CYAN BLOG

Let’s face it, not all of us can be morning people.  We just can’t begin out days without our cups of coffee.  And sometimes that’s not even enough.  After the morning e-mail rush and mid morning meeting, a 10:30 latte from The Bucks is just too tempting.  And when 2:30 comes around you have to make that decision to try and crawl to the end of the day, or bite the bullet and get your favorite frosty cup of Joe.

On average, Americans drink 3.1 cups of coffee a day.  Now think about your daily routine.  Do you drink this many cups?  How many of these cups are served to you in paper or plastic disposible cups?  Quite a few right?

Consider this:  the majority of hot paper cups are not made from recycled material due to FDA regulations and that recycled paper generally doesn’t hold liquid as well as newly created paper products.  As part of a sustainability initiative one major coffee company started using cups from recycled material, but only 10% is recycled while the other 90% is new.

In addition, some hot paper cups are coated with a plastic resin which helps makes prevent the cups from leaking, but also makes them impossible to recycle.

With coffee being such a “Hot” commodity, it is estimated that Americans will use 23 billion paper cups in 2010.  To give you an idea of the environmental impact of 23 billion cups: 9.4 million trees used, 7 trillion BTUs of energy used, and 5.7 billion gallons of water used to create these cups.  After these cups are used, they will create 353 million pounds of waste.

How can you cut this waste down?  The answer’s simple: use a reusable cup.  By making a one time investment in a plastic, clay, or glass mug you can help cut down on the waste that is paper cups.  Use this cup to grab your morning drip from your house or office (or even your favorite apartment complex living room…).  Have your barista put your afternoon mocha in it as well.  All coffee shops will be more than happy to oblige with your reusable request and some will even offer a discount.

So go out, get a mug of your favorite sports team, or maybe your Alma Mater, stop by the local coffee shop and pick up on of theirs, maybe you’d like an even more eco friendly mug.  No matter what reusable cup solution you partake in, it will help diminish the environmental impact of paper cups greatly!

Have you ever seen the show Minute to Win It, where contestants have a variety of tasks all of which must be completed in a minute in order to win a prize?  In a similar fashion, a Speed Networking event will allow artists to try and sell their art to local vendors and distributors.

This event will help 60 different artists to reach out to new audiences and hopefully continue to develop the artistic community in Portland.  In addition to the networking aspect, professionals will be on hand to help these aspiring artists with business tips on how to make their art more marketable and how to attract wholesale clients.

The Portland Studio of Design Within Reach will be hosting this event with Deschutes Brewery and Cyan/PDX being contributors as well.  The event will take place tonight: Wednesday, September, 1st 2010. 

If you are an aspiring artist yourself, continue to check back for registration spots for the next networking event.

Visit the Oregon Zoo and see their newly renovated exhibit “Red Ape Reserve.”  Here you will be able to view the Sumatran orangutans and the white-cheeked gibbons in their new habitat. 

The exhibit will open this Friday, September 3rd, for all to see.

If you simply cannot wait until the 3rd to visit the zoo, check out some of the other phenomenal exhibits the Oregon Zoo has to offer including the Stellar Cove, Predators of the Serengeti and the Howard Vollum Avairy.

The zoo will be open from 8am-6pm until September 15th and then will be open 9am-4pm fropm there on out.  For more information, visit the Oregon Zoo website.

The tag line on Karnaval 2010′s event website reads:

“Imagine David Lynch held a bake sale, invited ‘Gladiators’, poured on the drinks and dancing, and then brought 200 of your best friends to run riot for an evening of kid-free mayhem.”

Now I’m not sure who David Lynch is but I do know I love bake sales and Gladiator was one awesome movie.  Add in drinks and dancing and if I had 200 friends: I am sold.

The event gets even better… It’s all for charity!

From 6-10pm on Saturday, August 28, at Oaks Amusement Park you can enjoy all sorts of fun events that benefits Haitian orphans still suffering from the earthquake that occurred months ago.

Live music, complimentary beer and wine, Southern food from Miss Delta, and Carnival entertainment including: Tarot card reading, stilt walkers, jugglers and many more all combine to make this night sure to be memorable.

If you are interested in attending this amazing event, register for tickets at the Karnaval 2010 event site.  The event is for individuals who are 21 and over and tickets are $75 dollars.

Looking to let your inner child out?  How about your inner geek?  Both?  Go to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry’s “OMSI After Dark.”

OMSI After Dark is a fun filled events for individuals 21 and over.  Enjoy all the wonders and lessons OMSI has to offer without the burden of tiny children around.

In addition to the exhibits OMSI has to offer, Portland area vendors will be on hand to serve food and beverages to those who attend.

OMSI After Dark occurs once a month on the last Wednesday of every month.  The event begins at 7:00pm and 11:00pm.  Stop by for a night full of fun!

