The Planet Blog

Since Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, The Planet’s annual Boo Bash is happening today. As you can see from our archives, there are a lot of creative people around here, and when a costume contest challenge is issued, you’re bound to get some interesting results. I’ve already seen a fully costumed Ghostbuster, a bumble bee, and about 45 people – including our CEO and CFO – dressed as Todd Mitchell. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so Todd must feel VERY flattered.

We will post our costumed competitors on The Planet Flickr for all to see, and you can post a comment here to vote for your favorites. Click the picture of “Todd” below to go directly to the Boo Bash 2009 album.

To let you share in today’s costuming, we’ve got a present for you. As a part of our fundraising efforts to support the American Heart Association, we printed shirts for employees who donate. The shirt design has been so popular internally that I made it into a few wallpapers that you can use:

Versions Available:
Dual-Monitor Setup (2560 x 1024)
Single Monitor – Server Only (1280 x 1024)
Single Monitor – “You Got Served” Only (1280 x 1024)

After you get your desktop suited up in its new costume, remember to vote for your favorite Boo Bash 2009 entrant in the comment section below.

Trick or Treat!

-Kevin

Wednesday, April 8, was the American Heart Association’s National Start! Walking Day, so The Planet’s employees in Houston and Dallas suited up for a one-mile walk around our offices. The goal: building awareness around living an active and heart-healthy life both at home and in the workplace.

If you’ve had the chance to visit us, this goal shouldn’t be much of a surprise: we have treadmills set up in our offices for anyone who needs a little more movement than what a desk chair provides, and our vending machines have color-coded dots that point out heart-healthy snacking alternatives. Luckily, the weather we ordered for the walk was delivered on time, and we didn’t have to line folks up for their turn to walk on the treadmills … The sun was out, the birds were chirping and a free healthy lunch was waiting for us on the other side of the finish line.

Check out a few of the pictures we snapped on Wednesday and head to our Flickr page for more:

When was the last time you got up from your desk for a quick walk? If you can’t remember, then use this post as inspiration to get out and get active! If this post isn’t good enough, crank up your speakers and find a copy of “Eye of the Tiger” to push you over the edge.

-Kevin

The top vote-getter in Katie’s quick survey about what you’d like to see more of on The Planet Blog was “Contests/Competitions,” so we’ve got a quick and easy way for all of our customers to enter to win a Flip MinoHD camcorder:

Take Our 6-Question Hosting History Survey!

It is quite possible to thoughtfully complete the entire survey in about 25 seconds, so don’t miss your chance to join in on the fun!

Click Here to Take the Survey.

We’re always looking for ways to involve you, learn more about you and give away some cool stuff, so let us know if you’ve got any other ideas for competitions or games.

The random drawing for the camcorder will occur on April 8, so get your entry submitted before 11:59pm CDT on April 7 to be eligible.

One entry per customer. One account number submitted in Question 1 of the survey will be selected at random as the winner. The winner will be notified via an email to the master user on the account.

-Kevin

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

Today, February 13, 2009, at exactly 5:31:30 p.m. CST, Unix users around the world will celebrate a momentous occasion: 1234567890 seconds will have passed since Unix time began at midnight UTC on January 1, 1970.

The relevance of this may be lost to some readers, but I assure you there is a very valid reason to celebrate such a seemingly inconsequential event. Many programs — including Operating Systems — measure time on this scale. And as you have all deduced, there will be only one time in the history of the 4byte epoch clock where we can see the sequence 1234567890. It’s party time!

I am holding out for 2147483647, when we will probably have to give up the system many of us hold dear … as it will let us down. In the year 2038, we will reach the maximum number possible in 32bits. As the time rolls toward that significant value, we’ll need to be prepared for it to run around and desert us. It’s like Y2K all over again … be VERY afraid, and brace for a possible Code Kermit.

If you want to count down the seconds until 1234567890 or just keep track of the current Unix time, you should check out this online Unix Epoch Clock.

-Phil

P.S. If you’re looking for a way to celebrate 1234567890, they just released the 1,234,567,890th Friday the 13th movie today.

The year is winding down and the holidays are around the corner. As a nice reward for a year of hard work, the big bosses decided we’d have fantastic holiday parties in both Houston and Dallas welcoming our families, friends and business associates to The Planet. Thus The Planet Holiday Festival was born.

Tuesday was the Houston party at headquarters downtown. We had tons of activities for the entire family. You could hear Santa’s “ho ho ho” and children’s squeals all over the building.

Outside we had snow! Yes, it did snow in Houston – but that was the day after the party. On party day, we imported it. We had a fun snow pile for snowball fights and a great big snow hill to slide down. I can honestly say the big kids had just as much fun as the little ones.

Santa was a big hit. He got everyone’s gift requests, posed for pictures and brought smiles to everyone’s faces. We were all very thankful that he could take time out of his busy schedule to visit our little soirée.

CEOs have holiday wishes, too!

Just like little girls do.

There was food everywhere! Kid-friendly snacks like pizza and chicken nuggets were available in the break room with more “adult-friendly” fare fair in the Bayou Room and out on the patio.

Other activities include face-painting, balloon animals and gingerbread men cookie decorating, along with a professional photographer who was on hand to take family photos.

Like father …

Like son.

Big kids!

Here is a shot from the professional photographer of a few of us in the Marketing department. Go figure … of course we’d be the ones to do a group shot and ham it up!

By the end of the night, I saw lots of little ones crying because they were tired and didn’t want to leave while very happy parents waited for their cars. It was a wonderful party that really showcased what the employees of this company really mean to senior management. This is a fantastic place to work, and this is just one of the examples of it!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

-Ali

For more party photos visit The Planet Flickr page.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I’m pretty sure the picture below is worth about a million.

I can’t come up with any to describe it.

I have no idea how I would react if I received a Happy Holidays postcard like that. I don’t want to find out either.

-The Guy Wearing the Rudolph Shirt and Sweater-Vest Combination

P.S. You can click on the image above for a larger version. You can decide whether or not that’s a good idea.