In honor of Peter's something-ith birthday, Karina decided to wrap his desk, computer and all of his trinkets in Aluminum (or AL-YOU-MIN-E-UM as they say it in Britian) foil.

Dean got in on the action, offering to let him skip out early. Peter didn't take the bait, so they enlisted James and hung around for a little bit after hours to pull it off. He happened to also capture the footage below (actual speed, we swear)!



Much to our surprise, he liked it quite well and is continuing to sport the Aluminum look a week later. It remains wrapping his phone, SUPAFRI beanie and other desk baubles. See for yourself below.



We're so fortunate to have such cool newbies. Be jealous.

Not hours from naming our CommuniCause Winner, Soldiers' Angels, Jennifer and Jamie had already requested to adopt a soldier and "become their angel". They've already went shopping and are ready to spoil Margaret.

Read more about the wonderful thing that they are doing over on Jen's blog, Jen X Y & Me. Then visit Soldiers' Angels and learn how you can adopt your own soldier!

We knew you couldn't get enough, so we're back! We've got two weeks worth of coverage for you.

David's been after me to put up coverage of 9/11's race for awhile. Watch and you'll figure out why.



But could it last? Watch what went down last #handstandfriday and find out!

We've been a little busy recently, organizing our the reveal of our CommuniCause winner. If you're not familiar, head on over to CommuniCause.com to learn about our project and our winner, Soldiers' Angels! We're hugely proud to have the opportunity to support such a wonderful organization.

In other news:

Because we get rather busy, we need an outlet to quickly shake off our tension, so we can get back to work. I near the Nerf tradition goes way back (before my time), but has recently made a resurgence thanks to James, one of our Senior Newbies (he's still a little new, but not THAT new).

Here's a little POV cam of a small attack against James. He didn't take it lightly!



But don't worry, a trip to the store took care of that. Thanks for defending my honor, Stuart! Watch for our cliffhanger ending!



More and more Nerf equipment is proliferating through the office. There's talk of a Nerf firing squad one day on The Wheel of Destiny... with eye protection of course!

When was the last time you felt the gentle pelt of a Nerf dart?

I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day! Drop us a comment if you did anything particularly interesting.

As usual, I collected my crew and we went exploring on our Ruckuses (there are four of us now). We explored the psychic epicenter, Cassadaga, and scooted a little further to Lake Helen after finding that our intended restaurant was closed. But they're psychic - shouldn't they have known we were coming?

Anyway, we found a delightful little place, and I'd share the name if I could remember it. But what caught my eye was oddly enough - their cups!



These things were made entirely from Corn, to my understanding. They felt like regular cups and all (we tried eating them, it didn't work - we didn't try microwaving them with butter to see if they'd pop though), but supposedly they're compostable. So you can just toss them in your back yard and they'll break down in a month or so. I was tempted to take mine home and try it out - maybe next time.

Corn - what can't you do?

I do wish you didn't drop my gas mileage with your ethanol but... well that's another corn discussion. What has corn done for you lately?

...or more accurately: What fuels our Creative Team?

Having the pleasure of helping out with keeping our snack machine stocked, I've noticed quite a few trends. One of which is that each member of our Creative Team has a solid snacking preference.

First, there's David. This guy's been known to get a little cranky without his Peanut M&M's. He doesn't care much for digging through our "assorted chocolates" row, so one day he brought in a three pound bag. We kindly ate it for him when he went on vacation soon after. Oops! He's recently been given his very own queue in the machine. He seemed happy enough.



Then, there's Stephanie. We could save a few bucks by paying her in Cheetos. I'm not sure that she'd mind (but her landlord probably would). I've never seen her eyes light up as much as when I offered to leave a case for her at her desk. I didn't... poor Steph!



James, along with some of our Developers and interns, has been known to mow down a row of Famous Amos Cookies in a matter of hours. He's recently been cutting back though, and I no longer have to dedicate half of the machine to these little pieces of heaven.



And Joe, or "Tuck" as we know him... he's a bit of a mystery. It may be too early to tell. But if he had to define himself with one of our snacky-treats, his choice would be Cheez-Its. They have a lot in common, with him being the newest member of our team and the snack crackers being one of the newest additions to the vending machine as well.



Outside of our creative team, the little chocolates go quick (we try to stay trim and healthy, so the switch to snack size was taken very well), but we can't move an Almond Joy bar to save our lives. They're like the black jelly beans - what kind of a person eats those? Eww! (I kid, please don't unsubscribe from our RSS!)

However, nothing moves faster than Diet Dr. Pepper. It's like water, except we drink more of it! I'm not going to blame this on Jamie... but we didn't used to have to pick up 144 cans per trip. Make your own judgments, folks!

So now you know what tickles our fancy. What's your go-to snack?

Our friends at Habitat for Humanity Orlando were gracious enough to share with us a handful of tickets to the Britney Spears Circus Tour last night.



When I first got the news from our Habitat friends, I tried to share with our team, but the big, strong men like Dean would have nothing to do with it! Neither would my girlfriend, but that's another story...

Anyway, the word got out and tickets were quickly more than spoken for (but luckily it all worked out in the end). Stuart, Karina, Moni, our friends, family, and even some MindComet alumni made it in the end.

Waiting for our group to materialize, it was apparent that the "circus" and "freak show" theme was rampant before we even got to our seats. Here you can see our Brittany (not the performer) with a random clown and then a couple of wild specimens.



As the show started, we found that it was about 25% theme park ride, 50% Cirque du Soleil and 25% concert. Well, maybe less than 25% concert because it was fairly apparent that Britney wasn't singing, but it sure was a spectacle! Aside from the pyrotechnics and performers dangling from the rafters, we saw a woman with NO LEGS on a trampoline and a guy who did the wildest maneuvers in what looked like an oversized hula-hoop.



We all had a fantastic time, and really want to extend our gratitude to our friends at Habitat for Humanity Orlando for the tickets, and everything that they do to build our community. Thank you Courtney and the Habitat crew!

If you're an avid 'plower, then you probably know all about my excursions on the Ruckus and how I gave up four-wheeled travel altogether for quite a while and then moved on to my little Ninja, or Ninjette, as they tend to call it.

I'd had an itch for some real power and a cool, unique new bike caught my eye. The 599, or Hornet as it's known in Europe, has the power of a real sport bike, but without all of the plastic fairings (what covers the engine and guts) to get scratched up. It also has more of an upright seating position that will keep me from turning into the Hunchback of Notre Dame on longer trips.



Of course, I've been scouring Craigslist as far out as I can fathom driving. I found a nice specimen at the right price (isn't the Economy great?) near Atlanta. After watching it sit for a couple of weeks and weighing the 350 mile drive, I decided to go for it. It was yellow to match my car, after all.



Hours and hours after departing, we showed up and checked the little guy out. A little rougher than pictures showed, but not bad. A little haggling, scoring a free matching jacket, cover and gloves and I was off with a much lighter pocket.

Nearly six hours, 50,000 bugs and a few squirts of Windex later, I was home with just enough time to get ready for the work week. Now if I can just find space in the garage, I'll be set!



...another car needs to fit in there, by the way. Now who wants to buy my Ninja?! Until then, look who's hanging out on my front porch...