Wednesday, August 30, 2006

B-day's galore!

8-30-06 Wow! In our first 3 weeks of business, we've had at least 4 or 5 b-day parties, another one today, and another one tomorrow! I think the word is getting out that a replacement for Chuck E Cheese is in town! LOL! Check out the following pictures of the 2 b-day parties we had last Sunday.

Josh Knowlton (son of GM Dr. Kim Knowlton and newphew of CEO Ernie) turned 9 on Aug. 27. He's the one standing while his friends are playing on the Cateye Gamebikes.

Kaitlyn was bound and determined to complete the bouldering wall.

Parents got involved, too! Here the are, challenged by the kids, doing a relay on the Sportwall.

You'd think that playing "Chef" on the Eye Toy was only for kids--wrong!

Because the multipurpose room where we will be having our parties at is not quite ready yet, we all crowded into the Cool Zone area.

Even the moms got into it, albeit the low tech way to have fun.

Here's the b-day boy's brother and cousin chomping on pizza!

The 2nd party which was right after Josh's party came in and also had a great time. Didn't get a lot of pictures of them becaus I was helping them play, but they had a similar experience with all the games.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

More new things in the Cool Zone!

8-24-06 The changes keep coming to the Cool Zone...check it out!

The new fridge arrived so Joel and Casey are setting it up.

Katie enjoys a nice cool drink from the new fridge. Great prices, too! And all healthy stuff, of course!!!

We were honored to have a living Legend visit the Zone, all the way from Bangkok, Thailand. This is Dr. Nithat Sirichotaratana, the leading smoking cessation expert and preventive care specialist in the Far East. He has worked with the Prime Minister and other high government officials, and has also worked with celebrity and other famous people in Thailand. Hence his name, "Legend". Besides working at the renowned Bangkok Adventist Hospital and running their live-in wellness resort, he is very interested in opening up a fitness center which will include a XRtainment Zone. He's been inviting me to come visit there...maybe this will be the impetus to do so! Here he is, sitting at one of our new tables in the Cool Zone.

The Cool Zone is THE place to sip a smoothie, read a book, pay your bills online with our wi-fi (or at our Internet station), watch one of the three 40-inch TVs (with Direct TV), or just hang out with friends. The Cool Zone is open to the general public like those waiting for their kids at Sylvan or waiting for the laundry next door.

Good friend Maria Cruz brought her kids over to check out the place, and it looks like mom is doing the playing! She did great on the Makoto...maybe she'll have to enter one of our XRGames competition in the Makoto.

Maria and the kids enjoyed it so much that she signed 2 of them up! I'm sure the 3rd will start coming over to play, too. (Right Danny?!) Parents of members get a special day pass--only $8! (vs $15 for a day pass).

While Maria & family and Dr. Sirichotaratana were there, in comes Dr. Steve Wilson, of "In Your Best Interest", a clinic located in Redlands. He is a bariatrician (weight loss expert) so he quickly grasped the value of the Zone. After giving him the tour, he went back home, picked up his two kids and mother-in-law, and while they were busy playing, he signed them both up! He also picked up our Rx pads and said he had patients he could refer who need this kind of service. Thanks for your support, Dr. Wilson!

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

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Sunday, August 20, 2006

Visit from Dr. Nutripoints!

8-20-06 Today (Sun) was quite busy, not only because it was my (Ernie) first time to work at opening till closing and learning how to do the front desk stuff (thx to Alicia and GM Kim for tutoring me!), but we had a steady influx of people coming in throughout the day.

Besides all of our day users, charter members, a visiting pediatrician (Dr. Ponce), and some VIPs (The Handyside family), Dr. Roy Vartabedian and his family (Dr. Renee and 5 y/o son, Alex) visited us all the way from Carlsbad. Dr. Vartabedian is the creater of the top nutrition program, Nutripoints. This is a book we use both at Beaver Medical Group and at the Zone. It not only helps you to portion control, but gives you one number that rates a particular food, so you can know what the nutritional value is for the calorie buck.

Drs. Roy and Renee watch as son Alex gives them a lesson on how to do the 3Kick.

Renee, who is into ballroom dancing, gives DDR a try. She caught on very quickly!

Dr. Nutripoints himself gives Makoto a try while son Alex watches him.

One of our most consistent charter members, Samuel, does battle on the DDR with Jake. Can you guess who won?

Speaking of charter members, be sure to tell your friends that the window to be a charter member will close Sept. 1, so if they want to get those benefits, sign up today!

