new work on her recently updated website.

www.dawnsstuff.com

Web Rodeo designed a new logo and business cards for HG Products LLC.

HG Products LLC is the sole distributor of Garage Shield Garage Door Thresholds.

Web Rodeo designed a logo, price sheets, brochures, box layouts, and a website for Garage Shield.

Garage Shield is a garage door threshold that is manufactured in the USA.

The website was created using Joomla!, a popular content management system. We will soon be adding a shopping cart feature to the website to enable online purchases of the product.

www.garageshieldusa.com

Well, for starters, a new logo, signs, business cards, posters, brochures, and website updates!

Recently, Steven Avery became partner at Elder Law Offices of Barry M. Meyers. The firm was subsequently renamed as "Elder Law Offices of Meyers & Avery."

Congratulations Steven and Barry!

www.elderlaw-nw.com

Web Rodeo recently created a logo and identity package for North Ridge Investment Management of Mill Valley, California.

North Ridge, a global company, required a double-sided business card with their contact information printed on one side in English and the other in Chinese.

Thanks to Mike and the staff at Towner Press for their expertise in printing this project.

Just in time for the holidays and the new year!

Web Rodeo is happy to have recently launched www.Dawnsstuff.com, a website featuring original watercolors and ink illustrations by Dawn Pilon. Check out Dawn’s calendars, cards, notepads, booklets, and more. We had so much fun organizing the content for the website. Be sure to check out "A Snowman For All Seasons" calendar, featuring a snowman for every month of the year. Who said snowmen could only be enjoyed during the winter months?

Dawn has also worked in the printing industry for over 20 years, first as a typesetter and illustrator, and more recently in customer service at Towner Press.

You can find her work at the 30th Annual Allied Arts Holiday Festival of the Arts, thru December 24, 2009. www.alliedarts.com

Bid Local First 2009 Auction

November 23rd to December 6th, 2009

All proceeds from this online auction go to support Sustainable Connections’ Food and Farming Good Food Challenge!

All items are donations from Sustainable Connection members and we are proud to take part in this year’s auction.

Place your bids now!
www.sconnect.cmarket.com

Not long ago I checked my mail and noticed an envelope that looked suspiciously like it was for the Annual Alumni Fund drive from my college. Later, when I took a closer look, it seemed bulkier than normal. It was then I found that another envelope was stuck to the back. I marveled that the two had made the journey together from Cleveland, Ohio to my mailbox in Bellingham, Washington. The second envelope, which had piggybacked its way into my hands, was addressed to another Cleveland Institute of Art alumnus who lived in a nearby town in the same county. The school includes the class year in the address and my curiosity grew as I discovered the intended recipient had graduated in 1946, some 33 years before me.

I considered writing "Not at this address" on the envelope and putting it back in the mailbox for the postal service to complete the delivery. But, curiosity got the better of me and I picked up the phone book and found a listing for Carmela Wilkins. Thinking, "What the heck?" I called her number, explained the situation, and continued to chat at length with a charming woman. We made plans to meet so I could hand deliver her mail.

One early fall day I visited Carmela at her home. We had a wonderful afternoon sharing the bond of attending the same college. We spoke about life, art, painting, and the challenge of graduating from college with a fine art degree. It turned out that Carmela had gone on to get a teaching degree and taught drawing for many years. She still paints, draws, and displays her art. Carmela celebrated her 86th birthday this November and will soon be moving back east to live with her family.

I continue to be amazed at the chain of events that brought us together. From deciding to go to the same small college, finding our ways to this far corner of the country, years spent immersed in art, to some errant envelope glue, however it came about I will cherish the experience forever.

Karen Hower
Art Director
Web Rodeo

Recently the Facebook fan page for the city of Bellingham posed the question "The best B’ham dining is at…………………"? Over the next few days, 162 people responded on Facebook with their favorite place(s) to dine out. View the responses at: http://tinyurl.com/pz9kng

The phenomena and popularity of Facebook is good news for restaurants who want to engage with their fans. While almost any business can develop a following, the restaurant industry seems to pair with Facebook like butter on bread. People are passionate about what they like and what they eat, and they want to share this information.

