Archive for the ‘Random Stuff’ Category

Pepe’s Progress

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

As you can see, Pepe is now something of a minor giant, stalking the IWOOT office with the ease and demeanour of a jungle cat. It’s all thanks to you, generous blog readers and rubber band senders - we are truly touched by your dedication to Pepe’s cause.

The tail-end of last week saw a mammoth package containing a reported 427 elastic bands (as detailed here) and, truth be told, it was this behemoth that saw Pepe truly take off. As things stand currently, we’re wrapping each band around only once rather than twice or three times. That’s how serious things are getting.

Day 4

Of course, we still need more, so keep them coming in:

Pepe, Creative Department
Unit C11 Parkhall Trading Estate
40 Martell Road
London
SE21 8EN

If yours is the 25th, 50th or 75th package we receive then you’ll win a small token of our gratitude, so make sure you include your postal and email address along with your phone number. We’re getting there, folks!

“Baby When The Lights Go Out…”

Friday, November 13th, 2009

Us IWOOTers were forced to toil in darkness earlier today (well, it certainly wasn’t as bright as usual… and it was raining…) when our power unexpectedly went ‘pop’. Though the shock was initially overwhelming and asseverations of ‘blimey’, ‘crumbs’ and ‘oh, fiddlesticks’ were flying around the place like nobody’s business, we had to knuckle down and accept that it was someone else’s job to turn it back on.

 

So what did we do? We played Jenga, had a sing-song, kicked a football around, had an early lunch and generally invoked the spirit of the Blitz. What ho and all that. Who says Friday 13th is all bad?

Customer Services tune out the darkness

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Just in case you’re wondering, the title is in reference to the 5ive song of the same name. Other power/electricity-related songs include Huey Lewis’ ‘The Power Of Love’ and Nelly Furtado’s ‘Turn Out The Light’.

Send Us Your Red Rubber Bands and Win a Prize

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

In the last few weeks, we haven’t been sure what would be going on in regard to the Royal Mail strike. Worried that we might never again walk past a red rubber band-adorned pavement, we started collecting the little gems as exquisite reminders of how noticing that cute little rubbery guy could brighten up one’s day. As the collection of these elastic treasures started mounting, we started investigating a way to best economise, Ikea-style, the storage surface area that the slow wave of malleable redness was taking up. You know, that ‘Just because I have nowhere else to put it that doesn’t mean it can’t look vaguely cool’ solution. That, folks, is how we gave birth to Pepe. As you can instantly see, Pepe is a ball made up of rubber bands.

Pepe has grown into a bit of an obsession in the creative department. We have spent hours scouring pavements and drains, and have just stopped short of mugging posties (although Simon the Aussie was not too shy to help himself to a nice little stash he found on top of an unguarded trolley). With Pepe growing in leaps and bounds week by week, we have been strutting while maintaining that Atari-playing, emo-retro cool suaveness that us swanky creative types are best known for.

Here are some pictures of Pepe’s very gradual progress so far:

He began as a baby...

... and became...

... a slightly bigger baby.

It was with much horror that we have recently discovered that we have been played for fools. You see, our wonderful (grumble grumble) Customer Services team have actually been constructing there own ball of rubber band glory for the last two years. And, whilst it pains me to admit it, the CS Ball whom we shall not dignify with a name, is somewhat monstrously larger than Pepe. That was fine - we were prepared to endure the sniggering, the taunting and the name-calling. It did, however, reach a breaking point when Jade loudly pronounced for the entire office to hear, “Wow, if you look at them next to each other, it seems only fitting that Pepe orbits our [name removed out of spite] ball.” And that was the final straw.

Luckily, the Royal Mail strike is over. And with Customer Services hungrily hoarding any bands that come into our office, we are left scavenging the streets for tidbits that the Postie might have dropped on the floor. Luckily for us, we have you, oh valued and loyal reader of the blog, and this is why we implore you to help us. Similarly, as is the spirit of the IWOOT blog, that help will most certainly be rewarded.

So, without further ado, I (finally) introduce you to THE MOST RANDOM COMPETITION WE HAVE EVER RUN EVER EVER. Basically, we would like you to send us in any Red Royal Mail Rubber Bands that you might find. And, keeping the fun factor, we will be giving a sur-PRIZE to the person that sends us the 1st, 25th, 50th and 75th envelope containing a rubber band.

Send all red rubber band packages to:

Pepe, Creative Department
Unit C11 Parkhall Trading Estate
40 Martell Road
London
SE21 8EN

Make sure you include your address and phone number so we can send you your prize, should you win!

