Bayou Place, that is. Home of The Planet’s corporate headquarters.

Warning: This blog will contain strange language that those outside of Louisiana might not understand. I’ll provide definitions and maybe someday I’ll do a video blog so you can hear how these words should be pronounced. If you know what a Cajun accent sounds like, you should read this blog in that voice. Cuz Sha, it sounds a whole lot betta dat way.

Being a native of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, (or a “transplant” as we so often get called) I love me some crawfish. In fact, I’m pretty sure it was one of the first grown-up foods that I ever ate as a child. I can still remember my momma peeling a bunch of tails for me at family crawfish boils. She’d make a little sandwich with some dip made with ketchup, mayonnaise and Tabasco sauce. Yes, Tabasco. I was probably around 2 or 3 years old. I don’t ever remember not eating them.

You see, Breaux Bridge happens to be the crawfish capital of the world and my family raises them. It’s my heritage and in my blood. So imagine my glee when I was asked to create an invite and flyer to pass around the office for the crawfish boil we were having. I did a little dance to Wayne Toups in my head.

So we sat out on the patio downstairs grubbin’ on crawfish on a breezy spring afternoon in downtown Houston. For those of you who have never had them, you are seriously missing out. They are boiled with spicy seasoning and usually have potatoes, corn and sausage thrown in. They are messy little suckers so don’t wear your Sunday best while eating them. You’ll probably even need a bib and lot of wet naps. It takes some patience and work to fully enjoy crawfish. It’s an art, really. Best consumed with an icy cold beer, but we were at work so we had to make do with iced tea and lemonade. I could go into the graphic detail of eating them (sucking the heads and all that) but maybe I’ll save that for an instructional video the next time we have one.

See? Messy.

We mixed and mingled, and everyone enjoyed themselves. I’m sure we were a sight as the cars drove by; a bunch of people eating crawfish on the sidewalk/patio outside of a downtown office building at lunch. I can’t imagine the myriad of banks, accounting firms and oil companies that surround us doing the same thing. But this is The Planet and that’s how we roll.

Some folks here aren’t really crawfish kind of people. (I don’t really understand that but I pretend to.) So we had hotdogs and Frito pie for those who weren’t, along with chocolate cake and carrot cake for desert. To really add to the atmosphere, we ate to the sounds of Zydeco music. We almost had a fais do-do going on here. I wanted to get my Cajun two-step on, but I didn’t have a dance partner. Maybe next time I’ll teach someone in advance.

Also, as a bit of lagniappe, CEO Doug Erwin announced the beginning of Hawaiian shirt weather. We had a few people eager to participate.

A beautiful day, good people and good food. What a fantastic way to kick off spring. As we say in Louisiana, laissez les bons temps rouler (let the good times roll)!

-Ali

According to Time Magazine’s blog, yesterday was the 40th birthday of the beloved Cubicle. We’ve all had them at one time or another. Some good and some … well … I’d rather work in a hole.

At The Planet, we have an open-concept work environment filled with fabulous “newbicles”—cubicles that are neither drab, dreary or soul-sucking. We have shelves, fun white boards and a really large workspace to spread out on.

I wasn’t sure I was going to be thrilled with the arrangement when I first heard about it, but I’ve grown to love it. They are big enough that we aren’t squished on top of each other and the white noise that’s piped in really helps give you privacy. I like being close to my team, too. I just have to roll around on my chair to talk to them!

So, in celebration of the birth of these little gems, I thought we’d pay homage to our friend the cubicle—picture style.

Some prefer a really business- like atmosphere. *cough* …Accounting… *cough*

Some like to show off achievements. (Hi Phil!)

Others prefer to decorate with some panache… (Guess whose sits there? w00t!)

Some need a sufficient place to primp or get food out of their teeth.

Most love to display their collectibles (better known as toys).

Note: We obscured some super-secret plans on the white board.

Beware of this dude. He’ll pelt you with that giant koosh ball or nerf gun when you least expect it.

Never fear. Scully and Mulder are here to protect us from the abnormal… well, extra abnormal.

Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler…

Happy Birthday, cubicle! Don’t worry, 40 is the new 30. You still look fabulous.

-Ali

Dec 12, 2007: The Planet Day. The day we debuted our new office space to employees, colleagues, customers and friends. The day we finally saw the new place we’d call home, and the beginning of a new and exciting chapter for The Planet.

We captured the events on film — the speeches, the awards, the ribbon cutting… lunch. (mmmm, lunch.) From that we’ve made a little montage of the day — the 2 minute and 30 second version if you will. We highlighted pieces of Doug’s speech, shots of the office, but most of all, the people who work here. At the end of the day, that’s what matters. The people make this company what it is. We work hard because we believe in what we are doing for our customers and for this industry as a whole. We enjoy what we do and where we do it. That’s The Planet difference. It shows through our work, the products we offer, the services we provide and the pride we take in our company.

CEO Doug Erwin often illustrates his ideal work environment with one simple phrase: Yabba Dabba Doo! He wants his employees to jump out of bed every morning ready to go with their feet hitting the ground running just like Fred Flintstone.

Here’s a glimpse of what makes this place so special. Yabba Dabba Doo, indeed.

-Ali

P.S. Here’s the YouTube link for your embedding pleasure: The Planet Day on YouTube