The information I am about to impart you is extremely dangerous. Deadly in fact: Food carts on SE Hawthorne and SE 12th.

Now I know what you’re thinking: “What can possibly be dangerous about Food Carts? They always serve the most affordable and delicious food you can find.” To which I cannot refute.  But there is a difference between delicious and TOO DELICIOUS.  Not to mention, these carts are open until 3am to satisfy all of your late night cravings.

Pyro Pizza, Whiffies Fried Pies, El Brasero, Bubba Bernie’s, Perierra Creperie, and Potato Champion are all the carts that reside in this pod.

When I went, I sampled Whiffies Fried Pies.  Picture this: flaky pie dough stuffed with a peanut and chocolate filling.  Deep Fried.  Need I say more?

While I was indulging in the awesomeness that was my peanut butter chocolate pie I saw the menu for Potato Champion.  One item jumped out at me.  Peanut Butter and Jelly Fries.  Spicy Peanut Satay Sauce along with a raspberry chipotle sauce over America’s favorite fried food.  What more could you want?  Now, I’ll have to be honest; I have yet to try these fries but they are at the top of my list…

Now you can see how dangerous these carts are.  Amazing food, open late hours.  Your midnight snack will never be the same again.

This week, Cyan/PDX revamped our websites and introduced a new smart phone application as well as our Blue Team service group.  Each of these items bring new and exciting features to our beautiful building for our residents to utilize.

The Online Concierge system has received numerous upgrades to better enhance our 24/7 online concierge service for our residents.  Some of this upgrades include.

Public Event Calendar: Residents can now post events on the online concierge to share with their fellow residents.  In addition, residents can view this calendar to see what exciting events are occurring around town.

Living Room and Guest Suite Reservation Calendar: Residents will now be able to view when the Living Room and Guest Suites have been reserved by other tenants.  You can then place a reservation through the system.  Please remember that all reservations will need to be confirmed with the leasing office.

Welcome Book: Now published on our Online Concierge system is our new Welcome Book.  This book has all sorts of information about Cyan/PDX including building policies, important contact information and other useful information.

DIY Maintenance Tips: This section is for maintenance issues that you would like to take care of yourself instead of filling out a maintenance request.  As always, if you would like us to take care of that issue, we would be more than happy to do so as well.

Blue Team: The Blue Team is a collection of dedicated service providers willing to provide their specialty services on site.  Why go to them when they can come to you?  The Blue Team is comprised of: a Yoga Instructor and Personal Trainer provided by Benefitness PDX, Crissanne Davis an integrated wellness coach, cleaning services from Clean and Beyond, pet training and walking services from Reigning Pets NW,  Colleen Smith the masseuse and personal style services from The Studio PDX.  All of these services can be requested through the Online Concierge.

In addition to the new Online Concierge, Cyan/PDX launched our smart phone application where all of these features can be utilized through your phone. Just visit www.cyanpdx.com on your smart phone and the application will automatically pop up.

If you are not currently signed up for the Online Concierge, please e-mail Joe at Joe@cyanpdx.com and he will get you set up.

Join the Cyan/PDX this Thursday August, 19th at 6pm for music from the Bobby Torres Trio , food, and drinks.

Living in Portland, OR great beers are a dime a dozen.  With dozens of microbreweries in the city, finding a delicious craft beer isn’t hard to come by.  Now finding an organic craft beer is a bit more difficult.  Many breweries will have one or maybe two organic beers on tap for you to try.  But Hopworks Urban Brewery only serves organic beers in its taps.

Enjoy a variety of 6+ types of organic beers from HUB.  Whether it’s the lighter HUB Lager or the darker Survival Stout, HUB has an organic beer to satisfy everyone’s taste buds.

Organic beer brewing is not the only eco-friendly practice they employ at HUB.  In addition to the all natural ingredients, HUB implements many sustainable practices to make this establishment even more Green.  Some of these practices include: Using heat from the pizza over is collected and used to heat the brewing water, as much as the building material for interior and exterior is created from recycled material, their waste-recycling programs strive for zero waste, among many other features.

Stop by and enjoy the well crafter organic beer HUB has made for you.  HUB is located in South East at 2944 Southeast Powell Boulevard.

It’s no secret that some of the largest environmentalists are college students. So it should be no surprise that college campuses are leading the pack in sustainable practices.

Claire Thompson, a student at Northwestern University ranked the top 20 colleges to determine who was greenest. Some of the factors she considered was the building practices of the physical structures on campus, the sustainable programs that were being practiced at the college, green curriculum and waste disposal.

The University of Colorado ranked highest followed closely by University of Washington. THE Willamette University ranked 17th on this list but it is important to recognize that this list is based on Green practices, not pure awesomeness…

For the complete rankings and descriptions visit Claire Thompson’s article on the Grist.