Last Friday, the aroma of turkey bacon and French toast wafted through the halls of Zappos. It seems Duron and Susana did some “ideating” and asked themselves “why not?” and French Toast Fridays was born! Some of you may remember Duron as the winner of our BBQ contest. Here he is getting ready to break some eggs and take some names.



I haven’t had the opportunity to blog about Susana before but I first met her months ago when she was in training. She also has a very funny email address at Zappos – the combination of her first initial and her last name. (Oh so tempting to share it, but I must be strong.)



So anyway, they came up with the idea, pooled their resources and it was on. There was a side table near by for the griddle and setup, the eggs were whipped up in a bowl, the bread dunked and toasted. People were served in turn and it was all happiness and joy. I chatted with Duron earlier today and he confirmed that they’ll be doing it again this Friday. I think I shall whip up a new signature smoothie for the occasion!

We had 3 birthdays in Creative Services today. Happy Birthday Mayen, Jeff and Brian! It seems the TPing elves were busy last night. Yep, looks like they were on a roll…of toilet paper that is. Here’s one of the 3 desks that were so adorned. (yeah, we used more than 1 roll - as the only 6 footer in the room at the time, i did the ceiling work.)



Here are 2 of our 3 giant pizzas. 30" baby!


And here’s the Brian K, Mr. Argyle, getting serenaded by a giant tomato. You can't make this stuff up!


And then we had some super delicious cupcakes!
What a zany, yep typical day at Zappos. (LOL, Smurf Parade!)

Kris is a happy young man full of creativity, guitar knowledge, excitement and has a love of organic foods that rivals Ed Begley, Jr., and that's serious business. Kris formerly worked in our Kentucky warehouse as an image processor before moving to Las Vegas to pursue his love of grape leaves, expensive health food and organic tea. Kris focuses on the categorization of product and on reciting Adam Sandler movie quotes....constantly.

Kris is also the king of the smooth jazz guitar..he can seduce you with just a minor 7th chord or two...it takes not long, my friends. He loves Morrissey and Ween, as well. (On a side note, I think I heard him banging his head to 80's hair metal recently, when I saw an evil fire in his eyes, but it was probably just all the pesticide-free food releasing it's goodness into his bloodstream)

Kristopher is a fine individual and is insanely dedicated to Zappos...his car might be freakishly small and economical, but he has the heart the size of the fiercest lion.

Here is the interview with the man, this reporter refers to as Mr. Lippy.

Yesterday, ZU held their first Twitter class, “Twitter 101” taught by the infamous twit Zappos_JimGreen. He went over just the basics in this class and he will be holding Twitter 201, an intermediate class, next week. Here’s a pic of the class - standing room only, baby.


If you haven’t heard of Twitter.com, it is an internet social networking/communication tool. People (aka twits) who have signed up and created a free account can post short messages about what they are doing. If you are “following” a twit or viewing an aggregation page you can see their messages.

For instance, we have a couple Zappos aggregation pages. If you go to twitter.zappos.com you’ll see all the twitter posts that mention Zappos and from there you can click to see all the Zappos twits, their messages and how many followers they have. We’ve got over 300 people twittering at Zappos.

I’m signed up under 2 Twitter ids:

"InsideZappos” for the more official messages and “johnhZ” for more off the cuff and local messages. For example, I’ll be whipping up a batch ofsmoothies from time to time and then twittering something like “Choc Cake Smoothies! - First 12 people to twit back, I’ll reserve one for you!”

So yeah, I’m a twit too. And if you follow me, I’ll follow you!

Today in C-Life, we interviewed a woman named Melissa. When asked the most facinating thing about her, she explained that she could sing a song with all fifty states. She then agreed to let us film it and post it. Thanks, Melissa for being such a great sport!

Just about every month, the photo and imaging teams try to go out and do something in public! Most recently we all went to Cherokee Park for a little cookout. We brought our spouses, friends, children and puppies for some fresh air, food, and even a few different ball games for the real adventurous folks. If you weren't there you missed out, it was perfect weather. Good times for good people!!

