The Planet Blog

Life is on demand these days. With RSS feeds, DVR, Domino’s Online Pizza Tracker, Hulu, Kindle 2, Netflix and the iPhone app store, you’re in complete control of your world … Why should The Planet’s blog be any different? Lucky for you, we came across a great WordPress Poll plugin this afternoon that puts that power in your hands.

Unlike that perfect black dress I bought on sale from Banana Republic last September, we aren’t going to let this plugin hang in our closet for six months with the tags attached … we’re putting it to work immediately. Take a couple seconds to vote on the content you most want to see from The Planet’s blog:

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If you think we missed anything, be sure to leave us a comment with your recommendation and we can update the poll to include it.

Now I wonder how I can follow suit and unveil that dress …

-Katie

The Planet’s Network Operations Center, although located in a prominent spot here at our Houston headquarters, is shrouded in a bit of mystery. Not exactly a “whodunit”-type mystery, but enough that when I walk past the blue-lighted, mission control-type room during my daily jaunts around the office I wonder, “Why do the NOC technicians get to watch CNN all day?” (Hint: Not because of Anderson Cooper’s smoldering good looks.) “What’s the purpose of all those monitors at the front of the room, exactly? Can I pull up the same information on my desktop?” (Spoiler alert: I can!) And, “Why is the room blue?”

To provide the answers to all of my burning NOC questions, I asked Vice President of Network Operations Stan Barber to lead me (and by default you, oh faithful blog readers) on a tour of The Planet’s NOC.

Take a look at the video below for the inside scoop on this cerulean wonder, and its role in providing great service to our customers.

The mystery of its blue lighting? Still under investigation.

Your favorite Web Hosting Evangelist and I just returned from a week in San Francisco at the ad:tech 2008 trade show. We returned older, wiser, and I for one learned many truths:

1. The estimated time for set-up and take-down of one’s booth is always two hours longer than your worst-case scenario
2. Booth babes, whether “babey” or not, major traffic at one’s booth and guarantee drool from sales guys
3. It’s probably in my best interest not to go along with any of Hazard’s ideas … and then let him film it

In what could probably be considered a lapse of judgment (I blame the delirium that settled in on the second day of the show), I actually let Hazard convince me to anchor a mock “World News from The Planet” show from our booth. The idea sounded innocently fun at 9:30 in the morning, before I had my coffee.

I put on my best “serious journalist” face (required: squinty eyes and permanent look of concern) and attempted to imbue the most banal statement with great importance (a combo of long pauses and squinty eyes here do the trick).

Check it out for yourself below as I give an “insightful” report on what you should look for in a data center, with a special bonus interview with The Planet’s Jeff Reinis. Meanwhile, I’ll be huddled in my cube, cringing from embarrassment … while Kevin cackles with evil glee on the other side of the partition.