Cakeplow

Too Many Twinkies

2010-08-06T20:06:34Z

We've got a retreat coming up, and everyone's worried about getting themselves in shape. I think some of us could use a few pointers... what do you think?

Have You Got the Funk?

2010-07-30T13:08:13Z

Let's get this #DiscoFri started!

And the frontrunner for our costume contest (as always) our pal Joey!

...watch out for the recap next week, jive turkeys!

Leaf Blower + Internet = Hovercraft

2010-07-12T20:06:43Z

What happens when nerds have too much time on their hands? They Google random things like how to make a hovercraft. Add a leaf blower, initiative, and some other junk into the mix, and you get what Dean, Carney and Peter made below.

We tested their weekend creation on MindComet's back patio. Indoors, it sounded like a vacuum-powered vuvuzela, but outdoors, it was a lot of fun. They claim to have lifted three grown men!

Stephanie also took it for a whirl but found herself on a bit of a slope...

Is this the future of electric transportation? Maybe not, but over lunch, I caught them chatting about their next design, so watch out for version two!

Jeremy Soothes the Soul with Doug on Spoons

2010-07-09T19:00:26Z

It's Friday - and I bet you've had a tough week. You deserve a break!

Sit back, relax, and let our very own Jeremy Hilton serenade you with an old American Classic: Country Roads by John Denver. Don't miss Doug's solo on the spoons!

Best MindComet Prank Ever?

2010-07-09T18:33:12Z

If you follow us on Twitter, then you might already know about our bicycle gang. Yep, that's right, we've got a full-fledged biker gang in the office.

With all of these bicycles around, it's like they're begging for mischief. One creative team member hatched one heck of a prank on poor James. It's amazing what you can do with a couple of zip ties - but it's a good thing that James bought one of those fancy super-light bikes!

He walked by it a few times, deep in thought, fully-focused and on-task. But then he found it. You could hear his giggles throughout the office. Check out his reaction below.

And another pic for good measure... poor bike!

What's your best office prank?

All Carney Wanted for his Birthday…

2010-07-08T15:05:07Z

...was a Pie in the Face!

I've never seen someone so excited to be slammed in the face with the whipped topping.

But it's not so fun when it's time to clean up... and maybe that's why he was so brutal with this guy.

Our Most Brutal Pie In The Face Yet!

2010-07-07T19:21:11Z

You can't run, you can't hide, the Wheel of Destiny will find you...

PS: It's all fun and games until you have to smell rotting whipped cream in your nose for the rest of the day! Eww!

It’s Cool to Pee Your Pants

2010-06-30T16:16:50Z

Yep, peeing your pants is the coolest! Just ask Jim or David.

As Doug tells spinners of the Wheel of Destiny: "All of the spots are good. Just some are good for YOU and some are good for US." This was the latter.

A Boy’s Dream, Realized With Pudding

2010-06-30T13:14:55Z

View the heart-warming story of a father who would do anything to see the dream of his boys realized... by getting pudding flung at his face!

It will all make sense when you watch the video below.

MindComet... where dreams come true (at least if they involve pudding). Thanks for being such a great sport, Matt!

SUPA4th - Revenge of the Wheel of Destiny

2010-06-29T18:18:25Z

Last Friday, we celebrated the 4th of July a little early, hosted by our pal, Andrew.

Dressed in our patriotic best, we started off the festivities with a good ol' cornhole competition. Incase you're having any strange ideas, you can learn more about it from the American Cornhole Organization. Or better yet, watch the music video.

The winner of our single-elimination tournament was ironically the man with the least depth perception: James May, aka monooptical.

After we chowed down on some burgers and dogs, it was time to revisit the Wheel of Destiny. It had been some time since it had last been spun - we didn't want to get our fancy Derby outfits messy - so it wasn't happy.

We had some great karaoke performances and a few spinners that were fairly fortunate, but because we know you like you watch us get messy, check out the action shots below.

Stay tuned for video coverage of karaoke performances, live pudding flings, pies in the face and more!

