Last night the B shift photo department had a going away party for our beloved Jeremy I. and Travis A.

Luckily, Zappos is not losing these fine boys completely, but our shift will have some big shoes to fill now.

Jeremy has been working at with us in the photo department for around 11 months. He has been an asset to the apparel department during his 9 months on B-shift Photo. Next week he is transferring to A-shift Photo!

Travis, has been working at Zappos for almost a year. He has been working as a very helpful photo assistant in the apparel studio for the past 3 months on B-shift Photo. He will be venturing back out to the FC as a C-shift Receiving team member.

One of our apparel photographers, Abby, had an opportunity to ask them a few questions during the party:

Q: What are you going to miss the most about B-shift photo?

Jeremy: I am going to miss pranking A-shift with the annoy-a-tron. Since I will be on A-shift, I won't be able to play pranks on them with the annoy-a-tron, but I will miss working with the B-shift crew, and 11 o'clock trivia!

Travis: I will miss everyone's sense of humor and inside jokes with random people!

Q: Are you excited about your new position?

Jeremy: I'm nervous about waking up so early, but excited to have my nights free!

Travis: Yes! It presents me with new opportunities to better myself.

Q: Tell me a memory from working in B-shift photo.

Jeremy: Winning the annual photo Beard Off! (After 12 weeks Jeremy won the beard off and donated his winnings to Dreams with Wings.)

Travis: The going away party with great food, especially the awesome queso and dirty rice!

Q: Do you have any parting words of advice as you venture onto your life outside of B-shift photo?

Jeremy: In the words of our old pal Joe C. "Liquor before beer never fear. Beer before liquor never sicker."

Travis: Make sure when you are in the LS, (the apparel studio) everything is straight, steamed, and ironed or there will be heck to pay, HECK I TELL YOU!!

GOOD LUCK GUYS WE"LL MISS YOU!!

In keeping with the core values, our supervisor on B shift Receiving decided to embrace "Create Fun and a Little Weirdness" by making a bet. We were facing around 50,000 pieces on back log and were looking at overtime on Saturday. CJ, our supervisor, made a bet with us to help boost production. The terms were simple; if we hit over 18,000 pieces for the day he would show up the next day in a dress. Of course we all jumped on the opportunity to see our boss walk around in a dress all day, so we rushed to hit that goal. By the end of the shift we not only hit our goal, but we surpassed it with flying colors. Our supervisor, being a man of his word, showed up wearing not only a dress the next day, but also brought a purse too.

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.

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 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!!

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.

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.

So... as I promised before... I am going to share with the world some of the very random things we say in the live photo studio.....

To us, these statements make complete sense. Not one person thinks twice. We just "get it". That doesn't mean we are crazy, we have just learned to adapt to our environment, like mutated animals working for survival of the fittest. Outsiders may find us confusing, inappropriate or just down right odd, but don't judge too soon... we get the job done day after day, and I must say, we can bring it when quality AND quantity of our products combine!

Mannequin related quotes out of context:

"I can't find the hole, which leg is it in?"

• This occurs often. Our mannequins have holes in the bottom of one foot to place them on stands. When holding the mannequins in the air, sometimes we have trouble getting them on their stands without being able to see which foot has the allotted hole.

• Again with getting the mannequins on their stand. The females have corresponding holes in the butt cheek and bottom of foot for stands to hold up the mannequins. We typically only use the ones in the foot, but the one in the cheek can provide guidance when the mannequin in lifted up as to which leg will match up with the stand.

• Pretty simple. The mannequins arms come off for an easier change of clothes, however, if too many mannequins have their arms removed at the same time, it can get confusing!

Laurie W. and I are in the land of KY this week helping our comrades
here with a few new processes....but the room is full of strangeness.

There are naked ghosts standing all about the room, and we are
frightened to the point of complete paralysis. Our imagery and photo
studios are actually located deep within the Zappos warehouse. It's a
strangely quiet room and a very tall, demon-like creature lurks about.
(who has an awful lot of Transformer toys at his desk, I might add).
His name is Max the Terrible, and this reporter knows better than to
come into his treacherous field of vision. We will be here all
week....I will keep you posted on our condition and whereabouts.

