I worked at Kinko’s in Missoula, Montana in the 90’s (I have two aprons and a nametag to prove my four years there…), and we did some fun things… we went on a couple of store raft trips (where I lost my expensive sunglasses and got a massive sunburn); a massage therapist came in and gave everyone 15 minute massages (the guy went too deep and I had trouble turning my head for about a week); and once we even did a rope’s course (trying to walk on a very thin peice of rope is more my idea of torture than team-building, but oh well)…

I did appreciate that management was trying to take a tough place to work (”WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN’T MAKE 400 COPIES OF A TWENTY PAGE DOCUMENT AND BIND THEM IN 20 MINUTES???!!!! I NEED THEM FOR A MEETING RIGHT NOW!”), and bring in a sense of fun. But… as nice as they were, they were sort of predictable, mandatory “perks” of being in a workplace…. and, most times, I just wished I could stay home.

There is something magical that happens when you get to do something really unique and fun AND get paid for it all at the same time. I was lucky to have this experience just this past weekend.

Katie, our OsoEco client, was a wing-walker in a past life (ok, it was when she was 18 — which is pretty much the same thing). In working on their website, we thought it would be really great to find someone with a bi-plane and get her picture with the plane.

We went on to the net, and contacted several of the smaller airports around Eugene… it took all of three hours to find a wonderful guy, Ken, who owns a beautifully restored 1942 Stearman that was used to train WWII pilots. He graciously invited us to come out to the Creswell airport.

But not only that — he acted as our photo-assistant and would move the ENTIRE plane (there are a couple of handles in strategic places so you can manually move it) so we could make the best use of the light. And then, when we were done, he said magical words: “Would anyone like a ride?”

Well! This was WAY better than rafting/massage/or rope coursing. This was an offer you just don’t get often, if ever.

Ken then took the next hour and took up Johnathon, our newly 18-year-old, Gena, me, and then he took Katie on a longer ride where they did loop-de-loops and other stunts in the air. AMAZING.

All in all, it was a fantastic, unexpected day. There is something inexplainable about being in an open cockpit, in a plane that is a peice of history, and that has been so lovingly restored that it is a work of art — not to mention it was during that magical “golden hour” right before dusk, on a beautiful 75 degree Oregon summer day.

Yeah. I guess that my job isn’t too bad