Round Rock Express Game 2010
Living Direct's annual baseball outing took place this week at the Dell Diamond in Round Rock and it could not have a been a more perfect evening for the event; the sun was shining, the sky was blue, the hamburgers were deliciously greasy and the beer was cold. Year after year the outing provides employees with a casual forum to get to know their co-workers from other departments within the company. Employees and their families congregated in the Texas Party Suite, enjoying the opportunity to meet one another's spouses, rugrats and friends. Once the sun set and temperatures subsided, it was out to the box seats to cheer on the Round Rock Express team to their 11-7 victory over the Sacramento River Cats. The game was much more exciting than anticipated, and although our accountant Kelly was almost nailed by a line drive, we all escaped unscathed and only slightly tipsy. Then again, I left before the chugging contests started (see evidence below).
All in all, it was an evening of camaraderie that many employees of other companies are not lucky enough to experience. Thanks to all for coming out and a special thanks to Rick for making the event possible.
Forward March…Sending Matthew Off With a Bang!
As Matthew's time here at Living Direct wraps up, we found it appropriate to celebrate all of his accomplishments and future aspirations with a little noise. Matthew has been a great resource here in the office for the past three months: writing press releases, conducted pricing analyses and building the company's nano sites such as AirPurifierPro.com and PortableIceMaker.com. However, he is taking his abilities to a local Austin High School where he will teach marching band throughout the fall season. Here's a little known fact about our friend Matthew: he was his high school's drum major! So THAT'S where he got his leadership skills.
As sad as we are to see him go, we had to send him off properly. A parking lot procession and trip to Mann's BBQ was in store. We equipped ourselves with "instruments'" and in true marching band fashion, constructed a (semi) straight line. At Matt's command we paraded around the parking lot paying homage to our departing conductor.
Matt, we wish you luck in all you do and appreciate the hard work you put in here at Living Direct. We salute you!
April Fool’s Day
A strange package arrived addressed to Jason Roussos (President of Living Direct) on Wednesday, April 1. Here's what he found upon opening it:
What's the best office prank you've ever seen?
Keepin’ It Classy
It's time to play catch up on some events that should have been written about awhile ago.
Coming to work day after day can get monotonous in any office, if you let it. So we do our best to shake things up from time to time at Living Direct. Back in November, or Movember as we were calling it, the weather was finally getting chilly enough here in Texas for people to start wearing jackets and coats.
On one Thursday, blazers began appearing.
And on that day it was declared the following Thursday would be known as Blazer Thurzday. And everyone, men and women, would be asked to participate by donning a blazer. As part of the festivities, we held a “Blaze-In” during the lunch hour at a nearby restaurant.
And it even included a guest appearance by one of the office little ones.
More recently, we held "Tie Friday." While most offices like to keep Fridays casual, we've always preferred to be a little more unique. Some kept to their usual Friday attire and simply added a tie, while others dressed to the nines. Many of the ties were actually provided by the ladies of the office and had been screenprinted with designs.
Also, check out the bandages on our arms. Tie Friday also happened to be the day of our blood drive. We were able to reach our goal of 2 gallons! So it was a very successful day, indeed.
Spinning Muppets Add a Little Danger & Excitement to the Office
With Office Offspring Numbers Projected to Rise Again in 2010
There have been many new additions to our extended employee family over the last couple of years. By my informal count, there have been at least seven (7) office babies born since 2008, with that number expected to rise in 2010. The recent increase in productivity makes for hearty office family gatherings (such as our company trip to the Dell Diamond last Summer), and also means young children sightings have been steadily on the rise. For instance, yesterday I had the pleasure of spending the lunch hour with my toddler son while Mommy was at the dentist.
