Opus Interactive | If These Servers Could Talk

Okay… I’m from Boston and they get lots of snow. Sometimes the snow slows them down, cancels school, and even on occasion forces them to work from home. I moved to Portland 8 years ago, and have seen some snowflakes from time to time, but nothing like we just emerged from. At my house – and in most of the greater city area – we had about 14 inches of total accumulation with a little ice thrown in for good measure. Today as I type I’m in the office for the first time in the last week and a half. As I drove out of my drive way today and onto the surface streets in my neighborhood I was amazed at the amount of snow still on the roads; at how difficult it was just to get out to the main roads – where pavement could be seen and appreciated.

I understand the “plow factor” as I’ve come to call it – the fact that there just aren’t any, or at least not enough. In Massachusetts, they plow every street, not just the main routes… EVERY street. Here… well, they just can’t get to them all, and so when 14 inches falls, the city pretty much shuts itself down. I’m thankful that we had some employees that live close enough to our office to make it in. We run a data center, we host websites and IT infrastructures that need to be up and running at all times. The question I have is… Can’t we put anything on the roads in advance of the snow, during the snow, and after the snow, that makes the snow melt faster, keeps ice from forming, etc…?

The same weekend that Portland was experiencing our 14 inches, I called home. My parents informed me that they were getting their second foot of snow in 3 days. Didn’t slow them down much either. The roads were plowed and people were at the stores shopping for the holidays. The only chains being used on vehicles were those doing the plowing and the mail carriers delivering holiday cheer. I’m still waiting for my sisters’ package of gifts for our kids. They don’t name their storms either, or report on them 24/7… ARTIC BLAST? Oh well… Portland had a white Christmas and I was happy about that. I mean, what are the chances?

Apparently about 1 percent….

So a couple of days ago (January 7th) we celebrated the holiday by having our first ever Gutterball Ball, a bowling bash of sorts. We had originally planned it for earlier in December, but if you read my previous blog you’ll know why it was moved out to January. The event was a success in that almost everyone showed up with family members in tow and had a good time. There were several observations that I made during our gathering… 

1. It’s very difficult to bowl with little kids. It’s definitely fun to see them push the ball down a gutterless alley, but to actually bowl yourself during this process is nearly impossible.
2. The bowling shoes for little kids are very cute! Much cuter than the bowling shoes for adults.
3. Some people have very small fingers.
4. The cheese pizza was far better than any of the pizza that had toppings on them. The toppings in fact didn’t really resemble, much less taste, the toppings we ordered.
5. Change is useless in arcades these days.
6. The scoreboards tell you how fast your ball sails down the alley. Jeremy and Jason enjoyed seeing just how fast they could throw (not bowl mind you) their ball.
7. 25 Mph is pretty fast for a bowling ball.
8. 15 pounds is heavier than I remember.
9. The cheese pizza wasn’t really that good.
10. The alleys themselves are VERY oily.

All and all the First Gutterball Ball was a lot of fun and will undoubtedly be repeated next holiday season.  Check out some pictures of the fun below and be sure to visit our Facebook page to see all the evidence.

Future PBA stars

Team Opus Interactive

by Jeremy Sherwood

Opus Interactive has teamed with the Portland Lumberjax in its quest to return to the Championship game.

The Portland Lumberjax, the city’s professional lacrosse team, is entering its fourth year in the league and is hoping to return to the Championship game, where they were edged out by the Buffalo Bandits, 14-13. The team made an improbable run to the finals last year.

With lacrosse being one of the fastest growing sports in the United States, we saw this chance to work with the  West Division Champions as an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. As a long time lacrosse player, coach and season ticket holder, I couldn’t be happier to help support the sport and the team. I had a great oppurtunity over the last couple of days to meet with Cristi and Jessica (Jax Dancers) and 

In turn, we saw a great opportunity to bring our technology expertise to the Lumberjax hosting and email environments. We saw this as a great chance for us to give back as well. “Anyone who has been to our website knows it had gotten a bit, we’ll say sloppy, over the past few years.  So, when the folks from Opus Interactive approached me about upgrading our systems I was very intrigued.  I quickly went from intrigued to impressed when we had our first meeting and toured their facility.  Opus opened my eyes to internet and website possibilities, security and backup, that I had never dreamed of,” stated Brian Silcott, Executive Vice President at Portland Lumberjax.

One of the best ways many of us can support the Portland Lumberjax is by buying tickets and watching the games.  You can buy ticket here, and see some of the live action for yourself. We hope to see you there.