I just spoke to K2 and our saga continues.  Unfortunately the power outage blew out some of our Internet hardware.  We have a call in to the service company who is supposed to be available 24/7.  Hopefully Internet will be restored before we arrive in the office in the morning.

Due to this fact, I am going back to our original plan.  Please show up at the office nlt 8:30 am and we will plan on a full day as a team on the exact same schedule.

Reminder - Halloween Party is Friday.  Come in costume on Friday (not Thursday)

I received info from Brandywine that Peco has restored power to the complex.  Our phone is working, but I have yet to reach K2 or Mike Owsiany to get more details.  The VPN is not running yet and it will take a bit of effort for our file server (F drive) to be available.  I know some of you are having intermittent issues with webmail which is expected.

I will see all of you in the morning.  Those of you that normally come in earlier than 8:30 may do so tomorrow and work a normal day.  Everyone is expected to be in the office at 8:30 am for team meetings.

Have a safe and happy Halloween.

All,

I have been promised that power will be restored by tonight.  Please come to the office on normal schedule (8:30 am) on Thursday.

Beginning at 830 am each department will be meeting with their managers and catching up on status and initiatives.

Each department will use a specific office/room for there meeting.  These meetings will occur regardless of power being restored.  Your manager will discuss the past few days and go through projects and initiatives and next steps.  Please include offsite team members as appropriate.

Plan on these meetings finishing up around 10 am.  At that time, the managers will huddle together in the large conference room for 30 minutes.

The meeting offices available will be (cafeteria, large conf room, small conf room, my office, jims office, james office, georges office, strat dev area) - first come first serve but please leave the cafeteria for the tech group and the large conference room for marketing.

For those of you that usually come in early, I will try to communicate about power being restored as soon as it happens.  Check your email and check the blog site (beyondweather.blogspot.com) for updated information.

If the power is not restored, there is no need to come in early.  The office will open at 8:30 am and close at 5:30 pm so we should all plan on being on the same schedule.

The past few days have really thrown us a bit so i want to make sure we gather as a team and do our best to move forward together as we start off November.

Please feel free to communicate with your managers or with me/Tessa should you require anything.  Some of us are still without power or are dealing with down trees and other issues at home so please do your best to lend support where needed.

We had a good day at The Marriott today and hopefully each of your were productive at home as well.

Please finish up work at 5pm tonight and try to enjoy your Halloween.  we will see you first thing in the morning.

Thank you

Rich

Brief update on email.  The move to the colo was successful.  https://mail.beyond.com should be accessible but your desktops may need to be reconfigured

you can communicate with others inside beyond and you can receive email from outside, however mail outbound is not going out just as of yet (it is being queued/held)

We will keep you up to date as things progress

Team (as of Wednesday 7am)

The power is not back on and it does not appear that it will be until later today,  We are working to assure people can be productive.  Please read the below and check this blog often.

1. Halloween will be moved to Friday
2. If you plan to work from home, you must have power/internet and make every attempt  to check in with your manager
3. If you are working please get on Instant Messenger/AIM and communicate with your peers/managers
4. If you would like, you can come to the Marriott in Conshohocken and work there (starting around 9am).  Please bring a laptop if you have one otherwise we will try to provide.  If you can be productive from home then you are not required to come to the Marriott, but we will use this space for meetings and work.  I will provide lunch and dinner for anyone that is interested.
5. For those of you that just want to meet face-to-face for a couple of hours, please feel free to join others at the Marriott as well.
6. If you are coming to the Marriott, please let me know by emailing RichMilgram@gmail.com or calling me 610.999.3333,  You may also try my home number 610.642.0202
7. Anyone that would like to take PTO may do so.
8. When I have an update on mail access, I will post it on this blog.

Please do your best to be productive and communicate with the team.  Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me, Tessa or your manager.

as of right now (6 am) the office is still without power, I will update everyone at 7am by posting on this site

K2 and Jeremy moved the mail server this morning (Wednesday 5am) - They are hooking it up at the Colo.  Since mail is already down for everyone this is no more of an outage than already exists.  We hope they have mail up by 9-10am.  At that time, you should have access to webmail but any Outlook box on a computer would need to be updated.  Check back here for mail info.

Team here's the plan as of 5:30 PM on Tuesday.  Please also check this blog when you wake up in the morning

K2 Will be at the office at 5 AM on Wednesday. He will verify that we have power and turn everything on. If for some reason we do not have power Mark will be moving our mail servers to Audubon So that we have mail service for all of our offices

Assuming the office has power on in the morning Halloween is still a go

If we do not have power at the office tomorrow we are asking everyone to work from home.  For those of you that do not have power at home I have secured space at the Marriott in Conshohocken For us to work.  This is only in the case that the power is not on in King of Prussia

If you would like to work out of the Marriott in Conshocken please notify me ahead of time so I can plan accordingly.  Hopefully we will not need to use this remote space however it will be available if necessary.