Take Tillamook for example. We are talking about a single food category here: CHEESE! Tillamook Cheese has an incredible 22,632 fans on Facebook. Check it out for yourself at: http://www.facebook.com/TillamookCheese.

We want to make it easy for your fans to promote you!

This blog is not about websites, design, or social media. It is about old-fashioned summertime fun, a day Web Rodeo spent at the Northwest Washington Fair.

We are drawn to the animals, especially the draft horses. It is an awe-inspiring experience to feel the ground shake when teams of six huge draft horses pulling a wagon trot by on their way to the grandstand arena. Pure horsepower! Nine teams with six horses up, 54 horses, are expertly circled and driven around the arena without crashing into each other. Just as exciting, but on a smaller scale, are the “Crazy Eight” pony hitches.

There are so many different varieties of animals to look at, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits, and cows, to name a few. And don’t forget “Big Ben”, the 3300 lb. steer. Do you think the animals get tired of looking at all the humans?

Displays of art, photography, crafts, quilts, vegetables, flowers, tractors, and every conceivable collection boggle the mind. There is absolutely something for everyone.

While fair food usually is predictable, a real treat are the Poffertjes, sort of a mini Dutch pancake, cooked fresh, topped with powdered sugar, and whipped butter. Oh my!

Add the background sounds of rides with captive screaming passengers and you have the quintessential summertime experience.

Be sure to mark your calendars next year for the 100th anniversary of the Northwest Washington Fair. We hope to see you there!

Does anyone know where we can find a Poffertjes pan?

"You should think about getting new tires soon," the automotive technician recommended during a visit for routine maintenance. Groaning, I thought of funner ways to spend my hard-earned money. A few weeks later, still procrastinating, I found a note on my windshield alerting me about a screw stuck in my front tire. I hustled down to the tire shop and after the technician patched up the screw hole he said, "You should think about getting new tires soon."

For the rest of the day I kept thinking about how terrible a blow out on the freeway could be. Sure, new tires are expensive, but not nearly as costly as a potentially fatal accident. So off to the tire store I went and now I feel much safer driving down the road on my new tires.

The next week I was attending a seminar where a business owner was lamenting that their website was out of date and needed an overhaul. They knew that they needed “new tires” for their website but were reluctant to spend the money and were considering cutting corners. This was the same feeling I had experienced regarding purchasing new tires.

The business owner didn’t see the value in directing their limited resources towards an enhanced web presence. In essence, they were saying, even though they weren’t satisfied with the current state of their website, that it wouldn’t be causing a multiple-car pile up on the interstate, so why worry about it? It occurred to me that they didn’t truly understand that their website, and web presence in general, is the interface between their business brand and their current clients, potential clients, and the rest of the world: where the rubber meets the road. Maintaining a professional web presence is as important to a business as good tires are for an automobile. While a poor website may not cause a traffic accident, it could ultimately be doing damage to your business. If the quality of your website is not up to the same standard as the products or services you offer does it adequately represent your business? Your website works for you, or against you, 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

We all need to spend our money wisely, especially during times of a struggling economy. And, frankly, some of the things we need are just not so exciting that plunking down our cash is much fun. In reality, investing in your web presence is one of the least expensive ways for your business to connect with a vast audience. Maybe that "new set of tires" for your web presence will help keep your business safe on the digital highway.

June 28th – July 4th

It’s the "6th Annual Sustainable Connections Independents Week". It’s a week to focus on independent businesses and to exercise our ability to make independent choices.

How can you participate?

• Patronize locally owned, independent businesses
• Cultivate creativity!
• Celebrate original thinking!
• Stamp out mediocrity!

Why should you participate?

Independent businesses give communities their uniqueness. Creative thinking is what fuels the discoveries that enrich our lives. And, it is an excellent time to remember and embrace the many freedoms we often take for granted.

What are we doing?

Web Rodeo is proud to be a local, independent business. We continually strive to contribute to our community in unique and positive ways and to support other independents. We do this every week of the year, but this week we celebrate!