 

Competition Terms & Conditions:

• The competition closes as soon as the 75th package arrives.
• Prizes will be awarded to the 1st, 25th, 50th and 75th rubber band pakages we receive - only one package to be sent per person in the interests of keeping it fair.
• This competition is completely free to enter, no purchase is necessary.
• No cash alternative is available for the prize(s) offered.
• This competition is open to residents of the UK only.
• Employees of I Want One of Those and their immediate families and anyone professionally connected with the promotion are not eligible to enter this competition.
• The winner will be notified of their win via the e-mail address provided in their package, and under the name submitted on their entry. If a response to this notification is not received within 14 days, IWOOT reserves the right to randomly select another winner. In light of this, please ensure you submit an email address that you use regularly!
• No responsibility will be accepted for entries that are not received.
• From time to time we may include customer comments and feedback on the site, and in our catalogue and other media. By submitting your comment you are granting us permission to publish it and, if necessary, edit it for clarity and typos.

Is this the world’s best firework game?

Friday, November 6th, 2009
                   
                                                                                                           
   
No.

The Loneliness Of The Long-Distance Blogger

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Yesterday, I was ill. Off sick. Laid up. Bunged up. It was horrible, frankly, and probably compounded by it being man-flu or whatever other stereotypical names you may want to give my afflictions.  Whichever way you slice it, having a cold is one of the most insulting things that human civilisation has to deal with - it’s not life-threatening, it debilitates you, it puts you in a bad mood, you can’t taste all that lovely chicken soup you’re supposed to have and it makes your face look like the Michelin Man’s bicep. Anyway, I was out of action for the day, and my diet and activities looked a little like this:

 

Tissues and Lemsip. Good times.

Yuck, I’m sure you’ll agree. Honestly, another teaspoon of that disgusting blackcurrant swill would be enough to make me hack off a toe. Horrible stuff. Anyway, my thinking was that, as long as I’m sitting about feeling sorry for myself and blowing my nose, I could at least get something productive done on my day off. I sent DinoWoot an email early on asking him to send me the login details for this here blog (his response of “whoops, forgot” came at about half past four) to enable some home-blogging, and set about dumping the contents of my iTunes library onto my external hard drive. What an exciting blog post this is.

After some much-needed dozing and whining and Lemsip, I flicked the telly on to see Eamonn Holmes and that other woman from This Morning telling people how to keep their children safe online. This, coupled with the emptying computer on my lap, turned my mind to the omnipresence of technology. Even on a sick day, we can potentially be at work while we snivel.

Initially I though that this was a marked difference from when we used to milk an illness for as much as possible to get out of school. Ah yes, the days when all we had to entertain us on a sick day was the current copy of the Radio Times and educational programming… but then I remember what my mum used to shout at me on such days: “if you’re well enough to play with your Game Boy, you’re well enough to go to school!” Times, it seems, have not changed much.

Windows 7 - Will It Make My Christmas?

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

As you may have previously read, my battle with my laptop running Windows Vista is a bloody and long one, and has led to several embarrassing situations (the less said about the times I told friends I’d be at their house in two minutes, clicked ‘Shut Down’ and been half an hour late, the better). I can really feel it culminating, and the urge to splurge and get myself a technology-related early Christmas present is almost impossible to ignore. My plan to save up for a Mac may have beaten into second place, though…

According to The Guardian, the new Windows OS, Windows 7 (another storming Ronseal title, much better than Vista) works faster than the OS it replaces on most computers. This, for me, is reason enough to upgrade. The basic Home Edition retails at £79.99, while Apple Macs start at around £799. That’s ten times the expense. Is it worth me saving up for a solution to a problem that could be solved very quickly and with much less of an impact on my wallet? True, it wouldn’t solve everything (my cheap-as-chips laptop must shoulder some of the blame), but it’s a start, isn’t it?

The only thing really standing in my way is the fact that I might be forced to have a Windows Party and partake in the kind of forced jollity displayed in the publicity campaign mounted by Microsoft in the run-up to its release. They come across as much like a social skills seminar as they do a Windows tutorial. Yuck.

So what is it to be? Expense, scrimping and saving, or throw my own Windows Party?

We Need A Zombie-Killing Hero…

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

The marauding undead may be trying to convert us to their flesh-eating ways, but luckily there are two guys who won’t stop until… well, at least lunchtime.

JennaWoot Taken By Zombies

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

We did all we could to stop them.

 

pict0037

This is all that was left. The panda is very upset.

Who’s next?

They’re Coming…

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

NNNNRRRGGGGGHHHHH…

Something Is Stirring at IWOOT Towers…

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

… but what could it be?