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 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.

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.

Welcome To The Planet!

We pride ourselves on welcoming new faces to the team. We’re a tight-knit group here but we always do what we can to make sure that all the newbies feel welcome . Right now, we‘re gearing up to welcome our newest team members from Indiana. With the addition of the Touch Support — building our new Planet Alpha Advanced Services — we’ve gained some new folks who are eager to move to Houston and start their careers with The Planet. A few have already settled in, and we’re busy building cubes and making space for the rest. We’ll have this place in tip-top shape when they get here — desks, chairs, computers and white boards (oh, how we love our white boards) all ready to go.

The new Alpha Advanced Services staff seem to be in a state of shock-and-awe from the red-carpet welcome going on here (as shown here by Tim).

Before you know it, they’ll be joining in on our daily sing-a-long, Kumbaya-style. Hold hands, everyone!

We. Are. Fam-i-ly. I got all my cube-mates with me…

April 1^st can be a crazy time around any office. The street smart crowd knows to be wary of “Free Donut” signs; thinks twice before borrowing a pen from a coworker; and answers every phone call with a veil of disbelief. It’s a conspiracy: everyone else on the planet is entitled to be crazy for the day.

Apparently, someone noticed the fear of impending doom in the eyes of a group of coworkers and decided to help them prepare for April Fools’ Day by providing an age-old tool from a conspiracy theorist’s toolbox … The tin foil hat. Apparently, the pranksters helpers ran into a problem: they didn’t have hat sizes for everyone. All hope was not lost, though. A communal hat was created over eight full cubes (with a perimeter of about 125′) to protect the inhabitants from the crazy lurking outside.

Todd and I have been accused of pranking helping from the moment we walked into the office this morning.

For good reason:

P.S. Irene has yet to retroactively grant her permission to us.

When Van Halen came to Houston, I wore the rockingest facial hair EVER into the office for a few days after the concert. I’ve amassed a solid collection of t-shirts from companies like RandomShirts.com and Busted Tees, so the other folks at the office don’t even look twice when my shirt says “Fact: Clowns Eat People” or claims “Texas messed with me First.” I zip through the office on the company’s Segway, and I’m usually listening to music on my iPod.

Needless to say, I’m not known to be very formal.

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I sported a green t-shirt, jacket, and pair of tennis shoes. You’ll note the “I’m too lazy to shave” beard and regularly-worn jeans.

As you would probably guess, given this context, I face full-on inquiries from curious coworkers when I wear a shirt with buttons or khaki pants, so I decided to push the envelope with a social experiment:

Clean-shaven. Suit. Tie. Hair gel. No detail was spared. I wasn’t this formal when I interviewed for the job, and even when I showed up in a sport coat, I was over dressed.

I made sure to document all of the reactions, so here they are … even the awkward ones:

Either you’re interviewing or somebody’s dead.
- Jimmy T.

I am fully freaked out right now … Now I can’t remember what I was doing!
- Katie S.

That’s your Bob Dole outfit … What? You have an interview today? You’re lookin’ niiice.
- Bryan M.

Check it out, Kevin shaved. When’s the job interview? … You somebody’s best man today?
- Aaron T.

Woah … Hey … Good luck on the job interview … Sorry if somebody died.
- Brandon P.

Fancy! You running for office? … You’ve got a Stephen Colbert thing going on.
- Gretchen P.

Job interview today?
- Judy B. – Chung W. – Andrew G.

What?! Are you feeling okay?! Are you sure?
- John B.

SUIT! You’re a suit today!
- Richard L.

Somebody have a court date? The only reason you’d dressed up like that is if you have a court date or if you’re taking out a nice lady.
- Clayton S.

You’ve got your nerdy hair on … Do you have a date today? Is everything else in your closet dirty?
- Ali L.

Niiice…(*sort of creepily)
- Urvish V.

What’s this all about? What are you doing? What are you wearing? I don’t like it … Who are you meeting?
- Todd M.

What are you doing? Interviewing? You’ve got your power tie on … lookin’ like Donald Trump. When Kevin’s wearing a suit, you know something’s up …
- Will C.

I feel like you’re going to sell me a used Buick…
- Jeff N.

What’s going on today? You meeting the President or something?
- Arnold Y.

You’re lookin’ sharp!
- Kelley H. – Matthew S. – C. Valderamma

Wow. You own one of those [suits]? You get dressed up, and you’re a pretty handsome dude … I know it’s weird to hear another guy say that … Is that a clip-on?
- Steve K.

When you come to visit The Planet, I’d suggest you lean more to the “casual” side of “business casual.”

-Kevin

P.S. Steve said I should include this quote from Gordon Gekko in Wall Street to embody my “look” for the day:

The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works.