Should you have any questions please feel free to contact me via email or cell

Hi team!  I hope everyone is doing well.  I Have been without cellular signal and Internet for sometime So I came into the office hoping that my magic touch will turn the power back on as of yet the only thing I have affected  is the snacks in the cafeteria

Today is a work from home today.  Tomorrow is Halloween please come dressed.  I will let you know as soon as the power is back on If you dial our main phone number and hear a busy signal then the power is still out

I hope everyone is safe and making the best of the situation

As of right now I believe the office is still out of power.  Headed in to see if I can do anything.  Until further notice, please work from home.  (Posted by Andrea for Rich)

Team,

Its 11 pm on Monday.  The plan right now is to open the office at 9 am tomorrow morning.  I will check the weather again early in the morning, but I hope everyone has an easy and safe commute.  If you are unable to make it in to the office in the morning please notify your manager.

Monday Update

Monday 6:40 am

Team,

While it may appear drivable out right now it is expected to get much worse throughout the day.  As we are very concerned with everyone’s safety, we are encouraging each of you to work from home today. 

It is important to keep the business running and everyone being productive, especially at month end and in Q4.  Do what you can from your home base and touch base with your manager if possible.  Monday has been changed from a 7 hour in-office flex day to a 7 hour in-home flex day.  This change is for both KOP and NYC.

Should you have any questions, please let me know.

Update (Sunday 4:42 pm) - It is wet outside.  Many leaves have fallen.  The wind makes it a bad hair day but otherwise all is well in the Philadelphia area.

Beyond.com Weather Update 

(last updated 10/28/2012 11:25 AM)

All King of Prussia,

We have a severe weather storm coming our way (like you didn’t know).  Normally, Beyond.com would treat this event like any other snow or bad weather day.  However, this storm is potentially much more serious so as a company and as a family we want to be sure that we are extra cautious and that everyone is safe.

•        There is a chance that will you lose power in your home
•         There is a chance that you will be unable to get to work
•         There is a chance that it will be unsafe to drive long distances
•         There is a chance that we will lose power at the office
•         There is a chance that you will need to care for a child or relative

None of these situations are optimal, but on occasion we have to deal with mother nature.  There is also a chance that the next couple of days will be like any other rainy day with minimal issues other than wet hair and clothes.  I guess we will find out soon enough how this unfolds.

At times like this my split personality comes out.  Simply speaking, we want to assure everyone’s safety and allow each of you to take care of your personal life. While at the same time, we want to assure that the business continues full steam ahead.

Things you need to know (In no specific order)…

• As of right now, the office is open on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (come in costume) and will be open unless you hear otherwise.
•  As of right now, the brunt of the storm is planned for Monday evening into Tuesday
• Tessa and I will be communicating with you in 4 ways (face-to-face, via email, via phone, via web)
• There is a small chance that we will close the office for a period of time.  If we close the office then you are asked to do what you can (at home) to help the company march forward. 
• As of right now, I am making Monday an 7 hour in-office flex-day.  This may change as the day proceeds.  There is a good chance that we will let people go home early on Monday to avoid traffic and issues.  Because of this, we are encouraging people to come in early on Monday and avoid morning traffic and if necessary we will let you leave early Monday afternoon.  Please take advantage of the cafeteria or bring a lunch if you want.
• Those of you that are driving long distances and can be productive at home may elect to check the weather in the morning and decide to work from home.  While we are most productive when we are in the office, we understand that days like this can occur.  If you are working from home, we ask that you work a full day and be as productive as possible. If you can only work partial time due to productivity level or power/internet outage, we ask that you take the remaining time as PTO.
•  If you choose, you can take PTO for Monday or Tuesday in ½ day or full day increments.  All PTO for these two days is automatically approved without prior notice.  Please send an email to your manager and CC Tessa if this is the case.
•  If we close the office (1/2 day or full day), any PTO requests made for the period of time the office is closed, will not be counted as PTO.  This goes for anyone in KOP whether you are on vacation or chose to take PTO due to the storm.
• Some of us may experience significant power outages.  For those that do, understand that you have a network of people at Beyond willing to help.  If you require accommodations or for a period of time or other assistance, please let us know and we will do our best to try to help. 
•  Keep in mind that if power is out at the office… (1) no one will answer the office phone (2) Beyond email will not be sent
• For updates and information, please see the below:

o   Face-to-Face: Hopefully, you can chat with us face-to-face in the office

o   Email: We will be sending updates via Beyond email (if possible).  My personal email address is RichMilgram@gmail.com – feel free to use it and I will be checking it as well.

o   Web: We will be posting updates at this link: http://beyondweather.blogspot.com/

o   Phone: If you don’t have Beyond email/web access or if you just need to speak with someone, you may call my personal cell phone for any information or need (610.999.3333).  I will be updating my voice mail with any new information beginning Monday so listen to my voice mail message and feel free to leave me a message of your own.

I tried to capture everything above.  Please be safe, leverage your Beyond network to help if needed and do what you can to contribute to the organization over the next few days.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Rich Milgram

CEO, Beyond.com, Inc.

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