Can It Be Summer Forever?

Excitement filled the air as contenders of the first-ever “FUSION Feud” approached the buzzer table. While the game was to guess the most popular answers to trivial survey questions, the real battle was around who will be crowned the winner in this week’s summer office activity.

Over the summer, the  FUSION OF IDEAS team enjoyed “Summer Fridays,” where each week was a new mini-event or a friendly competition. From Pancake Breakfast and Lunchtime Yoga to Aloha Day, the team got to participate in a variety of mid-day events to break up the 8-to-5 grind.

Take a look at some of the highlights:

Chandran, shipping and fulfillment manager, cooks up egg scrambles at our Brunch Buffet.
Chandran, shipping and fulfillment manager, cooks up egg scrambles at our Brunch Buffet.
Chris, production manager, whips up delicious waffles using homemade batter.
Chris, production manager, whips up delicious waffles using homemade batter.
Hungry employees line up to gather their favorite ingredients at the Brunch Buffet.
Hungry employees line up to gather their favorite ingredients at the Brunch Buffet.
Employees taking a mid-day break to stretch it out at Lunchtime Yoga.
Employees taking a mid-day break to stretch it out at Lunchtime Yoga.
Contestants line up for our first-ever "FUSION Feud."
Contestants line up for the company’s first-ever “FUSION Feud.”
Our iOS and Android developers battle it out as they guessed the most popular answers to survey questions.
Our iOS and Android developers battle it out as they guessed the most popular answers to survey questions.
Tropical goodies take over the break room on Aloha Day.
Tropical goodies take over the break room on Aloha Day.

Fusion 2018 Softball Season Comes To A Close

By Jennifer Fujimori

If there’s one thing that unites all of us here at Fusion of Ideas, it’s good, healthy competition. Over the years, we’ve held countless games and competitions at our office in Lake Forest, and occasionally offsite. To name just a few: Mario Kart, foosball, Guitar Hero, golf, scavenger hunts, escape rooms, ping pong, Pogs (remember Pogs?), and our annual Office Olympics, which consists of seven separate competitive events. Take any activity, pit teams or individuals against each other, and you have a successful Fusion event.

So it should come as no surprise that a few years ago, many of our team members were hungry for more. Waivers were signed, a roster was assembled, and in 2014, the Fusion of Ideas team played its debut season of softball with the Irvine Athletic Department. To put it mildly, the competition was a bit tougher than anticipated. But our team soldiered on, savoring even the faintest taste of victory each time we reached a base, scored a run, or fielded a hard-hit grounder. “It’s rough out there,” said Director of Operations and starting pitcher Andrew Nielson. “Somehow, our opponents have been able to hit right through the gaps in our defense. We’ve been working on finding the right configuration of outfielders, tightening up our infield, making the easy outs on defense in general, and having more productive at-bats on offense.” When asked whether he’s optimistic for improvement in future seasons, Nielson said he was still hopeful.

You probably can’t help but think of the obvious parallels between this scrappy team and the 2002 Oakland Athletics in the movie Moneyball. Piecing together runs using a sabermetrics approach, as illustrated in the movie, has proven much more successful for Fusion than swinging for the fences. It takes patience and experience to recognize that bases on balls, smart base-running and well placed soft hits can be highly effective at manufacturing runs and creating momentum. But even this approach takes time to cultivate. The Fusion of Ideas softball team recently completed its fifth season. There were highs and lows, great games and not-so-great games, but never an absence of good sportsmanship and fun (for the most part). Everyone loves an underdog, and our team plays that role to a T. Here’s hoping the 2019 season is our best one yet.

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