Tonight, Rico C. and I will venture out into the hills of Kentucky near
the Zappos warehouse and see what trouble awaits us. A great deal, I
would imagine.
Your friend in Indiucky, Brett.

Thursday at 3:30pm we all walked into the training room, which had been transformed into an awesome art show! Some rad people in the photo department put together our second Creative Services Art Gala. Some team members in our KY Content team put in their art masteries for all of us to see. I was truly amazed by everyone's talent. There was so much more than just photography and paintings. People also displayed sculptures, drawings, mixed media, and even fashion! They also provided delicious snacks for us. Sparkling grape juice, meats, cheeses, crackers, and desserts! The desserts ranged from chocolate covered strawberries to pineapple cake. We love food.

Quite a few people from the photo department put in their work. We did however, have one person from our very own images team submit work. I know, it's sad we didn't all participate, and we're lame.. losers.. L7 weenies..I know. We are our own worst critics, and we don't think our work is great, yadda.. yadda... except for Erin Ryan (our supervisor). Her piece was amazing and she does awesome work. Way to go Errrin! Her piece is a painting of sorts. She's been writing poems since she was little and thought she would give life to them by taking actual tangible things from the poems and putting them on canvas and using her favorite art medium, Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish. This particular piece titled, "The Woman," is based on a poem she wrote about a 1920's prostitute. She used almost all vintage pieces to construct a collage of sorts to give life to the poem. For example a few vintage portraits, a handkerchief, jewelry, and a powder case are just a few of the items that represented the life that this fictional character endured. This is just one of a series of these types of "paintings." We look forward to seeing more of Erin's work in the future and maybe work from the rest of us as well...yes.. ?

Here is Erin's work and a video of us walking around and looking at art!


Artsy We Are! -Posted May 2nd 2008

If your in the Kentucky warehouse anytime between now and May 9th, you should stop by.


Thanks to everyone who put this show together, it looked great! I cant wait until next year!

Last night, myself, the photographer heading up the Gala (Abby), and our assistants set up for our art show. We were cutting wires + strings, twisting, tying, hooking, taping and labeling 41 pieces! Once everything was prepared, they had to be displayed on a table, mannequin or in the air without putting anything on the walls!! Eight glorious hours later we had our beautiful presentation ready for the public.

The Gala is a small representation of what the KY Content Team ( which includes both Photo and Imaging Departments) can create in their spare time. We had submissions ranging from paintings + photographs to three dementional pieces such as sculptures and a handmade designer dress!

Our official show opening was today at 3:30, made complete with catered snacks from Lady Fingers Catering, some jazz music, and the rest of the team joining us. The show was a raging success!!

Our hard work payed off and everyone had a great time. Winners will be announced later this month.



For any KY employees reading, and any Vegas employees visiting Kentucky right now, the show will be open until May 9th, so please swing by the training room and take a look at our creations. All we ask is that you please not touch any of the submitted pieces.

ENJOY!

Ever walked into that red room, next to the huge blue photo room in the middle of the warehouse? Yes? No? Well, I guess you can't necessarily just walk in, unless you have a special badge to get you in...but you can knock anytime! If you haven't, you should stop by sometime and see what we're all about!
Either way, welcome to the Images room! It's where all the color correcting, switching images, and Photoshop magic happens. Enter at your own risk, to the no bully zone with the huge pictures of our faces, and unexplainable drawings on the board. If its real quiet, all you will hear is the ongoing typing and clicking that comes with image processing that is going on!

Beware if you're near the fridge and an awful smell comes out while you wait under the unearthly, airport-like lighting. What can I say? It is what it is! People love all kinds of food, and we need special lighting! If you don't like it, thats cool, we have a punching bag in here somewhere. I say somewhere, because since we had some mannequins move in our room, we don't go on that side of the room much. It's kind of eerie. They're pretty life like, so it looks like headless nude people standing in a group with clear plastic bags over their bodies. Reminds me of the scene in the Silent Hill movie. Yeah...

