Looks like our birthday boy Josh has become a foil fanatic. Josh made a foil helmet in the Spartan style. He is also holding the survivors of his Ding Dong birthday cake. You can see candles sticking out of some of them. The Ding Dongs come wrapped in foil so you can see how it continues the theme of the day. I wonder what that foil wrapped thing is in his other hand? Josh is a buyer for our Rideshop – see the panel he’s standing in front of – it’s from our Vendor party from last Summer and it says Ride Shop. Oh baby, Summer is almost here!

We also got a comment over on our Twitter.com aggregation page and they mentioned another very foilful page. Fun times at Zappos, baby!

Yep it means “Fifth of May” for you total gringos. Cinco de Mayo is not the Mexican Day of Independence, but is the date of a military victory over the French in 1862. (I did NOT know that 15 minutes ago) I am told that, like St Patrick’s Day, it is a bigger deal here in the US than it is in the home country. I do know it’s a pretty big deal here in Vegas – lots of places had celebratory offers yesterday. And hey, we had some fun on site too. Let’s see, our Information Technology group had a burger cookout for us and our facilities group rolled out the infamous Nacho Bar and had a parade.

Here’s Keith getting his mustache installed.

And here’s a clip of the Parade as they cruise through the lunch room, spreading treats and joy as they go, The video ends at the Nacho Bar.


Speaking of bars, a nicely stocked little bar “sprung” up toward the end of the day in one of our more progressive departments. I shan’t name names but the close reader should be able to figure it out by comparing what’s on the walls. Have fun Sherlocks!

Oh and for those of you who didn't know, Zappos is derived from "Zapatos" which is Spanish for shoes.

Every month Zappos hosts a monthly golf event at various courses all around Vegas. We host these golf events in appreciation of our valued partners, employees and friends/family of Zappos. Each event is "sponsored" by one of our volunteering vendors. They supply the prizes, we do the rest! Over the last 2.5 years these have grown to an average of 32-40 players per month! We always play in scramble (team play) format so players of all skill levels can come out and have a great time. In fact, we personally encourage first timers to come out and join us - a few of them have even been on a winning team. I personally feel that golf is an amazing sport and that everyone should give it try. This is a great time for everyone as we get to hang out with each other (and have a few drinks), meet new people (and have a few drinks), bond on a more personal level (and have a few drinks), and tell stories afterwards (and have a few drinks ). Speaking of stories, here's one from March:

Our March 2008 event was sponsored Calvin Klein (thanks Lorraine!). It was a beautiful day out at the Badlands Golf Club in Summerlin. A perfect golf day - as I would call it. The event started with a catered lunch, compliments of CK, a few drinks, and some pre-game trash talking. We tee'd off at noon with 36 players in groups of 4. Ok, let's get to the good stuff...


(Pictured above are DC Shoes with special guest, Jay Bentley from Bad Religion, and 2 from our Rideshop team - Jim and Josh)

On about the 15th hole, our CK rep, Lorraine, got out of the cart (with her golf partner, Alana, still on the cart) to play her ball when all of a sudden a group of kids came tearing down the golf course on their bikes and hijacked the golf cart with Alana still on it. A struggle ensued between Alana and the kids. Alana had her foot slammed on the brake as the kids were hitting the gas. This resulted in golf cart donuts until Alana was tossed off the cart with the cooler (full of beer). While this was going on, Lorraine picked up one of the kids' bikes and threatened to toss the bike into the nearby water. The ordeal finally ended when the guys in the group behind them came up and pulled the kids off the cart. After regaining possession of the golf cart, Lorraine and Alana took off to safety.

To answer the questions in your head right now... yes, the beer was safe and the bike was wet.

More stories coming soon to a Zappos blog near you...

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

Hey our bike team in the Las Vegas Corporate Challenge really brought home the metal last night! Our Fantastic Foursome in the picture above (Stacey, Monica, Max and Mike) pedaled out and all returned with either a 1st or 2nd place finish in Division B. They all rode the 10.9 mile course which started and ended at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. ...Let’s go to the infield and read what our ace riders had to say! (And a big thanks to Max for these fine pictures!)



Monica – 1st place, Women 30-34 - Casual Life Style Merchandising

"We had a lot of positive feedback from customers that we met during the race, all stating that they loved ZAPPOS! And of course we told them, we loved them too! Pretty cool! It was a nice surprise that everyone placed. Now, we're all looking for the next race. It's addicting !http://blogs.zappos.com/images/emoticons/happy.gif!"

Stacey – 2nd place, Women 35-39 - Creative Services

“The cool aspect about this race is you start on the NASCAR race track, go through the tunnel and up into the stands, you then head around to the back, up the drag strip, then circle inside the bull pen. Finally, you
head back and finish in the same spot where NASCAR winners get the checkered flag. If you focus hard enough, you can become the next Kasey Kain!”

Max – 2nd place, Men 30-34 - Outdoor Business Unit

“It was a challenging race…Fun and worth the experience! Way to go everyone!”

Mike – 1st place, Men 18-24 - Rideshop Merchandising

“Max and I were the only ones there to ride fixed gear bikes which is ten times harder because you constantly have to pedal and no BRAKES!!!!”

Congratulations to our bike team and to all our Corporate Challengers!

So a group us from the KY Content team decided to participate in a weight loss competition of sorts. We call Fat Loss '08. Fat Loss 08 is whole other blog in itself that we will be posting in a couple of weeks, but this story would have never happened if it wasn't for Fat Loss '08.

In the first week, Jon, (I know Jon is the star of our department) had lost 5 pounds! He lost 5 pounds, by not exercising, counting calories, or drinking shakes. Instead, he ate like 15 Popsicles a day. He ate a few other things as well, but nothing you would consider a diet item. Then he constantly insisted it was good for you. Not the sugar-free kind either. He does NOT like the sugar-free, hands down!

Lisa, another senior in the Images department, found the perfect shirt for Jon. A couple of us pitched in and got him the polar garden tee shirt. (a garden of popsicles) The best thing about doing this for him is he never would and didn't expect it. That also makes it the best part, because he thought it was another trick waiting to happen, as we handed him the brown package. He totally deserved it, because we do give him a lot of trouble at times. Putting him on the spot and embarrassing him all the time. Yay Jon! Keep it up with your funny ways.

Hey do we have any Firefly fans out there? <cough besides me cough> On that short lived TV series, they’d use the word “Shiny” to describe something as “nice” or “cool.” Well, those two meanings definitely apply here as well as the current day meaning – let’s reflect on that for a moment. So what’s so shiny about the look on Josh the birthday boy’s face first thing in the morning?

Why, it is due to this – his cube was foiled last night after he went home. The foilers really went all out – check out the foiled shoes and trashcan. They also individually wrapped all his desk accessories. LOL – shiny!


Zappos, POWERED by Pranks

Laurie and I are back in the madness that is the KYImages room again today, and things are getting even stranger. A wrestler named Bubbles Van Peterson Jr. entered the room today, and she will not leave us alone. She choked-slammed me and my shoes came off. It was terrible.

Below is her pictured when she attacked Dr. Vik while in Vegas....she came after him with the crown and a billy club shortly after this was taken. She toured the Memphis circuit for many years before being kicked out of the tag team, the Dueling Omblongadas. She actually ate an opponent alive....it was a terrible sight. She claimed that the deceased tasted like no-bake cookies....fyi. (Bubbles is pictured below)

Laurie and I continue to work with our friends out here in the beautiful state of Kentucky. Blue Skies, Allman Brothers style.....I should go, Laurie and Bubbles are grappling near Receiving. This might be bad. Real bad.