Kindness and Generosity at Red Robin

Posted by Adron on Oct 24, 2009 in Business, Life & Times, Reviews | 0 comments

This afternoon, my wife (@wendybuske) and I were dining with my sister, Cathy, and her husband, Jack, at the Red Robin restaurant in Edwardsville, IL. We don’t often get a chance to see Jack and Cathy outside of holiday gatherings, and they don’t get a chance to escape from our hometown very often.

We were celebrating Jack’s 25th year of living with a kidney transplant (he is the longest living kidney transplant survivor in America). They don’t dine out often, so we thought a burger place with a fun twist would be a good destination. Our server, Gentry (cool name!), asked if we were celebrating an occasion, so we told her about Jack.

EcoLifeSTL – St. Louis’ new Green Lifestyle Web Portal

Posted by Adron on Oct 18, 2009 in Business, Design, Web & Internet | 1 comment

Back in July, Emmis Communications launched a new Environmentally-mined lifestyle website – EcoLifeSTL.com. The mission statement:

EcoLifeSTL.com is a Green-lifestyle portal focused on promoting sustainability and environmental awareness in the St. Louis community. Our aim is to bring the green-lifestyle message to both the average consumer – new to eco commitment and wanting to learn, and to aid and connect those actively pursuing a sustainable lifestyle. As a gathering place for green-minded individuals, companies and organizations, we facilitate connection, education and cooperation in St. Louis’ eco-lifestyle.

EcoLife is Emmis St. Louis’ first truly web-only brand (the general focus usually being radio stations and their online brand-extensions). The Emmis team perceived that while the Green movement is alive in the StL, and there are many small sites addressing various sustainable businesses and topics, there wasn’t a hub – a natural starting place for the St. Louisan looking to go Green. So that’s what we set out to create.

Carts Gone Wild

Posted by Adron on Oct 18, 2009 in Life & Times, Writing | 0 comments

This article was originally published a few years ago as a guest column in the Edwardsville Intelligencer’s “Edge” weekend insert.

The savage beast.

There is a creature unique to the bounds of civilization, growing overpopulated and more prevalent. It inconveniences us, endangers our vehicles and, perhaps worst of all, takes up all the good parking spaces. It affects all but the most dedicated e-commerce consumer, and it’s an epidemic of our own making: shopping cart abandonment.