I’d like to field this question: it is going great.

Maybe I’m just feeling great because of what happened last night.

What happened last night?

You remember that Portent moved downtown to Seattle’s Smith Tower in June. Since then, life has been a lot like the 1996 blockbuster film The Rock starring Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery. And by that I mean it’s been incredibly awesome.

And when life is like a blockbuster film, you need to throw a high-profile party. That’s exactly what happened last night.

Who wants to party?

Portent could not have grown so much without the help of a lot of people:

• Clients and partners. Without them, we would just be 30-ish people sitting around picking our noses (or trying to get Siri to do it for us). Portent’s excellent clients and partners work with us to create online marketing efforts that we can all be proud of.
• Competitors and peers. They may be our competitors, but the Internet is a big place, and there is room for all of us. Our relationships with our competitors and peers benefit all parties, and keep Portent operating at the highest level possible.
• Colleagues, friends and family. They give us advice, pats on the back, and they form the incredible community we thrive in.

There is no better way to say thank you than a party.

Did you have a fabulous time?

How did you guess? We absolutely did. Special thanks to Galluccci’s Catering and Christian’s Trees who transformed the 17th floor into a spectacular party central and it was off to the races.

We mixed and mingled all night.

Bring on the Portinis.

Nothing says classy like a signature martini. And who doesn’t want a food or drink named after them? (Still trying to get Quiznos to name that bacon sub with extra bacon after me)

If you want to celebrate Portent at home with your friends, grab some Sky Vodka, Blue Curacao, Simple Syrup and Meyer Lemon Lemonade.

Would you like to play a game?

If you have never played competitive hangman, you haven’t lived – you haven’t ensured the death of a helpless stick figure.

The competition got fierce once everyone realized the top prize was a Nexus 7. Client against client, competitor against competitor, father against son* – it all happened. (*The father against son thing did not happen)

The best part: Internet marketing buzz words. Guessing “edgerank algorithm” is a lot harder than guessing “puppy” (or even “puppy algorithm,” which would be adorable).

Just checked my watch; it is swag-o-clock.

Did I mention that Portent has some incredible clients? I did, so I’ll make this brief. On top of the free-flowing Portent swag, our clients contributed mountains of awesome gifts for party-goers.
Just a few of the awesome items we’re now in possession of:

• USB drive wristbands. I can take knowledge with me wherever I go.
• New t-shirts (I look fabulous in them).
• Tiny, mini flashlights for tiny, mini situations.

A good time was had by all.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

This was a celebration for Portent. We’re glad people we care about were able to come celebrate with us. I’ll let some more pictures do the rest of the talking.

Mixing AND mingling.

Good conversation, wine, and sliders.

We even let the interns come out of their office!

The post Portent Open House: How to Party in a Historic Building appeared first on Portent.

If you’re unfamiliar with the phrase “That’s Tukwila Life” – it’s the motto of the city of Tukwila, where Portent has made it’s home for the last ten years or so. It’s also the phrase used by Portent employees to explain an event or circumstance that can only be summarized as being “Tukwila Life.”

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a south of Seattle gal at heart. My sister works two blocks away, my first job was at the Ross down the street from the mall and I went to high school not more than five miles from where we are currently. However, Tukwila isn’t known for it’s overwhelming impressiveness, nor was our office park. It’s known for it’s affordability. And in 2008, I think a lot of companies, including us, found being here a really good thing.

So please join me on a trip down memory lane, where Portent, Inc. says goodbye to the city of Tukwila and heads off for new adventures at Smith Tower. These are our Tukwila Life memories, scrapbook style…

Large office park parking lots means lots of space..to play foursquare. BEFORE it was an app.

Dam upstream threatens to break, flooding miles upon miles down the Green River. Sandbags put in. Covering miles of a wonderful trail. Dam fixed. No flooding. No money to remove sandbags. Sandbags stay, slowly being overtaken by plant life.

Aviva doing her best to save the few boxes of paper files in the office.

Fishing hut! Across the river from the office park. I do not recommend eating any fish out of this river, though on any random day there IS a guy with a fishing pole standing in it.

Kids steal car. Kids run from cops. Kid jumps in river. Office park filled with cops. Barnaby’s sees the most action it’s ever had.

If you’ve never handed out candy on Halloween to random cars in a hot dog costume…you’re missing out.

Being close to the airport means you can leave your car here. It does not mean it’s safe from bored employees on a snow day.

We have a Coldstone Creamery. You can by no means walk to it and back in a reasonable amount of time. Let alone in August before an ice cream cake melts. (Yes, someone tested this.)

If you’ve ever wanted to set up a blender, a video camera and add a tungsten ring to said blender in front of a sandbag wall in a parking lot…we know a place you can go.

The Parthenon in Kit Kat form. We rented out the office space across the parking lot just for this.

Tukwila has one of possibly every chain restaurant in the Pacific Northwest. This includes The Sizzler. It also includes dance off competitions between mattress retailers and the Pita Pit.

I’ve take the epic bus journey from North Seattle exactly three times in six years. This happened on time #2. Leading me to believe that it must happen a lot at my bus stop. At least 33% of the time.

If you’ve never been cut off at a bowling alley before, Acme Bowl is very nice about it. No pictures of this one though. It was too dark in the parking lot. Please enjoy this picture of a no parking fire zone being observed instead.

We didn’t get broken into. Upstairs did. We just don’t have any pictures for the time we got broken into.

Being this close to IKEA means you not only get to build your own desk, but go buy it, pick it up and deliver it to the office.

PUPPY DAY. BEST DAY EVER.
(Turns out Smith Tower isn’t keen on not-so-housebroken 9 week old puppies.)

I’ve been collecting photos of Tukwila Life for six years now and I finally got to use them! We’ll miss lots of things about Tukwila. Target. Free parking. Running across Strander Blvd through four lanes of traffic because there’s no crosswalk. 7-11. Bringing pets to work. Giving directions to building A. Squirrels, bunnies and blackberry picking. The dark side.

However, I’m sure adjacency to Pioneer Square, two sports stadiums (maybe three?), a pub in stumbling distance and public transportation holds many, many, many, more stories.

Farewell, Tukwila Life. You served us well.

The post And So Are the Days of Our Tukwila Lives… appeared first on Portent.