While visiting, if you have, you may or may not have noticed the little yellow notes stuck to our walls or our computers, with weird little faces drawn on them. Those are drawn by our very own Jon, sometimes we call him Johnny. He's been at Zappos for almost 2 years now. You know he loves it! We always wondered why Jon draws these weird faces, and what they mean to him. So we decided to bother him and ask. We like to put Jon on the spot!

Here are the many faces of Jon!
Many Faces of Jon -Posted April 30th 2008

Next time you come by, you should ask Jon to get your very own post it face! You never know, he could be famous for it some day!

Derby is a fun time of year for Kentucky. We have a lot of festivals that start a few weeks before the big day in May. My favorite festival event that has started in the last year is the Happytail Hour! Metro Animal Services (MAS) hosts HappyTail Hour, which is the only "pet inclusive" cocktail event. This event allows people to bring their pets along to have a bite to eat, some good drinks and to socialize. It provides a fun opportunity for the pet loving community to come together to listen to the music, mingle, play games with their dogs and hang out at Waterfront Park. They also have S.P.O.T. (Stop Pet Overpopulation Today), which is MAS's 34-foot mobile adoption unit on hand with adoptable animals! It was great seeing MAS reaching out to the community in this way to help awesome dogs find great, loving homes. I hope many people have a new addition to their family today.

A group of us went out there Monday night, and the weather was really chilly and rainy. Despite the weather, there were a few pet owners who came out anyway to support Metro Animal Services. I'm sure if the weather would have been better, there would have been much more of a turnout. I brought my two dogs, Charley and Molly. Charley is still a puppy at 9 months old, and it was her first time out in public with other dogs! She did very well, and I learned she's afraid to walk over the bridges at the Waterfront park! We had to carry her each time. They had Frisbee games and treats for all of the doggies. There was also a band jamming out some live music.

We walked around and visited other dogs and the Chow Wagon. If you don't know what the Chow Wagon is, I think you're missing out! Everyone should visit this delight if you get a chance at Derby time! Basically it's a lot of booths that serve all kinds of carnival food... All kinds! Corn dogs, BBQ, cotton candy, funnel cakes, frozen custards, frozen lemonade, and so much more! Yummy!

Anyways, back to the dogs! So we walked back to the car all cold and wet, dried the dogs and left. Soon as we pull out of the parking garage, the sun came out, bright as it could be! That was a bummer, but, at least we had a nice drive home! On the way home we passed a couple of the Gallopalooza horse statues that are all over Louisville. I took a picture of one for you! Happy Derby everyone!

As most of the world knows, the Kentucky Derby is a HUGE deal for KY. Each year, from the kick-off at "Thunder over Louisville" to the "Chow Wagon" and "Hot Air Balloon Race" and all the way to the main event, the actual Derby race, the entire city is in celebration.

Here at Zappos we are no different, having our own mini-version of several events.We spend an entire night dedicated to the festivities. Having some "Kentucky HotBrown" for dinner, with our supervisors and managers serving nachos and cotton candy to the team, followed by our own horse racing (actually hopping), a horse decorating contest, AND a Derby Hat contest!



Each department and shift received a stenciled foam-core horse to cut out and deck-out for display by our break-room. Night shift photo department took an hour of our friday night to enjoy some pizza dinner and decorate our horse.


We decided to focus our horse in the direction of two fashionable and flashy brands, Ed Hardy and Betsy Johnson. All complete with an actual Betsey Johnson jockey and finished off with a pair of New Balance running shoes to win the race. We are very proud of our "Zappotariat" A.K.A. "Betsy Hardy".

Hello world!

This is my first Zappos blog entry, and I am excited to be introducing myself and the photo department to the rest of you, inside, and outside the company. My mission here is to give your hungry eyes a feast of photo department fun. We are a very active group of creative people not only looking to please our vendors and customers, but have a lot of fun in the process.

The core values are held in high regards in our studios. I have been with the company for about 3 years myself, and I couldn't imagine myself anywhere else. As I post more blogs, and you read further, I think you will understand why we all love it so much! ( As if all the other bloggers haven't given you enough reason already!)

Be looking for our department "quotes out of context" (coming soon) for a good laugh!