Friday, August 18, 2006

Kitchen getting installed

8-18-06 Now that we are open, we are able to focus on the kitchen in the multipurpose room. This room will be used for multiple purposes (hence it's name, multipurpose room). Besides classes that will appeal to the non-gamer such as yoga (which will help me kick the top pads on the 3kick), pilates (which will help me on the powergrid and bouldering wall), and self-defense (help me when we're closing up late at night), we will be holding our nutrition, cooking demonstrations, and wellness classes such as our Family Fit Zone class (read more about these classes on our website). This will be where we'll also hold our free MPower Zone classes for the community.

Here the "Boyz of XRTZ" Cam, Josh, Jake, and Javan, pose as they kitchen begins to take shape.

Here again, the BOXRTZ pose in front of the new blinds so that the yoga classes will have some privacy.

Out front, some potted plants in water-filled containers (they weigh over 300 lbs!) adorn the front entrance of the Zone. In the glass, you can see the new blinds that were just installed.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Interns do have fun!

8-16-06: Interning in the healthcare field never has been this fun! How many healthcare internships can you say that you got to lay video games as part of your internship? And yet, that is what they are supposed to do, so they can better instruct and relate to their kid patients who play the game.

Here we have 3 generation of interns: Alicia (black polo) was a recent CSUSB intern; Denise (other girl on DDR) is still an intern with us from LLU; and John, standing behind, will be an intern soon.

Denise gets some big air!

If you're a student interested in interning at XRtainment Zone, contact Dr. Ernie Medina to set up an appointment. (909-747-5935).

Another Open House!

8-16-06: Another successful Open House tonight! This one was specifically for healthcare professionals (docs, NPs) and public health nutritionists. They also brought their kids so they could try out all the games and give their parents feedback. We wanted our local healthcare folks to experience exertainment firsthand so when they're talking to that parent with a child who needs to exercise or learn how to eat right, they'll think of XRtainment Zone as the place to refer them too!

GM Dr. Knowlton was there to welcome our invited guests with a packet of information about our services. Included in that packet was a prescription pad for the doc to give his patients on the various services available to them. (They also get a 15% discount if they bring in that prescription!)

Corey explains things to Dr. Phillips and his son while the grandkids play on the Xavix games.

Family members crash and burn on the car racing game.

Mom isn't quite brave enough to try the DDR on the real pad with her daughter.

Dr. Dixon (peds, Beaver Medical Group) gives it her best shot on the Jackie Chan run while Dr. Klein (neurology, BMG) looks on.

Corey gives a tour and explains the Makoto here.

Having heard Corey's instruction, Angie feels that by closing her eyes she can be more in tune with "the force", resulting in a higher score.

SB Sun reporter Matthew (right) and a photographer were out doing interviews and taking pictures. Watch for it in next Friday's newspaper.

"Watch out kids! Big kid coming through!".

Dr. Sue Gengler, of IEHP, gives the wall a try. She started out on the green route (easiest) but quickly started grabbing any color.

The Xavix station was busy most of the night.

Joel explains how the dome speakers work overhead to some prospective members.

And so ends our first week of officially being open for business.

How to become a member

8-15-06 Throughtout our first week of being open, we've had people signing up families as charter members. Here's what they go through:

A new member first establishes their account by getting their index finger scanned 3 times. This is how they will check in--no bar code cards to lose!

Next, their picture is taken with the Eye Toy.

Finally, a staff person verifies their account. When a member checks in with their finger scan, their picture and account will show up on the computer screen. It's our staff's goal to learn every single member by name!

Donna strikes her warrior pose before starting a Makoto game.

Stressed out? Don't take it out on the kids or hubby, take it out on the 3kick!

1st official B-day party

8-15-06: Ryan Edelbach (white t-shirt, in back) was the first one to have his b-day party during the first week that we were open. His friends from school had a chance to play on all the games. Happy B-day Ryan!

Ryan thinks, "Cool logo on my cake!"

Mom Janet, who's not too sure about the video games, sticks to something more familiar and low tech.

They were all like spidermen on the wall.

These guys weren't shy about trying out DDR.

Practicing his Jedi knight moves.

Leave it to the guys to figure out how to cheat playing the sportwall!

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

End of the 1st day...

8-9-06; 9:15 PM PST As the sun sets, and the racoons come out (2 big ones, right near the entrance to the Zone), so ends the first official day of XRtainment Zone. The end of day report said there was a steady stream of people coming in & checking it out, signing up, putting down deposits for b-day parties, and of course, working out. All in all, a good first day. Here's a shot of Alicia, Joel, and Cameron closing down the register for the evening. Way to go, team!