Meet Our Newbies

2010-06-23T15:39:27Z

Despite the rough times, we're happy to see our hard work pay off in the form of company growth. Hopefully you've already met our semi-newbies, like Carney, Mark, Cayla and Daissy. But today, I'd like to tell you about our new batch.

Read below to get inside of their heads and see what makes them tick. I've spiced things up a little bit, but it's still mostly true.

First, we have Jim Danko. He's just joined our IS team as a Software Developer, working with both .NET and PHP. As you can see above, he's got a little bit of a wild side and is all about having fun. He's excited about MindComet's culture, describing it as "really like nothing I've seen." He also owns a Zune, but we don't hold that against him.

He came to us from Ohio and doesn't miss it one bit. He's worked as both an in-house developer and for an interactive agency before joining our team. In his free time, he codes some more, wails on his guitar and plays some video games (anything where he can drive fast and/or shoot things). When he's not making the music, he listens to a wide range of tunes, from NOFX to Wu-Tang Clan to Johnny Cash. He secretly wishes that he could join forces with all three to create one mega-band that could bring world peace with their sweet jams.

I asked Jim for an interesting fact about himself and he responded that "There's nothing about me that ISN'T interesting or unique." Connect with him on Twitter and be the judge: @jimdanko

Next, we have Rick Donelson. He's also a brand new Software Developer, starting alongside Jim. Rick's such a nice guy, telling me that he's "excited to be a part of such a talented team" (I'm blushing), but also excited to have "the opportunity to work with such a diverse set of clients, projects and technologies." You can really tell that Rick is passionate about his work, and we think that's great.

Before joining our team in May, he married his wonderful wife and moved to Florida to work as a PHP Developer at NFi Studios. He actually worked with David Verble, who you'll meet below. He originally comes from a little town in northeast Missouri called Palmyra, which is also the name of an ancient Aramaic city. When he's not coding, he enjoys spending time with his wife and two wiener dogs. He likes to watch TV/movies and also enjoys the occasional cigar. His passions are solving problems and understanding how things work. He also likes building things, in the real or digital world. The idea of creating something from little or nothing brings him great pleasure.

Finally, believe it or not, but Rick's been performing magic since he was 8 years old. And now that we know this, we're looking forward to seeing him perform, and maybe we'll even feature him on Cakeplow sometime in the near future! You can catch him on Twitter here: @rdonelson

And from the other side of the office, we have an even newer team member, David Verble. He's only been with us for a short time, but he's really hit the ground running and doing a great job as our Senior Account Manager. His excitement was clear when I asked him what he was looking most forward to at MindComet: "I'm pumped about working with a top notch team with some great clients in an awesome environment...whats not to like?"

His passions are one facet that make him an excellent fit for our Account Team. He loves all things interactive: the Web, social technologies, augmented reality, immersive games and interactive exhibits, just to name a few. He's been in Central Florida for quite a while, graduating from UCF with a Masters in Interactive Entertainment. He previously worked with our Account Director, Matthew Gardner, for two years with the Digital Agency Lightmaker, and more recently at NFi Studios as a Project Manager working on social networking Web applications.

But before Central Florida, he was born in Knoxville, TN and grew up a few hours away just outside of Jacksonville, FL. In his spare time, he also plays the guitar - maybe he and Jim should start a band, and Pants could be on the drums. He also loves to travel and the beach. He's been known to hang ten.

David's interesting fact is more of a story: "When I was a senior at Stetson University, I put an inflatable kiddie pool in the back of my truck and and drove all over campus with about 4 guys in the pool... and called it Broah's Ark." Now that's classic! Keep up with his exploits here: @dverble

Brandon Brown hasn't been with us for very long, but we're growing attached to him. He's the newest tool in our creative arsenal, joining the team as a Junior Designer. He originates from Maywood, NJ, where he worked at a small company called EarthCam. There he did everything from internal creative, Times Square and National TV commercial spots, to photographing and producing Hawaiian Tropic Bikini Pageants. I haven't asked him what he missed the most, so you'll just have to guess. He came to Florida to finish his education at Full Sail University and we promptly snatched him up afterward.

