Dear friends of Substantiv,

I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing holiday season...and didn't break your new years' resolutions on January 1 like I did ;)

This month marks the half-birthday of Substantiv, and we've been very busy! Here are a few of the projects we have been working on...

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The American Council on Education's "toolkit" for higher education advocacy. This has been a very exciting cause to be involved in, and we have gotten to work with some great people. An early comp for the interactive version is here:
http://substantiv.com/ace.jpg

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We're doing extensive production work for the site redesign that Fluke Networks (http://www.flukenetworks.com/) is launching this spring. I was a full-time employee at Fluke--back when I lived in Seattle about seven years ago--and it's been fun to work for my former co-workers again.

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And we've just submitted a proposal to Families Against Mandatory Minimums. It's for a complete redesign of their website (http://famm.org/)-- another great cause with which we would love to be involved.

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Of course the most exciting news to come out of of 2005 is that Substantiv now has an official mascot:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leenie/sets/1324186/
Sawyer is a 2-year-old mutt rescued from the Norfolk city shelter. His hobbies include chewing, wrestling, and hiding shoes. When we're trying to seem literary, we say he's named for "Tom Sawyer"...though occasionally we'll admit his name is more likely inspired by the hot guy on "LOST."

Wishing each of you a happy and healthy 2006,

Eileen