Zoomdoggle: More fun than work!

Zoomdoggle & Co. is en route to Atlanta. Long story short, this means we’re taking the day off. If you were one of the people who submitted for the writing job, hopefully this will allow for more time to send out applications, read, and respond. If on the other hand you’re just a reader, hopefully this will allow for more time to um, er, well, do that other stuff you enjoy you so much. In the meantime, if anyone knows of anything fun to do in ATL, or wants to meet up for a drink-up, send word to jakehimself at giantminiature. Thanks.

Special thanks to everyone who posted a resolution below. Congrat to LAX, you’ve won the secret prize (true the winner was picked at random, but there’s something fun about the fact that in picking you, we’ve also fullfilled the prophacy).

For everyone still in need of resolve, might we suggest the New Year’s Resolutions Generator.

PS: We’re back to the regular schedule on Monday. There’s about 50 resumes to go though, hopefully by then though there will be some new faces in the driver’s seat. Happy New Year!

LINK: Newyearsresolutiongenerator. 2010 thanks to Marcus Rich for sending it my way.

It’s not help wanted, it’s help needed! And we’re about six months behind when we should have first put out the bat call. Zoomdoggle & Co. needs writers. Writers who like fun, have an hour or three to track it down daily, and know how to string words together so as to share what they’ve found with others. There is pay involved (it’s not full time, but it could easily cover rent for the right person or persons). Qualified candidates will have a working knowledge of WordPress and PhotoShop, enjoy a good flash game, a quirky web site, and eat one too many cupcakes in a sitting. Think you’ve got what it takes? Send a note or two about why you think you’re the one to jakehimself at giantminiature dot com. The hunt is one. It’s high-time this little blog grew up. How fun is that?

In 2010 I resolve to stay on top of my in box. Step one: Archiving nearly 42,000 conversations. Done. What’s yours? Let us know in the comments below. Best one wins, well, you know…

Happy holiday’s from our family to yours. Here’s hoping you get everything you wished for and then some. Me? All I want is 1000 members on the Buckyballs facebook group. Today could be the day…

LINK: Buckyballs.

No, really, it’s a real job we’re filling this time. Zoomdoggle & Co. needs a full-time, full-charge bookkeeper. You must live in New York (there’s nothing virtual about the gig, there’s an office with a desk), know Quickbooks inside and out (no time to learn, you’ll be on non-stop from minute one to 2011), have amazing attention to detail (despite what you see here, fun doesn’t mean sloppy), and be easy going (the dress code mainly involves hooded sweatshirts and sunglasses). That said, pay is competitive and the start date is now. Do you or someone you know fit the bill? Send resumes to jakehimself at giantminiature dot com. How fun is that?

…Mike K for making this picture and sending the picture in (though I’ve got nothing against turkey, it’s always fun to find stuff in the inbox).
…Lucky Oliver (the photo community) which, though I’m not sure it still exists, is where I believe this base picture is from.
…But most of all for you, for coming back, for your kind words (mostly through facebook these days) and for your friendship.
If anyone else feels like posting what they’re thankful for below, get at it. The prize is the warm and fuzzy feeling you get as soon as you push the post button. How fun is that?

Sorry for the unexpected pause in Doggle… I had to take a minute to recharge. And, well, while I was doing that, I also went on a bit of a press rampage. As some of you may have noticed, Buckyballs were talked about on several local news programs across the nation. Ooh, and, eagle-eyed readers will also notices mentions in this month’s WIRED Magazine (we’re also in their pop-up store), Maxim, Esquire, and Real Simple. More to follow. I’m going to make a contest out of it some kind of way. In the meantime though, know that we’re back on the case. The fun case that is.

LINK: Facebook/Buckyballs216. Mega-thanks to Brandon Jones for giving me the kick in the pants I needed to re-start the engine.

Two very big thank-yous are in order this week:

The first goes to Drew aka FakeJake who held down the fort here, on Twitter, and Facebook so I could take a week off and think. We didn’t get any closer to actually reading all of Zoomdoggle’s inbound mail, but vacations are always good and Drew, having never been me before, did a fantastic job. In fact, he did such a good job, I think we should have a guest Jake every other week. Give me a week to figure out what that means – perhaps we can make the program funner, perhaps you have a suggestion for how – then we’ll get to it. In the meantime, if you’re interested, holler at me.

Next up but no less important is Jon, his lady, and their little buffalo. Cashew and I were sitting in the park, discussing the merits of Zoomdoggle and considering pulling the plug, when Jon and his fam, a group I’d never met before, wandered over to say how much they enjoy reading it. Sold. If Jon likes it, I like it. It’s just got to get better is all…

Interesting side note, the last time I was considering calling it a day, I was on the subway talking to Jordan, the coding genius who makes the site run, when a then unknown Color Me Katie, stepped out of the shadows to say how much she enjoyed it. I guess if there’s a moral here it’s this: You never know the impact your words will have. Speak up at every chance.

Sorry for the lack of doggle these past two days, I’ve had my hands full with something we’ve dubbed “Secret Project X”.

Without giving too much away, what you’re seeing here is a metal shop in my neighborhood called Fourth State Metal. The good guys at Fourth State were kind enough to make me – er, well, what they made me is the secret – but they wound up making a lot more of it than I ever dreamed. So much so in fact that just putting it in boxes (those boxes behind me are stacked 4 tall, each row is two boxes wide and 32 feet long, and there were 8 rows in total) took nearly 80 man hours. Most of the labor was women, that’s just the way it works out when we put out the call for help, but you get the idea… it was an ‘all hands on deck’ situation.

Anyway, today these boxes are making their way to a staging area in Connecticut, and tomorrow they’ll be sent out all over the country. I’ll keep you posted, but first one to spot the things in the wild wins a prize. This little caterpillar is about to become a butterfly. How fun is that?