Here is a group shot of us who came with our furry friends:

from left to right:

andi with zeus, myself with danger, maggie with penelope, and kaya with lola.

Our April 2008 event took place at the Arroyo at Red Rock Golf Club in Summerlin. We had a total of 40 players and was sponsored by Taylor Made Adidas Golf - a big THANK YOU to Mike of TMaG!

A LITTLE GOLF EDUCATION

For this blog post, I felt that it would be good to give a little information about golf scoring. This will help to understand our stories for this month.

Most golf courses around the world are par 72 courses. What this means is that to play a "perfect" round, a golfer will play the 18 holes only hitting 72 strokes or shots. Most professional PGA golfers will shoot at par or below. The average amateur golfer shoots 100. When you watch a PGA golf tournament, you will see scores such as -3 (i.e. Tiger Woods -3). What this means is that the golfer is shooting at 3 below par 72. If you see a +3, this means that the golfer has shot 3 over par.

For our Zappos events, we are all amateurs and I would say that collectively, we probably average about 100. We have some golfers that shoot 120 or more and some golfers who shoot 85 or below. Our events have a really great mix of skill levels.

If you read my last blog post about our March event, you will recall that I said we play in SCRAMBLE format and that this means "team play". What I mean by "team play" is that each team records 1 score. Team members all take turns hitting from the same spot for every shot (not alcohol... ). After everyone hits, the team will then determine who had the best shot based on the position of the ball. The other team members will then pick up their balls and put it next to the ball of the best shot. Each team member will then hit from that spot one-by-one and repeat until the ball goes into the hole. The team will then count the total number of best shots from the tee box to the hole and mark that score down on the scorecard for that hole.

APRIL 2008

Now that you understand the scoring, you would think that a score of -10 for a team would be incredible and be the winning score for an event. This happened to be the team that I was on. We were playing a great round, hitting great shots, and sinking putts. All keys to a great score. Our confidence of being the winners was high but short-lived. The team that was right behind us was comprised of Oakley ballers, Paul, Mark, Kirk, and our very own Steve H (Zappos_Steve on twitter). I could tell they were on fire when I would look back during play and watch them putt. They were sinking EVERY putt and putts are the most important shots. Deep down inside, I was hoping that they would keep drinking and eventually fall apart. No such luck...

That team ended up shooting an AMAZING -11! That -11 score is a new record for a Zappos event (previous record was a -10 at a different course last year). Congratulations to Paul, Mark, Kirk, and Steve to a job well done!

STORY #2

This is an awesome story... a story that you would typically hear about from a major PGA tournament by a professional golfer. This story was told by Josh and Jim from our Zappos Rideshop at the clubhouse over drinks/shots (yes, the alcoholic ones) immediately following the event.

On the 6th hole, one of our vendors, Dave from Ocean Minded, pulled out a 9-iron to take his shot for the green. As he was getting ready to hit, the beverage cart girl pulled up (aka Booze Girl). Jim went to buy some drinks for the team. So, Dave is about to hit his shot, Jim is walking over to buy drinks, and Josh and Garrett were giving half their attention to Dave and the other half to the Booze Girl - although I'd be willing to bet it was a little more than half on the Booze Girl . Dave takes his shot and the clean sound of the club hitting the golf ball prompted everyone to turn around to watch it. They followed the ball in the air until it hit the green about 10 feet from the pin/hole. They watched as the ball rolled closer and closer to the hole and then disappear - WOW! The team ended up with a score of -2 for the hole. This means it took them 2 shots to put the ball in the hole where par for the hole was 4. In golf, this is known as an Eagle. To paint a picture, Dave hit a 1.7" golf ball from a distance longer than a football field with the end zones and dropped it into a 4.25" hole in the ground. Absolutely amazing!