Have a safe and happy 4th of July! Let freedom ring!

What, you might ask, do strawberries have to do with social media? We recently noticed that Boxx Berry Farm in Ferndale, Washington announced on their new Facebook page that the first strawberries of the season were ready, along with fresh baked biscuits. If you haven’t tasted a fresh Whatcom County strawberry you don’t know what you are missing. No other strawberry compares. So off we went to partake in the first berries of the season. Turns out the folks in line behind us had checked out Facebook, too. Here was proof that social media works! Lucky for us all, there were plenty of berries to go around.

Have you ever been on a waiting list for cucumbers? We have! Apparently, there are a lot of folks that like to make pickles in this area. Last year there was practically a stampede to get to the cucumber bins. You can be sure that this year we will be checking Facebook to see what’s ready at Boxx Berry Farm.

It was one of those serendipitous moments. Driving along, I spotted it, suspended in the window of an antique store. The Pursuit Plane, a toy pedal car designed by Viktor Schreckengost nearly sixty years ago.

The breadth and depth of his work is staggering. Chances are every American has used something designed by Viktor Schreckengost. A pioneer of modern American industrial design, prolific sculptor, painter, and ceramist, Viktor Schreckengost has been called by many an "American da Vinci". He created the first industrial design education program in America in the 1930s at the Cleveland Institute of Art and taught for nearly 70 years.

I had only seen pictures of the Pursuit Plane. It had been my screensaver for weeks, making me smile every morning when I opened my computer. And here it was for real, propeller slightly bent, a scrape or two, obviously enjoyed by a child long ago.

Viktor Schreckengost passed away in January of 2008 at the age of 101. He continues to inspire me and make me smile. Thank you Viktor. www.viktorschreckengost.org

Karen Hower
Partner/Art Director Web Rodeo
Cleveland Institute of Art
Class of 1979

We are FINALLY getting around to redesigning our own site. Some things just take awhile.

In the meantime, we hope you like our INTERIM site, where you can keep up with our blog, join our eNewsletter, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

We will let you know when we launch our new site.

Happy trails!

Our horses have taught us more than we have taught them. At least it seems that way. The lessons learned can be applied to human relationships as well. The more you become aware, listen, and observe, the more you will learn. Horses are honest, they let you know what they are thinking. It’s all in their body language.

Being consistent in your actions, teaching new concepts in a way they can understand, and rewarding the smallest try, will go a long way towards earning the trust, respect, and loyalty of your horse.

When the lines of communication are open an amazing bond is formed.

Web Rodeo hopes the values of trust, respect, and loyalty grace all of our client relationships.

The Energy Foundation www.ef.org launched the China Sustainable Energy Program (CSEP) in 1999 to assist in China’s transition to a sustainable energy future by promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy. www.efchina.org

The Energy Foundation contacted Web Rodeo to design the new CSEP guidelines, a 44 page booklet which highlights the challenges and accomplishments in the eight core program areas:

• Low-Carbon Development Paths
• Transportation
• Renewable Energy
• Electric Utilities
• Buildings
• Industry
• Environmental Management
• Sustainable Cities

Armed with English and Chinese Word docs, Web Rodeo researched photography libraries, illustrated graphs and charts, and designed the layout for both the English and Chinese sections, contained in one booklet.

For more on the green building revolution check out the conference “Scaling Up: From Green Buildings to Green Cities in the U.S. and China” Friday, May 1 in San Francisco.
www.asiasociety.org/greencities

On Friday, Web Rodeo attended “The Future of Business” conference organized by Sustainable Connections and held at Whatcom Community College.

The day started off with a panel of keynote speakers who inspired us with an enlightened vision of a new business standard where sustainability is paramount to success. It was exciting to hear each of them comment on how Bellingham is a leader, nationwide, for promoting innovative practices and programs that work toward this goal of sustainability.

Next, we opted for the “Co-op Second Store LEED Tour” where we received in depth information from the architect, contractor, and, others instrumental in Bellingham’s newest LEED Silver building. We were impressed with the amount of thought, and work, that went in to every aspect of the project.