One of the big reasons that he's so excited to be a part of our team is "the overall involvement the company has within the local professional community." He continues: "Events like Refresh Orlando, Florida Drupal Users Group and Social Media Club to name a few, are a big part of why I like telling others that I am a MindComet-eer."

When he's not designing, it's hard to hold him down. He's often at the beach, playing sports or hitting the gym. He secretly wishes to bring muscle beach to FL because ladies are so fun to bench press. But his real passion is cycling. After some time off, he's training to become competitive within the next 2-3 years, with the goal of competing in an iron man event in the not too distant future.

Finally, check out his interesting fact, complete with Wikipedia links to clue you in: "I keep various dendrobates and other amphibians. I also build custom Paludariums to keep them in. Right now, I only have three fire-bellied toads because of moving so much lately, but have kept a wide variety of different dendrobates. Moving to Florida was great because the exotic pet communities down here are much larger and active than back north."

If you'd like to chat about dendrobates, you can find him here: @bybrandonbrown. Or you can dive deeper at bybrandonbrown.com.

Last, but definitely not least, we have William Chang, also a Software Developer. He's been developing for over a decade and specializes in ASP.NET C#, but has worked with many technologies, like Java, PHP, C++, JavaScript, Python and OpenGL. He's here to overcome obstacles and loves to learn and collaborate - an overall great guy to have on our team. Will is a Software Engineer by trade and makes Web applications for all kinds of clients from government to the entertainment industry.

He's an Orlando native and graduated from UCF. He enjoys researching technology and his passion is prototyping cutting edge technologies. He thinks the Web is the future. But outside of the tech world, he likes to go on adventures and play sports like kayaking, tennis, basketball, horseback riding, canoeing, surfing and so on. Will's got a big bad Harley, as you can see above. His secret dream is to be the next Evil Knievel and jump the Grand Canyon, but for now, he enjoys keeping both wheels on the ground.

He's a man of few words and always has a smile on his face. Contrary to what some might expect from a developer, he'd rather meet you in person than online. William's open-minded and entrepreneurial, but in the end, he'd like to do his best to make the world a better place. What a noble goal! You can learn more and connect with him at williamchang.org.

And there you have it. I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about our newest additions to the team. We're excited to have them and are looking forward to introducing them to the Wheel of Destiny. Stay tuned to see how they fare!

Fun With The Flip

2010-05-27T19:20:32Z

If you give James a Flip Camera, a roll of scotch tape and some toys, you're bound find him up to something screwy like this.

Check out what MindComet would be like if you were six inches tall (and a terrible driver):

A Nerf gun attack gone wrong:

What will he think of next?

Don’t Panic

2010-05-25T15:11:39Z

In honor of Douglas Adams (author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,) today is Towel Day! It's a reminder to everyone out there, hitchhikers and otherwise, that you should always have your towel with you. To quote The Guide, "... Any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with."

I know where my towel is. Do you?

DerbyFri

2010-05-19T19:49:08Z

After a little snafu with a digital memory card, we've finally got pictures to share from DerbyFri last month!

Marcelle went all out to show the team a great time, as we reviewed and celebrated our accomplishments from Q1 of 2010 and discussed upcoming plans.

With the Kentucky Derby days away, we dressed in our Sunday best to celebrate the occasion. The team placed our bets on virtual horses and everybody took home a sweet prize on undoubtedly one of the best SUPAFRI events to date.

Stephanie was named best dressed while Joe, our reigning "dress-up champion", was disqualified for wearing jeans to the race. For shame! Find them below.

FEED US TACOS

2010-05-05T15:59:02Z

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

This year, we brought back an old classic, recreating our most popular "Feed Me Tacos" tee. Click the pic below for a full view!

...or just check out David modeling it for us.

May all your tacos be crunchy and your queso be... cheesy I guess? Anyway, party safe - and remember that you've got to make it to work tomorrow!