Photo thanks to Zena C.

We raised money! We had a good time! We learned some new words, mostly scientific in nature:

thixotropic (thks-trpk)

Our winner, Josh Malamy.

There are so many people who not only helped out at The Drunken Bee by donating their time, money or talent but who also really affirmed the Altrooist mission: do good. These folks went all out. They practiced, made movies, dreamt up elaborate elbow patch gags, organized words, donated prizes, dropped off monitors, passed LOLjudgement from Canada, worked the door, made us laugh, procured a costume beer belly, rocked out, bought tickets and spelled their way into our hearts. Because of all their efforts, we’re sending a Seattle kid (and parent!) to Washington DC to compete in the Scripps National Bee. HOW COOL IS THAT? It’s way cool.

Our heros: Luke Burbank, Johnathan Kyu, Sean DeTore, Kevin Hyder, Solomon Georgio, Monti, Lindy West, Scott Porad, Ben Huh, Fay Canale, Derek Sheen, Travis Vogt, People’s Republic of Komedy, Blood Squad, We Wrote the Book on Connectors, Andrew Saeger, Boo Davis, Kate Van Der Aa, Mark Tye, Erin Morrow, Todd Gehman, Liz Riley, Dana Bos, The Stranger, Too Beautiful To Live, Crave Seattle, Three Imaginary Girls. It takes a village. Thank you to all who came, all who bought auction items, all who kept handing us $20 bills.

Thank you thank you thank you.

"Remember, it's five o'clock somewhere."

The Bee:

Host and Pronouncer Extraordinaire Luke Burbank!

Judges Johnathan Kyu from Seattle Spelling Bee and Sean DeTore from TBTL and The Mix Tape.

Celebrity spellers:

• Cheezburger‘s Ben Huh and Scott Porad
• The Stranger‘s Lindy West
• Comedian Solomon Georgio
• Comedian Kevin Hyder
• Movin’ 92‘s Monti

Competing along with YOU — well, maybe you — seven audience members get a chance to spell! Bring your No. 2 pencils, there will be a test.

Post Bee Festivities:

An hour of top notch comedy coordinated by Kevin Hyder and People’s Republic of Komedy!

Closing out the night: We Wrote the Book on Connectors!

$10 cover, all proceeds go to the King and Snohomish County Regional Spelling Bee

A heartfelt thank you to our sponsors: TBTL, The Stranger, Factory 43 and People’s Republic of Komedy.

++++++++ Click here for tickets! ++++++++

We have some exciting news over here at Altrooist HQ! We are very proudly sponsoring the King and Snohomish Spelling Bee. An odd choice for a start-up with a misspelled name? Perhaps.

This post on The Stranger’s Slog tugged at our heartstrings: Tug Tug

No spelling bee in Seattle? We couldn’t let that happen! After making a few phone calls and activating our tiny but kick-ass network of do-gooders, it was a go.

We have some fundraising plans to help our partner, Town Hall, defray some of the costs associated with this event. Seattle’s favorite podcaster is on board – Mr. TBTL himself, Luke Burbank. And, most importantly, we have you. Would you like to help out, too? Leave a comment or email us at hello (at) altrooist.com and we’ll put you to work! W-O-R-K. Work.

It’s a great holiday for good deeds. Think of all the people you’ll see — at fireworks, at the beach, in your backyard with their feet in the kiddie pool.

“Wherever there is a human being there is an opportunity for kindness” — Seneca.

Twitter peep math_magic is the first to ring in!

You can join in, too! We’d like it lots if you did.

Just leave a comment or @Altrooist  your acts of kindness, your good deeds, your letting your little sister have the last slice of blueberry pie! So easy, so awesome. That’s how we like it.

Go good!

That’s the first ever Altrooist t-shirt.

It’s almost been a year since we solidified the name during a phone call. Almost a year since we spent $20 on the domain. We’re close to a soft launch (!) and there are many many things I am proud of — that t-shirt is one of them.

I’ve never worked at, much less “ran”, a web start-up. I’ve meet many whip-smart, start-up entrepreneurs and I’ve tried to soak in as much as I could around them. I’ve read books. I’ve become comfy in the world of online lingo and know enough to ask a few of the right questions. But most of the Altrooist team are start-up newbies with Eric being the impressive-resume exception.

We celebrate the tiny, because tiny is awesome and because tiny is kinda how our wins come right now. A glimpse into the code and we’re smiling for days. A rough UI demands a round of high-fives. One of my wishes is for us to never lose that. Celebrating the tiny seems like a way to stay motivated and happy.

This Altrooist shirt is going to be worn during the Rock-N-Roll Half Marathon in Seattle on June 27th. We donated $50 to a really good cause to land the torso of one of the 8 drunken Krunking Numbkits team members, one of which is Buster Benson. He’s one of the entrepreneurial gurus who has helped us along with encouragement, (perhaps unintentional) bits of wisdom, and by living an awe inspiring life. The man follows his passions. He’s the force behind Locavore. He’s always in the know. He can sport a pair of very tiny running shorts effortlessly. Thank you for kicking ass, Buster.

If you happen to be at the Seattle R’nR half marathon this weekend — give a hoot and a cup of cool water to the Krunking Numbkits team who are running for a good cause while wearing one!

Go Good!

++ Update! A Tweet!

We’re thrilled to have her join the tiny Altrooist team. Kate will wear many hats – not beanies, sombreros and fedoras, but blogging, tweeting, making friends, PR, marketing and whatever else comes her way. She’s crazy talented like that. She also has great feet. See?

The most excellent toes of Kate.

Want to know more? Keep checking back because Kate will be Queen Kindness Blogger ’round these parts. Seriously. I’m making her a crown out of felt and daisies as I type.

Mr. President is in the know.

Like everyone else in the world we signed up for Twitter. And like everyone else in the world we went on a mad following spree. The first people to follow us back: me (uh, duh), Boo (our design super-star) and THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

Yeah, I know he follows everyone ’cause he’s nice like that but I was still giddy to capture the moment.

Wanna get in on the action? You’ll find us here: www.twitter.com/altrooist

So, welcome to Altrooist: a site dedicated to the idea that small actions make for big change.

Altrooist will let you post your good deeds and random acts of kindness, and connect with others doing the same. You’ll be able to form teams and issue challenges. You’ll see your good deeds and those of others added to an ever-growing chronology of kindness. We get excited thinking about how this can change attitudes, brighten days, and introduce us to our neighbors. We get excited thinking about the what-ifs: What if a whole high school class joined Altrooist? What if people formed a team to give a million hugs? What if we really make a difference?

Our developer, Eric, is writing the code to turn these ideas into functionality. Our designer, Boo, is making it look amazing. Our CSS mastermind, Shane, is building the bridge between the two. And me, I’m Heather, I’m running the business.

On our teaser site, you can sign up for updates and volunteer for the upcoming beta test. If you’d like to do that, that would be awesome. A good deed, even. Really! Here is the link.

In the meantime, we’ll keep blogging: unveil screen shots, test out ideas, and share things we find inspiring. We hope they’ll inspire you, too.

Do good,
Heather