My $.02... His motivation may have been the drinks about to come his way, but I'm thinkin' that it was to impress Booze Girl.

Until our May event... hit 'em long and straight!

Sean K - the Self-Proclaimed Chief Golf Officer (http://twitter.com/skimshady)

I receive some cryptic invitations at Zappos. Recently I was informed that there would be a “rumble” up in Finance and perhaps I should be in the vicinity and bring my trusty lil' camera. So I did and here’s what I saw. (Unfortunately you won’t hear anything – the audio track has been removed.)


Basically, one of the sub groups in Finance, let's call them the "A/P" gang, think they are more fun than the "G/L" gang and are calling them out and warning them things are going to get pretty crazy. Tense times up here in the Zappos Financial District.

So yes, I offer this as proof positive that our Finance Dept is loaded with fun, creative people – and that’s before you get any alcohol into them. Afterwards – WATCH OUT! Here’s Finance having an end of day blended beverage hour – these people totally trash the stereotype that number counters are boring. Go Finance!

.Hi everybody,

Change is a constant at Zappos and today I'm moving desks. It is in a much better spot for me to stay in touch with my fellow Zapponians. Downside is I'll be blogless until tomorrow morning.

Here's my new spot.

Till then,
john

Just your normal day at the office....with the exception of the huge brawl that broke out between our finest athletic specimens here at Zappos.
Fight...Fight....Fight!!!

It was a gorgeous Spring Saturday morning at Lorenzi park in Las Vegas and teams from all over the valley prepared to splash it out and paddle to glory in the CCCC - Corporate Challenge Canoe Competition! The race was held in a fake lake complete with cute l'il ducks, geese and water you’d rather not be splashed with. <cough water fowl fouling cough>



Here’s Alex and Frank the Tank cruising by the turn marker, the red life jacket, to try and take their heat. The lead boat is fairly far ahead at this point in the race but Alex and Da Tank pour it on for a super close finish. I think they lost by about a size 23 shoe. This was their 2nd year as a team and they’ll be back and shan’t be denied a metal medal next year!

Beverly and Greg are digging deep to line up for the canoe eating turn. This is the 4th year they’ve teamed up for the CCCC and they are a Zappos Corporate Challenge tradition. Click here for a video clip of Bev and Greg edging out another boat for 2nd in the heat. Bouy-yah!

Here’s Kim and Marisa finishing up their heat. Alas, they were disqualified because they went below the hard deck (went out of bounds) but hey this was their first year and I’m guessing that they’ll be back next year as well. There was talk of having a campout and canoe clinic next year, a week or so before the 2009 CCCC. Sounds like fun – I’ll be there with an underwater fisheye camera and flipvideo. I can hold my breath for a really long time and paddle around underwater for some especially sneaky images! <cue theme from the movie Jaws>

Oh yeah! ZU (Zappos University) held their very first official class today - “Playing with Dirt —Beginning Gardening.” Our instructor, Liz, told us about her raised bed home vegetable garden and compost pile. She described how she organically prepared her soil for planting and the basics for starting a compost pile. Then it was hands on and we filled small pots with soil, planted some seeds and watered them. Catnip was a popular choice, as was basil and corn.



This is just the beginning of the ZU class offerings for a very wide range of topics. Later today we'll have a class on diet and nutrition. The email announcement from Vanessa included this general statement of purpose.

“WARNING!! The ZU is kicking off classes that may increase your energy and creativity! Being a part of the ZU will allow you to share your passions and talents to all Zappos employees, which can create a sense of fulfillment and extreme joy. You must be warned that the classes are all geared toward making your day more fun, weird, informative and AWESOME! We’re striving to make Zappos more than a company…We want to make Zappos a way of life… (I just made that up…or did I hear it somewhere…hmm. That’d be cute on a bumper sticker…or a pillow.)”

Here are the proud graduates of the very first official ZU class!



