August 5th, 2011. Today is the end of our two month long ping pong tournament. After a grueling fight to the finish, our very own Jeff Meadows prevailed!

I started our first table tennis tournament here at Living Direct, Inc. and right off the bat, our employees placed a huge interest in it. With sixteen players signing up, I knew I had my work cut out. I wanted this to be perfect.
I setup the matches to include a double elimination scheme and allowed everyone to play at their own leisure. The competitors could check the scores daily and see who they were to compete with next.

Originally, I had purchased a custom made trophy with the engravings [Living Direct –Ping Pong Tournament 1st Place] but that wasn’t enough. Thanks to the company, a brand new APPLE IPAD 2 was donated, and that quickly gave everybody a new game face to display.

Players battled one by one - before, after and even during work. Matches were intense lasting 20-30 minutes sometimes. The games were very unpredictable and exciting to say the least.

Sadly, THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE.

Congratulations Jeff Meadows!

The winner for 2010 was Rudy Cantu.

Rudy is the Customer Service Manager in the call center and one of the biggest personalities in the company. It was a well-deserved win that sent Rudy and some friends on a trip to Costa Rica. He recently returned from his trip and had this to share:

Hello All,

I am happy to report that I am back from a week off in Costa Rica. It was a great time. I want to thank Mr. Rick Lundbom for allowing this trip to happen. It is a great feeling to know I work for a company, a person, who appreciates his employees input. I also want to thank everyone who voted in last year's employee surveys. You guys rock! On my trip, I was asked several times what I did for a living. I explained my position then what our organization does as a whole and in the end I made sure I explained how I was able to sit next to them. Almost every time I explained this I was asked again, "What was the name of the company you work for?" My response was always, "Living Direct. When you have a chance, visit the site. Our phone reps are open 8-5 Central time, Mon-Fri, but of course we are always open 24 hours online." Sell it! Again, I want to thank everyone for the great time.

Below are some of the things I learned and re-learned in my adventures:

1. Don't be alarmed if your hotel room does not have an AC system. This is a good sign you may need to call downstairs for another blanket.
2. When your hotel window is overlooking a plaza that has had a live band playing all day, it is likely there will be a band playing all night. If you can't beat them, join them!
3. Tip your hotel baggage/bartender/gate keeper well. They are gold when needed.
4. Nasal strips will keep you from killing your roommate.
5. Free breakfast is GREAT.
6. Buy a Hyundai Santa Fe -- Gas is great and they shift well on a winding mountain road with no rail and no bottom to be seen. I promise you will feel safe.
7. If the speed limit is 60 kilometers - drive 60 kilometers! Every cop is an Eliot Ness.
8. Walking in a bar speaking the local language will save you 20 to 30% on your drinks. Locals can sniff new cash.
9. Avoid telling successful NY realtors they talk too much. They are subject to cry.
10. Do not drink a lot and walk downhill. Or is that uphill? Doesn't matter, the results are the same.
11. Taking two cabs is always an option.
12. Hot springs will make your swimming shorts smell the next day. Not a good idea to leave them in your car for 24 hours on a hot day.
13. Killing your fellow traveler for leaving their smelly hot spring shorts in the car 24 hours on a hot day is considered a crime. I checked.

The locals have a saying "Puro Vida." By definition it means "Pure Life." This is used as a greeting as well as a farewell. I figured it not only means to live a good life, but also to live your life. So to my Living Direct peeps I say..."Puro Vida!"

Check out the photos from Rudy's trip:

Congratulations again, Rudy!

Located in Austin is Dell's Children's Hospital.

Dell's Children's Hospital

We organized an activity of making handmade Valentine’s cards and goodie bags for children who are long term patients.  It was  a lot of fun for the people who participated here but we hope it also helped to brighten up their  Valentine's Day.

We received an overwhelming amount of donations, goodies and volunteering to make handmade cards.  A craft station was set up in our break room a.k.a “our Ping Pong Lounge,” where employees could come freely and make cards during lunches and breaks.

We were reliving Kindergarten all over again; there was construction paper, scrapbooking scissors/stencils, glitter pens and even stickers!  It was a blast. Many were caught grinning from ear to ear and some people got really into it.  We were just glad so many people wanted to help and donate time not just money.

Here are some funny lines from the cards made:

"You are an Island of Awesome in an Ocean of Love"

"Hoppy Valentine's Day" - Bunny Card

"Have a Magical Valentine's Day" - Unicorn Card

"Have a Roarin' Day!" - Lion Card

"Hope you have a Berry Happy Valentine's Day, you are Pearfect" - Strawberry and Pear Couple in Love Card

Our volunteers ranged all the way from our Call Center to Marketing to Purchasing to Executives.  We even got a surprise guest contributor: the daughter of the owner of Living Direct.  Not only did our volunteers contribute their efforts but they ended up putting so much time and creativity into them that they gave Hallmark a run for their money.  Our goal was 50 cards/goodie bags; we not only met but exceeded our goal.

A delivery was made on Valentines Day by the Philanthropic Committee, it will be remembered as one of our favorite and most rewarding events!  Next year - 100 cards!

This is a guest post from Carly Pringle, Online Channel Marketing Analyst, and Linda Kiefer, Import Product Manager. Carly and Linda, along with Kelly Wilson, Accounts Payable, make up the Philanthropic Committee and help organize all of our charity initiatives, big and small.

Check out all of the costumes in this presentation:

Which costume do you think should have won the contest?

Some background info:

Carly hails from The Queen City (Cincinnati, OH) and is a Bengals fan by jus soli. In recent years, the team has made some new fans amongst our University of Texas Longhorn faithful due to the huge influx of former Horns on the roster.

Living Direct doesn’t know much about Carly’s husband, but based solely on the fact that he loves the I heart Twins kegerator.com T-shirt, we approve.

To celebrate Carly’s upcoming nuptials, some of the marketing department decorated her cube. Christine and kathyphantastic upcycled some incorrect-sized coffee filters into flowers and intern Joanna brought in balloons.

Kathyphantastic also crafted a personalized banner celebrating Carly and her beau, Raymond.

Co-workers pooled funds to get Carly and Raymond a gift card to help pay for newlywed expenses.

In her honor, Living Direct threw an Ice Cream Bridal Shower. We had some detectives find out her favorite flavor, which, for the record is cookie dough.

Key ICLCs (Ice Cream Logistics Coordinators) surreptitiously brought in ice cream, waffle cones, syrups and sprinkles. These same ice creamologists were able to use this opportunity to showcase the EdgeStar FP630 Portable Fridge / Freezer. Our half gallons of Blue Bell ice cream were kept in a perfectly deep freeze until the exact moment we were ready to shower Carly with sprinkles.

Most of Living Direct celebrated with ice cream sundaes.

Peter's method of celebration involved refraining from the frozen treats and instead posing with this skillet. To each his own, really.

Congratulations Carly, Living Direct wishes you and Raymond the best.

Carly Ochocinco Brown Pringle and her husband will reside in Austin, Texas with their dog and kegerators.

*Note: Only “Ochocinco” is not (yet) a part of her legal name. One thing we did learn about Carly’s new husband is that his (and now her) last name is Pringle. Yes, like the chip.

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.

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!

What's the best office prank you've ever seen?

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.