Third Third Thursday Teams Tradition

Once a quarter (roughly the third Thursday of every third month) we take an afternoon off with the whole staff and do something fun together that has nothing to do with our day-to-day work. It's a tradition that began when we started the company almost 8 years ago. Over the years, we've done everything from sailing to baseball games to go cart racing to cooking class. It's officially considered a "teambuilding" activity, but we've never taken it too seriously. We work hard all year long, so in many ways it's just a chance for us all to take a break together, have some fun, and recharge. Since we now have two offices, getting everyone together for events like this is even more important. Last week we had our most recent outing, and we braved the mud and welts for an afternoon of paintball. Two teams -- the Rats and the Dogs -- were chosen at random. The Durham office made the trip, any they were into it.

It's fun to look back over the years and see how the team has grown. Here we are at Cantler's in Annapolis in 2004:  This is from a cooking class all 7 of us took in early 2002:  Traditions like this are a big part of making a company feel like more than just a place to go to work. The bigger we get (we're hiring!), the more TTTs feel like official "events" as opposed to simple afternoons out of the office, but they're always well worth it. I come back feeling refreshed and reconnected with everyone -- especially those whom I have to blame thank for my various paintball bruises.