Because of the nature of this blog, I am legally required to add in a Surgeon General’s warning. Rather than enticing you with the good stuff, only to later overwhelm you with the thousands of awful possible side effects resulting from reading these next few paragraphs, I am going to right now quickly review how your life may be changed once this blog pill is taken.

Short term side effects include fainting, excessive sweating, tingling of the hands or feet, mood changes i.e. gappiness happiness or excitement, daydreaming, an overwhelming desire to tell your friends and family to read this blog, revamping your resume to apply to work at gap intelligence.  Long term side effects include repeating the short terms side effects over and over and over and over and over and over…***

OK, now that that’s out of the way, here it goes.

SPOILER ALERT.

gap intelligence is awesome.

2011 has proved thus far to be a pretty fun year in the world o’ gap. I suppose I should start with the obvious. Since you are reading this blog, you are on www.gapintelligence.com, which is our new website! I implore you to peruse around, read up on what gap has to offer, check out our tweets and Flickr photos, and just make yourself at home. The site is left justified on purpose (so fun! so unique! so gap!), so no need to email info@gapintelligence.com to tell us that which was planned. We’re gap. We’re market intelligence made easy.

Those short terms affects are already starting to kick in right? Just you wait!

Moving on! Literally. We recently moved offices from downtown to Point Loma. We are now located in a newly renovated waterfront community called Liberty Station. For all the history buffs, Liberty Station was a formal Naval Training Center built in 1921 that served as a vital part of the military for over 70 years. The Navy closed the training center in 1997 and a decision was later made to turn the historic grounds into a mixed-use community. Over the next few years, many of the buildings were preserved and restored…yadda, yadda, fast forward a few years…gap intelligence moves in! New office for gap! Yahtzee!

So what goes on in this new office of ours you wonder? Read on my friend, read on.

As with any office, gap intelligence has its nerds and jocks. Social butterflies and a mama’s boy.  And a place where all the good gossip goes down, aka the water cooler.  If you are visiting and offered water, I would recommend asking if you could fill your glass yourself, just in case the time is right and you are able to eavesdrop on a water cooler ‘oh no she didn’t’ moment.

Beyond the water cooler exists a giant calendar, which leads me into two super important additions we have recently made at gap intelligence (drumroll please!), the first being gapUniversity and the second being gapCon! Woop! There is a ton behind each of these projects, but a quick overview for them will happen now. Go! In a nutshell, gapUniversity is a way for us to learn and grow as employees, while having fun along the way. We have classes every two weeks and you can enroll at any time, please send your applications to DeanHukey. Our athletic department recently signed us up for beach volleyball and we’ve got other sports teams in the works so we’re well on our way to NCAA championship. VCU ain’t got nothin’ on this Cinderella story.On to gapCon.  gapCon is “a bad ass event that encourages professional growth through shared learning and opening our culture to the outside world.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.  There will be speakers, presentations, videos, power points – all the wonderful things about a convention. Hey, there may even be a circus act.  If you are interested in attending gapCon, the event will take place on May 6, 2011 from 11am-4pm at our new Liberty Station headquarters (reread the above paragraph for more info on the new office). Please RSVP to jfishman@gapintelligence.com if you would like to come!

Hold please, water cooler break.

Annnnd back! What’s that you ask? Oh, no nothing good at the water cooler this time. But I have some more goods to fill you in on.

Next up, the 3 Ts.  T as in Time. T as in Treasure. And T as in Talent!  gap intelligence is excited to announce a recent partnership with Habitat for Humanity. As a values-led corporation, gap intelligence recognizes the central role that business plays in our community.  gap intelligence has previously volunteered with a number of organizations and in 2011 we will also be donating our time, treasures, and talents to Habitat for Humanity. We are super excited to work with Habitat and look forward to fundraising and participating in builds and any other ways that we can volunteer. If you would like more information on Habitat for Humanity, check out its San Diego site.

As you can see, 2011 has thus far been super duper for gap intelligence. And now you have the inside scoop. And guess what?! There’s more to come!!

Coming up in the next few weeks is the launch of our new Data Center. April 15 to be exact.

This new Data Center is gonna rock your world. We’ve combined the elements of the old data center that you love with a whole lotta new features including, but not limited to:

  • Individual login system so that you can tailor exactly what information you will receive and how often (PERSONALIZATIONTASTIC!)

  • An information cart system to download and share reports (WOW!)

  • Printable market intelligence reports (HOLY TOLEDO!)

  • Securely post and share private comments about Market Intelligence reports with colleagues within your same organization (YESSSSS!)

  • Weekly circular ad images (PHOTOTABULOUS!)

  • Expanded search capabilities (YIPPEE!)

So gear up and get ready for the new Data Center. And head to www.dcv3.com for more information on the new system.

Unfortunately, my blog time is up so I must go gossip at the water cooler back to work. But that about sums up the goings on and happenings here at gap. Pretty cool, eh?

***Please note – some side effects for the reading of this blog may not be reported. Always consult your doctor or healthcare specialist for medical advice. You may also report side effects to gap at https://gapintelligence.com or 1-619-574-1100.