Vanessa, Amy, Mark, Amanda, Jessica, John, Liz, Amy, and Thomas. We're wearing our gardening gloves, holding our potted plants, and holding up 1 finger to symbolize the first class.

Our beloved Lynn has been working with us at Zappos since 2005, but that is only a fraction of the amount of time she has been studying for her degree. With working full time and other life intrusions, it has taken Lynn 10 years to get her bachelors degree in social work. We at Zappos are so very proud of her. After all, she is a part of our family, and families know how to celebrate!

Thursday we surprised her with a couple of gifts and cards letting her know how proud of her we are and how wonderful a person she is. Here is the short interview we did later in the evening:

Q: Now that you are done with school.... are you going to keep partying or will you settle down?

A: I'm never going to settle down, I will party to the grave!

Q: If you were going to do a psychological study of your fellow employees, what would you focus on?

A: All your childhoods, to see why you are all so crazy!

Q: What is your favorite color and what does that color stand for?

A: Blue. It is cool, calming, universal and peaceful.

Q: What type of social work are you currently involved in?

A: I work with Kentucky Impact through 7 counties services assessing children 6-18 years in their current environments and ongoing daily struggles.

Q: How has what you've learned at school helped you with your work at Zappos?

A: School has taught me to always look for the good in people, even in frustrating situations it has helped me be more tolerant of others.

Q: If you knew it was going to take 10 years, would you do it all again?

A: Yes - it is what I have always wanted to do.

Q: What will you do with all your free time now that you won't have to go to school and work around the clock?

A: Catch up on sitcoms.....relax!

In conclusion, Lynn, YOU ARE AWESOME, and we all love you!!

RSA SecureID? "It's only wafer thin!"



This is Josh. He works in our Information Tech group. When he isn’t setting up computers or fixing problems, he’s humoring me by posing like a waiter as he delivers these cool little RSA SecureID computer security devices. Okay, the rest of this post is going to be super nerdy, so consider yourself warned.

So how do these work? Basically, every 60 seconds these little security devices flash a new unique number sequence that you use for logging into computer systems here at Zappos. It also has a very accurate clock built in so it displays the same number sequence during the same time interval as the “mother ship” which decides whether to log you in or not. In other words, if I type in 314271 at exactly noon, because the built in clock is super accurate, the mother ship will go “yep, that’s the correct sequence for noon today, this must be a legit login.”

If the clock was not accurate, the correct number sequence would not be displayed at the correct time. And when I typed it in, the mothership would go “hmmm, either this is not a legit login or John is typing really slow because he is at one of those infamous Zappos happy hours. In either case, I shall deny him access.” See, that’s why it’s called the mother ship.

Of course we don’t just type in the 6 numbers, otherwise if we either lost a SecureID or somebody swiped one, they could just type in the number! Each Zappos person who uses these also receives a personal code sequence that they type in along with the SecureID sequence. In case we forget, we also have this sequence tattooed on the bottom of our right foot.

And that’s all I have to say about that!

We had another product expo today. Yeah, life is brutal at the big Z. This time our Action Sports and Urban Mix Product groups combined forces and put on the biggest expo yet. Besides using the Training Room, they overflowed into the parking lot out back. Here’s what it looked like – a solid line of different brands as far as the eye could see!



We had DJ Wreck spinnin' on the ones and twos, b-boy breakers, a dunk tank, a giant grill with burgers and dogs, and check out this fun dance number starring Ashotta and Melissa and the big blow up guy from Lost. Yep, this is another one of my famous “lean to the left” videos.


The list of brands that attended today was pretty long! For Urban Mix we had baby phat, Fila, Lexani, Lugz, Pastry, Pepe Jeans, Rocawear, Sean Jean. And for Action Sports we had anon optics, Circa, DC, Draven, Emerica, eS, etnies, globe, gravis, IPATH, KR3W, Lost, Metal Mulisha, O'NEILL, OSIRIS, QuikSilver, REEF, Rusty, SUPRA. Thank you one and all for a “sick” day!