No Doily's Here

This week I'd like to give you a little glimpse into the office where I work. As many of you know, a larger company took over the running of Winster. Their main business are what they call "massive multi-player online games". It spells MMOG is all I know. What that means is that your avatar runs around doing some form of combat and you play online with a world-wide audience. As far as I can tell from the posters in the lobby there is a medieval themed one, an urban warfare one and a couple other variants on post apocalyptic hell scapes.  I know this only from the decorations.  Life-size posters depicting WWF style men with Rambo gear and women in head-to-toe leather. One looks suspiciously like Halle Barry.

It's an odd fit for sure, but somehow it works. Our little corner of friendship and cooperation gaming is slowly softening the man warriors in the office and making the place a little more, shall we say "estrogen-driven".  I have yet to redecorate but am planning on passing out some sweet Valentine cookies next month.  I'll let you know how it goes :)

XO
Winnie

Civility

Good Morning Winster Friends,
I'm thinking that basic civility seems to be at an all time low. Standing in line at Starbucks this morning, a simple thing we all learned in grade school, a young woman came in and got in line behind me. As the line got shorter, she started inching up and eventually was standing next to me. As the Starbucks worker called "next" she went right ahead of me and ordered!
And don't get me started on drivers. Honking at you because they perceive you to be going too slow, only to speed by, give you the glare and mouth choice words in your direction, and then have to stop at the same light next to you up the road.
Whenever I felt I was getting the short end of the stick as a kid, my mother used to say "you'll get your reward in heaven".  Not very comforting for a six year old, but wiser than I gave her credit for. And I don't think you have to wait that long. Watching the madman sit at the light trying to maintain his anger or standing to get your coffee with the girl who cut in front of you is reward enough. They generally feel stupid and that's pretty rewarding.
So it's nice to be working with people like you who would rather work collaboratively than competitively and are appreciative for the things our little Winster team can give them. I don't think we'll ever make a million dollars for running this site but we'll "get our reward in heaven" :)

XO
Winnie

Thoughts on Flannel Pajamas

Hi Winster Friends!
I was just watching Al Roker present the latest storm sweeping the country. Two feet of snow from Nevada to Minnesota today. We are officially sandwiched in between the hope of a White Christmas and the seemingly endless wait for Spring.

Being from the east, and having just visited my family over Christmas, I know how your mindset changes from one of wonder at every beautiful flake pre-December 25th to one of disdain all the way through April. The gray days bleed into black nights and you cocoon inside, in my case never taking off my flannel pj's. Which count as clothes now? I guess you just throw on a pair of boots and pretend they're pants. I see all the kids doing it :)

I think living in California, we're programmed to do things. The great weather forces us in to work and school every day, pushes us to exercise, run errands, make plans. There's something to be said for a season that allows you to rest and sit with your thoughts. Or in our case, sit at our computers and play with our friends. Nice segue, huh?

In the spirit of cocooning in our pj's, Winster is throwing a little pre-mid-winter Happy Hour tomorrow, Saturday January 12th from 3-4pm PST (6-7pm EST for those of you who are actually freezing). Free Spins and no ads! It's a make-up for those of you who were locked out during the last hour of our New Year's event.

See you there in your best flannels/pants :)

XO
Winnie