Famished from our brief walk, we enjoyed the wonderful lunch catered by Ciao Thyme. Mmmmmm!

Before the afternoon broke into the “Sustainable Business” and “Green Building” tracks, the Zero Waste Parade showcased the success stories of several local businesses. Next, we were enthused and entertained by Paul Saginaw as he expounded on “The Art of Great Customer Service”, something he has developed over the years with Zingerman’s Community of Businesses. Following that we heard Brad Liljequist speak about “zHome”, a project exemplifying that it is possible to build zero net energy structures.

A handful of speakers in the closing session re-affirmed that Bellingham, and Whatcom County in general, are showing the way to the rest of the world with their forward thinking ideas. We were impressed that both Whatcom Community College and Bellingham Technical College are restructuring their curricula to include the concept of sustainability.

We rounded out the day networking with some old friends, lots of new friends, and some fantastic, thirst quenching Boundary Bay Brewery ales!

It just takes a trip out of town to be reminded of what a “green” community we live in. Bellingham embraced recycling and renewable energy concepts long before “green” became a buzzword.

On a global level…we recently designed a 50 page booklet on energy policies and guidelines for the China Sustainable Energy Program. CSEP is a division of the Energy Foundation, the largest environmental foundation in the U.S. See www.ef.org and www.efchina.org.

On a local note…Web Rodeo is a proud new member of Sustainable Connections. We look forward to meeting other members and being a part of the Sustainable Connections network. www.sustainableconnections.org.

We are looking forward to attending the first Evening With Old World Deli on Thursday, March 19 from 6-8 pm. There will be a variety of wines presented by Laurent Martel: Sherry, Cava, Albarino, Garanacha, Rioja, Dehessa Zamora and Priorat. Shared plates are to include a selection of meat and cheeses, quince paste, Manzanilla olives, Mediterranean spiced nuts, saffron-pickled cauliflower, an Iberian vegetable salad, dates with Cabrales and Chorizo, Piquillo peppers and Boquerones. For more information, and to join their mailing list, visit Old World Deli. Hope to see you there!

Liberty Tax Services will donate $20 to the Northwest Therapeutic Riding Center for every tax return done in their offices from March 1 – March 12, 2009! The NWTRC is a fantastic non-profit organization that provides therapeutic horseback riding to people of all ages with a wide range of disabilities. For more info go to www.nwtrc.org.

We have recently launched several new websites. It is always a great feeling when a new site goes live!

One of our benefits is working with such a diverse group of clients. Although each has a unique offering there is a common goal among them to provide quality at the highest level. This, in turn, continues to inspire us to do the same.

Old World Deli
Old World Deli is a fantastic deli owned and operated by Anna and Christos Adams. They have a wonderful selection of meats and cheeses; great soups, salads, and sandwiches; and they cater! Their location is: 1140 N. State St. in Bellingham.

Visit their new website: www.oldworlddeli1.com.

Schwiesow & Drilias
Schwiesow & Drilias has been a leading landscape design and installation firm in Bellingham since 1987. Their work has been featured in Sunset Magazine and they also have a shop in Fairhaven, The Garden Room, that offers a mix of unique items for the garden, home, and more.

Visit the new Schwiesow & Drilias or The Garden Room sites: www.schhwiesowdrilias.com or www.gardenroomfairhaven.com

Bodywalk
Danielle AhMaiua, LMP, offers a variety of massage services. The most interesting has to be the Ashiatsu Oriental Bar Therapy which is a barefoot massage. Along with appointments in her office, Danielle offers massage in your home or office (sorry, Ashiatsu is available only at Bodywalk). Do yourself a favor and schedule an appointment today.

Visit the new Bodywalk site: www.bodywalkmassage.com

Ferndale Heritage Society
The Ferndale Heritage Society is a non-profit organization focused on promoting and preserving the history of Whatcom County and Pioneer Park in Ferndale, Washington. They bring together those interested in maintaining the log cabins and collections at Pioneer Park and put on several fun events throughout the year.

Visit the new Ferndale Heritage Society site: www.ferndaleheritagesociety.com