Mosaic at Mueller’s Proud Achievement

You might notice some particularly big grins on our faces in the office today.

That’s because Mosaic at Mueller was named Property of the Year in our category by the Austin Apartment Association.

We were up against ten other excellent Austin apartment communities. But it wasn’t just a popularity contest. All the nominees received an up close inspection by a team of industry experts. But also, a secret team of judges also made anonymous visits to all the communities to request tours.

We are extremely proud of this achievement. But it just means that we’ll have to work even harder so that the 2011 trophy will be ours, too.

So, let’s get started. How can we make Mosaic at Mueller an even better place to live?

Thank you for living at Mosaic at Mueller. We have the best residents in the world.

Free Music Download: Almost as Good as Being at Bonnoroo

We all know that Austin is the center of the music universe. We have SXSW and the Austin City Limits Festival every year.

But you have to give credit to the organizers of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. It just might be the biggest and bestest music festival in the country. It’s huge. And it always has a terrific, eclectic line up of bands to see.

It’s happening this weekend in Manchester, Tennessee. Unfortunately, I’m not going, and apparently neither are you.

Too bad. But there is a nice little consolation prize for us. National Public Radio is offering a free sampler of songs from performers scheduled for this year’s Bonnaroo.

Yes. It’s free. If you don’t already have an iTunes account, you’ll have to register for one in order to download. But other than that, there are no strings attached.

It’s eleven tracks by eleven excellent bands that are among the up-and-comers of the festival, including The Black Keys, Ozomatli,  The Dodos, and others. Don’t worry if you don’t know these bands. I’m reasonably hip, and I only knew two of the artists on the list. The music is all at the very least interesting, and it’s FREE. You have nothing to lose but a few minutes of bandwidth.

NPR’s Bonnaroo music sampler will be available for download through July 31. Click –> here <– to go to the relevant NPR web page.

(Photo: Some rights reserved, Amy L. Riddle)

Have a Great Memorial Day Weekend

We wish to congratulate everyone on making through one of the longer stretches in the American calendar without a three-day weekend. We hope you’ll be able to spend some down time the next few days doing something you like, even if it’s just remaining horizontal on the sofa.

But we invite you to take a moment this weekend to think about the terrible sacrifices made by our servicemen and women– and their families– to protect our country. We are grateful to everyone in the armed services, past and present.

Have a lovely Memorial Day weekend, Mosaic at Mueller.

(Photo: Some rights reserved, Marvin Kuo)

Take Our Poll: What Should We Do This Summer?

Hey, Mosaics! We’re making plans for fun activities for the residents this summer.

We’d like to know what you’d like to do.

We have a poll of some suggested activities– live music in the courtyards is currently getting the most votes. But how about a pool party? A BBQ contest?

If you haven’t already, please vote. The poll is on the blog, over on the right side.

We’re holding it open for just a couple more days, so don’t delay!

And, as always, thanks for living at Mosaic at Mueller. We’re pleased to have you in the community.

(Image: Some rights reserved, Peter Dutton)

What You Need to Know About Changes at Facebook

We all use Facebook. Mosaic at Mueller has a page (which we’d love for you to befriend!), and you most likely have your own profile page for networking, keeping up with far flung friends and perhaps killing time at the office playing Scrabble.

But as Facebook’s reach expands, so do concerns over privacy.

Facebook has some new features that appear both on, and off the site.

We’re not taking any position one way or the other, but we thought you’d be interested in a couple of articles about how the recent changes at Facebook might affect you.

CNN.com has an informative rundown of how Facebook– and maybe your profile pic– is showing up all over the Internet.

And Gawker tells you how to tighten up the privacy of your profile… and what you’d be giving up if you do.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some crops to harvest in Farmville.

(Image: Some rights reserved, oleg1975)

Join Us on Earth Day to Celebrate Our 3-Star Green Building Rating

Tomorrow is Earth Day– the annual day of celebration and discussion of the importance of protecting our environment.

This is an good time to celebrate something we’re very proud of here at Mosaic at Mueller. We’ve just been awarded a 3-star Green Building Rating from Austin Energy Green Building– one of America’s premiere green building programs. This recognizes the hard work we’ve done to ensure that our apartment homes are energy, water and resource efficient.

And, to celebrate this, and to celebrate Earth Day, of course, join us Thursday at 6pm in the SoCo courtyard. We’ll be giving out free flowers and herbs, and we’ll be serving food and beverages. We’d love to see you there. And thank you for living at Mosaic at Mueller!

What Would You Like to Do?: Take Our Poll

Hey friends at Mosaic, we’ve been wondering. What kind of stuff would you like us to organize for you? We have some ideas for some fun activities, and we’d like to know what you think.

We’ve set up a poll on this blog with some of the ideas. Please take a look at vote for your top three choices. And please feel free to stop by the office if you have other ideas.

We’ll leave the poll open until through May 15.

And, as always, thank you for making Mosaic at Mueller your home. We’re pleased to have you here!

Peppie Wins!

Congratulations to Peppie for winning our Mosaic at Mueller Cutest Pet Contest. Peppie’s roommate Ricardo Gonzalez must be proud.

He took the title with 43% of the vote.

Woofus was a close second with a third of the votes cast.

We had 275 votes in total. Thank you to everyone who voted!

Here’s How to Help Someone in Our Community

The granddaughter of Mosaic at Mueller resident Rosemary Moore is going through a tough time right now, and we’d like to tell you a terrific– and slightly unusual– way you can help ease her family’s burden a bit and do something good for the community.

Ten-year-old Georgia has leukemia and needs frequent blood transfusions . Blood donations are critical to keeping an adequate blood supply for Georgia and other leukemia patients.

Georgia’s aunt is organizing a blood drive at her home in Austin. The blood donation truck will pull up to her house on May 2. Georgia’s family is hoping for at least 18 donors. In addition to helping resupply the blood Georgia is using, Blood Center of Central Texas will donate $10 to the family for medical expenses for each donation that day.

To donate you need to sign up for an appointment at this website: www.inyourhandsonline.org.  Select the Donate Blood tab on the right, and then enter the Sponsor Code, which is: georgiamoore.

If you plan to donate, please make an appointment between noon and 2pm on the website.  If we fill up all of those slots, we will keep extending the party! Let’s keeping it going all day!

Georgia’s aunt lives at 4613 Cedar Point Dr. [near Manor and 51st]
Austin, TX 78723. That’s where all the good stuff will happen.

It’s a wonderful thing to do for someone in our community. Thank you!

(Image: Some rights reserved, daniel zimmel)

Letter Z to be Dropped from Alphabet

For most of my adult life, I’ve made my living as a writer or editor. I’m kind of a grammar and lexicon nerd, actually. (The fact that I used the word lexicon would be a big clue.)

That’s why I keep up with language news. Most of the time it’s just reports on arcane language research, or deep discussion on very obscure points of grammar.

But today there is news that I find shocking and will affect us all.

It seems that The English Language Central Commission announced today, April 1, that the letter Z is being dropped from the English alphabet.

Read the news report, and if your name starts with Z, you might want to order new business cards.

(Image: Some rights reserved, Tambako  The Jaguar)

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