Free things save us money

Hey we have some more pictures of things we've done here in NYC and we thought we'd share them with you! And we're not even waiting for a couple months to do it! We're going to try out how the real bloggers do it...

During the summer here they have the River to River Festival, which includes a lot of free concerts and activities and fun things. A couple weeks we went to a fireworks show on the East River featuring music by the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Two nights ago we went to a free concert of Mozart's The Magic Flute by the New York Opera at Rockefeller Park. It was a lot of fun to sit in the park in the beautiful weather and enjoy the concert.

Waiting for it to start...

A couple weeks ago a group of us went to the famed Apollo Theater (We lived about a 10-15 minute walk away...) for Amateur Night. That's when you can actually boo the performers off the stage. They encourage it! It was a cultural experience and a lot of fun.

I also wanted to include this because Michael Jackson performed here early in his career. I can't find any sources to back that up, but it does make it cooler that we went there.


(UPDATE: I found out when Michael Jackson performed at the Apollo Theater. The Jackson 5 won the Apollo's Amateur Night in 1967.)

Internship Update (and a contest!)

Greetings from New York City!

I realized that I haven't really given many people an update on how my internship is going. Initially, the internship was supposed to be from the beginning of May to June 16th, but the people at Y&R gave those who wanted to an opportunity to extend our internships until the first week of August. I've really been enjoying it here and I feel like I get along really well with everybody I'm working with, so Megan and I decided to stick it out here for at least a couple more months and see what happens.

We had to find a new apartment for the remainder of our stay since our first place was only for the duration of the regular internship. Now we are living a little farther north on Manhattan. But it only takes about 30-40 minutes to get to work, thanks to the subway! I love public transportation. If I can have someone else do the moving for me so I can have time to relax or read a book, I'm happy.

Here at Y&R I am working on the recently acquired Office Depot account. On June 1st we launched a new part of the campaign called "The Survival of the Smartest" and the "Small Business Self-Bailout" It involves a website and some funny webisodes with "Matt and Matt" that will be released periodically through the rest of the summer.

A big part of the campaign is the "Adopt a Small Business" contest that ends July 31st. (If you or someone you know owns a small business, let them know about this!) 500 businesses will be awarded $2000 each in Office Depot prizes (gift cards, print services, etc.). To enter, all you have to do is make a 2-minute video telling Office Depot two things: what you are doing in these tougher economic times to be smart (how are you saving money or finding new customers or reducing costs, etc.) and how Office Depot has helped you out. If you're not sure how Office Depot has helped your small business out, you have until July 31st to visit your local Office Depot to figure it out. They also have some great online resources. This is a really great contest. If you want to learn more about that, check out www.thesurvivalofthesmartest.com.

And check out the first webisode next Monday! (June 29th)

Oh, and another cool thing: Y&R finally updated their website!! After nearly a year of being "Coming Soon" or "Under Construction" it is an actual website that you can look at! Check it out, it's cool: http://www.yr.com.

(Map image courtesy NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team and Wikipedia)

In case anyone didn't know...

We graduated!!!

Adios Provo!

Here's Proof.


Scott got a BA in Communications: Advertising

I got a BS in Sociology (in 3 years...)

Yay for us!

Some Things We've Done in NYC

News Flash!!

We really are here in New York City and having a good time! We are not dead!
We are just really bad bloggers. We will try to be better...

Whew, now that that's over, here is our bi-annual-or-so update: (Put your mouse on the pictures for captions.)

Here's the quick summary of what you just saw. Max Brenner is a really fun (and maybe a little pricey) chocolate store/cafe. We ordered the "Eskimo" (or "es-KEE-mo" as the waitress pronounced it). Everything there was presented (or "plated") in cool ways. And of course we've tested out the other big candy/chocolate stores here, like Jacques Torres, and our personal favorite, Dylan's Candy Bar. (Supposedly the biggest candy store in the U.S.)

We've had a lot of fun wandering around and hanging out in parks and eating pizza. So far we like Arturo's the best. It's been raining a lot lately (we heard it was the 22nd straight day of rain, although we feel like it's not true... there have been a few fair days) which makes the subway puddley and muggy. (Mmm, nothing like stuffy damp underground air!)

Overall, it's been great so far. You might say it's been an experience. We'll keep you updated.

We promise.