My second family at Hydra Studio and I have moved our office. We’ve got our own floor in the Fidelity Federal Bldg off of Court Ave in Downtown Orlando. This ends the roommate style relationship we’ve had with Push for a while. The new place is awesome, even though we’ve got a few things to button up.
We’ve shared space with Push for 18 months now. We love those folks. They’re an amazing bunch of people, who I’m pretty stoked to call friends now. Friendship aside however, it was time we had our own space, to *push* our own identity. Hopefully we’ll all still see each other at Lizzy’s. Our new office _is_ right there anyways …
All of the team spent a hell of a lot of time preparing the new office into something we could call home. When we got the space, it was setup for a construction company. I guess that’s a bit ironic for me, but it plain sucks for everyone else. So, we all worked our asses off to remove carpet, paint, clean, and do a million other things to make the office into something that begins to represent Hydra, the raddest digital agency in the world.
The whole process was a little cliche of the things you’d expect from working your balls off after a full day’s worth of regular work with co-workers. I have a bit more respect for everyone, and I definitely care a smidgeon more about everyone there. I know it sounds like a load of crap, but everyone really gave it their all, and I couldn’t be more proud of what all of us have been able to pull off.
The move definitely had it’s perils though. I had to dodge insane traffic to pick up equipment I dropped in the middle of 50 during rush hour. We destroyed some walls we had to put back. More than a few nerves were a little frayed from the tremendous amount of work we had to do.
I know I’m gonna get some shit for this: Regardless, of everyone who stands out in this whole process, Bobby Jones is definitely the man. Bobby is undoubtedly the best employer I’ve ever known. During the entire transition between offices, Bobby probably worked 80 to 100 hours on the new office. He poured himself into making the transition relatively smooth, and keeping the rest of us motivated while we helped realize his vision. The sort of stress he must have been under is impressive. What’s more impressive, is how calm and collected he remained throughout the affair. Ask Rob and Parker how many times Bobby took the late workers out to IHOP at 5:00am to feed the most dedicated of folks. I’ll probably follow up my ‘Folks that mean shit to me’ lineup with Bobby next (even if it does give me a brown nose).
Anyways, a mega-huge thanks to everyone at Hydra for working your asses off doing shit you didn’t know how to do, but did it anyways. I’m honored to call all of you my coworkers, and more honored to call all of you, my friends. I’ve worked with some of the toughest people in the world. I’d trade every one of them for you guys, you’re all the best.