There were plenty of things for me to keep my son and his inseparable counterpart, Tickle Me Elmo Extreme, entertained after we finished eating our lunches. Some of the fun office toys we found included:
- Leftover birthday Play-Doh
- Dry erase markers (which I hope are machine washable for my pants' sake)
- A novelty-sized fortune cookie found under Kathy's desk
- The overstuffed Danby mini fridge in the marketing department
- A miniature replica of the Ecto 1 from Ghostbusters
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- Executive lunch with Elmo
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- Novelty sized fortune cookie
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- Ready to draw
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- Mini Ghostbusters Car
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- Whiteboard Elmo
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- Elmo spinning is dangerous business!
His favorite toy of all? The swivel desk chairs in the conference room. We hid out in there for much of the lunch break so as not to disturb our office friends. I think we went relatively unnoticed except for two incidents where a head was bonked while trying to spin Elmo in the executive chair. However, some briefly intense sobbing and a few crocodile tears later, we were back in business as you can see here:
[I didn't realize the phone's camera was still recording!]
The boy and I had a grand old time. Hopefully, it was an unobtrusive and mildly amusing deviation to the lunchtime routine for everyone else in the office.
Happy Friday,
Aaron
p.s. I am shocked to discover that internet retailers are asking $100 for their remaining inventory of this robotic laughing muppet from 2006.
Play-Doh Birthday Sculptures for Florent
Another unusual way we celebrate office birthdays...
Every month we have birthday cookies to honor our comrades in the office, and many times, we do something a little extra special to celebrate, usually odd things, like hand-drawn birthday cards or wearing colored shirts that match a birthday boy or girl's last name.
This week some humans in the office commemorated Florent's "Annual Creation Date Checkpoint" (the robot equivalent of a "birthday") by creating Play-Doh sculptures to decorate his cubicle, err, docking station.
Microsoft Excel Terminator
You see, Florent is believed to be a humanoid robot built in France 25 years ago. Many speculate that engineers designed him to be a Microsoft Excel Terminator, but like Skynet, he became self-aware and downloaded other programs that make him a lethal adversary in competitive activities such as: Pool, Golf, Ping Pong and Swing Dancing.
However, any similarities to the Terminator end there as Florent is a very affable and lovable French robot. Everyone in the office feels fortunate to have him crunching numbers on our team, and moreover, happy to count him as a friend.
Happy Annual Creation Date Checkpoint, Florent!
About CompactAppliance.com
CompactAppliance.com is a division of Living Direct, Inc., a family owned and operated business established 1999 in Austin, Texas. Compact Appliance was created to provide solutions for people in search of space-saving appliances and specialty home goods. Over the past 10 years, the company has grown to become one of the top 500 internet retailers in the U.S. by providing superior customer service, quality products and a simple shopping experience.
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Compact Appliance on Twitter
- Happy Labor Day Weekend! Save an extra $10 off any Full-Size Kegerator on Kegerator.com with coupon code 10KEGSEP! http://bit.ly/95U7cV
- Do you have a blog where you write reviews? We're looking for people to review kegerators, ice makers & wine coolers! DM for more details.
- EdgeStar 5 Liter Mini Keg Beer Dispenser | Gear Patrol http://bit.ly/c6cO2Y
- Gear up for Football Season: Kegerators, college-logo beer coolers, even a grill shaped like a football & more! http://j.mp/ftbllssn
- I'd say so! @angieahrens Does filling a keg for our #kegerator, purchased from you count? :) @OfficialCA Got any big plans for the weekend?
Living Direct on Twitter
- Mmm. We have birthday cookies in the office today from @tiffstreats. The smell is making it hard to eat just one! ^CW
- Football season is finally starting! Who did you cheer for last night? We were conflicted here as Cowboys & Longhorns fans.
- Lucky Customer Wins Backyard Makeover from Internet Retailer, LivingDirect.com http://shar.es/0nN0I
- Our Pres/COO, Jason Roussos, will be speaking on a panel at eTail East on assessing keys to growth. Don't miss it! http://bit.ly/9NHWoc
- New Blog Post: The WINNER of our 2010 Outdoor Entertaining Giveaway is... http://bit.ly/dpsCct ^CW